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• Captain J. A. L. Timpson, commander of the G1 Patrol of the British Long Range Desert Group, was injured in an accident en route to raid Barce, Libya; Sergeant Jack Dennis would assume of the role of acting commanding officer for the duration of the raid as Timpson was evacuated for treatment. ww2dbase [Raids in Libya | CPC]
• Destroyer Yuzuki arrived at Jaluit Atoll, Marshall Islands. ww2dbase [Yuzuki | CPC]
• Admiral Chester Nimitz requested the Marine Aircraft Wings, Pacific to be relocated from San Diego, California, United States to Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii. ww2dbase [Chester Nimitz | CPC]
• US 8th Air Force bombers attacked the Rouen marshalling yards in France, but bombs dropped wide by the inexperienced American crews caused the deaths of 140 French civilians. ww2dbase [AC]
• German submarine U-506 sank British merchant ship Myrmidon 200 miles south of Cape Palmas, Liberia at 0233 hours; all 245 aboard survived. German submarine U-513 sank British ship Saganaga (30 were killed, 14 survived) and Canadian ship Lord Strathcona (all 44 aboard survived) at Wabana, Bell Island, Newfoundland at 1615 hours. ww2dbase [Second Happy Time | CPC]
• British submarine HMS Traveller sank Italian freighter Albachiara 25 miles off Derna, Libya. ww2dbase [CPC]

• British merchant ship City of Capetown rescued 19 survivors of American freighter California, which was sunk by Italian submarine Reginaldo Giuliani on 13 Aug 1942, in the Atlantic Ocean. ww2dbase [CPC]

• Australian 2/16th and 2/14th Battalions fell back to Efogi along the Kokoda Track in Australian Papua on the southern side of the Owen Stanley Gap. ww2dbase [New Guinea-Papua Campaign, Phase 2 | CPC]
• Tenryu embarked surviving Special Naval Landing Force troops at Milne Bay, Australian Papua. ww2dbase [Tenryu | CPC]

• Japanese destroyers Yudachi, Hatsuyuki, and Murakumo, having just disembarked 1,000 troops at Taivu, Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands before midnight on the previous day, shelled Henderson Field. As a US Navy PBY Catalina aircraft dropped flares to illuminate the battlefield, Yudachi took advantage of the lighting, spotting destroyer-transports USS Gregory and USS Little in Savo Sound. Yudachi promptly sank both of them with gunfire off Lunga Point; 22 were killed aboard USS Gregory, 62 were killed aboard USS Little. After dawn, US aircraft based in Henderson Field sank Japanese barges attempting to bring heavy equipment onto Guadalcanal. ww2dbase [Guadalcanal Campaign | Henderson Field | Guadalcanal | CPC]
• Yugure, Fubuki, Amagiri, and Kagero landed 370 men and supplies at Taivu, Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands. ww2dbase [Yugure | Amagiri | Guadalcanal Campaign | Taivu, Guadalcanal | CPC]

• Shokaku arrived at Truk, Caroline Islands. ww2dbase [Shokaku | Truk | CPC]
• Zuikaku arrived at Truk, Caroline Islands. ww2dbase [Zuikaku | Truk | CPC]

• Axis troops returned to the positions west of El Alamein, Egypt from which they began the failed offensive on 30 Aug. ww2dbase [Battle of Alam el Halfa | CPC]
• 15 commandos of "N" (swimmer) battalion of the "San Marco" naval infantry regiment destroyed a section of rail behind British lines at El Alamein, Egypt; all commandos would be captured after the mission. ww2dbase [El Alamein | CPC]

• Alpino Bagnolini departed La Pallice, La Rochelle, France at 1105 hours for trials, returning at 1542 hours. ww2dbase [Alpino Bagnolini | La Rochelle, Poitou-Charentes | CPC]

• USS Seal damaged Japanese passenger-cargo ship Kanju Maru 20 miles off the coast of French Indochina in the South China Sea. ww2dbase [Seal | CPC]

• Hans-Joachim Marseille shot down two Hurricane fighters and two Spitfire fighters between Ruweisat and El Taqua in Libya. His score stood at 136 kills. ww2dbase [Hans-Joachim Marseille | CPC]

• Soviet 24th Army and 66th Army organized a counter attack against German XIV Panzer Corps at Stalingrad, Russia. Launched in the morning, it was called off around noon time; 30 of the 120 tanks committed to this attack were destroyed, nearly all of which to German Luftwaffe aircraft. ww2dbase [Battle of Stalingrad | Stalingrad | CPC]
• The front lines of the Soviet Volkhov Front offensive reached within 3.5 miles from the Leningrad Front on the other side, nearly breaking the German siege on Leningrad, Russia, but the offensive would soon peter out. ww2dbase [Siege of Leningrad | Leningrad | CPC]

• USS Copahee departed Alameda, California, United States. ww2dbase [Copahee | Alameda, California | CPC]

5 Sep 1942 Interactive Map