Air Operations - CBI

3 2nd AVG Fighter Squadron P-40s shoot down a Japanese Army reconnaissance plane over the Mesoht Airdrome in Thailand.

Battle of the Atlantic

• The Canadian luxury liner Lady Hawkins is sunk by U-66 150 miles from Cape Hatteras. Of a total of 322 onboard 251 are lost. 71 survivors are picked up after 5 days by the American passenger ship Coamo.
• U-109 sinks the British steamer Empire Kingfisher (6082t) off Nova Scotia.
• U-123 sinks the American steamer Norvana (2677t) south of Cape Hatteras with the loss of her entire crew of 29. Next the u-boat sinks the American steamer City of Atlanta (5269t) about 10 miles off the North Carolina coast with the loss of 43 of her crew. 3 survivors are picked up by the American railcar carrier Seatrain Texas. U-123 next damages the American tanker Malay with the loss of 5 crewmen. The tanker makes it to Hampton Roads under her own power. The Latvian steamer Ciltvaira (3779t) is the next victim of the u-boat sustaining heavy damage. She sinks under tow 2 days later. 2 of her crew are lost, 29 survive.

Borneo

British North Borneo surrenders to the Japanese at Sandakan.

Soldiers of the Hawaiian Provisional Battalion March in Honolulu, 1942

On 19 January 1942, 317 Nisei members of the Hawaii Territorial Guard were relieved of their duties without explanation. Surprised, angry and disappointed, the men were determined to find another way to serve their country. A month later, they sent a petition to the military governor, Lieutenant General Delos Emmons, offering themselves “for whatever service you may see fit to use us.” They were given permission to form a volunteer labor battalion which became known as the Varsity Victory Volunteers.

Burma

Tavoy is taken by the Japanese along with its airport. The British garrison at Mergui is withdrawn to Rangoon. The Chinese send a division to Burma to reinforce the British.

Dutch West Indies

US air units arrive in Aruba and Curaçao.

Eastern Front

Von Bock is appointed to succeed von Reichenau in command of Army Group South. The Russians recapture Mozhaysk in the central sector after a fierce street battle. The Germans retreat westward towards Vyazma where they have to fight off attacks by Russian cavalry, ski troops and Ilyushin Shturmovik aircraft. There are also Soviet paratroop landings south of Smolensk now and over the next few days. The paratroops will help establish partisan groups to strike at German rear areas. There is bitter fighting in the southern sector. The Germans retake Feodosiya in the Crimea.

The Germans bring the LIX Corps forward to Vitebsk in an effort to rebuild the shattered left flank of Army Group Center. The 33rd Army recaptures Veriya. Zhukov directs the 5th Army toward Gzhatsk and the 33rd to Vyazma. The German 4th Army has pinned its defenses upon these two locations. To the rear, Soviet paratroopers effect a junction with elements of the 49th Army near Myatlevo, other units of this army capturing Kandorovo. More Soviet paratroops land in the rear of the 9th and 4th Armies near Vyazma.

The 2nd Panzer begins a counterattack against the left wing of the 10th Army with the 208th Infantry and the 4th and 18th Panzer Divisions, the eventual aim being the relief of Sukhinichi. Heavy fighting rages around Lyudinovo, where the Germans force the 322nd Rifle Division out of the town.

Koniev issues new orders to his armies, ordering the 22nd to secure the right wing and rear of the 39th and 29th Armies, the 29th to take Rzhev, the 39th to destroy the Germans at Sychevka, the 31st to puch toward Zubtsov, the 3rd Shock to advance on Velikiye Luki and the 4th Shock on Velizh.

Stalin begins to interfere in the conduct of offensive operations. The Northwest Front is instructed to hand over the 3rd and 4th Shock Armies to the Kalinin Front; the 1st Shock Army is moved up from the West Front area of operations to the Northwest Front at Staraya Russa, to be ready to take the offensive on February 6. The Northwest Front will also receive 2 rifle divisions and 2 brigades to aid the assault east of the town. Kurochkin argues to retain the 3rd Shock but fails to change Stalin's mind.

Malaya

Fighting in the Muar-Yong Peng area continues. Yong Peng is lost to the Japanese and the British forces at Muar are cut off and face annihilation there by the Japanese 5th and 8th Divisions. The Japanese are now about 80 miles from Singapore.

North Africa

Gen Auchinleck issues new directives for the 8th Army. Their new objective is Tripoli. Defensive strategy is also planned in case the offensive in Libya has to be broken off.

Pacific

The Dutch steamer Van Imhoff (2980t) is sunk by Japanese bombing south of Java.

Philippines

On Luzon the Japanese repulse renewed American counterattacks. The Japanese column advancing along the Abo-Abo valley reaches the outskirts of Guitol and begin action with the Filipino 31st Div.

Auxiliary Jewish Police Force in the Lodz Ghetto

An auxiliary Jewish police force kept order in the Lodz Ghetto and was was used by the Germans to organize the selection of people for deportation. During the last few months of 1941 the Lodz Ghetto in Poland had received some 40,000 Jews who had been deported from Germany. Now, in the middle of January 1942, deportations out from the ghetto began. The Germans never made clear why people were being deported – and they never denied the rumours that sprang up about people being sent to work on farms or factories elsewhere in Poland.