Friday 2 January 1942

Japanese troops enter Manila in the Philippines on 2 January 1942.

Battle of the Pacific: While the Allies declared Manila an open city in late December 1941, they have retained control of the capital city and all of its facilities and supplies. Until now, that is. On 2 January 1942, the Japanese actually enter the city and it ceases being "open." A battalion of the Japanese 1st Formosa Regiment and two of the 47th Infantry Regiment are the first units into the city. Other Japanese troops occupy the Cavite Naval Base, which the departing US troops and the Japanese Air Force's bombs have wrecked.

The Daily Times-News of Burlington, North Carolina trumpets the loss of Manila in its 2 January 1942 edition. Ordinary people may not know much about the Pacific region, but Manila is one place that pretty much everyone has heard of due to the huge US military presence there.

The Japanese are hardly satisfied by taking Manila. They have a very good idea where the Americans have gone and may eventually go. Japanese bombers begin the daily bombing of fortified Corregidor Island in Manila Bay, where the US Army has a vast underground military complex. American and Filipino army units complete their withdrawal through San Fernando, which the Allies abandon at 02:00. The Japanese to the east of San Fernando cross the Pampanga River and take the city occupy the city without opposition. The goal of the Allied troops now is to delay the Japanese troops on the ten-mile road from Porac to Guagua, and to do this, the Filipino 21st Division covers the west side of the road and the 11th Division covers the east side. During the day, the advancing Japanese attack the western side, forcing the 21st Division back from Porac.

Japanese troops celebrate their capture of Manila, the Philippines, on 2 January 1942.

The Allies have been quite successful in moving 80,000 troops and 26,000 civilian refugees into the Bataan Peninsula, but everyone is tired, supplies are short, there is little prepared infrastructure such as airfields and naval bases, and the troops already are on half rations. Perhaps as a gesture of defiance, the US Army headquarters in Bataan sends a message:

Manila, Cavite lost; MacArthur fights on, holding Corregidor.

However, wars are not won by losing cities and holding tiny islands.

An Italian POW, still wearing his Afrika Korps cap, arrives in London on 2 January 1942 (AP Photo).

The fate of the Philippines is rising to the top of American concerns on 2 January 1942, and things do not look good. US and Filipino troops under Lieutenant General Douglas MacArthur are racing to secure the neck of the Bataan Peninsula before the Japanese can get there, and so far that is going reasonably well. However, the US Naval and US Army Air Force presence in the Philippines is dwindling fast, which gives the Japanese invaders a huge advantage. This is an unusual situation for World War II, where the Axis has aerial domination over the western Allies, and the imbalance cannot be rectified right away. In Australia, Major General George H. Brett, Commanding General-Designate of the U.S. Forces in Australia (USFIA), sends a dispiriting message to General George C. Marshall, Chief of Staff, U.S. Army in Washington, D.C. Brett indicates that reinforcing the Philippines is becoming critical, but it is impossible for the time being. Until a major airbase can be completed in Darwin, Australia, and a similar supply and repair depot constructed at Townsville, Queensland, effective relief is impossible. Of course, Brett also doesn't have much naval power to spare, either. The Philippines are beginning to look like a lost cause, but nobody wants to abandon them just yet.

USS President Hayes (AP-39), shortly after launching at Norfolk Navy Yard, Portsmouth, Virginia, on 2 January 1942 (Photo No. 19-N-26565. Source: U.S. National Archives, RG-19-LCM).

In the Malay Peninsula, Indian III Corps is under increasing pressure along the Perak River, as Japanese troops cross the river and take Teluk Anson (Teluk Intan) near the west coast. The 1st Independent Company and Indian 3d Cavalry Squadron retreat from the area, while Indian 12th Brigade Group nearby barely hangs on to its position. The Japanese also attempt an ad hoc landing at Kuala Selangor late in the day, but Allied artillery prevents this. After dark, the troops in the area begin to withdraw to the Slim River. The silver lining for the Allies is that from this point onward, the Malay Peninsula narrows like a triangle reaching its apex until the peninsula reaches Singapore at the southern tip. This should favor the defense, and the Battle of Kampar which ends today is characterized as an Allied defensive victory due to the delays imposed on the Japanese. However, the inability of the Commonwealth troops to hold any defensive line for any length of time so far is a bad omen. The less ground that remains between the Japanese lines and Singapore makes Japanese air attacks easier, more effective, more often, and less costly. Eventually, the British could run out of the real estate to defend, though great hope is placed in "Fortress Singapore."

The Seattle Star on 2 January 1942 reports on "Alien Restrictions Tightened" as restrictions on foreign nationals from Axis countries increase.

