This Day In The War, In The Pacific

Greetings to all. I am starting up this thread to give all of us a chance to put down a day-to-day account on what was happening in the PTO & CBI.

As I just mentioned, this is ONLY for events that occurred in the PTO, CBI, Indian Ocean and key events in the allied home fronts. As such please refrain from posting any details from the the war in the Atlantic and Europe.

All are welcome to add information. Since I will be the primary contributor and create the days, please send me a PM with your stuff. If you create the day (and it has to be in chronological order), you will be responsible to make sure any information gets posted to it. We don't want to waste our beloved moderators time in asking them to "please ask mr. simpson to update his post".

Some guidelines:
Use brevity. We dont need a 16 paragraph accounting on a battle, when it can be done in a parapgraph or two, and followed up with some links.

Everything is important. Even mentioning that your great grandfather arrived in India as part of the engineering battalion he was with is fine by me.

 

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1901
AUSTRALIA: The Federation of the six colonies is achieved after a decade of planning, consultation and voting, and the Commonwealth of Australia is born as a Dominion of the British Empire.

1936
INTERNATIONAL: International naval limitations set by the London and Washington Naval Treaties officially expire, which ends warship construction restrictions and the maintenance of the status quo in fortifications in the Pacific. There have been rumors since 1932 that the Japanese are building fortifications and submarine bases in their Pacific mandate territories. On 17 December 1920 the Council of the League of Nations confirmed a mandate for the former German Islands north of the equator to Japan, to be administered in accordance with Article 22 of the Covenant of the League of Nations. These islands were located in the Caroline, Ladrone, Mariana, and Marshall Islands. After 1935, both Australia and New Zealand expanded their coastal defenses and the U.S. government planned a series of fortifications from the Alaskan coast and Aleutian Islands to Midway Island, Guam, and Samoa.

1941
AUSTRALIA: Last July, the government approved the construction of tanks in the country. They now authorize an armoured division as part of the Australian Imperial Force (AIF).

1942
CHINA: The Chinese request lend-lease aid for construction of a road across northern Burma to link with the Burma Road. The projected road would extend from Ledo, India, to Fort Hertz and Myitkyina, Burma, and Lung-ling, China.

EAST INDIES: Two Japanese infantry platoons land on the 75 square kilometer Labuan Island, British North Borneo, capturing the British Resident, Hugh Humphrey who later recalled: "I was repeatedly hit by a Japanese officer with his sword (in its scabbard) and exhibited for 24 hours to the public in an improvised cage, on the grounds that, before the Japanese arrived, I had sabotaged the war effort of the Imperial Japanese Forces by destroying stocks of aviation fuel on the island."
The air echelon of the USAAF Far East Air Force's 93d BS (Heavy) transfers from Batchelor Field, Northern Territory, Australia, to Singosari, Java, with B-17 Flying Fortresses.

MALAYA: The Japanese attack the Kampar position in western Malaya in force but are unable to break through. The Indian 11th Division is in grave danger as a Japanese amphibious force lands in the Utan Melentang area, at the mouth of the Bernam River, behind the Kampar line. The Indian 12th Brigade Group moves from Bidor to meet this threat. Japanese aircraft deliver the first severe blow against Tengah airdrome on Singapore Island.

PHILIPPINE ISLANDS: The South Luzon Force, upon completing their withdrawal across the Pampanga River at Calumpit by 0500 hours and destroying bridges there at 0615 hours, is disbanded. Its components continue their withdrawal toward Bataan, and Brigadier General Albert Jones rejoins the 51st Division [Philippine Army (PA)].
The Japanese move through Plaridel to Calumpit but are unable to cross the Pampanga River. The Covering force [elements of 71st and 91st Divisions (PA)] withdraws
from the river line toward San Fernando. Meanwhile, the 21st and 11th Divisions (PA) continue fighting withdrawals, the 21st along the route Bamban-Angeles- Poroc and the 11th on the route Malagang-San Fernando- Guagua (north of Sexmoan), arriving on the line Porac-Guagua during the night 1/2 January.
HQ 24th Pursuit Group (Interceptor) transfers from Clark Field to Mariveles, Luzon, Philippines .
The ground echelon of the 14th Bombardment Squadron, 7th BG (Heavy), transfers from Clark Field, Luzon to Bugo, Mindanao. The air echelon is operating from Singosari, Java with B-17's.

WAKE ISLAND: A USAAF Hawaiian Air Force B-17 Flying Fortress based on Oahu, Territory of Hawaii, refuels at Midway Islands and then photographs Wake Island.

UNITED STATES: The Declaration of the United Nations is signed by 26 nations in Washington, D.C. The original signatories are Australia, Belgium, Canada, China, Costa Rica, Cuba, Czechoslovakia, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Greece, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, India, Luxembourg, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Norway, Panama, Poland, South Africa, the U.K., the U.S., the U.S.S.R., and Yugoslavia. The parties pledge
to uphold the Atlantic Charter, to employ all their resources in the war against the Axis powers and agree not to negotiate a separate peace with Germany, Italy or Japan. The Atlantic Charter and its eight principles are:
(1) the renunciation of territorial aggression;
(2) territorial changes only with consent of the peoples concerned;
(3) restoration of sovereign rights and self-government; (4) access to raw materials for all nations;
(5) world economic cooperation;
(6) freedom from fear and want;
(7) freedom of the seas;
( 8 ) disarmament of aggressors are also endorsed by the signatories at the Arcadia Conference.
- The United States Treasury order freezing Philippine funds in the United States goes into effect. This order is issued "in view of the situation created by the temporary enemy occupation of important parts of the Philippine Islands."
- U.S. Attorney General Francis Biddle, issues orders to all German, Italian and Japanese aliens to hand in their short-wave radios, cameras and firearms to their local police stations. They are also forbidden to change their address without permission and, if living on the east coast, to obey a 2100 to 0600 hour curfew.
- The U.S. Office of Production Management prohibits the sales of new cars and trucks to civilians. All automakers dedicate their plants entirely to the war effort. By the end of the month, domestic car manufacture has stopped. Automobile plants are converted wholesale to the manufacture of bombers, jeeps, military trucks, and other equipment.

1943
BISMARCK ARCHIPELAGO: Fifth Air Force B-17s and B-24s bomb the airfields at Gasmata and Rabaul on New Britain Island.

BURMA: Six Tenth Air Force B-25s attack the railroad bridge near Myitnge, claiming several hits on the target. The nearby airfield is also bombed.

FIJI ISLANDS: The USN fleet tug USS Grebe grounded at Vuanta Vatoa on 6 December 1942 while attempting to float the U.S. freighter SS Thomas A. Edison. Salvage operations are broken up by a hurricane that destroyed both ships during the night of 1/2 January 1943.

NEW GUINEA: In Papua New Guinea, the Urbana Force attacks toward Buna Mission from the southeast and from the spit after heavy preparatory fire, but makes little progress. In the evening the Japanese are seen swimming from the Mission. Company B, U.S. 127th Infantry Regiment, 32d Infantry Division, moves east toward Giropa Point to assist the Warren Force, which encircles the Japanese between Giropa Point and Old Strip. On the left, the Australian 2/12th Battalion, 18th Brigade, 7th Division, supported by six tanks, drives to the coast at Giropa Point and turns southeast, clearing the coastal strip to Simemi Creek; the 1st Battalion, U.S. 128th Infantry Regiment, mops up bypassed pockets.
On the right, the 3d Battalion, 128th Infantry Regiment, and Australian 2/10th Battalion, 18th Brigade, make slow progress in a two-pronged attack to clear the Japanese entrenched in dispersal bays off the northwestern end of Strip.
Fifth Air Force bombers attack Lae, Northeast New Guinea.

SOLOMON ISLANDS: The last Japanese food available in the Gifu position on Mount Austen, on Guadalcanal is distributed. It amounts to two crackers and a piece of candy per man. From Hill 11 on Guadalcanal, the 2d Battalion, 132d Infantry Regiment, Americal Division, marches slowly south and west over precipitous terrain to the southeastern slope of Hill 27, arriving too late in the day to open an assault as planned. Regimental Combat Team 27, 25th Infantry Division, arrives on the island.

UNITED STATES: Ground Controlled Approach equipment (GCA) is called into emergency use for the first time when a snowstorm closed down the field at Naval Air Station Quonset Point, Rhode Island, a half hour before a flight of PBY Catalinas is due to arrive. The GCA crew locates the incoming aircraft on their search radar, and using the control tower as a relay station, "talks" one of them into position for a contact landing. This recovery was made only nine days after the first successful experimental demonstration of GCA.

1944
(CBI) BURMA-INDIA (Tenth Air Force): In Burma, 6 B-25's, along mith 16 P-38's, attack a bridge on the Mu River between Ywataung and Monywa; Major Robert A Erdin, piloting the lead B-25, pulls up during his bomb run to avoid a tree; he releases his bombs as he noses up, and topples 2 spans of the bridge into the river; subsequent tests prove this a good bridge-bombing maneuver; the tactic is refined and the squadron [the 490th Bombardment Squadron (Medium), 341st Bombardment Group (Medium)] becomes so proficient as to gain the sobriquet "Burma Bridge Busters." Further N, 11 A-36's and 15 P-5l's pound the airfield at Myitkyina, Burma. The 315th Troop Carrier Squadron is activated at Dinjan, India assigned to the Tenth Air Force and equipped with C-47's.

CHINA (Fourteenth Air Force): 4 P-40's bomb and strafe targets of opportunity in Indochina, including barracks and rafts along the Yuan River in the Cam Duong-Lao Kay area.

NEW GUINEA: In Northeast New Guinea, the Australian 20th Brigade, 9th Division, finds the Japanese have abandoned Nanda. The airlift of the Australian 18th Brigade, 7th Division, to Dumpu begins.

PACIFIC OCEAN AREA (POA, Seventh Air Force): 16 P-39's strafe the harbor of Mille Atoll and attack shipping N of the atoll; 2 small vessels are heavily damaged. During the month of Jan 44, HQ VII Bomber Command transfers from Funafuti Atoll to Tarawa Atoll.

SOUTH PACIFIC AREA (SOPAC, Thirteenth Air Force): 868th Bombardment Squadron is activated to work directly under the XIII Bomber Command. The unit, equipped with radar equipped B-24's used for night missions, becomes known as the "Snooper Squadron." They will fly their first mission on 4 Jan; they used their airborne radar for low-level attacks at night, and for pathfinder operations. 15 B-24's, escorted by 70+ P-38's and US Navy (USN) F6F's, bomb Lakunai Airfield; fighter and AA opposition is heavy, with 80-90 fighters attempting interception. US airplanes claim 20 fighters shot down; 1 B-24 is shot down and 2, severely damaged, crashland at Torokina. Allied fighters join USN dive bombers in support of ground forces in the Torokina area. 6 B-25's and 2 B-24's bomb Kahili and 4 B-24's hit Manob, both on Bougainville.

SOUTHWEST PACIFIC AREA (SWPA, Fifth Air Force): 120+ B-24's, B-25's and A-20's pound the Saidor area in preparation for an Allied invasion; other B-25's bomb Madang and Alexishafen. A-20's continue to hit troop concentrations in the Cape Gloucester area; B-25's hit positions at Borgen Bay; and P-39's strate barges along New Britain's N coast. HQ 312th Bombardment Group arrives at Gusap from the US. The 500th Bombardment Squadron (Medium), 345th Bombardment Group (Medium), transfers from Port Moresby to Dobodura with B-25's.

BISMARCK ARCHIPELAGO: On New Britain Island, Brigadier General Lemuel C. Shepherd, Assistant Division Commander 1st Marine Division, issues the first order to the ADC Group, calling for an attack southwest toward Borgen Bay tomorrow. The ADC Group, as strengthened for the attack, consists of the 7th Marine Regiment, reinforced by the 3d Battalion of the 5th Marine Regiment, and supporting units.
USN aircraft from the aircraft carrier USS Bunker Hill and small aircraft carrier USS Monterey (USN Task Group 37.2) bomb shipping escorted by cruisers and destroyers, damaging the light cruiser HIJMS Noshiro; two F6F Hellcats and an SB2C Helldiver are lost. Task Group 37.2 consists of the two aircraft carriers, the battleship USS Washington and six destroyers.

1945
ALASKA: 5 B-24s fly coverage for a naval force upon aborting a bomb mission to Kuriles. A Japanese Fu Go paper, including envelope, rigging, apparatus and two sand bags, is recovered 15 miles north of Marshall, Territory of Alaska. It is believed that the balloon landed on 23 December 1944. Marshall is located about 210 miles southeast of Nome.

CHINA THEATER: In China, 3 B-24s bomb Ft Bayard; 40 P-51s and P-40s pound railroad targets, warehouses, industrial works, and gun positions from Yoyang to Puchi; 8 P-51s hit Suchow Airfield, claiming 25 aircraft destroyed; 47 other P-40s and P-51s on armed reconnaissance hit troops, horses, town areas, and rail and road traffic at several locations especially at Liuchenghsien and between Siaokan and Hsuchang; a detachment of the 16th Fighter Squadron, 51st Fighter Group, begins operating from Laohokow with P-51s (squadron is based at Chengkung; another detachment is at Kwanghan); during Jan 45, the detachment of the 25th Fighter Squadron, 51st Fighter Group operating from Poashan with P-51s moves to Leangshan; the 26th Fighter Squadron, 51st Fighter Group sends detachments to operate from Poseh, Liangshan and Laohokow with P-51s; and the detachments of the 528th Fighter Squadron, 311th Fighter Group, operating from Hanchung and Liangshan with P-51s, return to base at Shwangliu.

INDIA-BURMA THEATER (Tenth Air Force): In Burma, 71 P-47s and P-38s attack villages, general supply areas, fuel dumps, tanks and other vehicles, and troop concentrations at several locations including Man Hio, Bahe, Mongmit, Hatka, Namhpakka, Loi-hseng, Mong Yaw and in the Hsenwi area, 4 others hit targets of opportunity along the Irrawaddy River from Tanaung to Kyungyi; 4 B-25s harass communications lines during the night of 1/2 Jan. Large-scale air transport operations continue. The 14th and 15th Combat Cargo Squadrons, 4th Combat Cargo Group, move from Sylhet to Argartala, India with C-46s. During Jan, the detachment of the 436th Bombardment Squadron (Heavy), 7th BG (Heavy), based at Luliang, China with B-24s ferrying gasoline to Suichwan, China, returns to base at Madhaiganj, India.

AAFPOA (Seventh Air Force): 19 B-24s from Saipan bomb Iwo Jima; 9 more, during snooper missions on the night of 1/2 Jan, hit the at varying intervals.

SOUTHWEST PACIFIC AREA: HQ 345th BG (Medium) moves from Dulag to Tacloban. During Jan 44, the detachment of the 4th Photographic Charting Squadron, 311th Photographic Wing [attached to 4th Photographic Group (Reconnaissance)] ceases operating from Morotai with F-7s and returns to base at Hollandia, New Guinea; at the same time, a detachment of this squadron begins operating in Australia during the month (this squadron is mapping areas of the SW and W Pacific); in New Guinea, the detachment of the 64th Troop Carrier Squadron, 403d Troop Carrier Group, operating from Noemfoor returns to base on Biak with C-47s. During Jan, the 8th Combat Cargo Squadron, 2d Combat Cargo Group, moves from Finschhafen to Biak with C-46s.

CANADA: Several fragments of a Japanese Fu Go balloon are recovered near Stony Rapids, Saskatchewan. Stony Rapids is located about 490 miles north of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. It is unknown when this balloon landed.

CAROLINE ISLANDS: Elements of the 321st Infantry Regiment, U.S. 81st Infantry Division, land on Fais Island., southeast of Ulithi Atoll, and begin a search of the island.

EAST INDIES: On Halmahera Island, USAAF Far East Air Forces B-24s along with B-25 hit the Djailolo, Wasile Bay bivouac areas, and Miti ammunition dump. B-25s also bomb airfields on Ceram Island. Airfields, shipyards, and other targets in the Borneo, Celebes and Lesser Sunda Islands also sustain light raids, by fighters and bombers, which also fly armed reconnaissance. Twelve RAAF (P-40) Kittyhawks bomb Galela No. 2 Airstrip on the west side of the Wasile Bay.

PHILIPPINE ISLANDS: Operations to deceive the Japanese about Allied intentions against Luzon begin with limited action on Mindoro to clear the northeastern part of the island. Subsequent deceptive measures conducted on southern Luzon are on a much smaller scale than anticipated and have little effect on the main operation.
On Mindoro Island, control of the Western Visayan Task Force passes from the U.S. Sixth to the U.S. Eighth Army. Company I, 21st Infantry Regiment, 24th Infantry Division, moving by water from San Jose, lands on the east coast at Bongabong without incident and marches northward toward Pinamalayan.
On Leyte Island, the U.S. Eighth Army mops up, a tedious business that lasts until 8 May 1945. The 77th Infantry Division of the XXIV Corps is ordered to relieve the 1st Cavalry and 32d and 24th Infantry Divisions of X Corps.
USAAF Far East Air Forces B-25s and fighter-bombers make low level attacks on Negros Island airfields; B-24s, with P-38 cover, bomb Clark Field on Luzon and others bomb the Sasa area on Mindanao Island. B-25s bomb barracks at Laoag on Luzon. Fighter-bombers are active against targets in the Manila area on Luzon and also hit Silay on Negros.

UNITED STATES: The French government officially joins in full partnership in the United Nations, three years after the French Committee on National Liberation agreed to participate in the international organization.

CINCPAC PRESS RELEASE NO. 708, JANUARY 1, 1945

FLEET ADMIRAL NIMITZ VISITS FORWARD AREAS​

Fleet Admiral C. W. Nimitz, USN, Commander in Chief, U. S. Pacific Fleet and Pacific Ocean Areas, has within the last few days visited Eniwetok, Guam and Saipan, accompanied by Rear Admiral F. P. Sherman, USN, Deputy Chief of Staff, and Lieutenant Commander H. A. Lamar, USNR, aide to Fleet Admiral Nimitz.
Fleet Admiral Nimitz spent Christmas Day with the Fleet, dining with Admiral William F. Halsey, USN, Commander Third Fleet. The occasion was the first time the five‑star flag of a fleet admiral ever was broken aboard a battleship.

CINCPAC COMMUNIQUÉ NO. 219, JANUARY 1, 1945

Airstrip installations on Iwo Jima in the Volcanos were bombed by Libera*tors of the Strategic Air Force, Pacific Ocean Areas on December 30 (West Longitude Date).
Marine Mitchell bombers scored rocket hits on a small coastal cargo ship which was left dead in the water near the Bonins on the same date.
Ammunition dumps and supply areas on Babelthuap in the Palaus were strafed and bombed by Fighters of the Second Marine Aircraft Wing on December 30. On the same date Marine Fighters sank four launches at Woleai in the Western Carolines and Marine torpedo planes bombed Yap in the same group.
Corsairs of the Fourth Marine Aircraft Wing on December 30 strafed targets on Rota in the Marianas.
Neutralizing attacks on enemy held bases in the Marshalls were continued on December 30 by airplanes of the Fourth Marine Aircraft Wing.

1946
JAPAN: Japanese Emperor Hirohito disclaims his divinity in a New Year's message to the Japanese people. This represented a significant break with Japan's traditional past and reflected the impact of General of the Army Douglas MacArthur's reform efforts.

PHILIPPINE ISLANDS: On Corregidor Island, a lone American soldier on detail for the American Graves Registration is busy recording the makeshift graves of American soldiers. He is interrupted when approximately 20 Japanese soldiers approach him-literally waving a white flag. They had been living in an underground tunnel built during the war and learned that their country had already surrendered when one of them ventured out in search of water and found a newspaper announcing Japan's defeat.

UNITED STATES: The U.S. Coast Guard, which had operated as a service under the U.S. Navy since 1 November 1941, was returned to the U .S. Treasury Department, pursuant to Executive Order 9666, dated 28 December 1945

 

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1932
MANCHURIA: With the Japanese occupation of Manchuria near completion, the establishment of the Republic of Manchukuo is proclaimed. The new government serves under the direction of the Japanese government.

1941
UNITED STATES: The Andrews Sisters record "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy" on Decca Records. The song, which became a classic World War II hit, is heard in the Abbott and Costello film "Buck Privates." The Andrews Sisters were the most popular "girl group" of their time, selling millions of records.

1942
AUSTRALIA: Major General George H. Brett, Commanding General-Designate of the U.S. Forces in Australia (USFIA), sends a message to General George C. Marshall, Chief of Staff, U.S. Army in Washington, D.C., stating that he sees little hope of effectively reinforcing the Philippine Islands until a large airbase can be established at Darwin, Northern Territory, and a large supply and repair depot established at Townsville, Queensland.

MALAYA: Japanese force reaches Telok Anson via the Perak River and go ashore, greatly increasing the threat to the Indian III Corps. The 1st Independent Company and Indian 3d Cavalry Squadron defending this area, are forced back through the Indian 12th Brigade Group, which in turn comes under severe pressure. Although Japanese attacks on the Kampar position are still being contained, it is decided to withdraw to the Slim River after nightfall because of the precarious situation along the coast. A Japanese landing attempt at Kuala Selangor is frustrated by artillery fire late in the day.

PACIFIC OCEAN: In the Java Sea, the 7,395 ton Dutch freighter SS Langkoeas, formerly the German freighter SS Stassfurt, departed Soerabaja, Java, Netherlands East Indies yesterday for the Middle East. Today, she is torpedoed by Japanese submarine HIJMS I-58 during this evening north of Bawean Island. Bawean Island is located between Java and Borneo about 82 nautical miles (152 kilometers) north of Surabaja. The crew (24 Dutch, 55 Chinese, 12 Java-natives) immediately began abandoning ship, and the submarine approaches and begins machine gunning everyone in the boats. There are three survivors, one Dutch, one Chinese and one Javanese. They are brought aboard the submarine and after being questioned, they are thrown back into the water. The three manage to survive and make it to a small island where they are found by a fisherman. They are later picked up by a Dutch (PBY) Catalina and brought to Soerabaja, where they tell their story.

PHILIPPINE ISLANDS: One battalion of the Japanese 1st Formosa Regiment and two of the 47th Infantry Regiment make the triumphal march into Manila, watched only by a curious few. Japanese troops also take over Cavite Naval Base and find it a total wreck from their own bombs.
Japanese aircraft begin daily attacks on Corregidor Island in Manila Bay. The defenders on Luzon complete a successful withdrawal through San Fernando, the final elements clearing the town at 0200 hours, and organize delaying positions along a 10-mile front from Porac to Guagua. Holding this line are the 21st Division [Philippine Army (PA)] on the west, its left flank covered by 26th Cavalry (Philippine Scouts) at San Jose, south of Porac, and the 11th Division PA) on the east. The Japanese attack the west flank in the vicinity of Porac in the afternoon and force the 21st Division to fall back. Meanwhile, Japanese east of the Pampanga River succeed in crossing the river and move to San Fernando, where they join with Japanese from Angeles. There are now 80,000 troops and 26,000 civilians on Bataan Peninsula. The troops are worn out and beginning to suffer malaria. There are food supplies to feed 100,000 men for 30 days and the troops are put on half rations. But, morale is high because the troops expect a huge relief convoy to arrive at any moment.
The Pentagon receives a depressing radio message from the Philippines that says: "Manila, Cavite lost; MacArthur fights on, holding Corregidor." The news from the Phillippines only gets worse as MacArthur is later forced to abandon Corregidor as well.

THAILAND: The American Volunteer Group (Flying Tigers) raid a Japanese air base in Thailand, one of the first offensive air strikes by the Allies in Asia. Security restrictions require the leader of the raid be identified only as "Scarsdale Jack." During the coming months, he will become famous. He is John Van Kuren Newkirk, a former Navy pilot from Westchester County, New York, U.S.A.

UNITED STATES: President Franklin D Roosevelt announces the beginning of the Liberty Ship program, i.e., the construction of 200 merchant ships of a standardized design.
Lieutenant General Hugh A. Drum, Commanding General First Army, tentatively selected for a field command in China, arrives in Washington, D.C., where he confers with various military leaders and finds opinions as to role of U.S. in China widely divergent.
The first organized lighter-than- air units of World War II, Airship Patrol Group One (ZPG-1) and Airship Squadron Twelve (ZP-12) are established at Naval Air Station Lakehurst, New Jersey. The USN is the only military service in the world to use non-rigid airships--also known as blimps--during the war.

1943
ALEUTIAN ISLANDS: Three B-25s, three B-25s and eight P-38s heading for Kiska Island are forced back by bad wether. The weather aircraft cannot see into Kiska Harbor or Gertrude Cove. Two B-24s fly photographic reconnaissance over Amchitka Island and encounter poor weather. A USN PBY Catalina
unsuccessfully searches the islands east of Segula Island for a missing PBY.

BISMARCK ARCHIPELAGO: Fifth Air Force B-24s bomb the airfield at Gasmata on New Britain Island.

BURMA: Fighters of the USAAF Tenth Air Forces's China Air Task Force continue to hit transportation targets, strafing a truck convoy on the Burma Road. The strikes begin near Loiwing and cover 30 miles of highway. At least five trucks are destroyed and others damaged. Six B-25s bomb Monywa Airfield.

INDIAN OCEAN: German auxiliary cruiser HK Michel, known to the British as Raider H, sinks the 7,040 British freighter SS Empire March south of the Cape of Good Hope. The freighter was sailing from Durban, South Africa,. to Trinidad (located off the coast of Venezuela) with a crew of 29 and a cargo of iron, tea, peanuts and jute. Michel opened fire, knocking out the bridge and the radio room and turning the freighter into "an inferno from stem to stern, but still moving." To dispatch the blazing wreck quickly, the captain of the Michel fires two torpedoes, one of which misses. Twenty six crewmen of the freighter are picked up, with another man being found the next day when Michel returned to search
for anyone who might have been missed. This is the last ship sunk by Michel on her first cruise. On 8 January, the auxiliary cruiser is ordered to proceed to Japan and while en route, the prisoners were handed over to the Japanese at Singapore. On this first crew, the German raider spent 354 days at sea and sank 15 ships totaling 99,386 tons.

NEW GUINEA: In Papua New Guinea, the Urbana Force overruns Buna Mission in a concerted assault and organized resistance ends at 1632 hours local. The top Japanese commanders, Captain Yasuda Yoshitatsu and Colonel Yamamoto Hiroshi, commit suicide. The Japanese withdrawal from the Kokoda trail enables the Allies to plan the encirclement of important Japanese positions in the Buna, Sanananda and Gona beachhead. Buna is the second of the three to fall to the Allies after weeks of heavy fighting. With the Mission clear, Company C of the 127th Infantry Regiment, 32d Infantry Division, joins Company B in an attack along the coast toward Giropa Point, and by 1930 hours, makes a junction with the
Warren Force. The Warren Force, in a final attack, finishes clearing the region from Giropa Point eastward. The Australian 2/9th Battalion, 18th Brigade, 7th Division, clears the Japanese troops from the east bank of Simemi Creek and the 2/12th Battalion, 18th Brigade, heads for Giropa Point. Japanese forces move forward from Giruwa to rescue the survivors of the Buna garrison.
The Japanese have lost at least 1,400 men at Buna: 500 west of Giropa Point and 900 east of it. Casualties of the U.S. 32d Infantry Division and Australian 18th Brigade total 2,817 (620 killed, 2,065 wounded, 132 missing).
In preparation for stepping up action on the Sanananda front, where a stalemate has existed for
some time, Australian Lieutenant General Edmund Herring, General Officer Commanding I Australian Corps, orders 25-pound (87.6 mm) artillery pieces from Buna to that area.
The 1st Battalion and Headquarters, U.S. 163d Infantry Regiment, 41st Infantry Division, take responsibility for the Huggins and Kano blocks on the trail to Sanananda, gradually relieving the Australians, between 2 and 4 January. Huggins is renamed Musket.
Fifth Air Force A-20s, B-25s and B-26s hit the airfield and targets of opportunity at Lae, Northeast New Guinea.
While surveying the Milne Bay, Papua New Guinea, the Australian minesweeper HMAS Whyalla and survey vessels Stella and Polaris, are attacked by 18 Japanese aircraft.

SOLOMON ISLANDS: On Guadalcanal, Major General Millard Harmon, Commanding General U.S. Army Forces in the South Pacific Area, activates XIV Corps, consisting of the Americal and 25th Infantry Divisions, the former reinforced by the 147th Infantry Regiment. The 2d Marine Division and other Marine ground forces are attached to the corps.
Major General Alexander Patch is placed in command of XIV Corps, and Brigadier General Edmund Sebree succeeds him as commander of Americal Division. After a heavy artillery preparation, the 132d Infantry Regiment, Americal Division, continues its offensive against the Gifu strongpoint. The 2d Battalion. taking the Japanese by surprise, advances quickly to the crest of Hill 27, south of the Gifu strongpoint, and digs in and holds firm under a number of counter attacks. The 3d and 1st Battalions establish lines along the northern and eastern sides of the Gifu, respectively, but gaps remain between the three assault battalions.
In the air, B-17s, with P-38s, and USMC SBDs, with F4Fs, bomb ten supply-carrying Japanese destroyers west of Rendova Island; the SBDs damage the destroyer HIJMS Sukukaze. The F4Fs shoot down two Zero's and an SBD rear gunner shoots down a third Zero. Eleven PT boats attack the force off Cape Esperance without success.

1944
BURMA-INDIA (Tenth Air Force): In Burma, 27 B-25's and 16 P-39's hit a fuel plant and work shops at Yenangyaung and set the oilfield aflame; 13 B-24's also hit the refinery, causing a large fire, and bomb a power station; 4 other B-24's bomb Akyab on the W coast; about 30 A-36's and P-51's score hits on the Loilaw bridge approaches and bomb the towns in the vicinity.

CHINA (Fourteenth Air Force): 8 P-40's bomb and strafe Japanese HQ and barracks at Hopang, China.

PACIFIC OCEAN AREA (POA, Seventh Air Force): Seventh Air Force B-24s, staging through Tarawa Atoll in the Gilbert Islands, bomb Maloelap Atoll where three B-24s are shot down by antiaircraft fire. Nine B-25s hit targets on Jaluit Atoll and P-39s strafe shipping at Mili Atoll.
USN aerial minelaying operations in the Marshalls continue. Flying from Tarawa in the Gilbert Islands, five PV-1s and a PBY-5s mine Jabor Anchorage, Jaluit Island, Jaluit Atoll.
GILBERT ISLANDS: Japanese planes bomb the advanced base on Abemama Atoll, demolishing one USN PB4Y-1 Liberator; exploding ammunition in the burning aircraft damages two additional PB4Y-1s.

SOUTH PACIFIC AREA (SOPAC, Thirteenth Air Force): 24 B-25's bomb Buka supply area on Buka . 30+ Allied fighters sweep Rabaul area claiming 11 airplanes shot down; 1 US Navy (USN) fighter is lost.

BISMARCK ARCHIPELAGO: In the Cape Gloucester area on New Britain Island, Company E of the 5th Marine Regiment establishes physical contact with a Marine patrol from Green Beach at Dorf Point. The ADC Group (7th Marine Regiment, reinforced by the 3d Battalion of the 5th Marine Regiment) attacks toward Borgen Bay with three battalions abreast, moving around the 2d Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment but is halted by a Japanese strongpoint, which it partly envelops.
In the air over New Britain Island, over 30 USMC F4U Corsairs and USN F6Fs sweep the Rabaul area claiming 11 airplanes shot down; one F6F is lost. During the night of 2/3 January, Australian Beauforts attack Rabaul Airfields.

SOUTHWEST PACIFIC AREA (SWPA, Fifth Air Force): Elements of the US 32nd Infantry Division make an amphibious landing at Saidor, following a preparatory naval bombardment; Bad weather prevents preparatory air strikes, but 80+ B-24's and A-20's pound positions in coordination with the landings; the harbor and airfield are captured. B-25's and B-26's bomb Madang. P-40's strafe Hoskins Airfield, AA positiona, barges, and supply dump at Cape Hoskins.
EAST INDIES: Fifth Air Force B-24s bomb Pombelaa on Celebes Island and targets on Amboina Island, in the Moluccas Islands.

NEW GUINEA: The Australian 2/15th Battalion, 20th Brigade, 9th Division, driving west along the Huon coast from Finschhafen occupy Sialum which has a sheltered beach and an all-weather anchorage making it an excellent choice for a big supply dump. The Australian 9th Division continues their pursuit of the Japanese around the Huon Peninsula and they are attacked nightly by USN PT boats and during daylight by RAAF and USAAF aircraft.
The U.S. Sixth Army's Task Force Michaelmas (Regimental Combat Team 126, 32d Infantry Division, reinforced) makes a surprise landing at Saidor, Northeast New Guinea, under cover of a smoke screen and captures the harbor and airfield.
Weather conditions prevent aircraft from joining destroyers in the preliminary bombardment, but effective air strikes are made in coordination with the landing. This landing cuts off the Japanese rearguard forces from the main Japanese base at Madang, only 55 miles away. U.S. losses in Operation DEXTERITY are 55 killed; Japanese casualties are 1,275.
The loss of Saidor, a Japanese supply depot, is a strategic disaster for the Japanese: the only escape route for the 20,000 Japanese troops, now sandwiched between Australian and U.S. forces, is a 200-mile inland retreat through dangerous, often impassable, jungle. The landings signal the long awaited drive west by Allied forces to expel the Japanese from New Guinea.

SOLOMON ISLANDS: On Bougainville, the 182d Infantry Regiment, Americal Division, relieves the 21st Marine Regiment in the line.

1945
CHINA THEATER (Fourteenth Air Force): 6 B-25s bomb Kentung, Burma. 30+ P-40s and P-51s on armed reconnaissance attack targets of opportunity, mainly railroad traffic, at or near Lohochai, Pengpu, and Sinyang, China; and Man Pong, Wanling, and Wan Pa-Hsa, Burma.

HQ AAF (Twentieth Air Force): Mission 24: 49 B-29s, operating from the Calcutta, India area, are dispatched to attack a railroad bridge at Bangkok; 44 hit the primary target and 2 hit an alternate and a target of opportunity; they claim 0-1-1 Japanese aircraft.

INDIA-BURMA THEATER (Tenth Air Force): In Burma, troop concentrations and supplies are attacked at Mabein, Panghka, Mansut, Letpangon, Loi-mun, Panghkai, Namhsan, Thabeikkyin, and in the Lashio area by 66 P-47s and 13 P-38s. 546 transport sorties are flown to forward bases and frontline areas. In India, the 13th Combat Cargo Squadron, 4th Combat Cargo Group, moves from Sylhet to Agartala with C-46s.

AAFPOA: 12 Guam based B-24s hit Haha Jima while 14 others pound Iwo Jima; during the night of 2/3 Jan, 10 B-24s, flying snooper strikes out of Guam, hit Iwo Jima over a 7-hour period.

SOUTHWEST PACIFIC AREA: The 8th Fighter Squadron, 49th FG, moves from Tacloban, Leyte to San Jose, Mindoro, Philippines, with P-38s.

ADMIRALTY ISLANDS: USN Task Group 77.4, the Carrier Cover Transport Group, sails from Manus Island en route to Luzon, Philippine Islands, for the upcoming invasion. Included in this group are 17 escort aircraft carriers (CVEs), 18 destroyers and 9 destroyer escorts.

BONIN AND VOLCANO ISLANDS: Twelve USAAF Seventh Air Force B-24s based on Guam bomb Haha Jima in the Bonin Islands while 14 others attack Iwo Jima in the Volcano Islands. During the night of 2/3 January, ten B-24s, flying snooper strikes out of Guam, hit Iwo Jima over a seven hour period.

BURMA: In the Northern Combat Area Command (NCAC), the U.S. 475th Infantry Regiment (Long Range Penetration, Special) begins crossing the Shweli River over a makeshift bridge put in by 138th Regiment, Chinese 50th Division, which crossed late in December.
In the air, troop concentrations and supplies are attacked at Mabein, Panghka, Mansut, Letpangon, Loi-mun, Panghkai, Namhsan, Thabeikkyin, and in the Lashio area by 66 USAAF Tenth Air Force P-47s and 13 P-38s .
Six USAAF Fourteenth Air Force B-25s bomb Kentung and over 30 P-40s and P-51 Mustangs on armed reconnaissance attack targets of opportunity, mainly railroad traffic, at or near Man Pong, Wanling, and Wan Pa-Hsa, Burma on the Burma-China frontier.

EAST INDIES: USAAF Far East Air Forces (FEAF) B-24s bomb Menado Airfield on Celebes Island. On Galela Island, FEAF B-24s bomb the Wasile Bay area while 12 RAAF aircraft dive-bomb the area inland from Wasile Airfield and 36 RAAF Kittyhawks bomb Lolobato Aerodrome and nearby Hate Tabako Aerodrome.

NEW GUINEA: About 35 Japanese attack the perimeter of the, 2/11th Battalion, 19th Brigade, 6th Division, at Matapau, near Niap. Artillery fire disperses the attacks and the Japanese leave six dead.

PHILIPPINE ISLANDS: Convoys of the Luzon Attack Force are assembling in Leyte Gulf. The first echelon, Minesweeping and Hydrographic Group (Task Group 77.6), sails from Leyte Gulf for Luzon and is soon spotted and attacked by Japanese aircraft, including kamikazes. Task Group 77.6 consists of a destroyer, a light minelayer, ten high speed minesweepers, a frigate, a high speed transport, a small seaplane tender, an ocean going tug and a landing craft infantry (gunboat).
On Mindoro Island, a guerrilla patrol is reinforced for an attack on Palauan by Company B, 503d Parachute Infantry Regiment, which moves to Mamburao. Work begins on one of two heavy bomber airfields to be constructed. Japanese planes attacking San Jose Airfield on the southwest of Mindoro during the night of 2/3 January, destroy 17 P-38s and seven A-20s on the ground.
In the air, USAAF Far East Air Forces P-38s and A-20s hit shipping in San Fernando harbor on Luzon sinking seven ships while B-24s bomb Clark Field and B-25s hit the city of Batangas. Airfields in the central Philippines area are bombed by B-25s, A-20s, and fighter-bombers while B-24s strike Likanan Aerodrome on Mindanao Island.

UNITED STATES: Restrictions preventing resettlement on the West Coast by Japanese-Americans are removed, although many exceptions continue to exist. A few carefully screened Japanese Americans had returned to the coast in late 1944.
The USN establishes 18 Fighter Bomber Squadrons (VBF) within existing Carrier Air Groups to adjust their composition to the needs of changed combat requirements in the Pacific.

CINCPAC COMMUNIQUÉ NO. 220, JANUARY 2, 1945

An enemy twin‑engined bomber attacked air installations on Saipan in the Marianas on January 1 (West Longitude Date), dropping a single bomb which caused no damage.
Liberators of the Strategic Air Force, Pacific Ocean Areas, on December 31 bombed Iwo Jima in the Volcanos. Our aircraft struck at enemy air instal*lations and encountered moderate antiaircraft fire.
Fighters of the Second Marine Aircraft Wing strafed fuel dumps and other targets on Babelthuap in the Palaus on December 31.
Targets on Rota in the Marianas were strafed by Fourth Marine Aircraft Wing fighters on the same date.
Fourth Marine Aircraft Wing and Fleet Air Wing Two aircraft continued neutralizing attacks on enemy‑held bases in the Marshalls on the same date.

 

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1932
MANCHURIA: The Japanese occupy Chinchow and drive the ruler’s, Marshal Chang Hsueh-liang, forces from Manchuria. The Japanese allege the danger of bandits for their occupation.

1936
SWITZERLAND: Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie requests a League commission of inquiry "to inquire into the manner in which hostilities were being conducted by both belligerents. "

UNITED STATES: President Franklin D. Roosevelt in his State of the Union message to Congress says the United States, by the arms embargo and by the discouragement of the export of war materials above peacetime level, declines to encourage the prosecution of war stating, "As a consistent part of a clear policy, the United States is following a twofold neutrality toward any and all nations which engage in wars not of immediate concern to the Americas."

1940
UNITED STATES: In his annual budget message, U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt asks Congress to provide US$1.8 billion (US$25.11 billion in year 2005 dollars) for national defense, new appropriations of almost US$1.2 billion (US$16.74 billion in year 2005 dollars), and the development of an annual production program of 50,000 aircraft.

