World War II Database

• Home
• » Events
• » WW2 Timeline
• » 19 Sep 1940

• Wellington, Hampden, and Whitley bombers of the British RAF attacked German invasion barges in ports along the French coast. One Hampden bomber was lost. After the attack, Adolf Hitler ordered the barges to disperse to minimize further losses. Thus far, 214 of the 1,918 barges assembled for the planned invasion had been destroyed by British aerial attacks. ww2dbase [TH]
• British Minister of Labour Ernest Bevin announced that, as of the end of Aug 1940, there were 51,261 registered conscientious objectors in Britain. ww2dbase [Ernest Bevin | CPC]
• British bombers sank German torpedo boat T-3 at Le Havre, France, killing 9 and wounding 12. T-3 would later be raised and repaired. ww2dbase [CPC]
• Italian submarines Archimede and Guglielmotti and destroyers Leone, Pantera, Battisti, and Manin searched in the Red Sea for Allied Convoy BN-5. They failed to locate their target. ww2dbase [CPC]
• Italian submarine Comandante Faa Di Bruno attacked a ship 700 miles west of Gibraltar without success. Italian submarine Guglielmo sank Spanish trawler Almirante Jose De Carranza in the Bay of Biscay north of Spain; only 1 survived. ww2dbase [First Happy Time | CPC]
• Italian submarine Serpente mis-identified Italian submarine Marcantonio Colonna as hostile and fired a torpedo 59 miles south of Italy. The torpedo missed. ww2dbase [CPC]

• Rohan Amerasekera signed up for the British Royal Air Force. ww2dbase [Rohan Amerasekera | CPC]

• During the Imperial Conference, Prince Hiroyasu of Fushimi expressed concerns regarding the alliance between Japan and Germany. ww2dbase [Hiroyasu | Tokyo | CPC]

• Comandante Faà di Bruno sighted a freighter in the Mediterranean Sea on the horizon at 1720 hours. At 2045 hours, the Italian submarine fired a torpedo, and it missed. At 2053 hours, a second torpedo was fired, and scored a hit 2 minutes and 15 seconds later. The damaged target vessel would be able to escape from the submarine. ww2dbase [Comandante Faà di Bruno | CPC]

• Bad weather restricted aerial activity during the day, thus the Germans only launched reconnaissance missions. 5 Ju 88 bombers dispatched on reconnaissance missions were lost, including one that was forced to land at RAF Oakington at 1500 hours due to engine trouble. Overnight, London, England, United Kingdom was bombed several times between 2000 hours and midnight. ww2dbase [Battle of Britain | London, England | CPC]
• No. 71 "Eagle" Squadron was formed at RAF Church Fenton in North Yorkshire, England, United Kingdom, the first fighter squadron made up of American volunteer pilots under the command of Squadron Leader Earnest Bitmead RAF. Initially supplied with Brewster Buffalo fighters the squadron was soon re-equipped with Hawker Hurricane fighters. ww2dbase [Battle of Britain | Church Fenton, England | AC]

• During a yard maintenance period at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, USS Oklahoma collided with harbor tug Goliah. ww2dbase [Puget Sound Navy Yard | Oklahoma | Bremerton, Washington | DS]
• British members of the Tizard scientific mission met with their American counterparts at the Wardman Park Hotel in Washington DC, United States and began exchanging results of their scientific research up to that point, including and especially their radar technology. All by itself, this first meeting almost immediately led to vast improvements to radar on both sides and also led to further advancements in related areas, such as development of the proximity fuze. ww2dbase [Vannevar Bush | VT Radio Proximity | Washington DC | DS]

19 Sep 1940 Interactive Map