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• French Army General Maurice Martin took over Franco-Japanese negotiations for Indochina. Japanese intelligence intercepted a French cable that detailed Indochina affairs to the United States and the United Kingdom, signaling that the US and the UK still had influence in Indochina politics. Japanese Army argued that force must now to be used before US and UK openly asserted pressure. ww2dbase [Indochina Campaign | CPC]
• German motor torpedo boats attacked Allied convoy FS.271 off Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, England. S-21 sank ships Corbrook and New Lambton, S-22 sank Fulham IV (entire crew survived), S-18 sank British ship Joseph Swan (only 1 survived) and Dutch ship Nieuwland (8 killed), and S-54 damaged ship Ewell. ww2dbase [CPC]
• German submarine U-45 sank Irish ship Luimneach 200 miles west of Brest, France at 2000 hours. 3 were rescued by U-45 and 15 were rescued by a French fishing boat. ww2dbase [First Happy Time | CPC]
• German submarine U-47 sank British ship Titan of Allied convoy OA-207 250 miles northwest of Ireland at 0128 hours, killing 6. 89 survivors were rescued by escorting destroyer HMCS St. Laurent. ww2dbase [U-47 | CPC]

• Prince Nagahisa passed away in an airplane crash at Kalgan (now Zhangjiakou) in Japanese puppet state of Mengjiang in northern China. ww2dbase [Nagahisa | Kalgan, Chahar | CPC]

• Alessandro Malaspina arrived at Bordeaux, France at 2030 hours, ending her first war patrol. ww2dbase [Alessandro Malaspina | Bordeaux, Aquitaine | CPC]

• Adolf Hitler addressed a crowd of factory workers, nurses, and relief workers during the Winter Relief Campaign at the Berlin Sportpalast, declaring that Germany would now answer British night raids on German cities with greater ferocity. ww2dbase [Battle of Britain | Adolf Hitler | Berlin | CPC]

• Fairey Swordfish aircraft from the British Fleet Air Arm's 815 and 819 Squadrons attacked the Calato and Gadurra airfields on Rhodes, Greece. They should had been accompanied by Swordfish aircraft from 813 and 824 Squadrons but these were delayed in their departure from HMS Eagle and when they arrived the Italian defences were alerted with fighters waiting for them. Four of the Swordfish aircraft were shot down. The Italians lost two aircraft destroyed and seven damaged on the ground. ww2dbase [AC]

• Alpino Bagnolini departed Taranto, Italy at 0635 hours for exercises, returning at 1300 hours. ww2dbase [Alpino Bagnolini | Taranto, Apulia | CPC]

• Romanian King Carol II handed power over to the pro-German General Ion Antonescu. ww2dbase [Ion Antonescu | CPC]

• German bombers attacked RAF airfields at Eastchurch, Lympne, and Rochford, along with the Short Brothers factories at Rochester and the Vickers-Armstrong aircraft factory at Brooklands in Surrey (55 killed, 250 wounded). RAF Group Captain Grice at Biggin Hill decided to blow up his own hangars to prevent further German attacks; he was later censured in a Court of Enquiry for this action, but no conclusions were made in court. On this day, the Germans lost 6 Bf 109 fighters, 13 Bf 110 fighters, and 1 He 111 bomber; the British lost 9 Spitfire fighters and 6 Hurricane fighters and combat. Overnight, British cities in South Wales and the Midlands were attacked by German bombers. ww2dbase [Battle of Britain | CPC]

4 Sep 1940 Interactive Map