Air War, Battle of Britain (Day 48): Attempted raids on airfields round London, inc. Debden (heavy damage), and Portsmouth area.
Losses: German, 31; British, 27.
Night raids on Birmingham, Coventry and Plymouth.

Sea War: He115s and Ju88s sink one large cargo ship and cripple second off Fraserburgh, Scotland.
German disguised raider Pinguin sinks or captures five merchant ships in Indian Ocean (August 26-September 10).

TUESDAY, AUGUST 27, 1940

Sea War: Hitler modifies Operation Sea Lion invasion Plan: landings to be made on 'narrow front', Eastbourne-Folkestone, in preference to earlier 'broad front' proposal.
RAF Coastal Command begins anti-U-boat patrols from Iceland, using Fairey Battle aircraft.

Occupied France: Free French forces take over Duala in Cameroons (August 27) and Brazzaville, French Congo (August 28).

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 28, 1940

Air War, Battle of Britain (Day 50): German bombers raid Eastchurch and Rochford airfields and Messerschmit Bf109s carry out sweeps over southeast England. A second Defiant squadron (see July 19) is virtually destroyed by Me109s.
First attempt to carry out major night raid on a British city - Liverpool - completely misfires: 160 bombers, inc. 4-engined Focke-Wulf Condors, scatter their bombs far and wide. Similar attempts on August 29-30 and August 30-31 also fail.
RAF night raid on Berlin: 10 killed, 28 injured.

Picture: Messerschmitt Bf109 Es of IIIrd Group of Jagdgeschwader 26 pictured in camouflaged revetments at their forward base at Caffiers near Calais.

Sea War Atlantic: Armed merchant cruiser Dunvegan Castle (15,000 t) sunk by U-46 west of Ireland.

THURSDAY, AUGUST 29, 1940

Air War, Battle of Britain (Day 51): 720 Messerschmitt Bf109s carry out sweeps over Kent but fail to provoke large-scale fighter-v-fighter combats (RAF fighters are being conserved for attacks on bomber formations).

FRIDAY, AUGUST 30, 1940

Air War, Battle of Britain (Day 52): devastating attacks on Biggin Hill airfield; Detling airfield also damaged. Vauxhall works at Luton bombed (50 killed).
Losses: German, 24; British, 20.
RAF night raid on Berlin.

Diplomacy: (MAIN EVENT) The Vienna Award: Hitler imposes settlement of territorial dispute between Hungary and Rumania, under which the former is to receive northern Transylvania.

Picture: Hungarian military parade with CV tankettes in an obtained city of northern Transylvania after the Vienna Award.

SATURDAY, AUGUST 31, 1940

Air War: German raids on Biggin Hill, Debden, Hornchurch and Eastchurch airfields and Croydon Airport.
Losses: German, 38; British, 34.
140 bombers raid Liverpool and Merseyside (night August 30-September 1): Battleship Prince of Wales damaged; 160 small fires in central Liverpool. 109 casualties (23 killed). Germans lose 7 bombers in the consecutive night raids on Liverpool.
Fourth RAF night raid on Berlin.
Battle of Britain, aircraft losses 13-31 August: German Luftwaffe 252 fighters and 215 bombers - RAF 359 planes.

Sea War: British destroyer flotilla runs on to German minefield near the Texel (night August 31-September 1): Esk and Ivanhoe sink, Express seriously damaged.
Battle of the Atlantic, shipping losses in August: 56 Allied merchant ships (267,600 BRT), none German U-boats (28 serviceable).

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 1, 1940

Air War, Battle of Britain (Day 54): four major attacks on fighter airfields in the Southeast; Biggin Hill again badly damaged.
First RAF raid on Munich targets are BMW works and railway sidings; Fiat works, Turin, also attacked.

Picture: Low-level attack on RAF airfield. A Spitfire fighter survived in it's fragment box.