Air Operations, CBI

• 3rd AVG Fighter Squadron P-40s down 3 Japanese Ki-30 light bombers near Mengtzu, China at 1017 hours.
• The American Volunteer Group led by Gen Chennault claims to have destroyed 90 Japanese planes over southwest China and Burma since December 7 to a loss of 3 US fighters and pilots.

Air Operations, Europe

• 83 aircraft are sent on a raid to Bremen. Only 8 aircraft claim to have bombed the primary target. Some of the aircraft make for alternative targets which include Hamburg. 11 fires are reported there with 5 people killed and 12 injured. 3 Wellingtons are lost on the raid and 1 Stirling crashes in England after being fired upon and damaged by a British convoy.
• In minor operations, 24 aircraft are sent to bomb Emden, 2 to Dunkirk, 2 to Soesterberg, Holland airfield and 8 Hampdens lay mines of Wilhelmshaven and Dunkirk. There are no losses.

Barents Sea

Convoy PQ-8 is attacked by U-boats. This is the first such attack on an Arctic convoy. 1 destroyer, the Matabele, and 1 merchant ship are sunk by U-454 off Kola Inlet. There are only 2 survivors of a 200-man crew on the destroyer.

Battle of the Atlantic

• U-87 sinks the Norwegian tanker Nyholt (8087t) from dispersed Convoy ON-52 180 miles south of Cape Race with the loss of 20 crewmen. 21 survivors are picked up by the Canadian destroyer St Clair.
• U-203 sinks the Norwegian steamer Octavian (1345t) off Cape Race with the loss of her entire crew of 17.
• U-123 sinks the American steamer San Jose (1932t) off the New Jersey coast.

Borneo

Japanese troops land at Sandakan, British North Borneo.

There are not enough Allied troops around to withstand the Japanese initiatives. Under Wavell are the American Adm Hart commanding the naval forces, the British Air Marshal Peirse in command of the air forces and the Dutch Gen ter Poorten heading up the land forces.

Eastern Front

(1/16?)Field Marshal von Reichenau, former commander of the German 6th Army, whose contribution was decisive in the taking of Kiev and Kharkov, dies in a plane crash while returning to Germany from the Eastern Front. On December 1 he had taken over from Field Marshal von Rundstedt, in command of the Army Group South. The next day his command is given to Field Marshal von Bock, who on December 16, physically and mentally exhausted, had asked to be relieved of the command of Army Group Center.[MORE]

Malaya

Reinforcements are sent by the British to the Muar-Yong Peng area. The Japanese continue their pressure on the defenders while concentrating their forces for the offensive against the southern part of the Malayan peninsula.

Mediterranean

The British destroyer Gurkha II is torpedoed by U-133. The Dutch ship Isaac Sweers tows her out of burning oil and rescues the crew.

North Africa

After resisting for two months to land, sea and air attacks and just before an assault is to be launched by the Free French, the last Axis outpost at Halfaya, guarding a pass up the giant escarpment, surrenders to British forces. 13,800 (5,500?) Axis soldiers are captured and at Bardia 1,177 Allied soldiers are freed. The garrison at Halfaya has been isolated since the start of the CRUSADER offensive and has been without water for the past three days, but has held out under the command of a remarkable German leader, Maj the Reverend Bach. The Axis garrison at Sollum also surrenders.

With the elimination of Axis resistance in Cyrenaica, the first phase of the British campaign in Libya can be regarded as concluded. The Italians and Germans are in position on the El Agheila line.

Pacific

The Japanese submarine I-60 is sunk 25 miles north-northfwest of Krakatoa, Java by the British destroyer Jupiter.

Philippines

On Luzon, in the Bataan peninsula the troops of II Corps under Maj-Gen George M. Parker, responsible for defense in the eastern sector counterattack in the Abucay area. They reach the Balantay River but do not take the whole of the river line. In the center the Japanese column continues its advance along the Abo-Abo valley towards Orion. In the west the defenders of Moron are forced back to the south and southeast.

South Africa, Politics

The South African Parliament rejects a motion calling for independence from Britain and accords Gen Smuts a vote of confidence.

Workmen clear up raid debris in Singapore on 17 January 1942, after a Japanese bombing raid on the British naval base. (AP Photo)

Clearing Debris in Singapore