31 January 1942

Submarine HMS Uther laid down.

Destroyer HMS Vigilant laid down.

Destroyer HMS Champlin laid down.

GERMANY: Berlin: SS General Franz Stahlecker, the commander of the Einsatzgruppe in the Baltic states, reports that he has killed 229,052 Jews.

U-217 commissioned.

U-951 laid down.

U-443 launched.

U.S.S.R.: Moscow: The Red Army's counter-offensive is grinding on against fierce German opposition. A critical battle is being fought for Rzhev, as the Russians thrust south towards Vyazma in an attempt to trap the German Army Group South.

Similar battles are being fought further south as General Zhukov aims for Bryansk to sweep up behind Vyazma and Marshal Timoshenko fights towards Izyum in an attempt to recapture Kharkov.

In yet another Soviet attack General Vlasov has struck across the Volkhov river towards Leningrad. Despite atrocious weather Stalin is relentless in his demands for attack, believing that the Germans will break.

IRAQ: The U.S. Military Mission to USSR, which is to advise and assist Russians on lend-lease matters, arrives at Basra; the group subsequently proceeds to Tehran, Iran, where headquarters is established.

INDIA: New Delhi: The fall of Moulmein in Burma, today threaten the major port of Rangoon which handles arms and supplies flowing along the Burma Road to Chiang Kai-shek's armies in China. The Japanese assigned the task to their 15th Army which on 8 December entered Bangkok, in Thailand, and set about the task of seizing British airfield in southern Burma in preparation for air attacks on Rangoon.

One airfield fell to Japan, and Rangoon itself was attacked continually from 23 December. Allied fighter squadrons - British and American - forced the Japanese to carry put their bombing missions by night. Moulmein fell when the defenders were ordered to withdraw in river boats.

The Moulmein garrison withdraws across the Salween River to Martaban. The 48th Brigade of the Indian 19th Division arrives in Rangoon and is held in reserve. Another brief lull ensues in ground action as the Japanese prepare for further attacks, infiltrating across the Salween and bombing and shelling Martaban.

MALAYA: Allied defence forces complete their withdrawal to Singapore Island at 0800 hours and blows the causeway. There are 85,000 men from 38 battalions, 13 British, six Australian, 17 Indian, and two Malay, on the island; The Japanese are attacking with less than 40,000 men. For defence purposes, Singapore is divided into three sectors. The Indian 3 Corps, under command of Lieutenant General Sir Lewis Macclesfield Heath, consisting of the Indian 11th and British 18th Divisions and corps troops, is responsible for the North Area. The South Area, which includes Singapore town, is the responsibility of Major General F. Keith Simmons, commander of Singapore Fortress troops, who has under his command in addition to fixed defences, the 1st and 2d Malayan Brigades and Strait Settlements Volunteer Force. The West Area, under command of Lieutenant General Henry Bennett, General Officer Commanding Australian Imperial Force Malaya, is manned by Australians and the Indian 44th Brigade, with attachments. Activity from this time until the Japanese invasion is confined to artillery exchanges, air attacks, and patrolling. The chief targets for Japanese aircraft are the docks and Kalang Airdrome.

SINGAPORE: Now that the remaining British and Imperial troops have withdrawn across the causeway to Singapore all eyes are on this island.

In the past 20 years the naval base at Singapore has been the epicentre of British military power in the Far East. But the errors that pre-war planners made in believing that Singapore could only be attacked from the sea, have come home to roost now that Malaya is in Japanese hands. The great guns which were supposed to have made Singapore impregnable all face south to the open sea - but the Japanese are approaching from the north with only a narrow strait separating them from the island.

The question now is: should Singapore be held or abandoned to its fate? General Wavell recently appointed overall Allied commander in the region, has advised that the island cannot be defended for any length of time. However, Churchill has ordered that Singapore be held at all costs: not only would surrender betray the local people but, if Singapore falls, there is no hope for the Dutch East Indies.

A triumphant Japanese army, buoyed by the success of its Malayan campaign, is poised to deliver the final blow to this "City of the Lion". A crushing defeat in Johore State forced Lieutenant-General Percival to withdraw all his forces from the coastal strip across the narrow strait from the beleaguered island. A British rearguard crossed into Singapore this morning after a gap was blown in the causeway linking the island with the mainland. British and Indian Army forces outnumber the invaders, but they are handicapped by Japanese supremacy in the air and in the sea.

None the less General Wavell, the overall Allied commander is under strong political pressure to stand firm - from not only Churchill but also the Australian prime minister, John Curtin, who says that the evacuation of Singapore would be an "inexcusable betrayal."

