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January 10th, 1942

UNITED KINGDOM: Destroyer HMS MIDDLETON is commissioned. (Dave Shirlaw)
FRANCE: Paris: Claude Blanchard has been arrested by the Gestapo, then released after a night spent in the police station and an interrogation in the avenue Foch.

GERMANY: Berlin radio reports that German troops are defending their positions on the Eastern Front in a “wall of blood.”
RAF bombers attack Emden during the night. (Jack McKillop)

U-92 and U-354 are launched. U-513 is commissioned. U-392 is laid down. (Dave Shirlaw)

U.S.S.R.: Soviet submarine “M-175” - is sunk by German U-boat U-584, north of Ribachi Island. (Sergey Anisimov)

Moscow: General Zhukov has launched a powerful offensive against the German “winter line” that runs from Bryansk north through Vyazma to Rzhev. The Germans thought that they would be warm and safe in this campaign until they chose to resume the campaign in the spring. But the Red Army, unlike the Germans, has no intention of stopping until the warm weather comes. It is forcing Germany into a retreat which, in places, is becoming a rout.

The Russians have taken Mosalsk, on the road to Smolensk, and are threatening to encircle the German base at Mozhaisk. Ilyushin Il-62 Sturmovik assault planes are wheeling over the battlefield like starlings before swooping on their targets, and the Luftwaffe has moved all available fighters to forward bases to protect the retreating army. The Germans explain the retreat by claiming that they are “allowing the enemy to shed his blood through this defensive action; then at the right time, we will return to the offensive.”

Soviet troops nearly surround 100,000 Germans at Demyansk. Field Marshal Ritter Von Leeb asks Hitler for permission to retreat. The Fuhrer refuses. (Jack McKillop)

BURMA: The commander of Indian 17th Division arrives to take charge of Tenasserim operations. (Jack McKillop)

MALAYA: The Indian 3 Corps abandons Port Swettenham and Kuala Lumpur while falling back to cover the Port Dickson and Seremban area. Japanese planes, which since late December have been making night attacks on airdromes on Singapore, begin daylight raids on the airdromes. “Westforce,” consisting of the Australian 8th Division (less 22nd Brigade), Indian 9th Division, Indian 45th Brigade Group, the 2/Loyal Regiment (less one company), and supporting units is established. (Jack McKillop)
The Governor of Singapore sends out a message stating, “The day of minute papers has gone. There must be no more passing of files from one department to another, and from one officer in a department to another” to which The Straits Times newspaper responds, “This announcement is about two and a half years too late.” (Jack McKillop)

COMMONWEALTH OF THE PHILIPPINES: Japanese planes drop leaflets calling on Filipino and US troops to surrender.

Bataan: General Douglas MacArthur, Commander in Chief US Army Forces Far East, makes his only visit to the peninsula and his failure to return causes deep bitterness among the defenders. The Japanese make their first surrender demand, dropping it from the air. In the II Corps area, a Japanese force driving south along the East Road splits, most of it moving west; both forces reach the outpost line along the Calaguiman River below Samal and exerts strong pressure against it. A Japanese column pushing south in central Bataan is slowed by the jungle terrain. In the I Corps area, the Japanese Western assault force reaches Olongapo without opposition. (Jack McKillop)
Far East Air Force fighter units complete a movement (begun 24 December 1941) from various bases on Luzon to the Bataan Peninsula. (Jack McKillop)

An endless barrage of artillery shells lights the night sky over the Bataan peninsula, west of Manila, where the 80,000 strong US and Filipino forces under General Douglas MacArthurs continue to deny General Homma’s Fourteenth Japanese Army outright conquest of the Philippines.

Despite constant strafing by Zero fighter aircraft, the US II Corps gunners, hidden on the jungle-clad slopes of extinct volcanoes from Mount Natib to Abucay, claim to have wiped out 40 Japanese field guns and several Japanese platoons. This success is credited to accurate aerial reconnaissance by the remaining US planes and careful concealment of the guns by Major-General Edward King, who insists that he foliage canopies above them are renewed daily.

