January 20th, 1942 (TUESDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM: London: Churchill orders that Singapore "be converted into a citadel and defended to the death."
GERMANY: Nazi officials meet to discuss the details of the "Final Solution" of the "Jewish question." Reinhard Heydrich, SS general and Heinrich Himmler's number-two man, met with Adolf Eichmann">Eichmann, chief of the Central Office of Jewish Emigration, and 15 other officials from various Nazi ministries and organizations at Wannsee, a suburb of Berlin.
The agenda was simple and focused: to devise a plan that would render a "final solution to the Jewish question" in Europe.
Various gruesome proposals were discussed, including mass sterilization and deportation to the island of Madagascar. Heydrich proposed simply transporting Jews from every corner of Europe to concentration camps in Poland and working them to death. Objections to this plan included the belief that this was simply too time-consuming. What about the strong ones who took longer to die? What about the millions of Jews who were already in Poland? Although the word "extermination" was never uttered during the meeting, the implication was clear: anyone who survived the egregious conditions of a work camp would be "treated accordingly."
Shortly after this conference, the elimination camps of Chelmno, Belzec, Sobibor, Treblinka, Majdanek and Auschwitz-Birkenau began their work.
Over a decent lunch today, followed by brandy and Kaffee und Küchen in the cordial surroundings of the Villa Am Größen Wannsee, the Reich security chief, SS-Obergruppenführer Reinhard Heydrich [Reichsführer Heinrich Himmler's second-in-command of the SS and the chief of the Reich Security Main Office (Reichssicherheitshauptamt) and head of the German secret police apparatus], outlined his plans for exterminating the Jews. At a secret meeting fourteen high-ranking civil servants from a number of Nazi agencies and SS-officers from the occupied territories, the civil service and security organizations agreed to co-ordinate efforts to help him. He was assisted by Heydrich's second in command SS-Obersturmbannführer Adolf Eichmann">Eichmann. Heydrich started off by reviewing the development of Nazi policy toward the Jews. Extermination, he said, was now a more realistic option than "evacuation". He ran through the statistics of how many Jews were alive in the world. National differences notwithstanding, Europe must be "combed through from east to west" for Jews, who will be evacuated to transit ghettoes in the east and finally to death camps where they will be murdered to prevent "a germ cell of a new Jewish development." He assured delegates that these plans, covered 11 million people in Britain, Sweden and Switzerland as well as occupied territory.
The differing degrees of readiness and complaisance in the various countries are to be resolved by giving wide powers to local officials responsible to Heydrich.
Children of mixed marriages are to be treated thus:
1) Treatment of Persons of Mixed Blood of the First Degree
Persons of mixed blood of the first degree will, as regards the final solution of the Jewish question, be treated as Jews.
From this treatment the following exceptions will be made:
a) Persons of mixed blood of the first degree married to persons of German blood if their marriage has resulted in children (persons of mixed blood of the second degree). These persons of mixed blood of the second degree are to be treated essentially as Germans.
b) Persons of mixed blood of the first degree, for whom the highest offices of the Party and State have already issued exemption permits in any sphere of life. Each individual case must be examined, and it is not ruled out that the decision may be made to the detriment of the person of mixed blood.
The prerequisite for any exemption must always be the personal merit of the person of mixed blood. (Not the merit of the parent or spouse of German blood.)
Persons of mixed blood of the first degree who are exempted from evacuation will be sterilized in order to prevent any offspring and to eliminate the problem of persons of mixed blood once and for all. Such sterilization will be voluntary. But it is required to remain in the Reich. The sterilized "person of mixed blood" is thereafter free of all restrictions to which he was previously subjected.
2) Treatment of Persons of Mixed Blood of the Second Degree
Persons of mixed blood of the second degree will be treated fundamentally as persons of German blood, with the exception of the following cases, in which the persons of mixed blood of the second degree will be considered as Jews:
a) The person of mixed blood of the second degree was born of a marriage in which both parents are persons of mixed blood.
b) The person of mixed blood of the second degree has a racially especially undesirable appearance that marks him outwardly as a Jew.
c) The person of mixed blood of the second degree has a particularly bad police and political record that shows that he feels and behaves like a Jew.
Also in these cases exemptions should not be made if the person of mixed blood of the second degree has married a person of German blood.
3) Marriages between Full Jews and Persons of German Blood.
Here it must be decided from case to case whether the Jewish partner will be evacuated or whether, with regard to the effects of such a step on the German relatives, [this mixed marriage] should be sent to an old-age ghetto.