1942
EAST INDIES: In British Borneo, the Japanese invade Labuan Island, in Brunei Bay, without opposition. From there, a detachment moves to mainland at Mempakul, thence to Weston on foot, and from Weston to Beaufort by rail.

MALAYA: The Indian 11th Division completes a withdrawal to the Slim River line. Because of the threat to communications in western Malaya, the Kuantan force on the east coast, which had previously been ordered to hold the airdrome until 10 January, begins fighting a withdrawal at once. Newly formed and poorly trained the Indian 45th Brigade, reinforced, and an Indian Pioneer battalion (a labor unit) arrive at Singapore and concentrate in southern Malaya.
Lieutenant Colonel Arthur Edward Cumming (1896-1971), commander of the 2d Battalion, 12th Frontier Force Regiment, Indian Army, is awarded the Victoria Cross for his actions today. The Japanese make a furious attack on the battalion near Kuantan and penetrate the position. Colonel Cumming, with a small party of men immediately leads a counter-attack and although all his men became casualties and he himself had two bayonet wounds in the stomach he manages to restore the situation sufficiently for the major portion of the battalion and its vehicles to be withdrawn. Later he drives a carrier under very heavy fire, collecting isolated detachments of his men and is again wounded. His gallant actions helped the brigade to withdraw safely. He later achieves the rank of Brigadier.

PHILIPPINE ISLANDS: On Luzon, the Japanese continue determined attacks on the western flank of the Porac-Guagua line, where the 21st Division (Philippine Army) succeeds in halting them below Pio; the Japanese exert strong pressure on the eastern flank in the vicinity of Guagua.

UNITED STATES: U.S. President Franklin D Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston S Churchill announce the creation of a unified command in the Southwest Pacific, with British General Sir Archibald P Wavell as supreme commander of American-British- Dutch-Australian (ABDA) forces in that area. General Wavell is directed:
(1) to hold the Malay Barrier (the line Malay Peninsula-Sumatra- Java-Northern Australia) and operate as far beyond the barrier as possible in order to check the Japanese advance;
(2) hold Burma and Australia;
(3) restore communications with the Philippine Islands through the Netherlands East Indies;
(4) maintain communications within the theater.
Above all, Wavell's forces, mostly Australians and British, are to hold Australia and Burma.
In another move, Chinese Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek is named Commander in Chief of Allied Forces in China. The Arcadia Conference makes Chiang Kai-shek, a Chinese leader, the leader of Allied troops stationed in and a round China.Military planners come to the realization that it will be impossible to reinforce the Philippine Islands and the troops in those islands are doomed. When told of this, Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson notes, "There are times when men must die."

1943
BISMARCK ARCHIPELAGO: A lone USAAF Fifth Air Force B-24 strafes the airfield at Gasmata on New Britain Island.

CBI (Tenth Air Force) The 9th Photographic Reconnaissance Squadron, Tenth Air Force with F-4s, moves from Chakulia to Pandaveswar, India. One flight is operating from Kweilin, China.

SOUTH PACIFIC (Army Forces in South Pacific Area) The 394th Bombardment Squadron, 5th BG (Heavy)with B-17s, based on Fiji, begins operating from Espiritu Santo and Guadalcanal.

NEW GUINEA: In Papua New Guinea, USAAF Fifth Air Force P-40s strafe troops in the waters off Buna as U.S. and Australian ground forces are mopping up in the nearby Buna Mission area. Allied forces report that they have retaken most of the lower areas of New Guinea, and the remaining Japanese resistance on the island is trapped in "hopeless" positions.
In Northeast New Guinea B-26s, along with a single B-24, bomb Madang and A-20s hit Salamaua.
Japanese supplies and reinforcements are landed at Lae, Papua New Guinea, under Allied air attacks. This convoy will provide the Allied Air Force planners valuable experience for future use. Over 100 sorties are delivered by the USAAF Fifth Air Force. Lieutenant General George C. Kenny, Commanding General Allied Air Force and Commanding General USAAF Fifth Air Force, had information from ULTRA as to when the convoy would leave Rabaul, New Britain Island, Bismarck Archipelago, its destination and when it would arrive. Aircraft were ordered into the air as soon as they were ready. In some cases a medium or heavy bomber would attack singly, in other cases in twos or threes. Not surprisingly, with hindsight, the convoy handled them easily. One small transport is sunk by an Australian (PBY) Catalina attacking at night. After the convoy delivers its cargo, the Fifth Air Force sinks two more ships but by then the damage is done.

GUADALCANAL: The 1st Battalion, 132d Infantry Regiment, Americal Division, exerts pressure against the eastern part of the Gifu and establishes contact with 2d Battalion to the left.

1944
(CBI) BURMA-INDIA (Tenth Air Force): In Burma, 22 A-36's and P-51's hit warehouses and dump area at Sahmaw; 19 B-25's, along with 16 P-38's, bomb a pumping station at Yenangyaung, setting oil tanks afire; 10 B-24's follow with a strike on the same target, causing explosions and leaving the target in flames.
BURMA: To hasten the clearing of the Tanai River line, U.S. Lieutenant General Joseph Stilwell, Commanding General US China-Burma-India Theater of Operations, Chief of Staff to Chinese Generalissimo Chiang Kai-Shek, Commander in Chief Northern Area Combat Command, and Deputy Commander in Chief South-East Asia Command, promises the commander of the Chinese 38th Infantry Division the use of the Chinese 3d Battalion, 112th Regiment, from reserve, provided he takes Taihpa Ga in two days.

CHINA (Fourteenth Air Force): In China, 28 B-24's attack the railroad yards at Lampang; 5 fighter-bombers attack the town of Pingkai.

MARSHALL ISLANDS: Twenty four USAAF Seventh Air Force A-24s from Makin Island, Gilbert Islands, dive-bomb antiaircraft positions and radar and radio facilities on Mili Atoll. Twenty supporting P-39s strafe runways and oil storage.
Aerial minelaying operations in the Marshalls continue: seven USN PB4Y-1s of VB-108 and VB-109, flying from Apemama, Gilbert Islands, mine the waters northwest of Enijun Island, off west side of Taroa, and outside lagoon off Kumaru Island, and strafe shipping anchored off Taroa. Four PV-1s of VB-137, flying from Tarawa, mine the southeast pass of Jaluit Atoll.
GILBERT ISLANDS: Japanese planes again bomb Abemama Airfield on Abemama Island but inflict neither casualties nor serious damage to installations.

SOUTH PACIFIC AREA (SOPAC, Thirteenth Air Force): 30+ Allied fighters again sweep the Rabaul area, New Britain , claiming 6 Zekes shot down. 6 B-24's bomb Kavieng and several others abort due to bad weather. 6 B-25's bomb Moisuru a bivouac area near Kahili, on Bougainville and 15 more hit supply areas near the Buka Passage. 23d Bombardment Squadron, 5th BG (Heavy), begins movement from Espiritu Santo, New Hebrides to Munda, New Georgia with B-24's.

BISMARCK ARCHIPELAGO: On New Britain Island, aviation engineers begin work on Cape Gloucester airdrome. The Japanese attack Target Hill in the early morning and are beaten back. The attack of the ADC Group (7th Marine Regiment, reinforced by the 3d Battalion of the 5th Marine Regiment, and supporting units) halts at small stream, dubbed Suicide Creek, northwest of Target Hill. Efforts to bridge the creek so that tanks can cross are unsuccessful.
Gregory 'Pappy' Boyington commanded 46 fighters, including 8 F4Us from VMF-214, 12 F4Us from VMF-211 and 16 F6F from VF-33 flying from Ondonga. Several planes aborted due to mechanical failures (three from VMF-214). The fighters reached Rabaul for a fighter sweep, flying from 20,000 - 24,000 feet, spotting Zeros below, they dove to intercept (probably 29 Zeros of the 253rd Kokutai). Also, 27 Zeros of the 204th Kokutai already in the air, joined the fight. Boyington's F4U 17915 and his wingman F4U 02723 are both shot down and listed as missing in action. Boyington survives the war as a POW.

SOUTHWEST PACIFIC AREA (SWPA, Fifth Air Force): 50+ B-24's and B-25's bomb the Alexishafen area. 20+ A-20's hit positions at Borgen Bay. 388th Bombardment Squadron, 312th Bombardment Group , transfers from Port Moresby to Gusap with P-40's; first mission is 13 Jan; they will transition to A-20's in Feb.

NEW GUINEA: The airlift of the Australian 18th Brigade, 7th Division, to Dumpu is completed and the brigade takes up positions on Shaggy Ridge.

1945
ALASKA: B-25s fly coverage for a naval force over the Kuriles.

CHINA: On the Saiween front, the Chinese 9th Division, 2d Army, breaks into Wanting, at the Sino-Burmese border, but is driven out in night counterattack.

CHINA THEATER (Fourteenth Air Force): In China, 10 P-51s hit the airfield at Tsinan, claiming 13 aircraft destroyed; 6 P-51s claim several river steamers sunk in the Hankow-Chiuchiang area while 6 others damage bridges at Chinchengchiang. 20+ other P-40s, P-51s, and P-47s on armed reconnaissance attack various targets of opportunity in the Wuchang-Hankow and Shwangliu, China areas, and at Namtao, S and SW of Man Pong, and W of Wanling, Burma.

BURMA: In the Allied Land Forces South East Asia (ALFSEA) area, the Indian XV Corps invades Akyab (Operation TALON), omitting preparatory bombardment since no opposition is expected. From landing craft in the Naaf River, the British 3d Commando Brigade lands and is followed by a brigade of the Indian 25th Division from Foul Point. Inland, troops of the British 2d Division, XXX Corps, Fourteenth Army, occupy Ye-u.

INDIA-BURMA THEATER (Tenth Air Force): In Burma, 10 B-25s, supported by 12 P-47s, attack the airfield at Aungban; troop concentrations and supply and ammunition dumps are pounded at several locations, including Man Kun, Loi Hkam, Ngawnga, Chakau, Mulaw, and Man Pwe. 575 transport flights are completed to forward areas; the 115th Liaison Squadron, Tenth AF [attached to 1st Liaison Group (Provisional)], based at Ledo, India, sends a detachment to operate from Myitkyina with L-1s and L-5s; the 165th Liaison Squadron (Commando), 1st Air Commando Group, based at Kawlin, sends a detachment to operate from Inbaung with UC-64s and L-5s.

AAFPOA (Seventh Air Force): 22 B-24s from Saipan bomb Iwo Jima. 3 from Guam on armed reconnaissance, hit Marcus in the North Pacific. During a 6-hour period on the night of 3/4 Jan, 10 B-24s from Guam hit Iwo Jima.

HQ AAF (Twentieth Air Force): Mission 17: 97 Mariana based B-29s are sent to bomb docks and urban areas of Nagoya, Japan; 57 hit the primary target and 21 others bomb alternates and targets of opportunity; Japanese fighters fly 300+ attacks on the B-29s; B-29 gunners claim 14-14-20 Japanese aircraft. Lost are 5 including: B-29 42-24748, B-29 "Leading Lady" 42-24766, B-29 "Jumbo, King Of The Show" 42-63418, B-29 "Joker's Wild" 42-24626, B-29 42-24550. Additionally, B-29"American Maid" 42-24593, suffered a blister blowout at 29,000 feet over Nagoya. Gunner James B. Krantz was sucked outside but survived: held for 15 minutes by his home-made harness until pulled back in with frostbite and broken bones. (incident also described in Stephen Birdsall's "Saga of the Superfortress", page 136.)

SOUTHWEST PACIFIC AREA [SWPA, Far East Air Force (FEAF)]: The 25th Photographic Reconnaissance Squadron, 6th Photographic Reconnaissance Group, moves from Dulag to San Jose with F-5s.


CAROLINE ISLANDS: Occupation of Fais Island by elements of the 321st Infantry Regiment, U.S. 81st Infantry Division continues. They destroy a Japanese radio station found there. Interrogation of natives and Japanese prisoners reveals that Fais, located southeast of Ulithi Atoll, had never been used to base ships.


EAST INDIES: In the Netherlands East Indies, USAAF Far East Air Forces (FEAF) B-24s attack the Djailolo supply area on Halmahera Island, while B-25sbomb Namlea Airfield on Boeroe (Buroe) Island, Moluccas Islands. Numerous other FEAF aircraft on armed reconnaissance, harassing raids, and light strikes attack a vast variety of targets throughout the Netherlands East Indies.

FORMOSA: UJSN Task Force 38 (Vice Admiral John S. McCain) begins operations against Japanese airfields and shipping in the Formosa area. Principally along the west coast of Formosa, TF 38 planes sink a landing ship, five cargo ships and damage five army cargo ships. TF 38 consists of five battleships, 11 aircraft carriers, five small aircraft carriers, three heavy cruisers, 14 light cruisters and 56 destroyers.

INDIAN OCEAN: The British submarine HMS/M Shakespeare (P 221) surfaces to engage a merchant ship and is damaged by gunfire and later aircraft in the Nankauri Strait, Andaman Islands. She reaches Ceylon and is written off as a constructive total loss.

JAPAN: USAAF Eleventh Air Force B-25s from the Aluetian Islands fly coverage for a naval force over the Kurile Islands.

NEW GUINEA: In Northeast New Guinea, a strong Japanese position at Permembil is attacked by a company of the Australian 2/5th Battalion, 17th Brigade, 6th Division, and the Japanese are driven out.

PHILIPPINE ISLANDS: On Mindoro Island, a guerrilla force of about 70 unsuccessfully attacks the Japanese at Pinamalayan. From Mindoro, Company K, 21st Infantry Regiment, 24th Infantry Division, moves to Marinduque Island to help guerrillas destroy Japanese remnants concentrated at Boac in the northeastern part of island.
USAAF Far East Air Forces (FEAF) B-24s bomb Clark Field and the Mabalacat areas on Luzon. B-25's attack five airfields in the central Philippine Islands while B-24s bomb two on Mindanao. Numerous other FEAF aircraft on armed reconnaissance, harassing raids, and light strikes attack a vast variety of targets throughout the Philippine Islands.

UNITED STATES: General of the Army Douglas MacArthur is designated Commander in Chief US Army Forces in the Pacific and Fleet Admiral Chester Nimitz is designated Commander in Chief US Naval Forces in the Pacific.

CINCPAC COMMUNIQUÉ NO. 221, JANUARY 3, 1945

Carrier‑aircraft of the United States Pacific Fleet struck at enemy instal*lations on Formosa and Okinawa Jima on January 2 (West Longitude Date). Details of the strike are not yet available.
Army Liberators of the Strategic Air Force, Pacific Ocean Areas, bombed airstrip installations on Iwo Jima in the Volcanoes on January 1. Moderate antiaircraft fire was encountered
Army bombers of the Strategic Air Force also struck at Okimura Town on Haha Jima in the Bonins on the same date.
Fighters of the Fourth Marine Aircraft Wing strafed Rota in the Marianas on January 1. On the same date our fighters shot down an enemy recon*naissance plane near Saipan.
Planes of the Second Marine Aircraft Wing struck at installations on Babelthuap in the Palaus and on Yap in the Western Carolines on the same date.
Neutralizing raids on enemy held bases in the Marshalls were continued by planes of the Fourth Marine Aircraft Wing on January 1.

 

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1932
INDIA: The British government again arrests Mohandas K. Gandhi and several Indian Nationalist leaders and declare the Indian Nationalist Party illegal. Gandhi continues to influence politics from prison, conducting "fasts until death" and demanding the extension of the franchise to the untouchables in the upcoming constitutional revisions referendum. Although the Indian government receives special powers for six months, the nationalist movement in India maintains its momentum.

MANCHURIA: With the occupation of Shanhaiguan (Shanhaikuan) , the Japanese complete their military control over South Manchuria.

1939
JAPAN: Prince KONOYE Fumimaro resigns as Prime Minister.

UNITED STATES: President Franklin D. Roosevelt tells Congress: "We stand on our historic offer to take counsel with all other nations of the world to the end that aggression among them be terminated, that the race of armaments cease and that commerce be renewed. But the world has grown so small and weapons of attack so swift that no nation can be safe in its will to peace so long as any other single powerful nation refuses to settle its grievances at the council table." The President added: "At the very least, we can and should avoid any action, or any lack of action, which will encourage, assist, or build up an aggressor. We have learned that when we deliberately try to legislate neutrality, our neutrality laws may operate unevenly and unfairly-may actually give aid to an aggressor and deny it to the victim. The instinct of self-preservation should warn us that we ought not to let that happen any more."

1942
AUSTRALIA: Major General George Brett assumes command of the U.S. Forces in Australia. One of his first orders is to divert two transports en route from Brisbane, Queensland, to the Philippine Islands to put in at Darwin, Northern Territory. This effectively ends the effort to reinforce the troops in the Philippines.

BISMARCK ARCHIPELAGO: The Japanese begin an air offensive against Rabaul on New Britain Island, the strategic base in the Bismarck Archipelago, garrisoned by 5,400 men (principally the Australian 2/22d Battalion, 8th Division; an RAAF detachment; 100 men of the New Guinea Volunteer Reserve; and a few Royal Australian Navy officers). Located at Rabaul are a fighter strip at Lakunai and a bomber strip at Vunakanu.

BURMA: A pilot of the 2d Fighter Squadron, American Volunteer Group ("Flying Tigers"), shoots down a Japanese "Claude" (Mitsubishi A5M Navy Type 96 Carrier Fighter) over Rangoon at 1205 hours.

CHINA: The Chinese halt the Japanese drive in the Changsha area of Hunan Province.

MALAYA: The Indian 11th Division is under constant air attacks as it prepares defensive positions along the Slim River in western Malaya. A Japanese force moves south along the west coast to the Selangor River, then east along the river, threatening the communications line at Rawang. To meet this threat, the Indian 6/15 Brigade Group starts toward Batang Berjuntai.

PHILIPPINE ISLANDS: Japanese Lieutenant General HOMMA Masaharu, Commanding General 14th Army, meets with Manila Mayor Jorge Vargas. After both smile for the camera, HOMMA imposes the Japanese Military Administration under Major General HAYASHI Yoshide.. He in turn imposes a curfew, blackout, martial law, firearms turn-in, a ban on radio transmissions and listening to non-Japanese statements. He also warns that any hostile act against the Japanese will result in ten Filipinos dying for every Japanese killed. All industries, factories, banks, schools, churches, and printing presses must come under Japanese control. The flying of the Filipino or U.S. flags or singing of the "Star-Spangled Banner" is forbidden.
Continuing strong attacks against the flank of the Porac-Guagua line, the Japanese overrun Guagua and continue along Route 7 to Lubao, cutting the planned line of retreat of the 11th Division [Philippine Army (PA)]. The 21st Division (PA) zone (the western part of the line) is relatively quiet. Withdrawal from the line Porac-Guagua begins under cover of darkness on 4/5 January with the 21st Division covering for the 11th Division. Some cut-off elements of the 11th Division make a circuitous withdrawal through San Jose, while others move down Route 7 and form an outpost line between Lubao and Santa Cruz.
USAAF Far East Air Force fighters from Bataan on Luzon, attempt the interception of a bombing raid on Corregidor Island in Manila Bay. The fighters, failing to intercept until the Japanese aircraft are over the target, have little effect on the raid. Several fighters depart for Mindanao following the mission.
During the night of 4/5 January, eight B-17 Flying Fortresses based at Singosari Airdrome, Java, Netherlands East Indies, stage through Samarinda Airdrome, Dutch Borneo, and attack Japanese warships and transports in Malalag Bay, Davao, Mindanao Island, from 25,000 feet and damage heavy cruisers HIJMS Myoko and Nachi.

UNITED STATES: President Franklin D. Roosevelt declares lend-lease aid to the Provisional Government of Czechoslovakia as vital to the defense of the U.S. Lt General John DeWitt, Commanding General Western Defense Command, meets with the Chief of the War Department's Aliens Division to come up with a definition of strategic areas where all enemy aliens would be excluded.

1943
ALASKA: Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, Commander Pacific Ocean Areas and Commander Pacific Fleet, replaces Rear Admiral Robert A. Theobald, Commander North Pacific Area and Task Force 8, with Vice Admiral Thomas C. Kinkaid. Rear Adm Charles H. McMorris relieves Rear Admmiral William W. Smith as commander of the strike group.

ALEUTIAN ISLANDS: Six USAAF Eleventh Air Force B-24s, three B-25s, three B-26s and ten P-40s en route to Kiska Island, are forced back near Segula Island by snow squalls and low ceiling. The weather aircraft flies unsuccessful reconnaissance over Kiska and photographic reconnaissance is flown over Amchitka Island. A USN PBY Catalina investigates flares reported near Kagalaska Strait east if Adak
Island.

BISMARCK ARCHIPELAGO: Fifth Air Force B-24s attack schooners off Gasmata and Cape Kwoi, New Britain Island.

BURMA: USAAF Tenth Air Force heavy bombers from Gaya and Pandaveswar, India bomb the marshaling yard at Mandalay, halting the northbound flow of supplies. Tracks and cars in the southern half of the marshaling yard are heavily bombed, causing fires visible for 70 miles. Heavy bombers also damage a 15,000-ton transport at the mouth of the Rangoon River. Meanwhile, one B-25 and nine P-40s hit rail targets at Naba.

NEW GUINEA: In Papua New Guinea, the Japanese overrun an outpost near Tarakena, forcing a patrol there to swim for Siwori Village. With Tarakena spit in their possession, the Japanese are able to rescue some of the survivors of the Buna garrison. Australian Major General Edmund Herring, General Officer Commanding of the New Guinea Force and Australian I Corps, confers with commanding officers on plan for reduction of the Japanese west of the Girua River.
In Northeast New Guinea, USAAF Fifth Air Force B-26s attack the Sanananda Point area as preparations for an allied offensive in that sector get underway. A-20s and B-25s hit the airfield and antiaircraft positions and buildings at Lae. B-24s, on single-plane flights, bomb the Lae Airfield.

GUADALCANAL: The Japanese are ordered to withdraw from Guadalcanal to New Georgia Island. The final echelon of the 25th Infantry Division (Regimental Combat Team 161) arrives. The 2d Marine Division headquarters and the 6th Marine Regiment, reinforced, also land, bringing the 2d Marine Division nearly up to full strength.
The 132d Infantry Regiment, Americal Division, completes a semicircle about the part of the Gifu between Hills 31 and 27 with patrol contact between the 1st and 3d Battalions; halts and prepares defenses while awaiting relief. In 22 days of fighting on Mt Austen, the 132d has killed 400-500 Japanese and suffered 383 casualties.

NEW GEORGIA: During the night of 4/5 January, USN Task Group 67.2 bombards Munda Airfield on New Georgia Island. TG 67.2 is comprised of four light cruisers, HMNZS Achilles and USS Helena, Nashville and St. Louis and three USN destroyers.

1944
PACIFIC OCEAN AREA (POA, Seventh Air Force): 18 B-24's, staging through Tarawa Atoll bomb Emidj , Marshall . HQ 30th Bombardment Group transfers from Nanumea to Abemama.
MARSHALL ISLANDS: Aerial minelaying operations in the Marshalls continue: two PV-1 Venturas of VB-137 and a PBY-5 Catalina of Patrol Squadron VP-72, flying from Tarawa Atoll, Gilbert Islands, mine southeast pass, Jaluit Atoll.

BISMARCK ARCHIPELAGO: On New Britain Island, the ADC Group (7th Marine Regiment, reinforced by the 3d Battalion of the 5th Marine Regiment, and supporting units) continues their attack after artillery preparation,. Tanks cross an improvised ramp over Suicide Creek and support marines by destroying enemy positions at point-blank range. The assault force, now expanded to four battalions, pushes southward without opposition to the next phase line, north of Hill 150 and Aogiri Ridge.
Aircraft of USN Task Group 37.2 bomb Japanese shipping at Kavieng, New Ireland Island, damaging destroyers HIJMS Fumizuki and Satsuki in Stephen Strait. Task Group 37.2 is comprised of the aircraft carrier USS Bunker Hill, with CVG-17, the small aircraft carrier USS Monterey with CVLG-30, the battleship USS Washington and six destroyers.
USAAF Fifth Air Force B-25 Mitchells attack artillery positions in the Cape Gloucester area on New Britain Island while over 40 land-based Allied fighters from the Solomon Islands attack the Rabaul area and claim at least ten Japanese airplanes shot down.

SOUTH PACIFIC AREA (SOPAC, Thirteenth Air Force): B-24's bomb Sohano, concentrating on the seaplane base and supply area. B-25's pound gun positions at Tonolai and bomb Chabai. P-39's, (RNZAF) Ventura's, and night fighters, operating individually or in small flights, hit targets on Bougainville, including barges at Mutupina Point and along the Jaba River, and areas around Buka, Buka , Bonis, Poporang , Papas, and Banin. 40+ Allied fighters attack the Rabaul area on New Britain and claim at least 10 airplanes shot down.

SOUTHWEST PACIFIC AREA (SWPA, Fifth Air Force): 100+ heavy and medium bombers bomb Alexishafen, Madang, and Bogadjim areas and hit troops and supplies between Finschhafen and Saidor. B-25's attack artillery positions in the Cape Gloucester area. B-24's and B-25's hit shipping at Koepang, Timor and in nearby waters. 421st Night Fighter Squadron, V Fighter Command, arrives at Milne Bay, New Guinea from the US with P-70's; first mission is 29 Feb.

EAST INDIES: USAAF Fifth Air Force B-25 Mitchells covered by RAAF Beaufighters, attack Japanese shipping in Tenau harbor, Dutch Timor, sinking a Japanese army cargo ship.

NEW GUINEA: In Northeast New Guinea, Japanese Lieutenant General ADACHI Hatazo, commanding the Eighteenth Army, order his 20th and 51st Divisions to withdraw to Madang without any more attempts at a delaying action. Extensive patrolling of the Saidor area by the Allies is uneventful. The Australians reach Cape King William, 16 miles southeast of Sio.

1945
ALASKA: A Japanese Fu Go balloon bomb crashes in the Gulf of Alaska about 391 nautical miles east of Unalaska, Territory of Alaska, but it is not recovered.

CHINA: Four USAAF Fourteenth Air Force B-24s bomb the Ft Bayard area and the Samah Bay area on Hainan Island. Twenty fighters hit targets of opportunity around Lohochai, Sinyang and Hankow.

CHINA THEATER (Fourteenth Air Force): 4 B-24s bomb the Ft Bayard area in China and the Samah Bay area on Hainan . In Burma, 6 B-25s damage a bridge and a warehouse, and destroy 2 other buildings at Kentung and 21 P-40s on armed reconnaissance pound targets of opportunity in the Wanling area. 8 P-51s knock out a bridge at Huizan, Thailand and damage another, and 20 other fighters hit targets of opportunity around Lohochai, Sinyang and Hankow, China.

BURMA: In the Allied Land Forces South East Asia (ALFSEA) area, the Indian XV Corps completes occupation of Akyab, key port and air base on the Arakan front.
In the Northern Combat Area Command (NCAC) area, the U.S. 475th Infantry Regiment (Long Range Penetration, Special) finishes crossing the Shweli River. The U.S. 124th Cavalry Regiment (Special) reconnoiters for a crossing site over the Shweli River while awaiting an airdrop.

INDIA-BURMA THEATER (Tenth Air Force): In Burma, 13 B-25s, escorted by 12 P-47s, bomb Namsang Airfield; 12 P-47s hit bypass road bridges at Inailong and Bawgyo, damaging approaches to the latter; troops and supply areas are hit at Man Kat, Hsenwi, Yi-ku, Se-hai, and near Nawnghkio by 36 P-47s and P-38s; 6 P-47s bomb cable and pontoons along the N riverbank at Na-lang; 6 hit enemy activity near Twinnge and 5 attack a truck dispersal area and warehouses at Mogok. Transports fly 597 sorties to front areas and forward bases.

AAFPOA (Seventh Air Force): 13 Guam based B-24s pound Iwo Jima. During the night of 4/5 Jan, 10 more hit the with individual harassment strikes.

CAROLINE ISLANDS: U.S. 81st Infantry Division troops on Fais complete search of the island and are withdrawn. Fais Island is located about 52 nautical miles E of Ulithi Atoll.

SOUTHWEST PACIFIC AREA [SWPA, Far East Air Force (FEAF)]: The ground echelon of the 110th Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron, 71st Tactical Reconnaissance Group, begins a movement from Tacloban, Luzon (the air echelon is operating from San Jose, Mindoro with P-40s).

USN: Task Force 38 aircraft attack Kobi.

EAST INDIES: USAAF Far East Air Forces (FEAF) B-25s and P-38s hit Tanamon and Sidate on Celebes Island; seven RAAF Beauforts attack Sidate and (P-40) Kittyhawks hit shipyards on Bangka Island. FEAF B-24ss and B-25s, flying small scale strikes, hit airfields on northeast Celebes Island bomb shipyards in northern Borneo.

FORMOSA: USN Task Force 38 continues operations against Japanese airfields and shipping in the Formosa area. Navy planes sink three auxiliary submarine chasers and damage an escort vessel and an auxiliary submarine chaser in the Formosa Strait; sink an auxiliary netlayer northeast of Taiwan; and damage a minesweeper near Takao,

NEW GUINEA: In Papua New Guinea, Australian Lieutenant General Sir Vernon Sturdee, General Officer Commanding First Australian Army, writes to General Thomas Blamey, Commander in Chief Australian Military Force and Commander in Chief Allied Land Forces South-West Pacific: "I have been anxiously awaiting some Press announcement that the Australian Army still exists in New Guinea, and it seems that the Australian public must be wondering whether we are still in the war."

PACIFIC OCEAN: In the Sulu Sea northwest of Panay Island, Philippine Islands, the USN escort aircraft carrier USS Ommaney Bay is crashed on the starboard side by a Japanese twin-engine Kamikaze. Composite Squadron Seventy Five with FM Wildcats and TBM Avengers is aboard. Two bombs are released; one of them penetrates the flight deck and detonates below, setting off a series of explosions among the fully-fueled aircraft on the forward third of the hanger deck. The second bomb passes through the hanger deck, ruptures the fire main on the second deck, and explodes near the starboard side. Fires, fueled by fuel and ammunition, prevent other ships for coming close and by 1750 hours the entire topside area had become untenable, and the stored torpedo warheads threatened to explode at any time. The order to abandon ship is given and at 1945 hours, the ship is sunk about 53 nautical miles NW of San Jose, Panay, by a torpedo from the destroyer USS Burns. A total of 95 crewmen are lost, including two killed on an assisting destroyer when torpedo warheads on the carrier’s hangar deck finally explode. The USN now has 66 escort aircraft carriers in commission.
Off San Jose, Mindoro Island, Philippine Islands, a Japanese kamikaze crashes U.S. freighter SS Lewis L. Dyche (carrying bombs and fuses), which disintegrates, killing all hands, including the 28-man Armed Guard; debris from the exploding freighter damages a nearby oiler and a minelayer.

PHILIPPINE ISLANDS: Japanese planes attack Task Groups 77.6 and 77.2 as they continue toward Lingayen Gulf, Luzon. At the request of General of the Army Douglas MacArthur, Commander-in- Chief South-West Pacific Area, Admiral William Halsey, Commander of the Third Fleet, orders Task Force 38 to extend its coverage of Luzon southward on 6 January. The main body of the Luzon Attack Force sorties from Leyte Gulf after nightfall. U.S. X Corps, Eighth Army, terminates offensive operations on Leyte.
USAAF Far East Air Forces (FEAF) B-24s bomb Puerto Princesa on Palawan Island while B-25's hit a railroad and highways in the San Pedro area on Luzon Island. Other B-24s and B-25s, flying small scale strikes, hit airfields on southern Luzon and Mindanao Islands and in the central Philippine Islands.

UNITED STATES: Two Japanese Fu Go paper balloons land:
- The first which includes the envelope, fragments, rigging and apparatus, lands near Sebastopol, California, at 1815 hours local. Sebastopol is located in northern California about 6.5 miles W of Santa Rosa.
- Fragments of what is identified as an incendiary type bomb explode in a field 1 mile S of Medford, Oregon, at 1740 hours local. A whistling sound as if a bomb was falling is heard prior to the explosion. Medford is located about 210 miles S of Portland.

CINCPAC COMMUNIQUÉ NO. 222, JANUARY 4, 1945

Carrier‑based aircraft of the United States Pacific Fleet attacked installa*tions on Formosa and Okinawa Jima on January 3 (West Longitude Date). Details of this strike and that of the previous day are not yet available.
Fighters of the Fourth Marine Aircraft Wing bombed and strafed targets on Babelthuap in the Palaus and strafed Rota in the Marianas on January 2.
Search planes of Fleet Air Wing Two continued neutralizing attacks on enemy‑held bases in the Marshalls on the same date.

 

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1933
UNITED STATES: Japanese Ambassador DEBUCHI Katsuji tells the United States Japan has no territorial ambition south of the Great Wall of China, but Manchukuo was a closed question. He also states that ". . . no Japanese Cabinet which advocated a compromise of the 'Manchukuo' question could survive in Japan . . ."

1940
UNITED STATES: The first demonstration of Frequency Modulated (FM) radio transmission, developed by E H Armstrong, is given to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). The first U.S. commercial FM radio station will begin broadcasting in Nashville, Tennessee, in March 1941

1941
CHINA: A large Kuomintang force attacks troops of the Communist New Fourth Army at Maolin.

1942
AUSTRALIA: In Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, the War Cabinet today agrees to a British request for the transfer of the Australian I Corps, comprising the veteran 6th and 7th Divisions, from the Middle East to Southeast Asia. In December, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill assured the Australian Prime Minister, John Curtin, that he would do everything possible to strengthen the whole Far Eastern front from Rangoon, Burma, to Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia.
The U.S. Forces in Australia (USFIA) is formally activated and officially redesignated U.S. Army Forces in Australia (USAFIA). Headquarters is located in the MacRobertson Girls High School in Melbourne, Victoria.

BURMA: Headquarters of the Indian 17th Division is established at Moulmein. Of the three brigades that this division is to contain, only one, the Indian 16th, is in Burma.

HAWAIIAN ISLANDS: CENTRAL PACIFIC (Hawaiian Air Force): The air echelon of the 22d Bombardment Squadron, 7th BG (Heavy), which has been operating from Hickam Field, Hawaii since 18 Dec 41, departs for Singosari, Java with B-17's. The ground echelon is at Brisbane.

SOUTHWEST PACIFIC (Far East Air Force): B-17's from Malang, Java stage through Samarinda, Borneo during the night of 4/5 Jan and attack shipping in Davao Bay on Mindanao , Philippines. US Forces in Australia (USFIA), which controls FEAF, is redesignated US Army Forces in Australia (USAFIA), and Major General George H Brett assumes command. The ground echelons of the 17th and 91st Bombardment Squadrons, 27th Bombardment Group transfer from Limay to Bataan. The air echelons are operating from Brisbane with A-24s.

JAPAN: Tokyo accepts Laurenzo Marques in Mozambique as a suitable site to exchange diplomats with the United States.

MALAYA: The Commander-in- Chief British Eastern Fleet, Admiral Sir Geoffrey Layton, moves headquarters from Singapore to Batavia, Java, Netherlands East Indies. Lieutenant General Arthur Percival, General Officer Commanding Malaya Command, at a conference in Segamat, plans for a withdrawal into Johore.On the Slim River front, the Indian 11th Division repels a Japanese attack down the railway line.

PHILIPPINE ISLANDS: On Luzon, U.S. and Filipino troops complete their withdrawal to a new line extending along the base of the Bataan Peninsula from Dinaluplhan on the west to Hermosa on the east.
During the night of 5/6 January, the withdrawal continues through Layac Junction, the funnel through which all roads into Bataan pass, the final elements clearing it by 0200 hours, after which the bridge is blown. A delaying position, called the Layac line, is formed south of Layac Junction and manned by the 71st and 72d Regiments, 71st Division, Philippine Army, the U.S. 31st Infantry Regiment of the Philippine Division, and the 26th Cavalry Regiment, Philippine Scouts. The 31st Infantry Regiment, the only completely U.S. regiment in the Philippines, has not yet been in action.
The food ration of the Bataan defense force and of garrisons of fortified islands in Manila Bay is cut in half. The Bataan echelon of Headquarters US Army Forces Far East (USAFFE) is established on Bataan under Brigadier General Richard J. Marshall. The Japanese continue daily air attacks on Corregidor and occasional attacks on other targets in the Manila Bay area.
USAAF B-17 Flying Fortresses from Malang, Java, Netherlands East Indies, stage through Samarinda, Dutch Borneo, during the night of 4/5 January and attack shipping in Davao Bay on Mindanao Island.

UNITED STATES: The government orders all men between the ages of 20 and 44 to register for the draft (conscription) by 16 February.
The U.S. Senate Committee investigating Hollywood war propaganda is dissolved. Today is the deadline for enemy aliens in San Francisco, California, to surrender radio transmitters, shortwave receivers and precision cameras to the U.S. Army's Western Defense Command. Also Japanese-American selective service registrants are classified as enemy aliens (IV-C) and many Japanese-American soldiers are discharged or assigned to menial labor such as "kitchen police (KP)."
A change in USN regulations, covering display of National Insignia on aircraft, returned the star to the upper right and lower left wing surfaces and revised rudder striping to 13 red and white horizontal stripes.

1943
ALEUTIAN ISLANDS: Three B-25 Mitchells sink a 6,500-ton cargo vessel previously sighted by a USN PBY Catalina off Holtz Bay on the northeast side of Attu Island, where a weather and armed reconnaissance B-24 with a direct bomb hits and sinks another freighter shortly afterwards. A B-24 flies photo reconnaissance over Amchitka Island, concentrating on Constantine Harbor. A Kiska Island attack mission of six heavy bombers, six medium bombers and 12 fighters is cancelled due to weather.

BISMARCK ARCHIPELAGO: Six Fifth Air Force B-17s and six B-24s bomb the harbor, shipping and the airfield at Rabaul, New Britain Island. Two B-17s are lost, B-17F 41-24538 and B-17F "San Antonio Rose" 41-24458 with Brigadier General Kenneth Walker, Commanding General V Bomber Command aboard.

CANADA: The Supreme Court of Canada upholds the War Measures Act, passed in 1914, which gives the federal Cabinet emergency powers to govern by decree when it perceives the existence of "war, invasion or insurrection, real or apprehended. "

CBI (Tenth Air Force) The 490th and 491st Bombardment Squadrons, 341st BG (Medium) with B-25s move from Karachi to Ondal, India. The units will enter combat on 10 Jan and 18 Feb 43 respectively.

NEW GUINEA: In Papua New Guinea, advance elements of the Australian 9th Division's 18th Brigade (2/9th Battalion and brigade headquarters) and four tanks of the 2/6th Armoured Regiment reach Soputa. Additional tanks and artillery are kept east of the river for some time because of poor road conditions.
As a preliminary to all out offensive against Sanananda, the U.S. 127th Infantry Regiment, 32d Infantry Division, starts northwest along the coast toward Tarakena.
In Papua New Guinea, B-26s again bomb the Sanananda Point area and A-20s and B-25s hit the airfield at Lae.

PACIFIC OCEAN: After bombarding airfield and installations at Munda, New Georgia, Solomon Islands, Task Group 67.2 heads south and joins the rest of Task Force 67. TG 67.2 is comprised of four light cruisers, HMNZS Achilles and USS Helena, Nashville and St. Louis and three USN destroyers. Japanese planes attack the force, near-missing USS Honolulu and damaging HMNZS Achilles, 18 nautical miles (33 kilometers) south of Cape Hunter, Guadalcanal. In the action, USS Helena becomes the first USN ship to use Mk. 32 proximity-fuzed projectiles in combat, downing a "Val" dive bomber with her second salvo.

SOLOMON ISLANDS: The Japanese begin withdrawal of troops from Guadalcanal while the Gifu continues to hold out. On Guadalcanal, Major General Alexander Patch, Commanding General XIV Corps, in a letter of instructions to Major General J. Lawton Collins, Commanding General 25th Infantry Division, directs him to relieve the 132d Infantry Regiment, Americal Division, on Mt Austen and sets a line from the beach inland 3,500 yards (3 200 meters), which is 3,000 yards (2 743 meters) west of the U.S. lines as his first objective.
This area contains the Gifu, the Seahorse and the Galloping Horse as the well known geographical features and/or Japanese defensive positions.
The newly arrived 25th Infantry Division will lead this phase. The 2d Marine Division holding the coastal sector from Pt Cruz to Hill 66, is to maintain contact with the northern flank of the 25th Infantry Division. In the movie The Thin Red Line, the Galloping Horse is known as the Dancing Elephant.

