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• After crossing 150 miles of desert in 30 hours, armored cars of British 7th Armoured Division set up roadblocks at Sidi Saleh south of Benghazi, Libya, just in time to meet and stop the leading elements of the retreating Italian Tenth Army. In the evening, the British 4th Armoured Brigade reached Beda Fomm 10 miles north of the roadblocks, preventing Italian retreat to the east. ww2dbase [Operation Compass | CPC]
• British and Indian troops attacked Italian-held hills near Dongolaas Gorge en route to Keren, Eritrea, Italian East Africa. ww2dbase [Invasion of Italian East Africa | CPC]
• British submarine HMS Sealion sank Norwegian ship Ryfylke 2 miles off the Norwegian coast near Stadlandet. ww2dbase [CPC]
• The keel of submarine Finback was laid down. ww2dbase [Finback | CPC]

• The Royal Navy 641-ton HMS Tourmaline (T 42) had been taken over by the Admiralty in Nov 1935 and commissioned as an anti-submarine trawler and armed with a 1.4-inch gun. Under command of Lieutenant Henry Patterson Carse RNVR, the ship was patrolling the English Channel when attacked and sunk by German aircraft off North Foreland, Kent, England, United Kingdom. Carse survived the attack and went on to command both HMS Asphodel (K 56) a Flower class corvette and HMS Awe (K526), a frigate. He was one of only six survivors when the Asphodel was torpedoed and sunk on 10 Mar 1944. ww2dbase [English Channel | CPC, HM]
• Maggiore Baracca sighted a German submarine in the Atlantic Ocean at 1115 hours. ww2dbase [Maggiore Baracca | CPC]

• Transport ship No. 74 under construction at Kawasaki Shipbuilding Corporation's shipyard at Kobe, Japan was named Irako. She was assigned to the Sasebo Naval District. ww2dbase [Irako | Kobe, Hyogo | CPC]

• The Air Training Corps was established in Britain as a youth organization whose purpose was to prepare cadets for entry into the Royal Air Force. ww2dbase [AC]

5 Feb 1941 Interactive Map