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• Weather data for 18 Sep 1940

• USS S-31 was recommissioned into service. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]
• German submarine U-48 sank British ship Marina at 0007 hours; 2 were killed and 37 survived. At 1849 hours, U-48 struck again, sinking British ship Magdalena, killing the entire crew of 31. ww2dbase [CPC]
• Douglas Bader shot down a German Do 17 aircraft and a Ju 88 aircraft. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]

• U-48 hit the British passenger liner City of Benares, a ship evacuating 90 British children and their families to Canada, with a torpedo 600 miles west of Ireland at 0001 hours. The ship listed heavily, which prevented many of the lifeboats from being launched. She sank at about 0030 hours, taking down 121 crew and 134 passengers (including 77 children). Destroyer HMS Hurricane arrived on the following day and rescued 105 survivors. After this incident, the British government suspended the policy of sending children aboard. ww2dbase [TH]

• Emperor Kangde presided over the dedication ceremony of the National Martyr Shrine of Manchukuo in Xinjing, the capital of the puppet state. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]

• Gloire departed Toulon, France for Libreville, French Equatorial Africa. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]
• The American Library in Paris, France reopened. ww2dbase [CPC]

• Montcalm departed Dakar, French West Africa. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]
• Cruiser Georges Leygues departed Dakar, French West Africa. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]

• Akagi departed Kure, Japan. ww2dbase [Main Article | Tabular Record of Movement | CPC]

• Italian submarine Bagnolini torpedoed and sank neutral Spanish ship Cabo Tortosa, owned by the Ybarra & Compania of Seville, off Porto, Portugal. The sinking took over 90 minutes and did not cause any loss of life but was still a regrettable incident. The Spanish vessel was suspected of having cargo destined for Great Britain, but it did not, it was simply ferrying from Huelva to Bilbao. Lieutenant Commander Tosoni Pittoni of the Bagnolini had surfaced in order to verify the identity and cargo of the ship but seeing smoke on the horizon and fearing it may have been Royal Navy Forces from Gibraltar made the decision to attack. The crew members were rescued by Spanish ship Monte Ayala. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC, HM]

• Hans-Joachim Marseille scored his fifth kill, a British Spitfire fighter, over Dover, England, United Kingdom. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]
• At about 0015 hours, an indiscriminate German air raid on London's Oxford Street severely damaged both the Peter Robinson and John Lewis stores; elsewhere, the Inner Temple Library and County Hall are also hit. At noon, 70 German Ju 88 bombers escorted by 100 Bf 109 fighters crossed the English Channel and were intercepted by British fighters of No. 11 Group RAF; 60 of the bombers would reach London, England, United Kingdom and drop their bombs. At 1600 hours, 200 bombers in multiple waves attacked targets in Kent in southern England; they were engaged by fighters of No. 11 and No. 12 Groups and suffered 23 bombers and 10 fighters lost, but they were able to shoot down 12 British fighters in exchange. Overnight, London was bombed by several waves of bombers; Liverpool, Manchester, Bristol, and other cities were also attacked. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC, AC]

18 Sep 1940 Interactive Map