This day in the war in Europe 65 years ago

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EGYPT: A flag of truce waving from the Italian positions around Halfaya Pass (Hellfire Pass) has for a moment brought a flash of chivalry and mercy into this ruthless war of tanks and bombs and bayonets. The white flag have immunity to an Italian medical officer bringing out five wounded Allied airmen so that they could receive attention from the South Africans besieging the position. He passes unmolested through the lines - lines from which only a few minutes before men had been sniping and shelling, aiming only to kill - and explained that the besieged Italians had no medical supplies with which to treat the wounded. It was therefore, he said only humane that the airmen - crew of a British bomber that had crashed in the Italian lines - should be brought out to their friends. Then the Italian officer is sent back under a safe conduct with a large supply of surgical dressings for his own wounded.

The interesting question here-- just what were those Italians doing at Halfaya (Hellfir") Pass on 8 January 1942? The Axis forces had retreated from the Tobruk area (itself a good ways west of Halfaya) a month earlier, on 8 December, after losing the "Crusader" battle, and were now almost 500 miles (805 kilometers) to the west! The answer: a primarily-Italian garrison, built around the 55th Division Savona and under the orders of that division's commander, Lieutenant General Fedele De Giorgis, is still holding on despite being completely surrounded, badly outnumbered, 500 miles (805 kilometers) in the British rear, and (as seen by the situation with medical supplies cited below) running out of every essential. A sort of advanced outpost position to begin with (protecting the coastal route through the pass but easily outflanked by movement through the desert, which was exactly how the British began the "Crusader" offensive), they had been left behind but refused to surrender. The Italians tried to run some supplies into them using submarines (on one such run the sub in question was attacked by German Stukas as it surfaced near Sollum), but could only bring in a meager amount in that fashion.

FRANCE: During the night of 8/9 January, RAF Bomber Command dispatches
151 aircraft to bomb German warships and the port area at Brest; 69 aircraft attack the warships and 49 hit the port area. In a second raid, 11 of 31 aircraft attack the port area at Cherbourg.

IRAQ: In Baghdad, a court sentences Rashid Ali, who led an anti-British
coup last year, to death in absentia.

LIBYA: Axis forces retreat from El Agheila to Agedabia.
Pilots of No. 3 Squadron RAAF flying (P-40) Kittyhawks attack 35 Italian aircraft and eight Luftwaffe Bf 109s that are preparing to attack advancing British forces southeast of Agedabia. The Aussies claim seven aircraft destroyed and four probably destroyed vs. one Kittyhawk lost.

UNITED KINGDOM: U.S. Major General James E Chaney is designated
Commanding General US Army Forces in British Isles (USAFBI); he
continues as the Chief, Special Observer Group, US Army (SPOBS).

UNITED STATES:
Congress establishes the Office of Civilian Defense (OCD) which will be headed by New York City Mayor Fiorello H. LaGuardia.
The Federal Government orders the distillery industry to convert 60 percent of its whiskey-making capacity to ethyl alcohol production, a move that will sharply increase the availability of explosive smokeless powder.

U.S.S.R.: Soviet troops attack Mozhaysk west of Moscow. On the
Northern front, the Soviet Army begins an offensive near Lake Ilmen.

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1942: ATLANTIC: Operation Paukenschlag ("roll of the
kettledrums" ) descends upon the eastern seaboard of the U.S. like a
"bolt from the blue." The first group of five German submarines
takes up station off the east coast of the United States on this date.
Over the next month, these boats (U-66, U-109, U-123, U-125 and U-130)
will sink 26 Allied ships; the presence of the enemy off the eastern seaboard takes U.S. Navy antisubmarine forces by surprise. The first ship, the British freighter SS Cyclops, is sunk by U-123 300 miles (483 kilometers) east of Cape Cod, Massachusetts.

LIBYA: The South African 2d Division of 30 Corps, British Eighth
Army, attacks Sollum, just across the Egyptian border, and captures
it early on 12 January. 13 Corps pursues Rommel's forces toward El
Agheila, a strong natural position.

