25 Jan 1940

Portugal
  • German submarine U-44 torpedoed and sank French ship Tourny, which was a part of convoy 56-KS, 20 miles off of Porto, Portugal at 0411 hours. 8 men were killed and 9 were rescued by Spanish steamer Castillo Monforte. ww2dbase [Porto | CPC]
18 Sep 1940

Portugal
  • 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 [First Happy Time | Porto | CPC, HM]

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




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US Secretary of State Hull and Republic of China Ambassador Wei Daoming at the State Department, Washington DC, United States, circa 1940s

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