September 7, 1940: The London Blitz Begins

September 7, 1940: The London Blitz begins, as Nazi Luftwaffe bombers begin attacking the seat of the British Empire.

London was systematically bombed by the Luftwaffe for 56 of the following 57 days and nights. Notable attacks included a large daylight attack against London on September 15, a large raid on December 29 that resulted in a firestorm known as the Second Great Fire of London, and a large raid on the night of May 10 and 11, 1941.

The Luftwaffe gradually decreased daylight operations in favor of night attacks to evade attacks by the Royal Air Force (RAF), and the Blitz became a night bombing campaign after October 1940. The Luftwaffe attacked the main Atlantic seaport of Liverpool, in what became known as the Liverpool Blitz. The North Sea port of Hull, a convenient and easily found target or secondary target for bombers unable to locate their primary targets, suffered the Hull Blitz.

The Nazis bombed port cities of Bristol, Portsmouth, Plymouth, Southampton and Sunderland in England; Cardiff and Swansea in Wales; Glasgow in Scotland; and Belfast in Northern Ireland. They also went after the English industrial centers of Birmingham, Coventry, Manchester and Sheffield.

More than 40,000 civilians were killed by Luftwaffe bombing during the war, almost half of them in the capital, where more than a million houses were destroyed or damaged.

The bombing was significantly reduced, although not entirely ended, after the Nazis invaded the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941. Afterward, the RAF, and eventually the U.S. Army Air Force, treated the Germans the way the British had been treated.

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September 7, 1940 was a Saturday. These baseball games were played that day: 

* The New York Yankees beat the Boston Red Sox, 4-3 at Fenway Park in Boston. Marius Russo went the distance for the win. Joe DiMaggio and Ted Williams each hit home runs.

* The New York Giants beat their arch-rivals, the Brooklyn Dodgers, 4-1 at the Polo Grounds. Harry Gumbert outpitched Lee Grissom. Mel Ott went 0-for-3 with a walk. Babe Young hit a home run for the Giants, and Jimmy Wasdell hit one for the Dodgers.

* The Boston Bees swept a doubleheader from the Philadelphia Phillies, 3-2 and 3-1 at Shibe Park (later Connie Mack Stadium) in Philadelphia. Al Glossop singled Gene Moore home in the top of the 10th inning to win the opener. This was the last of 5 seasons that Boston's National League team used the Bees name, going back to using "Braves" in 1941.

* The Philadelphia Athletics beat the Washington Senators, 8-5 at Griffith Stadium in Washington.

* The Chicago White Sox beat the Cleveland Indians, 5-4 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium.

* The Detroit Tigers beat the St. Louis Browns, 5-4 at Briggs Stadium (later Tiger Stadium) in Detroit. Hank Greenberg hit a home run.

* The Cincinnati Reds beat the Chicago Cubs, 7-6 at Wrigley Field in Chicago.

* And the Pittsburgh Pirates beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 14-9 at Sportsman's Park (later the 1st Busch Stadium) in St. Louis.

August 25, 1944: Aerial Combat's All-Time "Ace of Aces"

August 25, 1944: Although this was the day that the Allies liberated Paris -- I have a separate entry for that event -- there was one good story for the Nazis: They gave their highest military decoration, the Knight's Cross with Oak Leaves, Swords, and Diamonds, to Erich Hartmann.

Erich Hartmann was born in 1922 in Weissach, in Württemberg, in the southwest of Germany. A glider pilot before World War II, he joined the Luftwaffe in 1940, and completed his fighter pilot training in 1942. He was posted to the Eastern Front, and placed under the supervision of some of the Luftwaffe's most experienced fighter pilots. Under their guidance, Hartmann steadily developed his tactics.

"The Black Devil" is credited with having shot down 352 Allied planes: 345 Soviet and 7 American. This makes him the most successful fighter pilot who ever lived, and ever fought in any war. He is the all-time "ace of aces" in military history. He was forced to crash-land his fighter 16 times after either mechanical failure or damage received from parts of enemy aircraft he had shot down. He was never shot down by direct enemy action.

He shot down over 4 times as many planes as Manfred von Richthofen, known as the Red Baron, and lived until 1993, at the age of 71. But hardly anybody has ever heard of him. Part of it is because World War I was the last "romantic war," or perhaps it was the war to end all romantic wars. (Even that isn't really true: The Spanish Civil War did that.) Part of it is that Germany still isn't allowed to have heroes from the war that the Nazis started. Marshal Erwin Rommel is sometimes considered an exception.

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August 25, 1944 was a Friday. This was also the day that the Nazis gave their highest decoration to the war's most successful fighter pilot, Erich Hartmann. I have a separate entry for this event.

Hockey coach Jacques Demers and actor Anthony Heald were born that day. And these Major League Baseball games were played:

* The New York Yankees beat the Washington Senators, 4-2 in 11 innings at Griffith Stadium in Washington.

* The New York Giants beat the Brooklyn Dodgers, 10-2 at the Polo Grounds in Manhattan.

* A doubleheader was played at Shibe Park (later renamed Connie Mack Stadium) in Philadelphia. The Philadelphia Athletics swept the Boston Red Sox, winning the 1st game 6-1, and the 2nd game 9-4.

* A doubleheader was played at Braves Field in Boston. The Philadelphia Phillies won the 1st game, 9-7. The Boston Braves won the 2nd game, 4-3.

* The Cleveland Indians beat the Chicago White Sox, 10-2 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium.

* The Detroit Tigers beat the St. Louis Browns, 1-0 at Briggs Stadium (later renamed Tiger Stadium) in Detroit.

* The Cincinnati Reds beat the Chicago Cubs, 2-0 at Wrigley Field in Chicago.

* And the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 4-0 at Sportsman's Park in St. Louis.