16 Sep 1940
  • Battleship Bismarck entered the Kiel Canal. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]
  • US Congress passed the Selective Training and Service Act. ww2dbase [TH]
  • Italian troops of the 1st Blackshirt Division "23 Marzo" captured Sidi Barrani, Egypt and stopped the advance due to supply problems. This would prove to be the farthest the Italians would go. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]
  • British bombers attacked German invasion barges in French ports along the English Channel, interrupting an amphibious training exercise and causing many casualties. ww2dbase [CPC]
  • German submarine U-99 sank Norwegian ship Lotos north of Ireland at 0241 hours; the entire crew of 17 survived in two lifeboats. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]
  • German bombers damaged British troop ship Aska in the Irish Sea, kill 11 British crew and 19 French soldiers. ww2dbase [CPC]
  • French ship Poitiers, sailing from Libreville, French Equatorial Africa to Dakar, was intercepted by British cruiser HMS Cumberland. After taking the entire crew aboard, HMS Cumberland sank Poitiers by gunfire. ww2dbase [CPC]
  • The presence of German troops in Finland, despite the fact that they were ultimately destined for Norway, alarmed the Soviet Union. ww2dbase [CPC]
China
  • Communist Chinese New 4th Army captured Jiangyan (now a district of Taizhou), Jiangsu Province, China. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]
United Kingdom
  • At 0730 hours, more than 100 German Bf 109 fighters made a raid on Kent, England, United Kingdom to draw British fighters, which never rose to meet them. Overnight, German bombers attacked London, Liverpool, Manchester, Coventry, Birmingham, and Bristol. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]

Timeline Section Founder: Thomas Houlihan
Contributors: Alan Chanter, C. Peter Chen, Thomas Houlihan, Hugh Martyr, David Stubblebine
Special Thanks: Rory Curtis




Did you enjoy this article? Please consider supporting us on Patreon. Even $1 per month will go a long way! Thank you.

Share this article with your friends:

 Facebook
 Reddit
 Twitter

Stay updated with WW2DB:

 RSS Feeds
Search WW2DB & Partner Sites
News

Random Photograph

Troops of US 3rd Division entering Valmontone, Italy, circa May 1944




Current Site Statistics

Famous WW2 Quote
"All right, they're on our left, they're on our right, they're in front of us, they're behind us... they can't get away this time."

Lt. Gen. Lewis B. "Chesty" Puller, at Guadalcanal