Air Operations, Asia

Japanese bombers attack Bandjermasin airfield on south Borneo. 9 Dutch bombers are destroyed.

Axis Diplomacy

Göring begins a nine-day visit to Italy which includes talks with Mussolini. Germany needs more Italian workers in view of the drain on their own manpower in Russia.

Battle of the Atlantic

U-130 sinks the American tanker Francis E. Powell (7096t) about 8 miles northeast of the Winter Quarter Light Vessel, Maryland with the loss of 4 of her crew. 28 survivors are picked up by the American tanker W. C. Fairbanks and an American Coast Guard vessel.

Borneo

A Japanese force lands and captures Pemangkat and the nearby airfield.

Britain, Politics

Churchill opens a major House of Commons debate with a report of recent negotiations of measures for Allied cooperation. He describes the Combined Chiefs of Staff Committee, the Pacific Council and the plans for US land forces to come to Britain. He also defends the government against critics, especially of the North African and Far East campaigns. The debate clears the air of various criticisms of the conduct of the war and a vote of confidence is opposed by only one member.

Diplomatic Relations

Free France agrees to open French possessions in the Pacific as Allied military bases.

Eastern Front

Timoshenko's troops continue their advance into the Ukraine and capture the important railway junction of Lozovaya, west of Isyum. They now threaten Dnepropetrovsk which is the main supply base for Army Group South. The German defense is now stiffening and by January 31 the Soviets will be halted.

Sturmgeschutz III Ausf G (SdKfz 142/1) assault guns on their way through snow fields to support the hard fighting German infantry at the Donets Front near Kharkov.

German Assault Guns Supporting Infantry

The 4th Shock Army launches heavy attacks upon Velizh while other unites move upon Demidov.

The Soviets concentrate for an all-out assault upoon Vyazma, the XI Cavalry moving from the north, Group Belov from the southwest and the 33rd Army from the east. As a prelude to the attack, the IV Airborne Corps begins to drop west of Vyazma.

The Soviet 6th Army and the VI Cavalry Corps capture Lozovaya.

Malaya

Gen Percival, commander of Allied troops in Malaya, receives permission from Gen Wavell to withdraw his forces on to the island of Singapore when a suitable opportunity arrives. He decides they will move by way of Johore Bahru and the causeway linking it with Singapore, and that the movement must be completed by the night of January 30-31. The defending troops are already fighting rear-guard actions as some of their numbers are being taken off by sea. The 22nd Indian Bde is cut off in fighting near Layang Layang south of Kluang.

The British carrier Indomitable flies a cargo of 48 Hurricane fighters to Java. From here they will move on to reinforce the defenses of Singapore.

North Africa

While the British XIII Corps prepares to counterattack in the Msus area, the Axis troops resume their offensive with great vigor, advancing along two tracks leading to Benghazi and El Mechili.

Pacific

• The American submarine Gudgeon (SS-211) sinks I-73 240 miles west of Midway.
• The British tanker Harpa (3007t) sinks on a British mine in Singapore Strait with the loss of 35 crewmen. 5 survivors are rescued by the British patrol vessel Hua Tong.

Philippines

On Luzon the Japanese land troops at Point Anyasan, just north of Point Quinauan. The Japanese consolidate their bridgeheads in these two sectors and are ordered to advance on the town of Mariveles, at the extreme south of the Bataan pninsula. The Japanese are attacking everywhere, but the Americans and Filipinos hold out along the line running from Bagac, on the west coast, to Pilar and Orion on the east.

6 American submarines begin carrying supplies to Corregidor Island. This type operation will continue until May 6.