In Thailand, the American Volunteer Group (AVG, or "Flying Tigers") have been battling Japanese raiders over Rangoon since 20 December 1941 as the Allies squabble below them. Today, they launch their first raid on Japanese forces, a strike on an airbase in Thailand. This makes the title of a US Army Air Forces video, "Flying Tigers Bite Back," real. The AVG squadron leader is John Van Kuren Newkirk of Westchester, New York. Identified publicly only as "Scarsdale Jack," Newkirk is a former Navy pilot. Flying with him in their separate P-40B Tomahawk aircraft is Gregory "Pappy" Boyington, a former US Marine Corps aviator who was such a good flyer that he served as an instructor at Pensacola. Both Newkirk and Boyington are "private contractors" who are employed by the Central Aircraft Manufacturing Company (CAMCO), a front for covert US operations in Burma led by Claire "Old Leatherface" Chennault.

Italian WWII Fiat 665NM protetto (protected) or scudato (shielded) armored personnel carrier,. This photo was taken on 2 January 1942. This is an early model, perhaps a prototype, as these were developed in 1942 at the Arsenale Regio Esercito di Torino in collaboration with the Fiat Veicoli Industriali following the request of the Italian Military Staff.

Battle of the Mediterranean: The South African 2nd Division and British 1st Armoured Brigade (30 Corps, British Eighth Army) take Bardia southeast of Tobruk. A total of 2,200 German and 4,400 Italian troops who have been trapped in Bardia since the beginning of Operation Crusader in late November surrender on 2 January 1942. Other Axis troops continue to hold out near Halfaya Pass, but their situation also is hopeless and, unless Lieutenant General Erwin Rommel can stage a successful counteroffensive soon, they will be forced to surrender. While their defensive positions are good, the Axis troops in the area are running out of food and water and aerial supply by the Luftwaffe is not coming close to meeting their daily needs.

On Malta, a Bomb Disposal Officer reports finding a unique bomb with tail fins made of a blue alloy. There are other odd aspects to this weapon and how it is found. The officer reports it as a "seemingly rocket-propelled" type of bomb. If so, it is the first use of such a weapon. The trail grows cold here and it is unclear how this turns out.

A destroyed German train station in Maloyaroslavets, Russia, 2 January 1942. Soviet bombers destroyed this train. In the foreground is a German tank Pz.Kpfw.IV. On the second platform, a destroyed light tank Pz.Kpfw.II. Propaganda photo by Ivan Shagin.

Eastern Front: The Red Army continues to make gains around Moscow. Soviet 43rd Army opens a ten-mile gap between Borovsk and Maloyaroslavets, thereby cutting the German Fourth Army (General Ludwig Kuebler) off from its neighbor to the south. The commander of Fourth Panzer Army, General Erich Hoepner, requests permission to withdraw to reestablish contact with Fourth Army and is given a "categorical" no. Instead, Army Group Center commander Field Marshal Guenther von Kluge simply transfers a Fourth Army corps that had been cut off on the Fourth Panzer Army side to Hoepner. This helps the stranded corps receive supplies from Fourth Panzer Army but also removes any incentive for Kuebler or Hoepner to close the gap between their armies - so it grows wider. This is a pattern that will reassert itself repeatedly throughout the war on the Eastern Front, as Soviet attacks between armies split the German front because the German army commanders are more concerned with preserving their own units and less with their contact with neighboring units.

"Pilots and Hurricanes of No 56 'Punjab' Squadron at Duxford, 2 January 1942. The official caption reads: 'Fighter aircraft donated by the Province of Punjab have been in action and have scored numerous victories over the Hun'." © IWM (CH 4547).

In the Crimea, the opposing Soviet and German forces begin to dig in just west of the port of Feodosia. Soviet 44th Army's offensive from its bridgehead at Feodosia has stalled after German 42 Corps finally sorted out its units and got them into position facing the Red Army thrust. The Soviet success in recapturing the Kerch Peninsula has not come cheap, as they have lost 41,935 men, including 32,453 killed or captured and 9482 wounded or suffering from frostbite and other maladies. They also have not succeeded in their ultimate objective of relieving Sevastopol, which was never a realistic goal due to the large German 11th Army forces surrounding the port. However, the Red Army has taken a great deal of pressure off of Sevastopol and caused General Erich von Manstein a huge problem in maintaining two separate fronts, one facing west toward Sevastopol and the other facing east against the Soviet forces which landed at Feodosia. The Red Army does have other units of the 51st Army heading west from Kerch, but they are moving slowly and the Germans also are building their line with units taken from the siege of Sevastopol.