U.S.: The plan to dispatch the U.S. V Corps, reinforced, and air
and supply forces to Northern Ireland (Operation MAGNET) is approved.

U.S.S.R.: Soviet forces continue to push west ward on central front
and cut the north-south Rzhev-Brvansk railway line.

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GERMANY: Adolf Hitler orders the battle cruisers Gneisenau and
Scharnhorst to sail from Brest, France, to Norway. (Jack McKillop)

LIBYA: Field Marshal Erwin Rommel, General Officer Commanding
Panzer Gruppe Africa, adopts his subordinates' plan to prepare a surprise
counteroffensive against the British. Neither the German nor the
Italian High Command are informed of the plans. As a result,
British codebreakers who are reading top-secret German messages with their
Enigma machine can't warn the unprepared 8th Army.

U.S.: The Combined Chiefs of Staff (CCS) approve U.S. plans to
garrison the islands along the proposed ferry route from Hawaii to
Australia. Local defense forces are to be based at American Samoa,
Bora Bora, Canton Island, Christmas Island, the Fiji Islands and
Palmyra Island. The CCS also approves the deployment of a USAAF
fighter squadron to New Caledonia Island in the New Hebrides
Islands. (Jack McKillop)

WAR AT SEA: U-374 (Type VIIC) is sunk in the western
Mediterranean east of Cape Spartivento, in position 37.50N, 16.00E, by torpedoes from the British submarine HMS Unbeaten. 43 dead, but 1 survivor
taken into captivity.

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1942: ATLANTIC: Despite opposition, Admiral Karl Donitz, Flag Officer U-Boats, begins Operation "Drum Roll" (Paukenschlag) , the use of U-boats in the waters off the eastern coast of North America.
The submariners are surprised to find peacetime conditions on the U.S. coast, with lighthouses and marker buoys still lit. In addition there is no radio silence and positions of merchant ships are frequently given away in radio communications. These conditions and the inexperience of the USN escort vessels lead to a loss of 150,000 tons
in the first month of the operation.
The fact that "Drum Roll" could not begin until some weeks after the German declaration of war on the US indicates how unprepared the Navy was for this sudden development.

U.K.: Representatives of nine German-occupied countries meet in London to declare that all those found guilty of war crimes would be punished after the war ended. Among the signatories to the declaration were Polish General Wladyslaw Sikorski and French General Charles de Gaulle. The core of the declaration was the promise of "the punishment, through the channels of organized justice, of
those guilty of, or responsible for, these crimes, whether they have ordered them, perpetrated them, or participated in them." increased the resolve and solidarity among the Allies to defeat the Axis.

U.S.: The Combined Chiefs of Staff attending the ARCADIA conference in Washington, D.C., agree to move USAAF units and contingents to bases in the U.K. as soon as possible.
The Ford Motor Company patents a plastic-bodied automobile which was 30 percent lighter than ordinary cars. Plastic, a relatively new material in 1942, was revolutionizing industry after industry in the United States.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt establishes the U.S. War
Production Board, with business executive Donald M. Nelson as its chairman. The War Production Board, created to establish order out of the chaos of meeting extraordinary wartime demands and needs, replaced the Supply Priorities and Allocations Board. As chairman, Nelson oversaw the largest war production in history, often clashing with civilian factories over the most efficient means of converting to wartime use and butting heads with the armed forces over priorities. Despite early success, Nelson made a major judgement error in June 1944, on the eve of the Normandy invasion, when he allowed certain plants that had reached the end of their government/military production contracts to reconvert to civilian use. The
military knew the war was far from over and feared a sudden shortage of vital supplies. A political battle ensued, and Nelson was eased out of his office and reassigned by the President to be his personal representative to Chiang Kai-shek in China.
Nineteen West Coast shipyards adopt around-the-clock, seven-day-a-week work schedules.

U.S.S.R. : The Soviet Army has driven deep a salient between the German 2d Panzer and 4th Armies on the central front southwest of Kaluga; the salient deepens with the capture of Kirov.

