1940 Chronicle

The 1940 Chronicle was our campaign to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the Battle of Britain. It was an important chance to thank all those who served during the Battle and to reflect on the sacrifices they made to protect our freedom.

The Chronicle’s offices were hit by bombs on the night of September 17, 1940 after more than 250 German bombers flew in to bombard central London with high explosives and incendiaries.

After the Luftwaffe’s mighty defeat at the hands of the RAF on September 15, the Germans flew very few daytime missions yesterday, but they returned at night to bomb London again. However, the RAF bombers were continuing to hit back hard as well, by smashing up various enemy targets.

The fighters of the RAF yesterday hit a hammer blow against the Luftwaffe when they downed 56 German aircraft for the loss of just 26 of our own. It was one of their worst days of the battle so far and one of the RAF’s best. The Germans sent waves and waves of bombers with fighter escorts across the Channel – at one point 550 aircraft in a single formation – but Air Chief Marshal Dowding responded by throwing up more Hurricanes and Spitfires than ever before.

Italian forces have for the first time crossed the Libyan border into Egypt and occupied the ruined border town of Sollum, on the Mediterranean coast. It seems doubtful that a full invasion of Egypt has begun by the Italians and the British Middle East Command in Cairo does not regard the incursion as serious. Nonetheless, the Italian force was harried by armoured vehicles from the 7th Support Group, a mobile element of the 7th Armoured Division.