battle, major, interwar and Second World War
Battle of Dakar
Battle of Dakar was a battle fought on 23 September 1940 at Dakar, in what is now Senegal; it lasted 2 days. It was part of World War II, which ran from 1939 to 1945. The recorded result: Vichy French victory.
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Where it sits in World War II
Record
| Date | 23 September 1940 to 25 September 1940 | |
|---|---|---|
| Place | Dakar, Senegal 14.679N, 17.421W | |
| Kind | Battle, interwar and Second World War | |
| Strength | 1 aircraft carrier; 2 battleships; 5 cruisers (1 Australian); 10 destroyers; 22+ aircraft; 180 troops | 1 battleship; 2 cruisers; 4 destroyers; 3 submarines; coastal emplacements; 6+ aircraft |
| Casualties and losses | 2 battleships damaged; 2 cruisers damaged; 6 torpedo planes lost | 1 destroyer grounded; 2 submarines sunk; 1 battleship damaged; Danish freighter MS Tacoma sunk; 100 dead; 182 wounded; 84 civilians dead; 197 civilians wounded |
| Commanders |
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The ground today


The recorded site stands at about 0 m; within 10.0 km the ground runs from -11 to 49 m, 60 m of relief, gently rolling country and today it is 65% water, 32% built-up.
Elevation from the Copernicus DEM GLO-30 (ESA, Airbus); land cover from ESA WorldCover 2021 (CC BY 4.0), within about 5 km of the recorded site. Computed, not recorded.Nearest engagements
- Battle of Fandane-Thiouthioune 1867, 1.4 km S
- French capture of Gorée 1804, 2.7 km SE
- Capture of Gorée 1758, 2.7 km SE
- Battle of Logandème 1859, 115 km E
- Battle of Leybar Bridge 1855, 176 km NE
Contested ground: this site was fought over 4 times between 1758 and 1940.
In the same war
- Before: Battle of Britain Day 1940
- After: Battle of Graveney Marsh 27 September 1940
- All 1155 engagements of World War II
Elsewhere in 1940
- the Blitz United Kingdom
- Bombing of Tokyo Japan
- Japanese invasion of French Indochina Vietnam
- Coventry Blitz United Kingdom
- Hundred Regiments Offensive China
Battle of Dakar is one of 4,429 engagements of the 20th century in the atlas and one of 12 in present-day Senegal.
Sources
Identity, coordinates, dates and the war from Wikidata Q696829, released under CC0. Result, belligerents, commanders, strength and casualties from the infobox of the English Wikipedia article Battle of Dakar, revision 1379781190, read 2026-11-14, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0; the article's text is not reproduced here. Present-day country and state from Natural Earth. Dates before 1582 follow the Julian calendar as recorded.