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• The German Armeegruppe Mitte began to fall back from the Kaluga area, forming a new defensive lines 20 miles to the west. ww2dbase [TH]
• Allies formed the ABDA (American, British, Dutch and Australian) command in the Pacific region to counter Japanese advances. ww2dbase [CPC]
• German submarine U-552 sank the ship Dayrose at 0138 hours; 38 were killed, 4 survived. To the south, German submarine U-123 sank British tanker Coimbra off Sandy Hook, New Jersey, United States at 0941 hours; 36 were killed, 10 survived. At 1134 hours, again off New found, U-203 sank Portuguese trawler Catalina, killing all aboard. Near the end of the day at 2317 hours, U-553 blew the bow off of the tanker Diala; 57 were killed, 8 survived; the wreckage of Diala remained afloat. ww2dbase [Second Happy Time | CPC]
• US Marine Corps Brigadier General Henry L. Larson was appointed the first military governor of American Samoa. ww2dbase [CPC]
• USS S-36 spotted a Japanese destroyer off Dutch Borneo at 0500 hours, but was discovered by the destroyer, which attacked with depth charges, severely damaging the submarine. ww2dbase [S-36 | CPC]
• Philippine 51st Division withdrew from the Salian River valley on the eastern side of the Abucay-Mauban defensive line on Bataan Peninsula, Luzon, Philippine Islands. ww2dbase [Invasion of the Philippine Islands | CPC]
• Japanese troops crossed the Gemencheh Bridge over the Kelamah River in British Malaya at 1000 hours to attack Australian-held positions at Gemas; although the initial attack failed with the loss of six tanks, subsequent attacks and flanking maneuvers forced the Australians to fall back to the Gemas River. Elsewhere, Japanese 4th and 5th Imperial Guard Regiments wiped out forward positions held by elements of the Indian 45th Brigade north of the Muar River. ww2dbase [Invasion of Malaya and Singapore | CPC]
• Transport Chateau Thierry and converted passenger liner Strathaird departed New York, New York, United States with 3,900 troops of US 34th Division aboard, bound for Britain. This convoy, codenamed AT10, was escorted by 5 US destroyers. ww2dbase [CPC]
• British destroyer HMS Hesperus rammed German submarine U-93 while the submarine attempted to attack Allied convoy HG78 580 miles west of Gibraltar, followed by gunfire and depth charge attacks, leading to the submarine being abandoned; 6 were killed, 40 survived. HMS Hesperus would reverse course for Gibraltar to receive repairs. ww2dbase [CPC]
• A British Swordfish aircraft sank German submarine U-577 with depth charges 60 miles north of Sollum, Egypt, killing all 43 aboard. ww2dbase [CPC]
• USS Wichita collided with US freighter West Nohno and British trawler HMS Ebor Wyke and was grounded near Hrafneyri Lighthouse in poor weather in northern Russia. ww2dbase [Arctic Convoys | CPC]

• Alpino Bagnolini sighted a submarine in the Atlantic Ocean at 0829 hours. She readied two torpedoes, but did not fire as the unidentified target could possibly be German submarine U-373. She lost contact with the target after the target had submerged. ww2dbase [Alpino Bagnolini | U-373 | CPC]

• Kaga arrived at Truk, Caroline Islands. ww2dbase [Kaga | Truk | CPC]

• Chinese troops repulsed the Japanese attack on Changsha, Hunan Province, China. ww2dbase [Third Battle of Changsha | Changsha, Hunan | CPC]
• The Japanese-controlled Ryojun Guard District (previously known as Port Arthur; now Lushunkou, Liaoning Province, China), Kwantung Leased Territory in northeastern China was decommissioned from service. ww2dbase [Ryojun Guard District | Lushunkou, Liaoning | CPC]

• Five American B-17 bombers landed at Lho Nga (Lhoknga) airfield near the northwestern tip of Sumatra, Dutch East Indies after receiving damage during a raid Japanese forces at Sungei Patani Airfield, Kedah, Malaya. After temporary repairs, they would return to Malang Airfield in Java, Dutch East Indies. ww2dbase [Lhoknga, Sumatra | CPC]

• Minoru Ota was assigned to the First Naval District in Yokosuka, Japan. ww2dbase [Minoru Ota | Yokosuka, Kanagawa | CPC]

• U-132 departed Trondheim, Norway for her second war patrol. ww2dbase [Trondheim, Trøndelag | CPC]

• USS S-41 patrolled the Makassar Strait. ww2dbase [S-41 | Makassar Strait | CPC]

• S-36 was spotted by a Japanese destroyer in the Sulu Sea. Oil supply failures with the starboard engine delayed her dive, and as the result she suffered damage from depth charges. ww2dbase [S-36 | Sulu Sea | CPC]

• In Poland, German authorities began to deport Jews from the Łódź ghetto to the Chelmno Concentration Camp. ww2dbase [Chelmno Concentration Camp | Discovery of Concentration Camps and the Holocaust | Chelmno nad Nerem, Konin | CPC]

• In order to recruit more people with the requisite abilities to work at the British Bletchley Park codebreaking facility a competition was staged for regular devotees to the Daily Telegraph crossword puzzle. They were asked to finish the puzzle within 12 minutes. Those who did well would subsequently be invited back for interview. ww2dbase [Enigma Code Broken | AC]

• USS Gar departed San Francisco, California, United States. ww2dbase [Gar | San Francisco, California | CPC]
• Maritime Commission Type C-3-class Hull #170 was launched at the Seattle-Tacoma Shipbuilding Corporation’s Tacoma shipyard with Mrs. William Miller acting as sponsor. The hull would later be repurposed as the Bogue, an auxiliary aircraft carrier for the United States Navy. ww2dbase [Bogue | Tacoma, Washington | DS]

15 Jan 1942 Interactive Map