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• Australian 6th Division and British 7th Armoured Division completed the encirclement of Tobruk, Libya. 25,000 Italian troops were now trapped. ww2dbase [Operation Compass | CPC]
• British submarine HMS Pandora sank Italian ships Palma and Valdivagna off Cape Carbonara, Sardinia, Italy. ww2dbase [CPC]
• British submarine HMS Parthian sank Italian ship Carlo Martinolich off Calabria, Italy. ww2dbase [CPC]
• Italian destroyers Ascari, Carabiniere, Folgore, and Fulmine shelled Greek positions on the Albanian coast at Porto Palmermo. ww2dbase [Balkans Campaign | CPC]
• German submarine U-105 sank British ship Bassano 300 miles south of Iceland at 1814 hours; 1 was killed and 56 survived. ww2dbase [CPC]
• The Avro Lancaster heavy bomber took flight for the first time. ww2dbase [Lancaster | AC]
• Portuguese destroyer Gonçalves Zarco landed 25 survivors of British cargo ship Shakespear at São Vicente, Cape Verde islands; Shakespear was sunk by gunfire from Italian submarine Comandante Cappellini in the Atlantic Ocean four days earlier. ww2dbase [CPC]

• Comandante Cappellini experienced malfunctions with her hydroplane while sailing in the Atlantic Ocean. Her stern continuously went under water while sailors attempted to make repairs at sea. Rifles were used to ward off sharks attempting to bite the sailors' legs. The repairs were completed successfully. ww2dbase [Comandante Cappellini | CPC]

• Adolf Hitler and his top military leaders completed the two-day conference at Hitler's residence of Berghof in München-Oberbayern, Germany. ww2dbase [Adolf Hitler | Berchtesgaden, München-Oberbayern | CPC]

• Escort duties for the British Excess convoy was passed from Force H (from Gibraltar) to the Mediterranean Fleet (from Alexandria, Egypt); most of Force H turned back for Gibraltar at nightfall, but cruiser HMS Bonaventure and destroyers HMS Hereward, HMS Jaguar, HMS Hasty, and HMS Hero would remain with the convoy. On the same day, 12 Italian C.200 fighter-bombers attempted to attack Malta; 4 were shot down by defending Hurricane fighters of No. 261 Squadron RAF. ww2dbase [Malta Campaign | CPC]

• Harry Hopkins, President Roosevelt's personal envoy, arrived in England, United Kingdom. ww2dbase [Harry Hopkins | England | AC]

• US Navy transport William Ward Burrows arrived at Wake Island with the first group of 80 civilian workers who would start to excavate the channel between Wilkes and Wake Islands. ww2dbase [Wake | CPC]

9 Jan 1941 Interactive Map