BOUGAINVILLE: B-17s with P-38 escort attack a cruiser at Buin on the southern coast. They are met by 25 Zero's and float biplanes; three Japanese aircraft are shot down for the loss of two P-38s.

UNITED STATES: The conviction of Gordon K. Hirabayashi, who violated Seattle, Washington's curfew and exclusion restrictions on 16 May 1942, is reaffirmed by the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco, California.
In baseball, the teams agree to start the season later than usual and prepare to train in northern areas because of the war. Resorts, armories, and university facilities are chosen for training sites. The Brooklyn Dodgers will train at Bear Mountain, New York; the St. Louis Cardinals in Cape Girardeau, Missouri; and the New York Yankees at Atlantic City, New Jersey.

1944
CBI) BURMA-INDIA (Tenth Air Force): In Burma, 3 B-25's, supported by 8 P-38's, attack the Mu River bridge between Monywa and Ywataung which is being rebuilt; hits are scored on the E bank near the bridge and several sheds are set afire; the escorting fighters damage several nearby railway cars, strafe the nearby town, set a barge afire, blow up 4 tin buildings, and claim a river steamer sunk. 20th Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron and 24th Combat Mapping Squadron, AAF India-Burma Sector, arrive at Guskhara from the US with P-40's and F-7's respectively; first missions are 31 Jan and in Mar 44 respectively.

BISMARCK ARCHIPELAGO: On New Britain Island, the ADC Group (7th Marine Regiment reinforced by a battalion of the 5th Marine Regiment and supporting units) remains in place in the Cape Gloucester area, patrolling and regrouping.

BURMA: The Chinese 38th Division makes a vain attempt to clear the last strongpoint remaining between it and the Tarung River.

SOUTH PACIFIC AREA (SOPAC, Thirteenth Air Force): B-25's bomb concentrations in the Choiseul Bay area, New Georgia and Hahela Mission on S Buka , while B-24's attack Tonolai, the Kahili supply area, Fauro , and Poporang building area.

SOUTHWEST PACIFIC AREA (SWPA, Fifth Air Force): B-24's and medium bombers bomb Alexishafen, Madang, and Bogadjim areas and attack barges from Finschhafen to Saidor; and P-39's hit barges and gun positions during a sweep from Sio to Bogadjim.

NEW GUINEA: In Northeast New Guinea, the gap between U.S. and Australian troops is narrowed to about 60 miles as the Australians reach Kelanoa on the north coast of the Huon Peninsula. U.S. patrols meet opposition at Cape Iris, west of Saidor.

PACIFIC OCEAN: USN submarine USS Scorpion departed Pearl Harbor, Territory of Hawaii, on 29 December for her fourth war patrol. She was ordered to patrol in the Yellow Sea. On 3 January, she tops off her fuel at Midway Islands and heads west. Today, she attempts to rendezvous with sister ship USS Herring to transfer an injured crew member. Heavy seas prevented the transfer, and Scorpion continues west. She is not heard from again and is assumed to be the victim of a Japanese mine, she was declared lost on 6 March 1944.

1945
ALASKA (Eleventh Air Force): In the Kurile , 4 B-24s fly an air coverage mission for a naval task force on its approach to Suribachi on Paramushiru .

CHINA THEATER (Fourteenth Air Force): 4 B-25s pound 13 storage buildings at Kengtung, China. 5 B-25s knock out a bridge at Dara, Thailand. 3 B-25s bomb Wan Pa-Hsa and Hawng Luk, Burma while 1 B-24 bombs the Cap-Saint-Jacques, French Indochina area. 29 P-40s and P-51s hit airfields at Hankow and Wuchang, China, claiming 50 aircraft destroyed in the air and on the ground. 23 P-51s and P-38s hit the airfield and other targets in Samah Bay area on Hainan, claiming 11 aircraft destroyed. 30 P-40s and P-38s attack various targets of opportunity, Sinsiang, and Kengtung, China, and Wan Pa-Hsa and in the Wanling area of Burma. 4 P-40s pound fortified hill positions in the Salween, Burma area.

BURMA: Four weeks after crossing the Chindwin River the Indian 19th Division is poised to enter Shwebo. British Lieutenant General William Slim, General Officer Commanding Fourteenth Army, had hoped to bring the main Japanese army in central Burma to battle on the Shwebo Plain, with its back to the Irrawaddy River. Instead the Japanese are withdrawing east across the river. Now he is moving IV Corps 200 miles south in Operation EXTENDED CAPITAL, to take Japan's base at Meiktila and cut Japan's Fifteenth Army off from the rear.
In the Northern Combat Area Command (NCAC) area, elements of the 90th Regiment, Chinese 30th Division, begin crossing the Shweli River.
Sixteen USAAF Tenth Air Force B-25s flying an airfield sweep inflict considerable damage on the Laihka, Aungban, Kunlon, and Mong Long airfields; in the Namhkam sector, two P-47s join ground forces in attacking artillery positions at Wingkang; nine P-47s damage bypass bridges at Mongmit; over 70 fighter-bombers attack storage areas, tanks and trucks, and troop concentrations at Mong Yaw, Hsenwi, Hpa-Pen, Man Ton, Tunghka, Man Peng, and Longhsu.
USAAF transports fly 550+ sorties to forward bases and frontline areas. Operation GRUBWORM, one of the major transport achievements of the war, is completed on this date one month from its start. The Chinese 14th and 22d Divisions, Chinese Sixth Army Headquarters, a heavy mortar company, a signal company, and two portable surgical hospitals have been airlifted. The move required 1,328 transport sorties; Air Transport Command provided 597 sorties; the air commando squadrons, 488; and Tenth Air Force, 243; the airlift included over 25,000 Chinese soldiers, 396 U.S. soldiers, 1,596 animals, 42 jeeps, 48 howitzers, 48 heavy mortars, and 48 antitank guns; the troops and supplies have been landed at Chanyi, Kunming, Luliang, and Yunnani, China. Only three aircraft were lost during the operation.
Three USAAF Fourteenth Air Force B-25s bomb Wan Pa-Hsa and Hawng Luk and fighters attack various targets of opportunity at Wan Pa-Hsa and in the Wanling area. Four P-40s attack fortified hill positions in the Salween area.

INDIA-BURMA THEATER (Tenth Air Force): In Burma, 16 B-25s flying an airfield sweep inflict considerable damage on the Laihka, Aungban, Kunlon, and Mong Long airfields; in the Namhkam sector, 2 P-47s join ground forces in blasting artillery positions at Kunlong, China and Wingkang; 9 P-47s damage bypass bridges at Mongmit; 70+ fighter-bombers attack storage areas, tanks and trucks, and troop concentrations at Mong Yaw, Hsenwi, Hpa-Pen, Man Ton, Tunghka, Man Peng, and Longhsu. Transports fly 550+ sorties to forward bases and frontline areas. Operation GRUBWORM, one of the major transport achievements of the war, is completed on this date one month from its start.
The Chinese 14th and 22d Divisions, Chinese Sixth Army HQ, a heavy mortar Company, a signal Company, and 2 portable surgical hospitals have been airlifted; the move required 1,328 transport sorties; Air Transport Command provided 597 sorties; the air commando squadrons, 488; and Tenth AF, 243; the airlift included 25,000+ Chinese soldiers, 396 US soldiers, 1,596 animals, 42 jeeps, 48 howitzers, 48 heavy mortars, and 48 antitank guns; the troops and supplies have been landed at Chanyi, Kunming, Luliang, and Yunnani, China. Only 3 aircraft were lost during the operation. HQ 4th Combat Cargo Group moves from Agartala to Chittagong.

BONIN ISLANDS: Task Group 94.9 (Rear Admiral Allan E. Smith), consisting of the heavy cruisers USS Chester, Pensacola and Salt Lake City and destroyers USS Cummings, David W. Taylor, Dunlop, Ellet, Fanning and Roe, together with USAAF Seventh Air Force B-24s (escorted by P-38s) jointly bombard Japanese shipping and installations on Chichi Jima and Haha Jima. Approaching Chichi Jima, USS Dunlap, Fanning and Cummings damage a landing ship and USS Fanning sinks her. Off Chichi Jima, USS David W. Taylor is damaged by a mine and USS Fanning by gunfire. Off Iwo Jima in the Volcano Islands, USS Dunlap, Cummings, Ellet and Roe sink a landing ship.

AAFPOA (Seventh Air Force): 22 B-24s from Saipan in morning and afternoon raids, pound Iwo Jima; 7 P-38s, with 3 B-24s as navigational escort, fly a strafing mission against Iwo Jima. Other B-24s act as airborne spotters for the naval bombardment of Chichi Jima and Haha Jima. In addition, USN PB4Y-1s mount photographic reconnaissance missions against Iwo Jima.

SOUTHWEST PACIFIC AREA [SWPA, Far East Air Force (FEAF)]: The 4th Fighter Squadron (Commando), 3d Air Commando Group, arrives on Leyte from the US with P-51s. The detachment of the 68th Troop Carrier Squadron, 433d Troop Carrier Group, operating from Nadzab, New Guinea with C-47s, returns to base on Biak . The 69th Troop Carrier Squadron, 433d Troop Carrier Group moves from Nadzab, New Guinea to Biak with C-47s. The 547th Night Fighter Squadron, 86th Fighter Wing [attached to 310th Bombardment Wing (Medium)], moves from Owi to San Jose, Mindoro with P-38s and P-61s. Destroyed on the ground is

EAST INDIES: In major strikes of the day in the Netherlands East Indies (NEI), USAAF Far East Air Forces (FEAF) B-25s and P-38s and RAAF Beaufighters bomb Menado on Celebes Island while FEAF B-24s attack Miri Airfield in Sarawak, British Borneo. Numerous smaller strikes are flown throughout the NEI. Fighter-bombers and B-24s hit the Pombelaa and Tondano area, and targets of opportunity on northeastern Celebes Island. Other FEAF aircraft fly scattered strikes at various targets in Borneo, Lesser Sunda Islands, and Tanimbar Island in the Moluccas Islands.

JAPAN: USN Task Force 92 (Rear Admiral John L. McCrea), consisting of the light cruisers USS Concord, Richmond and Trenton and eight destroyers, bombards Japanese installations (airfield and fish canneries) at Suribachi Wan, Paramushiro, Kurile Islands.

PACIFIC OCEAN: In the South China Sea, Japanese air attacks continue against the Lingayen Gulf-bound forces in the teeth of heavy antiaircraft fire and combat air patrol. Of the minesweeping group, an infantry landing craft (gunboat) is damaged by a kamikaze, a small seaplane tender and a fleet tug are damaged by near-misses of suiciders. Kamikazes attacking the bombardment and escort carrier groups succeed in damaging heavy cruiser USS Louisville and destroyer USS Helm about 71 nautical miles NW of Subic; escort aircraft carriers USS Manila Bay, about 63 nautical miles WNW of Subic, and USS Savo Island, about 77 nautical miles WNW of Subic; and destroyer escort USS Stafford, about 55 nautical miles SSW of Subic. Suiciders also damage Australian heavy cruiser HMAS Australia (D 84) and destroyer HMAS Arunta (I 30). Japanese escort destroyers approach the minesweeping group but turn away at approach of destroyer USS Bennion and Australian frigate HMAS Gascoyne (K 354) and sloop HMAS Warrego (L 73); subsequently, planes from TG 77.4 (escort carrier group) sink HIJMS Momi 20 nautical miles SW of the entrance to Manila Bay and damage HIJMS Hinoki and Sugi west of Manila Bay.
Two PB4Y-1s of Patrol Bombing Squadron One Hundred Eleven based on Tinian Island, Mariana Islands, sink Japanese midget submarine Ha.71 about 2 nautical miles SW of Chichi Jima, Bonin Islands.

PHILIPPINE ISLANDS: On Mindoro, Palauan falls to a composite force of guerrillas and 503d Parachute Infantry Regiment troops. Another platoon of Company F, 19th Infantry Regiment, 24th Infantry Division, arrives at Bulalacao and joins in the march northeast toward Paclasan and Dutagan Point.
On Leyte, U.S. Lieutenant General Richard Sutherland, Chief of Staff South West Pacific Area, tells Australian Lieutenant General Sir Frank Berryman, Chief of Staff Advanced Headquarter Allied Land Forces South West Pacific Area, that after Luzon is secured, eight divisions, including the Australian Imperial Force, will be used to conquer Borneo and the Netherlands East Indies.
In major strikes of the day, USAAF Far East Air Forces B-25s hit shore installations along Lingayan Gulf, Luzon, while numerous smaller strikes are flown throughout the Philippine Islands. A-20s and fighter-bombers attack airfields on Luzon, the central Philippine Islands area and Mindanao Island.

N. D. COMMUNIQUÉ NO. 566, JANUARY 5, 1945

1. The destroyer USS Reid was recently lost as a result of enemy action in the Philippine Islands area. The next of kin of casualties have been in*formed.

​

CINCPAC COMMUNIQUÉ NO. 223, JANUARY 5, 1945

Army Liberators and Lightnings of the Strategic Air Force, Pacific Ocean Areas, attacked airstrip installations on Iwo Jima in the Volcanos on January 2 (West Longitude Date). On the following day Liberators of the same force bombed the same targets, encountering moderate antiaircraft fire and one enemy fighter.
On January 2 Army Liberators of the Strategic Air Force bombed enemy installations on Marcus Island.
Fighters and Torpedo planes of the Fourth Marine Aircraft Wing strafed and bombed an enemy power plant, supply dumps and other installations on Babelthuap in the Palaus on January 2 and 3. Marine Fighters also strafed targets on Sonsoral and Merir Islands southwest of the Palaus on the same date.
Aircraft of Fleet Air Wing Two and the Fourth Marine Aircraft Wing continued neutralizing attacks on enemy held bases in the Marshalls on Jan*uary 3.

 

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1933
UNITED STATES: Secretary of State Henry Stimson asks President Herbert Hoover to request legislation from Congress permitting the President to limit or forbid shipment of arms and munitions of war to any foreign state when such shipment would promote or encourage use of force in a conflict or dispute between nations. Stimson states, "There are times when the hands of the executive in negotiations for the orderly settlement of international differences would be greatly strengthened if he were in a position, in cooperation with other producing nations, to control the shipment of arms. The United States should never, in justice to its own convictions and its own dignity, be placed in such a position that it could not join in preventing the, supply of arms or munitions for the furtherance of an international conflict while exercising its influence and prestige to prevent or bring to an end such a conflict. . . . The day is gone when the spread of a conflagration is easily confined to any continent or hemisphere. The taking by the United States of this additional step in its domestic policy will tend to give encouragement and momentum to the struggle for world peace and against the use of force from which arise some of the most critical problems of this unsettled period in international relationships. "

1937
UNITED STATES: The U.S. Neutrality Acts of 1935 and 1936 applied to wars between nations and did not extend to civil wars. As a result, the Congress passes a joint resolution forbidding the export of munitions to both the Nationalist and Republican forces in Spain. Under this act, the Roosevelt administration embargoes arms sales to both sides, a policy which undermined the Loyalist war effort (the Nationalists received large quantities of munitions from the Italians and the Germans).

1939
JAPAN: Baron HIRANUMA Kiichiro becomes Prime Minister after Prince KONOYE Fumimaro resigned on 4 January. He resigns in August 1939 after the Russo-German pact is signed.

1940
NEW ZEALAND: The New Zealand 4th Brigade sails from Auckland for Egypt in six transports escorted by the battleship HMS Ramillies (07), heavy cruiser HMAS Canberra (D 33) and light cruiser HMNZS Leander (75).

1941
UNITED STATES: In his State of the Union address to the Congress, President Franklin D. Roosevelt refers to the U.S. as the "Arsenal of Democracy" and offers support for all who strive for four essential freedoms, freedom of speech and religion and freedom from want and fear.
Fourteen National Guard units from ten states and the District of Columbia are inducted into federal service. There is a coast artillery brigade, eight coast artillery regiments, two field artillery regiments, one cavalry regiment, one infantry regiment and an Air Corps observation squadron.

1942
AUSTRALIA: The government advises the British Government that the Australian 6th and 7th Divisions will be sent to the Far East. The government of Australia declares war on Bulgaria.

CHINA: Having accepted the nomination of Chiang Kai-shek as Supreme Commander of an Allied China Theater, the Chinese ask that a senior U.S. officer be sent to China to act as chief of the Generalissimo' s Allied staff.

EAST INDIES: A Japanese amphibious force lands at Brunei Bay, British Borneo. During the night, seven Japanese flying-boats attack Ambon Island, Netherlands East Indies, damaging two RAAF Hudsons and a Buffalo based at Laha.

MALAYA: On the Indian 11th Division front, the Indian 6/15 Brigade Group reaches the Batang Berjuntai area and takes up defensive positions south of the Selangor River. The Kuantan force completes their withdrawal from eastern Malaya through Jerantut during the night of 6/7 January and continues west in the Raub area.

PHILIPPINE ISLANDS: After a destructive artillery exchanges on Luzon in the morning, the Japanese, having the advantage of aerial spotting, attack the overextended delaying line south of Layac Junction in force and make a limited penetration entering Dinalupihan without opposition. The withdrawal of this line begins during the night of 6/7 January.
Japanese aerial bombardment of Corregidor ends except for nuisance raids. Japanese air attacks during the first week of 1942 have resulted in little damage to the fortifications on Corregidor.

PACIFIC: The Second Marine Brigade (Brigadier General Henry L. Larsen, USMC) embarked in troop transports (former Matson Line passenger liners) SS Lurline, SS Monterey and SS Matsonia, and cargo ship USS Jupiter and ammunition ship USS Lassen sails from San Diego, California, for Pago Pago, American Samoa. The initial escort is provided by Task Force 17 comprised of the aircraft carrier USS Yorktown, the heavy cruiser USS Louisville, the light cruiser USS St. Louis and three destroyers.

UNITED STATES: In his annual State of the Union message to Congress, President Franklin D. Roosevelt said today that Americas land, sea and air forces would be sent to Britain. He also announces massive increases in war production, including more than doubling the rate of aircraft building. This was his first speech to Congress since the war began. Mr Roosevelt spoke warmly of British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, who recently addressed the same audience, and wished him a safe return.
Roosevelt submits a budget request of US$59 billion for Fiscal Year 1943 (with inflation, that is US $707 billion in year 2005 dollars). He also announces that the first year of a supercharged production schedule would result in 45,000 aircraft, 45,000 tanks, 20,000 antiaircraft guns, and 8 million tons in new ships; this will be upped to Forecasts for 1943 of 125,000 planes, 75,000 tanks and 11 million tons of shipping in 1943. Congressmen are stunned at the proposal, but Roosevelt is undeterred: "These figures and similar figures for a multitude of other implements of war will give the Japanese and Nazis a little idea of just what they accomplished. "
Leland Ford, Los Angeles, California, member of the House of Representatives, in a telegram to Secretary of State Cordell Hull, asks that all Japanese Americans be removed from the West Coast stating, "I do not believe that we could be any too strict in our consideration of the Japanese in the face of the treacherous way in which they do things."

In baseball, Cleveland Indians star pitcher Bob Feller, winner of 76 games in three previous seasons, follows Detroit Tigers' outfielder Hank Greenberg into the military. Feller, saying, "I've always wanted to be on the winning side," enlists in the Navy and reports to Norfolk, Virginia, for duty. During the 44 months he spent in the Navy, most
of the time he was stationed aboard the battleship U.S.S. Alabama in the gunnery department where he earned eight Battle Stars.
The Pan American Airways Boeing B-314A, msn 2083, registered NC18609 and named "Pacific Clipper." arrives in New York City after making the first round-the-world trip by a commercial airplane. This aircraft was in Auckland, New Zealand on 8 December 1941, and returned to the U.S. flying westward via Australia, the East Indies, India, Africa, South America and Trinidad, a total of 31,500 miles.

1943
ALEUTIAN ISLANDS: The Eleventh Air Force flies reconnaissance over Amchitka, the Semichis, Agattu and Attu Islands. Flotsam sighted outside of Holtz Bay on the northeast side of Attu Island confirms that the freighter bombed yesterday sank. Six B-24s, six B-25s and 12 P-38s take off to attack Kiska Island; the P-38s and one B-24 turn back due to weather. The B-25s find the target obscured and five Zero's waiting to intercept them, whereupon they turn back without attacking.
The five remaining B-24s circle Kiska without contacting Japanese aircraft; one of the B-24s, exploiting a break in the cloud cover, bombs the Kiska submarine base area which the others then bomb through the clouds.

BISMARCK ARCHIPELAGO: One B-24s bombs the airfield at Gasmata. Lost is B-24 piloted by Rose on a search mission. Force landed is B-26 "Shittenengitten" 40-1404.

BURMA: The Indian 14th Division, renewing their offensive on the Arakan front, finds the Japanese firmly entrenched at Donbaik and Rathedaung. Although fighting continues at these points for many weeks, positions remain about the same.

NEW GUINEA: In Papua New Guinea, B-26s bomb the forces in the Sanananda Point area; and A-20s bomb Lae Airfield.

SOLOMONS SEA: B-17s, B-24s, B-26s and P-38s attack a convoy headingsouthwest off the coast of New Britain heading for Lae. Ditched after the attack is B-24D "Cowtown's Revenge" 41-23750.

SOLOMON ISLANDS: B-17s with P-38 and P-40 escorts attack a transport near Shortland Island without loss.

UNITED KINGDOM: A House of Commons select committee today listened to the heads of the women's services and a Trades Union Congress official putting the case for women to receive war injury compensation on a par with that received by men. The women said that they had heard justifications for differences in pay, but none for the gap in compensation. At present a female officer received less than a male private for total disablement.

1944
(CBI) BURMA-INDIA (Tenth Air Force): In Burma, P-51's and A-36's carry out ground support missions at Sumprabum and Taihpa Ga and hit a cavalry bivouac and dumps at Kamaing; 12 P-40's attack a supply dump S of Sahmaw Junction and strafe Pahok.

BURMA: Since all remaining landing craft are recalled to the Mediterranean, Admiral Louis Mountbatten, Commander-in-Chief South East Asia Command (SEAC), cancels Operation PIGSTICK, the proposed operation on the southern Mayu Peninsula.
U.S. Brigadier General Gen Frank D. Merrill is assigned command of the GALAHAD force, whose designation is made "unit." The GALAHAD force is the U.S. long-range penetration groups.
The Chinese make another unsuccessful attempt to reduce the Japanese strongpoint on the Tarung River.

CHINA: Lieutenant General Daniel Sultan, Deputy Commander-in-Chief US China-Burma- Indian Theater of Operation, warns General Joseph Stilwell, Commander-in-Chief US China-Burma-India Theater of Operations, Chief of Staff to Chinese Generalissimo Chiang Kai-Shek Commander-in-Chief Northern Area Combat Command and Deputy Commander-in-Chief South East Asia Command (SEAC) that SEAC planners want to bypass Burma until Germany is defeated, then mount a major offensive beginning with invasion of Sumatra, Netherlands East Indies.

CHINA (Fourteenth Air Force): In China, 2 B-25's bomb a troop ship on the Yangtze River, NE of Tungting Lake; the vessel is reported as sunk.

NEW BRITAIN: The ADC Group (7th Marine Regiment reinforced by a battalion of the 5th Marine Regiment and supporting units) renewing their southward attack, clears Hill 150, south of Target Hill.
Brigadier General Julian Cunningham, Commanding General Task Force DIRECTOR, reports to Lieutenant General Walter Krueger, Commanding General Sixth Army, the presence of Japanese positions near the Arawe beachhead.

PACIFIC OCEAN AREA (POA, Seventh Air Force): 78th Fighter Squadron, 15th Fighter Group, transfers from Haleiwa Field to Stanley Field with P-40's. SOUTH PACIFIC AREA (SOPAC, Thirteenth Air Force): P-38's sweep the Rabaul area, New Britain , claiming 9 Zekes shot down during a running battle over the Cape Gazelle area. B-25's and RNZAF Ventura's bomb and strafe targets in the Choiseul Bay area, New Georgia , including jetty areas and buildings at Tarekekori, targets on Morgusaia , and gun positions on Kondakanimboko .

NEW HEBRIDES ISLANDS: On Espiritu Santo, Major General Hubert R. Harmon takes command of the USAAF Thirteenth Air Force.

SOUTHWEST PACIFIC AREA (SWPA, Fifth Air Force): B-24's and B-25's bomb Alexishafen and Bogadjim areas; A-20's attack targets along the road from Bogadjim to Yaula; B-25's attack targets of opportunity on the Huon Peninsula and others hit the Borgen Bay area; and P-39's strafe barges at Borgen and Rein Bays. 389th Bombardment Squadron, 312th Bombardment Group, transfers from Port Moresby to Gusap with P-40's; first mission is 14 Jan; they transition to A-20's in Feb.

1945
ALASKA (Eleventh Air Force): On Paramushiru , 2 B-24s bomb Suribachi Bay Airfield, also hitting buildings and pier areas. 10 B-25s fly single air coverage sorties for a naval task force.

BURMA: In the Northern Combat Area Command area, heavy rains begin as the U.S. 475th Infantry Regiment (Long Range Penetration, Special) goes into bivouac in the Mong Wi area and the U.S. 124th Cavalry Regiment (Special) makes its way toward Mong Wi. The Chinese 38th Division gains the distinction of being the first Chinese Army in India unit to return to Chinese soil: the 112th Regiment reaches Loiwing, from which it patrols across the Shweli River to Namhkam.

CHINA THEATER (Fourteenth Air Force): In China, 40 P-40s, P-51s, and P-47s pound the Hankow-Wuchang area; 9 aircraft are claimed destroyed. 4 B-24s bomb the Cap-Saint-Jacques, French Indochina area.

INDIA-BURMA THEATER (Tenth Air Force): Bad weather cancels all combat missions. Transports manage 310 sorties, landing men and supplies at advanced bases and dropping supplies to frontline troops. The 317th Troop Carrier
Squadron (Commando), 2d Air Commando Group, moves from Myitkyina, Burma to Kalaikunda, India with C-47s.

HQ AAF (Twentieth Air Force): Mission 25: 49 Chengtu, China-based B-29s are dispatched to bomb an aircraft factory at Omura, Kyushu , Japan; 28 hit the primary target, 13 bomb a secondary target at Nanking, China while 6 attack targets of opportunity; they claim 4-6-10 Japanese aircraft; 1 B-29 is lost. The is the XX Bomber Command's last mission against targets in Japan.

AAFPOA (Seventh Air Force): 15 B-24s, based on Guam bomb Iwo Jima airfields. During the night of 6/7 Jan, 9 B-24s on individual snooper strikes continue to pound the airfields. HQ 508th Fighter Group and the 466th, 467th and 468th Fighter Squadrons arrive at Kahuku, Hawaii from the US with P-47s (the group will serve as air defense for Hawaii, train replacement pilots and ferry aircraft to forward areas).

EAST INDIES: USAAF Far East Air Forces (FEAF) B-25s and fighter-bombers hit Mapanget Airfield on Celebes Island, Netherlands East Indies (NEI). FEAF flies numerous smaller strikes against various points throughout the NEI.

NEW GUINEA: Australian General Sir Thomas Blamey, Commander in Chief Australian Military Force and Commander in Chief Allied Land Forces South West Pacific Area, sends a message to U.S. General of the Army Douglas MacArthur, Commander in Chief South West Pacific Area, suggesting that he should include in his next communique a reference to the fact that the Australians had taken over in New Guinea, thus making it possible to release the Australian correspondents' stories that have been censored for month.

PACIFIC OCEAN: In Lingayen Gulf, Japanese suicide plane attacks intensify against Lingayen Gulf invasion force; kamikazes damage battleships USS New Mexico (killing members of an observing British military mission) and California, heavy cruiser USS Louisville, light cruiser USS Columbia and destroyers USS Allen M. Sumner, Newcomb (she is also hit by friendly fire), O'Brien, and Richard P. Leary. Kamikazes attack the minesweeping group, sinking high speed minesweeper USS Long, and damaging high speed minesweeper USS Southard and high speed transport USS Brooks. Destroyer USS Walke, on detached duty covering the minesweeping operations is attacked by four enemy aircraft; one crashes the ship's bridge, drenching it with burning gasoline and mortally wounding Walke's commanding officer, Commander George F. Davis. Davis nevertheless remains at his post, conning his ship amidst the wreckage and rallying his crew. Carried below only when assured that his ship would survive, He dies of his wounds within hours. He is subsequently awarded the Medal of Honor, posthumously.
As a consequence of the kamikaze attacks, Task Force 38 (Vice Admiral John S. McCain) shifts its focus from Formosa to begin operations against Japanese airfields and shipping in the Luzon area. In South China Sea off northern Luzon, Navy carrier-based planes sink an army cargo ship and six merchant tankers.

PHILIPPINE ISLANDS: Task Groups 77.2 [battleships USS California, Colorado, Mississippi, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, West Virginia and supporting cruisers and destroyers] and 77.6 (Minesweeping and Hydrographic Group) reach Lingayen Gulf area and begin naval bombardment and mine sweeping. Damaging enemy air attacks persist in spite of strong effort against Luzon by planes of Task Force 38, escort aircraft carriers covering TG 77.2, and USAAF Far East Air Forces. Japanese force of some 150 aircraft on Luzon at the beginning of the year has been reduced to about 35 planes, and air action drops off sharply after this.
On Mindoro, Pinamalayan, which the Japanese have recently abandoned, is reoccupied by fresh Japanese troops from Luzon. Company I, 21st Infantry Regiment, 24th Infantry Division, and guerrillas join in attack there, forcing the Japanese back toward Calapan.
USAAF Far East Air Forces (FEAF) B-24s bomb Clark Field while B-25s, A-20s, and fighter-bombers hit bridges and targets of opportunity at Calumpit and Plaridel and in nearby southern Luzon Island areas. B-24s bomb Nichols Field and Nielson Airfield on Luzon. A-20s, with P-38 cover, bomb Carolina Airfield on Negros Island. FEAF flies numerous smaller strikes against various points throughout the Philippine Islands.
While supporting the landings at Lingayen Gulf, Philippine Islands, on the destroyer USS Allen M. Sumner took charge of the minesweeper support unit in place of destroyer USS Barton. Japanese suicide planes approach out of the sun on the port bow, strafed and crashed into the rigging, the after stack, and after torpedo mount, killing 14 men, wounding 29 others, and causing extensive damage. Because of the damage USS Allen M. Sumner is ordered to return to screen of Task Group 77.2 and USS Barton take over as minesweeper support unit. Thirteen men will be buried at sea on tomorrow.

CINCPAC COMMUNIQUÉ NO. 224, JANUARY 6, 1945

Carrier‑based aircraft of the U. S. Pacific Fleet destroyed 111 enemy aircraft and damaged 220 more in attacks on Formosa and on Okinawa in the Ryukyus on January 2 and 3 (West Longitude Date). Twenty‑seven ships were sunk and an additional sixty‑eight were damaged. The enemy offered ineffective air opposition to our aircraft.
Surface units of the U. S. Pacific Fleet bombarded enemy installations on Chichi Jima and Haha Jima in the Bonins on January 5.
Shelling was concentrated on facilities around the harbor of Futami go on Chichi Jima and on other targets in Okimura town and Higashi Harbor on Haha Jima. Fires were started in Okimura town and an enemy cargo ship was sunk west of Haha Jima. Answering the attack with meager gunfire, defending shore batteries inflicted minor damage on units of our forces. A single enemy fighter was observed airborne.


CINCPAC COMMUNIQUÉ NO. 225, JANUARY 6, 1945
January 1, 3, and 4 (West Longitude Dates) Army Liberators of the Strategic Air Force, Pacific Ocean Areas, bombed airstrip installations on Iwo Jima in the Volcanos.
Surface units of the United States Pacific Fleet bombarded coast defenses and airstrip installations on Iwo Jima in the Volcanos on January 4. Numer*ous fires were observed on the island. Fire from enemy shore batteries was meager.
The following damage was inflicted on enemy shipping and installations on Formosa and Okinawa Jima by carrier‑based aircraft of the Pacific Fleet on January 2 and 3:

Sunk or Destroyed:

One large cargo ship west of Takao
One medium cargo ship at Keelung
One small cargo ship at Keelung
One patrol craft
Ten small coastal cargo ships
Eleven small craft

Damaged:

One destroyer
Four destroyer escorts
Six patrol craft
One landing ship
Two landing craft
Two large cargo ships
One medium cargo ship
Thirty‑four small cargo ships
Seven small craft

Ground installations destroyed on Formosa:

Eleven locomotives
Four tank cars and several trucks and freight cars

In sweeps over the island our aircraft destroyed a railway bridge over the Tamsui River, a railroad station at Okayama and buildings, warehouses, fuel and ammunition dumps on all parts of the island.
Seventeen of our aircraft were lost in combat.
Army infantry units occupied Fais Island east of Ulithi on January 2, against slight resistance. Eight of the enemy were killed and six captured. Our forces suffered losses of three killed and six wounded.

​

Fighters of the Fourth Marine Aircraft Wing attacked fuel storage facili*ties on Babelthuap in the Palaus on January 4. Marine torpedo planes bombed enemy installations on Yap.
On January 4 aircraft of the Fourth Marine Aircraft Wing continued neutralizing attacks on enemy‑held bases in the Marshalls.

​

CINCPAC PRESS RELEASE NO. 711, JANUARY 6, 1945

NAVAL AIR TRANSPORT EXTENDED TO LEYTE​

Jumping another thousand miles westward over the Central Pacific, sky freighters of the Naval Air Transport Service are daily flying into Leyte, it was disclosed 31 December 1944, by Captain D. W. Tomlinson, USNR, NATS*-Pacific commander, who said the new route was opened early in December.
One NATS plane a day‑a twin‑engine R4D similar to Douglas aircraft serving U. S. domestic airlines‑makes the long ocean hop from Manus in the Admiralties, via Peleliu, and offloading its war‑vital priority cargo and pas*sengers at Leyte in 30‑minute "turnaround" before taking oft for the return flight.
An official NATS‑Pac unit will be in full operation on the Philippine island on the first of the year, Captain Tomlinson declared, and it is expected that four‑engined Skymaster transports operated by the Pacific Wing will be sched*uled to enter Leyte soon from other forward bases.
The Leyte run follows NATS‑Pac's mission of serving Fleet and ground forces at the battle fronts with urgent cogs that keep the attack machine running smoothly.
Addition of the new 1000‑mile flight brings the Pacific Wings total route mileage to 31,000 miles, with at least 30 planes in the air every minute, day and night.

 

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1932
UNITED STATES: Secretary of State Henry Stimson declares in notes to the Chinese and Japanese governments, as well as the Belgium, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal and the U.K., the other signatories of the Nine-Power Treaty of 6 February 1922, that the U.S. will not recognize any situation, treaty, or agreement brought about by means contrary to the Pact of Paris. This doctrine served as an American protest against the Japanese occupation of Manchuria.

1941
CANADA: A Special Committee of the Cabinet War Committee recommends that Japanese-Canadians not be allowed to volunteer for the armed services on the grounds that there is strong public opinion against them.

UNITED STATES: The Office of Production Management (OPM) is established within the Office for Emergency Management (OEM) by Executive Order to: "Formulate and execute in the public interest all measures needful and appropriate in order to (1) increase, accelerate, and regulate the production and supply of materials, articles and equipment and the provision of emergency plant facilities and services required for the national defense, and (2) to insure effective coordination of those activities of the several departments, corporations, and other agencies of the Government which are directly concerned therewith." The Council for this new organization is comprised of industrialist William S. Knudsen, labor leader Sidney Hillman, Secretary of the Navy Frank Knox and Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson.

1942
ISMARCK ARCHIPELAGO: A Japanese air raid on Rabaul, New Britain Island, destroys a Hudson and two Wirraways and damages two other Hudson, all of No. 24 Squadron RAAF.

CHINA: In Changsha Province, Chinese and Japanese troops fight a fairly pointless battle which neither side wins.

EAST INDIES: In Borneo, Japanese troops in British Sarawak reach the border of Dutch West Borneo.

MALAYA: The Japanese, in a strong tank-infantry assault beginning before dawn, break through the Slim River positions of Indian 11th Division and drive rapidly 19 miles toward Kuala Lumpur, reaching positions 2 miles south of Slim village.
The Indian III Corps withdraws from the Slim River line southward to Tanjong Malim, between the village of Slim and the road junction at Kuala Kubu. This action temporarily leaves the Indian 11th Division ineffective as a fighting force.
General Archibald Lord Wavell, who has been named Commander in Chief American-British- Dutch-Australian (ABDA) Command, arrives at Singapore to find out why the British are losing. He gets an earful. Brigadier Ivan Simson, the chief engineer, shows Wavell Singapore Island's north side, which is undefended. No defense works are being built, or even planned. Wavell, furious, asks Lieutenant General Arthur Percival, General Officer Commanding Malaya, why this is so; Percival replies that defenses would be bad for morale. Wavell says that the impact would be greater when retreating troops begin crossing the causeway from the mainland and orders Percival to build defenses. Percival doesn't.

PHILIPPINE ISLANDS: The siege of Bataan begins as U.S. and Philippine forces complete their withdrawal from the Layac Line. The North Luzon Force becomes the I Philippine Corps, containing about 22,500 men of 1st, 31st, 71st, and 91st Divisions, all Philippine Army (PA), 26th Cavalry Philippine Scouts (PS), miscellaneous troops, and supporting weapons.
The Bataan Defense Force is renamed II Philippine Corps and consists of about 25,000 men of the 11st, 21st, 41st, and 51st Divisions (all PA), 57th Infantry (PS) of the Philippine Division, and supporting weapons.
The defense of Bataan as far south as the Mariveles Mountains is divided about equally between the two corps, I Corps being responsible for the western half and II Corps for the eastern half. The Service Command Area is located at the southern tip below the Mariveles Mountains and is the responsibility of Brigadier General A. C. McBride; in this area are the 2d Division Philippine Constabulary, organized on this date, provisional infantry units formed from USAAF personnel and a provisional battalion of USN and USMC personnel. Defenses on Bataan are organized in depth: the main line of resistance (MLR) extends from Mauban on the west to Mabatang on the east, a distance of 20 miles (32 kilometers); the outpost line (OPL) is disposed before the MLR; and the rear line of defense is being formed to be manned by the U.S. Army Forces, Far East (USAFFE) reserve, i.e., the U.S. Philippine Division, less the 57th Infantry Regiment; a tank group; a self-propelled mount group.

UNITED STATES: The USN's authorized aircraft strength is increased from 15,000 to 27,500.

1943
ALEUTIAN ISLANDS: Six B-25s and 12 P-38s dispatched to Kiska Island turn back due to cloud cover. Six B-24s circle over Kiska for two hours until four can bomb the submarine base. Antiaircraft fire damages three of the attackers.
Negative reconnaissance is flown over Amchitka, Kiska, Agattu and Attu Island. Photographs taken reveal use of smoke pots by the defenders and also suggest construction of a fighter strip along the ridge south of Salmon Lagoon on Kiska.

BURMA: USAAF Tenth Air Force's China Air Task Force aircraft begin a series of raids, lasting through 10 January, during which they destroy trucks along the Burma Road, barges on the Irrawaddy River and supplies in the Bhamo area.

PANAMA: In Panama, the 53d Fighter Squadron, 32d Fighter Group moves with its P-40s from France Field, Canal Zone to Chorrera, Panama.

CBI (Tenth Air Force) In China, P-40s blast fuel storage facilities at Mangshih. In Burma, China Air Task Force aircraft begin a series of raids, lasting through 10 Jan, during which they destroy trucks along the Burma Road, barges on the Irrawaddy River and stores in the Bhamo area. The 493d Bombardment Squadron, 7th BG (Heavy) moves with its B-24s from Karachi to Pandaveswar, India. The squadron will fly its first combat mission on 26 Jan.

