January 30th, 1942 (FRIDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM: Hatfield, Herts: The prototype de Havilland Mosquito T.3 two-seat dual control trainer makes its maiden flight. (22)
Minesweeper HMS Larne laid down.
Destroyer HMS Lookout commissioned.
Minesweeping trawler HMS Loch Arlish sunk by German aircraft off the Humber.
GERMANY: Berlin: Hitler turned up at Berlin's Sports Palace today to celebrate the ninth anniversary of his coming to power. There was little to celebrate. He admitted that the offensive on the eastern front was stalled, and blamed the extreme cold, with temperatures of minus 42 Fahrenheit. He confessed: "I do not know if the war will end this year."
He also warns: "The result of this war will be the complete annihilation of the Jews ... the most evil universal enemy of all time will be finished."
BURMA: The Japanese open a strong attack on Moulmein and seize the airdrome.
MALAYA: The British
withdrawal to Singapore Island reaches its final stage. East Force is the first
unit to cross the causeway and is followed by the Indian 11th Division and West
Force. West Force delays withdrawal as long as possible in a futile effort to
recover the 22d Brigade of the Indian 9th Division. Remnants of this brigade are
eventually ferried across the Strait of Singapore. It is decided to withdraw the
Malaya Air Force to the Netherlands East Indies except for a single squadron.
At 1100 hours local, 27 Japanese naval land attack planes bomb Allied
shipping at Keppel Harbor; the transport USS Wakefield (AP-21, ex-SS Manhattan),
waiting to embark 400 British women and children being evacuated to Ceylon, is
damaged by a bomb which kills 5 crewmen; three British transports are also hit.
The transport USS West Point (AP-23, ex-SS America) is straddled and showered
with fragments, but suffers no damage and provides medical assistance to the
crew of USS Wakefield. Both U.S. transports subsequently embark passengers that
include dockyard workers from Singapore and their families, in addition to Royal
Navy officers and enlisted men and a small RAF contingent. The ships will then
proceed to Batavia, Java, Netherlands East Indies for additional evacuees, and
thence on to Colombo, Ceylon, arriving there on 6 February.
SINGAPORE: USS
Wakefield (USCG-manned), having disembarked 20,000 British troops, was bombed by
the Japanese in Singapore. Five were killed. The ship later evacuates 500 women
and children to Bombay before the port falls to the Japanese.
NETHERLANDS EAST INDIES: The Japanese invade 314
square mile (813 square kilometres) Ambon Island which has the second largest
naval base in the East Indies. The defenders include Dutch troop and the
Australian 2/21 Battalion plus supporting troops. During the night of 30 January
two Japanese landings are launched; the 1st Kure Special Landing Force lands at
Hitu-Iama and the 228th Infantry lands on the southern coast of Laitimor. The
defenders are at a disadvantage to contest the landings, only a few Dutch
detachments were in the area. At Hitu-Iama on the north coast the defending
infantry and machine-gun crews are quickly overwhelmed and bridges on the road
leading to the town of Paso are left intact allowing the Japanese to speedily
advance south across the Hitu Peninsula. Other landings occurred around Hutumori;
the Japanese split westward to the town, and northward to Paso using captured
Ambonese compelled to act as guides.
PHILIPPINE ISLANDS: In Sector C of II Corps on
Bataan, efforts to dislodge the enemy from the Pilar River bridgehead fail and
indecisive fighting continues along the main line of resistance (MLR). The I
Corps makes slow progress against enemy pockets behind the MLR. While the 1st
Division, Philippine Army (PA), attempts to reduce Little Pocket, elements of
the 11th Infantry, PA, and 45th Infantry, Philippine Scouts (PS), attack Big
Pocket from the north and south, respectively. In the South Sector, the 3d
Battalion of the 45th Infantry, PS, reinforced, continues to attack the Quinauan
Point beachhead. The 2d Battalion of the same regiment, reinforced, supported by
the 88th Field Artillery battery, PS, pushes slowly toward the mouth of the
Silaiim River.
General Douglas
MacArthur, Commander in Chief US Army Forces Far East (USAFFE),
takes control of all naval forces in the Philippines.
AUSTRALIA:
Minesweeper HMAS Gympie launched.
PACIFIC OCEAN: Japanese submarine
HIJMS I-73 is
torpedoed and sunk the U.S. submarine USS Gudgeon (SS-21) about 274 miles west
of Midway Island. I-73, with many of her crewmen on deck is running a straight
course and not zigzagging.
TERRITORY OF HAWAII: USAAF Hawaiian Air Force B-17 Flying Fortresses of Task Group 8.9 return to Hawaii, having completed a mission (began on 16 January 42) which afforded a pioneer look at the problem of air operations over vast Pacific areas, especially the problems of navigation and the servicing of aircraft.
CANADA: Motor minesweepers ordered in Canadian yards - HMS MMS 243, 244, 245, 246, 247, 248, 250, 251, 252, 254, 256, 257, 254, 255.
U.S.A.: The last
pre-war automobiles produced by General Motors’ Chevrolet Division and
Chrysler’s DeSoto Division roll off the assembly lines today.
The Secretary of the Navy authorizes a glider program for the Marine Corps
consisting of small and large type gliders in sufficient numbers for the
training and transportation of two battalions of 900 men each.
California Governor Culbert Olson revokes the professional and business
licenses of 5,000 Japanese, German and Italian aliens in California. The
revocations mostly affect Japanese-Americans.
The Congress passes the Emergency Price Control Act which allows the Office
of Price Administration (OPA) to place ceilings on prices and rents.
Submarine USS Trigger commissioned.
ECUADOR: Quito breaks off diplomatic relations with Berlin. (Mike Yared)
ICELAND: The hulk of the US Coast Guard gunboat USCGC Alexander Hamilton (WPG-34), torpedoed by U-132 yesterday, is again taken in tow by a tug. The tow progresses 18 miles (29 kilometres) but the cutter's list increases rapidly to starboard and she suddenly capsizes at 1728 hours.
ATLANTIC OCEAN: At 1805, the unescorted and unarmed tanker SS Rochester was hit by one torpedo from U-106. As the engine room was flooded, the crew abandoned ship in two lifeboats, while the U-boat surfaced and waited until the boats cleared the ship. The tanker was then shelled with 8 rounds, but then the deck gun jammed and U-106 was forced to fire a second torpedo at 1845, which hit amidships and caused the ship to sink at 1920. After three hours 32 survivors (later one crewmember died of burns) were picked up by destroyer USS Roe and landed at Norfolk the next morning. (Jack McKillop and Dave Shirlaw)