4) Marriages between Persons of Mixed Blood of the First Degree and Persons of German Blood.
a) Without Children.
If no children have resulted from the marriage, the person of mixed blood of the first degree will be evacuated or sent to an old-age ghetto (same treatment as in the case of marriages between full Jews and persons of German blood, point 3.)
b) With Children.
If children have resulted from the marriage (persons of mixed blood of the second degree), they will, if they are to be treated as Jews, be evacuated or sent to a ghetto along with the parent of mixed blood of the first degree. If these children are to be treated as Germans (regular cases), they are exempted from evacuation as is therefore the parent of mixed blood of the first degree.
5) Marriages between Persons of Mixed Blood of the First Degree and Persons of Mixed Blood of the First Degree or Jews.
In these marriages (including the children) all members of the family will be treated as Jews and therefore be evacuated or sent to an old-age ghetto.
6) Marriages between Persons of Mixed Blood of the First Degree and Persons of Mixed Blood of the Second Degree.
In these marriages both partners will be evacuated or sent to an old-age ghetto without consideration of whether the marriage has produced children, since possible children will as a rule have stronger Jewish blood than the Jewish person of mixed blood of the second degree.
(Thanks to Gene Hanson)
U-421, U-673, U-849 laid down.
MEDITERRANEAN SEA: Submarine HMS Triumph believed lost on Italian mines off Milo Island, southeast of Greece with all hands.
U.S.S.R.: Mozhaisk, about 60 miles (97 kilometres) west of Moscow, falls to Soviet forces.
BURMA: The Japanese cross into Burma in force and
begin an assault on north Tenasserim, attacking the 16th Brigade, Indian 17th
Division, on the Myawadi-Kawkareik road, near the Thai border east of Moulmein,
in conjunction with air attacks.
THAILAND: Pilots of the 2d Fighter Squadron, American Volunteer Group (AVG, aka, ãThe Flying Tigersä) shoot down three Mitsubishi Ki-30, Army Type 97 Light Bombers (given the Code Name ãAnnä in the summer of 1942) over Mesoht Airdrome.
MALAYA: The British 53d Brigade counterattacks west of Yong Peng but is unable to recover lost ground. The Muar force begins a difficult withdrawal toward Yong Peng and the withdrawal of Segamat forces continues. During the night of 20/21 January, the Australian 27th Brigade Group moves from the Segamat River line to Yong Peng; the Indian 9th Division pulls back to defensive position to the east.
SINGAPORE: As Japanese troops threatened the Johore causeway linking Singapore and the mainland, Singapore City had its first taste of war today when 50 people were killed and 150 injured in raids by Japanese bombers. Rumours that the Japanese were using poison gas were quickly denied by military commanders to avoid panic.
The Japanese attempt to drive down the west coast is recognized as a serious threat to Britain's Far East fortress. British aircraft are continuing to bomb and machine-gun invasion barges landing fresh troops at Muar. Fierce fighting is taking place at the mouth of the Muar river and the airfield at Batu Pahat after initial landings at the weekend.
Japanese claims to be less than 18 miles from the Johore causeway have been discounted by the British. So have reports of a large column moving near the main road junction at Yong Peng.
SOUTH CHINA SEA: The US submarine S-36 (SS-141) commanded by John R. Mcknight Jr. ran aground on Taka Bakang Reef-South end of Makassar Strait. No hands lost. (Joe Sauder)
AUSTRALIA: Major
General George H Brett, Commanding General US Army Forces in Australia (USAFIA),
halts ferrying of aircraft from India to the Netherlands East Indies. The USAAF
has been sending heavy bombers to Java by way of Africa and India, but the
Japanese are able to inflict prohibitive losses on USAAF aircraft on the last
stops of the route by interception from newly acquired airfields near Java.
Brett advises the U.S. War Department that, in his capacity as the
Australian-British-Dutch-American (ABDA) Command’s deputy commander, he has
taken over the supervision, but not the actual command, of all air activities in
the Southwest Pacific.
USN destroyer USS Edsall (DD-219) and Australian minesweeper HMAS Deloraine
sink Japanese submarine HIJMS I-124 off Darwin, Northern Territory.
BISMARCK ARCHIPELAGO: Ninety Japanese carrier-based
aircraft from the aircraft carriers HIJMS Akagi, HIJMS Kaga, HIJMS Shokaku and
HIJMS Zuikaku attack Rabaul on New Britain Island, causing serious damage. No.
