TODAY DURING WWII - August 20 1940 – British Prime Minister Winston Churchill makes the fourth of his famous wartime speeches, containing the line Never was so much owed by so many to so few. 1940 – Battle of Britain Day 42. Clouds and rain again restrict the morning to reconnaissance flights, although the English Channel is clear and convoys are attacked. 1940 – 350 miles East of New Plymouth, New Zealand, German armed merchant cruiser Orion chases British steamer Turakina (carrying 4000 tons of lead, 1500 tons of grain, 7000 tons of wool) and sinks her with prolonged shellfire. 38 crew are killed. 1942 – Guadalcanal. Overnight, Japanese Colonel Ichiki moves his 770 troops forward to within a few miles of Henderson Field, stopping at 4.30 AM. Ichiki is still fooled by intelligence reports that a minimal American presence holds the airfield. 1942 – Overnight, Luftwaffe bombers mount a small raid on Portsmouth on the South coast of England. 1943 – Japan and Thailand signed a peace treaty, in which four provinces of Japanese-occupied British Malaya (Kedah, Perlis, Kelantan and Trengganu) were to be made part of Thailand. Thai administration would begin on October 18. 1943 – Soviet Major General P. V. Bogdanov, who had collaborated with the enemy after being captured by the German Army, was recaptured and turned over to the Soviet counter-intelligence service, SMERSH. Bogdanov would be executed, along with five other former Red Army generals, on April 19, 1950. 1944 – 168 captured allied airmen, including Phil Lamason, accused by the Gestapo of being terror fliers, arrive at Buchenwald concentration camp. 1944 – The Battle of Romania begins with a major Soviet Union offensive.
Posted on: Wed, 20 Aug 2014 07:15:32 +0000