11 Dec 1940
  • German freighter Rhein, already being monitored by American destroyers Simpson and MacLeish, was intercepted by Dutch destroyer Van Kinsbergen near the Florida Straits; her crew scuttled the ship to avoid capture. ww2dbase [CPC]
  • British 7th Armored Brigade attacked Buq Buq, Egypt, forcing Italian 64th Infantry Division to surrender; meanwhile, Indian 4th Infantry Division and British 7th Royal Tank Regiment forced the surrender of Italian 4th Blackshirt Division and two colonial Libyan divisions in the desert. On the coast, British battleships HMS Barham and HMS Valiant bombarded Italian positions at Sollum, Egypt. The Allied forces had now captured 38,000 Italian prisoners of war, 237 guns, and 73 tanks. ww2dbase [Operation Compass | CPC]
  • German submarine U-96 attacked Allied convoy HX-92 125 miles northwest of the Outer Hebrides, Scotland, United Kingdom, sinking British liner Rotorua at 1512 hours (21 were killed, including HX-92 commodore Rear Admiral Fitzgerald; 108 survived) and Norwegian ship Towa at 2242 hours (18 were killed, 19 survived). ww2dbase [CPC]
  • German submarine U-94 sank British ship Empire Statesman 225 miles west of Ireland at 1912 hours, killing the entire crew of 31. ww2dbase [CPC]
  • 278 German aircraft attacked Birmingham, England, United Kingdom, dropping 277 tons of high explosives and 685 incendiary bombs. ww2dbase [Battle of Britain | CPC]
  • HMS King George V was commissioned into service. ww2dbase [King George V | CPC]
Italy
  • Arturo Riccardi was made the Chief of Staff of the Italian Royal Navy. ww2dbase [Arturo Riccardi | CPC]

Timeline Section Founder: Thomas Houlihan
Contributors: Alan Chanter, C. Peter Chen, Thomas Houlihan, Hugh Martyr, David Stubblebine
Special Thanks: Rory Curtis




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German Ju 87 Stuka dive bomber in North Africa, 16 Sep 1941, photo 1 of 2

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Lt. Gen. Lewis B. "Chesty" Puller, at Guadalcanal


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