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• Destroyers USS Walke and USS Wainwright departed Bahia, Brazil for Pará, Brazil. ww2dbase [CPC]

• The Parliament of the Kingdom of Afghanistan was established. ww2dbase [CPC]

• Adolf Hitler announced an air and sea blockade of Britain, threatening that all ships approaching Britain would be sunk without warning. ww2dbase [First Happy Time | TH]
• German leaders designated Berlin as the European financial center after Germany's victory. ww2dbase [Berlin | TH]

• Alpino Bagnolini departed Taranto, Italy at 0645 hours for exercises, returning at 1230 hours. ww2dbase [Alpino Bagnolini | Taranto, Apulia | CPC]

• HMS Hermes began receiving repairs at Simon's Town, South Africa for damage caused by the 10 Jul 1940 collision with armed merchant cruiser HMS Corfu. ww2dbase [Hermes | Simon's Town | CPC]

• Pilot Officer Billy Fiske of No. 601 Squadron RAF died from his injuries at Royal West Sussex Hospital in Chichester, England, United Kingdom after being shot down and badly burned on the previous day. Billy Fiske, an American volunteer, was remembered by a plaque in London's St. Paul's Cathedral as "An American Citizen who Died That England Might Live". ww2dbase [Battle of Britain | Chichester, England | AC]

17 Aug 1940 Interactive Map