World War II Database

• Home
• » Events
• » WW2 Timeline
• » 7 Jan 1941

• Australian 6th Division and British 4th Armoured Division nearly surrounded Tobruk, Libya after capturing Acroma 10 miles to the west. ww2dbase [Operation Compass | CPC]
• British submarine HMS Rover attacked an Italian convoy off the coast of Libya 25 miles west of Tobruk. Italian torpedo boats Clio and Castore counterattacked, damaging HMS Rover, putting her out of commission for the following 13 months for repairs at Malta. ww2dbase [CPC]
• German torpedo boats Kondor and Wolf laid a minefield off Dover, England, United Kingdom but Wolf sank in a British minefield north of Dunkirk, France on the way home. ww2dbase [CPC]
• Italian submarine Giacomo Nani attacked Allied convoy HX.99 200 miles south of Iceland without success. British corvette HMS Anemone and French corvette La Malouine counterattacked, sinking Nani; all 58 Italian sailors and officers were rescued and taken prisoner. ww2dbase [CPC]

• Chinese Nationalist forces began attacking the surrounded Chinese Communist New Fourth Army troops at Maolin, Anhui Province, China. ww2dbase [New Fourth Army incident | Maolin, Anhui | CPC]

• Admiral Cunningham's Mediterranean Fleet, consisted of battleship HMS Warspite, battlesip HMS Valiant, aircraft carrier HMS Illustrious, and 7 destroyers departed Alexandria, Egypt, to meet the Excess convoy. ww2dbase [Malta Campaign | Warspite | Alexandria | CPC]

• Admiral Somerville's Force H, consisted of battlecruiser HMS Renown, battleship HMS Malaya, aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal, cruiser HMS Sheffield, and 7 destroyers, departed Gibraltar to cover the Excess convoy which left Gibraltar on the previous day. ww2dbase [Malta Campaign | CPC]

7 Jan 1941 Interactive Map