[Doug64]

July 22, Monday

Britain sets up secret operations team

Today, the War Cabinet approves a draft document signed on July 19th by Neville Chamberlain, now the Lord President of the Council, creating a new secret organization, the Special Operations Executive (SOE). In Churchill’s words, its aim is to “set Europe alight.”

It will come under the Labour MP Hugh Dalton, the Minister for Economic Warfare in the coalition government, who was asked to head the planned SOE on the 16th. Both MI6, which has its own sabotage department, and the army have expressed opposition to the formation of SOE because it intrudes into their territory, but Dalton is determined it will succeed.

“Regular soldiers,” he argues, “are not the men to stir up revolution, to create social chaos, or to use all those ungentlemanly means of winning the war which come so easily to the Nazis.”

[Doug64]

July 23, Tuesday

Benes forms Czech government-in-exile

The Czech leader, Dr. Eduard Benes, has formed a provisional Czechoslovak government in London with the British government's approval. A British minister will probably be accredited to Dr. Benes’s government.

Dr. Benes, who becomes President, says today, “Our main effort will be the organization of our forces on land and in the air so that our share in the defense of Britain and the defeat of Nazism will be as effective as possible.”

British emergency budget puts tax on luxuries

Today's emergency budget ushers in tough new taxes, including 24 percent on luxuries such as furs, real silk stockings, and cosmetics. “In the hard circumstances of the times we can do without them,” says Sit Kingsley Wood, the Chancellor of the Exchequer. He also announces all-round tax increases, including an extra shilling on income tax. Starting next January, this will be 8/6 on the pound (42.5%).

In the future, income tax will also be compulsorily deducted at the source. People will “pay as they earn” instead of the present system of lump sums paid twice a year.

[Potemkin]

July 23, Tuesday

Benes forms Czech government-in-exile

The Czech leader, Dr. Eduard Benes, has formed a provisional Czechoslovak government in London with the British government's approval. A British minister will probably be accredited to Dr. Benes’s government.

Dr. Benes, who becomes President, says today, “Our main effort will be the organization of our forces on land and in the air so that our share in the defense of Britain and the defeat of Nazism will be as effective as possible.”

British emergency budget puts tax on luxuries

Today's emergency budget ushers in tough new taxes, including 24 percent on luxuries such as furs, real silk stockings, and cosmetics. “In the hard circumstances of the times we can do without them,” says Sit Kingsley Wood, the Chancellor of the Exchequer. He also announces all-round tax increases, including an extra shilling on income tax. Starting next January, this will be 8/6 on the pound (42.5%).

In the future, income tax will also be compulsorily deducted at the source. People will “pay as they earn” instead of the present system of lump sums paid twice a year.

Wars and taxes go together like fish and chips. Income tax itself was first introduced during the Napoleonic Wars as a “temporary measure”, which of course became permanent. And it took its present form during WWII.

[Doug64]

Wars and taxes go together like fish and chips. Income tax itself was first introduced during the Napoleonic Wars as a “temporary measure”, which of course became permanent. And it took its present form during WWII.

The first US income taxes were during the American Civil War, so yeah. Add to that printing money, with the usual massive inflation--there was a reason why the American Revolution coined the term "not worth a Continental," and why the Constitution only granted the federal government the power to coin money.

[Doug64]

July 24, Wednesday

French sailors die in torpedo tragedy

Some 383 Frenchmen lose their lives tonight when their ship is sunk by a German motor torpedo boat off the coast of Brittany. The Meknes left Southampton early, carrying 1,277 French naval officers and ratings who were being repatriated to France.

She is showing all lights and has a searchlight trained on the French ensign when she is attacked at 10:30 pm. One officer will say, “Why should they torpedo us when the war was over as far as we were concerned?”

[Doug64]

July 26, Friday

While Europe wars, Japan may expand

Japan intends to take advantage of the war in Europe to expand its empire in Asia, according to a new military-inspired national plan to prepare Japan for war.

Unveiled by Prince Konoye four days after becoming Premier, Japan’s “new order” for Greater East Asia envisages Japan leading a strong union combining Japan, Manchuko, and China, the Chinese Nationalists defeated and the Japanese armed forces ready to go to war with Britain and the US within twelve months if talks fail to stop arms reaching China through British and French territories.

