January 16th, 1942 (FRIDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM: 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.”
ASW trawler HMS Buster commissioned.
Minesweeping trawler HMS Irvan sunk by German aircraft off Yarmouth, Norfolk.
Corvette HMS Lotus launched.
GERMANY: U-220, U-281, U-763 launched.
U.S.S.R..: The Soviet government publishes the
contents of a document found at Klin, northwest of Moscow, and signed by
deceased Field Marshal von Reichenau. It was prepared during his command of the
German 6th Army, earlier in the campaign, and instructs German troops to be
"merciless" with the civil population.
German units take Theodosia in the Crimea and capture 10,000 Soviet
troops. Adolf Hitler has ordered the Wehrmacht to wipe out a Russian force in
the eastern Crimea, then overwhelm Sevastopol in western Crimea, home port of
the Soviets' Black Sea Fleet.
Field Marshall Wilhelm Ritter von Leeb, disillusioned with Hitler's conduct of the war, asks to be removed from command of Army Group North. Hitler consents. (Jeff Chrisman)
SYRIA: The HQ of the Australian 9th Division is established at Tripoli.
BURMA: The 46th Brigade, Indian 17th Division, arrives in Burma. The Japanese attack and eventually outflank Imperial forces at Myitta, threatening Tavoy.
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.
SINGAPORE: Most of the RAF's remaining planes are evacuated to Sumatra.
Gen Wavell to Prime Minister, 16 Jan. 42..............................
"The fortress cannon of heaviest nature have all round traverse, but their flat trajectory makes them unsuitable for counter-battery work. Could certainly not guarantee to dominate enemy siege batteries with them."[p.48]
(Wyatt Reader)
BORNEO: Three USAAF FEAF LB-30 Liberators 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. These are the first missions of the Liberator.
NETHERLANDS EAST INDIES: Two USAAF FEAF B-17 Flying Fortresses, 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.
COMMONWEALTH OF THE PHILIPPINES: 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.
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.
Minesweeper HMAS"> HMAS Geelong commissioned.
Destroyer HMAS
Queenborough launched.
LINE ISLANDS: Six USAAF Hawaiian Air Force B-17
Flying Fortresses fly from Oahu, Territory of Hawaii, to Palmyra Island, located
960 miles (1545 kilometres) 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.
PACIFIC: During a routine search from the aircraft
carrier USS Enterprise (CV-6), a Torpedo Squadron Six (VT-6) 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 (1191
kilometres) northeast 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.
The aircraft in question was a TBD-1 "Devastator", BuAer 0355, coded T-14, of Torpedo Squadron Six (VT-6), operating from the carrier USS Enterprise (CV-6). It force-landed in the Pacific, for lack of fuel, at roughly 04°20'S, 169°30'E, on 16 January 1942 when the crew, consisting of pilot Harold F. Dixon, ACMM(NAP), observer Anthony J. Pastula, AOM2c, and radioman Gene D. Aldrich, RM3c, became lost in scuddy weather on a routine 200 mile sector search. Although a search was implemented, the crew was not located and thus found themselves alone in on a 4' x 8' rubber raft. with "a pocket knife, a pair of pliers, an automatic pistol that soon became useless due to corrosion, and a length of line." No provisions, no water. They managed to survive on rainwater, a few fish, and two birds they caught and ate raw, for 34 days until, on 19 February they managed to make shore in the Danger Islands (10°48'S, 165°49'E). They travelled a curved route an estimated 1,200 miles long to reach the islands which were, as the bird flies, some 450 miles from where they went down. Dixon, from La Mesa, CA, would receive the Navy Cross from Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, his citation reading, in part, "For extraordinary heroism, exceptional determination and skillful seamanship ... thereby saving the lives of your crew and exhibiting the highest quality of leadership."
The book, "The Raft", written by Robert Trumbull, was
published by Henry Holt and Co., Inc. in 1942 and was highly received. (Mark E.
Horan)
Six PBY-5 Catalinas of USN Patrol Squadron Twenty Three (VP-23) 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.
CANADA: Removal begins of Japanese immigrant males from coastal areas.
U.S.A.: 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.
American motion picture actress Carole Lombard dies in an airplane crash at
Table Rock Mountain, Nevada, near Las Vegas, at age 33. She was returning from a
tour to promote war bonds in Indianapolis, Indiana. Lombard, married to Clark
Gable since 1939, was one of Hollywood's most glamorous stars of the 1930s. Best
loved for her comedies, Lombard starred in screwball comedies, including “My Man
Godfrey” and “To Be or Not to Be.”
The aircraft was a Douglas DC-3-362, msn 3295, registered NC1946 by
Transcontinental and Western Airlines (TWA). The TWA fleet number was 387. Ms. Lombard, Clark Gable's wife, her mother, Mrs. Bessie Peters, and an MGM
press agent named Otto Winkler, were enroute from Indianapolis, Indiana to Burbank, California on TWA.
