Eighty years on. 9th August 1940

Historical

Göring believed the Luftwaffe had control of the air over southern England, having successfully attacked many convoys and excluded Royal Navy ships from the English Channel during daylight.  Overestimates of downed RAF planes and underestimated Luftwaffe losses further convinced him that the RAF was almost beaten.  In reality the RAF was stronger than a month ago, with losses of 84 fighters less than half the Luftwaffe’s 227 aircraft.  Note that RAF bomber losses are not included in this report – a common error.  Göring ordered new tactics to destroy the RAF’s fighting capacity by attacking their airfields, control centres and RDF stations.  These tactics could not be put into effect immediately because cloudy weather allowed only reconnaissance patrols. 

One Heinkel He111 was shot down and one Hurricane crashed into the North Sea off Scotland.

The first air raid of the Birmingham Blitz took place when a single aircraft bombed Erdington.

Seventy miles west of Ireland, U-30 sank the Swedish MV Canton carrying 7,900 tons of iron, cloth and other cargo from India and South Africa to England.

German military commander Alfred Jodl issued a directive titled Aufbau Ost (“Reconstruction East”), ordering that transport and supply facilities be improved in the east so the logistics would be in place for an attack on the Soviet Union in 1941.

U.S. Under-Secretary of State Sumner Welles read a formal statement at a press conference calling John Cudahy’s recent remarks “in violation of standing instructions of the Department of State” and said that they were “not to be construed as representing the views of this government.” The statement went on to say that the incident “illustrates once again the importance which must be attributed by American representatives abroad to the Department’s instructions to refrain at this critical time from making public statements other than those made in accordance with instructions of the Department of State.”

Britain promised Japan that it would pull out of Shanghai and northern China.  In fact the manpower was needed elsewhere.

Game day 344. Vichy France.

Vichy France collected a total of 4.5 Resource Points.

With the defection of French Indo-China to the Free French, the convoy bound there for supplies was re-routed to Madagascar.  In response to the British ultimatum regarding the warships in Marseilles, the options were limited.  Surrendering the ships was out of the question, as it would undoubtedly bring retribution from the Germans and Italians.  There was little chance of sailing into the Atlantic past Gibraltar, so either the British must be confronted or the ships sent elsewhere to a place of safety.  Effectively this meant neutral Greece, Turkey or one of the Soviet Black Sea ports or else to Vichy-controlled Syria.  They set sail for Syria.