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• » 5 Aug 1940

• During the night, British Hampden aircraft attacked battleship Tirpitz to little effect. ww2dbase [Tirpitz | CPC]

• German submarine U-56 fired two torpedoes at Allied Convoy OB-193 northwest of Malin Head, County Donegal, Ireland at 2138 hours, scoring one hit on British merchant ship Boma; 3 were killed and 50 survived; Boma would sink on next day ww2dbase [First Happy Time | U-56 | CPC]
• HMS Hermes joined a South Africa-bound convoy in the South Atlantic. ww2dbase [Hermes | CPC]

• Heavy cruisers USS Wichita and USS Quincy departed Bahia, Brazil for Pernambuco, Brazil. ww2dbase [Quincy (New Orleans-class) | Bahia | CPC]

• Lieutenant General Bertoldi's Italian troops captured Zeila, British Somaliland, preventing forces in French Somaliland from reinforcing the British forces from the west. ww2dbase [Invasion of British Somaliland | Zeila | CPC]

• British ship Cape St. George hit the wreck of Yugoslavian ship Rad off of the coast of Senegal in western Africa, which was sunk by German submarine U-A two days earlier; as Cape St. George sank, the crew of 65 were rescued by British ship Grodno, which was carrying the survivors of Rad. ww2dbase [First Happy Time | CPC]

• Germany announced that all citizens will be required to carry a Certificate of Ancestry (Ahnenpass) that proves their Aryan purity dating back to 1800. ww2dbase [TH]
• T10 was commissioned into service. ww2dbase [T10 | CPC]

• Maggiore Baracca departed La Spezia, Italy at 0854 hours for tests, returning at 1540 hours. ww2dbase [Maggiore Baracca | La Spezia, Liguria | CPC]

• The Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic was officially incorporated into the Soviet Union. ww2dbase [Annexation of the Baltic States | CPC]

• The United Kingdom and Poland signed a military agreement. ww2dbase [TH]
• Winston Churchill and Charles de Gaulle agreed on Free French forces organization. ww2dbase [TH]
• Large German Luftwaffe formations patrolled the Strait of Dover and attacked convoys off the east and southeast coast of England, United Kingdom; 4 German Bf 109 fighters and 1 British Spitfire fighter were shot down as RAF fighters rose to intercept. ww2dbase [Battle of Britain | England | CPC]
• British minesweeping trawler HMT River Clyde hit a naval mine off Aldeburgh, Suffolk, England, United Kingdom and sank, killing 12. ww2dbase [Aldeburgh, England | CPC]

• The US Navy Chief of Naval Operations established general ground rules to govern the exchange of scientific and technical information with the British mission under Sir Henry Tizard. ww2dbase [CPC]
• US Navy Rear Admiral John W. Greenslade and French Vice Admiral Georges A. M. J. Robert amicably discussed the presence of French warships (aircraft carrier Béarn, light cruiser Émile Bertin, training cruiser Jeanne d'Arc, and auxiliary cruisers Esterelle, Quercy, and Barfleur) and aircraft (44 SBC-4 dive bombers, 15 Hawk 75 fighters, and 6 Brewster fighters) in the western hemisphere. ww2dbase [CPC]

5 Aug 1940 Interactive Map