US Military: US Army Air Force Eighth Air Force is activated on 2 January 1942 at Savannah Air Base, Georgia.

German Homefront: Heinrich Himmler writes to Reinhard Heydrich asking him to suppress the Swing Kids (Swingjugend). The Swing movement of Hamburg, Himmler complains, is detrimental to the war effort. Himmler suggests that some time in concentration camps might improve the Swing Kids' attitudes.

Image from "Dr. Seuss Went to War" (Mandeville Special Collections Library, UC San Diego).

1942

January 1942

January 1, 1942: Declaration By United Nations
January 2, 1941: Manila Falls to Japan
January 3, 1942: ABDA Command Announced
January 4, 1942: MacArthur on His Own in the Philippines
January 5, 1942: Soviets Plan General Offensive
January 6, 1942: US Army in Europe
January 7, 1942: Soviet General Offensive Opens
January 8, 1942: Hitler Sacks Hoepner
January 9, 1942: Battle of Dražgoše
January 10, 1942: Building the Jeep
January 11, 1942: Japan Takes Kuala Lumpur
January 12, 1941: Rommel Plans Counterattack
January 13, 1942: First Ejection Seat Use
January 14, 1942: Operation Drumbeat First Sinking
January 15, 1942: U-Boat Off NYC
January 16, 1942: Carole Lombard Crash
January 17, 1942: British Take Halfaya Pass
January 18, 1942: Soviet Paratroopers in Action
January 19, 1942: FDR Approves Atomic Bomb
January 20, 1942: The Wannsee Conference
January 21, 1942: Parit Sulong Bridge Battle
January 22, 1942: Parit Sulong Massacre
January 23, 1942: Japan Takes Rabaul
January 24, 1942: Battle of Makassar Strait
January 25, 1942: Kholm Surrounded
January 26, 1942: GIs Land in Europe
January 27, 1942: Battle of Endau
January 28, 1942: Rommel Takes Benghazi
January 29, 1942: First US Coast Guard Ship Sunk
January 30, 1942: Singapore Isolated
January 31, 1942: Army Group South Averts Disaster

2020

Wednesday 24 December 1941

President Roosevelt addresses the crowd at the Christmas tree lighting ceremony from the White House South Portico on December 24, 1941. Winston Churchill, who is visiting during the Arcadia Conference, is at the right. This is the first Christmas Tree lighting ceremony ever held inside the White House grounds (FDR Presidential Library).

Battle of the Pacific: On Hong Kong Island, the British situation is growing increasingly desperate by 24 December 1941. The Japanese have split the island in two at Wong Nai Chung Gap and control the entire island's water supplies, but the British and Canadian troops have greater worries, as reports of Japanese atrocities are growing. After dark, the Japanese approach St. Stephen's College, which is being used as a hospital on the front line, and massacre many injured men and doctors.

About 1,300 Japanese Americans pledge their allegiance to the United States at a newly dedicated Buddhist church in Seattle, Washington, 24 December 1941 (The Associated Press).

Massacres on Hong Kong Island are not isolated incidents, but the norm. For instance, during the closing days of the campaign the Japanese have:

• massacred around two dozen members of the 5th Anti-Aircraft Battery of the Hong Kong Volunteer Defense Corps (HKVDC) at Sai Wan Hill;
• killed many men at the Salesian Mission at Shau Kei Wan
• massacred eight Canadian soldiers after the battle of Jardine's Lookout;
• murdered three prisoners at Causeway Bay, including a female air raid warden with the local Air Raid Precautions (ARP);
• killed four soldiers at a house on Blue Pool Road known as the "Black Hole of Hong Kong," including two Canadian officers;
• massacred 30 civilians at Blue Pool Road;
• killed at least 47 British POWs at The Ridge;
• killed at least 14 prisoners at Overbays;
• killed 7 men at Eucliffe;
• killed an additional 36 men near The Ridge;
• possibly killed six soldiers of the Middlesex Regiment at Deepwater Bay Ride (it is unclear if they had surrendered);
• murdered eight or twelve British soldiers at the Maryknoll Mission;
• executed 26 prisoners at Brick Hill.

Other incidents are known to have happened because some men simply disappeared without a trace - meaning some perpetrators covered their tracks quite well.

Volunteers at a special station to coordinate Los Angeles air defenses in December 1941. Fears of a Japanese air attack on the city continue well into 1942.