[Doug64]

July 29, Monday

Luftwaffe bombards “Hellfire Corner”

“Hellfire Corner” is attacked by the Luftwaffe again today as Junkers Ju87 (“Stuka”) dive-bombers, protected by Messerschmitt fighters, scream down on shipping at Dover. The concussion of bursting bombs shakes buildings and breaks windows all along the seafront while waterspouts drop tons of water onto ships bobbing like corks among the bombs in the harbor. RAF Hurricanes and Spitfires tear into the enemy formations, already heavily engaged by the anti-aircraft defenses. Twelve out of eighty German plans engaged are downed to three RAF machines.

While it is difficult to make specific claims in the heat of battle, it is becoming clear that the Stukas, which were so effective in France, are sitting ducks for fighters like the Spitfires.

[Doug64]

July 30, Tuesday

Britain to embargo Africa and Europe

Britain is to extend the naval blockade of ships that may be carrying supplies to Germany to take in virtually all ships crossing the North Atlantic. The Minister for Economic Warfare, Hugh Dalton, tells the Commons today that the steps are necessary now that Germany controls the European coast from the North Cape to the Pyrenees. Neutral countries will be granted “Navicerts” to cover domestic needs but not for re-export. France and all of French Africa are to be designated enemy territory.

[Doug64]

July 31, Wednesday

Flowers go as Britain digs hard for victory

The face of Britain is being transformed by the war as a massive effort gets underway to ensure that the country isn’t starved into submission. From rural hills to suburban gardens, “digging for victory” has become a patriotic duty.

Barely one-third of the nation’s food was produced at home when the war began—and Hitler knows it, boasting that his U-boat blockade will bring Britain to its knees. Rationing should mean less food is consumed, but the campaign to produce more food at home is equally important. Land traditionally used for grazing, such as the Downs in southern England, is now being plowed up to grow cereal crops such as wheat or potatoes. Arable land is expected to increase by 14 percent this year.

Government money is being pumped into agriculture to guarantee prices and because the rural depression of the 1930s left most farmers with too little money to finance the tractors, milking machines, and fertilizers required to boost output quickly. Although farms form the frontline of this campaign, flowers are being replaced by vegetables in gardens, and allotments are appearing on commons and in parks.

Oil: the fuel that shapes war strategy

As this conflict develops, it has become increasingly clear that oil has become crucial to the waging of modern war, and so is shaping much of the underlying strategy. Starved of it, a country will very quickly succumb. Germany, Italy, and Britain all lack oilfields and so have to obtain oil from other countries. Successive British governments have ensured that adequate supplies are available from the Middle East and Southeast Asia and, if necessary, from the US, but U-boats are posing an increasing threat to Britain’s oil imports.

In March last year, Hitler reached an agreement with King Carol of Romania to supply Germany with oil from the rich Ploesti oilfields, and on May 27th this year, Carol agreed to even closer cooperation. Germany’s position is further secured by the pact made with Stalin in August 1939, under which it receives oil from the Russian Caucasus. Germany also produces synthetic oil in large amounts.

Although Allied plans to bomb the Caucasus oilfields were abandoned for fear of political complications, and attacking Romania isn’t an option while the country remains a nonbelligerent, the naval blockade of Germany is preventing oil from being imported from elsewhere.

[Doug64]

August 1940

August 1, Thursday

Duke of Windsor spurns Nazi plot

The Duke and Duchess of Windsor leave Lisbon, Portugal, today aboard the US liner Excalibur after the collapse of a Nazi plot to pressure them into leading peace moves against the duke’s brother, King George, and Churchill. The couple, living in France, fled to Spain when the Germans invaded and went on to Lisbon. At von Ribbentrop’s request, the Falangist Miguel Primo de Rivera contacted the duke and was gratified to be told Churchill was a warmonger. Rivera suggested the duke might again be king. “Oh, no,” the duke said, “that would be unconstitutional.”

[Doug64]

August 2, Friday

Ruthless press lord joins British war cabinet

Lord Beaverbrook, the dynamic newspaper proprietor and close crony of Mr. Churchill, joins the War Cabinet tonight.

