The Battle of Britain: Luftwaffe activity by day was on a considerably reduced scale. Two convoys were attacked by Luftwaffe aircraft off the East Coast. [battleofbritain1940 web site]
Although the weather improved on the 22nd, activity was light. Occasional attacks on Channel shipping occurred, but little damage was done. Two Hurricanes of 145 Squadron Tangmere attacked a lone Do17 off Selsey Bill and it crashed into the Channel after accurate firing from F/L A.H. Boyd and P/O A.N.C Weir.
During the day, German Luftwaffe flew only reconnaissance missions over the English Channel, launching no attacks despite of the good weather. After sundown, many small German raids bombed coastal towns or lay naval mines off the coast. A radar-equipped Blenheim Mark 1F nightfighter of the British RAF Fighter Command shot down a German aircraft, possibly a Do 17 bomber, in combat over Britain; it was the first victory for this aircraft type.
One of the few attacks on England proper hits Duff House in Banff. it is housing German POWs, six of whom are killed with 18 other casualties.
After dark, the raids pick up. There is minelaying all along the southern and eastern coasts, particularly in the Thames estuary. This apparently is pursuant to Hitler’s Fuhrer Directive of 16 July 1940 requiring that the English Channel be “sealed off” with mines. The ports targeted are Dover, Plymouth, Portland, and Portsmouth.
Junkers Ju 88s of KG51 bomb the Bristol Aeroplane Company at Filton and other bombers target Margate and Manson airfield shortly before midnight.
In an odd incident, a Junkers Ju 88 (Lt. Hajo Herrmann) wind up entangled in a barrage balloon. It somehow manages to extricate itself, taking off from the balloon and continues its mission.
RAF Statistics for the day: 208 patrols were flown involving 637 aircraft. Luftwaffe casualties: Fighters – none; Bombers – 2 confirmed, 1 unconfirmed.
RAF Casualties: July 22nd 1940
1735hrs: Castle Camps. Hurricane P3895, 85 Sqn Martlesham Heath. (Aircraft destroyed)
P/O J.L. Bickerdike Killed. (Crashed on approach to Castle Camps satellite airfield)
RAF No. 301 Squadron, composed of Polish airmen, is formally established at Bramcote.
RAF Bomber Command dispatches 12 Blenheims during the day; they returned early. Blenheim bombers of No. 107 Squadron of 2 Group of British RAF Bomber Command attacked Creil, France, starting a large fire.
RAF Bomber Command dispatches 68 aircraft of all Bomber Command types, including Battles, they attacked 5 targets in Germany, airfields in France, barges in Holland, and carried out minelaying overnight. 1 Blenheim and 2 Whitley lost. 1 O.T.U. sortie.
At Malta, there are some air raid alerts during the night where the raider turns back without attacking. At 03:45, a few bombers attack Hal Far airfield and the Kalafrana area. A Short Sunderland Flying Boat attacks an Italian convoy, damaging some ships.
Great Britain is desperately in need of pilots, as its attrition rate in the Battle of Britain is becoming alarming. The British Commonwealth Air Training Plan begins in Ontario, Canada.
British Foreign Secretary Lord Halifax gives Great Britain’s response to German Chancellor Adolf Hitler peace offer of June 19, 1940. In the rejection Lord Halifax states that “He [Hitler] says he has no desire to destroy the British Empire, but there was in his speech no suggestion that peace must be based on justice, no word of recognition that the other nations of Europe had any right to self-determination, the principle which he has so often invoked for Germans. His only appeal was to the base instinct of fear, and his only arguments were threats. His silence as to the future of nations whom on one false pretext or another he has subjugated is significant… No one here wants the war to go on for a day longer than is necessary. But we shall not stop fighting until freedom, for ourselves and others, is secure.”
Having Halifax make the rejection is important internally because he has been the leader of the faction that wants to at least open a dialogue with Hitler.
The British War Cabinet approved the 19 Jul 1940 document by Neville Chamberlain to create the new secrete Special Operations Executive (SOE) organization. The Special Operations Executive was formally created by British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Minister of Economic Warfare Hugh Dalton to conduct warfare by means other than direct military engagement. Its mission was to encourage and facilitate espionage and sabotage behind enemy lines and to serve as the core of the Auxiliary Units, a British resistance movement.
General Bernard Montgomery takes command of British 5 Corps.
Immigrant Jews lose French citizenship.
The Vichy Government releases Belgian Rexist politician Leon Degrelle from detention near Spain. He returns home to occupied Belgium.
