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• German raiders Komet and Orion and support ship Kulmerland released 514 prisoners captured from various ships, mainly women, children and the injured, at Emirau Island, Bismarck Islands. They were given food before being turned over to two English families living on that island. British ship Nellore would arrive on 29 Dec to pick them up. 150 prisoners remained aboard Orion. ww2dbase [Orion | CPC]
• German submarine U-65 attacked Panamanian tanker Charles Pratt with 2 torpedoes 250 miles west of Freetown, British West Africa (now Sierra Leone) at 1600 hours. The cargo of 96,069 barrels of fuel was ignited, but only 2 were killed. 40 survivors took to two lifeboats; they would be rescued 4 to 5 days later by British ships. ww2dbase [CPC]
• Allied convoy MG1 departed Malta at noon for Gibraltar. The convoy consisted of British merchant ships Clan Fraser, Clan Forbes, and Ulster Prince; it was escorted by battleship HMS Malaya and eight destroyers. ww2dbase [Malaya | CPC]
• Luftwaffe bombers struck Liverpool, England, United Kingdom overnight. ww2dbase [Battle of Britain | CPC]
• RAF bombers bombed Porto Marghera, Italy, hitting docks and oil tanks. ww2dbase [CPC]
• The rear echelon of the newly established US Marine Corps 7th Defense Battalion arrived at Pago Pago, Tutuila, American Samoa. ww2dbase [CPC]

• Seeadler began laying mines in the English Channel. ww2dbase [Seeadler | English Channel | CPC]

• Leonardo da Vinci departed Bordeaux, France. ww2dbase [Leonardo da Vinci | Bordeaux, Aquitaine | CPC]
• Comandante Cappellini departed Bordeaux, France at 1036 hours and arrived at Le Verdon-sur-Mer, Aquitaine, France at 1520 hours. ww2dbase [Comandante Cappellini | Le Verdon-sur-Mer, Aquitaine | CPC]

• Berlin, Germany suffered minor damage from a British RAF bombing raid. ww2dbase [Bombing of Hamburg, Dresden, and Other Cities | Berlin | TH]

• Submarine USS Thresher arrived at Portsmouth Navy Yard, Kittery, Maine following her shakedown cruise to the Gulf of Mexico. ww2dbase [Thresher | Kittery, Maine | DS]

21 Dec 1940 Interactive Map