The Prime Minister brought Beaverbrook into the government when it was reconstructed under his leadership in May, and he has been one of its outstanding successes. Since he became Minister of Aircraft Production—a new post—in May, he has boosted the improved output of fighters for the RAF, which had already begun that month. In February there was a shortfall: 141 planes produced against a planned 171. In May, however, this had been turned around, with 261 planes planned and 325 built. Under Beaverbrook, this month’s planned output of 282 is expected to be exceeded by up to 200 machines.

Churchill is known to consider that his friend has rendered signal service to the nation during this critical summer. Beaverbrook will continue with his aircraft supply job “for the time being.”

The Canadian-born press baron’s success has been achieved through force of personality. He has aggressively cut through Whitehall red tape and trod on other ministerial toes in purloining all accessible supplies for aircraft factories.

[Doug64]

August 5, Monday

Italy marches into British Somaliland

The Somali town of Hargeisa falls to the Italian army this afternoon, assaulted by infantry and tanks after a three-hour bombardment. It was defended by two battalions of Indian and East African troops plus some of the Somali Camel Corps—most of whom get away.

General de Simone crossed the Ethiopian frontier into British Somaliland two days ago, with twelve Eritrean battalions to do the hard work and four Blackshirt battalions to take the credit. In case anything went wrong, he had another six battalions in reserve.

On the morning of the invasion, he spoke to his motorcycle troops “as only a valorous soldier can speak,” according to one present. “Your task is to be the vanguard, an arduous and difficult work, which I know you will carry out to your uttermost. Our end is to reach Berbera and reach it we will.”

From the episode at Hargeisa, a certain ponderousness can be detected, and it might take de Simone, valorous as he may be, some time.

But the British force of five battalions and a camel corps cannot hold out forever—something of an understatement considering Somaliland’s defense budget of just £900 ($3,600). Any serious defense of Somaliland lost all chance of success last week when the pro-Allied governor of neighboring French Somaliland, General Legentilhomme, was replaced by General Germain.

Elsewhere on the borders of Ethiopia, Italy’s 300,000-man army seems reluctant to act aggressively. It is content with the symbolic occupation of a few border towns, such as Moyale in Kenya and Kasala in the Sudan, and harassing the British in northern Kenya with some remarkably effective guerrilla columns. It is so short of gasoline that it can do nothing else.

Japanese nationals arrested in colonies

Britain today responds to the recent arrests of seven British subjects in Tokyo—officials of the Salvation Army charged with espionage—by detaining leading Japanese businessmen in London, Rangoon, Hong Kong, and Singapore.

Japan has protested the arrests, and the British ambassador, Sir Robert Craigie, has been summoned by the Japanese foreign minister, who describes the arrests as “unwarrantable.” Among the detainees is the manager of the London branch of Mitsubishi Trading.

[Doug64]

August 6, Tuesday

Colonies and dominions send airmen to boost “mother country”

The first contingent of airmen from Southern Rhodesia arrives in Britain today to strengthen the increasingly international air force waging war on Germany. The men join not only British and Polish pilots but also airmen from Canada, Australia, and New Zealand—not to mention volunteers from Ireland and the United States.

Throughout the Empire, towns, islands, colonies, and even tribes are donating money for individual planes to the mother country. Soon more airmen will arrive from the colonies to pilot the planes that the colonies have donated. Already, Canada is training hundreds of fighter pilots. More generally, India has 500,000 men under arms; Australasia has 225,000, Canada has 200,000, and South Africa has 80,000.

[Doug64]

August 8, Thursday

Luftwaffe steps up air war over Britain

It is now a week since the Luftwaffe began its latest attempt to destroy the RAF in preparation for Hitler’s planned invasion of Britain. Despite relentless intensive fighting in the air over the Channel and along the south coast, based on the evidence of today’s battles, it is still a long way from succeeding in that aim.

As the bomber formations with fighter escorts in close attendance roar in over the coast to attack harbors, naval bases, and airfields, the Hurricanes and Spitfires of Fighter Command, carefully fed into the battle, take a terrible toll on the Germans. They lose 31 planes to the RAF’s 17.

The main battles develop between 9 am and 5 pm when gaggles of dive bombers attack a convoy in a three-phase attack. In the last phase, no less than 150 Stukas and Messerschmitt fighters are thrown into the dangerous skies over “Hellfire Corner.”

The British pilots, guided to their targets by a controller watching the enemy's movements as they are plotted by the RDF, can meet each wave of enemy aircraft as the attack develops.