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U.S.S.R.: Following their seizure of Kirov yesterday, Soviet forces recapture Medya, on the central front northwest of Kaluga, driving a wedge between two Panzer divisions.

MALTA: Malta receives 14 air raid alerts in 19 hours today. A total of 262 air raids are sounded in Malta this month.

U.S.A.: New York: Banner headlines in this evening's newspapers have sent tremors all around the island of Manhattan. The news of the torpedoing of the Panamanian tanker NORNESS just 100 miles from the piers where liners berth has brought home the realities of war to New Yorkers. The SS NORNESS falls victim to U-123, 73 miles south-
southwest of Nanucket Island, Massachusetts.
Only two days ago the British merchant ship CYCLOPS was sunk 300 miles off the eastern seaboard. These two attacks are the first signs of what Admiral Dönitz called the Paukenschlag - roll of drums - to mark America's entry in the war. Dönitz has sent his finest long-range U-boats into the Atlantic to prey on America's coastline. They lie on the seabed by day, and surface at night to pick off ships silhouetted against the bright lights on America's coast.
With orders to "sink as much shipping as possible in the most economical manner". U-boat commanders are relishing the prospect of a second "happy time". The first "happy time" began in 1940 when the U-boats enjoyed a rich crop of sinkings in British home waters.

The Anglo-American ARCADIA Conference, held in Washington, DC starting on 20 December 1941, developed plans for the proposed Anglo- American offensive against Germany. Participants include President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Prime Minister Winston S. Churchill and their
military staffs. Among the major decisions reached are:
(1) an agreement to establish Combined Chiefs of Staff to direct the British-American war effort;
(2) the main effort must be made first against Germany;
(3) occupation of French North Africa (Operation GYMNAST) is of strategic importance in Atlantic area.
As discussions are begun in Washington to consider who shall go to China instead of Lieutenant General Hugh A. Drum, General George C. Marshall, Chief of Staff U.S. Army, proposes Major General Joseph W. Stilwell, who is being considered for command of Operation GYMNAST.
President Roosevelt orders all aliens in the United States to
register with the government. The brunt of these orders later will fall on Japanese-Americans on the West Coast.

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ATLANTIC OCEAN: While tracking Convoy HG 78 (Gibraltar to the U.K.),
German submarine U-93 is sunk about 219 nautical miles (406
kilometers) north-northeast of the Madeira Islands by the British destroyer HMS Hesperus (H57), a convoy escort; 40 of the 46 crewmen survive.
German submarine U-123 sinks its third ship during Operation
DRUMBEAT, a 6,768 ton British tanker about 88 nautical miles (163
kilometers) south-southeast of Providence, Rhode Island, U.S.A., in
position 40.25N, 70.50W.

ATLANTIC OCEAN: While tracking Convoy HG 78 (Gibraltar to the U.K.),
German submarine U-93 is sunk about 219 nautical miles (406 kilometers) north-northeast of the Madeira Islands by the British destroyer HMS
Hesperus (H57), a convoy escort; 40 of the 46 crewmen survive.

BRAZIL: Representatives from 21 American republics meet in Rio de
Janeiro for an Inter-American Conference to unite the American
republics to coordinate policies in the defense of the Western Hemisphere. The delegates unanimously adopt a resolution which calls for all of the
American states to sever diplomatic relations with the Axis powers. All of
the governments involved at the conference, with the exceptions of
Argentina and Chile, break off relations with the Axis states. The conference
ends on 28 January.

GERMANY: During the night of 15/16 January, RAF Bomber Command
aircraft attack three cities:
- 96 bombers are dispatched to bomb Hamburg; 60 aircraft bomb with
the loss of five bombers. Hamburg reports 36 fires, three large, three
people killed and 25 injured, but no major incidents.
- 60 aircraft are sent to bomb Emden; 42 aircraft bomb the target
with the loss of two bombers. Bomber aircrews claim many fires.
- One aircraft bombs Kiel.

