http://homepage.ntlworld.com/andrew.etherington/month/thismonth/31.htm
January 31st, 1941
GERMANY: After consultations with army and army group staffs the Army High Command has now prepared the first operational plans for the German invasion of the Soviet Union. The deployment plan for the forces is also ready. (Jack McKillop)
U-751 commissioned. (Dave Shirlaw)
POLAND: Confiscation of private property by the occupying Germans is made policy by a decree initiated today.
MEDITERRANEAN SEA: Minesweeper HMS Huntley transporting supplies for the Eighth Army suffers air attacks by German bombers and is sunk by torpedoes, bombs and gunfire. There are 18 casualties but 56 of the crew survive. (Alex Gordon)(108)
ERITREA: After three days of heavy fighting, the Italian Army withdraws to the Keren Plateau. At this point, Amadeo, the Duke of Aosta and Governor General of Italian East Africa, in command at Addis Ababa, has only 67 aircraft available for combat in all East Africa. Fuel and supplies are at an all time low, and infantry could only be moved on foot. (Jack McKillop)
U.S.A.: Destroyer USS Edison commissioned.
Submarine USS Finback commissioned.
Submarine USS Grayback launched. (Dave Shirlaw)
http://worldwar2daybyday.blogspot.com/
Day 519 January 31, 1941
Sahara Desert, Southeastern Libya. Free French forces have advanced from Chad to attack the Italian garrison at Kufra in the Sahara Desert. British Long Range Desert Group (attached to Free French) sends “T patrol” (30 men in 11 trucks) forward to reconnoiter but they are spotted by Italian aircraft at Bishara, 80 miles Southwest of Kufra. T patrol hides in a small wadi at Gebel Sherif where they are ambushed by Italian “Saharan company” motorized infantry (3 trucks destroyed, 1 man killed, 3 taken prisoner, 4 walk back across the desert).
Eritrea, East Africa. 4th Indian Division flanks Agordat, held by 4 Italian infantry brigades & 2 companies of tanks. Some defenders try to retreat under cover of darkness but 1,000 are taken prisoner and 43 field guns captured.
In the Adriatic Sea off Fiume, Croatia, Italian torpedo boat Francesco Stocco breaks in 2 after hitting a mine laid 3 days ago by British submarine HMS Rorqual. The 2 halves remain afloat and are salvaged.
After dark, 350 miles Southwest of Ireland, Italian submarine Dandolo sinks British tanker Pizarro with torpedoes (23 crew killed, 6 rescued).
Overnight, in the Indian Ocean, German armed merchant cruiser Atlantis stops British SS Speybank (carrying manganese, monazite, ilesite, carpets, tea and shellac from Cochin, India, to New York) with shellfire. Undamaged, SS Speybank is taken as a prize ship and sailed to Bordeaux, France, where she will be converted into an auxiliary minelayer and renamed Schiff 53/Doggerbank.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Edison_%28DD-439%29
USS Edison (DD-439), a Gleaves-class destroyer, was the first ship of the United States Navy to be named for Thomas Alva Edison, an inventor and businessman who developed many important devices.
Edison was launched 23 November 1940 by Federal Shipbuilding and Drydock Company, Kearny, New Jersey sponsored by Mrs. Thomas Alva Edison, widow of the inventor; and commissioned 31 January 1941.
Edison received six battle stars for World War II service.