NAVY REPORTS VICTORIES OVER SUBMARINES; RUSSIANS GAIN 65 MILES IN NORTH TO KHOLM (1/24/42)

Microfilm-New York Times archives, Monterey Public Library | 1/24/42 | Daniel T. Brigham, Joseph M. Levy, Frank L. Kluckhohn, Benjamin Fine, Hanson W. Baldwin

[Homer_J_Simpson]

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[Homer_J_Simpson]

Free Republic University, Department of History presents World War II Plus 70 Years: Seminar and Discussion Forum
First session: September 1, 2009. Last date to add: September 2, 2015.
Reading assignment: New York Times articles delivered daily to students on the 70th anniversary of original publication date. (Previously posted articles can be found by searching on keyword “realtime” Or view Homer’s posting history .)
To add this class to or drop it from your schedule notify Admissions and Records (Attn: Homer_J_Simpson) by freepmail. Those on the Realtime +/- 70 Years ping list are automatically enrolled. Course description, prerequisites and tuition information is available at the bottom of Homer’s profile. Also visit our general discussion thread

[Homer_J_Simpson]

Selections from West Point Atlas for the Second World War
Malaya, 1941: Topography-Japanese Centrifugal Offensive, December 1941-January 1942
The Far East and the Pacific, 1941 – Operations of the Japanese First Air Fleet, 7 December 1941-12 March 1942
The Far East and the Pacific, 1941 – American Carrier Operations, 7 December 1941-18 April 1942
Micronesia, Melanesia and New Guinea: Japanese Centrifugal Offensive-Japanese Fourth Fleet and South Seas Detachment Operations, December 1941-April 1942
Luzon, P.I., 1941: Centrifugal Offensive, 10 December 1941-6 May 1942-Fourteenth Army Operations on Luzon
Netherlands East Indies, 1941: Japanese Centrifugal Offensive, December 1941-April 1942, Sixteenth Army and Southern Force (Navy) Operations
Southern Asia, 1941: Japanese Centrifugal Offensive (and Continued Operations), January-May 1942
Eastern Europe, 1941: Soviet Winter Offensive – Operations, 6 December 1941-7 May 1942
North Africa, 1940: Rommel’s Second Offensive, 21 January-7 July 1942

[Homer_J_Simpson]

John Toland, The Rising Sun: The Decline and Fall of the Japanese Empire, 1936-1945

[Homer_J_Simpson]

Sinkings Indicated – 2-3
Nazis Swept Back (Brigham) – 3-4
The War Summarized – 4
Germans in Libya Retake Agedabia (Levy) – 5
Report Due Soon on Pearl Harbor (Kluckhohn) – 5-6
Dupuy Pictures Complacency Peril (Fine) – 6
The Home Front-III (Baldwin) – 7
The Texts of the Day’s Communiques on the War – 8-10

[Homer_J_Simpson]

http://www.onwar.com/chrono/1942/jan42/f24jan42.htm

US Marines pulling back to second line
Saturday, January 24, 1942 www.onwar.com

US Marines withdrawing in BataanIn the Philippines... The American forces begin withdrawals to their second line of defense.

On the Eastern Front... The Soviet offensive south of Kharkov has now crossed the Donets. Barvenkovo is retaken from the Germans.

In the Dutch East Indies... Four Dutch and American destroyers attack Japanese troop transports off Balikpapan sinking five ships.

In the South Pacific... Japanese troops land on Kenari in the Celebes and an important airfield is captured.

[Homer_J_Simpson]

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/andrew.etherington/month/thismonth/24.htm

January 24th, 1942

UNITED KINGDOM: Destroyer HMS Inconstant commissioned. (Dave Shirlaw)

GERMANY: U-218, U-440, U-514 commissioned.

U-309 is laid down. (Dave Shirlaw)

NORWAY: U-586, U-587 and U-588 went into position off Norway west of the Hebrides in preparation for an anticipated Allied invasion of Norway. (Dave Shirlaw)

U.S.S.R.: Soviet forces on the Donets front in the Ukraine break through German positions in the Izyum area and capture Barvenkova, about 40 miles (64 kilometres) east of Lozovaya; in the Valdai Hills sector to the north, the Soviets deepen the salient between Cholm and Rzhev to the vicinity of Velikle Luki, where the Germans are firmly established. German troops of Army Group Center recapture Suchinitshe near Kaluga. (Jack McKillop)

Moscow: Partisan detachments living and fighting behind the German lines have linked up with the 250th Airborne Regiment and two battalions of the 201st Airborne Brigade dropped south-west of Vyazma, which is now under heavy attack by the advancing Red Army.