Carole Lombard was born in Fort Wayne, Indiana and the U.S. Treasury Department had asked her to go to Indianapolis for a war bond drive. She
departed Los Angeles on 12 Janauary by train. The Treasury Department told her that they would be happy if she sold US$500,000 worth of bonds; she
sold about US$2 million in one day with 3,000 people lined up to buy bonds at her first public appearance in the lobby of the State Capitol Building.
The original plan was for her to return home by train but she was tired, she missed her husband and the train trip would take three days so she
insisted on flying. The only seats available were on TWA's Flight 3 which had departed New York City. The three people departed Indianapolis at about
0400 hours on 16 January.
There was a crew change in St. Louis, Missouri and the new captain was 41-year-old Wayne Williams, a veteran pilot who was considered one of the
best TWA instrument flyers. He had about 12,000 hours flying time.
There was a flap when the aircraft landed in Albuquerque, New Mexico. There were 21 passengers aboard but two were removed to accommodate a heavy load
of mail and priority cargo. There were also 15 USAAF pilots with orders to report to Los Angeles and another GI with travel orders and the TWA agent
asked Lombard and her party to give up their seats for the servicemen. But this was Carole Lombard! She was tired and wanted to get home to Gable and
did not know how long she would be stuck in Albuquerque so she pulled rank and argued that the bond tour was a government mission and therefore, she
deserved as much priority as the pilots. This was not true but she won the debate and three of the luckiest airmen in the USAAF stayed behind.
Normally, Flight 3 flew nonstop from Albuquerque to Burbank but the pilot was advised to expect strong head wings and since the aircraft was loaded
down with passengers and cargo, he elected to make refuelling stops at Winslow, Arizona and Las Vegas, Nevada. He took off from Albuquerque at
1640 hours local, three hours behind schedule, with only 350 US gallons (1,325 liters) of fuel. After taking off, the pilot elected to bypass
Winslow and land at Las Vegas; he landed there at about 1830 hours local after sunset. He refuelled and took off about an hour later and now the
mystery begins.
Westbound flights out of Las Vegas followed an airway whose heading was 205 degrees taking them to the south of 8,500-foot (2,591 meter) Potosi
Mountain which is northwest of Las Vegas Airport. It was an exceptionally clear night with good visibility and witnesses saw Flight 3 take off and
head in a northwesterly direction. The flight plan that the pilot had filed called for a cruising altitude of 8,000 feet (2,438 meters) and a departure
heading of 218 degrees. This was 500 feet (152 meters) below the mountain peak and the heading meant the aircraft was flying towards the mountain.
More strangely, TWA's operating procedures require the flight plan to be filled out by the copilot and signed by the pilot yet only the pilot's name
appeared on the plan.
Flight 3 struck Potosi Moutain about 730 feet (223 meters) below the peak killing all 22 people aboard. The Civial Aeronautics Board (CAB) ruled the
cause as pilot error: "...failure of the captain after departure from Las Vegas to follow the proper course by making use of the navigational aids
available to him."
Williams was not stranger to the Las Vegas Airport. The majority of TWA pilots who knew him had another theory, i.e., he wasn't in the cockpit when
the aircraft hit the mountain. One of the veteran pilots who knew him believes that the pilot went back to the cabin to talk to some of the USAAF
pilots who had been trained by TWA and the copilot was flying the plane. Or perhaps he had gone back to talk to Carole Lombard. We will never know but
one pilot said, "The way we found Wayne's body, it didn't look as if he had been in the cockpit when they hit."
(82)
Destroyer USS Mullany laid down.
ATLANTIC OCEAN: U-248 (Type VIIC) Sunk in the North Atlantic in position 47.43N, 26.37W, by depth charges from the US destroyer escorts USS Hayter, Otter, Varian and Hubbard. 47 dead (all crew lost).
At 1115, SS Llangibby Castle in Convoy WS-15 was torpedoed by U-402 north of the Azores. One torpedo hit the stern and blew away the after gun and the rudder, but the propellers remained intact. The ship limped to Horta in the Azores at 9 knots, fighting off attacks by German Fw200 aircraft on the way. The neutral Portugal allowed only 14 days for repairs and on 2 February, the ship had to left with the troops still on board and set course to Gibraltar, assisted by an Admiralty tug and escorted by three British destroyers. On 3 February, the small convoy was followed by several U-boats, but none managed to hit the ship, while HMS Westcott sank U-581. On 8 February, the troopship arrived at Gibraltar in tow of the tug and disembarked the troops.
Tanker SS Toorak sunk by U-86 at 47.54N, 52.11W - Grid BB 63.