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• USS Pollack fired a torpedo at a Japanese ship off Honshu, Japan; the torpedo missed. ww2dbase [Pollack | CPC]
• US and Filipino troops fell back to the Guagua-Porac defensive line, 15 miles from the Bataan peninsula on Luzon, Philippine Islands. ww2dbase [Invasion of the Philippine Islands | CPC]
• Australian 39th and 53rd Battalions arrived at Port Moresby, New Guinea from Sydney, Australia. ww2dbase [CPC]
• Japanese submarine I-158 sank Dutch ship Langkoeas off Bawean Island, Dutch East Indies; all 94 aboard escaped on lifeboats. I-158 rammed one of the lifeboats and attacked the others with machine guns, killing many of the survivors. Ultimately, only 3 would survive. ww2dbase [CPC]
• Five freighters and one tanker departed Messina, Brindisi, and Taranto in Italy to form convoy M.34, carrying 1,200 troops, 54 tanks, artillery pieces, armored cars, 1,000 tons of ammunition, and 5,300 tons of fuel for Tripoli, Libya. A powerful escort force of 4 Italian battleships, 5 cruisers, 19 destroyers, and 5 torpedo boats provided cover from a distance. ww2dbase [CPC]
• USS Skipjack attacked a Japanese submarine in the Dutch East Indies with four torpedoes and observed two explosions; in actuality no damage was done. ww2dbase [Skipjack | CPC]

• Major General Tomitaro Horii and Vice Admiral Shigeyoshi Inoue met at Truk, Caroline Islands aboard cruiser Kashima to coordinate Army-Navy plans for the invasion of Bismarck Islands. ww2dbase [New Guinea-Papua Campaign, Phase 1, Bismarck Islands | Truk | CPC]
• Tenryu arrived at Truk, Caroline Islands. In the subsequent days she would receive two depth charge throwers and two depth charge rails at the stern. ww2dbase [Tenryu | Truk | CPC]
• While at Truk, Caroline Islands, Katori, flagship of the Japanese Sixth Fleet, hosted a briefing by fleet commanding officer Vice Admiral Mitsumi Shimizu on the invasion of Rabaul, New Britain and Kavieng, New Ireland. ww2dbase [Katori | Truk | CPC]

• SS-Obersturmbannführer Martin Weiß was named the commandant of Dachau Concentration Camp in southern Germany, replacing Alexander Piorkowski. ww2dbase [Dachau Concentration Camp | Dachau, München-Oberbayern | CPC]

• Shokaku was undocked at Kure, Japan. ww2dbase [Shokaku | Kure, Hiroshima | CPC]

• Lieutenant Colonel Arthur Cummings led a counter attack against the Japanese at Kuantan, Pahang, Malaya, in which all of his men were killed or wounded, and he was bayoneted twice in the stomach. Rallying the remnants of his force under fire, he was wounded again, but succeeded in saving many lives. He was awarded the Victoria Cross. ww2dbase [Invasion of Malaya and Singapore | Kuantan, Pahang | AC]
• The Japanese made an amphibious attack at Kuala Selangor in western Malaya, which was repelled by Indian troops. In eastern Malaya, Japanese troops pushed through Indian 9th Division defenses and crossed the Kuantan River, capturing the airfield nearby. ww2dbase [Invasion of Malaya and Singapore | Kuala Selangor, Selangor | CPC]
• British Colonel Arthur Cummings, commanding officer of the Indian 12th Frontier Force Regiment, gallantly led a rearguard unit near Kuantan, Pahang, Malaya as the main body of his division retreated further south, suffering a bayonet wound in his stomach and a gunshot in the arm. He would survive the war and be awarded the Victoria Cross for this action. ww2dbase [Invasion of Malaya and Singapore | Kuantan, Pahang | CPC]

• The B-25D variant of the B-25 Mitchell aircraft took its first flight; all B-25D aircraft were built at Kansas City, Kansas, United States. ww2dbase [B-25 Mitchell | Kansas City, Kansas | CPC]
• USS St. Louis and convoy arrived at San Diego, California. ww2dbase [St. Louis | San Diego, California | DS]

3 Jan 1942 Interactive Map