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I had to stop posting excerpts during December due mostly to work-related demands on my time. I will attempt to resume on a more limited basis and see how it goes. Today we pick up in the middle of two stories – the Doolittle raid and the battle at Bataan.

Note the small item at the bottom of pg. 3, column 1.

21 Nations Meet (Hulen) – 2-3
Navy in Orient Bags Ship Built to Serve as a Carrier – 3
New Soviet Drive Cuts Deep in Lines (Brigham and G.H. Archambault, now also in Berne) – 4-5
The International Situation – 5
Shorter British Malayan Line Can Give Defense in Depth against Infiltration (Durdin) – 6
Texts of Day’s War Communiques – 9-10
U-Boats Off Our Coasts (Baldwin) – 10

http://www.onwar.com/chrono/1942/jan42/f16jan42.htm

Nazi commander calls for no mercy
Friday, January 16, 1942 www.onwar.com

From Moscow... The Soviet government publishes the contents of a document found at Klin, northwest of Moscow, and signed by deceased Field Marshal von Reichenau. It was prepared during his command of German 6th Army, earlier in the campaign, and instructs German troops to be “merciless” with the civil population.

In Malaysia... Fighting on the river Muar continues with Japanese making gains against the British and Commonwealth troops.

In the United States... Donald Nelson is appoint head of the newly created War Production Board.

From London... Cripps is replaced by Kerr as British ambassador in Moscow.

I found something to add to the mix. The following excerpt is from pages 207-208 of John Toland’s The Rising Sun: The Decline and Fall of the Japanese Empire, 1936-1945. The date is implied to be between MacArthur’s evacuation to Australia on March 17 and April 2, 1942.

“The Filipino’s on Bataan still regarded MacArthur as the greatest man alive, and his pledge to return was a personal guarantee that their country would be freed. But an increasing number of Americans on Bataan felt he had abandoned them and passed around a parody of ‘The Battle Hymn of the Republic.’

“Dugout Doug’s not timid, he’s just cautious, not afraid,
He’s protecting carefully the stars that Franklin made.
Four-star generals are rare as good food on Bataan.
And his troops go starving on.”

Toland’s spedific source is not revealed, which I suppose could mean he learned of the parody at some point before the publication of the book and thought it would make a nice addition to his version of events. The sources given for the whole chapter does include "interviews with . . . numerous survivors of the Bataan Death March," and 'Bataan Deatch March,' doctoral thesis of Stanley Lawrence Falk." so maybe one of those is the source.