27 January 1942

UNITED KINGDOM: Westminster: Churchill announces the formation of a Pacific War council and a joint Anglo-US chiefs of staff committee, and that an Australian representative is to join the war cabinet.

Representatives of the Free French National Committee in London and of the United States had come to an agreement concerning the Allied military use of French possessions in the Pacific area.

Prime Minister Winston Churchill opens a major House of Commons debate with the report on Allied Cooperation. He details the Combined Chiefs of Staff, the Pacific Councils and the plans for the arrival of American land forces in Britain. The vote of confidence is opposed by one member of the House.

Lt. John McDonald Ruttan RCNVR was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross (DSC). The Citation, awarded as per the London Gazette of 27 Jan 42, read: "For bravery and endurance while minesweeping and when attacked by enemy aircraft." John McDonald Ruttan worked in Port Arthur on the Port Arthur News Chronicle in 1937. He was recruited by LCdr. Rollo Mainguy into the Port Arthur Half Division of the RCNVR in Spring 1937. Ruttan served on the Canadian training schooner Venture in late Dec 37. He was assigned to the Winnipeg Division in the rank of Sub-Lieutenant in May 38. In Jun 40, he was sent to the Britain for a six-week basic officer's course at HMS King Alfred and then the minesweeping course at Lochinvar. He was appointed as Executive Officer of HMS Skudd V (a converted Norwegian whaler) in Sep 40. Skudd V sailed for Alexandria in Oct 40 via the Cape and operated in the eastern Mediterranean, including Tobruk and Greece in 1941. Ruttan was promoted to Lieutenant on 16 Sep 41 and was appointed CO of a converted landing ship, HMS Svan, in Oct 41. Lt. Ruttan 'hitch hiked' home in 1942 in order to assume his new duties as Executive Officer of the minesweeper HMS Saint John. His next appointment was as Commanding Officer of the Landing Craft Infantry (Large) LCI(L)-302 in Feb 44, where he served through D-Day landings. His final appointment was as CO of the River-class frigate HMCS Matane from 20 Sep 44 to 03 Feb 45. He was demobilized on 13 Dec 45 and promoted to LCdr. while on retired list. John Ruttan died 21 Mar 92 in Ottawa.

U.S.S.R.: In the Ukraine, on the Donets front, Soviet forces seize the important rail centre of Lozovaya, west of Izyum. They now threaten the main German supply base for Army Group South at Dnepropetrovsk. German resistance is growing.

LIBYA:. South African reconnaissance aircraft spot Rommel's diversionary move toward Mechili, and the British swallow the bait, moving 1st Armoured Division on the diversion. Axis forces renew their offensive from Msus, making their main effort toward Benghazi.

BORNEO: Japanese troop occupy the towns of Ledo, Singkawang, Pemangkat, Sambas with its Naval Air Station, and Singkawang II airfield located near Ledo. All Dutch aircraft had been transferred to Sumatra prior to the Japanese invasion.
USAAF Far East Air Force B-17 Flying Fortresses based in Java bomb and damage a Japanese seaplane carrier off Balikpapan.

MALAYA: No. 36 and 100 Squadron's RAF fly their last missions with the venerable Vickers Vildebeest biplanes against Japanese landings at Endau. (Peter Sinfield)

Destroyer HMS Thanet is sunk by gunfire from IJN destroyers off Endau on the east coast of Malaya at 02 40N 103 42E. (Alex Gordon)(108)

Lieutenant General Arthur Percival, General Officer Commanding Malaya Command, having received permission from General Archibald Lord Wavell, Commander in Chief Australian-British-Dutch-American (ABDA) Command, to retire to the 225 square mile (583 square kilometer) Singapore Island at his discretion, decides to withdraw at once through Johore Bahru and across the causeway to the island. Withdrawal is to be accomplished under cover of darkness and completed during the night 30/31 January. East Force meets no opposition as it pulls back. While elements of the Indian 11th Division’s Batu Pahat force fall back to Benut, the rest move to the mouth of the Ponggor River, from which they are withdrawn by sea during the following nights. West Force fights local actions while retiring along the main road and railroad.
Off Endau, the destroyers HMAS Vampire and HMS Thanet encounter three Japanese destroyers and a minesweeper. HMS Thanet is sunk by gunfire but HMAS Vampire escapes to Singapore. The Japanese 96th Airfield Battalion completes their landing at Endau with much-needed supplies and ammunition.

NETHERLANDS EAST INDIES: On Java, General Archibald Lord Wavell, Commander in Chief Australian-British-Dutch-American (ABDA) Command, tells Lieutenant General Sir John Lavarack, General Officer Commanding I Australian Corps, that he must hold Sumatra with one Australian division and central Java with another.
The British aircraft carrier HMS Indomitable brings a cargo of 48 Hawker Hurricane fighters to Java, for shipment to Singapore.

PACIFIC OCEAN: Submarine USS Gudgeon (SS-211) torpedoes and sinks Japanese submarine HIJMS I-73 240 miles (386 kilometres) west of Midway Island; the Japanese submarine had shelled Midway two days earlier. This is the first Japanese submarine sunk by a USN submarine.