NEW GUINEA: In Papua New Guinea, the U.S. 127th Infantry Regiment, 32d Infantry Division, continues toward Tarakena. Companies G and F, with fire support of Company E, reach positions about 500 yards from their objective. The Australian 18th Brigade, 7th Division, completes a movement to Soputa. The 2d Battalion, U.S. 163d Infantry Regiment, 41st Infantry Regiment, arrives on the Sanananda front. The Japanese 102nd Regiment Group lands at Lae.
Fifth Air Force fighters attack Lae Airfield in Northeast New Guinea. One of the U.S. pilots is 2d Lt. Richard I. Bong, flying a P-38F. Bong shoots down two Oscar fighters, his third and fourth victories.

PACIFIC OCEAN: In the Solomon Sea off Finschhafen, the Japanese convoy bound for Lae, Northeast New Guinea, from New Britain is again attacked by B-17s, B-24s, B-25s and B-26s, supported by P-38s and P-40s, and RAAF or RNZAF Hudsons and RAAF Catalinas. During these attacks, an RAAF Catalina sinks an army cargo ship off Lae, and an army cargo ship is forced aground south of Arawe, Northeast New Guinea.

SOLOMON ISLANDS: In preparation for the offensive on 10 January, the 35th Infantry Regiment, 25th Infantry Division, leaves the Lunga perimeter for Mt Austen. The 147th Infantry Regiment Task Force, embarks at Kukum in two landing craft tanks (LCTs) for Beaufort Bay to block the trail leading north toward Kokumbona. About 50,000 Allied air, ground, and naval forces are now in the Guadalcanal area.
USAAF B-17 Flying Fortresses bomb Bougainville Island; they are met by twelve Zero fighters two are shot down without any U.S. losses. B-26s with P-39s escort attack Rekata Bay on Santa Isabel Island; two US aircraft are lost.

UNITED STATES: Development of the first USN aircraft to be equipped with a turbojet engine is initiated with the issuance of a Letter of Intent to McDonnell Aircraft Corporation for engineering, development, and tooling for two fighter aircraft. Two Westinghouse 19-B turbojet engines are later specified and the aircraft is designated XFD-1. It became the prototype for the FH-1 Phantom jet fighter. The XFD-1 makes its first flight on 26 January 1946.

1944
(CBI) BURMA-INDIA (Tenth Air Force): In Burma, 7 B-25's and 15 P-38's pound the Lanywa area, hitting the oil plant and storage tanks, causing several fires, and strafe several AA positions; 19 A-36's and P-51's bomb supply and troop concentrations at Nanyaseik.

CHINA (Fourteenth Air Force): In China, 4 B-25's and 6 P-40's sink 2 large boats on the Yangtze River S of Hukow and sink a large powerboat, a barge, and a small ore craft at Shihhweiyao; 11 P-38's claim between 30 and 40 sampans destroyed along the river from Hankow to Chiuchiang; and 2 B-25's on a sea sweep claim a 300-ft (91 m) passenger vessel sunk S of Hong Kong. HQ 341st BG (Medium) transfers from the Tenth Air Force to the Fourteenth Air Force and moves from Kurmitola, India to Kunming, China.

ADMIRALTY ISLANDS: USAAF Fifth Air Force B-24s hit Lorengau, Manus Island.

JAPAN: Imperial General Headquarters authorizes the Southern Army to secure positions in the Imphal area of India when the opportunity presents itself.

CEYLON: Admiral Louis Mountbatten, Supreme Commander Southeast Asia Command, drops plans for Operation CUDGEL, small-scale operation in the Arakan coastal sector of Burma.

SOUTHWEST PACIFIC AREA (SWPA, Fifth Air Force): B-24's, B-25's, P-39's, and P-47's bomb the Alexishafen-Madang area, hit Erima, Bogadjim, and targets along the Bogadjim Road, attack positions from Weber Point to Vincke Point, and strafe huts and barges near Sidor. B-24's bomb the Cape Gloucester area and A-20's hit forces near Arawe.

NEI: B-24's also hit Lorengau and Boela.

1945
CHINA THEATER (Fourteenth Air Force): 5 B-24s bomb Ft Bayard, China and attack shipping in Samah Bay on Hainan , claiming 1 vessel sunk.

BURMA: In the British Fourteenth Army's Indian XXIII Corps area, the Indian 19th and British 2d Divisions are converging on Shwebo, the Indian 19th Division pushing into the eastern outskirts.

INDIA-BURMA THEATER (Tenth Air Force): Bad weather cancels all combat missions. Transports complete 383 sorties to forward areas.

AAFPOA (Seventh Air Force): 11 B-24s, flying out of Saipan bomb an airfield on Iwo Jima. During the night of 7/8 Jan, 10 more B-24s again pound airfields, striking in single-bomber snooper missions over a 7-hour period.

SOUTHWEST PACIFIC AREA [SWPA, Far East Air Force (FEAF)]: The 17th Reconnaissance Squadron (Bombardment), 71st Tactical Reconnaissance Group, moves from Tacloban to San Jose with B-25s.

EAST INDIES: In the Netherlands East Indies, USAAF Far East Air Forces B-25s and fighter-bombers hit Lembeh Strait and the Langoan areas on Celebes Island while RAAF aircraft fly 661 sorties against Halmahara and Morotai Islands.

PACIFIC OCEAN: In the South China Sea at about 2230 hours, USN destroyers USS Charles Ausburne, Braine, Russell, and Shaw open fire with their guns and sink the Japanese destroyer HIJMS Hinoki, about 86 nautical miles W of Manila, Philippine Islands.

PHILIPPINE ISLANDS: Underwater demolition teams begin a search for underwater obstacles in Lingayen Gulf as preinvasion aerial and naval bombardment of Luzon continues.
On Mindoro, Japanese planes for the first time are conspicuously absent from the San Jose area.
In major strikes of the day against targets on Luzon Island, large numbers of USAAF Far East Air Forces (FEAF) B-25s and A-20s, supported by P-38s, hit the network of airstrips from Clark Field to Angeles Airfield, B-24s bomb Nielson and Grace Park Airfields and Nichols Field and B-25s and fighter-bombers pound bridges in the Plaridel and Calumpit areas. B-24s raid Padada and Daliao Airfields on Mindanao Island. Other FEAF aircraft on small-scale armed reconnaissance missions strike targets of opportunity throughout the Philippine Islands.
In Lingayen Gulf, Japanese air attacks in the area continue and two USN high speed minesweepers are sunk: USS Hovey is sunk by an aerial torpedo and USS Palmer by bombs.

CINCPAC COMMUNIQUÉ NO. 226, JANUARY 7, 1945

Carrier‑based aircraft of the United States Pacific Fleet attacked aircraft, shipping and installations in and around Luzon in the Philippines on January 5 (West Longitude Date). Preliminary and incomplete reports show that eight enemy aircraft were shot down, 19 were destroyed on the ground, and 14 were damaged on the ground. Details of damage to shipping and ground targets are not yet available.
Surface units of the Pacific Fleet bombarded installations at Suribachi on Paramushiru in the Kuriles on January 5 starting a number of fires. The enemy returned our fire but our forces suffered no damage.
Army Liberators of the Strategic Air Force, Pacific Ocean Areas, bombed installations on Iwo Jima in the Volcanoes on January 5.
A supply dump and other material were destroyed on Babelthuap in the Palaus by strafing fighters of the Fourth Marine Aircraft Wing on the same date.

 

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1940
CHINA: Japan claims to have killed 25,000 Chinese in a battle north of Canton.

1941
UNITED STATES: President Franklin D. Roosevelt presents his proposed budget for Fiscal Year 1942 to the Congress. It outlines a total expenditure of $17.5 billion ($242 billion in 2005 dollars) with $10.8 billion ($149.5 billion in year 2005 dollars) going to defense. (Fiscal Year 1942 extends from 1 July 1941 to 30 June 1942.)

1942
CANADA: In Vancouver, British Columbia, Federal Minister Ian Mackenzie announces that the Royal Mounted Canadian Police will be registering all Japanese-Canadians in British Columbia; a national security matter under the War Measures Act. They are later moved inland to detention camps.

EAST INDIES: Japanese troops advance into Jesselton, the capital of British North Borneo, and haul down the Union Flag. The British had little choice but to quit the town. On 15 December, when the Japanese 124th Infantry Regiment came ashore at the burning oilfields at Miri, all the British Empire had to oppose them was one Indian battalion, the local Sarawak Rangers and the police. From Miri two Japanese battalions sailed west to the airfield at Kuching, where they are still fighting; a third sailed east and took Jesselton. Japanese forces also occupy Beaufort, British North Borneo.

HAWAIIAN ISLANDS: The Japanese submarine HIJMS I-19 launches a "Glen" seaplane to fly a reconnaissance mission over Pearl Harbor.

MALAYA: General Archibald Lord Wavell, who has been named Commander in Chief Amercian-British- Dutch-Australian (ABDA) Command, visits the Malayan front, where preparations are being made for the withdrawal of the Indian III Corps into Johore. The Australian 8th Division (less the 22nd Brigade Group) is ordered to move to northwestern Johore to meet the main Japanese drive on the Gegamat-Mount Ophir-Muar line. The Australians will be supplemented by the last four battalions of the Indian 9th Division.

PHILIPPINE ISLANDS: On Luzon, the front is quiet as the Japanese regroup for a drive on Bataan and U.S. and Philippine forces organize defense positions.

THAILAND: The Japanese 21st Infantry Regiment and supporting units land on the Kra Peninsula at Singora and Patani.
Pilots of the 3d Fighter Squadron of the American Volunteer Group (the Flying Tigers) shoot down three "Ann" bombers over Mesoht.

UNITED STATES: The War Department orders that only USAAF, antiaircraft and service troops be sent to Australia where the emphasis will be placed on the rapid build up of the USAAF Far East Air Force.
Congress establishes the Office of Civilian Defense (OCD) which will be headed by New York City Mayor Fiorello H. LaGuardia.
The Federal Government orders the distillery industry to convert 60 percent of its whiskey-making capacity to ethyl alcohol production, a move that will sharply increase the availability of explosive smokeless powder.

1943
ALEUTIAN ISLANDS: A B-24 flies photographic reconnaissance over Amchitka Island. Another B-24 aborts
a weather run over Kiska Island because of instrument trouble.

BURMA: Six Tenth Air Force P-40s bomb and strafe Watugyi and Nsopzup and strafe other targets. Six B-25s bomb the storage area at Bhamo.

CHINA: In a message to U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek turns down a proposal for an offensive in the spring of 1943.

NEW GUINEA: In Papua New Guinea, Companies A, C, and F of the U.S. 127th Infantry Regiment, 32d Infantry Division, overrun Tarakena. The 163d Infantry Regiment, 41st Infantry Division, begins an offensive to clear the road to Sanananda: 1st Battalion attacks two Japanese perimeters located between Musket and Kano, making limited progress.
In Northeast New Guinea, Fifth Air Force heavy, medium and light bombers, with fighter cover, join RAAF aircraft in the continued attack of the Japanese convoy as it unloads about 4,000 reinforcements at Lae. Japanese fighter cover and Allied aircraft continue fierce aerial combat. During this action, 2d Lt. Richard I. Bong, flying a P-38F Lightning, shots down an "Oscar" fighter over the Huon Gulf, 5 miles
offshore. This is Bong's fifth victory making him an "Ace."

SOLOMON ISLANDS: Major General J. Lawton Collins, Commanding General 25th Infantry Division, issues Field Order 1 to the division concerning the upcoming offensive. The 35th Infantry Regiment moves secretly up Mt Austen toward the line of departure.

1944
(CBI) BURMA-INDIA (Tenth Air Force): In Burma, 20 P-51's and A-36's knock out a bridge N of Hopin, destroy a warehouse and railroad tracks in the area, and destroy a locomotive and damage numerous railroad cars at Tigyaingza.

CHINA (Fourteenth Air Force): 22d Bombardment Squadron (Medium), 341st Bombardment Group (Medium), transfers from Chakulia, India to Yangkai, China with B-25's.

PACIFIC OCEAN AREA (POA, Seventh Air Force):
MARSHALL ISLANDS: Fifteen B-24s, staging through Tarawa Atoll, Gilbert Islands, bomb shipping and shore installations at several locations on Wotje, Maloelap and Jaluit Atolls; and two B-25s from Tarawa hit shipping and gun positions on Jaluit.
Aerial minelaying operations in the Marshalls continue: eight USN PB4Y-1s of Bombing VB-108 and VB-109, flying from Apemama Atoll, Gilbert Islands, mine the waters off Wotje Atoll and then strafe Japanese facilities on the island and shipping offshore; seven USN PBY-5s of Patrol VP-72, flying from Tarawa Atoll, mine Wotje anchorage and Schischmarov Strait.

SOUTH PACIFIC AREA (SOPAC, Thirteenth Air Force): B-24's bomb Kahili; and B-25's hit concentrations on Siposai and Kondakanimboko.
Task Force 38 (Rear Admiral Walden L. Ainsworth), consisting of the light cruisers USS Honolulu and St. Louis and three destroyers, bombards Japanese shore installations on Faisi, Poporang, and Shortland Islands starting large fires.

SOUTHWEST PACIFIC AREA (SWPA, Fifth Air Force):
NEW GUINIEA: B-24's, medium bombers, and a few fighters, attack the Madang area, bomb Uligan Harbor, and hit Bogadjim and the Bogadjim Road.
NEW BRITAIN: fighters strafe the Sag Sag sawmill in the Cape Gloucester area and B-25's and A-20's hit positions near Arawe.
NEI: B-24's bomb Kendari and other targets on Celebes.

UNITED STATES: War Department Operations Division planners decide that the present positions in the China-Burma-India Theater of Operations (CBI) should be maintained and that airpower should be built up so that the CBI can support a main offensive against Japan to be made in the Pacific.

1945
CHINA THEATER (Fourteenth Air Force): In Burma, 8 P-51s hit targets of opportunity E of Muse and E of Wanling.

INDIA-BURMA THEATER (Tenth Air Force): In Burma, 21 B-25s hit troops and supply areas at Nampeng and Mong Long; 74 P-47s and P-38s attack troop concentrations and supply areas at Tunhunghkam, Monguy, Hpa-hpun, and Man Om; and 12 P-47s knock out a bypass bridge at Namhkai. Transports complete 470+ sorties to forward bases and frontline areas. The 317th Troop Carrier Squadron (Commando), 2d Air Commando Group, based at Kalaikunda, India, sends a detachment to operate from Dinjan, India with C-47s.

BURMA: In the Northern Combat Area Command area, the U.S. 475th Infantry Regiment (Long Range Penetration, Special) at Mong Wi is ordered to move forward for action.

AAFPOA (Seventh Air Force): 26 Guam based B-24s bomb airfields on Iwo Jima, while, during the night of 8/9 Jan, 10 more B-24s subject the to individual snooper strikes over a 6-hour period.

PACIFIC OCEAN: During continuing Japanese aerial onslaught on the the Lingayen Gulf invasion force in the South China Sea, kamikazes damage escort aircraft carriers USS Kitkun Bay about 63 nautical miles WSW of Lingayen, Luzon in position 15.48N, 119.09E, and Kadashan Bay, about 87 nautical miles SW of Lingayen, Luzon in position 15.10N, 119.08E. A suicider also crashes close aboard Australian heavy cruiser HMAS Australia (D 84), ending her support operations this day.
The USN coordinated submarine attack group, Task Group 17.21 (Commander Charles E. Loughlin) attacks a Japanese convoy in the South China Sea about 52 nautical miles WSW of Taihoku, Formosa. USS Barb sinks two merchant cargo ships (the second explodes violently, forcing Barb deep and tearing off deck gratings); and a merchant tanker and damages an army cargo ship; USS Picuda damages a cargo ship and USS Queenfish damages a tanker. In the confusion generated by TG 17.21's attack, a merchant tanker runs aground in Tungshiao Bay.

PHILIPPINE ISLANDS: On Leyte, U.S. General of the Army Douglas MacArthur, Commander in Chief South West Pacific Area, sends a message to Australian General Sir Thomas Blamey, Commander in Chief Australian Military Force and Commander in Chief Allied Land Forces South West Pacific Area, in New Guinea and states that his communique tomorrow will "carry announcement Australian troop as requested by you" in a message on 6 January. Tomorrow's announcement states: "Australian forces have relieved United States Army elements along the Solomons axis, in New Britain and British New Guinea. Continuous actions of attrition at all points of contact have been in progress. So far 372 Japanese have been killed, 20 captured and 10 friendly nationals recovered."
Preinvasion aerial and naval bombardment of Lingayen Gulf area of Luzon continues. Mine sweeping is completed.
In the main strikes during the day on Luzon Island, USAAF Far East Air Forces P-51s and P-40s strafe airfields in the Lingayen Gulf area; A-20s hit railroad yards at Cabanatuan, motor convoys between Cabanatuan and Bongalion and between Bongabon and Mojon, Rosales and San Quintin rail installations, bridges at Cuyapo, Paniqui, and near Santa Rosa; P-47s hit rail yards and a truck convoy in the San Jose area; and B-24s and A-20s attack Nichols Field and Nielson, Lipa, and Calingatan Airfields. B-25s with P-47 cover, bomb Fabrica Airfield on Negros Island, while B-24s bomb Likanan Airfield and oil storage at Matina on Mindanano Island.

UNITED STATES: In California, the packing shed of the Doi family is burned and dynamited and shots are fired into their home. The family had been the first to return to California from the Amache Relocation Camp for Ethnic Japanese located 1.5 miles W of Granada, Colorado, and the first to return to Placer County, having arrived three days earlier. (Placer County is located northeast of Sacramento.) Although several men are arrested and confess to the acts, all would be acquitted. Some 30 similar incidents would greet other Japanese Americans returning to the West Coast between January and June.

CINCPAC PRESS RELEASE NO. 721, JANUARY 8, 1945

During the last week in December Fleet Admiral C. W. Nimitz, accom*panied by Rear Admiral Forrest Sherman and Commander H. A. Lamar, flew to the Philippines and conferred with General of the Army Douglas Mac*Arthur at his headquarters on various matters.
A visit of courtesy was also made to President Sergio Osmena at his tem*porary capital.

 

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1931
UNITED STATES: An agreement is announced between the Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral William V. Pratt, and the Army Chief of Staff, General Douglas MacArthur, governing the operations of their respective air forces, which climaxed a long standing inter-service controversy over the division of responsibilities for coast defense. Under the terms, the functions of the two air forces are closely associated with those of their parent services; the naval air force is defined as an element of the fleet to move with it and to carry out its primary mission; and the Army Air Corps as a land-based air arm to be employed as an essential arm of the Army in performing its general mission, including defense of the coast at home and at possessions overseas.

1932
JAPAN: Korean nationalists attempt, unsuccessfully, to assassinate Emperor Hirohito.

UNITED KINGDOM: The British Government refuses to endorse the principle of nonrecognition of unlawful conquest enunciated by U.S. Secretary Henry Stimson or to address a similar note to Japan. The British Foreign Office issues a statement saying: "His Majesty's Government stand by the policy of the open door for international trade in Manchuria, which was guaranteed by the Nine-Power Treaty at Washington. Since the recent events in Manchuria, the Japanese representatives at the Council of the League of Nations at Geneva (Switzerland) stated on the 13th October that Japan was the champion in Manchuria of the principle of equal opportunity and the open door for the economic activities of all nations. Further, on the 28th December, the Japanese Prime Minister stated that Japan would adhere to the Open Door policy, and would welcome participation and cooperation in Manchurian enterprise. In view of these statements, his Majesty's Government have not considered it necessary to address any formal note to the Japanese Government on the lines of the American Government's note, but the Japanese Ambassador in London has been requested to obtain confirmation of these assurances from his Government."

UNITED STATES: The Secretary of the Navy informs the Secretary of War of work being conducted at the Naval Research Laboratory in detecting ships and aircraft by radio and suggests that since one obvious application of the method is in air warning systems for large areas, the Army might be interested in undertaking further work.

1940
AUSTRALIA: The Australian Comforts Fund (ACF) re-established. The ACF, based on its First World War predecessor, raises money for comforts parcels for Australian service personnel in the field, clothing and the provision of meals and accommodation for men on leave.

1941
EAST INDIES: Rear Admiral William "Speck" Purnell, Chief of Staff to Admiral Thomas C. Hart, Commander of the US Asiatic Fleet, meets this month with Dutch military representatives in Java, Netherlands East Indies. These meetings begin today and continue for the next nine days.

WAKE ISLAND: The USN transport USS William Ward Burrows (AP-6, ex-SS Santa Rita) arrives at Wake Island with the first increment of workmen (80 men and 2,000 tons of equipment of Contractors Pacific Naval Air Bases) to begin building a naval air station there.

1942
BORNEO: RAF planes from Malaya terminate action over Borneo with a reconnaissance flight over Kuching.

CHINA: As consideration of the U.S. role in China continues in Washington, General George C. Marshall, Chief of Staff U.S. Army, decides to recommend against sending Lieutenant General Hugh A. Drumto China because of the small effort that is currently to be made there.

MALAYA: Lieutenant General Arthur Percival, General Officer Commanding Malaya, issues instructions for withdrawal of the Indian 3 Corps into Johore, where a final stand before Singapore Naval Baseis to be made. The corps begins a withdrawal at once, executing a demolition program as it goes. The Indian 11th Division and line of communications troops are to delay the enemy along two lines: one covering Seremban and Port Dickson, and the other covering Tampin and Malacca; Indian 9th Division is to clear Kuala Pilah and Tampin, respectively.

PACIFIC: The submarine USS Pollack torpedoes and sinks a Japanese merchant cargo ship 40 miles SSW of Inubozaki, Japan.

PHILIPPINE ISLANDS: On Bataan, the Japanese open an assault at 1500 hours. From the Dinalupihan- Hermosa area, three regimental combat teams with artillery support move forward, two against the II Corps on the east and one toward the I Corps sector on west. None of the columns reaches the outpost line. The II Corps, defending the Abucay line (from Mabatang on Manila Bay to Mt Natib) with 57th Infantry Philippine Scouts on the east, 41st Division Philippine Army (PA) in the center and the 51st Division (PA) on the west, opens fire on the enemy combat team driving down the East Road and makes patrol contact with it. To the west, another Japanese column advances unmolested down the trail from Dinalupihan to the vicinity of Album.
In the I Corps area, the enemy column from Dinalupihan is slowed only by demolitions while moving west along Route 7 toward Olongapo. Disposed along I Corps' Mauban line (Mt.t Silanganan on the east to Mauban on Subic Bay) are Company K of the 1st Infantry (PA); 3lst Field Artillery Battalion of the 3lst Div (PA) organized as infantry; and the 3d Infantry of the 1st Division (PA). Additional troops are maintaining the outpost line to the front.
Five of nine USAAF Far East Air Force B-17 Flying Fortresses, based at Singosari Airdrome on Java and staging through Kendari Airdrome on Celebes Island, Netherlands East Indies, strike shipping in Davao Bay, Mindanao. The other four aircraft turn back with mechanical problems.

THAILAND: Pilots of the 2d Fighter Squadron, American Volunteer Group (the Flying Tigers) attack Tak Airdrome at Rahaeng and destroy four Japanese aircraft on the ground.

1943
ALASKA In the Aleutians, 50+ knot winds at Adak ground all missions.

BURMA: Five B-25s, with an escort of nine P-40s, bomb Bhamo; other fighters strafe targets of opportunity in the Wanling, Bhamo and Loiwing areas.

SOUTHWEST PACIFIC (Fifth Air Force) In New Guinea, US heavy, medium and light bombers and fighters, along with RAAF aircraft, continue to pound the convoy as it leaves Lae. Airfields, supply dumps and troop concentrations at Lae and at Salamaua are also hit. In four days of attacks on this convoy, two transport are sunk, several vessels are damaged and about 80 aircraft are destroyed.

JAPAN: Tokyo radio announces that the Nanking Government, the Japanese puppet government in China, has declared war on the U.K. and the U.S., and that a Sino-Japanese declaration had been signed for cooperation between the Chinese Government and Japan, the abolition of extraterritoriality , and the retrocession of concessions and settlements.

NEW GUINEA: In Papua New Guinea, Japanese fire prevents the U.S. 127th Infantry Regiment, 32d Infantry Division, from establishing a bridgehead across Konombi Creek in the Tarakena area. Relief of elements of the 126th Infantry Regiment, now greatly depleted in strength, is completed on the Sanananda front. While 1st Battalion, 163d Infantry Regiment, 41st Infantry Division, continues efforts to reduce the Japanese pockets between Musket and Kano, the 2d Battalion establishes a position astride the Killerton trail west of Musket, isolating the Japanese in the track junction.
In Northeast New Guinea, RAAF aircraft and Fifth Air Force heavy, medium and light bombers and fighters continue to attack the Japanese convoy as it leaves Lae in the early morning. Airfields, supply dumps and troop concentrations at Lae and at Salamaua are also hit. In four days of attacks on this convoy, two transport are sunk, several vessels are damaged and about 80 aircraft are destroyed.
The Australian 17th Brigade, 5th Division, "Kanga Force", is airlifted to Wau, Northeast New Guinea, establishing a forward base for the next phase of the Allied offensive on New Guinea.

GUADALCANAL: On Guadalcanal Island, the XIV Corps completes preparations for their attack tomorrow. The 25th Infantry Division, which is to lead off, moves forward to the line of departure. The 27th Infantry Regiment, on the division right (north), takes up positions for an assault on the hill mass called Galloping Horse, between the northwest and southwest forks of the Matanikau River. The 35th Infantry Regiment, on the left, prepares to make their main effort against Hills 43 and 44, called Sea Horse, lying between the Gifu (Japanese strongpoint between Hills 31 and 27) and Galloping Horse, while exerting pressure against the Gifu. The 3d Battalion, followed by the 1st, completes a wide circling movement about the southern flank of the Gifu to their line of departure for an attack on the Sea Horse. The 2d Battalion and Calvary Reconnaissance Troop take up positions about the eastern part of the Gifu, relieving the 132d Infantry Regiment, Americal Division. The Americal Division holds the perimeter defense. Captain Beach's 147th Infantry Regiment Task Force lands at Beaufort Bay and establishes beach defenses.
The 70th Bombardment Squadron, 38th BG (Medium) based in Fiji begins operating its B-26s from Guadalcanal , Solomons.

UNITED STATES: The Lockheed Constellation makes its first flight from Lockheed Air Terminal in Burbank, California. The aircraft, Lockheed Model 049-46-10, msn 049-1961, is painted in USAAF camouflage colors with military insignia but carries the civilian registration NX25600.
Piloted by Eddie Allen and Milo Burcham, the aircraft flies for 58 minutes with the landing gear down and lands at Muroc Army Air Base (now Edwards AFB), Muroc, California; the Connie makes four landings and take-offs at Muroc and then flies back to Burbank.
Lockheed continues to test the aircraft until it is turned over to the USAAF on 28 July 1943 as C-69-LO, USAAF serial number 43-10309. It is immediately loaned back to Lockheed, flown back to Burbank and used by for testing until March 1946.

1944
(CBI) BURMA-INDIA (Tenth Air Force): 21 P-51's and A-36's attack the Loilaw, Burma area, severely damaging a bridge, hitting an ammunition storage building, and scoring direct hits on large barracks. CHINA (Fourteenth Air Force): In China, 9 fighters strafe 6 steamboats and many smaller craft on the Yangtze River at Puchi; 2 B-25's on a sea sweep bomb a 200-ft (61 m) vessel S of Swatow, reporting the ship destroyed. 8 fighter-bombers hit Sadon, Burma and in French Indochina, 4 bomb the Atson railroad yards and Lao Kay railroad station.

BURMA: In the Hukawng Valley of northern Burma, the 112th and 113th Regiments of the Chinese 38th Division are converging on Taihpa Ga, and the 114th Regiment is active in the jungle south of the Tanai River. The 3d Battalion, 114th Regiment, begins a lively action with Japanese infiltrators who have surrounded its supporting battery.

THAILAND: During the night of 9/10 January, seven B-24 Liberators lay mines in the Menam River estuary near Bangkok, Thailand and in the Rangoon River estuary.

SOUTH PACIFIC AREA (SOPAC, Thirteenth Air Force): B-25's hit Buka seaplane base on Buka and the Kahili supply area on Bougainville; fighters strafe the Cape Dunganon area and along the Ramusian River W of Teop. 7 squadrons of Allied fighters cover a USN dive bomber strike on Tobera; 2 squadrons of B-24's pound Vunakanau Airfield. 6 B-25's bomb Taharai Airfield, New Ireland and afterwards some hit targets of opportunity on the .
Transfers from Espiritu Santo, New Hebrides to Munda, New Georgia : 23d and 72d Bombardment Squadrons (Heavy), 5th BG (Heavy), with B-24's. 371st and 372d Bombardment Squadrons (Heavy), 307th BG (Heavy), with B-24's.
On New Britain Island, RAAF, USMC and USN aircraft attack Tobera Airfield at Rabaul; 16 TBF Avengers and 23 SBD Dauntlesses bomb the airfield which is closed due to the damage. About 40 Japanese fighters are engaged by Marine F4U Corsairs and Navy F6F Hellcats over Rabaul; 18 Zero fighters and Tony fighters are shot down over Tobera Airfield between 1200 and 1345 hours. A USN F6F and two RAAF (P-40) Kittyhawks are lost.

SOLOMON ISLANDS: On Bougainville, the Americal Division continues their relief of the 3d Marine Division: the 132d Infantry Regiment enters the line.
A second airfield, Piva North (Piva Yoke), is completed on Bougainville. The strip is plagued with problems for heavy bomber operations, as the soil is too soft from the constant rain. Although Marston matting is laid, it was not an ideal forward base.

BISMARCK ARCHIPELAGO: On New Britain Island, the ADC Group (7th Marine Regiment reinforced by a battalion of the 5th Marine Regiment and supporting units) secures a foothold on Aogiri Ridge, west of Hill 150, which the Japanese have been told to hold at all costs since it covers a good supply route that they have constructed.

SOUTHWEST PACIFIC AREA (SWPA, Fifth Air Force): Fighters and bombers attack Alexishafen, Madang, Bogadjim, Uligan Harbor, and the area E of Saidor; and Cape Beechey is strafed by P-40's. Transfers in New Guinea: 36th Fighter Squadron, 8th Fighter Group, from Nadzab to Finschhafen with P-47's. 498th Bombardment Squadron (Medium), 345th Bombardment Group (Medium), from Port Moresby to Dobodura with B-25's.

1945
ALASKA (Eleventh Air Force): For the first time the Eleventh radar-bombs with H2X equipment as 4 B-24s hit Suribachi Bay Airfield on Paramushiru

CHINA THEATER (Fourteenth Air Force): 6 B-25s hit railroad targets, road bridge, and building area NE of Thanh Moi, French Indochina. 25 P-40s, P-38s, and P-51s hit targets of opportunity S, SW, and NE of Wanling, Burma. 8 P-51s bomb railroad repair shops at Sinsiang, China while 3 P-40s hit a road W of Muse, Burma, causing a traffic block.

INDIA-BURMA THEATER (Tenth Air Force): In Burma, 8 P-47s hit division HQ at Ho-na while 4 others support ground forces in the Si-U sector; 90+ fighter-bombers hit supply areas, tanks, AA positions, and troop concentrations at Man Kat, Tonghsim, Kong-lin, Bawdwin, Mong Tat, and in the Hsenwi vicinity. 488 transport sorties are flown to forward areas.

HQ AAF (Twentieth Air Force): Mission 26: 46 B-29s from Chengtu, China are dispatched to bomb the harbor at Kirun, Formosa; 39 hit the target and 6 bomb targets of last resort along the China coast; this raid is the first of several such operations against Formosa in conjunction with the US invasion of Luzon .

AAFPOA (Seventh Air Force): 24 B-24s, based on Saipan hit an airfield on Iwo Jima which is struck again by 8 B-24s on individual snooper missions during the night of 9/10 Jan.

EAST INDIES: USAAF Far East Air Forces aircraft make small-scale attacks on barges, airfields, and targets of opportunity in Halmahera Islands, the Ceram Island area, northern Borneo, and on Timor Island.

FORMOSA: The Japanese transport SS Oryoku Maru was attacked in December by USN planes while transporting U.S. POWs from the Philippine Islands to Japan. To prevent her sinking, the crew ran her aground in the Philippines but 286 US soldiers were killed and the 925 survivors were put aboard the SS Enoura Maru. Previously used to transport horses, the holds are filthy with manure, yet into these holds are crammed some 1,040 men with little room to sit down. Some are so hungry that they picked out grain from the manure, grain that had dropped from the horses mouth during feeding. On 1 January, the Enoura Maru reached Takao, Formosa. The crew then started to celebrate the New Year, leaving the POWs to fend for themselves for the next four days. During those four days 34 prisoners died. This morning, aircraft from the aircraft carrier USS Hornet carried out a bombing attack on the harbor. Little did the pilots know that the ship they are bombing carried their own countrymen. The bombs that struck the Enoura Maru killed 252 men and injured a similar number, many of whom later died from their injuries. No medical help is forthcoming from the Japanese crew, the prisoners left in the hold surrounded by hundreds of mutilated bodies. On 11 January, the bodies are removed and transported in cargo lighters to the outer spit of the harbor and buried in a mass grave. In the later part of 1946 the bodies were exhumed by an American Graves Recovery Team and re-interred in the National War Cemetery in Hawaii.

NEW GUINEA: In Northeast New Guinea, the Australian 2/5th Battalion, 17th Brigade, 6th Division, captures Asiling without opposition.

PACIFIC OCEAN: Task Force 38 (Vice Admiral John S. McCain) supports the landings at Lingayen Gulf, Philippine Islands, with attacks on Japanese airfields and shipping in the Formosa, Ryukyus, and Pescadores Islands areas. This Task Force is composed of 12 aircraft carriers, five small aircraft carriers, five battleships, two heavy cruisers, 11 light cruisers and 60 destroyers. Off Formosa, TF 38 planes sink a coast defense vessel north of Keelung; a submarine chaser; and a fleet tanker, a merchant tanker and a cargo ship south of Formosa; and a small cargo vessel off Keelung; and a cargo ship.

PHILIPPINE ISLANDS: After preparatory aerial and naval bombardment the U.S. Sixth Army, under Lieutenant General Walter Krueger, begins landing on shores of Lingayen Gulf at approximately 0930 hours local. The USN Seventh Fleet commander, Vice Admiral Thomas C. Kinkaid, heads the Luzon Attack Force (Task Force 77). Two corps land abreast, the XIV on right and the I on the left, without opposition. XIV Corps, with the 40th Infantry Division on the right and the 37th on the left, each with two regiments in assault, is virtually unopposed while pushing inland to an average depth of 4 miles, its flanks near Calasiao on the east and Port Sual on the west. I Corps, more strongly opposed, is less successful. Its beachhead by end of day is narrower and shallower than that of XIV Corps and contains several gaps between the assault forces. The 6th Infantry Division, employing two regiments, gains the line from Dagupan to the Pantalan River and has elements at the Bued
River crossing, south of San Fabian. The 43d Infantry Division attacks with three regiments to positions in the vicinity of San Jacinto, Binday, and Hills 470, 247, and 385.
The troops land under cover of heavy gunfire from the bombardment force, Task Group 77.2 (Vice Admiral Jesse B. Oldendorf) consisting of six battleships; two Australian and three USN heavy cruisers, one light cruiser and one RAN and 20 USN destroyers and aircraft from the escort carrier force, Task Group 77.4 (Rear Admiral Calvin T. Durgin), consisting of 20 escort aircraft carriers. Japanese air attacks and assault demolition boats continue to vex the invasion forces off the beaches. Kamikazes crash battleship USS Mississippi, light cruiser USS Columbia, and destroyer escort USS Hodges, in addition to Australian heavy cruiser HMAS Australia (D 84), which is finally sent to the rear areas for repairs. Japanese assault demolition boats damage transport USS War Hawk and tank landing ships USS LST-925 and LST-1028.
The US landing on Luzon at Lingayen Gulf begins. This is Operation MIKE 1. I was there on 9 January. In fact, I have a printed book describing the complete operation issued 29 July 29, 1945. Just for clarification the first paragraph was as follows: "The planning group of GHQ mapped out a series of operations for the recapture of the Island of LUZON. This series was known at the MUSKETEER OPERATIONS, and the separate phases of M-1, M-2, M-3, and M-4. The first (M-1) called for landings in LINGAYEN GULF." This book had a cover letter written by O. W. Griswold, Lieutenant General, U. S. Army Commanding, and was submitted to the Commanding General, Sixth Army. Detailed reports were written by Staff Officers of the XIV Corps.
In northern Luzon, USAAF Far East Air Forces (FEAF) B-24s bomb Mabalacat while B-25s, A-20s, and fighter-bombers destroy several bridges and numerous vehicles and trains throughout Luzon, and bomb several airfields; B-24s also hit Nielson Airfield and Nichols Field. FEAF aircraft also make small-scale attacks on barges, airfields, and targets of opportunity on Mindanao.

JOINT STATEMENT, JANUARY 9, 1945

The following joint Anglo‑American statement on submarine and anti-submarine operations is issued under the authority of the President and the Prime Minister:

"The German U‑boat warfare flared into renewed activity during December 1944. This is but another index that the European war is far from over.
"Increased losses in Allied merchant craft have been officially re*corded, as a result of the U‑boats' spurt last month.
"Despite these, the United Nations regularly continue to supply their expanding armies over the world, enabling them to resist the attackers or drive back the foe. The Allies continue to sink the enemy undersea craft in widely‑separated parts of the Atlantic.
"The announcement of the recent landing of enemy agents from a U‑boat on the Maine coast is yet another indication that the menace of Germany's undersea fleet is real and continuing."


CINCPAC COMMUNIQUÉ NO. 227, JANUARY 9, 1945

On January 8 (West Longitude Date) carrier aircraft of the United States Pacific Fleet attacked Japanese aircraft installations and shipping in and round the islands of Formosa, Ishigaki and Miyako Jima in the Sakishima coup, and Okinawa. Details of the sea operations are not yet available.


CINCPAC COMMUNIQUÉ NO. 228, JANUARY 9, 1944

Further reports of the attacks of aircraft from carriers of the U. S. Pacific Fleet which struck targets in and around Luzon in the Philippines on January and 6 (West Longitude Dates) and caused damage to the enemy are now available as follows:

Aircraft:
Ten shot down.
Seventy‑four destroyed on the ground.
One Zero, three damaged on the ground.

All aircraft figures are in addition to those reported in communiqué No. 226.

Shipping destroyed, not previously reported:
Three medium cargo ships sunk.
Four small coastal cargo ships sunk.
Five luggers sunk.

Shipping damaged, not previously reported:
One large cargo ship.
Three medium cargo ships.
Nine small coastal cargo ships.
One tug and fifteen small craft.

Many fires were started by the attacking aircraft. In sweeps over the island aircraft destroyed one locomotive, fifteen freight cars, forty‑six trucks, barracks, fuel supplies and other installations and damaged buildings and other facilities. Our forces lost fifteen airplanes in combat.
Partial reports from the Pacific Fleet show that the following damage was inflicted on the enemy by carrier‑based aircraft in the attack on Formosa Ishigaki, and Miyako Jima in the Sakishima Group, and Okinawa on January 8; 17 aircraft destroyed; 17 aircraft damaged; 14 small ships sunk; 17 small ships and luggers damaged; one large tanker left burning off Toshien, Formosa. The enemy offered no opposition in the air. Further details of this attack which was reported in communiqué No. 227 are not now available.
On January 7, Army Liberators of the Strategic Air Force, Pacific Ocean Areas, bombed air installations on Iwo Jima in the Volcanoes. Our aircraft encountered moderate antiaircraft fire but all returned safely.
Aircraft of the Fourth Marine Aircraft Wing and Fleet Air Wing Two encountered meager antiaircraft fire in neutralizing attacks on enemy‑held bases in the Marshalls on January 6 and 7.

 

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1933
UNITED STATES: President Herbert Hoover asks ratification of the international convention for the suppression of international trade in arms and ammunition and implements of war or legislation permitting the President to limit or forbid such shipment.

