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• Laws restricting education and employment were introduced in Romania. ww2dbase [TH]
• Wages of British military personnel increased by 6 pence per day; with this increase, a British Army private's weekly pay was increased to 17 shillings and 6 pence. ww2dbase [CPC]
• Troops of the 2nd Battalion, UK (Scottish) Black Watch arrived in British Somaliland to reinforce against the Italian invasion. ww2dbase [Invasion of British Somaliland | CPC]
• German submarine U-37 sank British ship Upwey Grange, carrying 5,380 tons of frozen beef from Argentina to Britain, 200 miles west of Ireland at 0114 hours; the entire crew of 86 took to lifeboats, but one of the boats, carrying 36, was never seen again. ww2dbase [First Happy Time | CPC]
• Adolf Hitler ordered Walter Warlimont, Alfred Jodl's deputy, to determine the positions of Soviet troops in preparation for Operation Barbarossa. On the same day, Wilhelm Keitel signed the Aufbau Ost directive, which called for the mobilization of the German military in eastern Germany. ww2dbase [Operation Barbarossa | CPC]
• Edward Brooks was promoted to the rank of lieutenant colonel. ww2dbase [Edward Brooks | CPC]

• After several days of little action, the Germans launched continuous operations against the large convoy CW9, codenamed Peewit, of 25 merchant ships with Royal Navy escorts in the Strait of Dover. Torpedo boats attacked before dawn, sinking British ships Ouse, Holme Force (killing 6), and Fefe Coast (killing 5). As the convoy traveled westward, 300 Ju 87 Stuka dive bombers escorted by 150 fighters struck, sinking Dutch ship Ajax (killing 4), British ship Coquetdale, and British ship Empire Crusader (killing 5); as the British fought back, 17 Ju 87 Stuka dive bombers, 26 Bf 109 fighters, and 9 Bf 110 fighters were shot down, but the RAF also lost 13 Hurricane fighters, 4 Spitfire fighters, and 1 Blenheim bombers. ww2dbase [Battle of Britain | Strait of Dover | CPC]
• German armed merchant cruiser Widder sank Dutch collier Oostplein carrying 5,850 tons of coal from Britain to Buenos Aires, Argentina; the entire crew of 34 were rescued by Widder. ww2dbase [Widder | CPC]
• Jaguar, Kondor, Falke, T2, T7, and T8 completed escorting minelayers in the southwestern North Sea. ww2dbase [T7 | T2 | Jaguar | Falke | Kondor | First Happy Time | T8 | North Sea | CPC]
• Alessandro Malaspina sighted Portuguese freighter San Miguel, en route from New York in the United States to Lisbon in Portugal, in the Atlantic Ocean at 1045 hours. Suspecting that the freighter was flying a false flag, the Italian submarine fired a warning shot, forcing the freighter to stop to allow an inspection. ww2dbase [Alessandro Malaspina | CPC]

• A scale model of an A4 rocket reached Mach 1.86 in a wind tunnel test. ww2dbase [V-Weapons Campaign | Vergeltungswaffe 2 | CPC]

• Maggiore Baracca departed La Spezia, Italy at 0804 hours for exercises, returning at 1740 hours. ww2dbase [Maggiore Baracca | La Spezia, Liguria | CPC]

• Battleship No. 1, the future battleship Yamato, was launched at Kure Naval Arsenal, Japan. ww2dbase [Yamato | Kure Naval Arsenal | Kure, Hiroshima | CPC]

• Operation Tube: British submarine HMS Proteus reached Malta from Gibraltar with spares for the newly-arrived Hurricane fighters. ww2dbase [Malta Campaign | CPC]

• After sundown, Italian minelayer Scilla deployed 216 mines west of the Italian island of Pantelleria. ww2dbase [HM]
• Starting after sundown and lasting through the end of the following next, Italian destroyers Maestrale, Grecale, Libeccio and Sirocco each deployed 216 mines off of the Italian island of Pantelleria. ww2dbase [HM]
• Italian torpedo boats Antares and Sagittario provided escort for minelaying vessels operating off of the Italian island of Pantelleria. ww2dbase [HM]

8 Aug 1940 Interactive Map