While pessimistic predictions in the German press concerning Britain’s probable answer to Chancellor Hitler’s speech grow in volume, an authoritative commentator of the Frankfurter Zeitung today examines “Roosevelt’s share in responsibility” for Britain’s position.
Dutch Prime minister Dirk Jan De Geer meets Adolf Hitler seeking peace talks
Wolfgang Falck received a call from Hermann Göring, who thanked him for the efforts to create an effective nightfighting unit within the Luftwaffe.
It was announced tonight that Rumanian Premier Ion Gigurtu and Foreign Minister Mihail Manoilescu are to leave for Salzburg, Germany, on Wednesday. They will be met there by the German Foreign Minister, Joachim von Ribbentrop.
There are increasing indications that Yugoslavia is preparing to offer a system of government along more authoritarian lines, but just how far such a trend will go remains questionable.
The president of Latvia, Karlis Ulmanis, was arrested and deported to the Soviet Union.
People who refused to vote for the Soviet puppet government candidates in the Baltic Republics are arrested.
HMS Beagle destroyed a German Junkers JU-87 by anti-aircraft fire.
Light cruiser HMS Aurora arrived in the Humber.
Destroyers HMS Zulu and HMS Firedrake departed Scapa Flow at 1200 and 1215, respectively, to hunt for a German submarine bombed by aircraft in 58-19N, 2-31W. Sloop HMS Rochester and Canadian destroyer HMCS St Laurent had already carried out a depth charge attack. Zulu and Firedrake after making depth charge attacks returned to Scapa Flow that day. The contact was later assessed to probably be a wreck.
Submarine HMS Narwhal departed the Humber on minelaying mission FD.22 off Trondheim in 63-16N, 07-13E, but was lost, probably about 23 July, before the mining scheduled on the 27th. She was declared missing on 1 August.
Submarine HMS Clyde fired six torpedoes at a submarine off Fejeosen off the Norwegian coast. The submarine was the HMS Truant, which fortunately escaped undamaged. At the time, Truant was on patrol off Fejeosen to observe enemy activity, but none was sighted.
Submarine HMS Triton was ordered to patrol off Selbjornfjord for 48 hours before proceeding to Korsfjord.
Submarine HMS H.34 encountered a submarine on patrol in the North Sea, which was later determined to be H.31.
Armed patrol trawler HMS Campina (289grt, Temporary Skipper F. Wellburn RNR) was sunk on a mine one and a half cables 88° from the Holyhead Breakwater Light. Wellbourn and ten ratings were missing.
Steamer Swynfleet (1168grt) was damaged by German bombing in 53-33N, 00-56E.
Italian bombers unsuccessfully attacked light cruiser HMS Colombo off Italian Somaliland.
Seven Swordfish aircraft were landed from aircraft carrier HMS Hermes at Freetown to form Y flight of 814 Squadron while the aircraft carrier left the area for repairs.
Convoy OA.188 departed Methil escorted by corvette HMS Camelia on 22 to 26 July and destroyer HMCS Skeena with anti-submarine trawlers HMS St Kenan and HMS Lady Elsa, and arrived in the Clyde on the 24th.
Convoy OA.189 did not sail.
Convoy FN.229 departed Southend, escorted by destroyers HMS Verdun and HMS Woolston, sloop HMS Fleetwood, and patrol sloop HMS Puffin. Destroyers HMS Jackal, HMS Jaguar, and HMS Jupiter were with the convoy on the 23rd and were detached that day, along with patrol sloop Puffin, and arrived at the Tyne on the 24th.
Convoy MT.117 departed Methil, and arrived in the Tyne later that day.
Convoy FS.228 departed the Tyne, and arrived at Southend on the 23rd.
Convoy FS.229 departed the Tyne, escorted by destroyers HMS Vimiera and HMS Winchester, and arrived at Southend on the 24th.
The War at Sea, Monday, 22 July 1940 (naval-history.net)
Light cruiser AURORA arrived in the Humber.
Destroyers ZULU and FIREDRAKE departed Scapa Flow at 1200 and 1215, respectively, to hunt for a German submarine bombed by aircraft in 58‑19N, 2‑31W.
Sloop ROCHESTER and Canadian destroyer HMCS ST LAURENT had already carried out a depth charge attack.
ZULU and FIREDRAKE after making depth charge attacks returned to Scapa Flow that day.
The contact was later assessed to probably be a wreck.