1934
UNITED STATES: Six USN Consolidated P2Y-1 seaplanes of Patrol Squadron Ten, Base Force (VP-10F) take off from San Francisco, California, on a historic nonstop formation flight and arrive at Pearl Harbor, Territory of Hawaii, in 24 hours 35 minutes. The flight betters the best previous time for the crossing; exceeding the best distance of previous mass flights; and breaks a nine-day-old world record for distance in a straight line for Class C seaplanes with a new mark of 2,399 miles
The first Boeing P-26A Peashooter monoplane fighter makes it first flight today. The P-26 was still in service on 7 December 1941 with the USAAF in the Territory of Hawaii and the Philippine Air Force.

1938
CHINA: The Japanese army gains control of the strategic port of Qingdao (Tsingtao), but only after Chinese forces had destroyed the Japanese mills in the region. The Japanese army then begins a major offensive southwards, along the Hankow Railway through Shanxi (Shansi).

UNITED STATES: U.S. Representative Louis Ludlow (Democrat - Indiana) first introduced a constitutional amendment in 1935, which requires a national referendum to confirm a declaration of war passed by Congress, except in the event of an invasion of the U.S. or its territorial possessions. While Ludlow introduced the amendment several times, it failed to pass, in spite of strong support in national opinion polls. In January 1938, passage of the resolution seems assured, but President Franklin D. Roosevelt sends a letter to the Speaker of the House arguing that a president would be unable to conduct an effective foreign policy and other nations would violate American rights if the Constitution is amended. By a vote of 209-188, the House returns the resolution to committee.

1940
AUSTRALIA: Four passenger liners depart Sydney, New South Wales, carrying the Australian 16th Brigade bound for Egypt. The ships, escorted by the heavy cruiser HMAS Australia (D 84), will rendezvous with the convoy carrying the New Zealand 4th Brigade that sailed from Auckland on 6 January.

1941
UNITED STATES: President Franklin D. Roosevelt addresses the Congress and introduces the "lend-lease" program. The administration' s leading supporters in Congress ask their colleagues to give President Franklin D. Roosevelt what amounts to a blank cheque to arm Great Britain. The bill authorising massive deliveries of arms to Britain is popularly known as the "Lease-and-Lend" Bill. It empowers the President to send weapons, munitions, aircraft, ships, machinery and blueprints to any country whose defence he deems vital to that of the U.S. Estimates of the eventual cost of this bill have reached US$2.5 billion (US$33.2 billion in 2005 dollars). The bill also gives the President sweeping powers to:
(1) test, inspect, fit out or otherwise place in good working order any defence article for any government whose defence it deems vital;
(2) sell, transfer, exchange, lease, lend, or otherwise dispose of any defence article; and
(3) communicate to any government any defence information.
By the end of the war the U.S. had "given" more than US $50 billion (US$543 billion in 2005 dollars) in armaments and financial support to Britain, the U.S.S.R. and 37 other countries.
President Roosevelt takes special powers to prevent six essential raw materials from reaching the Axis powers - copper, brass, bronze, zinc, nickel and potash. It is U.S. policy to help the democracies to survive, he tells a press conference, speedy methods must be used which were strictly legal.
Appearing before the House of Representatives Committee on Naval Affairs, Rear Admiral John H. Towers, head of the USN Bureau of Aeronautics, states that, in the past year, only 445 planes were obtained by the Navy. He attributes the small output to "indecision and vagueness" on the part of the administration. Admiral Towers said that the Navy's goal is 16,000 fighting planes; at present there are 2,590 in use, and, of these, very few are modern.

1942
TRUK:A specially fitted Hudson Bomber Mark IV, 6 Squadron RAAF, flown by Flight Lieutenant R. Yeowart and his crew reveals the concentration of Japanese shipping at Truk preparing for the invasion of New Britain and New Ireland which took place 12 days later. This reconnaissance flight of 1,405 miles was the longest undertaken to that time by the RAAF in a land-based aircraft.

AUSTRALIA: The landing ship HMAS Kanimbla sails from Melbourne, Victoria, escorting convoy MS.1 consisting of three ships bound for Singapore and four for the Netherlands East Indies. Meanwhile, the heavy cruiser HMAS Canberra sails from Sydney, New South Wales, escorting convoy MS.2 to Singapore.
HQ USAAF Far East Air Forces authorizes the activation of the 17th Pursuit Squadron (Provisional) . The unit is based at Brisbane, Queensland, equipped with P-40s and manned by (1) experienced pilots evacuated from the Philippines in a convoy that reached Australia on 22 December 1941 and (2) inexperienced pilots arriving from the U.S. The latter are being trained using ad hoc courses at RAAF bases.

BORNEO: While on a reconnaissance flight, a Dutch Dornier Do-24K flying boat spots a Japanese invasion force consisting of transports escorted by two heavy cruisers and eight destroyers heading for Tarakan Island and gives the alarm. Tarakan is a 117 square mile island in the East Celebes Sea off the northeast coast of Borneo.
The main objective of the invasion is the capture of the huge oilfields, oil refineries and airfield located on the island but the Dutch commander gives the order to set fire to all oilfields and damage or destroy the refineries.

BURMA: The commander of Indian 17th Division arrives in Burma to take charge of Tenasserim operations.

MALAYA: The Indian 3 Corps abandons Port Swettenham and Kuala Lumpur while falling back to cover the Port Dickson and Seremban area. Japanese planes, which since late December have been making night attacks on airdromes on Singapore, begin daylight raids on the
airdromes. ìWestforce,î consisting of the Australian 8th Division (less 22nd Brigade), Indian 9th Division, Indian 45th Brigade Group, the 2/Loyal Regiment (less one company), and supporting units is established.
The Governor of Singapore sends out a message stating, "The day of minute papers has gone. There must be no more passing of files
from one department to another, and from one officer in a department to another" to which The Straits Times newspaper responds, "This announcement is about two and a half years too late."

NETHERLANDS EAST INDIES: General Archibald Lord Wavell, Commander in Chief Australian-British- Dutch-American (ABDA) Command, South West Pacific area, flies to Java, where he confers with members of the ABDA staff; he then establishes headquarters at the Grand Hotel in Lembang, 10 miles north of Bandoeng. Wavell assumes supreme command of all forces in the area; U.S. Lieutenant General George H. Brett, USAAF, is deputy commander; and U.S. Admiral Thomas C. Hart is to command the naval forces.

PACIFIC: Three Allied submarines sink Japanese ships.
(1) USS Pickerel torpedoes and sinks a Japanese gunboat at the mouth of Davao Gulf, off Cape San Augustin, Philippine Islands;
(2) USS Stingray torpedoes and sinks a Japanese cargo ship in the South China Sea off the south coast of Hainan Island; and
(3) Dutch submarine HNMS O-19 torpedoes and sinks a Japanese army cargo ship and torpedoes a merchant cargo ship at the mouth of the Gulf of Siam.

PHILIPPINE ISLANDS: On Bataan, General Douglas MacArthur, Commander in Chief US Army Forces Far East, makes his only visit to the peninsula and his failure to return causes deep bitterness among the defenders. The Japanese make their first surrender demand, dropping
it from the air. In the II Corps area, a Japanese force driving south along the East Road splits, most of it moving west; both forces
reach the outpost line along the Calaguiman River below Samal and exerts strong pressure against it. A Japanese column pushing south in
central Bataan is slowed by the jungle terrain. In the I Corps area, the Japanese Western assault force reaches Olongapo without opposition.
Far East Air Force fighter units complete a movement (begun 24 December 1941) from various bases on Luzon to the Bataan Peninsula.

U.S.: The USN Bureau of Ships orders that the Cleveland Class light cruiser Amsterdam (CL-59), which is under construction in Camden, New Jersey, be completed as an aircraft carrier (CV). She will be commissioned as USS Independence (CV-22) on 14 January 1943 and be
reclassified as a small aircraft carrier (CVL-22) on 15 July 1943.
This is the first of nine light cruisers that are completed as small aircraft carriers.
The Ford Motor Company signs a contract to manufacture Jeeps. The Willys-Overland Company is the prime contractor for the vehicle
but because of the demand for it, the huge manufacturing capacity of Ford is enlisted.
Congress imposes price controls on most food and goods.

1943
BURMA: Six USAAF Tenth Air Force B-24 Liberators and B-25 Mitchells jointly attack the Myitnge bridge, knocking out a span and causing considerable damage to the entire target.

EAST INDIES: The 282 troops of the Australian Lancer Force are evacuated from Portugese Timor by the destroyer HMAS Arunta along with 11 women and 20 Portugese.

NEW GUINEA: In Papua New Guinea, Companies A and C, U.S. 127th Infantry Regiment, 32d Infantry Division, establishes a bridgehead across Konombi Creek in the Tarakena area. Action is then suspended temporarily. The 1st Battalion, 163d Infantry Regiment, 41st Infantry Division, finds one of the two Japanese positions between Musket and Kano evacuated. Kano is renamed Fisk.
In Northeast New Guinea, RAAF and USAAF Fifth Air Force aircraft attack supply dumps and antiaircraft positions in the Lae area.
The 13th Bombardment Squadron, 3d Bombardment Group with B-25s transfers from Charters Towers, Queensland, Australia to Port Moresby, New Guinea.

SOLOMON SEA: The USN transport submarine USS Argonaut (APS-1) is the largest submarine ever built in the U.S. up to this time. At 3,128 tons she was designed primarily as a minelayer but later, in 1942, was converted to a troop carrying submarine and based at Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.
Today, a five ship Japanese convoy is sailing in the Solomon Sea about 88 nautical miles S of Rabaul, New Britain Island, Bismarck Archipelago, in position 05.40S, 152.02E. A Japanese plane belonging to the 582nd Naval Air Group, flying antisubmarine patrols spots a submerged sub approaching the convoy. The plane drops three bombs then contacts destroyer HIJMS Maikaze which peels off to pursue the contact, leaving the escort to sister ships HIJMS Isokaze and Hamakaze.
Maikaze's depth charge attack evidently is succesful, since a submarine's bow breaks the surface and is taken under fire by both Maikaze and Isokaze from short range. The sub sinks as a USAAF bomber
returning from a mission over New Guinea, therefore without bombs, is passing over the area. The pilot witnesses a sub forced to surface and is sunk by gunfire. There is no doubt this is USS Argonaut which was on her third patrol. There are no survivors from the 105 officers and men aboard.
RAAF and USAAF Fifth Air Force aircraft operating over the Solomon Sea south of New Britain Island continue to attack vessels of the Japanese convoy that departed Lae, Northeast New Guinea, yesterday.

JAPAN: USS Trigger torpedoes and sinks Japanese destroyer HIJMS Okikaze about 45 nautical miles SSE of Tokyo, Honshu, Japan, in position 35.02N, 140.12E.

GUADALCANAL: The 25th Infantry Division, reinforced, begins the largest and final offensive to clear Guadalcanal, the immediate objectives being Galloping Horse, Sea Horse, and the Gifu strongpoint. After a 30-minute artillery preparation, the first divisional time on target concentration of the campaign, followed by twelve 500 pound bombs and thirty six 325 pound depth charges, courtesy of the Cactus Air Force, the attack steps off at 0730 hours. The 27th Infantry Regiment drives south through the 2d Marine Division against Galloping Horse and clears more than half of the objective. The 1st Battalion, on the west, attacks from Hill 66 to the objective, the northern part of Hill 57, and establishes patrol contact with the 3d Battalion to the east. From Hill 55, the 3d Battalion advances 1,600 yards toward Hill 53, but is halted by stubborn opposition on Hill 52, the intermediate position. The 35th Infantry Regiment's 3d Battalion begins the envelopment of the southern flank of Sea Horse, omitting preparatory fire, and takes the preliminary objective, a small hill a short distance south of the Sea Horse, against scattered opposition. Combat patrols of the 2d Battalion move against the Gifu after preparatory fire but are unable to make any headway.
P-39s and USMC SBDs support ground forces in the battle area. A strongpoint and an ammunition
dump are destroyed.

NEW GEORGIA: B-26s attack Munda, New Georgia Island with the loss of one aircraft.

1944
(CBI) BURMA-INDIA (Tenth Air Force): In Burma, 12 A-36's and P-51's hit a bivouac area at Nanyaseik; and 15 P-40's attack a bridge at Namti, damaging railroad tracks and the S approach to the bridge. During the night of 9/10 Jan, 7 B-24's lay mines in the Menam River estuary near Bangkok, Thailand and in the Rangoon River estuary. B-24's during the day bomb marshalling yard and airfield in the Bangkok area and hit the main jetty at Akyab, Burma. 9 B-25's mine the Mokpalin, Burma ferry crossing over the Sittang River. 315th Troop Carrier Squadron, Tenth Air Force, transfers from Dinjan to Sylhet, India with C-47's.

CHINA (Fourteenth Air Force): In China, 8 P-51's bomb the approach to the Kienchang bridge and attack a troop train N of Teian damaging the train and killing an estimated 100 soldiers; 3 B-25's and 8 P-40's sweep the area from Anking to Chiuchiang, sinking a large motor launch, 2 100-ft (30.5 m) barges, and a tug on the Yangtze River, and attacking a bridge at Teian and tracks S of Chiuchiang; 2 B-25's and 4 P-40's attack shipping on the Yangtze River near Wusueh, sinking a launch and leaving 3 tankers burning. 491st Bombardment Squadron (Medium), 341st Bombardment Group (Medium), transfers from Chakulia, India to Yangkai, China with B-25's.

PACIFIC OCEAN AREA (POA, Seventh Air Force): In the Marshall , 4 P-39's from Makin strafe Mille Atoll; 1 of the P-39's drops 2 500-lb (227 kg) bombs on the fuel storage area; during the night of 10/11 Jan, 16 B-24's, staging through Tarawa Atoll from Ellice bomb Maloelap; 4 others, staging through Baker from Canton , Phoenix , hit Mille Atoll. 392d Bombardment Squadron, 30th BG (Heavy), transfers from Canton to Abemama , Gilbert with B-24's. Japanese planes again bomb the advanced base at Apamama Atoll, but inflict neither casualties nor serious damage to installations.
Aerial minelaying operations in the Marshalls continue: two PBY-5 Catalinas of USN Patrol Squadron VP-72, flying from Tarawa, mine Meichen Channel and Legediak Strait, Wotje Atoll.

NEW GUINEA: Since a Japanese attack on Saidor, Northeast New Guinea is expected, Brigadier General Clarence Martin, Assistant Division Commander, 32nd Infantry Division, asks Lieutenant General Walter Krueger, Commanding General Sixth Army, for reinforcements and is granted Battalion Combat Teams 1 and 3 of Regimental Combat Team 128.

THAILAND: USAAF Tenth Air Force B-24 Liberators bomb the marshalling yard and airfield in the Bangkok area.

SOUTH PACIFIC AREA (SOPAC, Thirteenth Air Force): Major General Hubert R Harmon, Commanding General, begins a heavy bomber campaign of night strikes. 5th Bombardment Group night raids sending 20 B-24's on a strike against Lakunai Airfield, after a morning raid by 10 B-24's against nearby Vunakanau Airfield. 5 B-24's hit the Kahili supply area, Bougainville while 4 hit the Chinatown area of Buka. AAF and USN fighters cover a USN dive bomber strike against Cape Saint George.
BISMARCK ARCHIPELAGO: The ADC Group (7th Marine Regiment reinforced by a battalion of the 5th Marine Regiment and supporting units) repels Japanese charges against Aogiri Ridge, beginning at 0115 hours, then continues their attack southward toward Hill 660. The Arawe beachhead is being reinforced.
USAAF Fifth Air Force P-39 Airacobras strafe scattered villages and barges on New Britain Island.
Ten USAAF Thirteenth Air Force B-24 Liberators bomb Vunakanau Airfield at Rabaul, New Britain Island. USMC and USN Avengers and Dauntlesses, escorted by USAAF and USN fighters, are prevented from attacking Lakunai Airfield at Rabaul because of bad weather but hit the lighthouse at Cape St. George on New Ireland Island.
Major General Hubert R Harmon, Commanding General USAAF Thirteenth Air Force, begins a heavy bomber campaign of night strikes tonight sending 20 B-24s on a strike against Lakunai Airfield, New Britain Island.

SOUTHWEST PACIFIC AREA (SWPA, Fifth Air Force): 100+ heavy, medium, and light bombers, and fighters attack Madang, Alexishafen, and Bogadjim areas and the coastline from Madang to Sio. P-39's strafe scattered villages and barges on New Britain . Transfers to Nadzab New Guinea: 33d Bombardment Squadron (Medium), 22d Bombardment Group (Medium), from Dobodura with B-25's; squadron will be redesignated 33d Bombardment Squadron on 3 Feb and transition to B-24's. 69th Troop Carrier Squadron, 433d Troop Carrier Group, from Port Moresby with C-47's.
NEI: B-25's bomb Koepang, Timor.

1945
ALASKA (Eleventh Air Force): 3 B-24s on an armed photo mission bomb and photograph Kurabu Airfield on Paramushiru, scoring hits on the runway.

CHINA: In an effort to reopen the Canton-Hengyang stretch of the Canton-Hankow Railroad, the Japanese move forward as quietly as possible about this time.

CHINA THEATER (Fourteenth Air Force): 2 B-24s bomb the Cap-Saint-Jacques area of French Indochina. In Burma, 50+ P-51s, P-40s, and P-38s pound various targets of opportunity throughout the Wanling area and 6 P-40s hit targets of opportunity in the Muse area. The 25th Fighter Squadron, 51st FG, based at Yunnani with P-51s, sends a detachment to operate from Leangshan, China.

BURMA: Whilst the advance of the Indian XXXIII Corps to the Irrawaddy River is attracting the Japanese attention, the Indian IV Corps is moving southward to the west of the Chindwin with the intention of crossing the Irrawaddy near Meiktila. Gangaw is taken in this advance. The Indian 19th Division takes bridgeheads over the Irrawaddy north of Mandalay, at Kyaukmyang and Thabeikkyin. Fierce Japanese attacks in these areas begin immediately. In the Arakan, there are landings of British Commandos near Myebon on the mainland between Akyab and Ramree.
In the Northern Combat Area Command area, the 114th Regiment of the Chinese 38th Division, which is to move around the southern end of the Shweli Valley and cut the Namhkam-Namhpakka trail, crosses the Shweli River. The U.S. 124th Cavalry Regiment (Special), after a delay at the Shweli River because of swollen waters, is assembled east of the river.

INDIA-BURMA THEATER (Tenth Air Force): In Burma, 75 fighter-bombers pound troop concentrations, supplies, tanks, artillery, and buildings at Kawnglang, Nampa-chi, Man Namman, Pangkai, Mong Yai, Namhsan, Namyao, Se-ping, Panghai, and in the Hosi area; 17 P-47s knock out a bridge, damage another at Bawgyo and 2 others at Ho-kho; 8 P-47s support ground forces in the Si-U battle sector; 8 others hit supplies and ferry crossing at Ta-mawngtawn. 472 transport sorties are flown to forward bases and frontline areas. The 165th Liaison Squadron (Commando), 1st Air Commando Group, moves from Kawlin to Ye-U, Burma with UC-64s and L-5s (a detachment is operating from Inbaung, Burma).

AAFPOA (Seventh Air Force): 30 Guam based B-24s operating in 2 separate formations, bomb airfields on Iwo Jima; 2 other B-24s, on armed reconnaissance, hit airfield on Woleai. Iwo Jima airfields are hit again on the night of 10/11 Jan by B-24s flying snooper missions from Guam.

SOUTHWEST PACIFIC AREA [SWPA, Far East Air Force (FEAF)]: HQ XIII Fighter Command moves from Sansapor to Leyte . The detachment of the 12th Fighter Squadron, 18th FG, operating from Morotai with P-38s, returns to base at Sansapor.

AUSTRALIA: Since censorship has prevented the press from publishing news that Australian troops have taken over from the Americans on Bougainville Island, Solomon Islands, the Canberra Times newspaper asks, "Will anyone knowing the whereabouts of Australian soldiers in action in the South West Pacific Area please communicate at once with the Australian Government"

EAST INDIES: In the Netherlands East Indies, about 60 USAAF Far East Air Forces P-40s bomb and strafe the Galela area on Halmahera Island and B-25sand P-38s hit Kendari Airfield on Celebes Island.

PHILIPPINE ISLANDS: In U.S. Sixth Army area on Luzon, army reserve begins landing. In the XIV Corps area, the 185th Infantry Regiment, 40th Infantry Division takes Labrador while the 160th Infantry Regiment pushes along Highway 13 toward Aguilar, reaching the Umanday area. Because of a gap developing between the two regiments, the 180th Infantry Regiment (less 3d Battalion) is committed in the Polong area. The 148th Infantry Regiment, 37th Infantry Division, speeds inland to San Carlos; elements continue to the Army Beachhead Line. One 129th Infantry Regiment column moves without opposition to Malisiqui, within 2.5 miles of the Army Beachhead Line, while another reaches the Army Beachhead Line at Dumpay and maintains contact with the 148th Infantry Regiment. In the I Corps area, the 6th Infantry Division drives south and southeast to Mapandan and the vicinity of Santa Barbara. The 43d Infantry Division’s 103d Infantry Regiment takes San Jacinto without opposition and pushes on toward Manoag and Hill 200; the 169th and a 172d Infantry Regiments run into organized defense positions on hills confronting them; the 169th takes Hill 470 and drives on Hill 351 and 318; the 172d clears Hill 385 and moves slowly toward Hill 351.
On Luzon, USAAF Far East Air Forces B-24s bomb Grace Park Airfield and warehouse area near Manila, A-20s, and fighter-bombers attack trucks, trains, railroad yards, railroads, and highways over wide areas of northern and southern Luzon, and bomb Vigan and Laoag Airfields. Other B-25 Mitchells, A-20s, and fighter-bombers, operating in smaller forces, hit numerous shipping and communications targets, airfields, and other targets throughout the Philippine Islands.
Japanese assault demolition boats infiltrate the transport areas off Lingayen, sinking an infantry landing craft (mortar) and an infantry landing craft (gunboat), and damaging destroyers USS Robinson and Philip, transport USS War Hawk and tank landing ship USS LST-610. Japanese air attacks against the fleet off Lingayen continue, damaging destroyer USS Wickes; kamikazes damage destroyer escort USS Leray Wilson, and attack transport USS Dupage.

UNITED STATES: Three Japanese Fu-Go paper balloons are recovered today.
- The first balloon, including envelope, rigging and apparatus, is forced down by a USN aircraft at 1750 hours local about 30 miles west of Alturas, California. Alturas is located in northeastern California about 114 miles NE of Redding.
- The second balloon is found near Bozeman, Montana; it is not known when the balloon landed. Bozeman is located about 123 miles W of Billings.
- Remnants of a third balloon are found near Lake of the Woods, Oregon. The date of the landing is unknown. Lake of the Woods is located about 215 miles SE of Portland.

N. D. COMMUNIQUÉ NO. 567, JANUARY 10, 1945
Pacific Area.

1. The following craft have been lost in the Pacific Area recently as a result of enemy action:

4 landing craft (LST)
1 motor torpedo boat
1 small submarine chaser
1 small auxiliary vessel

2. The above, in addition to the loss of the destroyers USS Hull, USS Monaghan, and USS Spence, announced in a Navy Department Press Release today, together with losses previously announced in communiqués and press releases, covers all losses of surface craft during the Philippine campaign up to December 31, 1944.


Memorandums to the Press:

The vessels announced lost in Navy Department communiqué No. 667, which were not identified, may now be identified as

LST 750
LST 160
LST 738
LST 472
Motor Torpedo Boat 323
SC 744
The USS Porcupine, an auxiliary.

THREE DESTROYERS LOST DURING PACIFIC TYPHOON​

While taking part in recent combat operations in the Western Pacific, three destroyers of the U. S. Pacific Fleet were lost and a number of vessels suffered damage during a typhoon of severe intensity which developed with great rapidity.
The importance of the operational situation was such that the operations in hand could not be suspended or altered because of weather conditions.
The ships lost were the USS Hull, Lieutenant Commander James Alexander Marks, USN, Commanding Officer; the USS Spence, Lieutenant Commander James Paul Andrea, USN, Commanding Officer; and the USS Monaghan, Lieutenant Commander Floyd Bruce Garrett, Jr., USN, Com*manding Officer.
A thorough search of the area by aircraft and surface vessels was con*ducted over a period of days. The Commanding Officer, four other officers and forty‑nine men of the Hull were rescued. Twenty‑four of the personnel of the Spence, including one officer of the Supply Corps, were saved. Six of the personnel of the Monaghan were rescued.
The next of kin of casualties of the Hull and Monaghan have been in*formed and those of the Spence willbe notified by telegram as soon as In*formation becomes available.
A Court of Inquiry headed by Vice Admiral J. H. Hoover, USN, was duly convened by Fleet Admiral C. W. Nimitz, USN, to investigate all the circumstances.

1946
CHINA: U.S. General of the Army George Marshall, former Chief of Staff U.S. Army, serving as a mediator, negotiates a truce between the Nationalist and Communist Chinese. The two Chinese factions agree to create a national army, form a coalition government, and draw up a new constitution. The truce lasts until mid-April.

 

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1935
HAWAIIAN ISLANDS: Famous American aviatrix Amelia Earhart Putnam takes off alone from Wheeler Field, Oahu, at 1644 hours local, in her single-engine Lockheed Vega 5C, msn 171, registered NC965Y, and lands in Oakland, California, tomorrow after a 2,408-mile (3 875 kilometer) flight taking 18 hours, 16 minutes. Hawaiian commercial interests had offered a US$10,000 (US$142,550 in 2005 dollars) award to whoever accomplished the flight first.

1938
UNITED STATES: President Franklin d. Roosevelt made a proposal to the British government to convene a world conference to reduce armaments, promote economic security, and ameliorate the more inhuman aspects of a future war. British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain rejects the proposal.

1942
JAPAN: Japan declares war on the Netherlands. They did recognize and treat the Netherlands East Indies (NEI) Government as a separate entity of the Dutch government in exile. The NEI Government operated on its own apparently for the most part independent of the government in London. The NEI Government declared war on Japan on 8 Dec 41. After the fall of the NEI, the government in London formed a consultive board on the NEI on 17 June 42By Royal Decree the NEI Government in exile was established on Ceylon on September 19, 1942.

MALAYA: A lull develops in the ground action as the Indian 3 Corps continues their withdrawal into Lahore, but enemy planes remain active and begin series of strikes against Muar. The Japanese 5th Infantry Division rumbles into Malaya's capital Kuala Lumpur at 2000 hours local. They find the fuel supplies have been set ablaze, but the quantity of supplies and equipment captured is immense. Japanese soldiers try out rare delicacies like corned beef and Johnny Walker Red.

NETHERLANDS EAST INDIES: The Japanese invade at 2 points. The central assault force spotted by the Dutch yesterday, consisting of the 56th Regimental Group and the 2nd Kure Special Naval Landing Force (SNLF) with air support from Jolo Island in the Philippines, lands at rich oil Tarakan Island at 0000 hours. The eastern assault force from Davao, Mindanao, consisting of the Sasebo Combined SNLF and the 1st Yokosuka SNLF, invades Celebes Island at Menado and Kema at approximately 0300 hours. A Japanese Naval paratroop force of 334 men is dropped on the airfield just south of Menado and suffers heavy casualties (30 dead and 90 injured).
Allied planes are unable to halt the Japanese, and the small Dutch garrisons are quickly overwhelmed. The Japanese soon put Tarakan and Menado into use as air bases from which to support operations to south. Seven USAAF Far East Air Force B-17 Flying Fortresses based
at Singosari Airdrome, Java, are dispatched to attack the Japanese landing forces on Tarakan Island. Four abort due to mechanical
problems and the other three abort due to poor weather over the target.
USN Patrol Squadron Twenty Two (VP-22), with PBY-5 Catalinas, joins Patrol Wing Ten (PatWing-10) at Ambon Island, the first aviation reinforcements from the Central Pacific to reach southwest Pacific Forces opposing the Japanese advance through the Netherlands East Indies. (PatWing-10 had been based at Cavite, Philippine Islands on 8 December 1941.) Unfortunately, the PBY-5 aircraft they received in Hawaii were the early models without self-sealing fuel tanks and armor. PatWing-10 later received five newer model PBY-5 Catalinas from the Dutch in Java. All of the rest of the PatWingís original aircraft were the older PBY-4 models. Almost immediately after arrival several of the VP-22 Catalinas were caught at anchor at Ambon and destroyed.

PACIFIC: While sailing for a rendezvous with the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise, 500 miles SW of Hawaii, the aircraft carrier USS Saratoga is torpedoed by Japanese submarine HIJMS I-6. Although six men are killed and three firerooms are flooded, the carrier returns to Oahu under her own power.

PHILIPPINE ISLANDS: In the II Corps area on Bataan, the Japanese advancing down the east coast of Bataan drive back the outpost line of the 57th Infantry, Philippine Scouts, cross the Calaguiman River, and after nightfall begin an assault on the main line of resistance, forcing the 57th Infantry to fall back a little. Fighting continues throughout night of 11/12 January. Reserves are committed and the 57th Infantry counterattacks, regaining most of lost ground by dawn of 12th. To the west, another enemy column shifts west in the sector of 41st Division, Philippine Army (PA), and is contained by that division. Advance elements of still another column, pushing slowly south in central Bataan toward the 51st Division (PA), reach the Orani River by morning.

SAMOA: Naval Station Pago Pago, Samoa, is shelled by a Japanese submarine.

1943
AUSTRALIA: U.S. General Douglas MacArthur, Commander in Chief South West Pacific Area, sends a message to General George C. Marshall, Chief of Staff, U.S. Army, in Washington, D.C., asking that Lieutenant General Walter Krueger be sent to Australia "to give the US Army the next ranking officer below (Australian) General (Thomas) Blamey (Commander in Chief Australian Military Force and Commander in Chief Allied Land Forces South West Pacific Area) in the Allied Land Forces which is now not the case and is most necessary." Soon after Krueger's arrival MacArthur forms "Alamo Force" to conduct the operations of the U.S. Sixth Army, despite the fact that there were no yet enough troops to constitute a U.S. Army in Australia. However, Krueger, who was also to command Alamo Force, "realized that this arrangement would obviate placing Sixth Army under the operational control of the Allied Land Forces."

BURMA: Fighters of the Tenth Air Force's India Air Task Force attack Bhamo, destroying barges, tugs, warehouses and other port facilities.

CHINA: Fighters of the Tenth Air Force's China Air Task Force strafe fuel drums along the road between Chefang and Mangshih and hit a truckful of soldiers near Ho-lu.

NEW GUINEA: In Northeast New Guinea, the 2/7th Independent Company, Kanga Force, begins a 3-day raid on Mubo, during which considerable damage is inflicted on the Japanese.

SOLOMON ISLANDS: On Guadalcanal, the 3d Battalion, 27th Infantry Regiment, 25th Infantry Division, continues their attack on "Galloping Horse" but is again unable to take Hill 53. Stiff opposition coupled with insufficient drinking water makes action on this front very difficult.
The 3d Battalion, 35th Infantry Regiment, completes a circle about "the Gifu" with the capture of "Sea Horse," where it is forced to rely on air supply until a boat line can be completed. The 3d Battalion, 182nd Infantry Regiment, Americal Division, attached to the 35th Infantry Regiment, closes the gap between "Galloping Horse" and "Sea Horse." The 2d Battalion, 35th Infantry Regiment, continues to meet heavy fire from "the Gifu" as it probes the position with combat patrols. Captain Beach's 147th Infantry Regiment force, less elements holding the beachhead, starts a march to Vurai, southwest of Kokumbona, to block this escape route from Kokumbona.
Nine USN motor torpedo boats operating from Tulagi, directed to the scene by a PBY Catalina, attack Japanese Reinforcement Unit (Captain Koyanagi Tomiji), eight destroyers strong, off Cape Esperance, Guadalcanal; destroyer HIJMS Hatsukaze is damaged. Motor torpedo boat PT-112 is sunk and PT-43 damaged by Japanese destroyer gunfire.

NEW GEORGIA: B-26s and P-39s attack the Munda, New Georgia area.

1944
(CBI) BURMA-INDIA (Tenth Air Force): In Burma, 36 A-36's, P-51's, and P-40's pound an encampment containing about 4,900 troops and a large quantity of supplies, causing considerable damage by accurate bombing and strafing.

CHINA (Fourteenth Air Force): Before daylight 14 Japanese bombers hit the airfield at Suichwan, China; during the morning 3 medium bombers and 15 fighters follow up with a second strike; 7 P-51's and 5 P-40's intercept the second attack, claiming 3 medium bombers shot down.
FORMOSA: 8 B-24's bomb the harbor, aluminum plant, and airfield at Takao, Formosa; 1 bombs oil storage at Swatow, China. 4 B-24's mine harbors at Takao and Hong Kong; 1 B-24 is lost.

PACIFIC OCEAN AREA (POA, Seventh Air Force): In the Marshall , 9 B-25's from Tarawa Atoll hit 5 vessels and land installations at Maloelap; a 5000-ton cargo ship and a small vessel are sunk; 4 P-39's from Makin dive-bomb and strafe runways on Mille Atoll.
Aerial minelaying operations in the Marshalls continue: four PBY-5As of VP-72, flying from Tarawa, mine Meichen Channel and Schischmarov Strait, Wotje Atoll and Enibin and Torappu channels, Maleolap Atoll.
U.S. Naval aircraft based in the Gilbert and Ellice attack Japanese installations on Kwajalein Atoll prior to invasion.

INDIAN OCEAN: In the Strait of Malacca, the British submarine, HMS/M Tally-Ho (P-317), torpedoes and sinks the Japanese light cruiser HIJMS Kuma about 27 nautical miles W of Georgetown, Malaya, in position 05.25N, 99.52E.

BISMARCK ARCHIPELAGO: The ADC Group (7th Marine Regiment reinforced by
a battalion of the 5th Marine Regiment and supporting units) reaches the next phase line south of Aogiri Ridge and Hill 150.

SOUTH PACIFIC AREA (SOPAC, Thirteenth Air Force): About 90 Allied fighters cover 60+ USN dive bombers attacking Cape Saint George area. 2 flights of P-39's strafe targets of opportunity from Numa Numa to Koromira, Bougainville.

SOUTHWEST PACIFIC AREA (SWPA, Fifth Air Force): B-25's, P-39's, and P-40's hit Uligan Harbor, barges and the road near Bogadjim, the Hansa Bay area, and the town of Alexishafen.
The airfield at Saidor, Northeast New Guinea becomes operational after repairs.

1945
ALASKA (Eleventh Air Force): In the Kurile , 3 B-24s on an armed reconnaissance to Suribachi on Paramushiru , bomb NW of Taro Lake; 5 B-25s hit Kotani Shima.

CHINA THEATER (Fourteenth Air Force): In Burma, 5 B-25s damage a bridge at Wan Mai-Lo; 12 fighter-bombers hit targets of opportunity NE of Wanling, 7 drop napalm on targets of opportunity NE of Muse, and 11 attack targets of opportunity SE of Wanting, China and in the E end of the Wanting River valley.

HQ AAF (Twentieth Air Force): The USAAF Twentieth Air Force's XX Bomber Command flies Mission 27: 47 B-29s from the Calcutta, India area, are dispatched to bomb two large drydocks at Singapore; 25 hit the primary targets; around 15 others bomb Penang Island, Malaya, Mergui, Burma, and various targets of opportunity; they claim 6-1-17 Japanese aircraft; two B-29s are lost.

BURMA: In the British Fourteenth Army's Indian IV Corps area, after Gangaw is captured by the East African 28th Brigade and Lushai Brigade, the corps is able to advance quickly toward the Irrawaddy River in the Pakokku area for a drive on Meiktila.

INDIA-BURMA THEATER (Tenth Air Force): In Burma, 12 P-47s support ground forces in the Si-U and Namhkam sectors. 3 others strafe trucks between Namhkam and Selan; troop concentrations, vehicles, artillery pieces, supply areas, and general enemy movement are pounded by 80+ fighter-bombers; 12 B-25s bomb storage buildings in the Lashio area. 509 transport sorties are flown to forward areas. The 6th Fighter Squadron (Commando), 1st Air Commando Group, based at Asansol, India, sends a detachment to operate from Cox's Bazar, India with P-47s.

CAROLINE ISLANDS: Japanese submarines commence operation KONGO against Ulithi, employing suicide torpedoes [kaitens]; HIJMS I 36 launches kaitens that damage ammunition ship USS Mazama and an infantry landing craft.
During hunter-killer operations near Yap Island, USN destroyer USS Evans and destroyer escort USS McCoy Reynolds bombard Japanese defenses; they repeat the operation tomorrow.

AAFPOA (Seventh Air Force): 23 B-24s from Saipan pound airfields on Iwo Jima; the bombing of Iwo Jima is continued during the night of 11/12 Jan, by 3 B-24s flying individual snooper strikes from the Mariana. The 6th Night Fighter Squadron, VII Fighter Command (attached to 318th Fighter Group), moves from Kipapa, Hawaii to East Field, Saipan (a detachment has been operating from Saipan with P-47s and P-61s since Jun 44; a detachment operates from Kipapa, Hawaii until May 45).

HQ AAF (Twentieth Air Force): The 3d Photographic Reconnaissance Squadron (Very Heavy), 311th Photographic Wing (attached to XXI Bomber Command), moves from Saipan to Guam with F-13s (the squadron flies photo, electronic and weather reconnaissance missions in the W Pacific).

SOUTHWEST PACIFIC AREA [SWPA, Far East Air Force (FEAF)]: HQ 308th Bombardment Wing moves from Leyte to Luzon.

EAST INDIES: USAAF Far East Air Forces B-25s and P-38s attack Kendari Airfield on Celebes Island, Netherlands East Indies.

MARSHALL ISLANDS: USN destroyer escort USS Brackett extracts a party of Marshallese scouts from Jaluit Island, where they had been landed on 9 January to determine the condition of the garrison there.

NEW GUINEA: General Headquarters Southwest Pacific Area orders the 11th Airborne Division to be prepared to land on Luzon, Philippine Islands, at Nasugbu and Tayabas Bays in late January. The plan to land XI Corps at Vigan, Luzon, is dropped.
A company of the Australian 2/5th Battalion, 17th Brigade, 6th Division, occupies Samisai, Northeast New Guinea.

PHILIPPINE ISLANDS: In the U.S. Sixth Army area on Luzon, Regimental Combat Team 158, part of the army reserve, begins a drive up Route 251 toward Rabon and relieves elements of the 172d Infantry Regiment, 43d Infantry Division. The XIV Corps is largely on the Army Beachhead Line by the end of day. The 40th Infantry Division consolidates in the Dulig-Labrador- Uyong area, and finds Aguilar in the hands of Philippine guerrillas, and makes contact with the 37th Infantry Division east of Aguilar. The 37th Infantry Division organizes defensive positions along the Army Beachhead Line; patrols actively and establishes outposts; maintains contact with I Corps. Regimental Combat Team 145, all of which is now ashore, establishes defense positions along Route 261. In the I Corps area, the 6th Infantry Division finds Philippine guerrillas in control of Santa Barbara and moves 3.5 miles S to Balingueo. The 103d Infantry Regiment, 43d Infantry Division, takes Manoag without opposition; gains positions on the slopes of the hill mass that Hill 200 crowns; and establishes contact with the 6th Infantry Division. The 169th Infantry Regiment tries in vain to take Hill 318 and gains a weak hold on Hill 560. The 172d Infantry Regiment, under intense fire, makes little headway. Corps front is rapidly widening and extends nearly 30 miles from south to north.
With elimination of a small Japanese force at Boac, Marinduque Island is now secure. [Marinduque Island is a 370 square mile island midway between southern Luzon and Mindoro Island.]
Large number of USAAF Far East Air Forces B-24s, B-25s, A-20s, and fighter-bombers concentrate on communications targets throughout northern Luzon and attack airfields, communications, and town areas in southern Luzon, the central Philippine Islands, and on Mindanao Island.
The first elements of Marine Aircraft Group 24 (MAG-24) land at Lingayen, Luzon, to provide close air support for Army forces. Over the next three months, MAG-24 and MAG-32 will fly a total of 8,842 combat sorties and drop more than 19,000 bombs as part of the USAAF Fifth Air Force in support of the Sixth Army.

SOLOMON ISLANDS: On Bougainville, a platoon of the Australian 47th Battalion, 29th Brigade, 3rd Division, crosses the Adele River in assault boats without casualties. The platoon had been supported by artillery that fired at the Japanese positions at ranges of 600 to 800 yards, and mortar and machinegun fire.

