Air Operations - Europe
BOMBER COMMAND68 Wellingtons are sent to bomb Brest and 27 aircraft to St-Nazaire. There are no losses.
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]Battle of the Atlantic
German submarines are deployed off the east coast of the US in their first big 'hunt'. An average of 54 units are in action and in less than a month 142,373 tons of shipping are sunk.
[ | ]Borneo
In Sarawak the Japanese reach the Sarawak-Dutch West Borneo border.
[ | ]China
During the period from January 3, Chinese troops rout a Japanese force of an estimated 70,000 in a major battle in the Hunan provincial capital of Changsha. The Japanese admit defeat by the Nationalist Chinese force.
[ | ]Eastern Front
The Russians are advancing north and south of Mozhaisk. On the southern front they recapture Meshchovsk.
NORTHERN SECTORTo the accompaniment of massed artillery fire, the Volkhov Front launches its offensive along the Volkhov. Fierce fighting develops as the partially deployed 2nd Shock and 59th Armies attac the I and XXXVIII Corps. The hastily prepared Soviet attacks fail to penetrate the German positions.
Germans Surrendering on the Russian Front |
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South of Lake Ilmen, the Northwest Front begins probing attacks against the X and II Corps of the 16th Army, concentrating its efforts in the 11th Army sector near Staraya Russa. The Germans have recently brought the 18th Motorized Division down to this sector and in heavy fighting it inflicts severe casualties upon the Soviet units. For the operation the Soviets have assembled 106,000 men between the 1st Shock, 11th, 34th and 53rd Armies. The 3rd SS Totenkopf, 30th and 290th Infantry Divisions absorbed the main force of the Soviet attacks. All three divisions lose considerable number during the fighting.
CENTRAL SECTORThe Kalinin Front reaches the Volga near Rzhev, having mauled 6 German divisions during the fight around the town.
The Bryansk Front renews its attacks in teh Bolkhov-Orel-Kromy area with the 61st Army. The 3rd and 13th Armies will join the attack shortly.
Germans Hug the Ground to Escape Enemy Fire |
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| ]Malaya
Japanese tanks and infantry totally disrupt the defenses of 11th Indian Div around Trolak and Kampong Slim. The 2 brigades most heavily engaged are reduced to about 20 percent of their normal strength and the 11th Indian Div is no longer considered an organized fighting unit. The Japanese break through and start advancing towards Kuala Lampur, reaching a point nearly two miles from the village of Slim. The Indian III Corps succeeds in forming a new defensive line further south near Kuala Kubu.
Stocks of Rubber Burning |
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| ]Malta
The Axis air action against the island continues.
[ | ]Mediterranean
The Italian steamer Perla (5741t) is sunk by a British torpedo bomber of 830 Squadron 20 miles south of Pantelleria.
[ | ]North Africa
XIII Corps of the British 8th Army sends advance units as far as Agedabia and finds positions abandoned by Rommel's forces. A convoy carrying supplies reaches Benghazi without loss.
[ | ]Pacific
- I-57 sinks the Dutch tanker Djirak (3077t) in the southern Java Sea.
- The US submarine Pollack (SS-180) torpedoes and sinks the Japanese collier No. 1 Unkai Maru south of Honshu.
| ]Philippines
The Japanese prepare for a big offensive against the Bataan peninsula. There about 80,000 Americans and Filipinos deployed there in defensive positions. The defensive positions run down either side of Mount Santa Rosa and Mount Nahib, two high-altitude features occupying central northern Bataan. The Americans form new infantry battalions from the manpower available, including ground personnel of the air force, navy and US Marines.
[ | ]United States, Politics
Pres Roosevelt submits the budget for 1943 to Congress. The total of the appropriations is $59,000,000,000. Production in 1942 is to be 60,000 planes, 45,000 tanks and 8,000,000 tons of shipping; in 1943, 125,000 planes, 75,000 tanks and 11,000,000 tons of shipping.
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