10 August 1939

August 10th, 1939 (THURSDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: Night-time air war exercises are conducted over England on a larger scale than any since the Great War. 500 aircraft (Bombers with fighter support) sweep in from points east to attack Birmingham, Rochester, Bedford,
Brighton and Derby. 800 defenders rise to challenge the attackers. Westland (defending) forces had been largely successful in beating off the Eastland (attacking) forces. Bombers approaching London had had particular difficulty because of the balloon barrage above the capital.

Destroyers HMS Mendip and Meynell laid down.

GERMANY: Berlin: Julius Schnurre, head of the Economic Policy Department of the German Foreign Ministry, picks up discussions with Georgi Astakhov, Charges d'affaires of the Soviet Embassy, sounding out the possibility of a pact between Germany and the Soviet Union.

U.S.S.R.: Drax and the other delegates spend the day sightseeing in Leningrad.

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10 August 1940

Yesterday Tomorrow

August 10th, 1940 (SATURDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: RAF Bomber Command: 4 Group (Whitley). Bombing - industrial targets at Frankfurt-am-Main.
58 Sqn. Ten aircraft. Two returned early, four bombed primary, two bombed alternatives. One crashed at Hemswell on return.

RAF Fighter Command: Weather, cloud and rain. Little Luftwaffe activity, no aircraft losses.

Some activity in the Channel and Bf110 pilots of Erpro 210 attempt a surprise evening strike on Norwich. A lone undetected Do 17 put 11 HEs close to RAF West Malling despite 501 Squadron's attempts to stop it.

During the night serious damage was done to the Llandore GWR (Great Western Railway) viaduct near Swansea where a direct hit on a shelter killed four.

Bombs fall for the first time on Abergavenny, Rochester and Wallasey along with heavy raids on Swansea and Weymouth.

Submarine HMS P 222 laid down.
Destroyer HMS Holderness commissioned.

RAF">RAF Coastal Command: 608 Sqn. carries out its first operation with its new Blackburn Botha general reconnaissance aircraft.

Despite the threat of invasion, Churchill decides to send three regiments of tanks (about 150) to North Africa.

FRANCE: VICHY FRANCE: Laval offers Germany 200 pilots to help fight the Battle of Britain.

GERMANY: U-56 sank AMC HMS Transylvania.
U-94 commissioned.
U-132 and U-655 laid down.
U-143 launched.

AUSTRIA: Vienna: Baldur von Schirach becomes Gauleiter of Vienna; Artur Axmann will take over as Reich youth leader.

ROMANIA: Anti-Semitic legislation is passed.

AUSTRALIA: Minesweeper HMAS Lismore launched.

PACIFIC OCEAN: The Japanese naval blockade of the coast of China is extended to South China.

CANADA: Corvette HMCS Spikenard launched Lauzon Province of Quebec.

U.S.A.: The motion picture "The Return of Frank James" is released. This western, directed by Fritz Lang, stars Henry Fonda, Gene Tierney (her film debut), Jackie Cooper, Henry Hull, John Caradine and Donald Meek. The plot has Frank James (Fonda) seeking revenge against the men who killed his brother Jesse.

ATLANTIC OCEAN: Armed Merchant Cruiser HMS Transylvania of the Northern Patrol is lost to U-56 to the north of Ireland 40 miles off Malin Head at 55 50N 08 03W. (Alex Gordon)(108)

10 August 1941

August 10th, 1941 (SUNDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: London: Britain and the USSR promise to go to the assistance of Turkey in the event of an attack by any European power. In identical statements presented to the Turkish foreign office by their ambassadors, the two Allies have also pledged themselves to "observe the territorial integrity of the Turkish republic."
The statements are seen as counters to German propaganda that Russia would take advantage of Turkey and invade should the latter enter the war.

U.S.S.R.: U-451 sank SKR-27 Zhemchug.

U-144 sunk in Gulf of Finland north of Dagö, in approximate position 59N, 23E, by torpedoes from the Russian submarine SC-307. 28 dead (all hands lost).

Soviet submarine mined and sunk near Vladivostok.

NEWFOUNDLAND: The Atlantic Charter Conference between U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill continues for a second day in Placentia Bay. Roosevelt boards the destroyer USS McDougal (DD-358) and is transported to religious services in the battleship HMS Prince of Wales as a guest of Churchill. After inspecting the topsides of the British battleship, the President returns in McDougal to heavy cruiser USS Augusta (CA-31); that night, the President hosts the Prime Minister at dinner.

