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• Italian troops captured Berbera, British Somaliland. The 17 day conflict has cost the British 250 casualties but the Italians more than 2,000. ww2dbase [Invasion of British Somaliland | AC]
• German submarine U-48 sank Belgian passenger ship Ville de Gand off Ireland just after midnight; 15 were killed and 38 survived. Also off Ireland, at 0154 hours, U-101 sank British ship Ampleforth; 9 were killed and 29 were rescued by British destroyer HMS Warwick. U-A sank British ship Hungarian Kelet off Ireland at 1000 hours, killing 6, all of whom were survivors of the ship Clan Macphee that was sunk by U-30 on 16 Aug 1940; 33 crew and 35 other Clan Macphee survivors were rescued by Norwegian merchant ship Varegg. ww2dbase [First Happy Time | CPC]
• The North American B-25 Mitchell medium bomber took its first flight. ww2dbase [B-25 Mitchell | CPC]
• Dudley Morton was named the commanding officer of USS R-5. ww2dbase [Dudley Morton | R-5 | AC]
• U-56 began her twelfth patrol. ww2dbase [U-56 | CPC]

• Alessandro Malaspina sighted a ship in the Atlantic Ocean at 0120 hours at the distance of 5,000 meters. She closed to 1,500 meters by 0139 hours and fired one torpedo. As her crew heard an explosion followed by the sudden silencing of propellers at 0153 hours, the submarine commanding officer claimed a sinking. No Allied records showed the loss of shipping in that area at that time. ww2dbase [First Happy Time | Alessandro Malaspina | CPC]

• Twelve A6M2 Model 11 Zero fighters escorted fifty four G3M2 Type 96 bombers on a mission against the Chinese city of Chongqing; this was the first combat mission of the Zero fighter. ww2dbase [A6M Zero | Chongqing | CPC]

• Cloud and rain limited German reconnaissance capability in the morning. In the afternoon, German Luftwaffe changed its tactics, sending single aircraft, mainly Ju 88 bombers, to attack targets along the southern coast of England and Wales in the United Kingdom. The Germans lost 1 Bf 109 fighter and 4 Ju 88 bombers during the day, while the British lost 1 Spitfighter fighter in the fighting and 1 Blenheim fighter over southern Norway during a reconnaissance mission. Meanwhile, the government in London declared the entire United Kingdom a defense area. To reinforce the RAF, a Royal Canadian Air Force squadron arrived in Britain. ww2dbase [Battle of Britain | CPC]

• USS R-5 was recommissioned into service. ww2dbase [R-5 | CPC]

19 Aug 1940 Interactive Map