24 Squadron RAAF loses six aircraft (3 shot down, 1 wrecked after take-off and 2
damaged in crash landings) leaving two Wirraways in commission. The squadron
commander sends the following message to Northeast Area HQ: “2 Wirraways useless
defence. Will you now please send some fighters.” Kavieng on New Ireland Island,
is also attacked by air but by a smaller force.
NETHERLANDS EAST INDIES: The six USAAF Far East Air Force B-17 Flying Fortresses that landed at Del Monte Field on Mindanao, Philippine Islands, yesterday, take off and attempt to bomb Japanese shipping at Jolo Island but abort to bad weather. The aircraft return to Singosari Airdrome on Java carrying 23 B-17 aircrew who had been left at Del Monte Field.
Submarine USS S-36 stranded on Taka Bakang Reef in the Makassar
Strait, Dutch East Indies and despite lengthy attempts they could not get the
boat free again. The crew was rescued by the Dutch motor launch Attla.
PACIFIC OCEAN: A Dutch Dornier flying boat spotted a
small vessel off the coast of Samboaja, heading for Balikpapan, Borneo. The
flying-boat landed near the vessel, the motor boat Parsifal, and took aboard a
two Dutch officer captured on Tarakan Island and three Japanese
soldier-interpreters and flew them to Balikpapan. They carried a message from
the Japanese to the Balikpapan Garrison Commander, demanding that the oil
refinery installations there be handed over to the Japanese Army without being
damaged; this offer was refused by the Dutch commander and the three Japanese
were returned to their outfits.
CELEBES SEA: A Japanese convoy is reported in Makassar Strait, bound for Balikpapan, Borneo.
COMMONWEALTH OF THE PHILIPPINES: On Bataan, the Japanese contain
repeated attacks by the Philippine Division (U.S. 31st and Philippine Scout 45th
Regiments) on the western flank of the II Corps while preparing for a major
assault to begin on 22 January. After further fighting before Guitol, the
Japanese retire northward. In the I Corps area, the Japanese maintain pressure
and continue infiltration into the right flank from Mt. Silanganan.
Motor torpedo boat PT-31, damaged by grounding on reef north of Mayagao
Point, Bataan, the day before, is burned by crew to prevent capture .
SAMOA ISLANDS: The U.S. Second Marine Brigade
(Brigadier General Henry L. Larson, USMC) arrives at Pago Pago on Tutuila
Island, America Samoa, in transports SS Lurline, SS Matsonia, and SS Monterey,
along with cargo ship USS Jupiter (AK-43) and ammunition ship USS Lassen (AE-3),
to protect that portion of the important lifeline to Australia. Cover for the
operation is provided by Task Force 8 (TF 8) formed around aircraft carrier USS
Enterprise (CV-6) (Vice Admiral William F. Halsey Jr.) and TF 17 (Rear Admiral
Frank Jack Fletcher) formed around aircraft carrier USS Yorktown (CV-5). The two
carrier task forces then set course for the Japanese-held Marshalls and Gilberts
to carry out the initial raids on the enemy's defensive perimeter.
THAILAND: Pilots of the 2d Fighter Squadron,
American Volunteer Group (AVG, aka, “The Flying Tigers”) shoot down three
Mitsubishi Ki-30, Army Type 97 Light Bombers (given the Code Name “Ann” in the
summer of 1942) over Mesoht Airdrome.
NEWFOUNDLAND: Corvettes
HMCS Rimouski, Trail and Trillium departed
St John's as escort for Convoy SC-65 for Londonderry.
U.S.A.: President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs a bill
that decrees Daylight Savings Time for the duration of the war. It goes into
effect on 9 February.
Submarine USS Guardfish launched.
Submarine USS Sawfish laid down.
CLEARWATER - Milk dealers of upper Pinellas County will meet at the chamber of commerce at 7:30 p.m. Friday with Frank Tack, chairman of the Clearwater tire rationing board. The meeting has been called at the request of the milk dealers to learn just how the tire rationing situation affects them.
There have been suggestions that the various milk dealers combine their deliveries with fewer trucks covering the routes. It is possible that an upper Pinellas County milk dealers' association may be formed at the Friday night meeting and that plans for a milk route consolidation will be discussed. (William L. Howard)
ATLANTIC OCEAN: At 1830, U-552 began shelling SS Maro; firing 126 rounds of 88-mm rounds until the ship sank about 2000. The vessel had been in Convoy ON-53, which was scattered in gale on 12 January.
Corvettes HMCS Rimouski, Trail and Trillium departed St John's as escort for Convoy SC-65 for Londonderry.