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• German submarine U-41 (Kapitänleutnant Gustav-Adolf Mugler) damaged unarmed and unescorted 8,096-ton Dutch tanker Ceronia at 0332 hours; the damaged tanker would make it to Rotterdam, Netherlands under her own power. At 1310 hours, U-41 attacked the same convoy, OA-84, again, sinking the 9,874-ton Beaverburn (Master Thomas Jones) 150 miles south of Berehaven, County Cork, Ireland, killing 1. The master and 75 crew members were picked up by British tanker Narragansett and landed at Falmouth. Shortly after, U-41 was sunk by British destroyer HMS Antelope, killing all 49 aboard; it was the first time a lone British destroyer destroyed a German submarine, and Lieutenant Commander Richard Taylor White of Antelope was awarded the DSO award. ww2dbase [Celtic Sea | CPC, HM]

• USS Helena arrived at Santos, Brazil. ww2dbase [Helena (St. Louis-class) | Santos | CPC]

• After meeting in Paris, France, the Allied Supreme War Council agreed to send two divisions of British troops to Finland via Narvik, Norway, despite Norway's proclamation of neutrality. They also decided that, while the troops marched into Finland, they would take control of Swedish iron ore mines and the port of Luleå, despite Sweden had likely proclaimed neutral in the war. ww2dbase [The Winter War | Paris | CPC]

5 Feb 1940 Interactive Map