Battle of the Atlantic

U-107 sinks the British steamer Empire Citizen (4683t) from Convoy OB-279 southwest of Ireland with the loss of 78 on board. 5 survivors are picked up by the British corvette Clarkia. U-107 badly damages the British armed boarding vessel Crispin (5051t) after being detached from Convoy OB-280 north-northwest of Rockall with the loss of 20 of her crew. 8 survivors are picked up by the British rescue ship Copeland, 113 by the British destroyer Harvester. The Crispin sinks on the 4th.

China

After a swift landing in the area of Wai Chow, Japanese units occupy Tam-shin, east of Canton.

France, Policy

Adm François Darlan, the French Minister of Marine, and Pierre Laval, Vice-President of the French Council of Ministers, meet with the German ambassador Otto Agetz in Paris. They return to Vichy with proposals for ways in which France can be fitted into Hitler's 'new order' in Europe, leading to still closer collaboration with the Germans.

German Raiders

The German battlecruisers Scharnhorst and Gneisenau go on a commerce-destroying expedition in the Atlantic under the command of Adm Lutjens. This night they pass through the Denmark Strait.

Germany, Planning

At a meeting at the Berghof, Halder informs Hitler of increased military activity in the Ukraine and Baltic. He states that, according to German intelligence estimates, there are 155 Red Army divisions deployed in the western USSR against just 116 German and Axis divisions.

The Führer insists that Red Army forces must be destroyed and not driven back during the German attack. He believes the best way to achieve this is by placing strong German forces on the flanks. In this way once the flanks are secure, Soviet forces in the center can then be destroyed.

North Africa

Gen Graziani orders a retreat from Tripolitania. The German supreme command decides to send the first contingents of what is to become the Afrika Korps to Libya.