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• » 14 Aug 1940

• Roosevelt approved what later became the Two-Ocean Navy Act. ww2dbase [Two-Ocean Navy Act | CPC]
• The British Ministry of Home Security announced that parachutes had been found in Derbyshire, Yorkshire, and Scotland, though there were no evidence of German troops on British soil. ww2dbase [CPC]
• British and Commonwealth troops engaged in heavy fighting with Italian forces near Berbera, British Somaliland; British commander in area Major General Godwin-Austen requested permission to fall back into Berbera and to prepare for evacuation. ww2dbase [Invasion of British Somaliland | CPC]
• On his way to ignite a coup in the Irish Republic and an uprising against Ulster, IRA Chief of Staff, Sean Russell, died aboard a German U-boat of a perforated ulcer. Trained in sabotage by the Germans, he was buried at sea wrapped in a Swastika flag. ww2dbase [AC]
• Cloudy weather prevented Germans from launching large scale raids against Britain early in the day as planned. At 1200 hours, 300 German aircraft flew over the Dover Strait and attacked Dover and Folkestone in southern England, which drew out the No. 65 Squadron RAF for defense, leaving RAF Manston undefended during the attack that came shortly afterwards (though anti-aircraft gun crews were able to shoot down two Bf 110 fighters). At 1545 hours, RAF Middle Wallop in Hampshire was bombed by Ju 87 dive bombers and He 111 medium bombers, killing 3 airmen and 1 civilian. In Portland Harbour, British sloop HMS Kingfisher and tug Carbon were damaged by bombing. On this day, the Germans lost 30 aircraft while the British lost 3 Spitfire fighters and 5 Hurricane fighters. ww2dbase [Battle of Britain | CPC]
• German submarine U-59 sank British ship Betty 15 miles north of Ireland at 2034 hours, killing 30. 4 survivors were later rescued by British anti-submarine trawler HMS Man o' War. ww2dbase [First Happy Time | CPC]
• British destroyer HMS Malcolm, destroyer HMS Verity, and three motor torpedo boats attacked a German convoy of 6 trawlers escorted by three motor torpedo boats off Texel Island, the Netherlands. One German motor torpedo boat and one German trawler were sunk. ww2dbase [CPC]
• Orion spent most of this day looking for her Ar 196 floatplane which had been forced to make a water landing due to mechanical issues while conducting reconnaissance on Nouméa, New Caledonia. The aircraft was found and recovered. ww2dbase [Orion | CPC]
• Destroyers USS Walke and USS Wainwright departed Rio de Janeiro, Brazil for Bahia, Brazil. ww2dbase [CPC]
• Adolf Hitler heard from Walther von Brauchitsch, who insisted that the German Army would like to attack Britain on a wide front with four or more main landing sites. ww2dbase [Walther von Brauchitsch | CPC]
• Oberst Alois Stoeckl, the commanding officer of the German Kampfgeschwader 55 wing, was killed in action. ww2dbase [CPC]
• U-56 ended her eleventh patrol. ww2dbase [U-56 | CPC]

• Jaguar, Kondor, Falke, T2, T7, and T8 began escorting minelayers in the southwestern North Sea. ww2dbase [First Happy Time | T8 | T7 | T2 | Jaguar | Falke | Kondor | North Sea | CPC]
• Alessandro Malaspina sighted smoke on the horizon in the Atlantic Ocean at 1150 hours. She closed in, sighted a freighter, and fired two torpedoes at 1340 hours at the distance of 3,000 meters, both of which missed. The freighter returned fired two rounds at the submarine as she escaped the engagement. ww2dbase [First Happy Time | Alessandro Malaspina | CPC]

• US Navy Asiatic Fleet chief Admiral Thomas C. Hart arrived in Shanghai, China aboard USS Porpoise. Upon arrival, he transferred his flag to yacht Isabel. ww2dbase [Porpoise | Shanghai | CPC]

• Maggiore Baracca departed La Spezia, Italy at 0708 hours for exercises, returning at 1335 hours. ww2dbase [Maggiore Baracca | La Spezia, Liguria | CPC]
• Comandante Faà di Bruno departed La Spezia, Italy at 0830 hours for exercises, returning at 1645 hours. ww2dbase [Comandante Faà di Bruno | La Spezia, Liguria | CPC]

14 Aug 1940 Interactive Map