U-335 is laid down.

ALBANIA: The first Luftwaffe units arrive to back up the Italian forces.

MEDITERRANEAN SEA: Midshipman Prince Philip of Greece joins the battleship HMS Valiant, which, with the battleships HMS Barham and HMS Warspite, later bombards Bardia to assist with the British Army plans for its capture.

Prince Philip of Greece was the son of Prince Andrew of Greece and of Prince Andrew's wife, Princess Alice of Battenberg [Mountbatten]. When Philip became a naturalized British citizen [during the war], he took his mother's family name [Mountbatten]. Philip was most certainly in the line [5th in 1940] of succession for the Greek throne. (Glenn Steinberg)

NORTH AFRICA: Strengthened by the arrival of the 6th Australian Division from Palestine, O'Connor resumes his thrust forward towards Bardia on the border of Egypt and Libya.

Bardia: About 30,000 prisoners are taken in the first day of the attack by Australian troops.

O'Connor's tactical plan for the capture of Bardia, with its 17 mile of perimeter defended by a continuous anti-tank ditch, wire obstacles and concrete blockhouses, was to send a battalion of infantry in first, establish a bridgehead on the far side of the anti-tank ditch and the wire, then bridge the ditch and clear the wire and minefields for the passage of tanks. The tanks would then be shepherded within the perimeter and fan out in attack, with two more infantry battalions close behind them. The main point of assault was to be the centre of the western face of the perimeter, where O'Connor believed the Italians least expected it.

It was the Australians first major action in World War II. The tank ditch was breached by infantry in less than an hour, crossing places quickly made and nearly a hundred land mines removed. The tanks were into the bridgehead by 7 am. Australian casualties to date are over 100 killed and at least 300 wounded. One Australian battalion suffered heavy casualties when it launched a diversionary attack. After the Australians penetrated the wire, the Italians met one of the companies with machine-guns, rifles and grenades.

Off shore, the battleships Warspite, Valiant and Barham added the weight of their heavy guns to the bombardment, and overhead heavy raids are undertaken by the RAF.

NEWFOUNDLAND: Canada and the U.S. acquire air bases at Gander, Newfoundland, and Goose Bay, Labrador, on a 99-year lease.

U.S.A.: Washington: President Roosevelt announced at a press conference here today a programme for building about 200 new merchant ships in one year to take the place of shipping being sunk in the war.

The plan, which will cost GBP 87.5 million, is based on the assumption that when the war ends there will be a world shipping shortage.

Mr Roosevelt said that the ships would look "ugly", but they could be quickly and cheaply built.

The President also announced that he is sending his close confidant, Harry Hopkins, to London as his personal representative until a new ambassador can be sent to replace Joseph Kennedy.