2 set 1940 | World War II Database

2 set 1940

British submarine HMS Sturgeon sank German troop ship Pionier off Skagen, Denmark at 2000 hours. Most of the 750 to 1,000 German troops aboard Pionier, en route to Frederiksstad, Norway, were killed. ww2dbase [CPC]
German submarine U-47 sank Belgian ship Ville de Mons with four torpedoes 200 miles west of Isle of Lewis, Scotland at 1900 hours. All 54 aboard survived. ww2dbase [U-47 | CPC]
German submarine U-58 departed Lorient, France; only 30 miles out of the port, she was detected by British submarine HMS Tigris, which fired a spread of torpedoes at her; all torpedoes missed. German submarine U-46 sank British ship Thornlea 200 miles northwest of Ireland at 2200 hours, killing 3; 19 survivors were rescued by Canadian destroyer HMCS Skeena, while another 14 survivors would be rescued on the following day by the Norwegian ship Hild. 200 miles west of the Isle of Lewis, Scotland, United Kingdom, German submarine U-47 sank Belgian ship Ville de Mons with four torpedoes at 1900 hours; all 54 aboard survived. Far to the south, German armed merchant cruiser Widder sank British tanker Cymbeline with the deck gun and a torpedo in the Central Atlantic 800 miles west of the Canary Islands, killing 7; Widder remained in the area for four hours and rescued 26 survivors. ww2dbase [First Happy Time | Widder | CPC]
Franklin Roosevelt approved the "destroyers for bases" deal with the United Kingdom. ww2dbase [Franklin Roosevelt | CPC]
US Secretary of State Hull and British Ambassador Lord Lothian concluded the destroyers-for-bases deal. The United States was to provide the United Kingdom with 50 WW1-era destroyers; the United Kingdom, in return, was to provide 99-years leases on land in the Bahamas, Antigua, St. Lucia, Trinidad, Jamaica, and British Guiana to build American military bases and to provide land in Newfoundland and Bermuda as gifts to the US. Planning was quickly placed in motion for the dispatch of US Marine Corps units to these newly gained future bases. ww2dbase [CPC]
No. 25 and 29 Squadrons RAF each received their first Beaufighter fighters. ww2dbase [Beaufighter | AC]
Ermland was commissioned into service. ww2dbase [Ermland | CPC]

Alemanha

Seaplane tender Hans Albrecht Wedel was launched at the F. Schichau yard in Königsburg, Germany. ww2dbase [F. Schichau Königsburg | Hans Albrecht Wedel | Königsburg, Ostpreußen | CPC]

Itália

Morosini arrived at Taranto, Italy at 2230 hours. ww2dbase [Morosini | Taranto, Apulia | CPC]

Oceano Atlântico

Jaguar, Kondor, Falke, T2, T7, and T8 completed escorting minelayers in the southwestern North Sea. ww2dbase [T2 | Jaguar | Falke | Kondor | First Happy Time | T7 | T8 | North Sea | CPC]

Reino Unido

Hans-Joachim Marseille shot down a British Spitfire fighter, his second kill, over Kent, England, United Kingdom. He received minor damage in the engagement and ran out of fuel, but successfully crash landed on a beach near Calais, France. ww2dbase [Hans-Joachim Marseille | England | CPC]
In the morning, German bombers attacked RAF Eastchurch (destroyed buildings and down to only one runway), RAF Rochford (bombs fell on Gravesend instead of the airfield), RAF North Weald (most bombers forced back), and RAF Biggin Hill (suffered heavy damage) in England, United Kingdom. In the afternoon, RAF Hornchurch (most bombs missed), RAF Eastchurch (bomb dump detonated), and the Vickers bomber factory at Brooklands, Weybridge, Surrey, England, United Kingdom was attacked. On this day, the RAF shot down 27 German fighters and 10 bombers, while British anti-aircraft fire shot down a further 1 fighter and 3 bombers; 20 RAF fighters were shot down, with 10 pilots killed. Overnight, German bombers attacked Liverpool, Manchester, and Sheffield. ww2dbase [Battle of Britain | England | CPC]
James Lacey shot down two German Bf 109 fighters and a Do 17 aircraft over Britain. ww2dbase [James Lacey | CPC]
Josef Frantisek, flying a Hurricane fighter, scored his first kill, a German Bf 109E fighter, as a RAF pilot. ww2dbase [Josef Frantisek | CPC]
In Britain, the Bletchley Park codebreakers with the help of the newly installed Bombe succeed in breaking the "Brown" cipher thereby providing useful information regarding German Luftwaffe targets. ww2dbase [Bletchley Park | Enigma Code Broken | Bletchley, England | AC]