Morale among the US troops is high despite a Japanese leaflet drop telling them to surrender. However, few know that Washington has told MacArthur that there will be no relief force. The main anxiety is the food shortage. In addition to the troops there are also some 26,000 refugees from Manila to feed. With Manila Bay blockaded there is not enough food to last Bataan a month.

NETHERLANDS EAST INDIES: General Archibald Lord Wavell, Commander in Chief Australian-British-Dutch-American (ABDA) Command, South West Pacific area, flies to Java, where he confers with members of the ABDA staff; he then establishes headquarters at the Grand Hotel in Lembang, 10 miles (16 kilometres) north of Bandoeng. Wavell assumes supreme command of all forces in the area; U.S. Lieutenant General George H. Brett, USAAF, is deputy commander; and U.S. Admiral Thomas C. Hart is to command the naval forces. (Jack McKillop)

BORNEO: While on a reconnaissance flight, a Dutch Dornier Do-24K flying boat spots a Japanese invasion force consisting of transports escorted by two heavy cruisers and eight destroyers heading for Tarakan Island and gives the alarm. Tarakan is a 117 square mile (303 square kilometer) island in the East Celebes Sea off the northeast coast of Borneo. The main objective of the invasion is the capture of the huge oilfields, oil refineries and airfield located on the island but the Dutch commander gives the order to set fire to all oilfields and damage or destroy the refineries. (Jack McKillop)

PACIFIC: Three Allied submarines sink Japanese ships.

(1) USS Pickerel (SS-177) torpedoes and sinks a Japanese gunboat at the mouth of Davao Gulf, off Cape San Augustin, Philippine Islands;

(2) USS Stingray (SS-186) torpedoes and sinks a Japanese cargo ship in the South China Sea off the south coast of Hainan Island;

(3) Dutch submarine HNMS O-19 torpedoes and sinks a Japanese army cargo ship and torpedoes a merchant cargo ship at the mouth of the Gulf of Siam. (Jack McKillop)

AUSTRALIA: The landing ship HMAS Kanimbla sails from Melbourne, Victoria, escorting convoy MS.1 consisting of three ships bound for Singapore and four for the Netherlands East Indies. Meanwhile, the heavy cruiser HMAS Canberra sails from Sydney, New South Wales, escorting convoy MS.2 to Singapore. (Jack McKillop)
HQ USAAF’s Far East Air Forces authorizes the activation of the 17th Pursuit Squadron (Provisional). The unit is based at Brisbane, Queensland, equipped with P-40s and manned by (1) experienced pilots evacuated from the Philippines in a convoy that reached Australia on 22 December 1941 and (2) inexperienced pilots arriving from the U.S. The latter are being trained using ad hoc courses at RAAF bases. (Jack McKillop)

ATLANTIC OCEAN: During heavy weather a lookout on U-582 breaks his arm. (Dave Shirlaw)

U.S.A.: The USN Bureau of Ships orders that the Cleveland Class light cruiser Amsterdam (CL-59), which is under construction in Camden, New Jersey, be completed as an aircraft carrier (CV). She will be commissioned as USS Independence (CV-22) on 14 January 1943 and be reclassified as a small aircraft carrier (CVL-22) on 15 July 1943. This is the first of nine light cruisers that are completed as small aircraft carriers. (Jack McKillop)
The Ford Motor Company signs a contract to manufacture Jeeps. The Willys-Overland Company is the prime contractor for the vehicle but because of the demand for it, the huge manufacturing capacity of Ford is enlisted. (Jack McKillop)
Congress imposes price controls on most food and goods; the Professional Golfer’s Association (PGA) cancels many of its 1942 championship events; and in Hollywood, 21-year-old Mickey Rooney marries 19-year-old Ava Gardner; they are divorced in May 1943. (Jack McKillop)

AA cruiser USS SAN DIEGO is commissioned. (Dave Shirlaw)