SOUTH AMERICA: Plots to stage pro-Nazi coups are uncovered in Argentina, Cuba and Chile.

10 August 1942

August 10th, 1942 (MONDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: Luftwaffe bombers raid Colchester in Essex.

Trawler HMS Anticosti commissioned and loaned to RCN.

Rescue tug HMS Lariat commissioned.

GERMANY: U-979 and U-980 laid down.
U-200 and U-712 launched.

EUROPE: The RAFs' area bombing offensive is threatened as the Germans start jamming the Gee navigation system.

U.S.S.R.: Black Sea Fleet and Azov Flotilla: Shipping loss: MS "TSch-405 "Vzrivatel"" - by field artillery, close to Eupatoria (later raised) (Sergey Anisimov)(69)

Submarine P.555 commissioned.
Destroyer HS Kanaris commissioned.

MEDITERRANEAN SEA: The British trawler Islay sinks the Italian submarine Scire off Haifa.

SOLOMON ISLANDS: Off New Ireland Island in the Bismarck Archipelago, the IJN's Cruiser
Division 6, which had inflicted one of the worst defeats of the war on Allied surface ships in the Battle of Savo Island yesterday, are nearing Kavieng. At 0750 hours, the submarine USS S-44 (SS-155) sights the formation, four heavy cruisers, their track less than 900 yards (823 meters) away. At 0806 hours, the submarine fires four torpedoes at the rear ship, HIJMS Kako, only 700 yards (640 meters) away. By 0808, all four torpedoes have exploded; heavy cruiser KAKO is sinking, and S-44 has begun her escape. By 0812 hours, Japanese destroyers have started depth charging, without success; S-44 reaches Brisbane, Australia, on 23 August.

The first aircraft lands on Henderson Field on Guadalcanal. The aircraft, a PBY-5A Catalina, is assigned to the Commander, South Pacific Force.

TERRITORY OF ALASKA: In the Aleutian Islands, the USAAF's 11th Air Force dispatches 5 B-17 Flying Fortresses and 3 B-24 Liberators to bomb Kiska Island targets; fighters and AA down 1 B-24.

ATLANTIC OCEAN: Two men from U-135 are killed in an aircraft attack (Matrosenobergefreiter Emil Hafner, Matrosenobergefreiter Erhard Pömpner).

U-155 sank SS Strabo
U-438 sank SS Condylis Convoy SC-94
U-438 sank SS Oregon Convoy SC-94
U-510 damaged SS Alexia
U-600 sank SS Vivian P. Smith    Convoy SC-94
U-660 sank SS Cape Race Convoy SC-94
U-660 damaged SS Condylis Convoy SC-94
U-660 sank SS Empire Reindeer    Convoy SC-94
U-660 damaged SS Oregon Convoy SC-94
U-77 sank SS Kharouf
U-98 damaged USS Bold (AMc 67)

Destroyer ORP Blyskawica and HMS Broke receives orders to reinforce the escort of Convoy SC-94.

10 August 1943

August 10th, 1943 (TUESDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: London: The award of a George Cross to Wing-Cdr John Samuel Rowlands (b.1915) is gazetted for his great bravery in his two years of bomb and weapon-disposal work.

Destroyer HMS Gravelines laid down. Light cruiser HMS Spartan launched.

GERMANY: In a vast RAF raid on Nuremburg 3,444 tons of bombs are dropped.

U-348 launched.

U.S.S.R.: Soviet troops take Khotinets, east of Orel. The skilful German defence does not seem to impede the speed of the Soviet advance.

Submarine Upas laid down.

ITALY: Sant' Agata, SICILY: Doctors and nurses at a US military hospital looked on in amazement today as a general slapped two soldiers, threatening to shoot one of them. Lt-Gen George S Patton Jr, the volatile commander of the 7th Army, was making an unscheduled visit to the 93rd Evacuation Hospital when he saw the soldiers.
The first had malaria. Patton slapped him three times. When Patton asked the second man what the problem was, he replied: "It's my nerves. I can't stand the shelling any more." Patton slapped the man, shouting: "Shut up that Goddamned crying. I won't have brave men here who have been shot seeing a yellow bastard crying." He struck the soldier again and ordered the medical officer not to admit him.
Patton then turned to the man and said: "You're going back to the front lines and you may get shot and killed, but you're going to fight. If you don't, I'll stand you up against a wall and have a firing squad kill you on purpose." The general reached for his pistol. "I ought to shoot you myself, you Goddamned whimpering coward," he yelled. This was the second such incident in a week and will anger General Eisenhower.

