WW2
Your World War II Resource


"The situation may become worse until the tide turns, but turn it will with inexorable strength."
--General Sir Archibald P. Wavell, supreme Allied commander, Southwest Pacific
Day-by-Day

January 1-10, 1942
HOME FRONT
Jan 1--Cleveland industrialist Cyrus Eaton urges the Vatican to call on Catholics everywhere to oppose "the pagan German and Japanese forces that seek to enslave the world."
Jan 1--Secretary of War Henry Stimson announces that since Congress has set the minimum age for induction at 20, the Army will continue to accept voluntary enlistments from 18- and 19-year-olds.
Jan 1--Attorney General Francis Biddle orders German, Italian and Japanese nationals in the US and its protectorates to surrender all firearms to police by January 5, and forbids them to leave their communities or change their residence without permission.
Jan 1--In Brooklyn,a federal judge sentences 33 members of a Nazi spy ring to prison. Herman Lang, Edmund Carl Heine and Frederick J. Duquesne receive the longest terms, 18 years.
Jan 1--Boeing reports a 70% increase in warplane production for December 1941.
Jan 2--The White House produces the Allied War Pact, signed by 26 nations pledging to use their full resources against the Axis powers.
Jan 3--Federal Security Administrator Paul McNutt says "ostrich isolationism" and "puerile pacifism" kept the United States from sufficiently fortifying Guam, Manila and Wake Island.
Jan 3--The Office of Production Managament plans to double war production by (1) converting durable goods industries from peacetime to war production, (2) working existing plants 160 hours a week, (3) shifting consumer goods industries to military use, and (4) expanding training for war industries workers.
Jan 3--The Army and the Navy announce that the automobile industry will be offered over $5 billion in additional arms contracts. Chrysler Corporation plans to triple tank capacity and double anti-aircraft gun production.
Jan 3--Treasury Secretary Henry Morgenthau, Jr. reports December defense bond sales totaled over $528 million, bringing the 8-month total to over $2.5 billion.
Jan 4--Educators at a 3-day emergency conference in Baltimore adopt a wartime policy of accelerated (3 years or less) education, credit for military service, and more emphasis on physical training.
Jan 5--A pledge to support the US in the war against the Axis is adopted during a Communist rally at Madison Square Garden, attended by 20,000 people.
Jan 5--President Roosevelt orders all men 20 to 33 who have not yet registered for active military service to do so by February 16. It is expected that this will add 9 million men to the 17.5 million already registered.
Jan 6--In his State of the Union address to Congress, President Roosevelt announces that he has ordered the production of 60,000 planes, 45,000 tanks and 8 million deadweight tons of ships in 1942, along with 125,000 planes, 75,000 tanks and 10 million tons of shipping for 1943. He speaks of the Four Freedoms -- freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom from want, and freedom from fear.
Jan 7--Attorney General Francis Biddle reports that 1,313 Germans, 241 Italians and 1,680 Japanese have been arrested in the US as enemy aliens. Over 1 million Axis nationals have been so listed.
Jan 7--A secretary of Rep. Hamilton Fish (R-NY) is accused at his perjury trial of having worked with a German propagandist in distributing more than a half-million pieces of pro-Axis literature under Congressional frank.
Jan 7--Roosevelt submits a war budget of $59 billion for FY 1943 to Congress. He asks for $7 billion in new taxes and anticipates a deficit of $30.6 billion, which would boost the national debt to $110.4 billion.
Jan 8--The Army reports enlistments in December probably exceeded 60,000, compared to 44,000 in Oct. 1941. The Navy reports enlistments of 40,000 for December.
Jan 9--The House votes to advance standard time one hour in all zones. It is thought this will conserve power and fuel for war production.
Jan 10--General Motors announces nearly $4 billion worth of war contracts.