PHILIPPINE ISLANDS: In the II Corps area on Bataan, the Japanese begin an assault against the main line of resistance (MLR) in the afternoon. After a feint down the East Road, the main attack is made against Sectors C and D. Sector C is thinly manned and in the process of being reinforced by the 41st Infantry, Philippine Army (PA), from Sector D. The Japanese force the outposts back and get a small advance group across the Pilar River. In the I Corps area, the Japanese renew efforts to break through the MLR on the west coast and is again brought to a halt by the 91st Division, PA. In the South Sector, Lieutenant General Jonathan Wainwright, Commanding General I Corps, sends the 3d Battalion of the 45th Infantry, Philippine Scouts (PS), to Quinauan Point and the 2d Battalion of the 57th Infantry, PS, to Longoskawayan Point to dislodge or destroy the Japanese along the southwestern coast. Meanwhile, after preparatory fire from all available guns is conducted against Longoskawayan Pt, the infantry attacks but is unable to clear it. Scouts of 2d Battalion, 57th Infantry, relieve the naval battalion there during the night of 27/28 January. The Japanese are contained but cannot be cleared from Quinauan Point. Water-borne reinforcements for this position land short of their objective, between the Anyasan and Silaiim Rivers, before dawn and put beach defenders, the 1st Battalion of the 1st Philippine Constabulary, to flight. The ground echelon of the USAAF’s 17th Pursuit Squadron (Interceptor), from reserve, and the 2d Battalion of the 2d Philippine Constabulary, from the MLR to the north, move against the Japanese but are halted about 1,000 yards (914 meters) from the shore. The Japanese are ordered, upon reinforcing the Quinauan beachhead, to drive to Mariveles.
Four USAAF Far East Air Force B-17 Flying Fortresses based in Java stage through Del Monte Airfield on Mindanao and attack Japanese targets on Luzon. One B-17 is shot down.
Submarine USS Seawolf (SS-197) delivers ammunition to Corregidor Island, and evacuates naval and army pilots.

PHOENIX ISLAND: The USAAF’s Hawaiian Air Force B-17 Flying Fortresses of Task Group 8.9 return to Canton Island.

U.S.A.: President Franklin D. Roosevelt announces that the Office of Price Administration (OPA) will ration all retail goods and commodities until the end of the war.

ATLANTIC OCEAN: Two unarmed U.S. merchant tankers are attacked by German U-boat U-130: (1) one is torpedoed and sunk 90 miles (145 kilometres) northeast of Virginia Beach, Virginia and (2) one is torpedoed and damaged 20 miles (32 kilometres) east-northeast of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina.

At 0203, U-123 opened fire with the deck gun at the unescorted motor tanker Pan Norway east of Cape Hatteras because no torpedoes were left. With the third salvo hits were scored in the engine room and the funnel. Even though the gun on the stern of the tanker was put out of action, the machine guns mounted on the bridge returned fire, hitting the conning tower and the deck several times. The U-boat then fired at the bridge, which caught fire after some hits. When the tanker stopped and the crew began to abandon ship, the fire was ceased. In between Hardegen had to clip the split lower lips of Ma-Gfr Bastel, who had been hit in the face by a empty ammunition case that fell through the open hatch and lost several teeth. After the crew had left the Pan Norway, the fire was reopened but soon no ammunition for the deck gun was left so they shot holes into the waterline with the 37mm AA gun until the tanker capsized and sank at 03.45 hours. Shortly before the duel began, they had spotted lights and the U-boat now went to investigate them. The lights belonged to the Greek steam merchant Mount Aetna, which was neutral because she operated in Swiss charter. Hardegen stopped the vessel and gave the direction to the survivors of Pan Norway. In a short time the merchant picked up 40 survivors including five wounded and the U-boat rescued another wounded man, took care of him and after a short interrogation placed him aboard the neutral vessel, whose master expressed his thanks and wished the U-boat a lucky return journey. The survivors were landed at Lisbon on 6 February.

At 0943, the unarmed and unescorted steam tanker Francis E. Powell was hit by one torpedo from U-130 about eight miles northeast of the Winter Quarter Light Vessel, while proceeding completely blacked out at 10.5 knots. The torpedo struck on the port side aft of the midships house, between the #4 and #5 tanks. The explosion started a small fire in the pump room and destroyed the radio antenna. Then the U-boat was sighted a few hundred yards away. The eight officers and 24 crewmen abandoned ship in two lifeboats. The master was crushed to death when he slipped and fell between the boat and the ship. The same boat was lifted back on the ship by a wave and the occupants had to launch another boat. Another officer and two men were also lost. The tanker sank at about 1400. After five hours, 17 men in one of the boats were picked up by the American steam tanker W.C. Fairbanks and landed at Lewes, Delaware. The remaining eleven survivors in the other boat were picked up by a USCG boat from the Assateague Station and landed at Chincoteague VA.

Steam tanker Halo shelled and damaged by U-130.

At 0021, U-754 fired a spread of three torpedoes at SS Icarion, dispersed from Convoy ON-53, and observed a hit in the stern after 5 minutes 25 seconds. The ship sank at 01.08 hours.