Among the most successful RAF pilots are Poles who have fought the Germans in their own skies, over France, and now over Britain. They burn with hatred for the Nazis and roar into the battle with reckless courage.

[Doug64]

August 16, Friday

Luftwaffe and RAF join battle for air superiority

The air battles over Britain continue with unabated ferocity as the Luftwaffe attempts to overwhelm Fighter Command. Goering, convinced that the RAF is on its last legs after the hard fighting of the Kanalkampf [the Channel War], named last Tuesday, August 13th, as Aldertag, Eagle Day, when the RAF would be swept from the sky and the invasion of Britain would be made possible. Airfields and RDF stations were hammered, but the RAF pilots, fed frugally into the battle by Air Vice-Marshal Keith Park, not only stayed in the air but had the best of the fighting, knocking down 46 Germans for the loss of 13.

So furious was the fighting that both sides took advantage of bad weather the next day to lick their wounds. Even so, the Luftwaffe lost 27 planes and the RAF 11.

Then, yesterday, German aircraft took off from airfields ranging from Norway to Brittany. Soon, the battle raged along the east coast from Tyneside down to the Channel and along the south coast of Devon. Newspaper billboards displayed the day’s score like a Test Match. Close of play showed that the RAF had shot down 90 for the loss of 42. Those casualty figures don’t take account of those German bombers who limped home with dead and dying crew members in their bullet-riddled aircraft. They come again today, attacking RDF stations and airfields, losing 44 to the RAF’s 24.

Mr. Churchill spends the afternoon watching the battle's progress in the “ops room” of No. 11 Group at Uxbridge, near London. He can hardly contain his excitement as he follows the progress of the battles. The gallantry of the RAF against constant attack from the Luftwaffe makes a deep impression on him. Later, driving home, he says, “Don’t speak to me; I have never been so moved.”

Half-blind pilot downs German foe

The many acts of heroism of the RAF’s fighter pilots are epitomized today by Flight Lieutenant James Nicolson of 249 Squadron. Shot in the head and half-blinded when he is “bounced” by a Messerschmitt Bf110, he is baling out when another enemy plane flies past his burning Hurricane. Ignoring the flames searing his hands, he chases the German and shoots him down. Only then does he bale out, playing dead, when a third German plane flies towards him. Even then, he is shot at by the Home Guard as he drifts to earth. Nicolson is being recommended for the Victoria Cross.

The planes: how the fighters compare

One of the crucial factors in the battle being fought in the skies over southern England is the relative quality of the fighters taking part. The backbone of the Luftwaffe is the Messerschmitt Bf109E, which has more powerful firepower than its two main RAF adversaries, the Spitfire and the Hurricane. The Bf109E has three 20mm cannon and two 7.9mm machine guns, and with a top speed of 350 mph and an operating ceiling of 35,000 feet, it is compact and highly maneuverable, with a fast climb and dive. It does have a major drawback, however: its lack of range. It can only remain airborne for one hour, which means no more than twenty minutes over England. While the twin-engine Bf110 does have the range, its lack of maneuverability makes it easy meat for the Spitfires and Hurricanes.

Sidney Camm’s Hurricane IIA is not as fast as the Bf109E, nor as maneuverable, but its good sights and excellent cone of fire make it an ideal bomber destroyer. It has eight machine guns, as does the late R.J. Mitchell’s Spitfire, which, although slightly slower than the Bf109E, has a better rate of climb and turning performance.

The technology: Britain’s secret weapon

In 1932, the then British Prime Minister, Stanley Baldwin, declared that “the bomber will always get through.” At the time, everyone accepted this, including the Air Ministry. The problem was that if a bomber stream was spotted, there would not be enough time to scramble the biplane fighters of the day to intercept the bombers before they dropped their deadly loads. Today, the situation is different. This is thanks to the high-speed monoplane and Radio Direction Finding, or RDF. Known by the US Navy as “Radar” (radio detection and ranging), RDF was pioneered in Britain by Professor Watson-Watt, the head of the National Physical Laboratory Radio Department.

He set up an experimental station on the east coast in 1935. A year later, work began on the Chain Home system of RDF stations along the east and south coasts. RDF stations detect enemy aircraft up to 100 miles (160 km) from the British coast, giving enough warning for the RAF fighters to intercept them in time. No wonder Goering has been trying—so far in vain—to knock out the RDF stations.

