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• In Oslo, Reichsführer-SS Himmler accepted the oath of the first group of Norwegian enlistees in the Waffen-SS. ww2dbase [TH]
• Free French forces from Chad, French Equatorial Africa attacked the Italian forces at Kufra, Libya, supported by T Patrol of the British Long Range Desert Group. ww2dbase [Battle of Kufra | CPC]
• Indian 4th Division flanked and then captured Agordat, Eritrea, Italian East Africa. 1,000 Italian troops and 43 field guns were captured. ww2dbase [Invasion of Italian East Africa | CPC]
• Italian torpedo boat Francesco Stocco hit a mine, broke in two, and sank off Fiume, Italy (now Rijeka, Croatia). ww2dbase [CPC]
• Italian submarine Dandolo sank British tanker Pizarro 350 miles southwest of Ireland after dark with torpedoes; 23 killed and 6 survived. ww2dbase [CPC]
• German armed merchant cruiser Atlantis stopped British ship Speybank with gunfire and captured the ship. Speybank would soon set sail for Bordeaux, France where she would be converted into an auxiliary minelayer named Schiff 53/Doggerbank and serve in the German Navy. ww2dbase [Atlantis | CPC]
• Destroyer USS Edison (DD-439) was commissioned with Lieutenant Commander A. C. Murdaugh in command. ww2dbase [AC]
• Oberstleutnant Hans Korte stepped down as the commanding officer of the German Kampfgeschwader 55 wing. ww2dbase [CPC]

• The cease fire ending the Franco-Thai War was signed aboard Japanese cruiser Natori at Saigon, French Indochina, effective 28 Jan 1941. ww2dbase [Franco-Thai War | Saigon, Cochinchine | CPC, AC]

• Submarine Grayback was launched in Groton, Connecticut, United States, sponsored by the wife of Rear Admiral Wilson Brown, who was the Superintendent of the United States Naval Academy. ww2dbase [Electric Boat Company | Grayback | Groton, Connecticut | CPC]
• Young-Oak Kim was drafted into the United States Army. ww2dbase [Young-Oak Kim | CPC]

31 Jan 1941 Interactive Map