Today in History-July 10
Two RAF pilots from Fighter Command return from their latest encounter withthe Germans unscathed
1940: Luftwaffe launches Battle of Britain
England have
The German Air Force, the Luftwaffe, has mounted a series of attacks on
shipping convoys off the south-east coast of England.
It is the first major assault by the Luftwaffe and is being seen as what
the Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, dubbed in a speech three weeks ago as the
beginning of the "Battle of Britain".
Although heavily outnumbered, the British fighter pilots put up a fierce
fight and succeeded in driving off the attackers.
The Air Ministry says they inflicted "the greatest damage on the German air
force since bombing raids on this country began".
In total the Air Ministry says 14 enemy aircraft were shot down and 23 more
were severely damaged.
Two British fighters were lost, but the pilot of one survived and is
safe.
The bombing raids began at dawn hitting airfields along the south and east
coasts of England.
But the main attacks took place offshore later in the day, when two
shipping convoys were targeted. The first was at 1100 hours off Manston and at
1325 hours a large force of about 120 enemy aircraft approached a convoy between
Dover and Dungeness.
Spitfire pilots went into the attack shooting down a number of
Messerschmitt 110s and 109s. Exact numbers are difficult to verify but it seems
at least nine planes were shot down.
On landing the Spitfire pilots said when they made their last attack and
came round again to carry on the fight the sky was clear of German aircraft.
Towards evening Hurricane pilots sighted nine Heinkel bombers protected by
more than 50 fighters attempting to attack shipping off the east coast. The
bombers were surrounded by two rings of Messerschmitts - but the Hurricanes
broke through and attacked the bombers shooting down at least two.
People watching from the south-east coast say the first sign of the attack
was when a wave of about 20 German bombers with a similar number of support
fighters dived out of the clouds.
They rained bombs down on a convoy of ships, but did not hit. A second wave
of bombers and fighters followed but before a second load of bombs could be
released, the ships opened fire with their anti-aircraft guns.
At this moment, a flight of Spitfires appeared and flew straight into the
middle of the German formation - hitting one bomber which crashed into the
sea.
It appears the intensity of the attack took the Germans by surprise and
completely destroyed their formation.
One eye-witness told The Times newspaper: "I saw 10 machines crash into the
sea, they included bombers and fighters. The range of operations was too
extensive to see everything, for it was over land and sea.
"The British fighters were fewer than the Messerschmitts sent to protect
the bombers, but the superiority of our airmen and machines was most
convincing."
The Americans entered Palermo two weeks after the invasion
1943: Western Allies invade Sicily
Artificially 1969:
The The armed forces of Britain, the United States and Canada have landed
on the Mediterranean island of Sicily.
It is the first major landing of British troops on European soil since the
fall of Crete two years ago.
Initial resistance has been surprisingly weak against British forces with
little anti-aircraft fire and no enemy naval intervention. However, the US
forces faced a tougher fight on their beaches.
The Times reports Allied air forces acted in close co-operation with naval
and ground forces.
Their first sight of the island was against a brilliant red sunset with the
dramatic outline of Mount Etna. No-one would forget the mixture of awe and
foreboding this created.
Late last night airborne troops in parachutes and gliders - many of whom
fought in North Africa - were dropped over the island.
American paratroops were the first to land at 2110 under the command of
Colonel John Cerny, who said a whole battalion had been dropped in one area
alone. They were followed by British airborne troops two hours later.
There is little news about them at the moment but all the aircraft carrying
them returned to base in North Africa safely.
Meanwhile hundreds of ships of all sizes sailed across from North Africa
carrying thousands of troops, weapons, armoured vehicles and heavy
artillery.
The invasion fleet was described by one pilot as stretching across 40 miles
of water consisting of huge barges and merchant ships escorted by
destroyers.
At about 0300 local time today the British and Canadian troops were brought
ashore at Pachino, near Cape Passero on the south-east coast of the
south-eastern tip of Sicily.
Americans arrived three hours later near Gela to the west of the British
beaches.
The Canadians had to cope with fairlychoppyseas in the area of their
operations but the British were protected by the bay at Passero and were able to
land their equipment ashore fairly easily.
They did encounter some heavy sniping from coastal defences but have made
swift progress inland.
A Times correspondent arrived with the invading force on a destroyer.
He said the ships "were as unmolested as if this were indeed a peacetime
trip to Sicily. Raiders have not appeared in the air, and from the sea the scene
might be along some pleasant stretch of coast where our task was protection
rather than assault."
Major airfields in and around Catania on the east coast were bombed
yesterday and today by Flying Fortresses.
But there was no major bombardment of the coast ahead of the invasion, for
fear of alerting the enemy to a major assault - only a brief attack from the
Navy and Air Force a few hours before the landings.
Over the past month Sicilian airfields have been attacked to weaken air
power on the ground and prevent the arrival of reinforcements.
Vocabulary:
choppy :(of water) covered with many short rough waves(波浪起伏的)
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