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• In the first German submarine attack on an Atlantic convoy the merchantman Aviemore was sunk off Land's End, England, United Kingdom. ww2dbase [Start of the Battle of the Atlantic | AC]
• U-27 attacked British trawler Rudyard Kipling 190 kilometers (120 miles or 100 nautical miles) west of Ireland at 0353 hours. The crew of U-27 boarded Rudyard Kipling and destroyed the ship with scuttling charges. U-27 rescued the survivors, gave them food and warm clothing, and sent them off in lifeboats. ww2dbase [Start of the Battle of the Atlantic | U-27 | CPC]

• M18 was launched by OderWerke in Stettin, Pommern, Germany. ww2dbase [Oderwerke AG | M18 | Stettin, Pommern | CPC]

• Leonardo da Vinci was launched by Cantieri Riuniti dell'Adriatico (CRDA) at Monfalcone, Italy. ww2dbase [Leonardo da Vinci | Friuli Venezia Giulia | CPC]

• Polish troops counterattacked, destroying 22 tanks of Leibstandarte SS "Adolf Hitler" regiment. Elsewhere in Poland, German troops captured Brest-Litovsk (now in Belarus). In Moscow, Russia, Soviet Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov proposed that the Soviet Union would enter the war with the reason of protection of Ukrainians and Byelorussians; Germany complained that it singled out Germany as the lone aggressor. ww2dbase [Invasion of Poland | CPC]
• Polish general Józef Kustron was killed in the village of Ulazow, Poland; he was the second general-rank officer to be killed in action during the European War. ww2dbase [Ulazow | CPC]

16 Sep 1939 Interactive Map