Air Operations, Bismarcks

• 43rd Heavy Bomb Group B-17s attack the Rapopo airfield at Rabaul.
• 90th Heavy Bomb Group B-24s mount single-plane attacks against the Cape Gloucester and Gasmata airfields on New Britain.

Air Operations, CBI

• In their unit’s combat debut, 7 B-24s of the 7th Heavy Bomb Group’s 493rd Heavy Bomb Squadron attack the dock area and shipping at Rangoon.
• 12 341st Medium Bomb Group B-25s attack the marshalling yard at Mandalay.
• 51st Fighter Group P-40s attack a rail line near Meza, the marshalling yard at Naba, and a bridge at Shadazup.

Air Operations, Europe

• 24 Venturas and 12 Bostons are sent to attack railway targets in France and Belgium. Only 12 Venturas reach their targets.

• 157 aircraft including 139 Wellingtons, 11 Lancasters, 4 Halifaxes and 3 Stirlings are again sent to Lorient. The planes drop their bombs in poor visibility.
• 2 Wellingtons and 1 Lancaster are lost.

• 9 Halifaxes of No. 6 Group attempt to bomb shipping in the Gironde River and 3 aircraft bomb the docks at Bordeaux. 18 OTU sorties are flown.

Air Operations, Libya

57th Fighter Group P-40 fighter-bombers supporting the British 8th Army become the first Allied aircraft to refuel at the newly captured Tripoli/Castel Benito Airdrome.

Air Operations, New Guinea

• V Bomber Command B-25s and A-20s attack supply dumps at Lae.
• 90th Heavy Bomb Group B-24s mount single-plane attacks against Finschhafen.

Air Operations, Sicily

• IX Bomber Command B-24s encounter such stiff headwinds while on a late-afternoon attack against Naples that they divert to Messina, where they attack the town and train ferry terminal.
• During the night, IX Bomber Command B-24s attack Messina again.

Air Operations, Solomons

• XIII Bomber Command B-17s attack the airfield on Ballale.
• 347th Fighter Group P-39s and Navy F4Fs attack revetments and antiaircraft emplacements at the Munda Point airfield on New Georgia. A 347th Fighter Group P-39 downs an A6M Zero near Choiseul Island at 0850 hours.

Britain, Home Front

The war expenditure is now running 14 million pounds per day.

As of January 26, 1943 the "home flak" within Germany was "manned" with Hitler Youth members almost solely.

Hitler Youth Man the Flak Batteries

CBI

The first element of Detachment 101 parachute behind Japanese lines in northern Burma to establish a guerrilla force of Kachins, the ethnic group that lives in the region and is hostile to Japanese occupation. Detachment 100 is commanded by Capt (later Col) William R. Peers.

Eastern Front

The Soviets reduce the German defensive perimeter at Stalingrad still further. Von Paulus, faithful to his oath of loyalty, resigns himself to the crucifixion of his soldiers and staff. Berlin radio announces 'Every Stalingrad defender considers his life has ended, but the will to resist remains unbroken.'

The Russians retake Voronezh.

The Italian Tridentina Alpine Div, engaged by superior forces as it continues to retreat in the great bend of the Don, suffers heavy losses at Nikolayevka.

At Stalingrad the German 6th Army is under intense pressure, fighting raging throughout the city as the Soviets press from west and east. The hard-pressed 297th Infantry Division, reduced to just 1,800 men from its original 10,000, surrenders to the 38th Guards Rifle Division. 65th Army links up with the 62nd Army betwen the Mamayev Kurgan and Red October factories, splitting the remnants of Paulus' force into two pockets.

Later in the day elements of the 21st Army and 64th Army link up with 62nd Army. The Germans are reduced to a small pocket in the Tractor Factory, consisting of XI Corps with the 60th Motorized, 16th and 24th Panzer and 389th and 100th Infantry Divisions, while to the south are IV, VIII, LI and XIV Panzer Corps together with Paulus and his headquarters, grouped in the city center.

The Stavka widens the Voronezh Front's objectives to include the capture of the Kursk region. The 38th and 60th Armies are to attack along the Kursk axis while 40th, 69th and 3rd Tank Armies are to move along the Kharkov axis. Facing the Soviets on the Kharkov axis the Germans deploy Army Detachment Lanz from the Oskol River to Kupyansk, comprising 1 infantry and 3 Hungarian divisions and the SS Panzer Corps. Between Novy Oskol and Volokolonvka is Panzer Grenadier Division Grossdeutschland and opposite Valuyki a single regiment of the 2nd SS Panzer Grenadier Division Das Reich. At Kupyansk there are 2 infantry divisions.

Guadalcanal

The 25th Div, after the 2nd and 3rd Battalions of the 27th Infantry establish contact and are passed through at the Poha River line by the CAM Div, is withdrawn to guard airfields since there are indications of an enemy attempt to recover the Lunga perimeter. In fact, the Japanese are in no position to launch any attacks. The 161st Infantry, its mission unchanged, passes to the control of the XIV Corps. The CAM Div, with the 6th Marines and the 182nd Infantry abreast, the former on the right, pushes forward from the Poha about 1,000 yards against light resistance. To meet an apparent enemy threat to land once more on Guadalcanal in force, XIV Corps Headquarters sends the 25th Division back to the perimeter defense to guard Henderson and Carney Fields.

Jan. 26, 1943: An infantryman is on guard on Grassy Knoll in Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands during World War II. (AP Photo)

Soldier On Guard, Guadalcanal

The 27th Infantry's casualties in the January attacks have been light: 7 officers and 67 enlisted men had been killed and 226 wounded, mostly in the capture of the Galloping Horse. Losses in the Kokumbona area have been light.

North Africa

Rommel, who has seen his Italian allies fail to get convoys through, or halt the British routing of men and supplies, and has grounds for criticizing the performance of Italian units in the fighting, launches vitriolic complaints. After a series of quarrels with the Italian High Command, to whom he is nominally responsible, Rommel is told that he is to be relieved by the Italian Gen Messe. Rommel does not hand over the command at this stage.

French troops of the XIX Corps begin moving forward in the Ousseltia Valley and attempt to regain the Kairouan Pass.

Pacific

• The US submarine Wahoo (SS-238) sinks an entire group of Japanese ships north of New Guinea; 2 freighters (Buyo Maru (5447t) and No. 2 Fukuei Maru (1901t)), 1 transport (Ukishima Maru (4000t)) and 1 tanker (Pacific Maru (8358t)).
• The US submarine Grayling (SS-209) sinks the Japanese merchant cargo ship Ushio Maru (749t) in the Verde Island Passage, north of Mindoro, Philippines.
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Secret War

Franciscus Johannes Winter, a 40-year-old Belgian, is executed at Wandsworth, London. He is the thirteenth spy executed in Britain since Sept 1939.

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