The guerrillas and the paratroopers are fighting side by side to cut the German communications with the front. With the partisans acting as guides, the white-shrouded paras are ghosting through the forest to launch swift hit-and-run raids on supply lines and headquarters. This combination of irregular and regular troops is a new tactic on the Russian front. Individual officers and experts have been dropped to the partisans before, but this is the first time that they have been used in a co-ordinated campaign by the Stavka, the Russian High Command.

With the German defence line breaking up into defended locations, known as “Hedgehogs”, there is room for such forces to manoeuvre, and even to hold large areas with established bases and landing strips for light aircraft.

Polar Fleet and White Sea Flotilla: Shipping loss. Dispatch-ship “Vesna” - unknown case, close to Eina bay.
Black Sea Fleet and Azov Flotilla: Shipping loss: MS “TSch-250” (uncompleted hull) - grounded by storm in Kerch strait (Sergey Anisimov)(69)

Soviet paratroopers end their series of drops behind German lines south-west of Vyazma.

LIBYA: The British Eighth Army’s 13 Corps prepares to counterattack or, if the enemy cannot be contained, to fall back on line Derna-Mechili as the Axis offensive halts briefly. (Jack McKillop)

BURMA: Rear elements of the Mergui garrison arrive at Rangoon. Moulmein is now threatened. (Jack McKillop)
P-40 pilots of the 1st and 2d Fighter Squadrons, American Volunteer Group (AVG, aka, “The Flying Tigers”) shoot down four Japanese Army bombers and eight Japanese Army fighters over Rangoon between 0945 and 1030 hours local. (Jack McKillop)

Percy Bartelt of the AVG becomes in ace in this action. (Skip Guidry)

MALAYA: The outline of the plan for withdrawal to Singapore Island is issued. Hard fighting continues at Batu Pahat. The Japanese are approaching Kluang, in the Indian 9th Division sector. (Jack McKillop)
The 942 men of the Australian 2/4th Machine Gun Battalion and 1907 other Australian reinforcements arrive in Singapore. The reinforcements are woefully undertrained; some had only seven days training as soldiers and many had never fired a rifle. (Jack McKillop)
The remainder of the Japanese 18th Division lands at Singora. (Jack McKillop)

NETHERLANDS EAST INDIES: The Japanese Eastern Invasion Force lands at Kendari on Celebes Island. A USN seaplane tender (destroyer), USS Childs (AVD-1, ex DD-241), is leaving Kendari harbor and spots the Japanese. A rain squall obscures the seaplane tender for a while, allowing her to avoid two Japanese destroyers. Than she is attacked by six Japanese aircraft at 0800 hours local but escapes to the south. By the evening, Kendari is fully occupied by the Japanese. Most of the Dutch troops are captured by Japanese; some fight a guerilla war for a short period, while others try to escape to safer parts of archipelago. Kendari Airdrome is considered the best in the Netherlands East Indies and was immediately put into operation by the Japanese 21st Air Flotilla. (Jack McKillop)
USN submarine USS Swordfish (SS-193) sinks a Japanese gunboat north of Kema, Celebes Island. (Jack McKillop)
Carrier-based aircraft from the aircraft carriers HIJMS Soryu and HIJMS Hiryu bomb Ambon Island. (Jack McKillop)
The first of a small group of USAAF Far East Air Force P-40s reaches Blimbing Airdrome, Java from Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia. (Jack McKillop)

In the Battle off Balikpapan, Borneo, or the Battle of Makassar Strait, four U.S. destroyers attack the Japanese Borneo invasion convoy. Destroyer USS John D. Ford (DD-228) is damaged by gunfire at position 01.20N, 117.01E but sinks transport Tsuruga Maru; destroyer USS Parrott (DD-218) sinks transport Sumanoura Maru; destroyers USS Paul Jones (DD-230) and USS Pope (DD-225) sink transport Tatsukami Maru; USS Paul Jones also sinks cargo ship Kuretaki Maru; and USS Parrott also sinks Patrol Boat No.37, in position 00.10N, 118.00E. A fifth (TSUGURA MARU) was sunk by a Dutch submarine (K-KVIII) before the destroyer attack. (Ric Pelvin and Jack McKillop)

