January 28th, 1942 (WEDNESDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM: Sloop HMS Wild Goose laid down.
GERMANY: Rastenburg: Hitler decorates the Luftwaffe ace pilot Adolf Galland with the Diamonds to the Knight's Cross. Göring is appalled that the jewels are paste.
U.S.S.R.: Soviet Marshal Konstantin Timoshenko advances into the Ukraine. The Ukrainians are happy to see him, as the Germans have been practicing massacres.
LIBYA: The Indian 4th Division is authorized to withdraw from Benghazi since armored elements of the 13 Corps, British Eighth Army, are too busily engaged to assist it. The Indian 7th Brigade, the last to withdraw, finds its line of retreat blocked but breaks out to the south and eventually makes its way back to Eighth Army. Rommel's troops enter Benghazi as the British retreat; this is the fourth time the city has changed hands.
REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA: Pro-Axis extremists blow up five power stations in an attempt to sabotage supplies to the Rand gold mines.
PACIFIC OCEAN: The British carrier HMS INDOMITABLE delivers 48 Hurricane fighters, destined for Singapore to Java.
The aircraft carrier USS Enterprise (CV-6) becomes the first
heavy ship to refuel at sea by night, doing so in the central Pacific at 2000
hours local from the oiler USS Platte (AO-24), under blackout conditions. The
successful evolution takes five hours.
LOUISADE ARCHIPELAGO: The Japanese
land on Rossel Island, the easternmost island of this archipelago. The island is
located about 490 miles (789 kilometres) east-southeast of Port Moresby, New
Guinea, and 420 miles (676 kilometres) west-southwest of Guadalcanal, Solomon
Islands, an ideal position to block shipping from either point. The Japanese
immediately begin building an airfield.
BURMA: Pilots of the 1st and 2d Fighter Squadrons, American Volunteer Group (AVG, aka, “The Flying Tigers”), shoot down six Nakajima Ki-27, Army Type 97 Fighters (later given the Allied Code Name “Nate”) over and near Mingaladon Airdrome, Rangoon, between 1150 and 1210 hours local.
MALAYA: East Force continues
their unopposed withdrawal toward Singapore Island. The Japanese reach Benut and
continue southward behind the Indian 11th Division. A gap develops between the
two brigades of the Indian 9th Division withdrawing along the railroad and the
22d Brigade becomes isolated from the main body. In Singapore, Lieutenant
General Arthur Percival, General Officer Commanding Malaya Command, summons his
commanders and finds he has no reserves and only one of the island’s 15-inch
(38,1 cm) guns points northward.
Four USAAF Far East Air Force B-17 Flying Fortresses from Java stage
through Palembang Airdrome on Sumatra and attack Kuala Lumpur.
Only 21 of the 51 Hawker Hurricane fighters that arrived in Singapore on 13
January are still serviceable.
NETHERLANDS EAST INDIES: USAAF
Far East Air Force B-17 Flying Fortresses based at Singosari Airdrome, Java,
attack Kendari Airdrome on Celebes Island.
The RAAF begins evacuating the two flights of No. 13 Squadron, with its few
remaining Lockheed Hudson bombers, from Laha Airdrome on Ambon Island.
COMMONWEALTH OF THE PHILIPPINES: In the II
Corps area on Bataan, the 41st Infantry, Philippine Army (PA), completes its
movement into the Sector C line, taking up positions between 31st and 51st
Divisions, PA, elements. The Japanese renew their attack against the corps in
the evening: some Japanese troops cross the Tiawir River in front of Sector D,
where they are halted; others attempt to move forward in Sector C without
success. From the west coast, in the I Corps area, the Japanese move eastward
along the corps' main line of resistance to the 1st Division, PA, sector, where
defence preparations are not yet completed; during the night of the 28/29th, the
Japanese breach the main line of resistance (MLR) there and pour southward
through the gap. As the enemy force becomes divided in dense jungle, two
pockets, called the Little Pocket and the Big Pocket, are formed, Little Pocket
about 400 yards (366 meters) below the MLR and Big Pocket nearly a mile (1.6
kilometres) behind the MLR. In the South Sector, Scouts of 2d Battalion, 57th
Infantry, Philippine Scouts (PS), attack Longoskawayan Point and advance two
thirds of its length before artillery support is obstructed by Pucot Hill. The
3d Battalion of the 45th Infantry, PS, attacks the enemy beachhead at Quinauan
Point, but jungle terrain and the enemy make progress slow and costly. At night
the 3d Battalion is reinforced by Company B of the 57th Infantry, PS. In the
Anyasan-Silaiim sector, the ground echelon of the USAAF’s 17th Pursuit Squadron
(Interceptor) and Philippine Constabulary elements push almost to the coast of
Anyasan Bay, but the Constabulary troops, fearing a counterattack, withdraws in
confusion after dark.
AUSTRALIA: The USAAF activates the first U.S. air transport unit in Australia. None of its original complement of 14 officers and 19 enlisted men had been trained for transport operations; they just happened to be available. The aircraft assigned to the unit are two old Douglas B-18 Bolo bombers, one Douglas C-39 (Model DC-2-243) transport which had been flown down from the Philippines and five new Douglas C-53 (Model DC-3A-405) transports recently arrived from the U.S. None of these aircraft has a cargo door, i.e., one wide enough to load and unload cargo other than humans.
The Australian Directorate of Air Transport is formed at Amberly Field, Brisbane, Queensland.
U.S.A.: The Air Corps Ferrying Command was ordered to arrange for ferrying 60 B-25s by an means to destinations specified by the Dutch Government. Consolidated Aircraft was contracted to fly 8 aircraft in February 1942; 16 in March; and from 15 to 32 per month until all 60 were delivered. The Dutch also contracted with the British Overseas Airways Corp (BOAC) to ferry 20 aircraft from West Palm Beach, Florida, to Australia via Africa.
The Air Force Combat Command activates Headquarters 8th Air
Force at Savannah AAB, Savannah, Georgia, under command of Brigadier General Asa
N Duncan. The 8th is originally designated as the U.S. air element of Operation
GYMNAST, the early plan for the Allied invasion of northwest Africa.
BRAZIL: The Brazilian government breaks off relations with the Axis along with Bolivia, Paraguay and Uruguay.
The Third Conference of Foreign Ministers of the (21) American Republics at Rio de Janeiro is concluded. Despite the efforts of Argentina and Chile, Pan-American unity is preserved; within days, all Latin American nations that had not already done so (except Argentina and Chile) sever ties with Germany, Italy, and Japan. Today, Brazil and Paraguay break diplomatic relations with Germany, Italy and Japan.
ATLANTIC: “Sighted sub, sank same." During an antisubmarine sweep astern of convoy HX 172, the crew of a PBO-1 Hudson of USN Patrol Squadron Eighty Two (VP-82) based at NAS Argentia, Newfoundland, attacks a surfaced submarine off Cape Race, Newfoundland. Although the pilot (Aviation Machinist's Mate First Class Donald F. Mason) reports "sighted sub, sank same," no U-boat is lost on this date.