From "PATTON: Ordeal and Triumph" by Ladislas Farago, concerning the first soldier slapped by Patton. I haven't found it noted in other sources.

" Kuhl was picked up by a group of corpsmen attracted to the scene by the noise. They took him to a ward, where he was found to have a temperature of 102.2. It also developed that he had been suffering from chronic diarrhoea ever since he joined the 1st Division at the front. A blood test showed that he had malaria."

Skip Guidry

SOLOMON ISLANDS: USAAF Thirteenth Air Force P-40s and P-39Airacobras turn back about 40 A6M "Zeke" fighters attacking US construction troops working on Munda Airfield on New Georgia Island.

TERRITORY OF ALASKA: ALEUTIAN ISLANDS: P-38 Lightnings, P-40s, A-24 Dauntlesses, B-24s and B-25 Mitchells of the USAAF's Eleventh Air Force bomb and strafe various targets on Kiska Island; direct hits are scored on revetments west of the Wheat Grove and on gun emplacements, as well as on buildings on Little Kiska Island.

CANADA: HMC ML 104 commissioned.
Frigate HMCS La Hulloise laid down Montreal, Province of Quebec.
Ville Class steel tugs ordered for RCN HMCS Streetsville, Blissville, Eckville, Mannville, Shawville, Roseville, Colville, Luceville.

U.S.A.: Destroyers USS Shields, Metcalf, Hart and Wiley laid down. Destroyer escort USS Cloues launched.

10 August 1944

August 10th, 1944 (THURSDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: The USAAF Eighth Air Force in England flies 4 mission.

- Mission 537: 175 B-24 and 249 fighters are dispatched against fuel dumps and bridges southeast of Paris; 38 hit Clamecy Bridge, 31 hit Joigny, 31 hit Pacy-sur-Armencon, 26 hit Sens, 23 hit St Florentin and 13 hit targets of opportunity; 1 B-24 is lost. Escort is provided by 238 P-51 Mustangs; 3 P-51s are lost.

- Mission 538: 138 fighters are dispatched to hit rail targets in central and eastern France; 5 fighters are lost.

- Mission 539: B-17s drops leaflets on Brest, France.

- Mission 540: 4 B-17s drop leaflets in France and Norway during the night.

- 583 fighters are dispatched to hit rail targets in France; they claim 19 Luftwaffe aircraft; 2 P-38s and 4 P-51s are lost.

USS Foote (DD-169), was commissioned as HMS Roxborough (I-07) and USS Maddox (DD-168), commissioned as HMS Georgetown (I-40) on 23 Sep. 1940. They are transferred to Russia Roxborough as Doblestnyi and Georgetown as Zhostkion. They were part of the destroyers-for-bases deal. With their sister ships that were transferred earlier this year will be returned to the RN in 1949. (Ron Babuka)

Minesweeper HMS Felicity commissioned.

FRANCE: Vimont, south of Caen, falls to the Canadian 1st Army. St. Malo and Dinard are liberated by the forces under General Middleton.

The US XX Corps liberates Nantes.

German forces in the Mortain area withdraw slightly bowing to US pressure and the threat to their rear areas.

France, the USAAF's Ninth Air Force sends almost 200 B-26 Marauders and A-20 Havocs to bomb rail bridges and embankments in wide areas around Paris; fighters escort bombers, support ground forces, give defensive cover, and fly armed reconnaissance in battle areas and around Amiens, Paris, Cambrai, Meaux, Dijon, and Troyes.

The German submarine U-608 is sunk in the Bay of Biscay near La Rochelle, in position 46.30N, 03.08W, by depth charges from the British sloop HMS Wren and by depth charges from an RAF Liberator of No. 53 Squadron based at St Eval, Cornwall, England. All 52 crewmen of the U-boat survive.