MEDITERRANEAN SEA: German submarine U-577 is sunk about 56 nautical
miles (103 kilometers) northeast of Tobruk, Libya, by depth charges
from a British Navy Swordfish Mk. I, aircraft "G" of No. 815 Squadron based
at Landing Ground 75, Maaten Bagush, Egypt; all 43 crewmen are lost.


NETHERLANDS: RAF Bomber Command sends five Blenheims and four
Wellingtons to bomb airfields: three aircraft bomb Schipol Airfield,
with the loss of one aircraft, and two each bomb Soesterberg and Texel
Airfields.

UNITED KINGDOM: An agreement is signed in London between Greece and
Yugoslavia for the constitution of a Balkan Union. (The Balkan Pact,
signed in February 1934 by Greece, Romania, Turkey and the Kingdom
of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. The Pact which consisted of 39 articles
promoting the principles of friendship and non-aggression, mutual assistance
and defense of common security and the protection of the rights of
minorities.)

UNITED STATES: In Washington, Secretary of War Henry Stimson says
nearly 2 million men will be inducted into the military this year. By years end it will have 3.6 million men under arms.

The State Department issues a memorandum outlining its position with respect to French sovereignty over bases the United States intends to build in French Oceania.

In baseball, President Franklin D. Roosevelt gives baseball the
go-ahead to play despite the war. In his famous "green light" letter, the President says, "I honestly think it would be best for the country
to keep baseball going." He encourages more night baseball so that war
workers may attend. Ironically, the Chicago Cubs, who had signed
contracts to install lights at Wrigley Field, drop their plans because of the
military need for the material. There will be no lights at Wrigley for 35 more years.

The first "blackout" Cadillacs are completed by General Motors.
Due to restrictions on materials necessary for the war effort, these cars have painted trim rather than chrome. They also lack spare tires and other luxuries.

U.S.S.R.: Army Group Center (Field Marshal Günther Hans von Kluge)
evacuates the Kaluga sector and takes up winter positions 20 miles
(32 kilometers) further west.

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ATLANTIC: U-248 (Type VIIC) Sunk in the North Atlantic in
position 47.43N, 26.37W, by depth charges from the US destroyer
escorts USS Hayter, Otter, Varian and Hubbard. 47 dead (all crew lost).

SYRIA: The HQ of the Australian 9th Division is established at
Tripoli.

U.S.S.R.: The Soviet government publishes the contents of a document found at Klin, northwest of Moscow, and signed by deceased Field
Marshal von Reichenau. It was prepared during his command of the German
6th Army, earlier in the campaign, and instructs German troops to be
"merciless" with the civil population.
German units take Theodosia in the Crimea and capture 10,000
Soviet troops. Adolf Hitler has ordered the Wehrmacht to wipe out a
Russian force in the eastern Crimea, then overwhelm Sevastopol in western
Crimea, home port of the Soviets' Black Sea Fleet.

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Africa: The Italian positions around Hellfire Pass surrender. They
have been besieged by a South Africans unit. The Italian a garrison
unit, built around the Savona Division and under the orders of that
division's commander, General De Giorgis, is still holding on despite being
completely surrounded, badly outnumbered, 500 miles in the British
rear. This unit has held this position since being bypassed during
Operation Crusader on December 8, 1941.The Italians have tried to
maintain the position by using submarines.

U.S.S.R.: Field Marshal Walter von Reichenau, Commander in Chief
Army Group South, dies of a stroke while returning to Germany.

ARCTIC OCEAN: Convoy PQ-8, en route from Iceland to Archangel,
U.S.S.R., is attacked by German submarines; the first such attack on
an Arctic convoy. German submarine U-454 sinks the destroyer HMS Matabele and a merchant ship.

EGYPT: 30 Corps, British Eighth Army, receives the surrender of the
Halfaya garrison and takes 5500 German and Italian prisoners. The
1st Free French Brigade Group was to have participated in the attack on
Halfaya, had the garrison not surrendered.

