January 1st, 1942 (THURSDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM: Minesweepers HMS TOURMALINE and HMS STRENUOUS are laid down.
GERMANY: U-901 is laid down.
AUSTRIA: Fuel rations for factories in Vienna are cut to a sixth of the required amount.
SWITZERLAND: Fresh milk is rationed. Adults receive 5 decalitres per day, children 7 decalitres. (William Jay Stone from http://www.geschichte-schweiz.ch/en/worldwar2.html)
FINLAND: Red Army starts an offensive against the Finns on the Maaselkä Isthmus between the Lake Onega and White Sea. The Soviet force includes six divisions (71st, 186th, 263rd, 289th, 313th, 367th), three Marine Brigades (61st, 65th, 66th) and a ski brigade. Objective is to recapture the town of Karhumäki (Medvezhjegorsk) and the western stretch of Murmansk railway. The defending Finnish II Corps has two divisions (4th and 8th) and one brigade (1st Jäger), the Soviet attackers seven divisions and two brigades.
The Finnish troops are still suffering from the effects of six-month long offensive, and the men are eagerly waiting to go home - a partial demobilization had been promised after the Finnish offensive ended in December. The Soviet offensive is able to penetrate the Finnish defences near the village of Krivi, and the fighting rages on for weeks. In early February, after both sides had suffered considerable losses, Finns are able to push the Red Army back.
U.S.S.R.: German forces counterattack near Kerch in the Crimea. The Red Army in turn, presses on with the counter-attack which it launched on December 28th.
LIBYA: XXX Corps, British Eighth Army, renews their assault on Bardia after nightfall.
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.
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.
EAST INDIES: Two Japanese infantry platoons land on the 75 square kilometre (29 square mile) 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 Bombardment Squadron (Heavy) transfers from Batchelor Field, Northern Territory, Australia, to Singosari, Java, with B-17 Flying Fortresses.
COMMONWEALTH OF THE PHILIPPINES: 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.
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.
CANADA: Commissioned for Fisherman's Reserve from the seized local Japanese fishing fleet - HMCS Billow (ex Kurashio) and HMCS Comber (ex CSC II). They will be sold in 1945.
HMCS Scaterie and Valinda are chartered for wartime service. They will be returned to their owners in 1946.
U.S.A.: UN established as representatives of 26 countries meet in Washington, DC to endorse the principles of the Atlantic Charter. The United States, Britain, the Soviet Union and China are among the signatories. They agree to fight the Axis and not to conclude a separate peace.
Besides the four major Allied war powers, the signatory countries included four nations of the British Empire - Australia, Canada, New Zealand and South Africa - the governments in exile of eight European countries overrun by Germany - Belgium, Czechoslovakia, Greece, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland and Yugoslavia - and nine Latin American republics - Costa Rica, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama.
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; and (8) disarmament of aggressors are also endorsed by the signatories at the Arcadia Conference.
The "united nations", with four-fifths of the world's population, subscribed to the principles of the Atlantic Charter signed by President Roosevelt and Mr Churchill last summer.
The United States government order the cessation of manufacture of automobiles and trucks for civilians to save steel.
Joseph Stalin named "Time" magazine's "Man of the Year" (Gene Hanson)
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.
Minesweepers USS VITAL and USS USAGE are laid down.
ATLANTIC OCEAN: U-333 is attacked by an Allied aircraft but is not damaged.