World War II As It Happened
A MaritimeQuest Daily Event Special Presentation
Saturday August 24, 1940
Day 359

August 24, 1940: Front page of the Manchester Evening News, Manchester, England.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)
 
Note the report in column 4: "Trotsky Ordered Stalins Death"
Also note the report in column 4: "The Flying Godiva Injured"
(It took until the end of the month for the British press to publish a report about this.)


August 24, 1940: Front page of The Daily Mail, Hull, England.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)
Note the report at bottom right: "City's Efforts Goes Ahead: More Donations.
(The goal is to raise enough money to buy 5 fighters and 1 bomber for the R.A.F.)


August 24, 1940: Front page of the Birmingham Gazette, Birmingham, England.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)
 
Note the report at top right: "Raider In Tasman Sea"
(The unsourced report states that the steamer Turakina signalled that she was being shelled by a raider. The signal gave the position, but no other information, and there was no further contact with the ship. It had been sunk by the German Hilfskreuzer (auxiliary cruiser) Orion. The report goes on and the writer makes two incorrect assumptions.

The first one is that this raider (Orion) was last heard from after a gun battle with the British auxiliary cruiser HMS Alcantara. The battle had actually been with another Hilfskreuzer, Thor. The second incorrect assumption is made with great conviction. They state;

"The raider is known to have sunk two British ships. The first the armed freighter, Davisian, was attacked 240 miles east of the Virgin Islands on 10 July... Three days later the British freighter, King John, was sunk 300 miles north of Sombrero."

It is true that both ships were sunk by a raider, but they were sunk by Widder, not Orion. In fact, at least three other Hilfskreuzers were operating on the high seas at that time. Komet [which was operating near Orion,] Pinguin and Atlantis which were operating in the Atlantic and Indian Oceans.


August 24, 1940: Front page of the Press and Journal, Aberdeen, Scotland.
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August 24, 1940: Front page of The Examiner, Launceston, Tasmania, Australia.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)


August 24, 1940: Front page of the Daily Telegraph, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)


August 24, 1940: Front page of The Telegraph, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)


August 24, 1940: Front page of The Lethbridge Herald, Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)


August 24, 1940: Front page of the Winnipeg Free Press, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)


August 24, 1940: Front page of Haarlem's Dagblad, Haarlem, Netherlands.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)


August 24, 1940: Front page of the Biddeford Daily Journal, Biddeford, Maine.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)


August 24, 1940: Front page of The Evening Star, Washington, D.C.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)


August 24, 1940: Front page of The Evening Gazette, Xenia, Ohio.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)


August 24, 1940: Front page of The Port Arthur News, Port Arthur, Texas.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)
Note the report at bottom right: "Japan Gets Warning From United States"


August 24, 1940: Front page of the Nevada State Journal, Reno, Nevada.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)


August 24, 1940: Front page of the San Mateo Times, San Mateo, California.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)
 
Note the report in columns 6-7: "45 German Craft Are Downed, Damage To London Light, Claim"
(Keeping the "Never Doubt" clause in mind, the Air Ministry officially announced that 45 German planes had been shot down on Aug. 24th. The actual number of German losses were; 24 lost in combat, 1 missing, 5 lost in non-combat incidents.)


August 24, 1940: Front page of the Hamburger Neueste Zeitung, Altona, Hamburg, Germany.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)
 
1. Die neue Reichskleiderkarte mit 150 Punkten und ihre Nutzungsmöglichkeiten.
(The new Reich clothing card with 150 points and how to use it.)
2. Deutsche Seestreitkräfte in Austral-Gewässern. In 8 Tagen 100 000 BRT!
(German naval ships in Australian waters. In 8 Days 100,000 GRT!)
[German admission of an armed raider operating near Australia. This is the German report of the attack against the steamer Turakina. The report also states that one U-boat had sunk both Severn Leigh and Brockwood, this was U-37. And another U-boat sank an 11,000-ton merchant steamer, this was the Cumberland sunk by U-57. The headline was almost correct, the actual tonnage lost over the eight day period was 69,256 tons.]


August 24, 1940: Front page of the Völkischer Beobachter, the official newspaper of the NSDAP.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)
1. Großbritannien zittert unter deutschen Bomben.
(Great Britain trembles under German bombs.)
2. Der erste Großangriff auf Rüstungsbetriebe und Flugplätzw in Mittelengland.
(The first major attack against armament factories and air fields in central England.)
3. Italiens Flagge weht über Somali.
(Italian flag flies over Somaliland.)



   
Page published August 24, 2021