USAAF B-17s based at Malang, Java, and Netherland East Indies Air Force Martin Model 139WHs (export version of the USAAF B-10) and Brewster 339s (export version of USN F2A Buffalo) bomb invasion shipping, sinking transports Nana Maru and Jukka Maru, in position 00.10N, 118.00E. (Jack McKillop)

BISMARCK ARCHIPELAGO: Five RAAF Catalinas attack Japanese shipping in Rabaul Harbour but no hits are scored. (Jack McKillop)

COMMONWEALTH OF THE PHILIPPINES: On Bataan, the II Corps begins disengaging and withdrawing combat troops. The Japanese maintain intense pressure on the Philippine Division and attack the covering force, but the bulk of the troops withdraw successfully. The situation in the I Corps area deteriorates rapidly. The 1st Division, Philippine Army, exhausted by prolonged fighting along the main line of resistance and critically in need of supplies and ammunition, remains under pressure. Additional strength is applied against the Japanese roadblock on the West Road without avail. In the Service Command Area of southern Bataan, the Japanese cannot be ousted from Quinauan and Longoskawayan Points. Sailors and marines succeed, however, in regaining Pucot Hill and driving the Japanese back to Longoskawayan and Lapiay Points; they are supported by the last four P-40s on Luzon. (Jack McKillop)
Eight USAAF Far East Air Force B-17 Flying Fortresses based on Java, stage through Del Monte Field on Mindanao,to attack Japanese targets. Two aircraft are lost in crash landings. (Jack McKillop)

AUSTRALIA: Melbourne: The Rising Sun flies over Australian territory today after landings by 5,000 Japanese troops on the island chains of New Britain and New Ireland in Australian New Guinea. A massive assault by aircraft from four carriers preceded the landings in New Ireland and at Rabaul, the capital of New Britain. Thirty warships escorted the invasion fleet, and more than 100 aircraft took part, opposed by a force of eight obsolete RAAF Wirraway fighters which were quickly shot down. Without aircover, and outnumbered, the small defending force had to withdraw.

The Combined Chiefs of Staff order that the Darwin, Northern Territory, area be incorporated into the Australian-British-Dutch-American (ABDA) Command. (Jack McKillop)
The USAAF Far East Air Force orders the 20th Pursuit Squadron (Provisional) to fly its 18 P-40s to Port Moresby, New Guinea. (Jack McKillop)

Minesweeper HMAS Armidale is launched. (Dave Shirlaw)

PACIFIC OCEAN: US Marines land on the island of Samoa to protect it from the Japanese.

NEW BRITAIN: Private W. Cook and the seven other PoWs are taken to Tol Plantation by their Japanese captors. There they are tied up in groups of two or three and eventually taken out by their captors to be executed. Private Cook’s group of three are asked in sign language if they prefer to be shot or bayoneted. They ask to be shot. They are instead all bayoneted in the back repeatedly. Private Cook receives five wounds and is left for dead; unable to hold his breath and is bayoneted a further six times. Private Cook, still alive, manages to untie his hands and makes his way to the beach. At dusk he sees the smoke from a camp fire and staggers towards it. The next morning he finds a small party under the command of Colonel Scanlan. Private Cook survives the war although he loses his voice as a result of a bayonet wound to his throat. (Daniel Ross)

CANADA: HMCS Wetaskiwin, a Flower-class corvette, LCdr. Guy Stanley Windeyer, RCN, CO, arrived at Halifax, Nova Scotia, en route to a refit in Liverpool, Nova Scotia. Wetaskiwin completed six round trips to Iceland in eight months as part of the Newfoundland Escort Force and was worn out. During that time, she participated in two major convoy battles - SC-42 (Sep 41) and SC-48 (Oct 41), during which U-boats sank 27 merchant ships totaling over 120,000 tons. (Dave Shirlaw)

U.S.A.: The Special Court of Inquiry on Pearl Harbor, headed by Supreme Court Justice Owen J Roberts, places the main responsibility for the 7 December 1941 disaster on Admiral Husband E Kimmel and Lieutenant General Walter C Short, accusing them of neglecting to heed attack warnings, failing to confer with each other, and taking only minimum precautions. (Jack McKillop)

PANAMA CANAL ZONE: The US submarine S-26 (SS-131), commanded by Earle C. Hawk, is lost after being rammed by U.S. escort (PC460) in the Gulf of Panama. 46 hands lost and 2 survived (Joe Sauder)

PERU: The government breaks diplomatic relations with Germany, Italy and Japan. (Jack McKillop)

URUGUAY: The government breaks off diplomatic relations with the Axis powers. (Dave Shirlaw)

ATLANTIC OCEAN:
At 0240, the unescorted SS Empire Gem was torpedoed by U-66 east of Cape Hatteras. The burning tanker later sank in 35°02N/75°33W. 43 crewmembers and six gunners were lost. The master and the radio operator were picked up by a US Coast Guard cutter and landed at Hatteras Inlet on 25 January.