NETHERLANDS East Indies: Moluccas: On Ambon Island 20,000 Japanese troops attack Laha late in the afternoon; they are repulsed by an outnumbered platoon of Australians on the northeast of the airfield. Eventually the Japanese do overcome the Australian garrison defending Amboina.

BORNEO: The Japanese continue their conquest of Borneo; they occupy the town of Ngabang, and a battalion size unit with ca. 400 men lands in Adang Bay (Teluk Adang) without opposition before daybreak..

COMMONWEALTH OF THE PHILIPPINES: On Bataan, the Japanese begin an attack on II Corps in the evening after air and artillery preparation but are halted by corps fire. A Japanese regiment concealed in the bridgehead across the Pilar River begins withdrawing under cover of darkness. The I Corps continues the battle against enemy pockets in sectors of 1st and 11th Divisions, Philippine Army; the pockets are now cut off from supply. In the South Sector, operations against the enemy beachhead at Quinauan Point continue with little change in positions. Japanese reinforcements are ordered to the area. The U.S. 192d Tank Battalion (less one company) is sent to the west coast to help reduce the Quinauan Point beachhead.

NEW ZEALAND: New Zealand continues to dig in for war by introducing air-raid shelter regulations, and inviting women to join the Emergency Precaution Service as fire-watchers. All men must register for the Emergency Defence Corps.

PACIFIC: The destroyer USS Helm (DD-388) evacuates civilian radio operators and weather observers from Howland and Baker Islands; she is bombed by a Japanese reconnaissance flying boat off Baker, but is not damaged.

The United States Pacific fleet severely attacked Japanese positions in the Marshall and Gilbert Islands, destroying numerous Japanese ships, planes, and, shore establishments.

TERRITORY OF HAWAII: Task Force Eleven (TF 11) (Vice Admiral Wilson Brown Jr.), formed around the aircraft carrier USS Lexington (CV-2), departs Pearl Harbor to cover the retirement of TF 8 (Vice Admiral William F. Halsey, Jr.) and TF 17 (Rear Admiral Frank Jack Fletcher) from the Marshall and Gilbert Islands.

Minesweeper HMCS Caraquet laid down North Vancouver, British Columbia.

Minesweeper HMCS Winnipeg laid down Port Arthur, Ontario.

Corvette HMCS New Westminster commissioned.

U.S.A.: In preparation for a bombing raid on Japan, Captain Donald B. Duncan, USN, flies to Norfolk, Virginia to make arrangements with Captain Marc A. Mitscher, USN, skipper of the USS Hornet (CV-8), to prepare to have three B-25 Mitchell medium bombers hoisted aboard on the next day for trial takeoffs. (107)

Lieutenant General Joseph Stilwell, in a memo to General George C. Marshall, Chief of Staff U.S. Army, estimates his needs for China assignment and requests that his staff and any forces that may join it be called a task force. The War Department subsequently approves designation of Stilwell's forces as U.S. Task Force in China.
Major General Ira C Eaker is designated Commanding General, Bomber Command, U.S. Army Forces in British Isles (USAFBI) and ordered to proceed to the UK.

The last pre-war automobiles produced by Chrysler, Plymouth, and Studebaker roll off the assembly lines today.

ATLANTIC OCEAN: While escorting Canadian troop convoy NA2 from St, John's, Newfoundland, RN destroyer Belmont is torpedoed by U-81 and sinks with the loss of her entire ship's company of Halifax, Nova Scotia at 42 02N, 57 18W. USS Satterlee (DD-190), was commissioned as HMS Belmont (H-46) on 8 Oct. 1940, as part of the bases-for-destroyers deal. (Ron Babuka and Alex Gordon)(108)

Banff class escort sloop HMS CULVER (ex USCGC MENDOTA) is torpedoed and sunk while escorting convoy SL.98, ex-USCG cutter CULVER is sunk by U-105 southwest of Ireland at 48 43N, 20 14W. (Ric Pelvin and Jack McKillop and Alex Gordon (108) )

At 2331, U-125 fired a salvo of four torpedoes at the convoy SL-98 and observed two hits and a large explosion. Schuch thought that he had hit an ammunition freighter, but in fact it was the HMS Culver (Y 87) (Cdr Gordon-Duff) that had blown up with the loss of the commander, seven officers and 118 ratings.

Two British merchant tankers are torpedoed and sunk by German submarines: the first by U-107 about 590 miles southeast of New York City and the second by U-109 about 320 miles southeast of Atlantic City, New Jersey.

Motor tanker San Arcadio sunk by U-107 at 38.10N, 63.50W - Grid CB 5478

German blockade-runner MS Spreewald accidentally sunk by U-333 at 45N, 25W - Grid BE 7142. Spreewald was disguised as the Norwegian ship Elg and was in the area ahead of schedule by mistake.