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• Italian troops were driven out of Egypt by the British Operation Compass offensive. At Bardia, Libya, British monitor HMS Terror bombarded the port from 1220 to 1717 hours. ww2dbase [Operation Compass | CPC]
• British submarine HMS Thunderbolt sank Italian submarine Tarantini 2 miles off of the Gironde Estuary, France in the Bay of Biscay, killing the entire crew of 58. ww2dbase [Thunderbolt | CPC]
• Free French submarine Narval hit a mine and sank in the Mediterranean Sea 40 miles northeast of Sfax, Tunisia, killing the entire crew of 54. ww2dbase [CPC]
• German motor torpedo boat S.58 sank Danish ship N. C. Monberg off Yarmouth, England, United Kingdom, killing 9. ww2dbase [CPC]

• The remains of Napoleon II were relocated to the Les Invalides cemetery in Paris, France. Benito Mussolini continued to assert his objection to this friendly gesture by Adolf Hitler to France. ww2dbase [Paris | TH, CPC]
• Pierre Laval was freed from imprisonment. ww2dbase [Pierre Laval | CPC]
• Capitano Tarantini was sunk by a torpedo from HMS Thunderbolt in the Bay of Biscay 10 kilometers west of Grayan-et-l'Hôpital, France. Executive officer Lieutenant Attilio Frattura and four others survived the sinking; commanding officer Captain Alfredo Iaschi was lost.45.41, -1.38 ww2dbase [Capitano Tarantini | Grayan-et-l'Hôpital, Aquitaine | CPC]

• Captain J. P. Williams and diver John Edwards "Johnno" Johnstone, aboard the 260-ton coastal steamship Claymore, began to search for the wreck of SS Niagara, which sank in Jun 1940 along with its secret cargo of gold. ww2dbase [HM]

• 16 German He 111 bombers dropped 11,520 B1 E1 incendiaries on the city of Sheffield in central England, United Kingdom between 1900 and 1950 hours, starting large fires as a beacon for the main force of 50 He 111 bombers and 11 Do 17 bombers. The German raid ended at 2215 hours, damaging steelworks. ww2dbase [Battle of Britain | Sheffield, England | CPC]

15 Dec 1940 Interactive Map