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• Japanese hospital ship Hikawa Maru arrived at Rabaul and departed later on the same day. ww2dbase [Hikawa Maru | CPC]
• Soviet troops captured Voroshilovsky and Stavropol in the Caucasus region of southern Russia, claiming 500,000 German dead and 200,000 Germans captured in the last two months of fighting. ww2dbase [Caucasus Campaign | TH]
• Allied leadership issued the directive to RAF and USAAF commanders "[y]our primary objective will be the progressive destruction and dislocation of the German military, industrial and economic system, and the undermining of the morale of the German people to a point where their capacity for armed resistance is fatally wounded." ww2dbase [Bombing of Hamburg, Dresden, and Other Cities | CPC]
• USS Gato attacked a Japanese convoy east of Kieta, Bougainville, Solomon Islands, damaging one transport. ww2dbase [Gato | CPC]
• USS Pollack attacked a Japanese cargo ship off Honshu, Japan with two torpedoes; both torpedoes missed. ww2dbase [Pollack | CPC]
• Destroyers USS Nicholas, USS O’Bannon, USS DeHaven, and USS Radford arrived at Espiritu Santo, New Hebrides. ww2dbase [Nicholas | DS]

• Allied aircraft attacked Rabaul, New Britain, sinking small freighter Tetsusan Maru. ww2dbase [Rabaul, New Britain | CPC]

• Repair ship Akashi began repairing destroyers Uzuki and Suzukaze at Truk, Caroline Islands. ww2dbase [Akashi | Truk | CPC]

• Angelo Amendolia was named the commanding officer of Alpino Bagnolini at Bordeaux, France; he replaced Ferdinando Corsi. ww2dbase [Alpino Bagnolini | Bordeaux, Aquitaine | CPC]

• Adolf Hitler told Ambassador Hiroshi Oshima that he would welcome Japanese assistance in defeating Russia. ww2dbase [Adolf Hitler | AC]

• Crew of Gato-class submarine USS Silversides discovered a torpedo protruding out the front of the No. 6 torpedo tube, explaining why the outer tube door was stuck open and what happened to the sixth torpedo fired the day before. In a dangerous maneuver, Silversides backed full while firing tube 6 again and successfully launched the torpedo. With one torpedo hang-fired, an air leak and another fuel leak they could not control, an explosion in their main generator, and Cream of Wheat breakfast cereal in their main induction gears, Captain Burlingame made the decision to depart his patrol area two days ahead of schedule and withdraw for repairs. ww2dbase [Silversides | DS]

• The United States Marine Corps established the Marine Fleet Air, West Coast at San Diego, California, United States to oversee all Fleet Marine Force aviation operations and to supply personnel and materiel to Marine Aircraft Wings, Pacific. ww2dbase [San Diego, California | CPC]
• Yorktown (Essex-class) launched at Newport News, Virginia, United States sponsored by Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt. ww2dbase [Yorktown (Essex-class) | Norfolk, Virginia | DS]

21 Jan 1943 Interactive Map