The most horrible atrocity on Hong Kong Island happens at St. Stephens, where an unknown number of victims variously estimated at from 13-99 are executed and then cremated. In the most notorious incident there, the Japanese rape three British and four Chinese nurses before killing them. Canadian Captain Overton Stark Hickey of the RCASC is shot while trying to help the nurses. The rest of the victims are doctors and wounded POWs (or at least patients who should have been treated as POWs). Unfortunately, the full scope of the St. Stephens massacre is impossible to prove later because the Japanese efficiently dispose of the evidence. Atrocities or not, the Commonwealth troops cannot hold out much longer on Hong Kong Island without water.

Damage caused by a Japanese air raid on the Manila port area. This photo was taken on 24 December 1941.

In the Philippines, Lieutenant General Douglas MacArthur invokes War Plan Orange 3 (WPO-3) as he continues evacuating Manila. The WPO-3 plan calls for delaying actions in central Luzon while Allied forces retreat into the Bataan Peninsula. The 26th Cavalry Regiment attempts this difficult mission against overwhelming Japanese numerical strength under the command of South Luzon Force. The Americans begin using barges to move supplies from Manila warehouses into the Bataan in the hopes that it can be turned into a redoubt for US and Filipino soldiers and refugees.

Lt. Gen. Masaharu Homma, 14th Army commander, coming ashore at Lingayen Gulf, 24 December 1941.

At dawn at Mauban on Lamon Bay southeast of Manila, the Japanese land the 2nd Battalion of the 20th Infantry Regiment (Lt. Col. Nariyoshi Tsunehiro). Other landings occur a little further south at Siain and Atimonan. The Philippine 1st Infantry Division is dug in at the Mauban beach and slows the Japanese down there. The invasion succeeds in getting three bridgeheads, however, and by nightfall, the Japanese have made good progress of about five miles inland at Mauban and even further advances at Atimonan and Siain. These landings put the Japanese within striking distance of the eastern approaches to the Bataan Peninsula. Maneuvering his forces to protect the exposed entry points in Bataan, MacArthur stations troops at San Fernando, the steel bridges at Calumpit over the Pampanga River, and Plaridel north of Manila. Admiral Thomas C. Hart sends the 4th Marine Regiment from Olongapo to Corregidor to secure it as the last bastion should the defense of Bataan fail. In the air, three B-17s based on Del Monte Field, Mindanao, raid Japanese shipping at Davao and then fly south to Darwin.

"Members of the gun crew overhauling their pom-poms while in the harbor." The Isaac Sweers in Alexandria Harbor, 24 December 1941. © IWM (A 7265).

In the Malay Peninsula, Commander Australian Imperial Force Malaya, Major General Gordon Bennett (General Office Commanding Australian 8th Division), tries to organize a defense in depth. The Australian 27th Brigade Group, 8th Division occupies North Johore, while the Indian 11th Division (which controls all remaining Indian III Corps troops north of the Slim and Bernam Rivers) concentrates around Kampar and along the Slim River. The British are hampered by dwindling air support and the Japanese are becoming dominant in the air.

The United States Navy is still determining the extent of the damage at Pearl Harbor from the raid on 7 December 1941. Shown is damage to US Navy light cruiser USS Helena (CL-50) at left, with construction materials to fix it. This photo was attached to the 14th Naval District report, serial 01451 of 24 December 1941 (Naval History and Heritage Command).

Japanese submarine attacks against US shipping along the west coast of the United States continue. Japanese submarine I-19 (some sources say I-17) surfaces and shells 5695-ton US freighter Absaroka about 19 nautical miles (36 km) northwest of Catalina Island, while I-23 does the same to 2119-ton US freighter Dorothy Philips off Monterey Bay south of San Francisco. Meanwhile, at Midway Island, US Marines of Batteries A and C of 4th Defense Battalions land after a hazardous journey aboard seaplane tender USS Wright.

"Commander Houtsmuller, Captain of HNMS ISAAC SWEERS coming on board his ship." Alexandria, 24 December 1941. © IWM (A 7262).

In Borneo, the Dutch send Martin B-10 bombers against the Japanese forces that took Kuching late on 23 December. The Dutch withdraw their aircraft from Singkawang, Borneo, to Palembang, Sumatra, but they still hold Kuching Airfield because the Japanese forces close by haven't spotted it yet. The British "SARFOR" (Sarawak Force) garrison of Kuching, composed of just over 1000 men of the 2nd Battalion, 15th Punjab Regiment and the 35th Fortress Company and about 1500 local tribesmen, begins a delaying action as it moves inland toward Dutch Borneo. The Japanese main objectives are the oilfields at Miri and Seria and the refinery at Lutong.

Luftwaffe reconnaissance of Malta, 24 December 1941 (Federal Archive Bild 168-116-012).