Paris: Railway workers join the general strike. "Strike to push the Boche back." Obeying that order, the cheminots of Paris - the predominantly communist railway workers - went on strike today, paralysing the capital and disrupting the entire network.
The strike is seen as a flexing of muscles by the communist wing of the Resistance, both against the German garrison and to make sure it is not ignored by the Allies when the future of a liberated France is decided. The stoppage of the railways was almost total, in spite of strict German decrees forbidding strikes. Some communist pickets turned doubters away from work at pistol point.
The strike is a bold move because the new German military commandant, General Dietrich von Cholitz, has the power of life and death over French civilians, and the strike threatens the German high command's reliance on the railways. Paris is the hub of the French rail network.
On 14 July, Bastille Day, posters appeared on the walls of Paris in the name of the communist Front National, calling Parisians to arms. The posters urged every man and woman to kill a German, a Milicien or a traitor.
The new communist leader in the resistance goes by the name of "Colonel Rol". This is the nom de guerre of Henry Tanguy, a French communist who fought for the Republicans in Spain.

German administrative staff begin to leave Paris. Archives are packed, papers from the military government are burned, civilian staff assemble at dawn at railway stations to leave.

GERMANY: Rastenburg: To combat the Allies air superiority, Hitler orders all 2,000 of the Luftwaffe's fighter aircraft to the Western front.

U-2326 launched.
U-2388 laid down.

ITALY: Polish II Corps soldiers reach the Cesano river.

The USAAF Fifteenth Air Force in Italy sends 450+ B-17s and B-24s, with fighter escort, to bomb 6 oil refineries in the Ploesti, Romania area. 45 Eighth Air Force P-51s in Italy during an Operation FRANTIC mission are dispatched with Fifteenth Air Force aircraft to escort a troop carrier evacuation mission.

U.S.S.R.: Submarine USSR P-2: Taken out from front-line boats and finished operations in WWII.

INDIA: The US XX Bomber Command based in India flies 2 missions during the night of 10/11 August.

- 24 B-29 Superfortresses, out of Chengtu, China, bomb the urban area of Nagasaki, Japan and 3 others hit targets of opportunity; the B-29s claim 1 fighter shot down, the first such claim (except probables) by the B-29s.

- 31 B-29s, staging through China Bay, Ceylon, bomb oil refineries at Palembang, Sumatra, 8 mine the Moesi River nearby, and 3 hit targets of opportunity and a secondary target; the first attack, from Ceylon to Sumatra, is the longest single-stage combat flight (about 3,900 miles or 6,276 km) by B-29s during the war.

The US Army 475th Infantry Regiment is activated at Ledo from personnel of the 5307th Composite Unit ("Merrill's Marauders). Merrill's Marauders is disbanded today and its assets are transferred to the 475th. (Stuart Kohn)(240, 241, 242, 243 and 244)

GUAM: The Allied conquest of the Marianas was completed today as US forces overran Pati Point on north-east Guam, the last outpost of Japanese resistance on the US protectorate which it has taken three weeks of fierce fighting to recapture. Isolated groups are holding out in the jungle. The last of these survivors will hold out until 1972.
With effective Japanese resistance now ended, US engineers are working to turn Guam, Tinian and Saipan - the first of the Mariana Islands invaded seven weeks ago - into "unsinkable aircraft carriers" for B-29 Superfortresses capable of bombing Tokyo 1,600 miles away.
Japanese losses on Guam are now thought to be a little over 10,000 dead out of an original force of 18,500, with 1,250 taken prisoner. US losses are 1,744 dead and 5,790 wounded. These losses include marines fighting in northern Guam's dense jungle who were hit by their own artillery. The turning point came 15 days ago when two counter-offensives intended to break the US beach-head on the west coast failed.

NORTHERN PACIFIC: In the Kurile Islands, 4 USAAF

VOLCANO ISLANDS: US Seventh Air Force B-24s, flying their first mission from Saipan Island, pound Iwo Jima Island, beginning the USAAF's neutralization campaign of that island.

Eleventh Air Force B-25s, based in the Aleutians, spot 2 patrol boats 75 miles (121 km) east-southeast of Shimushu Island while on a shipping sweep; one is sunk, the other is damaged.

CANADA: HMCS Loch Alvie (ex HMS Loch Alvie) commissioned.

U.S.A.: Baseball: Boston Braves pitcher Charles "Red" Barrett throws only 58 pitches as the Braves beat the Cincinnati Reds 2-0. Barrett was 9-16 on the year for the Braves who finished in 6th place.

The last Consolidated C-87 Liberator Express, cargo aircraft, is delivered to the USAAF">USAAF. (Ron Babuka)

Destroyer USS Gearing laid down.
Submarine USS Blower launched.