Submarine NARWHAL departed the Humber on minelaying mission FD.22 off Trondheim in 63‑16N, 07‑13E, but was lost, probably about 23 July, before the mining scheduled on the 27th. She was declared missing on 1 August. (Seekrieg: sunk by Do 17, Lt. Karl Müller of the 1/Kü.Fl.Gr. 606 in the Northern North Sea with bombs. UKDTD; Norwegian Sea at 55 30N 01 10E.)
Submarine CLYDE fired six torpedoes at a submarine off Fejeosen off the Norwegian coast. The submarine was the TRUANT, which escaped undamaged. At the time, TRUANT was on patrol off Fejeosen to observe enemy activity, but none was sighted.
Submarine TRITON was ordered to patrol off Selbjornfjord for 48 hours before proceeding to Korsfjord.
Submarine H.34 encountered a submarine on patrol in the North Sea, which was later determined to be H.31.
Armed patrol trawler CAMPINA (289grt, Temporary Skipper F. Wellburn RNR) was sunk on a mine one and a half cables 88° from the Holyhead Breakwater Light. Wellbourn and ten ratings were missing.
Convoy OA.188 departed Methil escorted by corvette CAMELIA on 22 to 26 July and destroyer HMCS SKEENA with anti-submarine trawlers ST KENAN and LADY ELSA, and arrived in the Clyde on the 24th.
Convoy OA.189 did not sail.
Convoy FN.229 departed Southend, escorted by destroyers VERDUN and WOOLSTON, sloop FLEETWOOD, and patrol sloop PUFFIN. Destroyers JACKAL, JAGUAR, and JUPITER were with the convoy on the 23rd and were detached that day, along with patrol sloop PUFFIN, and arrived at the Tyne on the 24th.
Convoy MT.117 departed Methil, and arrived in the Tyne later that day.
Convoy FS.228 departed the Tyne, and arrived at Southend on the 23rd.
Convoy FS.229 departed the Tyne, escorted by destroyers VIMIERA and WINCHESTER, and arrived at Southend on the 24th.
Steamer SWYNFLEET (1168grt) was damaged by German bombing in 53‑33N, 00‑56E.
Italian bombers unsuccessfully attacked light cruiser COLOMBO off Italian Somaliland.
Seven Swordfish aircraft were landed from aircraft carrier HERMES at Freetown to form Y flight of 814 Squadron while the aircraft carrier left the area for repairs.
The White House announced that President Roosevelt had sent to Congress a request for $500,000,000 additional capital and lending authority for the Export-Import Bank for use in aiding trade with Latin America.
The Senate received the Wagner bill to increase the lending authority and capital of the Export-Import Bank, heard Senator Ashurst urge action on the bill to deport Harry Bridges and adjourned at 1:19 PM until noon on Thursday.
The House tabled the Fish resolution requesting information from the President on possible secret agreements with Russia, received the Hennings amendment to the Neutrality Act to permit United States ships to bring refugee children from England, received the Steagall bill to increase the capital and lending authority of the Export-Import Bank and adjourned at 3:10 PM until noon on Thursday. The Military Affairs Committee decided to hear Mayor La Guardia and others on Wednesday on the Burke Wadsworth conscription bill and the Appropriations Committee heard Secretary Knox support the $5,000,000,000 defense appropriation request.
President Roosevelt’s acceptance speech appears to have made it almost a certainty the United States soon will fall into step with the rest of the world by requiring military service of selected citizens. Overshadowed by announcement of his willingness to accept a third term, a few sentences of the address forecast the full force of the administration would be thrown behind an effort to enact promptly possibly in the next two weeks-compulsory training legislation. “Planes and guns and tanks are wholly insufficient unless they are implemented by the power of men trained to use them,” the chief executive said, and added: “Most right-thinking persons are agreed that some form of selection by draft is as necessary and as fair today as it was in 1917 and 1918.”
Secretary Knox urged quick action today on President Roosevelt’s request for $4,848,171,957 for the Army and Navy. He appeared at a closed meeting of the House Appropriations Sub-committee. Representative Woodrum of Virginia, chairman of the subcommittee, said he hoped to bring the measure to debate within ten days. Meanwhile, the joint committee on internal revenue taxation began discussions on the proposed excess profits tax measure. The House and Senate, awaiting various legislative measures bearing on defense which are still in committees, recessed until Thursday.
Secretary Knox was the first witness before the appropriations subcommittee. Mr. Knox was said to have told the subcommittee that he was “entirely satisfied with the condition” in which he found the Navy, and outlined broad plans for making it the greatest in the world. Mr. Knox said, according to members of the committee, that he was “entirely in accord” with President Roosevelt’s defense program.
