Air Operations, Europe

• There is another RAF night raid, this by 18 Wellingtons, on the German battlecruisers at Brest. The 'Blockade of Brest' ends. Since March 1941 the RAF has flown 3,299 sorties and dropped 4,000t of bombs. They have lost 43 aircraft.
• In other operations this night, there is a raid on Mannheim by the 49 aircraft and and on Le Havre by 25 Wellingtons and 6 Whitleys. 1 Wellington is lost in the Le Havre raid.

Air Operations, Pacific

Japanese planes bomb Samaria Island, 380 miles north of Australia.

Allied Command

Vice-Adm Helfrich of the Royal Netherlands Navy succeeds Adm Hart of the US Navy as Allied Supreme Naval Commander in the Pacific.

Australia, Home Front

The Australian government calls up all married men up to 35 years of age and unmarrieds up to 40.

Battle of the Atlantic

• U-136 sinks the Norwegian steamer Heina (4028t) from Convoy SC-67 south of Iceland. All 30 of her crew are rescued by the Canadian corvette Dauphin.
• U-564 sinks the Canadian tanker Victolite (11,410t) 260 miles north-northwest of Bermuda with the loss of all 47 of her crew.

Burma

The Japanese cross the Salween River.

In Burma the British were now falling back just as they had in Malaya. Here electrical equipment at the Yenangyaung oilfields being destroyed as part of the 'scorched earth' policy pursued by the British in the face of the Japanese advance.

Electrical Equipment Burning in 'Scorched Earth' Policy

Canada, Home Front

French-Canadians in Montreal protest military conscription which is proposed by the government. Demonstrations escalate into full-scale rioting. Shouting 'A bas la conscription,' a thousand people, mostly students, smash windows, attack streetcars, and battle police, 12 of whom receive injuries. The issue of French-Canadians serving as draftees remains a hot one throughout the war.

Diplomatic Relations

Antonio de Oliveira Salazar, head of the Portuguese government, and Francisco Franco, Caudillo of Spain, meet at Seville and make a declaration confirming the neutrality of their countries.

London claims that during December and January 5,500 tons of gasoline and aviation fuel had been sent from France to Axis forces in Libya.

Dutch West Indies

The islands of Aruba and Curaçao are occupied by the US.

English Channel

The German battlecruisers Scharnhorst and Gneisenau and the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen along with 13 motor torpedo boats and 5 destroyers make the run home from Brest up the English Channel. It is a carefully prepared and well-executed operation. New of the preparations does not reach Britain and the Germans choose a day when bad weather and low cloud cover help to conceal the move. A German fighter escort is provided throughout the voyage. The ships are not reported until late morning when a Spitfire of Fighter Command spots them off Le Touquet.

Gneisenau

Scharnhorst

Planned British counter-measures, Operation Fuller, involve cross-Channel guns, MTBs, destroyers and heavy torpedo planes fail miserably. By a combination of luck and slackness, British forces only make a few piecemeal attacks. The first Bomber Command aircraft do not get airborne until 1:30pm and 242 sorties are flown by the squadrons before dark. It is the largest Bomber Command daylight operation of the war to date.

Most of the bombers are unable to locate the German ships in the poor weather conditions and, those that do, make no hits on the fast-moving and heavily defended targets. In their attempt to halt the German squadrons, the British lose 15 bombers and 17 fighters in two days against the small escorting force of 17 German fighters.

The Swordfish of 825 Squadron led by Lt-Cdr Eugene Esmonde are one of the units involved. All 7 of their aircraft are shot down. Esmonde is awarded the Victoria Cross posthumously. Both battlecruisers are damaged by mines, however, but Gneisenau and Scharnhorst arrive in the Elbe Estuary and Wilhelmshaven respectively. The damage to Scharnhorst is serious and when Gneisenau is in dock to have her slighter hurts repaired she is seriously hit in a bombing raid. The operation is code named Cerberus and Adm Ciliax is in command. Although it is a notable insult to British naval power, the British strategic position is improved by it since it is easier to guard against any attack from the German ships when they are in German or Norwegian bases.

Pacific

The US submarine Shark (SS-174) is sunk by the Japanese destroyer Yamakaze about 120 miles east of Menado, Celebes. There are no survivors of the 58-man crew.

Philippines

In the Bataan peninsula the Americans make further progress against the larger of two Japanese salients, but the Japanese escape encirclement and retire to the north.

Singapore

A final Allied counterattack on Singapore Island is driven off with heavy losses and the Allied troops begin to pull back to their final perimeter around the town itself. The Japanese continue their advance. Gen Tomoyuki Yamashita has leaflets dropped on the city stating surrender terms. The British ignore them.

Japanese Troops Assaulting Bukit Timah Hill, under Allied Fire

The Battle of Bukit Timah, which took place on 11 February 1942, was part of the final stage of the Empire of Japan's invasion of Singapore during World War II. By the 10th of February, the Japanese had landed in full force on Singapore Island. They controlled the entire western part of the island, and much of the north. Their next objective was Bukit Timah and the capture of vital water, food, ammunition, and vehicles, machine parts and other supplies. Now, flushed with success, the Japanese again advanced in full force.