Air Operations, Europe

95 aircraft are sent on a raid to Hamburg. The shipyards and an airframe factory are the main targets. Only 48 aircraft claim to have bombed Hamburg. The Altona railway station is hit and 12 fires are started. 2 Hampdens and 2 Wellingtons are lost on the raid.

In minor raids, 18 aircraft are sent to Emden, 11 to Rotterdam, 17 Blenheim Intruders to Dutch airfields and 5 Hampdens lay mines off Kiel and Warnemunde. 1 Intruder is lost.

Air Operations, Pacific

Singapore and Rangoon are bombed by Japanese aircraft.

Barents Sea

The German steamer Turkheim (1878t) is sunk by the Soviet submarine S-102 off Syltefjord, Norway.

Battle of the Atlantic

• U-43, under Lt-Cdr Lüth, attacks Convoy ON-55 during a severe storm and sinks 3 ships, the Greek steamer Maro (3838t), the British steamer Empire Surf (6641t), and the Panamanian steamer Chepo (5582t). There are no survivors from the Greek ship. 47 crewmen are lost on the Empire Surf, 6 survivors are picked up by the British corvette Alisma. The Chepo loses 17 of her crew, 21 survivors are picked up by the British corvette Sunflower.
• The German battleship Tirpitz is assigned to anti-convoy duty in the North Atlantic and is transferred to Trondheim, Norway.
• U-123 sinks the Panamanian tanker Norness 60 miles from Montauk Point, Long Island with the loss of 2 of her crew. 39 survivors are picked up by the American cutter Argo and the American destroyer Ellyson.

Diplomatic Relations

The Anglo-American Arcadia conference ends in Washington. The main decisions made are: the setting up of a joint Chiefs of Staffs Committee to coordinate the Anglo-American war effort; priority in the overall operational plan is given to the campaign against Germany; the strategic importance of the occupations of French North Africa (Operation Gymnast) is recognized. German use of navy and air bases in French North Africa would constitute an unacceptable threat to Allied shipping in the Atlantic.

Dutch East Indies

Gen Wavell formally assumes supreme command in Asia and arrives at Batavia to set up his headquarters.

Eastern Front

In the central sector the Russians recapture Medyn, on the Medynka River northwest of Kaluga. A Russian armored spearhead is only 13 km from Kharkov.

Near Leningrad the 54th and 4th Armies both attack but only make minor gains. Along the Volkhov, the 2nd Shock, 59th and 52nd Armies only manage to advance yards against the I and XXXVIII Corps. Farther south, the 4th Shock Army finally begins to make progress into the positions of the 16th Army before Andreapol.

Bitter fighting raes at Rzhev as the 22nd, 29th and 39th Armies throw repeated attacks against the 9th Army, Medyn falls to the 43rd Army as the West Front maintains the pressure against the center and soutn of the 4th Army.

In the Crimea, the XXX Corps has redeployed to the Kerch peninsula and prepares to strike the Soviet forces around Feodosia. Manstein plans to smash the newly landed Soviet forces and push them back to Kerch.

Malaya

The British forces are deployed for the defense of the southern part of the Malayan peninsula, trying to stop the Japanese on a line from Muar to Segamat, then along the railway to Labis, and on to Mersing on the east coast. North of this line the British make contact with the enemy troops coming south from Kuantan. British patrols ambush a large number of Japanese moving south on bicycles.

Philippines

In the eastern sector the 41st Div has to retire beyond the Balantay River. In the western sector the Japanese advance from Olongapo towards Moron in two columns, and some units land half-way between the two places. The Americans send reinforcements to Moron.

United States, Policy

1,800 European companies are blacklisted by the US Government making it illegal for any American to engage in a business transaction with them.

A Chinese tank, camouflaged with bamboo to protect it from Japanese planes, moves across a wooden bridge during an attack somewhere in China.

Chinese Tank Moving to Attack