Air Operations, CBI

A 2nd AVG Fighter Squadron pilot downs a Japanese Army bomber over Toungoo Airdrome, Burma at 1600 hours.

Air Operations, Pacific

• The Japanese bomb Port Moresby, New Guinea and Surabaya naval base on Java. 31 people are killed and 139 are injured.
• Japanese Navy aircraft based at Celebes/Kendari Airdrome in the East Indies open a preinvasion offensive against Allied ground targets in Java. 4 19th Heavy Bomb Group B-17s are destroyed in the attack and a fifth is shot down. Also downed near Soerabaja is a USAAC B-18. 3 Royal Netherlands Navy Catalina flying boats are also destroyed at Soerabaja. 17th Provisional Pursuit P-40s arrive too late to prevent that attack, but do shoot down 2 Japanese fighter and 1 Japanese bomber in the first air action of the Java campaign.

Battle of the Atlantic

• U-106 sinks the Swedish steamer Amerikaland (15,355t) about 90 miles east of Virginia Beach with the loss of 5 crewmen. 34 survivors are picked up by the British steamer Port Halifax and the Dutch steamer Castor.
• The Panamanian freighter San Gil (3627t) is torpedoed, shelled and sunk by U-103 about 15 miles south of Fenwick Island light. 2 crewmen are killed in the attack. 38 survivors are rescued by the Coast Guard cutter Nike (WPC-112).

Britain, Home Front

Sir Arnold Bax is appointed Master of the King's Music.

Burma

Chiang Kai-shek sends his 5th Army and the remainder of his 6th Army to reinforce the British forces.

Dutch East Indies

The Japanese begin major air attacks on Java preparing for their invasion. Their bombers, taking off from Kendari in the Celebes, hit the bases at Surabaya, Madionen and Malang. There is severe damage to the port installations and all Dutch aircraft on the ground are destroyed.

Eastern Front

The Russians recapture Lozovaya in the Barvenkovo salient, southwest of Kharkov.

Lead units of the 1st Shock Army enter the line east of Staraya Russa, deploying on the northenr base of the exposed Demyansk salient.

Soviet forces encircling Velizh launch strong attacks in an effort to take the town, but Group Sinzinger repels them each time. Continued Soviet thrusts though also encircle Demidov and begin to hit Velikiye Luki and Surazh. Fighting is intense as both sides struggle in the minus 40 degree Centigrade temperatures. As fighting rages around Velizh, Demidov and Velikiye Luki, the 9th Army redeploys its forces in the Rzhev sector. Model plans to strike at the exposed Soviet positions near Rzhev to break up the encircled elements of the 29th and 39th Armies.

The 4th Panzer Army launches a ferocious counterattack and closes the line between itself and the 4th Army to the south. The result is the encirclement of Efremov's 33rd Army, together with the paratroopers and men of the XI Cavalry Corps around Vyazma.

Mediterranean

The British submarine P-35 sinks the Italian steamer Napoli (6142t) off Kuriat Island, Tunisia.

New Guinea

The Japanese begin the bombardment of Port Moresby, capital of Papua, where there is a small Australian garrison.

North Africa

British forces evacuate Derna as the Germans fight their way there.

Pacific

The British steamer Katong is sunk by Japanese bombing 4 miles from Bar Light Vessel, Palembang. Only 5 crew members survivr. The British steamer Loch Ranza (4958t) is also sunk by Japanese bombing in the same area with the loss of 9 crewmen. 41 survivors are picked up by the British steamer Subador.

Philippines

American and Filipino forces retake the bridgehead over the Pilar River which was evacuated by the Japanese during the previous night.

A Japanese Image of Their Troops Advancing in the Philippines

South China Sea

The British steamer Norah Muller (4433t) is sunk by Japanese bombing off West Nangka Point in the Banka Strait with the loss of 17 of her crew. The Australian light cruiser Hobart rescues 57 survivors and the British destroyer Tenedos 13.

Jinrikisha Station, Singapore, two women grieving over a child killed in an air raid on 3 February 1942.

Women Grieving Over a Child Killed in an Air Raid