Baltic Sea

The Estonian steamer Kessu (295t) is seized by German naval forces and taken to Memel.

Battle of the Atlantic

The British steamer Durham Castle (8240t) sinks off Cromarty on a mine laid by U-57 on the 22nd.

Britain, Home Front

It is stated in London that of 734,883 children evacuated since the war began, 316,192 had returned home by Jan 8.

Diplomatic Relations

The US-Japanese Treaty of Navigation and Commerce of 1911 lapses. In protest against Japanese aggression in China the United States refuses to negotiate a new one.

Finland - Winter War

Day 58

On the central Isthmus in the Lähde road sector Russian artillery pounds 'Fort Poppius' rendering it useless for active combat purposes. In northern Finland the last of the troops of the 9th Div transferred from Suomussalmi arrive in Kuhmo.

Russian aircraft bomb Ivalo, Kuusamo, Savukoski and Sotkamo.

The Mikkeli: Prime Minister Risto Ryti visits General Headquarters to discuss the prospects for peace with Commander-in-Chief Mannerheim. Mannerheim urges the Prime Minister to make concessions to achieve a settlement. Photo: SA-KUVA Prime Minister Ryti

France, Home Front

Paul Ferdonnet, the 'Radio Traitor' - notorious for his pro-Nazi broadcasts in French from Stuttgart - is tried in absentia by a military tribunal. He is sentenced to death on Mar 7.

France, Politics

A memorandum submitted by de Gaulle to his military masters campaigns for a re-appraisal of the nations's approach to mechanized armed forces. It includes the statement: 'We began the war with five million soldiers yet our aerial forces are only now being equipped and our armored vehicles are too weak and too few in number.' He states his expectation that 'the present hostilities are likely to expand considerably.'

Occupied Poland

Jews are forbidden to used the railroad.