LIBYA: With the destruction of the Axis forces in East Cyrenaica
and reopening of communication line from there into Egypt, the first
phase of Libyan campaign is successfully concluded. In West Cyrenaica,
British 13 Corps reconnoiters the Germans El Agheila position.
Destroyer HMS Gurkha is torpedoed and sunk by U-133, North of
Bardia at 31 50N 26 14E. There are 9 casualties, with survivors
being taken off by Dutch destroyer Isaac Sweers which towed the wreck clear of the burning oil field.

SOUTH AFRICA: South African Nationalists push a motion in Parliament
to make the nation a republic disassociated from Britain, that would
declare neutrality. The Parliament rejects the Afrikaners' motion.

USSR: U-Boats begin an attack on Murmansk bound convoy PQ-8.
Naval escort, Tribal class destroyer, HMS Matabele is torpedoed and
sunk by U-454 in the Barents Sea at 69 21N 35 34E. There are only 3
survivors, as the destroyer explodes when hit a second time a few hours later.

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1942: Paris: A Fireman called Kremer is severely wounded by a revolver fired by a resistant in Port Maillot.

Germany: German civilians are to get a taste of the fare being eaten by their soldiers at the front - in the form of "field-kitchen meals" to be served in all German restaurants on Mondays and Thursdays.
Customers who bring meat, fat or bread vouchers are entitled to change them for the "voucher-free meal of the day" which usually consists of soup of boiled vegetables. Neither meal - "served from the same pot as their soldiers" - appears to be winning popular approval. They tend to lack the calorie-rich foods like potatoes, peas or noodles, and there is precious little meat in them.

U.S.S.R.: The Soviet Army encircles several German divisions at Demjansk near Lake Ilmen. In the Crimea, German troops of Army Group B recapture Feodosia and seal off the Soviet bridgehead at Kerch.

Palestine: Haifa: Burma's prime minister, U Saw, was arrested here today when his plane touched down while he was returning to Burma from talks with British representatives. He had been trying unsuccessfully to
secure a British promise of Burmese independence in return for supporting the war effort. The nationalist U Maung Saw is unpopular with the British authorities, who see him as a demagogue of suspect loyalty.
This suspicion now seems justified, because he contacted Japan's legation in Lisbon on his return flight. He was unaware that Britain had broken Japanese codes and knew of these overtures.

ATLANTIC: German submarines attack three unarmed U.S. merchant ships off the east coast of North America:
(1) a freighter is torpedoed and sunk by U-552 off St. John's, Newfoundland; there are no survivors from the 28-man crew;
(2) a tanker is torpedoed and sunk by U-66 about 50
miles (80 kilometers) east of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina; there are 13 survivors from the 35-man crew
(3) a tanker is shelled and damaged by U-123 off Oregon Inlet, North Carolina; although the tanker is torpedoed by U-123 upon the U-boat's return and damaged further, the holed tanker reaches Hampton Roads, Virginia, safely the next day; one man perishes in the shelling and four drown when the ship is abandoned after she is torpedoed.

FRANCE: One of the greatest race horses of his time, Epinard, was stolen during the German occupation of France. On this day, newspaper accounts disclosed that the famous equine was being used as a delivery wagon horse.

GERMANY: Germany, Italy, and Japan sign a new military pact in Berlin.

U.S.: The first increment (1,400 men) of US forces to be sent to the United Kingdom sails for Northern Ireland.
In baseball, New York Yankees center fielder Joe DiMaggio is named 1941's Player of the Year.

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ATLANTIC: In attacks against unescorted coastal shipping, German
submarines sink two unarmed merchant ships off the East Coast of the
U.S..
(1) A U.S. steamship is torpedoed and sunk by U-123 32.5 miles (52
kilometers) northeast of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, in position
35.42N, 75.21W
(2) a Canadian steamer is sunk 192 miles (309 kilometers) east of Cape Hatteras in position 35.00N, 72.30W.

USSR: The Red Army recaptures Mozhaisk, 100km west of Moscow.