CINCPAC COMMUNIQUÉ NO. 229, JANUARY 11, 1945

On January 8 (West Longitude Date) Army Liberators of the Strategic Air Force, Pacific Ocean Areas, bombed air installations on Iwo Jima in the Volcanos.
Suribachi on Paramushiru in the Kuriles was bombed by Liberators of the Eleventh Army Air Force on January 9. The enemy offered no opposition to the attack.
Corsairs of the Fourth Marine Aircraft Wing attacked enemy installations on Babelthuap in the Palaus on the same date.
Meager antiaircraft fire was encountered by Fourth Marine Aircraft Wing fighters in an attack on gun positions and the power plant on Nauru on January 9.
Fighters of the Fourth Marine Aircraft Wing also carried out neutralizing attacks on enemy held bases in the Marshalls on January 8 and 9.

 

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1939
UNITED STATES: U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt asks Congress for US $552 million (US$7.756 billion in 2005 dollars) in defense expenditures to prepare the country for war. The American government plans to expand fortifications in the Pacific and the Caribbean (Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands). President Roosevelt begins to express his strong support for the Western democratic states. The Roosevelt administration allows the French government to purchase large numbers of American aircraft and orders an additional 600 aircraft for the U.S. armed forces.

1940
JAPAN: The government notifies the Netherlands it is terminating their treaty in which each party agreed to settle disputes peacefully.

1942
ALASKA: Amchitka Island is occupied by a small American force. The AMULET FORCE consisted of 2,000 men under command of Brigadier General Lloyd E. Jones. The invasion was covered by the USN's Task Group 8.6 (TG 8.6) consisting of the heavy cruiser USS
Indianapolis, light cruisers USS Detroit and USS Raleigh and four destroyers, which patrolled off Amchitka and Kiska Islands.
The transport group consisted of the transports USS Arthur Middleton, US Army Transport Delarof, and SS Lakona; the cargo ship USS Vega; and the destroyers USS Dewey, USS Gillespie, USS Kalk and USS Worden.
There is no enemy opposition but a fierce storm hits and continues for two weeks. The transport USS Arthur Middleton, manned by a US Coast Guard crew, runs aground as it rescues 175 sailors from the destroyer USS Worden. USS Worden was guarding the transport USS Arthur Middleton as that transport put the preliminary Army security unit on the shores of Constantine Harbor Amchitka Island. The destroyer maneuvered into the rock-edged harbor and stayed there until the last men had landed and then turned to the ticklish business of clearing the harbor. A strong current, however, swept USS Worden onto a pinnacle that tore into her hull beneath her engine room and caused a complete loss of power. USS Dewey passed a towline to her stricken sister and attempted to tow her free, but the cable parted, and the heavy seas began moving USS Worden totally without power inexorably toward the rocky shore. The destroyer then broached and began breaking up in the surf; Commander William G. Pogue, the stricken destroyer's commanding officer, ordered abandon ship, and, as he was directing that effort, was swept overboard into the wintry seas by a heavy wave that broke over the ship. Commander Pogue was among the fortunate ones, however, because he was hauled, unconscious, out of the sea. Fourteen of his crew drowned. USS Worden, herself, was a total loss.

US: The US Office of Price Administration said standard frankfurters would be replaced by "victory sausages", consisting of a mixture of meat and soy meal.

AUSTRALIA: Three USAAF B-17 Flying Fortresses arrive in Australia after flying a new southern ferry route from Hawaii. The Japanese submarine HIJMS I-121 mines Clarence Strait, the body of water connecting Van Diemen Gulf and the Timor Sea, off Australia's Northern Territory, at the approaches to Darwin, the Asiatic Fleet's main logistics base.

MALAYA: Eight RAAF Brewster Buffalo fighters intercept 27 Japanese bombers after they had bombed Singapore. Seeing the fighters, the bombers went into a shallow dive and outran the fighters. One RAAF pilot put it, "Bombers outpacing fighters. You've got to bloody- well laugh."

PHILIPPINE ISLANDS: On Bataan, the Japanese exert strong pressure against the II Corps, particularly on the west, while taking up
positions for a concerted assault. The 51st Division, Philippine Army (PA), is hard hit and gives ground, some of which is regained after
reserves are committed. In the center, the Japanese push back the outpost line of the 41st Division (PA). On the east coast, the
Japanese regain positions on the south bank of the Calaguiman River; to meet threat there, the 21st Infantry (PA) is released from
reserve to assist the 57th Infantry, Philippine Scouts. In the I Corps area, a Japanese detachment moves by boat and seizes undefended Grande Island in Manila Bay.

U.S.: The Combined Chiefs of Staff (CCS) approve U.S. plans to garrison the islands along the proposed ferry route from Hawaii to Australia. Local defense forces are to be based at American Samoa, Bora Bora, Canton Island, Christmas Island, the Fiji Islands and
Palmyra Island. The CCS also approves the deployment of a USAAF fighter squadron to New Caledonia Island in the New Hebrides Islands.

1943
ALEUTIAN ISLANDS: Amchitka Island is occupied by the U.S. Amulet Force, consisting of 2,000 men under command of Brigadier General Lloyd E. Jones, Commanding General Cold Bay, Alaska. The invasion is covered by the USN's Task Group 8.6 (TG 8.6) consisting of the heavy cruiser USS Indianapolis, light cruisers USS Detroit and Raleigh and four destroyers, which patrol off Amchitka and Kiska Islands.
The transport group consists of the transports USS Arthur Middleton, US Army Transport USAT Delarof, and SS Lakona; the cargo ship USS Vega; and four destroyers. There is no enemy opposition but a fierce storm hits and continues for two weeks. The transport USS Arthur Middleton, manned by a U.S. Coast Guard crew, runs aground as it rescues 175 sailors from the destroyer USS Worden. Worden is guarding USS Arthur Middleton as that transport put the preliminary Army security unit on the shores of Constantine Harbor Amchitka Island. The destroyer maneuvered into the rock-edged harbor and stayed there until the last men had landed and then turned to the ticklish business of clearing the harbor. A strong current, however, swept Worden onto a pinnacle that tears into her hull beneath her engine room and caused a complete loss of power.
Destroyer USS Dewey passes a towline to Worden and attempts to tow her free, but the cable parts, and the heavy seas begin moving Worden totally without power inexorably toward the rocky shore. The destroyer then broaches and begins breaking up in the surf.
The stricken destroyer's commanding officer, orders abandon ship, and, as he is directing that effort, is swept overboard into the wintry seas by a heavy wave that breaks over the ship. The captain is among the fortunate ones, however, because he is hauled, unconscious, out of the sea; 14 of the crew drown and the ship is a total loss.
Two B-24s cover the Amulet Force landing on Amchitka Island. Two B-25s and four P-38 escorts also on the cover mission turn back due to weather. Weather reconnaissance is flown over Attu, Agatuu, Semichis Islands and, lastly, over Kiska Harbor, where four ships are observed.

BISMARCK ARCHIPELAGO: USN submarine USS Guardfish, patrolling the waters of the Bismarck Archipelago on her third patrol, fires three torpedoes during a night underwater radar attack. One torpedo finds the mark and destroys the 1,215 ton ex-Japanese destroyer Shimakaze, now re-named patrol boat P1. She sinks about 67 nautical miles WSW of Kavieng, New Britain Island, in position 2.51S, 139.43E.

NEW GUINEA: After an artillery preparation, two battalions of the Australian 18th Brigade, 7th Division, with tank support, attack Japanese positions at the junction of the Kododa Trail in Papua New Guinea. The U.S. 163d Infantry Regiment, 41st Infantry Division, supports the assault with feints from Musket and Rankin. Japanese antitank fire soon disables the tanks, but Australians continue the battle, progressing slowly at great cost. The Japanese begin withdrawing from the junction, during the night of 12/13 January. The Japanese withdrawal from the Kokoda trail enables the Allies to plan the encirclement of important Japanese positions in the Buna, Sanananda and Gona beachhead. Sanananda is the last of the three to fall to the Allies after weeks of heavy fighting.
In Northeast New Guinea, B-24s, in single-plane actions, bomb the Finschhafen and Madang areas.

SOLOMON ISLANDS: On Guadalcanal, the 27th Infantry Regiment, 25th Inf. Div., continues their attack on "Galloping Horse," replacing the 3d Battalion with the 2d, and makes limited progress toward Hill 53. Company C, 35th Infantry Regiment, starts west toward the corps objective along the ridge southwest of "Sea Horse" but is soon halted by Japanese fire. The efforts of the 2d Battalion to break through the "Gifu" are frustrated by strong resistance.

NEW GEORGIA: B-26s, P-38s, P-39s and P-40s attack Munda with the loss of two B-26s. Other P-39s hit targets on Guadalcanal.

WAKE ISLAND: After the fall of Wake in December 1941, the 1,187 US Marines, were herded into the cargo holds of the 17,163 ton Japanese luxury liner Nitta Maru, for transportation to Yokohama and then to Shanghai. By 1 January 1943, there are still 98 civilian workers on the island but one is caught stealing food and is beheaded. Tonight, the Japanese accuse the civilians of being in secret radio communication with U.S. naval forces. The 97 civilians are marched to the beach and there lined up with their backs to the ocean and machined gunned. After the war, the Japanese commander on Wake, Rear Admiral Sakaibara, and eleven of his officers, are sentenced to death by a US Naval Court at Kwajalein Atoll, Marshall Islands. Sakaibara is transported to Guam, Mariana Islands and he executed by June 1947.

1944
(CBI) BURMA-INDIA (Tenth Air Force): In Burma, 20+ B-25's and P-38's hit the marshalling yard at Letpadan, damaging warehouses, engine sheds, and other buildings; the fighters also strafe Myohaung, setting 3 buildings afire. 27th Troop Carrier Squadron, Tenth Air Force (attached to the Troop Carrier Command, Eastern Air Command), arrives at Sylhet, India from the US with C-47's.

THAILAND: 14 14th AF B-24s bomb the Bangsue marshalling yard at Bangkok.

CHINA (Fourteenth Air Force): HQ 69th Composite Wing transfers from Kunming to Tsuyung, China.

PACIFIC OCEAN AREA (POA, Seventh Air Force): 21 A-24s from Makin dive-bomb AA positions and the storage area on Mille Atoll, Marshall and 20 supporting P-39's strafe runways.
USN PB4Y-1s of VB-108 and VB-109 bomb Japanese shipping in Kwajalein lagoon, sinking a gunboat. Aerial minelaying operations continue as five PBY-5s, flying from Tarawa, mine Tokowa and Torappu channels and the south entrance to Maleolap; one Catalina goes on to bomb Jabor but is forced down by antiaircraft fire 6 miles E of Jaluit.

SOUTH PACIFIC AREA (SOPAC, Thirteenth Air Force): 13 B-25's of the 42d Bombardment Group on their first mission against the Rabaul area, bomb Vunakanau Airfield in the early morning, and 16 B-24's hit Lakunai Airfield during the night of 12/13 Jan; 19 B-24's, with an escort of about 50 fighters, pound the airstrip and other targets at Tobera. On Bougainville , 3 flights of P-39's bomb and strafe Teop, Inus Point, Numa Numa, and Piano Mission; other aircraft on armed reconnaissance and sweeps hit several targets of opportunity throughout the Bougainville area.
SOLOMON ISLANDS: The U.S. Americal Division completes their movement to Bougainville Island.

BISMARCK ARCHIPELAGO: The Arawe beachhead, New Britain Island, is now strengthened by Company B, 1st Tank Battalion, 1st Marine Division, and Company F, 158th Infantry Regiment.

SOUTHWEST PACIFIC AREA (SWPA, Fifth Air Force): B-24's and B-25's attack Alexishafen area and A-20's hit Warai. Lost is P-39Q 42-19949 on a local flight.
NEI: B-24's attack Balikpapan; Makassar, Celebes ; and Dili.

RAAF: Damaged in for landing is Spitfire A58-178.

UNITED STATES: War Department planners in Washington, considering the matter of a new directive for the South East Asia Command (SEAC), reject Operation CULVERIN, the assault on Sumatra, and favor opening of a land route to China.

1945
CANADA: A Japanese Fu-Go balloon releases a 33 pound bomb and two flares or incendiaries near Minton, Saskatchewan, at 1630 hours. One flare or incendiary exploded; the other and the bomb do not. The balloon then rose and disappeared. Minton is located about 86 miles S of Regina and 11 miles N of the Canadian-U.S. border.

CHINA THEATER (Fourteenth Air Force): 6 B-25s again damage a bridge at Wan Mai-Lo, Burma. 35 fighter-bombers pound targets of opportunity around Wanting, China and Muse, Burma.

INDIA: In the Northern Combat Area Command (NCAC) area, a U.S. - Chinese convoy starts along the Ledo Road from Ledo, India.

BURMA: In the Allied Land Forces South East Asia (ALFSEA) Indian 15 Corps area, the 3d Commando Brigade lands on the Arakan coast at Myebon after an air and naval bombardment and establishes a firm beachhead, which the Japanese without success soon attempts to destroy.

INDIA-BURMA THEATER (Tenth Air Force): In Burma, 16 fighter-bombers support ground forces in the battle sectors at Si-U and at Lawa on the Irrawaddy River; 70+ fighter-bombers hit troops, supplies, vehicles, and general enemy movement at Namsa-lap, Longmao, Hsa-ihkao, Mangpu, Pangnim, and near Lashio, Hsipaw, and Hsenwi. Transports fly 544 sorties, landing men and supplies at forward bases and dropping supplies to troops in battle sectors.

MALAYA - Two more B-29 bombers were shot down, one by Kamikaze ramming.

AAFPOA (Seventh Air Force): 28 Guam based B-24s bomb airfields on Iwo Jima; 3 B-24s, on armed reconnaissance from Saipan bomb Marcus. Iwo Jima is hit by snooper strikes during the night of 12/13 Jan, by 4 B-24s from the Mariana.

PACIFIC OCEAN: USN Task Force 38, under the command of Vice Admiral John S. McCain, hits Japanese shipping, airfields, and other shore installations in the South China Sea and in southeastern French Indochina. Among the sunken vessels is the 442 ton submarine chaser Ch 43 (442T), with the help of Ch 15 and W18, sank the submarine U.S.S. Wahoo in La Perouse Strait on 11 October 1943.
Japanese Operation KONGO, employing suicide torpedoes [Kaitens], continues; efforts by submarines HIJMS I 53 at Kossol Roads, Palau Islands, Caroline Islands; I 56 at Manus, in the Admiralty Islands, Bismarck Archipelago; and by I 58 at Apra Harbor, Guam, Mariana Islands, are unsuccessful.
In the East China Sea off the west coast of Luzon, Philippine Islands, Japanese kamikazes damage destroyer escorts USS Richard W. Suesens and Gilligan; attack transport USS Zeilin; and tank landing ship USS LST-700; suicide pilots target U.S. merchant ships, damaging five freighters. On one ship, 129 of the 506 Army troops aboard are killed.

SOUTHWEST PACIFIC AREA [SWPA, Far East Air Force (FEAF)]: B-24s bomb the San Jose del Monte area and bivouac areas on N Luzon; other B-24s hit Legaspi Airfield, and Batangas Airfield and Matina Airfieldwhile B-25s bomb Fabrica warehouses.

PHILIPPINE ISLANDS: In the U.S. Sixth Army's XIV Corps area on Luzon, the 40th Infantry Division's 185th Infantry Regiment takes Port Sual, the west terminus of the Army Beachhead Line, without a fight and continues west toward Alaminos. The 37th Infantry Division is consolidating on the Army Beachhead Line; elements move into Bayamhang and Urhiztondo without opposition.
In the I Corps area, the 6th Infantry Division (less Regiment Combat Team 63) is ordered to conduct a holding action along the line Malisiqui-Catablan- Torres until the situation in the 43d Infantry Division sector improves and is moving forward toward that line. Regiment Combat Team 158, released from army reserve to the corps late in day, moves elements to Rabon and Bani and patrols to Damortis.
Corps attaches Regiment Combat Team 158 to the 43d Infantry Division; to further strengthen the division, commits Regiment Combat Team 63 (—) of the 6th Infantry Division to right of Regiment Combat Team 158 to close the gap between the 158th and 172d Regiments. Regiment Combat Team’s 158 and 63 are to secure the Damortis-Rosario road. Elements of the 43d Infantry Division take Hill 560 and are attacking toward Hills 318 and 200.
On Mindoro, the entire 21st Infantry Regiment, 24th Infantry Division, assembles at Pinamalayan for a drive on Calapan, where the Japanese force is now concentrated. Guerrilla patrol reaches Wawa, on the north coast near Abra de Ilog.
USAAF Far East Air Forces B-24s bomb the San Jose del Monte area and bivouac areas on northern Luzon; other B-24s hit Legaspi, and Batangas Airfields on Luzon, and Matina Airfield on Mindanao Island while B-25 Mitchells bomb Fabrica warehouses on Negros Island.

NEW GUINEA: The Japanese Operation KONGO, employing suicide torpedoes [Kaitens], continues; submarine HIJMS I 47 launches kaitens that damage a U.S. freighter at Hollandia, Dutch New Guinea; there are no casualties among the merchant sailors or the 27-man Armed Guard.

SOLOMON ISLANDS: On Bougainville, troops of the Australian 47th Battalion, 29th Brigade, 3rd Division, that crossed the Adele River yesterday, continue on and seize the mouth of the Hupai River and a log crossing across the river about 800 yards inland.

CINCPAC COMMUNIQUÉ NO. 230, JANUARY 12, 1945

Carrier aircraft of the Pacific Fleet are now attacking the enemy off the coast of French Indo‑China between Saigon and Camranh Bay.


CINCPAC COMMUNIQUÉ NO. 231, JANUARY 12, 1945

Additional reports from forces of the United States Pacific Fleet which struck at targets along the coast of French Indo‑China on January 11 (West Longitude Date) show that our carrier aircraft attacked four convoys and other scattered units sinking a total of 25 ships including a Katori class light cruiser and several destroyers or destroyer escorts. Heavy damage was inflicted on 13 additional vessels.
Eighteen aircraft were observed airborne over Saigon of which our fighters shot down ten. A bomber off the Indo‑China coast and eight of five Zero planes at the Thanh Son Nhut air base north of Saigon were destroyed. Twenty flying boats and seaplanes in Camranh, Cat Lai near Saigon and Quinhon Harbor about 250 miles northeast of Saigon were also destroyed. At last reports our surface forces had suffered no damage and were continuing their attacks.
Conclusive evidence has been obtained which shows that on October 24, 1844, the Japanese battleship Musashi blew up and sank as the result of dam*age inflicted on her by aircraft attacks. These attacks were made by carrier aircraft from the Pacific Fleet Task Force commanded by Vice Admiral Marc A. Mitscher. The Musashi and her sister ship Yamato which was damaged by bombs during the same action were the two most powerful battleships in the Japanese Fleet.
On January 9 and 10 (West Longitude Dates) Army Liberators of the Strategic Air Force, Pacific Ocean Areas, bombed airfield and other installa*tions on Iwo Jima in the Volcanos.
Torpedo planes of the Fourth Marine Aircraft Wing attacked air installa*tions on Yap in the Western Carolines on January 10.
Marine fighter aircraft ranged over targets in the Palaus on the same date striking barges at Koror, destroying an ammunition dump on Babelthuap and striking other targets on Urukthapel Island.
Fourth Marine Aircraft Wing Fighters bombed boat facilities on Nauru through moderate antiaircraft fire on January 10.
On the same date Marine fighters and dive bombers made neutralizing attacks on enemy bases in the Marshalls.

 

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1933
UNITED STATES: Congress passes the Howes-Cutting Bill over President Herbert Hoover's veto, which calls for a 12-year transitional period for the Philippine Commonwealth under a Philippine executive. The U.S. retains the right to military and naval bases while the U.S. Supreme Court could review decisions by the Philippine courts. During a probationary period, the U.S. could impose tariffs on Philippine sugar, coconut oil, and fibers in excess of specified quotas. Finally, the Philippine legislature has one year to accept the independence measure.

1941
UNITED STATES: Seven National Guard units from Iowa, Louisiana, New York, Pennsylvania and South Carolina are inducted into Federal service. The units are:
- One Field Artillery Brigade
- One Cavalry Regiment (Horse-Mechanized)
- One Coast Artillery Regiment (Antiaircraft) (Colored)
- One Coast Artillery Regiment (Harbor Defense) (Type B)
- One Field Artillery Regiment (155mm Gun) (Motorized)
- Two Field Artillery Regiment (155mm Howitzer) (Truck-Drawn)

1942
NEI: SOUTHWEST PACIFIC (Far East Air Force): The air echelons of the 9th and 11th Bombardment Squadrons (Heavy), 7th Bombardment Group (Heavy), arrive at Singosari, Java from the US with B-17's; the air echelon of the 22d Bombardment Squadron arrives at Singosari from the Territory of Hawaii. The ground echelons are at Brisbane.

BORNEO: The Dutch commander on Tarakan Island surrenders to the Japanese and they complete mopping up the island. The Japanese assault force boards ships tomorrow for the assault on Balikpapan.

BURMA: The Joint Military Council recommends the construction of the Ledo and Imphal roads.

MALAYA: General Archibald Lord Wavell, Commander in Chief Australian-British-Dutch- American (ABDA) Command, South West Pacific, again visits the front and confers with commanding officers. The withdrawal of the Indian 3 Corps into Johore State reaches its final stage; all vehicles are being moved through Segamat. A convoy with badly needed reinforcements reaches Singapore and unloads the first echelon of the British 18th Division (the 53d Brigade Group), antiaircraft units, and 51 crated Hawker Hurricane fighters with crews.

PHILIPPINE ISLANDS: On the east flank of the II Corps on Bataan, the 21st Infantry, Philippine Army (PA), counterattacks at 0600 hours after an artillery preparation and reduces part of the Japanese salient on the left flank of the 57th Infantry, Philippine Scouts.
The Japanese are thus prevented from launching a planned offensive in that area, but make progress to the west against the 51st Division, PA, forcing it back to the main line of resistance along the Balantay River. The Japanese column driving south in central Bataan, with the task of turning the corps' left flank, is not yet in position for an
attack.

U.S.: The Combined Chiefs of Staff attending the ARCADIA conference in Washington, D.C., agree to move USAAF units and contingents to bases in the U.K. as soon as possible.
The Ford Motor Company patents a plastic-bodied automobile which was 30 percent lighter than ordinary cars. Plastic, a relatively new material in 1942, was revolutionizing industry after industry in the United States.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt establishes the U.S. War Production Board, with business executive Donald M. Nelson as its chairman. The War Production Board, created to establish order out of the chaos of meeting extraordinary wartime demands and needs, replaced the Supply Priorities and Allocations Board. As chairman, Nelson oversaw the largest war production in history, often clashing with civilian factories over the most efficient means of converting to wartime use and butting heads with the armed forces over priorities. Despite early success, Nelson made a major judgement error in June 1944, on the eve of the Normandy invasion, when he allowed certain plants that had reached the end of their government/military production contracts to reconvert to civilian use. The military knew the war was far from over and feared a sudden shortage of vital supplies. A political battle ensued, and Nelson was eased out of his office and reassigned by the President to be his personal representative to Chiang Kai-shek in China.
Nineteen West Coast shipyards adopt around-the-clock, seven-day-a-week work schedules.

1943
ALASKA: In the Aleutians, three bombers and four fighters are in the air. The weather reconnaissance aircraft returns west of Kiska due to high winds. Constantine Harbor is patrolled until weather forces aircraft to return. An attack on Kiska is cancelled.

NEW CALEDONIA AND NEW HEBRIDES ISLANDS: The USAAF Thirteenth Air Force and its subordinate XIII Bomber Command and XIII Fighter Command are activated to assume administrative control over all USAAF units in the South Pacific.
HQ Thirteenth Air Force (Major General Nathan F. Twinning) and HQ XIII Fighter Command (Brigadier General Dean C. Strother) are established at Noumea, New Caledonia Island; HQ XIII Bomber Command is established on Espirtu Santo Island, New Hebrides. Operational control of the Thirteenth's subordinate units is exercised by the USMC officer commanding USMC air units on Guadalcanal.

NEW GUINEA: U.S. Lieutenant General Robert Eichelberger, Commanding General U.S. I Corps, assumes duties as Commander, Advance New Guinea Force, and takes control of all Australian and U.S. troops. Australian Lieutenant General Sir Edmund Herring, General Officer Commanding Australian I Corps, now commands New Guinea Force.
In Papua New Guinea, the Australian 2/7th Independent Company, Kanga Force, observes 126 new Japanese troops approaching Mubo from Komiatum. Australian fire kills many of them.
In Papua New Guinea, Fifth Air Force A-20s bomb and strafe the Sanananda Point area and forces along the Sanananda track. In Northeast New Guinea, heavy and medium bombers hit dock facilities at Lae and airfields at Lae and Salamaua.

SOLOMON ISLANDS: On Guadalcanal, the XIV Corps offensive broadens as the 2d Marine Division begins a coastal attack from the line Point Cruz Hill 66, to the right of the 25th Infantry Division. The 8th Marine Regiment, on the right, attempts to advance westward from Hills 80 and 81 but is halted by Japanese fire. The 2d Marine Regiment advances 800 yards west from Hill 66. The attack of yesterday by the 2d Battalion, 27th Infantry Regiment, 25th Infantry Division, is renewed, but held off by the Japanese on Guadalcanal. The Horse's Neck, Sims Ridge, is the holdup. Captain Davis, Battalion Executive Officer, leads four men, to within 10 yards of the Japanese position. When his rifle jams he waves the others on in full view of both Japanese and U.S. troops. This action is cited by Major General J. Lawton Collins, Commanding General 25th Infantry Division, as leading to the final capture of the Galloping Horse feature by noon.. The Americans now hold a 4,500-yard front extending south from Point Cruz over Hill 66 to Hills 57 and 55. Company C, 35th Infantry Regiment, is again halted by Japanese fire from the southwest as it endeavors to push west. The 2d Battalion makes negligible progress against pillboxes of the Gifu strongpoint.
Thirteenth Air Force P-39s strafe forces on the beach at Kokumbona and hit Visale (both on Guadalcanal) in support of the ground offensive. Also, B-26s with P-38 and P-39 escorts attack the Rekata Bay, Santa Isabel Island, area.

1944
(CBI) BURMA-INDIA (Tenth Air Force): In Burma, 6 P-51's hit troop concentrations at Lalawng Ga and bomb Maran Ga and Shaduzup; 27 P-40's attack a communication center and dumps along the Kamaing-Mogaung road; and 4 P-51's and a B-25 pound the airfield and supply area at Myitkyina. CHINA (Fourteenth Air Force): 2 B-25's on a sweep from Hong Kong to Hainan attack 4 large boats, several warehouses, a radio station, and a car at Fort Bayard, China; 1 of the vessels explodes; 6 P-40's on armed reconnaissance strafe 4 pack trains of about 15 animals each between Lungling and Tengchung.

BURMA: In the Hukawng Valley, the Chinese 38th Division gains firm control of the Tarung River line as the 114th Regiment reduces the last strongpoint in the Yupbang Ga area. The 112th Regiment, to the north, has cleared the region between the Tarung and Sanip Rivers. The 1st Battalion, 113th Regiment, upon crossing the Tarung River at Yupbang Ga, patrols north to Tabawng Ga.

INDIA: Major General Kenneth B Wolfe, Commanding General of the USAAF
Twentieth Air Force's XX Bomber Command, arrives at New Delhi with the
advanced echelon staff. This is the first important movement of personnel for Operation MATTERHORN, the plan which will be approved in April 1944 for the bombing of Japan by B-29 Supergortresses based in the Calcutta area and staging through advanced fields in the Chengtu, China, area.

HAWAIIAN ISLANDS: Campaign Plan GRANITE outlines tentative operations
to be conducted and a timetable:
(1) carrier raid on Truk Atoll, Caroline Islands, about 24 March in support of invasion of the Admiralty Islands and Kavieng, on New Ireland Island, Bismarck Archipelago;
(2) capture of Eniwetok and Ujelang Atolls, Marshall Islands, (Operation
CATCHPOLE), on 1 May;
(3) capture of Mortlock and Truk, Caroline Islands, on 1 August;
(4) invasion of the Mariana Islands (Operation FORAGER), on 1 November.
If the Truk attack can be bypassed, it is proposed that the Palau Islands be invaded on 1 August. The Army's 27th Infantry Division is alerted to prepare to seize Eniwetok.

PACIFIC OCEAN AREA (POA, Seventh Air Force): In the Marshall, 9 B-25's from Tarawa attack harbor shipping at Wotje Atoll; 21 A-24s from Makin dive-bomb dock, barracks, and storage area on Mille Atoll; some of the 16 escorting P-39's strafe ground targets, and 10 other P-39's carry out strafing mission over Mille Atoll.

SOUTH PACIFIC AREA (SOPAC, Thirteenth Air Force): HQ Thirteenth Air Force moves from Espiritu Santo, New Hebrides to Guadalcanal. During predawn hours 11 B-25's bomb Tobera, Rapopo, the Wide Bay area, and coast S of Rapopo. P-39's strafe Tinputs, Bougainville.

BISMARCK ARCHIPELAGO: On New Britain Island, the ADC Group (7th Marine
Regiment reinforced by a battalion of the 5th Marine Regiment and supporting units) continues their attack toward Hill 660 with the 3d Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment, but is pinned down short of their objective. Artillery and aerial bombardment precede the attack.

SOUTHWEST PACIFIC AREA (SWPA, Fifth Air Force): HQ V Fighter Command transfers from Port Moresby to Nadzab and Major General Paul B Wurtsmith becomes Commanding General, V Fighter Command. 130+ B-24's, B-25's and P-40's attack Alexishafen. B-24's bomb Gasmata.
NEI: B-24's and B-25's strike Kaukenau and Timoeka and score hit on a freighter off Tanimbar, Moluccas.

SOLOMON ISLANDS: On Bougainville, artillery units of the Army's Americal Division begins relieving those of the 3d Marine Division.
Headquarters USAAF Thirteenth Air Force moves from Espiritu Santo, New Hebrides Islands to Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands.

1945
CHINA THEATER (Fourteenth Air Force): 6 B-25s blast 6 storage buildings at Kengtung, China. 3 others damage a bridge at Hawng Luk, Burma. In China, 31 P-51s, P-38s, and P-40s hit targets of opportunity in the Wanting area; 16 P-51s hit targets of opportunity around Shanhsien, Chiatsochen, and Chaling.

BURMA: In the Allied Land Forces South East Asia (ALFSEA) area, the Indian XV Corps strengthens the Myebon bridgehead.

INDIA-BURMA THEATER (Tenth Air Force): In Burma, 10 fighter-bombers hit Aungban Airfield while 4 others support ground forces along the Irrawaddy River at Molo; 20+ fighter-bombers hit horses and vehicles at Hsa-ihkao, buildings at Man Ping, and troops at Mankang and Man Sang. Transports fly 556 sorties to forward areas. The detachment of the 317th Troop Carrier Squadron (Commando), 2d Air Commando Group, operating from Dinjan, India with C-47s, returns to base at Kalaikunda, India.

AAFPOA (Seventh Air Force): 14 Saipan based B-24s hit an airfield on Iwo Jima; 2 B-24s from Guam and Saipan again raid the airfields on the night of 13/14 Jan.

MALAYA - 3 B-29 bombers crashed in Negeri Sembilan. One B-29 at Rembau, one at Port Dickson and another at Kepas. (* The one crashed in Rembau is the “Postville Express”, but they seen to unaware that another B-29 was ditched at South China Sea.)

SOUTHWEST PACIFIC AREA [SWPA, Far East Air Force (FEAF)]: HQ 18th FG and the 12th Fighter Squadron move from Sansapor to Lingayen Airfield with P-38s (the 12th has been operating from Morotai since Nov 44).

EAST INDIES: Four RAAF pilots ferrying (P-40) Kittyhawks from New Guinea to Morotai Island are reported missing. After the war, it is learned that two of the pilots had been captured by the Japanese after they crashed landed and both were killed at a "special ceremony."
Twelve RAAF Spitfires attack targets on the northwestern tip of Halmahera Island.

PHILIPPINE ISLANDS: With scattered strikes at Lingayen Gulf, Luzon, major Japanese air attacks on the Luzon Attack Force come to an end.
In the U.S. Sixth Army area, Lieutenant General Walter Krueger takes command ashore. In the XIV Corps area, elements of 185th Infantry Regiment, 40th Infantry Division, move along the coast of Lingayen Gulf to a site chosen for a seaplane base in Cabalitan Bay and find that Allied Naval Forces have already secured it without Japanese interference. Wawa falls to elements of the 37th Infantry Division. In the I Corps area, the 6th Infantry Division gains its holding line, Malisiqui-Catablan- Torres. In the 43d Infantry Division zone, Regimental Combat Team 158 takes Damortis without a struggle. Attacking from the Alacan area, the 63d Infantry Regiment gets about halfway to Hill 363, its first objective. Hills 580 and 318 are practically cleared by 172d and 169th Infantry Regiments, respectively.
On Luzon, USAAF Far East Air Forces B-24s hit the Tarlac barracks and storage area, Batangas Airfield, and troop concentrations at San Juan, Del Monte, Muzon, and San Vicente. P-47s fly a sweep from Laguna de Bay to Tarlac, destroying parked aircraft and vehicles and A-20s hit the town of Batangas and nearby railroads and highways, and bomb Lucena and Calingatan Airfields.

PACIFIC OCEAN: In the South China Sea, Japanese kamikaze attacks against Lingayen Gulf, Philippine Islands, invasion shipping culminate in a suicide plane crashing and damaging the USN escort aircraft carrier USS Salamaua about 85 nautical miles NW of the invasion beaches.
The USN destroyer escort USS Fleming sinks Japanese submarine HIJMS I-362 about 320 nautical miles NNE of Truk Atoll, Caroline Islands, in position12.08N, 154.27E.

CINCPAC COMMUNIQUÉ NO. 232, JANUARY 13, 1945

Following the first carrier attacks in the vicinity of Saigon on January 11 (West Longitude Date) numerous fires were observed on shore especially at the Thanh Son Nhut Air Base and at Port Nhabe. Six transports were in*cluded in the ships sunk at Saigon. At least six ships were sunk in the Harbor of Quinhon.
Reports of the United States Pacific Fleet Carrier Aircraft strike against Formosa on January 8 (West Longitude Date) have now been amplified. They show that the following damage was inflicted on the enemy in addition to that reported for the same attack in communiqué Number 228:

Shipping sunk:
Two destroyers or destroyer escorts
One oiler
One large cargo ship
Two medium cargo ships
Eighteen small craft


communiqué number 228 reported that fourteen small ships not included in above had been sunk. This figure is now reduced to nine.

Shipping damaged:
One destroyer
Five destroyer escorts
Two oilers
Five large cargo ships



CINCPAC COMMUNIQUÉ NO. 233, JANUARY 13, 1945

Liberators of the Eleventh Army Air Force bombed airfield facilities near Kurabu Saki at the southern end of Paramushiru in the Kuriles on January 10 (West Longitude Date). Six enemy fighters were in the air and antiair*craft fire was encountered but all our aircraft returned safely.
On the following day Eleventh Air Force Mitchells strafed and bombed installations on Torishima Retto southeast of Paramushiru starting extensive fires. The enemy sent up meager antiaircraft fire. Liberators of the Eleventh Air Force on the same date struck at installations in Suribachi on Paramushiru meeting moderate antiaircraft fire. Four enemy fighters attacked of which one was damaged. All our aircraft returned safely from these operations.
Fighters of the Fourth Marine Aircraft Wing destroyed a building and supply dump on Babelthuap and bombed defenses on Urukthapel in the Palaus on January 11.
Three medium cargo ships
Twenty‑eight small ships
Forty‑two small craft

Aircraft:

Two zeros destroyed
Forty‑four damaged

In addition to these aircraft our search and patrol planes shot down seven other enemy planes on January 9 and 10.

Ground installations:

An ammunition dump and chemical plant destroyed at Keelung.
Two hangars, five locomotives and three tank cars destroyed at Heito.
Radio stations damaged at Giran.
An aluminum and nickel smelter damaged at Karenko.
Shops damaged at Tainan, Heito, Kobi and Toyhara.

Our forces lost four aircraft in combat during the attack on Formosa.
It can now be announced that heavy bomber units of the Seventh Army Air Force assisting the Far Eastern Air Force have been operating from the Palau Islands against targets in the Philippines in support of operations of the Commander in Chief Southwest Pacific. Army Liberators of the Seventh Air Force have been engaged In attacking the enemy on Luzon, Cebu, Negros and Nactan. In addition the same units have carried out attacks in the Palaus and Western Carolines. A summary of operations from November 1, 1944 to January 4, 1945 show that 1,375 tons of bombs have been dropped on enemy targets in 714 sorties.

 

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1932
SWITZERLAND: A League of Nations commission of inquiry is appointed to investigate the Japanese invasion of Manchuria.

1940
JAPAN: The Japanese Prime Minister, General ABE Nobuyki, and all his Cabinet resign and Admiral YONAI Mitsumasa, the Supreme War Councillor in the Cabinet, is chosen to form a new government.

1942
U.S.A.:
The Anglo-American ARCADIA Conference, held in Washington, DC starting on 20 December 1941, developed plans for the proposed Anglo- American offensive against Germany. Participants include President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Prime Minister Winston S. Churchill and their military staffs. Among the major decisions reached are:
(1) an agreement to establish Combined Chiefs of Staff to direct the British-American war effort;
(2) the main effort must be made first against Germany;
(3) occupation of French North Africa (Operation GYMNAST) is of strategic importance in Atlantic area.
As discussions are begun in Washington to consider who shall go to China instead of Lieutenant General Hugh A. Drum, General George C. Marshall, Chief of Staff U.S. Army, proposes Major General Joseph W. Stilwell, who is being considered for command of Operation GYMNAST.
President Roosevelt orders all aliens in the United States to register with the government. The brunt of these orders later will fall on Japanese-Americans on the West Coast.

AUSTRALIA: British Prime Minister Winston S. Churchill implies to Australian Prime Minister John Curtin that Singapore could be held for some time.

BURMA: Japanese aircraft bomb Rangoon.

MALAYA: The Indian 3 Corps completes its withdrawal into Johore State and assumes responsibility for the southern part of Johore; assault elements, Australian 22nd Brigade of the Australian 8th Division, are designated East Force and disposed astride the Malacca- Segamat road. The Australian Imperial Force Malaya (less the Australian 22d Brigade), made responsible for northwestern Johore
State, is reinforced by the Indian 9th Division and the Indian 45th Brigade and is designated West Force. The Australian 27th Brigade and Indian 8th Brig Groups are astride the main road and railroad north of Segamat. The Japanese are to be kept north of the line Muar- Segamat-Mersmg, if possible. The Japanese overtake West and East Forces. Many cyclists are killed in an ambush prepared near Gemas by "B" Company of the Australian 2/30th Battalion of West Force; this is the first battle between the Japanese and the Australians. East Force patrols encounter the Japanese from Kuantan in the Endau area. On this date and on the 15th, a Dutch detachment of about 80 native troops with European officers flies from the Netherlands East Indies to Singapore and concentrates in the Labus area of North Johore, for guerilla action against enemy communications.
Japanese aircraft bomb Singapore, where a blackout is in force at last, but lamplighters have to snuff out gas lampposts in low-income districts one at a time when the Air Raid warning screams.

MARIANA ISLANDS: The Japanese force slated to invade Rabaul on New Britain Island in the Bismarck Archipelago, departs Guam.

PHILIPPINE ISLANDS: In the II Corps area on Bataan, strong Japanese pressure against the western flank of the 41st Division, Philippine Army (PA), forces outposts to retire across the Balantay River. The 51st Division, PA, withdraws to the south bank of the river to tie in with the 41st. A Japanese enveloping column continues slowly down the center of Bataan but is still north of the main line of resistance. In the I Corps area, the Japanese start south on the west coast toward Moron in 2 columns, one by sea and the other along a trail from Olongapo. Waterborne elements land about midway between Olongapo and Moron and continue south on foot. Lieutenant General Jonathan M. Wainwright, Commanding General I Corps, sends a containing force to Moron.