The Secretary left details of the requests to Admiral Harold R. Stark, Chief of Naval Operations, who followed him on the witness stand to present justifications for an immediate appropriation of $178,000,000 to lay the keels for 109,000 tons of fighting ships under the “two-ocean” navy authorization signed last week by President Roosevelt. The Navy officials are expected to complete their case before the subcommittee tomorrow and then Army officials will testify on behalf of requested sums for matériel and supplies to equip the projected huge fighting force.
Louis Johnson, Assistant Secretary of War, and Louis Compton, Assistant Secretary of the Navy, as joint chairmen of the Army and Navy Munitions Board, named a Construction Advisory Committee today to work in close cooperation. with the National Advisory Defense Commission. The committee will consist of the following: John P. Hogan, president, American Society of Civil Engineers, chairman; Alonzo J. Hammond. president of the American Engineering Council; E. J. Harding, general manager of the Associated General Contractors of America; E. P. Palmer, past president, Associated General Contractors of America; Malcolm Pirnie, general chairman of the Construction League of America, and Stephen F. Voorhees, past president of the American Institute of Architects.
U.S. Secretary of State Cordell Hull said the American republics could not permit European possessions in the Western Hemisphere to become a subject of barter or a battleground in the settlement of European differences. He also proposed a collective trusteeship of colonies.
A “sit-down” strike of some of the most important Democratic Senators in the forthcoming Presidential campaign appeared a strong possibility today as a result of President Roosevelt’s nomination for a third term at last week’s convention in Chicago and the directed choice of Secretary of Agriculture Wallace as the party’s candidate for Vice President.
An increasing dissent against breaking one of the oldest American political traditions through the President’s renomination, as well as against the circumstances under which this and Mr. Wallace’s nomination were accomplished, was reflected in private conversations within a sizable group who returned grumblingly to their Senatorial work this morning. It sprang largely from Senators who had been associated with the celebrated fight against the President’s court-enlargement bill in 1937, and more especially from those whom the New Deal subsequently attempted unsuccessfully to “purge” from the party.
The New York Herald Tribune says that former Gov. Alfred E. Smith and other prominent Democrats soon will announce their opposition to a third term for President Roosevelt and will support Republican Presidential Nominee Wendell L. Willkie.
Millions of Americans were harassed by intense heat yesterday and harried by advice that no general break in the sultry spell was in prospect. Temperatures scaled up into the nineties in the Midwest, East and South. The cumulative count of deaths attributed, directly to the sweltering siege now nearly a week old in some sections rose to 29 while 129 drownings were reported. Nebraska thermometers held around the 100-degree mark for the sixth successive day. Scattered weekend rains brought limited relief to some sections. Detroit residents watched the mercury ascend to 95, an all-time record for the date. Readings ranged up to 98 in Virginia. Some of the high marks were 112 in Phoenix, Arizona, 110 in Yuma Arizona, 105 in Rapid City, North Dakota, 103 in Minneapolis, 102 in Huron, South Dakota, and Kansas City, 101 in Charles City, Iowa, 100 in North Platte Nebraska, and Washington, D.C., 99 in Omaha and 98 in Des Moines Cleveland, Sioux City, Iowa, and Cody, Wyoming. Forecasters reported no widespread relief was in sight although rains might afford breathing spells for some regions.
Bantam submits its bid for the first military jeep, including blueprints. Much of it is assembled from existing off-the-shelf automotive parts, and the custom four-wheel drivetrain components are supplied by Spicer. The hand-built prototype was completed in Butler, Pennsylvania.
Units of the United States fleet left Pearl Harbor on new maneuvers at sea. It was understood that part of the Hawaiian detachment, which left Lahaina roads Friday, and possibly one or two additional battleships went to Christmas Island and will extend training to below the equator. This may lend credence to reports that the United States is planning to patrol all southern islands east of the international dateline. Christmas Island is jointly owned by the United States and Great Britain.
The Navy disclosed today that four destroyers were being fitted out as fast transports for use of the Marine Corps, evidencing efforts to speed creation of a “minute man” expeditionary force ready for any hemisphere emergency.
The Army, struggling with its first great expansion since the World War, is off to a far slower start than the Navy in the two-year program outlined by the President.
Jacqueline Kennedy’s parents John Vernou “Black Jack” Bouvier III and Janet (Norton Lee) divorce.
