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• Negotiations began between Germany and Bulgaria to use Bulgarian territory as a staging area for Operation Marita, the German invasion of Greece. ww2dbase [Balkans Campaign | TH]
• In Hitler's New Year's Order of the Day, he promised the Wehrmacht the completion of the "greatest victory in our history" on the Western Front. ww2dbase [Adolf Hitler | TH]
• The United Kingdom suppressed the Daily Worker, a Communist publication. ww2dbase [TH]
• British General O'Connor's Western Desert Force in Egypt was reorganized as the British 13th Corps. Meanwhile, in Libya, RAF aircraft continued to bomb the port of Bardia and the airfields at Tobruk, Derna, and Benina. ww2dbase [Operation Compass | CPC]
• In the Gibraltar Strait, British destroyers HMS Duncan, HMS Firedrake, HMS Foxhound, HMS Jaguar, and HMS Hero stopped a French convoy from Casablanca, French Morocco. The convoy was consisted of French ship Chantilly, French tankers Octane and Suroit, and Danish ship Sally Maersk. HMS Jaguar attacked Chantilly, causing 2 killed and 4 wounded, leading to the convoy's capture. ww2dbase [CPC]
• The BBC aired the Brains Trust for the first time. This radio programme which had five men discussing such diverse subjects as philosophy, art and science was surprisingly a great success, frequently having a regular audience of ten million listeners. ww2dbase [AC]
• George Giffard was made a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath. ww2dbase [George Giffard | CPC]
• Arthur Coningham was Mentioned in Despatches. ww2dbase [Arthur Coningham | CPC]

• Alpino Bagnolini sighted an Allied aircraft in the Atlantic Ocean at 1920 hours. 20 minutes later, she fired her machine guns, keeping the aircraft at an distance. The British aircraft dropped a parachute flare, which brought in the nearby armed trawler HMT Northern Pride. At 2045 hours and 2050 hours the Italian submarine detected noises with her hydrophones, and at 2135 hours she heard pings from British ASDIC, which led to commanding officer Franco Pittoni to issue the order to dive. The subsequent depth charge attack caused damage, leading to water leaks at the conning tower hatch and the forward torpedo loading hatch and damage to the gyrocompass. When the electric motors were started, the starboard motor caught on fire. The submarine was forced to surface due to the damage, and the Italians found themselves to be only 200 meters from HMT Northern Pride and two others, HMS Scimitar and HMS Skate. A stern torpedo was fired, but it missed. The Allied warships fired on the submarine at 2037 hours, but the shells passed overhead due to the close distance. Alpino Bagnolini fired two stern torpedoes as she attempted to escape, recording one possible hit, though none of the Allied ships involved in the engagement were damaged. She find a rain squall and the Allied warships lost contact with her. ww2dbase [Alpino Bagnolini | CPC]

• Andrew Geddes was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire. ww2dbase [Andrew Geddes | CPC]

1 Jan 1941 Interactive Map