1943
BISMARCK ARCHIPELAGO: USAAF Fifth Air Force B-24s bomb Gasmata on New Britain Island.

NEW GUINEA: In Papua New Guinea, Major General George Vasey's Australian 7th Division, launches an offensive to intercept the Japanese withdrawal from the trail junction. While the U.S. 163d Infantry
Regiment, 41st Infantry Division, pushes south to block escape routes, the Australian 18th Brigade quickly clears Japanese remnants from the Junction and joins forces with the U.S. 163d Infantry Regiment on the Sanananda and Killerton trails.
Final mop up is left to the Australian 2/7th Cavalry Regiment and 39th and 49th Battalions. The 2/6th Battalion, 17th Brigade, "Kanga Force" begins an air movement from Port Moresby to Wau.
In Papua New Guinea, Fifth Air Force A-20s strafe the Labu area and small boats in Sachsen Bay. B-25s bomb the fuel dump and other supplies along the beach in the vicinity of Voco Point near Lae. In Northeast New Guinea, B-24s carry out single-plane attacks on Madang and Finschhafen.

PHILIPPINE ISLANDS: In the first submarine resupply mission, submarine USS Gudgeon lands six men and 2,000 pounds of equipment and supplies near Catmon Point, Negros, Philippines.

SOLOMON ISLANDS: In the costal sector, the 8th Marine Regiment, 2d Marine Division, is still unable to advance because of fire from a ravine west of Hills 80 and 81. The 6th Marine Regiment replaces the 2d
Marine Regiment on the division's left flank. Company C, 35th Infantry Regiment, 25th Infantry Division, continues their vain efforts to advance west, but patrols discover a route around the Japanese right flank. The depleted 2d Battalion, reinforced by the antitank company, continues fruitless efforts to reduce the Gifu strongpoint. The 147th Regiment force reaches Vurai and moves forward to Tapananja, about 6 miles south of Sealark Channel, when patrols find the Vurai area free of the Japanese and they establish outposts on the upper Poha River.
Fresh Japanese troops land on Guadalcanal from destroyers to act as a rearguard unit to cover the evacuation. These 750 soldiers are from replacement troops for the 230th Regiment and are designated the Yano Battalion. Another 100 soldiers accompany a mountain gun battery.
Thirteenth Air Force P-39s, dropping improvised gasoline bombs in the Guadalcanal battle area around Mount Austen and Kokumbona, attack forces and supplies throught the day. Other fighters hit barges and launches at Kaimana Bay and Aruligo Point.

BOUGAINVILLE: B-17s bomb the airfield on Buka Island without loss.

UNITED STATES: The aircraft carrier USS Independence is commissioned; the USN now has six aircraft carriers in commission. This ship was laid down as a light cruiser but was ordered converted to an aircraft carrier on 10 January 1942. She will be reclassified as a small aircraft carrier on 15 July 1943.

1944
(CBI) BURMA-INDIA (Tenth Air Force): Bad weather limits operations to fighter patrols in the Sumprabum, Burma area.

CHINA (Fourteenth Air Force): In China, 4 B-25's on a coastal sweep from Pakhoi to Haiphong, French Indochina bomb a group of buildings on Weichow ; 2 B-24's damage 2 vessels near Saint John .

PACIFIC OCEAN AREA (POA, Seventh Air Force): 12 B-24's, staging through Tarawa Atoll bomb Kwajalein Atoll; 3 B-25's from Makin fly a mission against shipping at Wotje Atoll; 2 of the B-25's attack 2 small vessels, sinking 1 and damaging the other; the other B-25 bombs a runway and building on the S part of Wotje.

PACIFIC OCEAN: In the South China Sea on the night of 14/15 January, USN submarine USS Crevalle, on her second patrol, lays mines off Kega Point, about 84 nautical miles E of Saigon, French Indochina, in position 10.33N, 108.01E.
The submarine USS Albacore, on her eighth patrol, sinks the 2,090 ton Japanese destroyer HIJMS Sazanami about 178 nautical miles SW of Woleai Atoll, Caroline Islands, in position 5.30N, 141.34E.

SOUTH PACIFIC AREA (SOPAC, Thirteenth Air Force): During the night of 13/14 Jan, 15 B-24's take off to bomb Vunakanau and Lakunai, Rabaul, Rapopo and Malaguna; just before dawn. Some meet bad weather and bomb alternate targets on New Ireland and Buka. Lost is B-25D 41-30566. Twelve B-25's hit Au and Cape Gazelle and Buka. P-39's join USN SBD's in bombing Wakunai, Bougainville. 70+ Allied fighters support a strike by 50+ USN & USMC dive bombers against shipping in Simpson Harbor; the fighters claim 27 aircraft shot down. Lost are SBD-5 35971, F4U 17722 and F4U 17807.
BISMARCK ARCHIPELAGO: On New Britain Island, the 3d Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment, drives to the top of Hill 660, the final objective of the ADC Group.

SOUTHWEST PACIFIC AREA (SWPA, Fifth Air Force): 50+ B-24's, B-25's, and P-40's hit the Alexishafen and Erima area. On New Britain, B-24's bomb Cape Busching; B-25's attack targets of opportunity along the N coast, and A-20's strike villages along the S coast.

IJN: Ditched is G4M1 Betty 6107.

UNITED SATES: Nisei (people born in the U.S. of parents who emigrated from Japan) eligibility for the draft is restored. The reaction to this announcement in the camps would be mixed.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt, in a message to Chinese Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek sent today, asks that the Yunnan forces be committed in Burma in conjunction with operations from India; and he hints that if they are not, lend-lease to China may be curtailed.

1945
CHINA THEATER (Fourteenth Air Force): In China, 27 B-24s, supported by 45 P-51s and P-40s, pound Hankow; 8 enemy aircraft are claimed destroyed; 7 B-25s hit targets at and W of Kengtung; 42 P-47s, P-40s, and P-51s attack airfields at Wuchang and Hankow; 17 Japanese aircraft are claimed destroyed; 21 P-40s and P-51s hit targets of opportunity in the Wanting area; 5 P-51s blast trucks and buildings at Shanhsien; 8 others attack shipping on the Yangtze River near Anking.

BURMA: In the British Fourteenth Army's Indian XXXIII Corps area, the Indian 19th Division secures a bridgehead across the Irrawaddy River at Thabeikkyin, evoking speedy and violent reaction from the Japanese. The Japanese mistakes the division for the Indian IV Corps as hoped and, to avert a threat to Mandalay, rushes reserves forward thus weakening other sectors. For the next month, the Indian 19th Division withstands repeated and determined counterattacks.

HQ AAF (Twentieth Air Force): Mission 28: 82 B-29s out of Chengtu, China are dispatched to bomb air installations at Kagi, Formosa; 55 hit the primary target while 1 bombs Heito, Formosa; 22 others hit alternates and targets of opportunity at several points, among them Taichu Airfield, Formosa and Hengyang, China; no B-29s are lost.

INDIA-BURMA THEATER (Tenth Air Force): In Burma, 12 B-25s hit troops, stores area, and knock out 3 bridges near Nampawng and Hay-ti; 26 fighter-bombers support ground forces at Si-U and at Mabein; 60+ fighter-bombers pound supply areas, troop concentrations, and general targets of opportunity at or near Hsenwi, Se-u, Kongnyaung, Kutkai, Mongmit, Manai, and Kawnghka. Transports fly 487 sorties to forward areas.

AAFPOA (Seventh Air Force): 22 B-24s from Saipan and 21 from Guam bomb airfields on Moen, Truk Atoll; 9 P-38s escort the Saipan B-24s. 12 B-24s from Guam pound an airfield on Iwo Jima ; 2 B-24s from the Mariana fly snooper strikes against Iwo Jima airfields during the night of 14/15 Jan.

HQ AAF (Twentieth Air Force): Mission 19: 73 B-29s from the Mariana are dispatched to bomb the Mitsubishi aircraft plant at Nagoya, Japan; 40 hit the primary target and 23 hit alternates and targets of opportunity; they claim 16-7-26 Japanese aircraft; 5 B-29s are lost.

SOUTHWEST PACIFIC AREA: The 408th Bombardment Squadron (Heavy), 22d BG (Heavy), moves from Angaur Airfield to Guiuan Airfield with B-24s.

EAST INDIES: USAAF Far East Air Forces B-25s bomb the Goeroea area, Halmahara Island. Moluccas Islands.

PACIFIC OCEAN: In the South China Sea, USN submarine USS Cobia, making her third patrol, fires a salvo of five torpedoes in a daytime periscope attack against coastal minelayer HIJMS Yurijima which sinks about 62 nautical miles ESE of Kota Bharu, Malaysia. One torpedo explodes and sinks the coastal minelayer in position 05.45N, 103.13E.

PHILIPPINE ISLANDS: In the U.S. Sixth Army's XIV Corps area on Luzon, the 40th Infantry Division’s Reconnaissance Troop reaches Alaminos; the 160th Infantry Regiment drives south along Route 13 from Aguilar to Mangatarem. Pushing south across the Agno River, the 129th Infantry Regiment, 37th Infantry Division, takes Bautista; the 37th Infantry Division’s Reconnaissance Troop finds Camiling undefended. In the I Corps area, the 6th Infantry Division continues a holding action and patrols actively. In the 43d Infantry Division zone, the 158th Infantry Regiment attacks toward Rosario but meets such heavy fire in a defile near Amlang that it pulls back approximately to its starting line; the 63d Infantry Regiment seizes Hill 363. After taking Hill 351, which has been bypassed, and mopping up on Hill 80, the 172d Infantry Regiment secures Hills 585 and 565 and pushes on toward Hill 665; upon spotting Japanese moving down Route 3, they are ordered to attack tomorrow for the junction of Routes 3 and 11. The 169th Infantry Regiment mops up on Hill 318 and prepares to attack Hill 355. The 103d Infantry Regiment establishes an outpost about 1.5 miles SE of Pozorrubio.
In the U.S. Eighth Army's XXIV Corps area on Leyte, the 96th Infantry Division relieves the 11th Airborne Division of tactical responsibility on Leyte and sends two battalions to Samar Island. to relieve the 8th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division, of garrison duty at Catbalogan. During the night of 14/15 January, the 7th Infantry Division sends a task force, composed of the 3d Battalion, 184th Infantry Regiment, the 776th Tank Battalion, and elements of the 718th and 536th Amtrac Battalions, on an amphibious mission to secure Camotes Island located between Leyte and Cebu Islands.
USAAF Far East Air Forces B-25s attack Aparri Airfield while supporting P-51s destroy several parked aircraft; and A-20s bomb Clark Field destroying numerous parked aircraft, while B-24s hit troop concentrations at Cabanatuan. B-24s, B-25s, A-20s, and fighter-bombers over wide areas of Luzon hit tanks, trucks, and other vehicles near Norzagaray, Masbate, Tartaro, Bulac, Banglos, and San Felipe; bomb a bridge north of Bocaue; hit airfields at Tuguegarao and Batangas on Luzon, Malabang on Mindanao Island, and Silay on Negros Island; bomb the Cotabato supply area on Mindanao; and attack numerous other targets.

 

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1936
UNITED KINGDOM: The Japanese delegation leaves the London naval disarmament conference after rejecting tonnage restrictions on various types of warships. The Japanese government is determined to modernize the fleet and is unwilling to accept further restrictions.

1938
CHINA: The Japanese air force begins regular bombing of Chungking.

1940
UNITED STATES: A joint amphibious exercise begins in the Monterey, California, area to:
(1) provide training for the Army and Navy in planning and executing joint operations,
(2) train Army troops in embarking and disembarking from ships,
(3) afford an opportunity for elements of the General Headquarters Air Force (GHQAF) and Navy patrol squadrons to work together and with ground forces.

1941
CHINA: The growing tension between rival Nationalist and Communist factions, which flared into open violence last week when the 10,000 strong Communist New Fourth Army was surrounded and disarmed in Kiangsi (central China), is likely to be made worse by the Nationalist Kuomintang ruling that the New Fourth must now be disbanded. The incident is feared to have severely damaged the Chinese war effort and removes any prospect of further military collaboration between the two rivals against Japan. Communists are denouncing the disarming as part of a Nationalist- Japanese plot. The Communists fear that 25,000 comrades who are still in Kiangsi, which is Nationalist dominated, face a similar danger. They claim that the original Nationalist order to the New Fourth to cross the Yellow River was always intended to trap it.

UNITED STATES: The House of Representatives' Committee on Foreign Affairs is holding hearings on House Resolution (H.R.) 1776, the Lend-Lease Bill. Secretary of State Cordell Hull testifies and advocates passage of the bill.

1942
ALASKA: The USAAF's Alaskan Air Force is activated at Elmendorf Field, Anchorage, under command of Lieutenant Colonel Everett S Davis.

BURMA: Troops of the Japanese 55th Division advance into Burma north of Mergui. Though not one of Japan's original war aims, Burma is invaded to eliminate a possible threat to the Japanese army in Malaya. The Japanese also want to cut the Burma Road which is feeding supplies and equipment to China and seize Burma's oil fields. Two Japanese army divisions pour into southern and eastern Burma. To oppose them, the British have two divisions: one Burmese, one Indian. Many of the Burmese hate the
British and desert. Later 5,000 join the Burmese National Army and fight alongside the Japanese.

CAROLINE ISLANDS: Six Australian PBY Catalinas are dispatched to bomb the Japanese base in Truk Atoll. Only one aircraft finds the target and drops 16 bombs. Clouds obscure the results.

EAST INDIES: The American-British- Dutch-Australian (ABDA) Supreme Command is established at the Grand Hotel, Lembang, Java, Netherlands East Indies. British General Sir Archibald Wavell assumes supreme command of all forces in the area effective 1200 hours GMT; Lieutenant General George H. Brett, USAAF, is deputy commander; Admiral Thomas C. Hart, USN, is to command naval forces.
Six new USAAF Far East Air Force B-17's and four LB-30's arrive at Singosari Airfield, Java.

INDIA: Jawaharlal Nehru succeeds Mohandas K. Gandhi as head of India's National Congress Party.

MALAYA: The Australian 2/30th Battalion, 27th Brigade, 8th Division, stops a Japanese tank-infantry attack in the Gemas area however, the troops withdraw to prevent being encircled by the Japanese. On the west coast, the Japanese reach the northern bank of the Muar River and land a small party between Muar and Batu Pahat, threatening the communications of the West Force in the Yong Peng area. The boundary between the West Force and the Indian III Corps is altered to give this region, which the Indian 45th Brigade is defending, to the III Corps.
Martial law is declared in Singapore resulting in more chaos.

Seven USAAF Far East Air Force B-17's based at Singosari Airdrome, Java, and flying out of Palembang Airdrome on Sumatra, Netherlands East Indies, attack Sungei Patani Airfield, Malaysia. Two B-17s abort due to weather but the other five bomb the target through light antiaircraft fire. One B-17 is damaged beyond repair in a bad landing at Singosari Airdrome tomorrow.

PHILIPPINE ISLANDS: In the II Corps area on Bataan, the Japanese, attacking vigorously at the junction of the 41st and 51st Divisions, Philippine Army (PA), gain a foothold on the bank of the Balantay River. The 51st Division commits its reserves and service troops to no avail.
Further reinforcements, the Philippine Division (less the 57th Infantry Regiment) from the U.S. Army Forces, Far East (USAFFE) reserve and the 31st Division (-) (PA) from the I Corps, are sent forward. The Japanese enveloping column in central Bataan arrives in position to turn the corps' west flank but pauses to reorganize. Regrouping is conducted to the east as the Japanese threat there diminishes. In the I Corps area, the two Japanese columns driving on Moron converge and push closer to their objective.

UNITED STATES: In Washington, Secretary of War Henry Stimson says nearly 2 million men will be inducted into the military this year. By years end it will have 3.6 million men under arms.
The State Department issues a memorandum outlining its position with respect to French sovereignty over bases the United States intends to build in French Oceania.
In baseball, President Franklin D. Roosevelt gives baseball the go-ahead to play despite the war. In his famous "green light" letter, the President says, "I honestly think it would be best for the country to keep baseball going." He encourages more night baseball so that war workers may attend. Ironically, the Chicago Cubs, who had signed contracts to install lights at Wrigley Field, drop their plans because of the military need for the material. There will be no lights at Wrigley for 35 more years.
The first "blackout" Cadillacs are completed by General Motors. Due to restrictions on materials necessary for the war effort, these cars have painted trim rather than chrome. They also lack spare tires and other luxuries.

1943
ALEUTIAN ISLANDS: Eight P-38s, three B-25s and a B-24 patrol Constantine Harbor on the northeast coast, of Amchitka Island, fly reconnaissance over Kiska Island, where one ship is sighted, and fly negative armed reconnaissance runs over Attu, the Semichis and Buldir Islands.

BISMARCK ARCHIPELAGO: On New Britain Island, B-24s hit the airfield at Gasmata and carry out single plane attacks on the runway at Cape Gloucester.

BURMA: Six Tenth Air Force P-40s bomb barges at Bhamo; six others bomb Nsopzup; three more hit footbridges and targets of opportunity at Taihpa Ga, Yupbang Ga, and other points in northern Burma.

INDIAN OCEAN: In the Andaman Sea, six Tenth Air Force B-24s hit shipping in a convoy in the Rangoon area. One ship, the Japanese Army cargo ship SS Nichimei Maru, is carrying Allied POWs. She is sunk about 211 nautical miles SSE of Rangoon, Burma, in position 13.30N, 97.30E. About 500 POWs are lost. Another ship, SS Moji Maru. is damaged.

NEW GUINEA: In Papua New Guinea, preparations are made for an all-out offensive to clear the Sanananda area. The Urbana Force is to renew the drive west along the coast. The Australian 18th Brigade, 7th Division, moves north along the Killerton trail, passing through Rankin, in preparation for a drive to the coast. The Rankin Force (U.S. 2d Battalion, 163d Infantry Regiment, 41st Infantry Division) then follows the Australians northward and takes over the trail junction east of a coconut plantation about 1.5 miles north of the Rankin perimeter. In the Wau-Mubo area, the Australian 2/7th Independent
Company, Kanga Force, withdraws to prevent being surrounded by the Japanese. On the Soputa Sanananda road, the 1st Battalion, 163d Infantry Regiment, envelops a Japanese pocket remaining between Musket and Fisk, elements infiltrating to attack from inside the perimeter
In Papua New Guinea, A-20s strafe the Sanananda Point area as U.S. troops envelop Japanese pockets along the Soputa-Sanananda road. In Northeast New Guinea, B-25s bomb supply dumps at Lae and B-24s carry out single-plane attacks on bridge construction at Wewak.

GUADALCANAL: the 2d Marine Division continues to make slow progress in the coastal sector, despite use of tanks and a flame thrower. Company B, 35th Infantry Regiment, 25th Infantry Division, reinforced by platoon of Company D, takes over the westward attack from Company C. After a 30-minute artillery concentration followed by machine gun and mortar fire, Company B outflanks the Japanese position barring the advance and finds it to be a bivouac area held by a single platoon. Japanese positions in the Gifu remain practically intact.
The task of reducing the positions has been given to the 2nd Battalion 35th Infantry Regiment, 25th Infantry Division, commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Ernest Peters. His regimental commander, Colonel McClure and the division commander, Major General J. Lawton Collins, have decided that envelopment is not possible. He is directed to capture this position with a frontal assault. Since 10 January, they have been attempting to follow these orders. He is given incomplete maps (it was all they had) and an estimate of 100 Japanese and two "known" machineguns. After his first couple of patrols, he increases this estimate to 400 troops and 20 machineguns.
Peters mounts a general attack today. After a 15-minute mortar barrage the attack begins and manages to gain an average of 50 yards (46 meters). A second attack at 1400 hours also fails. Colonel McClure will replace Colonel Peters with Major Stanley Larsen tomorrow. A surrender request is broadcast to the Japanese in the Gifu.

SOLOMON ISLANDS: USN SBDs with F4F and P-39 Airacobra escort attack nine destroyers of the Tokyo Express and damage four of them. They are met by 12 Oscars; eight are shot down with the loss of one SBD and five US fighters.
Thirteenth Air Force B-17 Flying Fortresses, P-38 Lightnings, P-39 Airacobras and P-40s attack five destroyers near Faisi Island; they are met by float biplanes and 13 are shot down with no loss of USAAF aircraft.
SBDs with F4F and P-39 escort bomb a cargo ship off Munda, New Georgia Island; they are met by 12 Zero's; seven are shot down with the loss of one US fighter. B-17s and USN PBYs bomb Kahili, Bougainville Island.

UNITED STATES: On the Virginia side of the Potomac River outside Washington, D.C., a new headquarters building for the Armed Forces of the U.S. is completed. Due to the five sided architectural design, it will become known as "The Pentagon." The massive structure covers 34 acres of land and has 17 miles of corridors.
The size of this building will allow the U.S. Army, Navy and Army Air Forces to move their command functions into one place. These have been located all over the greater Washington, D.C. area. Many of them are housed in temporary buildings, "on the Mall," between the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument. These temporary buildings were erected during WWI and were not expected to be in use much longer than the duration of that conflict. (Some were still there in the 1960s.)

1944
(CBI) BURMA-INDIA (Tenth Air Force): 4 P-40's and a B-25 over N Burma hit a train at Pinwe.

BURMA: In the Hukawng Valley, the 1st Battalion, 113th Regiment, Chinese 38th Division, followed by the 3d Battalion, reaches Kaduja Ga; the 2nd Battalion is in reserve at Yupbang Ga.

CHINA (Fourteenth Air Force): 2 B-25's on a sea sweep along the French Indochina coast bomb the Hongay power plant and sink a gunboat in a nearby cove to the SW; a coal grading building at Campha Port is also bombed. 2 B-25's on a sweep off the SE China coast sink a wooden vessel off Swatow and damage the lighthouse on Nampana . 2 others shoot down a Japanese bomber N of Chikhom, China.

PACIFIC OCEAN AREA (POA, Seventh Air Force): 9 B-25's from Tarawa Atoll flying at deck-level bomb and strafe shipping and shore installations at Maloelap; 2 vessels are hit and the oil dump, hangars, other buildings, and runways are damaged; 1 B-25 crashes at sea after being hit by AA fire.

SOUTH PACIFIC AREA (SOPAC, Thirteenth Air Force): On Bougainville in the Solomon , 24 B-25's, with 60 fighters escorting, pound East Cape; and P-39's attack barges and trucks at Chabai. HQ 347th Fighter Group and it's 339th Fighter Squadron transfer from Guadalcanal to Stirling with P-38's.
BISMARCK ARCHIPELAGO: The relief of the ADC Group (7th Marine Regiment reinforced by a battalion of the 5th Marine Regiment and supporting units) is begun.

SOUTHWEST PACIFIC AREA (SWPA, Fifth Air Force): B-24's and B-25's pound Uligan Harbor; P-40's, P-47's, and B-25's hit the Madang, Alexishafen, Erima, and Bogadjim area. Enemy positions along the S coast of New Britain are attacked by B-25's and P-39's. 499th Bombardment Squadron (Medium), 345th Bombardment Group (Medium), transfers from Port Moresby to Dobodura, New Guinea with B-25's.

NEW GUINEA: The capture of Sio by the Australian 2/17th Battalion, 21st Brigade, 9th Division, represents the final destruction of the Japanese 20th Division in the protracted Huon Peninsula campaign of 1943-1944.

1945
CHINA: The Japanese begin an offensive for Suichwan airfields, driving along the Chaling-Lienhwa road.

CHINA THEATER (Fourteenth Air Force): 18 B-25s, supported by 20 P-51s and P-40s, attack Hankow, China. Others hit the Wan Pa-Hsa, Burma town area and damage a nearby bridge and in China, attack shipping near Amoy, and hit targets of opportunity in the Siang-Chiang and Hsiang River Valleys and from Hong Kong to Foochow. 130+ P-40s and P-51s on armed reconnaissance attack numerous targets of opportunity throughout S China from the Burma border to the SE coast.

BURMA: U.S. Major General George E Stratemeyer, Commanding General Eastern Air Command, and U.S. Lieutenant General Daniel I Sultan, Commanding General India-Burma Theater, confer at Myitkyina, and agree that an Army Air Forces Headquarters to command the U.S. Tenth and Fourteenth Air Forces should be set up in China.
In the Northern Combat Area Command (NCAC) area, the inaugural convoy from Ledo, India, reaches Myitkyina, where it halts to await clearance of the Japanese ahead. The Chinese 30th Division takes Namhkam with ease, gaining control of the lower end of Shweli Valley.
In the British Fourteenth Army’s Indian XXXIII Corps area, the Indian 19th Division secures another bridgehead across the Irrawaddy River, at Kyaukmyaung.

INDIA-BURMA THEATER (Tenth Air Force): In Burma, 12 B-24s bomb a troop concentration and the supply area at Mong Ngaw; 6 fighter-bombers damage a bridge at Namhkai; 11 support ground forces along the Irrawaddy River, bombing Mabein, hitting a cable crossing at Myitson, and attacking a ferry landing on the Nampaw River, a tributary; troops, supplies, tanks and targets of opportunity are attacked at several points in N Burma including Mong Tat, Mong Yok and Mong Pa. Transports fly 527 sorties to forward areas. Lieutenant Generals Albert C Wedemeyer, Commanding General China Theater, George E Stratemeyer, Commanding General Eastern Air Command, and Daniel I Sultan, Commanding General India-Burma Theater, confer at Myitkyina, Burma and agree that an AAF HQ to command the US Tenth and Fourteenth Air Forces should be set up in China. The 15th Combat Cargo Squadron, 4th Combat Cargo Group, moves from Argartala to Chittagong with C-46s. The 164th Liaison Squadron (Commando), 1st Air Commando Group, moves from Inbaung to Kan, Burma with UC-64s and L-5s.

AAFPOA (Seventh Air Force): 12 B-24s from Saipan hit airfields on Iwo Jima; 2 B-24s, operating singly from Guam and Saipan, strike Iwo Jima airfields during the night of 15/16 Jan.

SOUTHWEST PACIFIC AREA [SWPA, Far East Air Force (FEAF)]: The 318th Troop Carrier Squadron (Commando), 3d Air Commando Group, moves from Nadzab to Leyte with C-47s.

EAST INDIES: USAAF Far East Air Forces B-24s bomb Jesselton Airfield in British North Borneo.

NEW GUINEA: In Northeast New Guinea, a company of the Australian 2/5th Battalion, 17th Brigade, 6th Division, occupies Maharingi.

PACIFIC OCEAN: In the South China Sea, USN Task Force 38, severely handicapped by weather conditions, launches air strikes against shipping, airfields, and ground installations on Formosa and along the coast of China from Hong Kong to Amoy. Because of deteriorating weather conditions, some of the planes are diverted to Mako Ko in the Pescadores Islands and others to Prates Reef.

PHILIPPINE ISLANDS: In the U.S. Sixth Army's XIV Corps area on Luzon, elements of the 40th Infantry Division begin probing in the Dasol Bay-Balinao Peninsula area, where action is insignificant through 18 January. The 2d Battalion, 160th Infantry Regiment, takes San Clemente, forcing a Japanese party back toward Camiling. Elements of the 129th Infantry Regiment and the 37th Reconnaissance Troop, 37th Infantry Division, intercept the Japanese party near Camiling and disperse it. In the I Corps area, the 6th Infantry Division, while continuing a holding action, extends their left flank to Cabanbanan, between Manoag and Urdaneta. Patrols find the Japanese in possession of Urdaneta and Cabaruan Hills. In the 43d Infantry Division zone, the 158th Infantry Regiment, assisted by artillery, naval gunfire, and aircraft, begins clearing the defile near Amlang, on the road to Rosario; the 63d Infantry Regiment drives north in an effort to make contact with the 158th Infantry Regiment but stops for the night well south of Amlang; the 172d Infantry Regiment clears Hill 665 and reaches the Damortis-Rosario road within 1.5 miles of Rosario; the 169th Infantry Regiment, unable to take Hill 355 from the west and south, prepares to strike from the east; the 103d Infantry Regiment gains most of Hill 200 area.
Protected by USAAF Fifth Air Force planes and motor torpedo (PT) boats, the 7th Infantry Division Task Force lands unopposed on the northern and southern tips of Ponson Island, Camotes Islands, located between Leyte and Cebu Islands.
On Mindoro, the 2d Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment, 24th Infantry Division, driving on Calapan, meets delaying opposition along Gusay Creek. The 503d Parachute Infantry Regiment, which has been assisting guerrilla forces, terminates operations on Mindoro.
USAAF Far East Air Forces B-24s, B-25s, A-20s, and fighter-bombers attack objectives on Luzon Island, in the central Philippine Islands, and on Palawan Island, hitting highways, railroads, airfields and numerous targets of opportunity including tanks, trucks, and other vehicles.

SOLOMON ISLANDS: On Bougainville, elements of the Australian 61st Battalion, 7th Brigade, 3rd Division, start moving south from the Jaba River.

UNITED STATES: Fragments of a 33 pound Japanese anti-personnel high explosive bomb dropped from a Japanese Fu Go balloon are recovered at Saticoy, California. The bomb was observed to explode at 1800 hours local. Saticoy is located about 61 miles WNW of Los Angeles.

CINCPAC COMMUNIQUÉ NO. 234, JANUARY 15, 1945

Further reports from U. S. Pacific Fleet forces which struck at shipping and other targets along the coast of French Indo‑China on January 11 (West Longitude Date) show that our carrier based aircraft inflicted the following damage on the enemy. (This report includes damage previously reported in communiqué No. 231)

Sunk:
41 ships totaling about 127,000 tons.

Damaged:
28 ships totaling about 70,000 tons.

Enemy plane damage:
15 aircraft shot down.
77 aircraft destroyed on the ground.
20 aircraft destroyed on the water.
About 50 aircraft damaged on the ground.

Ground installations
A large dock at Camranh Bay demolished.
6 oil tanks at Saigon destroyed.
Oil storage facilities, warehouses and buildings on Saigon River de*stroyed.
Seaplane hangar at Cat‑Lai destroyed.
Two locomotives at Quang‑Ngai destroyed.
Oil refineries in Saigon area damaged heavily and fires started in Saigon Navy Yard.

Our forces suffered losses of 16 planes in combat.

While inflicting the damage listed above our aircraft sank a convoy of 1 oiler, 4 medium cargo ships, 2 destroyer escorts, and 4 coastal cargo ships in its entirety. A second convoy was all sunk or damaged and beached. It consisted of 1 light cruiser now believed to be Kashii, of the Katori‑class, 4 destroyer escorts, 4 oilers, 7 medium and 2 small cargo ships and 1 coastal ship. A third group of ships approaching Saigon from the south was attacked, an oiler sunk, and 1 large cargo ship, 1 medium cargo ship and 1 small coastal cargo ship damaged. At Camranh Bay a destroyer escort and a small cargo ship were sunk, and at Cape St. Jacques, 3 destroyer escorts, 1 oiler, 3 large cargo ships and a small cargo ship were sunk. Attacking the Saigon area heavily our planes sank a large oiler, a large troop transport, 2 medium cargo ships, a dismantled French light cruiser Lamotte Picquet and damaged a large cargo ship, 4 medium cargo ships and 2 coastal cargo ships. Along the coast our planes sank an additional medium cargo ship and damaged 5 small coastal cargo vessels.
On January 13 carrier‑based aircraft of the Pacific Fleet struck at targets in Formosa and along the China Coast including Amoy, Swatow and Hongkong. Details of these attacks are not now available.
Fires were started in storage areas on Iwo Jima in the Volcanos by bombs dropped by Army Liberators of the Strategic Air Force, Pacific Ocean Areas, on January 12 and 13. On the same date Marine Mitchells scored rocket hits on a small ship in Okimura Ko at Haha Jima in the Bonins.
Fighters of the Fourth Marine Aircraft Wing attacked warehouses, de*fense positions, coastal defenses and a dry dock on Babelthuap and Urukthapel

in the Palaus on January 12. Attacks on Babelthuap were repeated on the following day.
An enemy reconnaissance plane was shot down off Guam in the Marianas on January 13.
Sixty‑eight tons of bombs were dropped on installations on Truk in the Carolines by Army Liberators of the Strategic Air Force on January 13. Escorting Lightning fighters shot down two defending enemy fighters and probably destroyed another.
Search Venturas of Fleet Air Wing Two bombed and strafed targets on Wake Island through intense antiaircraft fire on January 12.
Neutralizing raids were continued by the Fourth Marine Aircraft Wing on enemy held bases in the Marshalls on January 12.

 

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1940
The emperor of Japan today appointed Admiral Mitsumasa Yonai, aged 60, to form a new cabinet after General Abe and his ministers resigned after an urgent session early on 14 January. The resignation of General Abe's government is a set-back for the pro-war hawks in the army. It has come under mounting criticism for the way the war in China has been allowed to drag on. The army's plans to reduce the China Expeditionary Army and deploy troops to strengthen Japanese positions along the border with the Soviet Union have been thwarted by the Chinese Nationalists' winter offensive. Instead Japan has had to send additional troops to China. Anti-war elements in the 'Diet' [parliament] have become increasingly reluctant to float yet more loans, which are crippling government finances, to support the war. It is now known whether the new premier, who was a compromise choice after the army failed to get its own candidate appointed, is a hawk or a dove.

1941
U.S.: President Franklin D. Roosevelt President asks the Congress for an immediate appropriation of US$350 million for 200 new merchant ships. (With inflation, the US$350 million in 1941 is equal to US$4.268 billion in year 2002 dollars.)

1942
AUSTRALIA: Japanese submarines continue mining the approaches to Darwin, Northern Territory: HIJMS I-122 mines Clarence Strait, HIJMS I-123 Bundas Strait, and HIJMS I-124 the waters off Darwin itself.
Seventeen P-40s of the USAAF's Far East Air Force (FEAF) 17th Pursuit Squadron (Provisional) , depart Brisbane, Queensland, for Java via Darwin, Northern Territory.

BORNEO: Three USAAF FEAF LB-30's based at Singosari Airdrome on Java, stage through Kendari Airdrome on Celebes Island to attack Tarakan Airdrome on Tarakan Island; two of the bombers are damaged by Japanese aircraft and both are further damaged when they crash land in remote places.

BURMA: The 46th Brigade, Indian 17th Division, arrives in Burma. The Japanese attack and eventually outflank Imperial forces at Myitta, threatening Tavoy.

LINE ISLANDS: Six USAAF Hawaiian Air Force B-17's fly from Oahu, Territory of Hawaii, to Palmyra Island, located 960 miles south of Oahu. This is the first deployment of Hawaiian Air Force aircraft from Hawaii since the Pearl Harbor attack. As part of the USN's Task Force 8.9, this flight was a test to determine the efficacy of conducting land-based air operations across wide bodies of water.

MALAYA: The Japanese cross the Muar River and force the Indian 45th Brigade from Muar, on the south bank; the Japanese continue landings on west coast in the Muar-Batu Pahat area, increasing the threat to communications. The 53d Brigade of the British 18th Division is released to the Indian 3 Corps, which places it under the Indian 11th Division command; two battalions are dispatched to positions west of Yong Peng and the third is held in reserve at Ayer Hitam. The RAF, concentrated on
Singapore Island., prepares to withdraw to Sumatra, Netherlands East Indies because Singapore airdromes are still targets of daily enemy air attacks. )
Twelve RAAF Brewster Buffalos attack a heavy concentration of Japanese vehicles on the Gamas-Teampin road and severely damage the convoy. Later in the day, four Buffalos attack enemy barges, a 200-ton steamer, and several launches at Malacca, sinking four of the barges. Finally, six RAAF Hudson attack barges on the Muar River.

NETHERLANDS EAST INDIES: Two USAAF FEAF B-17's, based at Singosari Airdrome on Java, stage through Kendari Airdrome on Celebes Island to attack Japanese shipping in Menado Bay on Celebes Island. One B-17 returns to Singosari Airdrome and the second lands at Kendari Airdrome where it is destroyed by a Japanese fighter. This is the last effective use of Kendari Airdrome as a staging base.

PACIFIC: During a routine search from the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise, a Torpedo Squadron Six TBD Devastator flown by Aviation Chief Machinist's Mate Harold F. Dixon (Naval Aviation Pilot) fails to return to the ship and force-lands at sea about 740 miles NE of Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands, due to fuel starvation. Dixon and his two-man crew have no food and no water but they survive 34-days at sea in a raft.
Six PBY-5's of USN Patrol Squadron Twenty Three temporarily based at Canton Island began daily searches of the waters between Canton Island and the Fiji Islands to protect the advance of Task Force 8 as it prepared for its strike against the Marshall and Gilbert Islands. These were the first combat patrols by U.S. aircraft in the South Pacific.

PHILIPPINE ISLANDS: In the II Corps area on Bataan, the 51st Division, Philippine Army (PA), counterattacks to restore their positions on the corps western flank; after making limited progress on the right, the Filipinos are subjected to severe pressure and fall back in confusion, the western flank elements making a futile attempt to gain contact with I Corps on the rugged terrain of Mt. Natib. The entire line on Bataan is jeopardized by a Japanese breakthrough in this sector. The Japanese encircling force, although in position to turn the western flank of the corps, prepares instead to advance down the Abo-Abo River valley.
To the east, the 41st Division (PA) refuses its left flank in an effort to tie in with the 51st Division and, with assistance of elements of the 23d and 32d Regiments and a quickly formed provisional battalion, succeeds in halting the Japanese. The U.S. 31st Infantry moves to the vicinity of Abucay Hacienda, on the left flank of the 41st Division, and prepares to counterattack; a reserve force, the 45th Infantry, Philippine Scouts, also moves toward attack positions. The I Corps engages the Japanese for the first time. The Japanese cross the Batalan River and attack Moron but are forced back to the river line by the 1st Infantry and elements of 26th Cavalry. The cavalrymen are withdrawn after engagement because of heavy losses.

U.K.: The Admiralty defines its Eastern Fleet as comprising all British battleships, aircraft carriers, cruisers, minelayers, destroyers and submarines within the limits of the British East Indies and China Stations. This includes the ship in the Australian-British- Dutch-American (ABDA) area, regarded as a detachment of the Eastern Fleet known as the "Far Eastern Squadron."

U.S.: President Franklin D. Roosevelt asks the Secretaries of War, Navy and Interior to study the need for a highway from the Zone of the Interior (ZI), i.e., the continental U.S., to the Territory of Alaska.
1943
ALASKA: six B-24s off to hit Kiska return due to weather. A B-24 flies negative reconnaissance over Buldir, the Semichis, Attu and Agattu.

CBI (Tenth Air Force) In China, China Air Task Force P-40s intercept Japanese aircraft that attempt a strike on Yunnani and claim seven Zekes shot down in the air battle. Anticipating that the Japanese planes will land at Lashio Airfield, six B-25s and eleven fighters are sent to that field in the hope of catching the enemy on the ground; finding no aircraft there, the B-25s and fighters attack the town of Lashio. This is the last raid by the China Air Task Force before a fuel shortage grounds the fighters for the remainder of January and the B-25s for 33 days. In Burma, India Air Task Force B-25s hit Mandalay-Lashio and Sagaing-Ye-u branch railroad lines with three strikes on 16 and 17 Jan, knocking out two important rail hubs. Ten B-25s bomb the railroad yards at Maymyo.

GUADALCANAL: US loudspeaker appeals to the Japanese defenders in the "Gifu" on Guadalcanal yield 5 soldiers surrendering. They reveal that the defenders had voted to stay with the position because 80% of the defenders are too ill to walk and would there for be abandoned.
Despite being hampered by disease, US forces finally manage to subdue the Japanese resistance in Papua. Over 60% of the US forces was incapacitated by various illnesses, mainly malaria and dysentery.
B-26s from Espiritu Santo, New Hebrides join P-38s and P-39s in the Guadalcanal campaign, pounding the Japanese at Tassafaronga. The 17th Photographic Reconnaissance Squadron, 4th Photographic Reconnaissance Group with P-38s and F-5s transfers from Noumea to Guadalcanal. The air echelon of C and D Flights remain in the US. The squadron will fly its first combat mission on 5 Feb 43 and will be redesgnated 17th Photographic Squadron on 6 Feb 43.

