Air Operations - Europe

13 Wellingtons and 3 Stirlings are sent on a raid to Brest. There are no losses.

Axis Diplomacy

Japan formally declares war on the Netherlands.

Battle of the Atlantic

In Operation Paukenschlag ('Drumbeat'), 5 U-boats begin operations off the American east coast. 20 ships are sunk during the period ending February 7.

Borneo

As more troops are landed, Gen Yamashita's forces complete the capture of the island of Tarakan, which contains a number of oilfields.

Celebes

Japanese paratroops land at and occupy Manado, at the extreme north of the island of Celebes, and nearby Kema. Naval parachutists are used in this operation. The small Dutch garrisons are quickly forced to surrender. Both the island of Tarakan and Manado in the Celebes are turned into air bases to support the continued drive to the south by the Japanese.

Japanese Invade Tarakan

The Pasific war, which commenced on 7 December 1941, finally came to the Celebes. In the early morning of 11 January 1942, about 15.000 Japanese troops landed in the archipelago via Tarakan. Three years later, on 1 May 1945, 20.000 Allied troops took over control of the island from Japanese troops. Thousands of bombs were dropped on the island by the Allied troops in only in four days. It was the second time Tarakan became a terriying battlefield since the first one when the Japanese troops invaded the island in 1942. The Japanese invasion on Tarakan has been called 'Pearl Harbor of Indonesia'.

Eastern Front

Soviet troops continue their counteroffensive in the central sector cutting the Rzhev-Bryansk railway line. The Russians recapture Liudinovo, southwest of Kaluga, Tikhonovo Pustyn railway junction, northwest of Kaluga and Popovka in the Donets Basin. Moscow radio announces recapture of some Donetz coal-mining districts. In the Battle of Mozhaisk, the Russians oust the Germans from their stronghold west of Moscow.[MORE]
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Malaya

The Japanese advance continues, with British and Commonwealth forces establishing defensive lines that are subsequently outflanked by Japanese amphibious landings down the western Malayan coastline. The Indian III Corps continues its withdrawal to the south. The Japanese 5th Div takes Kuala Lumpur and are now 150 miles from Singapore. There is a pause in the ground operations, but the Japanese air attacks increase in intensity, especially against the area of the Muar River, south of Malacca.

Enemy tanks and motor vehicles on a jungle road on fire after being engaged by an anti-tank gun

Jungle Warfare in Malaya

One of the crew lies dead beside his tank

Jungle Warfare in Malaya

British Anti-Tank Gunners Firing at Enemy Tanks

A close-up of a knocked-out tank with its dead crew by its side

A Knocked-Out Tank

Malta

There are more Axis air raids.

North Africa

The South African 2nd Div, part of XXX Corps of the British 8th Army, attacks Sollum and captures it after about 24 hours of fighting. Axis forces consolidate at El Agheila.

Pacific

• The carrier Saratoga is severely damaged in an attack by the Japanese submarine I-6 about 500 miles southwest of Hawaii.
• The American army transport Liberty is damaged by a torpedo from I-66 10 miles southwest of Lombok Strait. The crew is rescued by a Dutch flying boat. The ship is taken under tow and beached on the southeast corner of Bali where she capsizes on the 14th and is a total loss.
• The British steamer Wulin (2515t) is sunk by Japanese bombing in the Muar River, Johore State. She is later salvaged by the Japanese and renamed Unryu Maru for Japanese use.

Philippines

On Luzon, after a failed attempt to outflank the Bataan defense line, the Japanese make some progress along the east coast of the Bataan peninsula, crossing the Calaguiman River. The Americans launch a counterattack and recapture almost all of the ground lost. At the center of the peninsula advance elements of a Japanese column reach the Orani River after a day's fighting.

US and Filipino forces on Bataan are put on half rations. Efforts to resupply are frustrated by the Japanese blockade. 15 blockade runners, totaling about 40,000 tons are sunk trying to carry supplies in from Cebu.

Home Guard Rifle Drill

These Northwestern University girls brave freezing weather to go through a Home Guard rifle drill on the campus in Evanston, Illinois on 11 January 1942. From left to right are: Jeanne Paul, age 18, of Oak Park, Illinois,; Virginia Paisley, 18, of Lakewood, Ohio; Marian Walsh, 19, also from Lakewood; Sarah Robinson, 20, of Jonesboro, Arkansas,; Elizabeth Cooper, 17, of Chicago; Harriet Ginsberg, 17. (AP Photo)