Battle of the Mediterranean: The Germans secretly evacuate Benghazi on 24 December 1941. Later in the day, the 7th Armored Division of the XIII Corps, British Eighth Army attacks the city and is pleasantly surprised to find it deserted. Troops of the Royal Dragoons are given the honor of being the first into Benghazi. Off Alexandria, U-568 (Kptlt. Joachim Preuss) torpedoes and sinks 925-ton Royal Navy corvette HMS Salvia (K-97) about 104 nautical miles (193 km) northwest of Alexandria. All 106 men aboard the British ship, which has been returning to base with convoy TA-5, perish.

A Christmas Eve service somewhere in the Soviet Union, 24 December 1941 (Federal Archive Bild 169-0875).

Eastern Front: The lingering feud between the commander of Army Group Center, Field Marshal Guenther von Kluge, and General Guderian, commander of 2nd Panzer Army, continues to simmer. Kluge complains to the OKH operations chief, General Franz Halder, about Guderian allowing the 296th Infantry Division to withdraw even further than first thought without orders (and thereby saving it). In addition, Kluge notes that Guderian has pulled 47th Panzer Corps back as well in defiance of Hitler's stand-fast orders. When Halder suggests that Guderian should be court-martialled, Kluge equivocates, rationalizing that the withdrawals had been done "under the compulsion of circumstance." Halder himself then sends a direct order to Guderian to stop the withdrawals, send a division to Belev, and report in detail his troop locations before Hitler's midnight conference.

"German Luftwaffe pilot Erbo Graf Von Kageneck, holder of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves, standing in front of his Messerschmitt Bf 109 E whilst being assisted by two ground crew personnel. Von Kageneck, responsible for the destruction of 69 allied aircraft, was later shot down by RAAF pilot, Flying Officer Clive R Caldwell, (who was attached to 250 Squadron, Royal Air Force) on the afternoon of 24 December 1941 near Derna in Libya. Kageneck later died in a Luftwaffe hospital in Naples. Australian War Memorial P00323.001.

While there is a lot of drama behind the scenes on the German side, things aren't much better at the front. Second Army, which is holding the line to Guderian's immediate right, has to withdraw along with Guderian's troops in order to not expose its own flank. The lack of reserves near the front compels these kinds of reflexive movements when one unit begins to retreat. There is blowing snow and low visibility, and nobody is really sure where any other units are. He announces that he will abandon Novosil and Livny, also in defiance of Hitler's orders. Before midnight, Guderian responds to a telephoned order from von Kluge to stop his retreat by requesting to be relieved and court-martialed. Kluge immediately gets on the phone to Halder and tells Halder, while apologizing for "ruining your Christmas spirit, which probably was not very rosy anyway." Halder then passes this information on to Hitler in East Prussia, who is just about to begin his midnight command conference.

You can catch a special Christmas Eve 24 December 1941 train/steamer combo From Boston to Vineyard Haven on Martha's Vineyard if you catch the 17:00 train.

December 1941

December 1, 1941: Hitler Fires von Rundstedt
December 2, 1941: Climb Mount Niitaka
December 3, 1941: Hints of Trouble in the Pacific
December 4, 1941: Soviets Plan Counteroffensive
December 5, 1941: Soviets Counterattack at Kalinin
December 6, 1941: Soviet Counterattack at Moscow Broadens
December 7, 1941: Japan Attacks Pearl Harbor
December 8, 1941: US Enters World War II
December 9, 1941: German Retreat At Moscow
December 10, 1941: HMS Prince of Wales and Repulse Sunk
December 11, 1941: Hitler Declares War on US
December 12, 1941: Japanese in Burma
December 13, 1941: Battle of Cape Bon
December 14, 1941: Hitler Forbids Withdrawals
December 15, 1941: The Liepaja Massacre
December 16, 1941: Japan Invades Borneo
December 17, 1941: US Military Shakeup
December 18, 1941: Hitler Lays Down the Law
December 19, 1941: Brauchitsch Goes Home
December 20, 1941: Flying Tigers in Action
December 21, 1941: The Bogdanovka Massacre
December 22, 1941: Major Japanese Landings North of Manila
December 23, 1941: Wake Island Falls to Japan
December 24, 1941: Atrocities in Hong Kong
December 25, 1941: Japan Takes Hong Kong
December 26, 1941: Soviets Land in the Crimea
December 27, 1941: Commandos Raid Norway
December 28, 1941: Operation Anthropoid Begins
December 29, 1941: Soviet Landings at Feodosia
December 30, 1941: Race for Bataan
December 31, 1941: Nimitz in Charge

2020