Britain swaps bases for fifty US ships

The United States is to “swap” fifty aging destroyers for 99-year, rent-free leases on British naval and air bases in the western hemisphere.

The draft agreement was made public two days ago, and is reaffirmed by President Roosevelt in a press conference today stressing the advantages of the deal to the USA. The destroyers in question are obsolescent but still serviceable “Four-stackers” dating from the Great War, which the British Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, has told President Roosevelt are desperately needed to escort convoys under attack from the German U-boat “wolf-packs.”

The bases involved stretch all the way from Newfoundland off the Canadian coast and, by way of Bermuda, to the Bahamas and across the Caribbean to British Guiana.

It is understood that the deal has its origins in a personal appeal from Mr. Churchill to the President on May 15th. He explained that the Germans’ overrunning of the whole coastline of western Europe from the north of Norway to the Pyrenees, the entry of the Italian fleet—with 100 submarines—into the war, and the loss of almost half Britain’s submarines in actions to protect convoys has seriously weakened Britain’s ability to defeat an invasion and keep the Atlantic sea lanes open for imports of wheat, oil, and munitions from the United States and elsewhere. It is, Mr. Churchill said, “a matter of life and death,” and King George added a private message saying that the need for the destroyers is “greater every day.”

It is known that the President first felt that the legal and political difficulties of helping Britain were insuperable. On August 1st, however, the Century Group—which lobbies for US aid to Britain—came up with the idea of exchanging the ships for British bases.

The President was still concerned about potential reactions from the isolationists in Congress, many of them Republicans. Mr. Churchill was reluctant to let the exchange seem too hard a bargain and preferred it to be seen as “two friends in danger helping each other.”

Still, the President persevered, hence today’s press conference. One senator who supports the final deal reminds his colleagues, “If you jump on the destroyer transfer, you’re jumping on the acquisition of defense bases.”

Mr. Roosevelt has said he believes the swap will be the “most important action in national defense since the Louisiana Purchase.”

[Doug64]

August 19, Monday

Italy ousts Britain from Somaliland

A line of African troops clamber from the jetty onto dhows as the Australian warship Hobart stands on the horizon. The British are evacuating Somaliland, the capital of which, Berbera, falls today. For sixteen days, 6,000 Imperial troops have fought nearly 30,000 Italians. Now, mathematics has asserted itself over tactics, and Mussolini has tasted his first victory. While the last of the rearguard, the Black Watch, embark, Indian army engineers blow up the port’s installations. Only the Somali Camel Corps stay behind, some to go home, others to go into the bush to fight another day.

[Doug64]

August 20, Tuesday

Churchill: “Never ... was so much owed by so many to so few.”

Winston Churchill addresses the House of Commons today and praises the RAF for its heroic struggle against the Luftwaffe.

“The gratitude of every home in our island, in our Empire, and indeed throughout the world ... goes out to the British airmen who, undaunted by odds, unwearied in their constant challenge and mortal danger, are turning the tide of the world war,” he says. “Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few. All hearts go out to the fighter pilots, whose brilliant actions we see with our own eyes day after day.” Comparing this war with the last, the Prime Minister finds many differences: “The slaughter is only a small fraction, but the consequences to the belligerents have been even more deadly. We have seen great countries with powerful armies dashed out of coherent existence in a few weeks ... Moves are made upon the scientific and strategic boards, advantages gained by mechanical means.”

He continues, “There is another more obvious difference from 1914. The whole of the warring nations are engaged, not only soldiers, but the entire population, men, women and children ... Our people are united and resolved, as they have never been before. Death and ruin have become small things compared with the shame of defeat.”

Communist cadres attack Japanese

The Japanese army’s strategic security network of garrisons in northern China is suddenly cut off from the world today as 40,000 men of the Chinese Communist Eighth Route Army launch a series of well-coordinated surprise attacks on road and rail installations, severing communications in the region.

The success of the attacks by the army’s 115 regiments provides a much-needed morale boost for the Chinese forces and will help to silence critics in the Kuomintang who claim that the Communists are more intent on attacking them than the Japanese.