Germany: Directors of German armament firms were told today that
they must increase production by 10% this year. The message was delivered
by Robert Ley, the leader of the German Work Front. Increasing number
of foreign workers, as well as PoWs, will be forced to work in German
factories during the course of the year. Armaments remain the main
priority and the Nazi authorities intend to offer productivity bonuses in the
form of tobacco or brandy for armament workers. Improved conditions
for working mothers are also promised, but there is a sterner side to
the productivity drive, too: the workforce is also to be motivated by
the threat of various punishments for "slackness", including transfers
to concentration camps. Reports by the Security Service of the SS speak
of "idleness" and "insubordination" towards superiors. Certainly Germans do
not like the longer working hours - the average working week is up from
47 to 49.2 hours this year.

MIDDLE EAST: General Claude E. Auchinleck, General Officer
Commanding Middle East Command. issues operations instructions to Commander, British Troops in Egypt (BTE), and Commander, Eighth Army, restating that the objective in Libya is Tripoli and outlining a plan for a defensive stand in the event the Libyan offensive cannot be continued.

U.S.S.R.: Heavy fighting continues on the southern front; the
Germans in the Crimea recapture Feodosia. Soviet paratroopers are landed
south of Smolensk to help organize partisan action in the German rear.

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GERMANY: At what will become known as the Wannsee Conference, Heydrich presents plans to the leaders of Germany for the "Final Solution".
While Hitler was not present, it is commonly assumed that he knew of the conference and the "Final Solution".
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, 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.

U.S.: 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.

U.S.S.R.: Mozhaisk, about 60 miles (97 kilometers) west of Moscow, falls to Soviet forces.

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LIBYA: Rommel's Axis forces, with strong air support, go on the offensive in West Cyrenaica, pushing rapidly eastward in three columns astride the main road; the British are taken completely by surprise.
The British Eighth Army's 13 Corps commander orders a withdrawal to the line Agedabra-El Haseiat at once and a further retreat if necessary; he also orders the Indian 4th Division to check the coastal advance toward Benghazi.

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ATLANTIC: The unarmed U.S. freighter SS Norvana is torpedoed and
sunk by German submarine U-123 south of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina.
There are no survivors, and pieces of wreckage from the ship when she
explodes hit her attacker.

GERMANY: RAF bombers attack Munster.

LIBYA: Continuing swiftly eastward, Axis forces occupy Agedabia.

AFRICA: The Afrika Corps formally becomes the Panzer Army Africa.

U.S.S.R.: In Leningrad, the mass evacuation of civilians begins via
the "ice road" across Lake Ladoga. (About 440,000 people are
transported out of Leningrad between 22 January and 15 April 1942.) Meanwhile, Soviet forces recapture Uvarovo, 20 miles (32 kilometers) west of
Mozhaisk.

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LIBYA: Speeding eastward again, the forces of General Erwin Rommel,
General Officer Commanding Panzer Army Africa, capture Msus. The
weakened British 1st Armoured Division of 13 Corps, Eighth Army, is ordered
to fall back on Mechili, leaving a detachment to protect the withdrawal
of the Indian 4th Division from Benghazi and Barce. General Claude
Auchinleck, Commander in Chief Middle East Command, visits Eighth
Army HQ, where he remains until 1 February. General Neal Ritchie, General
Officer Commanding Eighth Army, revokes the order for a general withdrawal
of 13 Corps and orders the Indian 4th Division, over which he takes direct
control, and the British 1st Armoured Division to counterattack in
the Msus area.

URUGUAY: The government breaks diplomatic relations with Germany,
Italy and Japan.

U.S.: The German submarine U-125 attacks unarmed U.S. tanker SS
Olney, forcing the latter aground off Cape Lookout, North Carolina. Olney
is subsequently removed from her predicament, however, repaired, and
returned to service.

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ATLANTIC: An armed U.S. freighter is torpedoed and sunk by German submarine U-125 off the eastern seaboard. There are no survivors from either the 36-man civilian crew or the 9-man Armed Guard.

GERMANY: The RAF bombs Hanover.

LIBYA: The German advance is stalled by a sandstorm.

NORTHERN IRELAND: U.S. troops of the 133d Infantry, 34th Division,
arrive in Northern Ireland.