SS Ringstad sunk by U-333 at 45.50N, 51.04W - Grid BC 4700 .

At 0653, SS Empire Wildebeeste, dispersed from Convoy ON-53, was torpedoed and sunk by U-106 east of New York. Eight crewmembers and one gunner were lost. The master, 18 crewmembers and three gunners were picked up by destroyer USS Lang and landed at Bermuda. (Dave Shirlaw)

[Stevenc131]

‘Operation Drumbeat’ is a really fine account of German submarine warfare off the East coast of the U.S. In spite of the claims made about success against the German subs, the truth was they had free rein in the first few months of the war. The U.S. was totally unprepared for submarine warfare, and the Germans just wreaked havoc off the East coast.

[TADSLOS]

NEW BRITAIN: Private W. Cook and the seven other PoWs are taken to Tol Plantation by their Japanese captors. There they are tied up in groups of two or three and eventually taken out by their captors to be executed. Private Cook’s group of three are asked in sign language if they prefer to be shot or bayoneted. They ask to be shot. They are instead all bayoneted in the back repeatedly. Private Cook receives five wounds and is left for dead; unable to hold his breath and is bayoneted a further six times. Private Cook, still alive, manages to untie his hands and makes his way to the beach. At dusk he sees the smoke from a camp fire and staggers towards it. The next morning he finds a small party under the command of Colonel Scanlan. Private Cook survives the war although he loses his voice as a result of a bayonet wound to his throat.

Bastards.

[Bobalu]

I just love these posts!
Keep em up :-)

[BroJoeK]

---

January 24, 1942:

"Four hundred Jewish intellectuals are arrested and subsequently murdered in Kolomyia, Ukraine."

"From January 21 to 23, 1942, Hungarian and other troops murdered hundreds of Jews and other Serbs at Novi Sad, Yugoslavia.
Bodies of the dead were stacked in the cemetery."

---

[CougarGA7]

• "The Imperial Army and the Imperial Navy in cooperative fashion eliminated the enemy's resistance and successfully landed in Rabaul, New Britain Island, in the east of New Guinea before dawn on 23 January. They are steadily extending their gains." - Official statement from Imperial General Headquarters

• Forty-nine men from the decimated 24 Squadron are evacuated from Wide Bay, New Britain in an overloaded boat.

• Four destroyers, all veterans of the First World War engaged the Japanese navy off of Balikpapan. Two hours after midnight they attack first sinking the transport Sumanoura Maru and then the transports Tatsukami Maru and Kuretake Maru. In all they sink four transports and a patrol boat before retiring.

• The first air raid against the Japanese forces at Rabaul is conducted by the RAAF.

• Arthur Compton makes the decision to centralize the research efforts for the atomic bomb to Chicago.

[fso301]

Private Cook’s group of three are asked in sign language if they prefer to be shot or bayoneted. They ask to be shot. They are instead all bayoneted in the back repeatedly.

Use of edged weapons and swords had a preferred religious symbolism to the Japanese.

[CougarGA7]

Bruce Gamble, a historian who has done extensive research on Rabaul, actually dates the massacre to have begun on February 4th. The 200+ men who where gathering around the Tol Plantation were surprised by the Japanese on the morning of the 3rd. Some escaped into the surrounding jungle, but about 170 were captured. The next day, the Japanese began taking the men into the jungle in small groups to execute them. Private Cook of the 2/10 Field Ambulance unit is just one of a few stories of survivors from this event.

The news of the event reached the commander on the island, Colonel John Scanlan causing him to decide to surrender rather than risk another incident like the one at Tol.

[TADSLOS]

Well, we reap what we sow, as will become evident in the island hopping campaign.

[Larry381]

Today's Times touches on the winter battles then taking place in Army Group North (and Center).
These, IMO, are some of the most interesting and exciting battles of the Russo-German war. Many of the details of (Kholm, Demyansk,and the Volkhov Pocket, where Gen Vlasov commanded) were to remain unknown until after the war. I intend to post some of these details in my next post.

[TADSLOS]

Use of edged weapons and swords had a preferred religious symbolism to the Japanese.

Yes, that's still the case.