[Doug64]

August 21, Wednesday

Bulgaria to nibble away at Romania

Bulgarian troops are poised to enter Romanian territory tonight after talks here end with an agreement to revert to pre-1912 borders. Southern Dobruja, containing the two provinces Durastor and Caliacra bordering the Black Sea, will be ceded to Bulgaria, and up to 100,000 Romanians will move to their diminishing homeland. Romania has already lost control of Bessarabia to Russia. And Romania’s troubles aren’t yet over. Hungary is eagerly eyeing the province of Transylvania in western Romania, and Germany would like access to Romanian oil.

[Doug64]

August 22, Thursday

Channel echoes boom of heavy shellfire

German batteries shell Dover tonight during a cross-Chennel duel that has lasted all day. Their first target is a convoy of cargo ships edging up the English side of the Channel under Royal Navy escort. Then the guns turn on Dover. In the air, RAF fighters break up waves of Luftwaffe bombers. Other British aircraft hit back until long after nightfall. By then the convoy, with its 50,000 tons of food and war material, is snug at anchor.

The Germans have installed 14-inch batteries with a 20-mile (32-km) range along the coast from Boulogne to Calais as part of their plan to invade England. Those guns are used for the first time today when shells send water spouts 100 feet above the convoy; RN escorts lay smoke to conceal the convoy.

With dusk, the guns turn on civilian targets in Dover. During a 45-minute barrage, a shell bursts through the stained glass of a church and explodes near the altar. By midnight, refugees carrying bedding are seeking shelter as their homes are demolished. Across the Channel, the RAF lights up the gun pits with parachute flares, then bombs them.

Trotsky, Stalin’s greatest enemy, is killed by icepick

Leon Trotsky, the exiled Bolshevik leader, dies in a Mexico City hospital today of a fractured skull. He was attacked in his home here yesterday by a man with an icepick.

His assassin is reported variously to be a Canadian, the son of a Belgian diplomat, or an American journalist. In the ambulance after the attack, Trotsky spoke of the man as “either a member of the Ogpu or a fascist.” Trotsky was deprived of his Russian citizenship in 1932, though he had been a leading ally of Lenin in founding the Soviet Union. Stalin had come to regard him as the USSR’s greatest enemy.

[Doug64]

August 24, Saturday

Luftwaffe targets Britain’s airfields

Today, the Luftwaffe concentrates its attacks on Fighter Command’s airfields. The first raid appears at 8:30 am when forty Dornier Do17s and Junkers Ju88s, escorted by 66 Messerschmitt Bf109s, approach the coast. Twelve squadrons of Spitfires and Hurricanes go up to intercept. But the raid is a feint, and the real attack is timed to catch the British fighters on the ground as they refuel.

Hornburch and North Weald take heavy punishment, with the fighters scrambling to get into the air as the bombs drop. Hornchurch is saved from severe damage primarily by its anti-aircraft guns, while Hurricanes from neighboring Eomford come to the rescue of North Weald.

Manston, in its exposed position on top of the Kentish cliffs, takes a terrible hammering, although stories about a “mutiny” among ground staff—allegedly refusing to come out of underground shelters despite threats and entreaties from their superior officers—will appear to have arisen from a series of misunderstandings, as will tales of civilian workers refusing to fill in bomb craters under enemy fire. Tonight, Manston ceases to exist as a frontline fighter base and will be used only as an emergency field. This is not the only weakness that today’s attacks reveal. Five of 264 Squadron’s lumbering Defiants are shot down. It is obvious that, like the Stukas, they cannot live in the fury of this battle.

There is also something wrong with the cooperation between Air Vice-Marshal Keith Park’s hard-pressed 11 Group and Air Vice-Marshal Trafford Leigh-Mallory’s 12 Group. When Park asks for help today, 12 Group’s squadrons take so long in forming their “big wing” that the raiders drop their bombs and are gone before 12 Group appears on the scene.

The Germans also get through to Portsmouth, where, attempting to bomb the dockyard, they are heavily engaged by anti-aircraft fire. Many of their bombs fall into the town and cause heavy civilian casualties. Ramsgate is also hit. As a result of the day’s fighting, the Germans lose 41 aircraft and the RAF 20. But the day isn’t over yet.

Goering has ordered a round-the-clock offensive, and there are reports tonight of raids on Cardiff, Swansea, South Shields, and many areas around London.