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• » 9 Jul 1940

• RAF considered this date the official start of their night bombing campaign against Germany. ww2dbase [TH]
• British submarine HMS Salmon was lost 60 miles off of Stavanger, Norway; the entire crew of 39 was never heard from again. She was presumed to have hit a naval mine. ww2dbase [TH]
• The German raider Komet left Bergen, Norway for operations in the Pacific Ocean via the Northern Sea Route in the Arctic Ocean assisted by Russian icebreakers. ww2dbase [Komet | TH]
• British government implemented rationing on tea: each person was allowed 2 ounces of tea per week. ww2dbase [CPC]
• British House of Commons passed a £1,000,000,000 war credit. ww2dbase [CPC]
• During the night, 11 British Hampden aircraft (out of 14 dispatched) attacked battleship Tirpitz to little effect. ww2dbase [Tirpitz | CPC]
• German Luftwaffe aircraft attacked shipping in the English Channel and off the British coast. ww2dbase [Battle of Britain | CPC]
• USS O'Brien arrived at Pará, Brazil. ww2dbase [O'Brien | CPC]
• German Nachtjagdgeshchwader 1 wing scored its first kill. ww2dbase [AC]

• German submarine U-34 sank Estonian ship Tiiu southwest of Ireland at 1232 hours; the crew of 20 were rescued by a British trawler. In the same general area, at 2119 hours, German submarine U-43 sank British ship Aylesbury; the crew of 35 were rescued by destroyers HMS Harvester and HMS Havelock. ww2dbase [First Happy Time | CPC]

• Alpino Bagnolini conducted exercises out of Taranto, Italy between 1335 and 1900 hours. ww2dbase [Alpino Bagnolini | Taranto, Apulia | CPC]
• Comandante Faà di Bruno departed La Spezia, Italy at 0656 hours for exercises, returning at 1300 hours. ww2dbase [Comandante Faà di Bruno | La Spezia, Liguria | CPC]

• At 1515 hours, 50 miles south of Italy, heavily escorted Italian convoy for Benghazi, Libya ran into an equally powerful British convoy for Malta. British battleship HMS Warspite hit Italian battleship Giulio Cesare at the range of 24 kilometers, making it one of the longest naval gun hits of the war. Although Italian ships withdrew first, Italian aircraft forced the British ships back by 1700 hours. ww2dbase [Warspite | Malta Campaign | CPC]

• Douglas Bader's No. 242 Squadron RAF, based at RAF Coltishall at Norwich, England, United Kingdom, was declared fully operational. ww2dbase [Douglas Bader | Norwich, England | CPC]
• HMS Dianthus was launched at Leith, Scotland, United Kingdom. ww2dbase [Dianthus | Leith, Scotland | CPC]
• King George VI made a royal visit to RAF Digby during which he presented a Distinguished Flying Cross to Flying Officer Guy Gibson, the future leader of the Dambusters Squadron. ww2dbase [George VI | Scopwick, England | AC]
• Flying Officer Guy Gibson, who would later win the Victoria Cross for leading the daring attack on the Ruhr dams in Germany in May 1943, was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC) after completing 34 operations in five months with No. 3 Squadron RAF. ww2dbase [AC]

• US Coast Guard cutter Campbell arrived at Boston, Massachusetts, United States with US Consul to Greenland James K. Penfield, Governor of North Greenland E. Brun, and a group of Danish officials on board. They came to Boston to discuss commerce and trade of Greenland as an independent entity due to the German occupation of Denmark. ww2dbase [Boston, Massachusetts | CPC]

• US Marine Corps Captain Kenneth W. Benner was ordered to continue the survey of Midway Atoll with another officer, 8 enlisted Marines, and 2 US Navy corpsmen. He was to relieve Captain Samuel G. Taxis who had been been there since early Jun 1940 on the same mission. ww2dbase [Midway Bases | Midway | CPC]

9 Jul 1940 Interactive Map