Eighty years on. 22nd August 1940

Historical

Early in the morning the first bombs fell on London, specifically Harrow.   Gale force winds and heavy rain precluded large raids.  German artillery at Cape Gris Nez, France, shelled a convoy in the Straits of Dover for 80 minutes, but no ships were hit.   Later Junkers Ju88s and Bf109s attacked the convoy and were engaged by Spitfires of 54 Squadron and Hurricanes of 610 Squadron.  One Ju88 and one Spitfire were shot down, and one Hurricane by “friendly” fire.  In the evening, thirty German aircraft bombed coastal towns in Kent.  There is an artillery duel across the Straits of Dover between the German battery at Cape Gris Nez and a British 14-inch naval gun at Dover.

Overnight, Aberdeen, Bristol, Pontefract, Bradford and Hull were bombed.  In total, six German aircraft and five RAF fighters were lost.

Fairey Swordfish from HMS Peregrine (the Royal Navy Air Station at Ford, Sussex) bombed German invasion barges at Daedereide on the Dutch coast.  One Swordfish was shot down and the crew captured.

Three Swordfish from aircraft carrier HMS Eagle sank Italian submarine Iride and the depot ship Monte Gargano in the Gulf of Bomba, Libya.  The Italian torpedo boat Calypso was also damaged.  This prevented a planned attack on Alexandria by Iride using manned “human torpedoes”.

Britain promised to send air and sea forces to aid Greece if Italy attacked the country.

The RAF bombed targets in Cologne and Frankfurt.

Game day 357 – Great Britain

The British withdrew their infantry from Italian East Africa (Abyssinia) into Sudan.  In Kenya the forces continued northwards towards the Italian threat.

The carrier with fighters for Malta and the troopships with armour and infantry for Egypt docked at Gibraltar.  The two battleships pursuing the French reached Malta, where they received news that the French ship had already passed the island.

Two submarines were on patrol in the North Atlantic.  One returned to port in the Clyde while the other continued south-west in search of German U-boats, reaching point 220,77.  The convoy from Canada to Liverpool reached the mid-Atlantic (195,87)

In the Indian Ocean three freighters  sailed past the Cocos Islands en route for Australia, while a task force of three battleships sailed southwards past the west coast of Africa.

In Australia four new Infantry units were deployed in Canberra, while the armoured unit reached the port of Adelaide ready for shipment to the Middle East.

Five infantry units moved from Jordan across the Suez Canal into Egypt.  Four infantry units were raised in cape Town, South Africa.

One Bomber unit attacked German shipping in port on the north coast of France.  No damage was caused on either side.

Gaming Notes. With the more detailed and correct map I am able to rationalise distances and movement rates. In future the movement will reflect the actual number of days between each country’s turns. Ships will follow historical shipping lanes as far as practical. Gradually I will introduce more detail into the generic “Industrial Resources” and divide some of the game areas into their historical countries.