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• German submarine U-99 attacked Canadian ship Kenordoc with the deck gun 200 miles northwest of Ireland just after midnight, killing 7 and wounding 13; heavily damaged, she would later be scuttled by Canadian destroyer HMCS St. Laurent and British destroyer HMS Amazon after the destroyers took the survivors aboard. German submarine U-48 sank British sloop HMS Dundee northwest of Ireland at 0025 hours; 12 were killed and 83 were rescued. At 0123 hours, U-48 attacked Greek ship Alexandros with a torpedo, killing 5; 23 survivors were rescued by destroyer HMS Wanderer. At 0300 hours, U-48 yet attacked again, sinking British ship Empire Volunteer; 6 were killed and 33 were rescued. 180 miles west of the Outer Hebrides, Scotland, United Kingdom at 0605 hours, German submarine U-65 sank Norwegian ship Hird; the entire crew of 30 survived, rescued by Icelandic trawler Þórólfur. ww2dbase [First Happy Time | CPC]
• British Sergeant John Hannah, age 18, of RAF Scampton (today home to the Red Arrows display team) won the Victoria Cross for beating out flames with his bare hands to save his damaged Hampden bomber. ww2dbase [AC]
• British RAF attacked German launching points for the invasion of Britain. ww2dbase [CPC]
• Douglas Bader shot down a German Do 17 aircraft and damaged a Do 17 aircraft and a Ju 88 aircraft over southern England, United Kingdom. ww2dbase [Douglas Bader | CPC]
• HMS Cumberland reports operation cancelled when French ships entered Dakar. HMS Cumberland carried out surveillance. ww2dbase [Cumberland | DS]
• U-56 arrived at Kiel, Germany and ended her twelfth patrol. ww2dbase [U-56 | CPC]

• Alpino Bagnolini sighted a destroyer in the Atlantic about 80 miles west of Cabo de São Vicente, Portugal at 1542 hours; she dove to avoid detection. ww2dbase [Alpino Bagnolini | CPC]

• B5N bombers of Japanese 12th Naval Air Group based in Yichang, Hubei Province, China attacked Chongqing, China. ww2dbase [Bombing of Shanghai, Chongqing, and other Cities | Chongqing | CPC]

• Battleship Bismarck departed Hamburg, Germany for the first time. At 1658 hours, while steaming down the Elbe River, she collided with bow tug Atlantik without damage. At 1902, she anchored in Brunsbüttel roads. During the night, she fired 13 10.5cm, 136 3.7 cm, and 191 2cm shells during a British air raid, without any hits. ww2dbase [Bismarck | Hamburg | CPC]

• Comandante Faà di Bruno sighted a ship in the Mediterranean Sea on the horizon at 0807 hours. She later recognized the ship as Portuguese, and the pursuit was abandoned. ww2dbase [Comandante Faà di Bruno | CPC]

• At 1130 hours, 250 German bombers with fighter escort crossed the English Channel, with 100 of them targeting London, England, United Kingdom. At 1430 hours, another 250 bombers arrived in 2 waves, with 70 of them reaching London. At 1600 and 1800 hours, the aircraft factory at Woolston in Southampton, building Spitfire fighters, was bombed, but with little damage. On this day, 56 German aircraft and 29 British aircraft were shot down; 136 German airmen were killed or captured and 12 British pilots were killed. Overnight, the German Luftwaffe conducted heavy bombing raids over Bristol, Cardiff, Liverpool, London, Manchester, and Southampton. ww2dbase [Battle of Britain | England | TH]
• James Lacey shot down a German He 111 bomber and three Bf 109 fighters over Britain. ww2dbase [James Lacey | CPC]
• Hans-Joachim Marseille scored his fourth kill, a British Hurricane fighter, over southeastern London, England, United Kingdom. ww2dbase [Hans-Joachim Marseille | London, England | CPC]

15 Sep 1940 Interactive Map