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• Overnight, Wellington bombers of No. 57 Squadron RAF attacked Emden, Germany while 76 RAF bombers attacked Wilhelmshaven, Germany. ww2dbase [Bombing of Hamburg, Dresden, and Other Cities | CPC]
• British minelaying cruiser HMS Adventure hit a mine and became damaged in Liverpool Bay en route from Milford Haven, Wales, United Kingdom. She was towed into Liverpool for repairs. ww2dbase [CPC]
• Italian submarine Luigi Torelli attacked an Allied convoy 350 miles west of Ireland, sinking Norwegian ship Brask (12 killed, 20 survived) and Greek ship Nemea (17 killed, 14 survived). ww2dbase [CPC]
• The Japanese Navy formed the 11th Air Fleet with the 21st, 22nd, and 24th Air Flotillas with Vice Admiral Eikichi Katagiri in command and Rear Admiral Takijiro Onishi as his chief of staff. ww2dbase [Takijiro Onishi | CPC]

• German merchant raider Pinguin captured Norwegian whalers Star XIX and Star XXIV in the South Atlantic 400 miles north of the Azores when the two ships were sailing from Montevideo, Uruguay to South Georgia. ww2dbase [Pinguin | HM]
• Luigi Torelli sighted a small convoy and fatally damaged the Greek freighter Nemea (17 lost) and sank the Norwegian freighter Brask (12 of 32 lost) in the North Atlantic Ocean.52.75, -23.983333 ww2dbase [Luigi Torelli | CPC]
• Leonardo da Vinci abandoned a chase of a reported Allied convoy in the Atlantic Ocean as her fuel was starting to run low. ww2dbase [Leonardo da Vinci | CPC]

• Morosini departed La Pallice, La Rochelle, France at 0850 hours for trials, returning at 1708 hours. ww2dbase [Morosini | La Rochelle, Poitou-Charentes | CPC]

• Ships of the French Groupe Occasionnel squadron made rendezvous at 1600 hours 20 miles north of Poulo Condore (Con Dao) archipelago south of French Indochina, and began moving toward the Thai-Cambodian border at 2115 hours. ww2dbase [Franco-Thai War | Con Dao | CPC]

• The site for the future Bluie West Eight airfield in Greenland was assigned to the First US Army. ww2dbase [Bluie West Eight | South Greenland | CPC]

• In Iceland, 133 miles-per-hour winds sank three PBY Catalina aircraft of US Navy squadron VP-73 and sank two PBM Mariner aircraft of US Navy squadron VP-74. ww2dbase [CPC]

• The Japanese Navy Genzan Air Group departed Genzan Airfield, Japanese-occupied Korea for Hankou, Hubei Province, China. ww2dbase [Genzan Airfield | Genzan, Hamgyongnam | CPC]

• Egmont Prinz zur Lippe-Weißenfeld achieved his second victory, shooting down a British Whitley bomber over northern Netherlands. ww2dbase [Egmont | CPC]

15 Jan 1941 Interactive Map