EUROPEAN THEATER
Jan 1--23 Czechs are shot following the sabotage of the Fiat works in a Vienna suburb.
Jan 4--German patrol cars machine-gun 32 people during a student demonstration in the Latin Quarter of Paris, and 100 hostages are shot.
Jan 4--British Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden says his talks with Russia's Joseph Stalin in Moscow "went farther than any political or military discussions held between our two countries since the last war."
Jan 4--The RAF conducts a series of raids on Sicily's Castelvetrano Airdrome and destroy 44 Axis planes on the ground. One British plane is lost.
Jan 6--British naval forces raid Hellefjord, Norway, sinking a German supply ship and two trawlers without suffering casualties, according to the Admiralty.
Jan 7--Italian and German radio declares that Roosevelt's program for 185,000 planes and 120,000 tanks in the next two years cannot be accomplished.
Jan 7--According to Vichy authorities, Germany continues to hold 1.4 million French prisoners.
Jan 7--Foreign Correspondence publishes a report alleging a plot by German Army officers to overthrow Hitler. The report also claims 1,275,000 Germans have been killed on the Eastern Front.
Jan 9--The RAF drops 2 million copies of "US Leaflet No. 1" on Paris and Lille in Occupied France. The leaflet describes the burgeoning American war effort.
Jan 10--Nazi Germany orders all Rumanian troops returning from the Russian front to surrender their arms by Jan. 20.
Jan 10--Vigorous Axis recruitment campaigns are underway in Bulgaria, Croatia, Norway and the Baltic states.

EASTERN FRONT
Jan 2--Moscow announces that Russian forces recaptured Maloyaroslavets and threaten to entrap 150,000 Germans at Mozhaisk.
Jan 2--According to a document produced by the Yugoslav legation in London, 180,000 people have been massacred by the Nazi puppet state of Croatia.
Jan 4--According to the Soviet Information Bureau, Russian troops have recaptured Bielev, SW of Moscow.
Jan 6--Moscow radio claims the Russian forces besieged in Sevastapol have broken through the German lines and that the troops which had previously taken Theodosia and Kerch in Eastern Crimea are now united, trapping German units on the Kerch peninsula.
Jan 7--Russian Foreign Minister Molotov accuses the Nazis of murdering 52,000 people in Kiev and thousands more throughout Western Russia and Ukraine, and vows that the Russian people will someday retribution.
Jan 8--The siege of Sevastapol (Crimea) is lifted when German forces withdraw following strong Russian attacks on three sides. Russian forces attack Nazi-held Kharkov (Ukraine), capturing a German staff headquarters.
Jan 9--The Soviet Information Bureau estimates that 130 Russian towns have been liberated from the Nazis between Jan 1-6, in the process of which thousands of German troops were killed.

NORTH AFRICA
Jan 2--South African troops supported by British armor capture the Axis stronghold of Bardia near the Libyan-Egyptian border, freeing 1,150 British prisoners. A British destroyer squadron sank one Italian and two German submarines during the attack. The RAF claims 2,095 Axis planes were shot down in the Near East during 1941, against the loss of 600 British aircraft. However, the German news agency DNB claims the British lost 3,834 planes in 1941, compared to just 1,046 German aircraft.
Jan 4--British Middle East Command reports the capture of 7,000 German and Italian troops in Bardia. The British lost 60 killed and 300 wounded .
Jan 8--Axis forces retreat westward from Agedabia (Libya) under cover of a sandstorm.