Major League Baseball:
No major league games scheduled today.
The Cubs buy first baseman Zeke Bonura from the Senators for $10,000. Bonura replaces Rip Russell, who is sidelined for the year.
Visiting Oil City, the Pirates lose an exhibition game to their Penn State Association farmhands, 4–3. Russ Bauers goes 7 innings and takes the loss.
General Harry Crerar appointed Chief of General Staff of Canada.
Construction of twelve munitions plants to cost a total of $19,000,000 was announced tonight by the Department of Munitions in Ottawa. Added to the plants authorized last week, this brings new arms projects revealed in the last ten days to $30,000,000.
The Havana Conference convenes in Havana, Cuba. The member nations discuss joint security and neutrality issues. US Secretary of State Cordell Hull proposes a collective trusteeship of colonies by the 21 American republics to prevent them from becoming a battleground or being taken over by outside powers.
The light cruiser USS Phoenix (CL-46) reached Callao, Peru. This ship was visiting South America “to furnish a reminder of the strength and the range of action of the armed forces of the United States.”
Shanghai was shocked and bewildered today, when Japanese Consul General Yoshiaki Miura [not to be confused with Major General Saburo Miura, commanding the Japanese gendarmes] refused to attend an emergency meeting of the consular body called for this afternoon and forced a postponement until Thursday on the plea of other engagements and other necessary work. This postpones for half a week the proposed emergency measures deemed necessary to cope with political terrorism, which last week culminated in assassination, bombing, armed robbery with violence and also official and unofficial threats against half a dozen Americans and many others, British and Chinese.
The chairman of the Municipal Council, J. W. Keswick, had appealed to the consular body to consider immediate steps to cope with the wave of terrorism and had called a meeting for this afternoon. At this meeting it was proposed to consider immediately the enforcement of rigid curfew regulations as well as the re-erection of various barricades in the endeavor to keep out lawless criminal elements harbored in the so-called “bad lands,” which are under Japanese control. It was also planned to ask the Shanghai defense forces for additional street patrols.
Prince Fumimaro Konoe became the 38th Prime Minister of Japan. This was his second time in this office. Premier Prince Konoe launched his new government today with a vague assertion that the Cabinet, at its first meeting last night, had “determined to proceed in a manner that would enhance the spirit on which the Japanese empire was founded.”
Hideki Tojo was appointed the Army Minister in Japanese Prime Minister Fumimaro Konoe’s new cabinet. He is a big advocate of an alliance with Germany.
Japanese luxury ocean liner Hikawa Maru departed Yokohama, Japan for Seattle, Washington, United States. Aboard were 82 Jewish refugees originally from Germany.
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 122.06 (+0.19)
Born:
Alex Trebek, television game show host (“Jeopardy”), in Sudbury, Ontario, Canada (d. 2020).
Bake Turner, NFL and AFL split end and flanker (AFL Champions, Super Bowl III Champions-Jets, 1968; AFL All-Star, 1963; Baltimore Colts, New York Jets, Boston Patriots), in Alpine, Texas.
Ron Gassert, NFL defensive tackle (Green Bay Packers), in Campbelltown, Pennsylvania (d. 2022).
Bobby Rascoe, ABA shooting guard and small forward (Kentucky Colonels), in Trigg County, Kentucky (d. 2024).
Naval Construction:
The Royal Navy “P”-class destroyer HMS Paladin (G 69) is laid down by the John Brown Shipbuilding & Engineering Company Ltd. (Clydebank, Scotland).
The Вое́нно-морско́й флот СССР (ВМФ) (Soviet Navy) Project 23 (Sovetsky Soyuz-class) battleship Sovetskaya Rossiya is laid down by Shipyard Number 402 (Moltovsk (today Severodvinsk), U.S.S.R.). After the end of the war she was only 0.97% complete, with 2,125 metric tons (2,091 long tons) of steel assembled. She was ordered scrapped on 27 March 1947.
The Вое́нно-морско́й флот СССР (ВМФ) (Soviet Navy) “ShCh” (ShChuka)-class (6th group, Type X-modified) submarine ShCh-138 is launched by Dalzavod (Vladivostok, U.S.S.R.) / Yard 202.
The Royal Navy Flower-class corvette HMS Eyebright (K 150) is launched by Canadian Vickers Ltd. (Montreal, Quebec, Canada). She is transferred to the Royal Canadian Navy before completion and commissions as HMCS Eyebright (K 150).
History Diaries 