10 August 1945

August 10th, 1945 (FRIDAY)

MANCHUKUO: Soviet forces have advanced 120 miles since declaring war on Japan.

KOREA: A Soviet Yak-9 of 50 ORAP claims a Kawanishi H6K 'Mavis' flying boat over Najin, northeast Korea.

A defensive gunner of a 37 ShAP Il-2 claims an A6M Zero. (Mike Yared)

JAPAN: The Japanese Imperial Conference begins just prior to midnight.

After much discussion by various cabinet members, they are still unable to make a decision. At 2:00 am, PM Suzuki addresses Hirohito and asks, "Your Imperial decision is requested as to which proposal should be adopted, the foreign minister's or the one with the four conditions."

This was the first time in recorded Japanese history that the Emperor had been asked to make a decision. The military had expected the conference was for discussion and would then disperse. Now, the living god whose every command they had sworn to uphold was about to speak.

"I agree with the foreign minister." is the beginning of his answer. He then reviews events of the past several months. Then he goes on: "Some advocate a decisive battle in the homeland as the way to survival. In past experience, however, there has always been a discrepancy between the fighting services' plans and the results."

The military had demanded death before dishonour for Japan. Hirohito, the God-sent Ruler of the Great Japanese Empire (his official title) favoured dishonour, if need be, as the price of life for his countrymen and survival of Japan.

At 3:00 am the cabinet meeting is resumed. The Emperor's decision is ratified. At 7:00 am General Yoshizumi, Chief of the Military Affairs Division of the War Ministry goes to the foreign ministry to derail sending the notice of the decision, he is too late.

During the day, the military are working at cross purposes. The Senior Officers are trying to comply with the Emperor's decision. The junior officers are confused, disillusioned and ready to revolt.

The conditional Japanese acceptance of the terms of the Potsdam Declaration is announced on Japanese Radio.

The Japanese radio announces the Japanese desire for peace and US Army Strategic Air Forces in the Pacific (USASTAF) limits operations to precision missions. 104 Twentieth Air Force B-29s fly 2 missions against Japan without loss.

- Mission 323: During the day, 70 B-29s, escorted by 2 groups of P-51s, bomb the arsenal complex at Tokyo; 3 others hit alternate targets.

- Mission 324: During the night of 10/11 August, 31 B-29s mine Shimonoseki Strait, Nakaumi Lagoon, and waters at Sakai and Yonago, Japan and Wonsan, Korea.

In Japan:

US and British battleships bombard steel works at Kamaishi.

- 80 B-24s, 118 B-25s, and 220+ P-47s and P-38s of the US Far East Air Force (FEAF) pound the Kumamoto area; 20+ B-24s bomb the Oita area; 39 P-51s provide cover over both targets; nearly 40 B-25s attack destroyers, cargo ships, and small vessels during a shipping sweep between Kyushu Island and Korea; P-47s bomb Sasebo Harbor; and P-51s hit various targets of opportunity on Honshu and Kyushu.

- Carrier-based aircraft from the RN's Task Force 37 and USN's Task Force 38 attack shipping, airfields and railways in the Hokkaido and northern Honshu area; they claim the destruction of 720 aircraft on the ground.

Participating in this attack, are Corsair Mk IVs of the RCN's No. 1841 Squadron in HMS Formidable.

COMMONWEALTH OF THE PHILIPPINES: Japanese prisoner of war, Second Lieutenant Minoru Wada guides a USMC formation of PBJs (B-25 Mitchells) and F4Us (Corsairs) onto the headquarters of the 100th IJA Infantry Division commanded by General Harada, at Upian, Mindanao Island. (Gordon Angus MacKinlay) from Time magazine. More...

CANADA: Cruiser HMCS Uganda arrived Esquimalt for refit.
HMC ML 051 paid off.

U.S.A.: Dr. Robert H. Goddard, the father of modern rocketry, dies in Baltimore, Maryland, at age 62. On 16 March 1926, Goddard launched the first liquid-fuelled rocket at Auburn, Massachusetts and on 8 March 1935, he was the first to launch a liquid-propellant rocket that attained a speed greater than that of sound. Between 1942 and 1945, he was Director of Research, US Navy Department, Bureau of Aeronautics developing jet-assisted takeoff and variable-thrust liquid-propellant rockets, at Roswell, New Mexico and Annapolis, Maryland. He also served as a consulting engineer with the Curtiss-Wright Corporation at Caldwell, New Jersey, between 1943 and 1945.

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