PACIFIC
Jan 1--Forty-eight crew members of an American freighter set afire by Japanese bombers are saved by a Dutch flying boat in the Netherlands Indies archipelago.
Jan 2--Having invaded the Philippines 25 days ago, the Japanese take Manila and the Cavite naval base. Gen. Douglas MacArthur withdraws his American-Filipino force to the north. His HQ at Corregidor Island is bombed by 60 Japanese planes for five hours. The Japanese claim to have captured 17 US destroyers, 22 submarines and a carrier at Cavite, but the US Navy will deny this.
Jan 2--The Netherlands Indies Command (Batavia) reports the loss of a second Dutch submarine attached to the British Navy in E. Asia.
Jan 2--A Japanese landing in lower Perak, Western Malaya, is repulsed. Four barges are reported sunk by British artillery. Singapore is bombed.
Jan 2--Japanese forces land in Weston, 100 miles N of Brunei in British Borth Borneo.
Jan 3--President Roosevelt and Prime Minister Churchill jointly announce the appointment of Gen. Sir Archibald P. Wavell, 58, as supreme commander of all American, British, Dutch and Dominion forces in the SW Pacific. Maj. Gen. George H. Brett, 56, USAAF chief, will be deputy supreme commander, while Adm. Thomas C. Hart, 64, commander of the US Asiatic Fleet, will command all Far East naval forces.
Jan 3--British Imperial forces withdraw southward to new positions along the Northern Malay front.
Jan 4--Japanese bombers twice raid Rabaul, New Britain, but damage and casualties are light.
Jan 4--In the Philippines, Japanese forces attack American and Filipino troops in Pampanga Province, NW of Manila, while 52 bombers raid Corregidor Island.
Jan 5--Japanese troops land near the port city of Kuala Selangor, 240 miles NW of Singapore, and threaten Kuala Lumpur, capital of the Federated Malay States.
Jan 5--US War Department claims American bombers sank a Japanese destroyer and scored three direct hits on an enemy battleship off Davao, Mindanao Island, the Philippines.
Jan 6--General Sir Archibald P. Wavell, new supreme Allied commander in the Southwest Pacific, establishes his HQ on the island of Java, Netherlands East Indies.
Jan 6--British Imperial troops withdraw on the Perak front (Malaya) after being outflanked by Japanese forces, while other units in Pahang are withdrawn from the Kuantan area 190 miles N of Singapore.
Jan 6--About 45 Japanese bombers raid Corregidor Island and the Bataan Peninsula. Gen. Douglas MacArthur receives reports of Japanese air raids on defenseless towns, with many innocents killed, some machine-gunned by low-flying planes.
Jan 7--British Far East Command reports Japanese attacks on the lower Perak front, and says that the withdrawal in Kuantan, 190 miles N of Singapore, continues.
Jan 7--The US War Dept. reports heavy fighting in the Philippines, with the Japanese attacking at all points.
Jan 8--British forces withdraw south of the Slim River, 240 miles NW of Singapore, after Japanese armor breaks through their defenses on the lower Perak front.
Jan 8--The Navy Dept. reports that seven Japanese warships, including a cruiser, were sunk by the Marine garrison at Wake Island between Dec. 8 and Dec. 22 instead of the five previously reported, and releases a special citation to the garrison by President Roosevelt.
Jan 9--British forces are on the retreat in upper Selangor as Japanese troops drive forward towards Kuala Lumpur.
Jan 9--The Dutch navy announces the sinking of a freighter by a Japanese submarine, which machine-gunned lifeboats and men in the water. There were three survivors.
Jan 10--British forces retreat in the face of Japanese attacks in the Slim River area, 200 miles NW of Singapore.
Jan 10--The Netherlands Indies Command (Batavia) says Japanese planes again bombed the oil center of Tarakan.
Jan 10--Heavy Japanese reinforcements are brought to the front on Luzon Island (Philippines). This, along with intensive artillery duels and the appearance of numerous enemy vessels off the coast of Mindanao leads the US War Dept. to suspect that a major enemy offensive is in the making.

CBI
Jan 1--In a New Year's address, Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek compares Japan's attack on the US and Great Britain with "a draught of poison taken to quench thirst."
Jan 1--Japanese forces enter Changsa, the capital of Hunan province, China, after an eight-day offensive.
Jan 2--A Chinese counterattack in Changsa results in 15,000 Japanese casualties, according to a Chungking communique.
Jan 2--Chinese troops march into Burma along the Burma Road to place themselves under British command.
Jan 4--Chinese High Command reports that over 50,000 Japanese casualties have occurred thusfar in the Battle of Changsa.
Jan 4--In New Delhi, Indian leaders appeal to Prime Minister Winston Churchill to grant India dominion status so that she may join in the fight on an equal footing with other anti-Axis nations.
Jan 7--Domei (Japan's news agency) reports that Japanese forces are withdrawing from Changsa where, according to the Chinese, they lost 35,000 killed our wounded.
Jan 8--The RAF destroys seven Japanese planes during raids today and last night on Bangkok, Thailand. Large fires were started in the dock area.
Jan 10--British air raids are reported in Malaya and Singora, Thailand. Five Japanese planes are said to have been destroyed during RAF air raids on airdromes in Thailand.

WAR AT SEA
Jan 3--The British Admiralty reports that the cruiser Neptune and a destroyer were sunk by enemy mines in the Mediterranean.

ELSEWHERE
Jan 2--Chile declares its neutrality in the war between Japan and the Allies while granting the US and Latin American countries non-belligerent status.
Jan 4--A Mexican congressional committee names 69 Germans currently in Mexico who are accused of engaging in espionage and propaganda for the Axis.
Jan 4--The Cuban government orders the internment of over 4,000 registered German aliens.
Jan 5--50 Germans are arrested in San Jose, Costa Rica on charges of espionage in connection with a plot to destroy the oil tanks of the West India Oil Company.
Jan 6--Brazil seizes control of the German airline Condor.
Jan 7--Argentine's foreign minister says his country will oppose any joint military action, but might support economic action, against the Axis.