Air Operations, CBI

1st AVG Fighter Squadron P-40s down 4 Japanese Ki-27 fighters near Rangoon during the morning.

Air Operations, Europe

• Daylight minelaying operations in the Frisians are carried out by 33 Hampdens and 13 Manchesters. 1 Hampden is lost in the action.
• There is a night raid on the German battlecruisers at Brest by 57 Wellingtons and 3 Stirlings. In thick cloud cover only 21 aircraft claim to have hit the main target area. 1 Wellington is lost in the raid.

Allied Planning

The first meeting of the Combined Chiefs of Staff, the highest level of Allied joint command, takes place in Washington. This is 'to insure complete coordination of the war effort of Great Britain and the United States, including the production and distribution of war supplies, and to provide for full British and American collaboration with the United Nations.' (See Arcadia Conference, December 22, 1941.)

Axis Diplomacy

In Rome the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, Sayed Emin El Husseini, has talks with Mussolini, who is putting himself forward as champion of the Arab cause. Also arriving in Rome is the exiled Iraqi leader, Raschid Ali.

Battle of the Atlantic

• The British corvette Genista shoots down a Focke-Wulf Condor.
• U-109 sinks the Panamanian steamer Halcyon (3531t) 300 miles east-northeast of Bermuda with the loss of 3 crewmen. 27 survivors are picked up by the British steamer British Prestige.
• U-106 sinks the British steamer Opawa (10,354t) 400 miles north-northeast of Bermuda with the loss of 56 on board. 15 survivors are picked up by the Dutch steamer Hercules.
• U-107 sinks the American steamer Major Wheeler (3431t) east of Cape Hatteras with the loss of her entire crew of 35.

Borneo

The Japanese capture Samarinda north of Balikpapan.

Eastern Front

The 4th Shock Army launches strong attacks against Velizh, almost succeeding in breaking into the center, but Group Sinzinger repels the attack after close quarters fighting. The Germans are hampered by the extreme cold, lack of food and warm clothing, and scarcity of ammunition, Sinzinger's men becoming weaker with each day. Army Group Center decides that the situation must be restored as quickly as possible and both Demidov and Velizh relieved. The heavy fighting in the Rzhev and Vyazma sectors continue without pause as the Germans pile pressure on the encircled Soviet units.

The 3rd and 4th Shock Armies have lost 10,400 killed and missing and 18,810 wounded during the month long Toropets-Kholm Offensive Operation.

Egypt, Politics

Nahas Pasha, leader of the nationalist, anti-British, Wafd Party, forms a new government.

North Africa

Rommel's offensive grinds to a halt west of Gazala.

Valentine tanks dispersed over the desert in front of the British Gazala defense lines.

British Gazala Defense Lines

Philippines

Japanese reinforcements land on Luzon at the Gulf of Lingayen. US troops mount a counterattack against the Japanese reinforcements, but make little headway. The fighting on Bataan has been less severe for a few days. The Japanese begin shelling the fortified islands in the Gulf of Manila.

Emilio Aquinaldo, Filipino nationalist leader, broadcasts an appeal to the embattled US and Filipino forces on Bataan to surrender.

Secret War

A bomb hidden in mail steamer baggage explodes at quayside at Tangier in Spanish Morocco. 14 people are killed, including 6 British, and 39 are injured. The Spanish Press blames the 'British Secret Service'.