7 Oct 1940 | World War II Database

7 Oct 1940

Operation Lucid: British tankers War Nizam and War African, filled with oil and fuel and to be used as fire ships, departed for French channel ports to attack German invasion barges. The mission was once again canceled, this time after destroyer HMS Hambledon hit a mine off the coast near Folkestone, Kent, England. ww2dbase [CPC]
In the morning, Hermann Göring presented Wolfgang Falck the Knight Cross medal, which was officially awarded to Falck six days prior; the medal was placed around Falck's neck by Major Bernd von Brauchitsch, son of the army chief of staff and Göring's adjutant. During the lunch after the award ceremony, Falck asked Erhard Milch to consider changing the Luftwaffe rule which stated that the family of servicemen who died with less than 10 years of service received no pension. ww2dbase [Wolfgang Falck | CPC]
Capitano di Fregata Primo Longobardo was made the commanding officer of Luigi Torelli, relieving Aldo Cocchia. ww2dbase [Luigi Torelli | CPC]

Atlantic Ocean

German submarine U-59 sank Norwegian ship Touraine 50 miles northwest of Ireland at 1600 hours; 1 was killed and 34 survived in 3 lifeboats. German submarine U-37 hit British tanker British General with two torpedoes 400 miles west of Ireland at 2000 hours after already damaging her with two torpedoes on the previous day; British General sank with all 47 hands lost. ww2dbase [First Happy Time | CPC]

Indian Ocean

German armed merchant cruiser Pinguin stopped Norwegian tanker Storstad 500 miles northwest of Australia. With 12,000 tons of diesel oil on board, Storstad was taken as a prize ship and sent back to Germany; she would later be commissioned into German Navy service as Passat. 25 of Storstad's crew became captives aboard Pinguin, while 5 of them chose to serve the Germans aboard Storstad/Passat. ww2dbase [Pinguin | CPC]

Italy

Morosini departed Naples, Italy at 0827 hours for exercises, returning at 1747 hours. ww2dbase [Morosini | Naples, Campania | CPC]

United Kingdom

German Luftwaffe dispatched large raids of 50 to 100 aircraft against southern England, United Kingdom, with fighters being 66% to 75% of each wave. On this day, 21 German fighters and 6 bombers were shot down, while the British lost 16 fighters with 6 pilots killed. Overnight, London, Bristol, Liverpool, Firth of Forth, and other locations were bombed. ww2dbase [Battle of Britain | England | CPC]
James Lacey claimed a probable kill on a German Bf 109 fighter over Britain. ww2dbase [James Lacey | CPC]

Timeline Section Founder: Thomas Houlihan
Contributors: Alan Chanter, C. Peter Chen, Thomas Houlihan, Hugh Martyr, David Stubblebine
Special Thanks: Rory Curtis

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