NEW GEORGIA/BOUGAINVILLE: Munda is also bombed. B-17s bomb the Buin-Faisi area, concentrating on Kahili Airfield and Ballale Airfield.

NEW GUINIE: A-20s pound the Soputa-Sanananda trail, the Kurenada area, and the area south of the Kumusi River, after which US and Australian ground forces open an assault on Sanananda which falls tomorrow. B-25s again bomb supplies at Lae. B-24s carry out single-plane attacks on airfields at Gasmata the town of Finschhafen, and a cruiser ESE of Cape Orford. Lost is B-17E "Tugboat Annie" 41-2599 between Lae and Buna.

SW PACIFIC OCEAN: Submarine U.S.S. Greenling, embarked upon her fourth patrol, comes upon XAP Kimposan Maru west of Kavieng, New Ireland. In a twilight periscope attack, Greenling unleashes three torpedoes, scoring two hits. The transport sinks in position 02° 47'S, 149°10'E. Submarine chaser Ch 17 rescues Kimposan Maru's survivors having unsuccessfully depth-charged Greenling in a counterattack.
Submarine U.S.S. Growler, moving through the waters around the Bismarcks during her fourth patrol, attacks a Japanese convoy by launching a daylight periscope attack. Growler downs A-APK Chifuku Maru with both torpedoes fired in position 04°00'S, 151 55'E. Growler survives the escorts' counterattacks.

1944
(CBI) CHINA (Fourteenth Air Force): 8 P-40's attack the town of Pingkai, China and strafe targets of opportunity in the surrounding valley area.

PACIFIC OCEAN AREA (POA, Seventh Air Force): 25 A-24s, 16 P-39's, and 8 P-40's from Makin strike Mille Atoll; A-24s bomb and strafe AA positions and storage areas, the P-40's bomb and strafe barracks and AA emplacements and the P-39's strafe runways; 2 P-39's are lost; P-39's sent up on interceptor missions claim 3 Japanese airplanes destroyed over Mille Atoll and Makin. Transfers: 28th Photographic Reconnaissance Squadron, Seventh Air Force, to Kipapa Airfield, Territory of Hawaii from the US with F-5's. 431st Bombardment Squadron (Heavy), 11th Bombardment Group (Heavy), from Funafuti Atoll to Tarawa Atoll with B-24's.

SOUTHWEST PACIFIC AREA (SWPA, Fifth Air Force): Madang, Erima, and Bogadjim areas are hit by B-25's, A-20's, and P-40's; P-39's strafe the area from Sio to Bogadjim; and B-25's bomb the area N from Cape Croisilles. Lost are B-25G 42-64827, B-25D "Exotic Express" 41-30179 and P-40N 42-105909. B-24's and B-25's attack positions near Arawe. B-24's carry out a light raid on the harbor of Amboina.

JAAF - Ki-61 Tony of the 68th Sentai strafe American airfields in the Markham Valley. On the return flight, Ki-61 Tony 388 was intercepted by P-38s and shot down.

PACIFIC: Submarine U.S.S. Blackfish, sailing through the Caroline Islands during her seventh patrol, attacks a convoy approximately 275 SW of Truk. In the course of the attack, Blackfish fires from all ten torpedo tubes. The sub claims damage from one hit in a four torpedo salvo (the victim is not identified in postwar analysis).
From the six fish spread, three find the XAP Kaika Maru (2087T) and sink her in position 04°03'N, 148°41'E.
Submarine U.S.S. Redfin, on her first outing, patrols the South China Sea. Firing four torpedoes, she attacks and heavily damages DD Amatsukaze (2033T) with all four torpedoes in a twilight surface attack about 250 miles N of the Spratly Islands, 14°40'N, 113°50'E.
Submarine U.S.S. Seahorse, patrolling east of the Marianas during her third patrol, attacks and sinks C-AK Nikko Maru (784T) in a night surface radar attack ESE of the Marianas in position 12°49'N, 150°19'E. Three of four torpedoes fired find their target.
Submarine U.S.S. Sturgeon, cruising in the Honshu area on her ninth patrol, heavily damages DD Suzutsuki (2700T) in Bungo Suido in position 32°11'N, 132°22'E. However, Sturgeon fails to press home an attack against the accompanying merchant vessel Azaki Maru.
Submarine U.S.S. Swordfish, patrolling south of Honshu on her tenth patrol, hits with all three torpedoes fired in a night periscope attack. XPG Delhi Maru (2205T) sinks south of Tokyo Bay in position 34°04'N, 139°56'E.
Submarine U.S.S. Whale, on her sixth patrol cruising between the Volcano and the Daito Islands, attacks a Japanese convoy in a twilight periscope attack, firing three torpedoes. Two torpedoes hit and sink A-AK Denmark Maru (5869T) about 400 miles ESE of Okinawa in position 23°09'N, 135°14'E
Nearby, U. S. S. Seawolf, on her twelfth patrol, conducts a nighttime gun attack and damages XAP Tarushima Maru (4865T) in approximately 22°45'N, 135°00'E.

1945
CHINA THEATER (Fourteenth Air Force): In China, 4 B-25s and 8 P-40s destroy a train N of Hankow and 8 B-25s pound Wanting. 180+ P-51s, P-40s, and P-38s on armed reconnaissance over vast expanses of China S of the Yangtze River and from the Burma border to the S China Sea attack numerous targets of opportunity; the Muse, Burma and Wanting and Changsha, China areas are hit especially hard.

INDIA-BURMA THEATER (Tenth Air Force): In Burma, 12 B-25s attack a troop concentration and supply dump at Namtoi; 15 P-47s support ground forces near Yenya-u and S of Shadaw; 22 bomb airfields at Anisakan and Nawnghkio; a troop concentration, supplies, town areas, vehicles, and other targets are attacked by 40+ fighter-bombers; the 71st Liaison Squadron, Tenth AF [attached to 1st Liaison Group (Provisional)] moves from Sahmaw to Katha with UC-64s, L-1s, L-4s and L-5s. Transports fly 550 sorties to forward areas.

AAFPOA (Seventh Air Force): 10 B-24s from Guam bomb an airfield on Iwo Jima; 12 P-38s from Saipan assigned to high cover for the B-24 strike fail to make contact with the formation due to bad weather; 3 of the fighters strafe beached vessels. 3 B-24s fly snooper strikes against Iwo Jima airfields during the night of 16/17 Jan.

HQ AAF (Twentieth Air Force): 32 of 44 B-29s of the 313th Bombardment Wing (Very Heavy) fly a shakedown mission against the airfield on Pagan. Units arriving at North Field from the US: HQ 316th Bombardment Wing (Very Heavy); HQ 19th Bombardment Group (Very Heavy) and the 28th, 30th and 93d Bombardment Squadrons (Very Heavy) with B-29s (first mission 12 Feb 45).

SOUTHWEST PACIFIC AREA: In the day's principal strikes B-24s, A-20s, and fighter-bombers pound Japanese concentrations, trains, trucks, and targets of opportunity on Luzon. Other B-24s hit airfields in N Borneo and on Halmahera . B-25s, A-20s, and fighter-bombers on small raids, armed reconnaissance, and harassing strikes hit airfields on Negros and airfields, communications targets, trains, trucks, and other targets of opportunity throughout Luzon. HQ 86th Fighter Wing moves from Sansapor to Luzon. The 26th Photographic Reconnaissance Squadron, 6th Photographic Reconnaissance Group, moves from Biak to Lingayen Airfield with F-5s. The 70th Fighter Squadron, 18th FG, ceases operating from Morotai with P-38s and begins a movement to Luzon. The 547th Night Fighter Squadron, 86th Fighter Wing (attached to 308th Bombardment Wing) moves from San Jose to Lingayen Airfield with P-38s and P-61s.

CINCPAC COMMUNIQUÉ NO. 235, JANUARY 16, 1945

Carrier aircraft of the United States Pacific Fleet attacked shipping and other targets in Formosa and along the coast of China including Canton, Swatow and Hongkong on January 14 and 15 (West Longitude Dates).
Preliminary and incomplete reports show the following damage inflicted on the enemy on January 14:

Sunk:
Nine ships totaling about 22,000 tons including one destroyer, one destroyer escort and one oiler.

Damaged:
Nine ships.
Nine small vessels.

Enemy plane damage:
Sixteen aircraft shot down.
Eighteen aircraft destroyed on the ground.
Thirty‑eight aircraft damaged on the ground.

Ground Installations:
Warehouses, docks and seven locomotives destroyed at Takao, Formosa.
Buildings, ammunition dumps and other installations destroyed or damaged at Pratas Reef southeast of Hongkong.

Preliminary and incomplete reports show the following damage inflicted on the enemy on January 15:

Sunk or damaged:
Shipping totaling about 82,000 tons including the 17,000 ton tanker Kamoi seen listing and two oilers seen burning.

Enemy plane damage:
Seven aircraft shot down.
One aircraft destroyed on the ground.
Seven aircraft damaged on the ground.

Ground Installations:
Royal Navy and Taikoo, docks, harbor facilities and fuel storage areas in Hongkong and Canton heavily damaged.

Little air opposition was encountered by our aircraft over any of the targets. Over Hongkong and Canton there was none.
A Japanese reconnaissance plane was shot down by our aircraft off Tinian in the Marianas on January 14.
Neutralizing raids on enemy held bases in the Marshalls were continued by planes of the Fourth Marine Aircraft Wing on January 14 and 15.

 

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1941
CHINA: The Chinese Nationalist government disbands the Communist New Fourth Army as rebellious.

USA: Bethlehem Steel, of Lehigh, Pennsylvania, changes its operations to all-out war production of steel plate for ships and tanks, structural steel for defense plants and forgings for guns, shells and aircraft engines. Bethlehem's 15 shipyards will build 1,121 ships, more than any other shipbuilder in World War II. At peak of production, Bethlehem employs almost 300,000 people, 180,000 of them in shipbuilding.

SOUTH CHINA SEA: The Vichy French and Thailand fight the Battle of Koh Chang: the Vichy French retaliate against Thai moves against Cambodia. The French squadron (Rear Admiral Jules Terraux) consisting of light cruiser Lamotte-Picquet, colonial sloops Amiral Charner and Dumont D'Urville and sloops Tahure and Marne, decisively defeats a Thai Navy force in a surface gunnery and torpedo action fought in the Gulf of Siam, sinking coast defense ship Dhonburi and torpedo boats Cholbury and Songkhla and damaging coast defense ship Sri Ayuthia and torpedo boat Trat in about two hours.

1942
CHINA: Pilots of the 3d Fighter Squadron, American Volunteer Group shoot down three Japanese "Ann" bombers near Mengtzu at 1017 hours local.

JAPAN: The Japanese Carrier Striking Force sails to participate in operations in the Bismarck Archipelago.

MALAYA: Additional reinforcements are moved into the Muar-Yong Peng area as the Japanese continue attacks and build up. West Force withdraws a battalion from Segamat, and East Force releases one from Jemaluang for operations in this area.
Twenty seven Japanese bombers attack Sembawang Airfield and destroy most of the buildings and the water supply.

PACIFIC: The Japanese submarine HIJMS I-60 is sunk by British destroyer HMS Jupiter 25 miles NNW of Krakatoa, Java, Netherlands East Indies, in position 06.00S, 105.00E.

PHILIPPINE ISLANDS: On Bataan, the II Corps counterattacks to restore the western portion of the line, formerly held by the 51st Division, Philippine Army (PA), and makes limited progress. The U.S. 31st Infantry, moving north from the Abucay Hacienda area, reaches the Balantay River on the left but is unable to make much headway on the right. Reserves move forward to plug a gap between the assault battalions. The Japanese encircling column begins an unopposed march down the Abo-Abo River toward Orion. In the I Corps area, Moron defenders fall back under enemy pressure to a ridge south and southeast of Moron.

PHOENIX ISLANDS: The six USAAF Hawaiian Air Force B-17s that landed on Palmyra Island in the Line Islands yesterday continue on to Canton Island.

U.S.: The War Department appoints Major General Lewis H. Brereton, Commanding General of the USAAF's Far East Air Force (FEAF), as commander of tactical forces in the Australian-British- Dutch-American (ABDA) area of the Southwest Pacific.

CENTRAL PACIFIC (Hawaiian Air Force): Aircraft unsuccessfully attack submarines in the Hawaiian area. B-17's of Task Group 8.9 proceed from Palmyra Atoll in the Line to Canton in the Phoenix .

SOUTHWEST PACIFIC (Far East Air Force): On Celebes, B-17's from Malang, Java, staging through Kendari, hit Langoan Airfield and ships in Menado Bay.

1943
GUADALCANAL: 37 105mm and 12 155mm artillery pound the Gifu with 1,700 shells between 1430 and 1600 into the "Gifu", an area of 1000 square yards, on Guadalcanal. An all out assault is precluded due to the hour, which wastes the effect of this barrage. US troops 300 yards from the pocket are dazed by the concussion.

CHINA: Chungking: In a move to strengthen the alliance with China and end a long-standing Chinese grievance, Britain and the US have surrendered their century-old neo-colonial territorial rights to the international settlements. The decision made by Britain and America, formally agreed last week, abrogates their citizens' rights to immunity from Chinese law and national rights to station troops under the so-called "unequal treaties", legacies of the Opium Wars and the Boxer Rebellion. The deal was the result of pressure from the Chinese Nationalist leader, Chiang Kai-shek, who said that the humiliation of a century had been wiped away.

SOUTH PACIFIC (Thirteenth Air Force) P-39s pound mortar positions near Allied lines on Guadalcanal. Ground supply lines to the Mount Austen battle area reopen after three days of being closed because their extension outran the capacity of the native carriers. During the three days, B-17s from Henderson Field airlift rations, water, and ammunition to the troops, using what improvised cargo parachutes are available and in may cases wrapping the supplies in burlap or canvas and pushing them out.
The 31st Bombardment Squadron, 5th BG with B-17s transfers from Espiritu Santo, New Hebrides to Guadalcanal, Solomon .

SOUTHWEST PACIFIC (Fifth Air Force) In New Guinea, A-20s strafe Mambare Delta and hit positions between Bakumbari and Salamaua. B-25s again pound supply stroes at Lae. B-24s, operating individually, attack Finschhafen and Madang wharf areas, Lahang Airfield and a vessel southeast of Rambutyo . In the Bismarck Archipelago, B-17s bomb landing grounds and shipping in Rabaul. B-24s, operating individually, attack the airfield on Gasmata. Lost on the ground at Gurney AIrfield to a Japanese air raid are: B-17F "Fire Ball Mail" 41-24551, B-17F 41-24540, B-24D 41-23824, P-39D 41-38499, P-39D at Gurney, Hudson A16-206, Hudson A16-239. Damaged was Hudson A16-185.

1944
(CBI) BURMA-INDIA (Tenth Air Force): In Burma, A-36's and P-51's support ground forces in the Shaduzup-Ngamaw Ga area and near Taro; others bomb supply dumps, warehouses, and rolling stock at Sahmaw; and P-40's hit Myitkyina Airfield. Transfer: HQ 7th Bombardment Group from Pandaveswar to Kurmitola, India.

PACIFIC OCEAN AREA (POA, Seventh Air Force): 9 B-25's from Abemama bomb and strafe Mille Atoll, Marshall , hitting the runway, AA positions, radio tower, warehouse area, lagoon dredges and possible oil dumps. 4 P-40's from Makin bomb and strafe the Mille Atoll landing ground.

SOUTH PACIFIC AREA (SOPAC, Thirteenth Air Force): AAF and US fighters support a USN dive-bomber strike on shipping at Rabaul; they claim 18 Japanese airplanes; Kanshin Maru is sunk. 10 Allied fighters are lost. Japanese Zeros from the 204th Kokutai and 16 Zeros from the 252nd Kokutai at Tobera Airfield intercept. Lost are P-38J piloted by Munson (MIA), P-38J 42-67785 (MIA), P-38J 42-67179 (MIA), P-38J 42-67611 (MIA), P-38H 42-66680 (MIA), P-38H 42-66897 (MIA), P-38H 42-66897 (rescued), P-38J 42-67171 (MIA), F6F 26031 (MIA), SBD-5 28316 (MIA), TBF-1C 24363 (MIA).

During the night of 17/18 Jan, a few B-24's, in 2 flights, bomb the Rabaul area, while 2 RNZAF Ventura's bomb the Kalakapisi coast watcher station on Choiseul.

SOUTHWEST PACIFIC AREA (SWPA, Fifth Air Force): 47 B-24's and B-25's bomb the Hansa Bay area; B-25's bomb Nubia; P-39's strafe the Rai Coast; and B-24's bomb Bandanaira, Celebes.

1945
CHINA THEATER (Fourteenth Air Force): In China, 12 B-25s bomb the town area, river shipping, and trucks at Ishan and 3 B-25s and 8 P-40s pound sampans and storage areas W of Hengshan while 2 B-25s hit an oil dump and other targets of opportunity in the Hsiang River Valley and another blasts a troop compound at Chaling. 4 B-25s damage a bridge at Phu Lang Thuong, French Indochina. 180+ P-40s, P-51s, and P-38s hit a large number of targets of opportunity from the Burma border to Shanghai, China, concentrating on the Wanling, Burma area and airfields in the Shanghai, Wuchou, and Wuchang, China areas.

HQ AAF (Twentieth Air Force): Mission 29: 77 of 92 B-29s from Chengtu, China bomb the airfield at Shinchiku; 8 other hit alternates and targets of opportunity in SE China; 1 B-29 is lost.

INDIA-BURMA THEATER (Tenth Air Force): In Burma, 4 B-25s demolish 2 bypass bridges at Ho-hko; 8 pound the village of Mansam; 20 P-47s support ground forces along the Irrawaddy River, hitting targets at Konkha, Onbaing, and Wabyudaung; troop concentrations and supplies are bombed by 75 fighter- bombers at Nawngchio, No-na, Man Hpa-yaw, Man Namket, Nanhu, Panghai, Mong Nge, and Ho-Pok. Transports fly 489 sorties to forward bases and frontline areas.

AAFPOA (Seventh Air Force): 14 B-24s from Saipan pound airfields on Iwo Jima; 3 from Guam on armed reconnaissance flight, bomb Marcus; 2 B-24s, from Guam and Saipan, fly individual harassment strikes against Iwo Jima during the night of 17/18 Jan.

HQ AAF (Twentieth Air Force): HQ 29th BG (Very Heavy) and the 6th, 43d and 52d Bombardment Squadrons (Very Heavy) arrive at North Field from the US with B-29s (first mission is 16 Feb).

SOUTHWEST PACIFIC AREA [SWPA, Far East Air Force (FEAF)]: In principal strikes of the day on Luzon, B-24s bomb railroad yards at Legaspi while B-25s hit roads and railways E of Manila, destroying many railroad cars and troop-laden trucks. Other B-24s pound the Daliao area on Mindanao and Talisay Airfield on Negros . B-25s, A-20s, and fighter-bombers continue to fly small strikes and armed reconnaissance against bridges, shipping, port areas, airfields, trucks, and other targets of opportunity throughout Luzon and in the C Philippines. Lost is P-47D 42-23208 off Vigan.
The air echelon of the 82d Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron, 71st Tactical Reconnaissance Group, moves from San Jose to Lingayen Airfield with F-6s and P-40s (ground echelon is enroute from Morotai to Lingayen).

 

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1941
CHINA: The Communist Party describes the New Fourth Army incident as "planned by pro-Japanese conspirators and anti-Communist die-hards."

1942
PALESTINE: Haifa: Burma's prime minister, U Saw, was arrested here today when his plane touched down while he was returning to Burma from talks with British representatives. He had been trying unsuccessfully to secure a British promise of Burmese independence in return for supporting the war effort. The nationalist U Maung Saw is unpopular with the British authorities, who see him as a demagogue of suspect loyalty. This suspicion now seems justified, because he contacted Japan's legation in Lisbon on his return flight. He was unaware that Britain had broken Japanese codes and knew of these overtures.

ALEUTIAN ISLANDS: The first U.S. Army engineer troops arrive on Umnak Island to build Otter Point Airfield (renamed Cape Field in 1942). The airfield, which was part of Fort Glenn, is built in secret to protect Dutch Harbor, 70 miles to the east.

AUSTRALIA: Sixteen of the 17 P-40s of the USAAF's Far East Air Force's 17th Pursuit Squadron (Provisional) arrive in Darwin, Northern Territory, en route to Java.

BORNEO: Due to heavy monsoonal rains and wind that continued throughout the day, the Japanese ships carrying the troops invading Sandakan, British North Borneo, must anchor in Sandakan Harbour.

JAPAN: The USN submarine USS Plunger torpedoes and sinks a Japanese merchant cargo ship off the mouth of Kii Suido, Honshu, in position 33.30N, 135.00E.

MALAYA: The Indian 45th Brigade, reinforced, repels further Japanese attacks in the Muar-Yong Peng area and destroys a number of tanks, but the landing of a strong Japanese force a few miles north of Batu Pahat increases the danger in this sector. In the evening, the Commander of West Force orders a withdrawal. The Entire Muar front is placed temporarily under Indian 3 Corps command.
During the night of 18/19 January, the Indian 9th Division falls back behind the Muar River, as does the Australian 27th Brigade Group behind the Segamat River. The RAF bomber group withdraws from Singapore Island. to Sumatra, Netherlands East Indies.

PHILIPPINE ISLANDS: On Bataan, the II Corps renews its efforts to restore its western flank positions. The U.S. 31st Infantry is still unable to gain the Balantay River line on the right and is under strong pressure along the river on the left. A battalion of the 45th Infantry, Philippine Scouts, reaches the Balantay River to the west of the 31st Infantry and is attached to 31st Infantry. Two other battalions of 45th Infantry advance toward the Balantay between the 31st Infantry and the 41st Division, Philippine Army, but are halted short of the objective. In the I Corps area, the Japanese increase pressure and force outposts to withdraw. A small Japanese force is moving eastward unopposed to outflank the eastern portion of line.

PHOENIX ISLANDS: The USAAF's Hawaiian Air Force B-17 Flying Fortresses that are part of Task Group 8.9 begin flying antisubmarine patrols from Canton Island.

1943
ALASKA: A B-24 on reconnaissance reports two vessels in Kiska Harbor. Thereupon four B-24s, four B-26s, one B-25 and six P-38s fly out of Adak. Mechanical trouble forces two B-26s to return. The bomb run is negative. Meanwhile bad weather closes in on Kiska and Adak. Six aircraft are lost; one B-24 lands in a 20 mph downwind and crashes into two P-38s while three other B-24s are missing on the return flight, lost is B-24D 41-23908.

CBI (Tenth Air Force) In Burma, eight P-40s and a B-25 of the India Air Task Force attack Kamaing.

SOUTH PACIFIC (Thirteenth Air Force) B-17s, P-38s and P-40s attack shipping at Shortland, bomb Ballale and attack a schooner south of Santa Isabel . Hits are scored on two vessels. The fighter escort shoots down two Rufes with the loss of one US fighter.

SOUTHWEST PACIFIC (Fifth Air Force) In New Guinea, B-25s bomb a motor pool and supply dumps at Lae. B-24s, operating individually, bomb Madang and Lahang Airfields and attack a cargo ship southeast of Rambutyo. Lost on an administrative flight is B-25C "Algernon IV" 41-12485.

BURMA:Indian troops attack Japanese positions at Donbaik

AUSTRALIA: MacDonald, Northern Territory: No. 18 Squadron RAAF (B-25 Mitchell) flies its first mission, a reconnaissance mission.

U.S.A.: US commercial bakers stopped selling sliced bread. Only whole loaves were sold until the end of the war.

1944
(CBI) BURMA-INDIA (Tenth Air Force): In Burma, 12 P-38's hit the airfield and satellite field at Meiktila; 18 B-24's and 9 B-25's bomb the encampment area at Kyaukchaw; 17 A-36's and P-51's hit troops, dumps, and workshops at Sawnghka; 11 P-40's attack troops and stores at Shaduzup; 3 transport aircraft are lost to Japanese fighters during a supply dropping mission SE of Sumprabum.

BURMA: Lt Alec George Horwood (b.1914), Queen's Royal Regt., braved constant danger as a forward observer and died in an attack he volunteered to lead. (Victoria Cross)

CHINA (Fourteenth Air Force): In French Indochina, 2 B-25's bomb the railroad yard and wharf at Campha Port and oil storage facilities at Mon Cay.

PACIFIC OCEAN AREA (POA, Seventh Air Force): 12 B-25's from Abemama attack barracks area, runway and gun position on the N part of Mille Atoll; 25 A-24s and 8 P-40's from Makin pound the oil storage area on the S side of Jabor in Jaluit Atoll; the P-40's also strafe a radio station in the target area.

SOUTH PACIFIC AREA (SOPAC, Thirteenth Air Force): 34 B-25's supported by 70+ fighters, pound Tobera; and single B-24's on armed reconnaissance bomb the Maliai, Vunakanau, and Lakunai areas. Lost is P-38J 42-67155

SOUTHWEST PACIFIC AREA (SWPA, Fifth Air Force): Hansa Bay area is bombed by 40 B-24's. 70+ B-25's pound the Madang and Bogadjim areas and positions around Shaggy Ridge; 55 P-38's and P-40's engage a like number of Japanese fighters over Wewak, claiming 12 shot down. Lost are P-38H 42-66534, P-38H 42-66545 and P-38H 42-66554. Other B-24's bomb Laha, Celebes . HQ 345th BG transfers from Port Moresby to Dobodura.

1945
ALASKA (Eleventh Air Force): 3 B-24s fly an unsuccessful reconnaissance mission to Kurabu Airfield on Paramushiru ; one of the B-24s force- lands in the USSR on the return trip.
BURMA: Lt Alec George Horwood (b.1914), Queen's Royal Regt., braved constant danger as a forward observer and died in an attack he volunteered to lead. (Victoria Cross)

CHINA THEATER (Fourteenth Air Force): In China, 29 B-24s bomb and 25 P-40s pound shipping and railroad targets at Hong Kong; 7 B-25s bomb Ishan and Chinchengchiang, 4 B-25s and 12 P-40s hit shipping in the Puchi area, 4 B-25s bomb the town of Wanting, and 2 hit troop compounds at Chaling. 11 B-25s and 12 fighter-bombers attack Phu Lang Thuong, French Indochina. About 140 P-51s, P-40s, and P-38s on armed reconnaissance over S China from the Burma boundary to Hong Kong attack a huge variety of targets of opportunity.

INDIA-BURMA THEATER (Tenth Air Force): In Burma, 23 P-47s and P-38s hit Anisakan and Hsumhsai Airfields; 12 B-25s bomb the airfield at Nawnghkio; 20+ P-47s support ground forces at Si-U and near Yenya-u and Mahlainggon; troops, supplies, and general targets of opportunity are attacked at Antawsai, Mong Nak, Namhpakka, Mong Yok, Loi-pyek, Kyawnghkam, Pangnok, and in the Namtu vicinity. 529 transport sorties are flown to forward areas. In India, the detachment of the 6th Fighter Squadron (Commando), 1st Air Commando Group, operating from Cox's Bazar, India with P-47s returns to base at Asansol.

AAFPOA (Seventh Air Force): 19 Saipan based B-24s bomb targets on Chichi Jima and Haha Jima, damaging the naval base and the town of Okimura on Chichi Jima. 10 B-24s from Guam pound an airfield on Iwo Jima. During the night of 18/19 Jan, 3 B-24s continue snooper strikes against Iwo Jima airfields. HQ VII Fighter Command moves from Hickam Field to Ft Kamehameha.

SOUTHWEST PACIFIC AREA [SWPA, Far East Air Force (FEAF)]: B-25s blast the Cotabato area on Mindanao . B-24s bomb targets in the Miti area, and on Luzon , B-25s hit troop concentrations at Bamban, A-20s hit warehouses and highway traffic N of Bataan, and P-38s strafe parked aircraft at Tuguegarao and vehicles at Enrile and Butigui and Calarian on Mindanao. A variety of FEAF aircraft fly small-scale raids and armed reconnaissance missions against road and rail targets, bridges, airfields, and numerous targets of opportunity throughout the Philippines. The 66th Troop Carrier Squadron, 433d Troop Carrier Group, based on Biak , begins operating from Hill Field and Dulag with C-46s and C-47s. The 67th Troop Carrier Squadron, 433d Troop Carrier Group, moves from Biak to Tinauan with C-46s and C-47s.

N. D. COMMUNIQUÉ NO. 568, JANUARY 18, 1945
Pacific and Far East.

1. U. S. submarines have reported the sinking of twenty‑four enemy vessels, including four combatant vessels‑a destroyer and three escort craft-*as a result of operations against the enemy in these waters. The vessels sunk were:

1 destroyer
3 escort vessels
1 large cargo transport
2 large tankers
1 medium cargo transport
8 medium cargo vessels
2 medium tankers
1 medium transport
4 small cargo vessels
1 small tanker

2. These actions have not been announced in any previous Navy Depart*ment communiqué.

​

CINCPAC COMMUNIQUÉ NO. 236, JANUARY 18, 1945

Seventh Army Air Force Liberators and Lightning fighters operating under the Strategic Air Force, Pacific Ocean Areas, attacked airstrip Installa*tions on Iwo Jima in the Volcanos on January 15 (West Longitude Date).
Assurance has been received that no Frenchmen were lost in the sinking of the French light cruiser Lamotte Picquet, communiqué 234.
Enemy facilities on Rota in the Marianas were strafed and bombed by Marine Aircraft on the same date.
Fourth Marine Aircraft Wing fighters attacked installations on Babelthuap in the Palaus on January 15 and 16.
On January 16 Marine Torpedo planes and fighters struck at harbor facilities on Yap in the Western Carolines.

 

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1942
MALAYA: After fierce battles to defend road-blocks in the Muar/Yong Penang area, only 850 out of 4,500 Allied troops escape.

AUSTRALIA: The ground echelons of two USAAF B-17 Flying Fortress squadrons that arrived in Australia by ship on 22 December, depart for service at Singosari Airdrome on Java, Netherlands East Indies.

BORNEO: Beginning at 0700 hours, the Japanese landing force from the ships that had anchored in Sandakan Harbour yesterday because of the weather, come ashore unopposed in Sandakan. The British Governor surrenders British North Borneo to the Japanese and they send the European residents home where they will remain until May 1942.

BURMA: The Japanese seize Tavoy and its airfield. Because of this, it is decided to withdraw the Mergui garrison by sea to Rangoon at once, although Mergui has not yet been attacked. The balance of the Chinese 93d Division, Chinese 6th Army, is ordered to move into Burma.

MALAYA: Bitter fighting continues in the Muar-Yong Peng area. The 53d Brigade of the British 18th Division, under command of the Indian 11th Division, takes responsibility for the strategic positions west of Yong Peng, a defile and a bridge, but loses them. The Muar force (Indian 45th Brigade and two Australian battalions), now isolated, is ordered to withdraw; HQ of the Indian 45th Brigade is bombed and most of the senior officers are killed and an Australian takes command of the brigade.
East Force is formed consisting of the Australian 22nd Brigade, 2/17th Dogra Battalion and the Jat Battalion.
With Japanese troops 30 miles (48 kilometers) from Singapore island, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill cables his top commander on the spot, General Archibald Lord Wavell, General Officer Commanding Australian-British- Dutch-American (ABDA) Command, South West Pacific, to ask what sort of defenses the island has. Wavell's answer, "There are neither plans nor fortifications to defend the north side of this impregnable fortress." Churchill is staggered, and orders what Wavell has been pushing for, digging entrenchments. The defenders of Singapore react by hiring local labor to dig trenches...then waste five days arguing over how much overtime pay they should get.
Churchill orders Wavell and Lieutenant General Arthur Percival, General Officer Commanding Malaya, to fight to the last man, and refuse to surrender. Wavell is happy to comply, but Singapore's immense 15-inch guns face the ocean...not the north, where the Japanese armies are.

PHILIPPINE ISLANDS: On Bataan, the II Corps continues their efforts to regain positions along the Balantay River on the west flank, the 45th Infantry (-), Philippine Scouts, reaching the river in the region between the U.S. 3lst Infantry and the Philippine Army (PA) 41st Division. The 31st Infantry, however, is under increasingly strong pressure.
The Japanese column driving down the Abo-Abo River valley reaches positions near Guitol and is engaged by the 31st Division and elements the 21st Division, PA. The I Corps restores the outpost line in a counterattack but is forced to abandon it a£ter nightfall. Elements of the 92d Infantry, PA, are sent to block Japanese infiltrators from Mt Silanganan, on the corpsâ eastern flank.
Nine USAAF Far East Air Force B-17's based at Singosari Airdrome on Java, are dispatched to attack shipping at Jolo Island in the Philippine Islands. Three aircraft abort due to weather but the remaining six bomb the ships and then land at Del Monte Field on Mindanao Island in the Philippines.
Motor torpedo boat PT-31 is damaged when her engines fail because of what is believed to be sabotaged gasoline and she runs aground on reef north of Mayagao Point, Bataan.

PHOENIX ISLANDS: USAAF Hawaiian Air Force B-17s of Task Group 8.9 fly antisubmarine mission from Canton Island in the Phoenix Islands.

1943
ALASKA: In the Aleutians, the crew of one of the three B-24s missing yesterday, which had crash landed at Great Sitkin , is picked up by a Navy tender. Weather prevents missions and searches. Attu Island is subjected to a naval bombardment, by a US fleet of two cruisers and four destroyers.

CBI (Tenth Air Force) Two flights of India Air Task Force B-24s depart Pandaveswar, India for raids on Burma and Thailand. In Burma, one flight of B-24s bombs Thazi, a railroad junction south of Mandalay while 14 P-40s and a B-25 pound Kamaing. In Thailand, the second flight of B-24s carries out photographic reconnaissance of Kanchanaburi and bombs the docks at Bassein during the return trip. This reconnaissance flight, the largest mission in the CBI Theater to date, reveals construction of a new railline from Thailand to Burma.

SOUTH PACIFIC (Thirteenth Air Force) In the Solomons, B-17s, escorted by P-38s and P-40s, bomb the runway and revetments at Munda. The 394th Bombardment Squadron, 5th BG (H) that has been operating from Guadalcanal, Solomon with B-17s since 3 Jan returns to their base on Fiji.

SOUTHWEST PACIFIC (Fifth Air Force) In New Guinea, A-20s strafe troops in the Kurenada area; B-25s hit barracks area and supply dumps at Toeal and pound supply dumps at Lae. Heavy bombers carry out individual attacks on various targets at Lae, Madang, Cape Hollman, Cape Saint George, Finschhafen and Gasmata.

BURMA: Donbaik: Havildar Parkash Singh ( b.1913 ), 8th Punjab Regt., rescued three carriers and two wounded men; he had already, under heavy fire, rescued two carrier crews on 6 January. (Victoria Cross)

CANADA: Federal cabinet order-in-council grants Custodian of Enemy Alien Property the right to dispose of Japanese Canadians' property without owners' consent.

1944
(Tenth Air Force): 16 B-24's bomb the marshalling yard and Don Maung railroad station at Bangkok. In Burma, 4 P-40's hit the town of Wakshang; 26 A-36's and P-51's hit targets along roads from Ngamaw Ga to Maingkwan to Mashi Daru. CHINA (Fourteenth Air Force): 14 P-40's and 2 B-25's attack the barracks area at Mon Cay, French Indochina.

PACIFIC OCEAN AREA (POA, Seventh Air Force): 17 B-25's from Tarawa Atoll, hit Mille Atoll; flying at low altitude, the B-25's score hits on gun positions, fuel dumps, and the airfield area in general; AA fire claims. Lost is B-25G ??-????? and B-25G ??-?????

SOUTH PACIFIC AREA (SOPAC, Thirteenth Air Force): Attacks during the day are limited to isolated strikes on shipping and other targets of opportunity by aircraft on armed reconnaissance over Bougainville , New Ireland, and Saint George Channel. During the night of 19/20 Jan, 11 B-24's, in 2 waves, fly strikes against Rabaul and Vunakanau.

SOUTHWEST PACIFIC AREA (SWPA, Fifth Air Force): 57 B-24's bomb Boram; 17 more bomb Amboina , Molucca, and Halong, Celebes ; and 2 others score hits on freighter near Aitape. 65 B-25's, along with RAAF airplanes, pound positions in the Shaggy Ridge area. 2 P-39's bomb barges in the Cape Raoult, New Britain area. 25th Photographic Reconnaissance Squadron, 6th Photographic Reconnaissance Group begins transfer from Brisbane, Australia to Lae, New Guinea with F-5's. Lost are A-20G 42-86620, A-20G 42-86724, B-24J "Doodlebug" 42-73117 and B-24J "Paper Doll" 42-73187.

1945
ALASKA (Eleventh Air Force): 1 B-24 flies a radar ferret mission over Shimushu and Onnekotan in the Kurile ; 2 other B-24s hit Matsuwa and Onnekotan.

CHINA: Japanese troops take Chingyuan, on the Canton to Hankow railway.

BURMA: L/Naik Sher Shah (b.1917), 16th Punjab Regt., broke up two attacks by crawling among the Japanese and firing at close range. Wounded, he went in a third time, but was killed. (Victoria Cross)

CHINA THEATER (Fourteenth Air Force): 4 B-25s bomb Monguy, Burma and vicinity, 5 bomb Ishan, China, and in French Indochina, 8 hit shipping and rail targets at Song Cau, and 4 hit shipping, railroad targets, and a bridge at Do Len. About 115 P-51s, P-40s, and P-38s on armed reconnaissance over S China and N French Indochina attack a great variety of targets of opportunity covering especially in the Wanting, China area.

INDIA-BURMA THEATER (Tenth Air Force): In Burma, 9 B-25s bomb troops and stores at Na-mon and near Hsenwi; 28 fighter-bombers support ground forces in the Si-U and Namhkam battle sectors and along the Irrawaddy River near Yenya-u, Kyaukpyu, and Myitson; 4 others bomb a causeway in the lake at Mogok; troops, supplies, and artillery are hit by 80+ fighter-bombers at Tonghsim, Konghsa, Mankang, Mong Pa, Pangkawlong, Saihkao, Man Hio, Man Mao, and other locations in N Burma. Transports complete 500+ sorties to forward areas.

AAFPOA (Seventh Air Force): 7 B-24s from Saipan bomb harbor installations at Chichi Jima; 9 from Guam hit airfields on Iwo Jima; 7 B-24s escort photo planes over the Bonin and Kazan and 1 bombs Iwo Jima; during the night, 3 B-24s on individual snooper strikes from the Marianas bomb Iwo Jima

HQ AAF (Twentieth Air Force): Mission 20: 80 B-29s are dispatched to hit the Kawasaki aircraft plant at Akashi, outside Tokyo, Japan; 62 hit the primary target and 9 others bomb alternates and targets of opportunity; they claim 4-4-8 Japanese aircraft.

SOUTHWEST PACIFIC AREA [SWPA, Far East Air Force (FEAF)]: In principal missions of the day, B-24s and B-25s bomb La Carlota and Bacolod Airfields on Negros. A-20s attack shipping at Salomague and Callaguip and B-25s, A-20s, and fighter-bombers attack throughout Luzon, hitting airfields, vehicles, storage areas, highways, and a variety of other targets. HQ 433d Troop Carrier Group moves from Biak to Tanauan, Leyte. The 70th Fighter Squadron, 18th FG, arrives at Lingayen Airfield from Sansapor with P-38s.

CINCPAC COMMUNIQUÉ NO. 237, JANUARY 19, 1945

1. Army Liberators of the Strategic Air Force, Pacific Ocean Areas, bombed targets on Chichi Jima and Haha Jima in the Bonins starting fires among installations on both islands on January 17 (West Longitude Date).
2. On the same date Army Liberators also attacked airstrip facilities on Iwo Jima in the Volcanos.
3. Marine Mitchells of the Strategic Air Force made rocket attacks on two small convoys north of the Bonins on January 18, scoring hits on a medium cargo ship and one other vessel. The attacks were met with moderate antiaircraft fire.
4. In operations over the China coast on January 13, 14 and 15, our forces lost 22 carrier‑based aircraft in combat. (communiqués No. 234‑236. )
5. On January 17, Fourth Marine Aircraft Wing fighters and torpedo planes attacked targets in and around Arakabesan.
6. Installations on Yap in the Western Carolines were struck by torpedo planes on the same date.