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• Luftwaffe X Fliegerkorps arrived in Italy. ww2dbase [TH]
• At 0530 hours, the British artillery barrage began, hitting Italian defensive positions at Bardia, Libya. At 0600 hours, Australian 6th Division began its assault from the west, clearing anti-tank obstacles for the 23 tanks of the British 7th Royal Tank Regiment that began attacking at 0650 hours. Between 0810 and 0855 hours, battleships HMS Warspite, HMS Valiant, and HMS Barham, along with destroyers, monitors, and gunboats, bombarded Bardia with 244 15-inch shells, 270 6-inch shells, 250 4.5-inch shells, and many smaller caliber shells. The ground forces would penetrate 2 miles into the Italian lines. ww2dbase [Operation Compass | Warspite | CPC]
• German bombers attacked Bristol, England, United Kingdom overnight for 12 hours, targeting the docks and the railway station. 149 were killed and 351 were wounded. The granary on Princes Wharf was destroyed, along with most of the 8,000 tons of grain inside. ww2dbase [Battle of Britain | CPC]
• The Corpo Aereo Italiano, which had been participating in the Battle of Britain alongside Luftwaffe units at Belgian bases, was recalled to Italy after suffering heavy losses. ww2dbase [AC]

• The Italians launched a counter-offensive to the north and west of Korcë, Albania; two fresh Italian divisions were committed to the Klissoura sector on the Vlorë road to regain the initiative. ww2dbase [Balkans Campaign | AC]

• A British Beaufort bomber of No. 217 Squadron RAF flown by Flight Lieutenant A. V. Hunter attacked Italian submarine Alpino Bagnolini with four 250-pound anti-submarine bombs in the Atlantic Ocean between 1900 and 1950 hours. The Italians, misidentifying the enemy as a Blenheim bomber, counterattacked with deck guns. None of them hit their intended targets. ww2dbase [Alpino Bagnolini | CPC]

• RAF bombers attacked Bremen and the Kiel Canal in Germany. The Kiel Canal Bridge suffered a direct hit and collapsed on Finnish ship Yrsa. ww2dbase [Bombing of Hamburg, Dresden, and Other Cities | CPC]

3 Jan 1941 Interactive Map