WW2 Chronology 1941
JANUARY 1942.

Jan 1 . TF-17 (RAdm Fletcher) formed on Yorktown (CV-5) newly returned from the Atlantic.
Jan 2 . Japanese occupy Manila and Cavite naval base.
Jan 2 . The first organized lighter-than-air units (blimps) of World War II were established at NAS Lakehurst.
Jan 3 . 26 countries at war with Axis disclose "declaration of United Nations".
Jan 4 . USAAF B-17s bomb Japanese warships in Malalag Bay, Davao, P.I., and damage heavy cruisers Myoko and Nachi.
Jan 5 . Japanese troops land on the west coast of Malaya.
Jan    . Lexington (CV-2, TF 11, VAdm Brown) patrols Oahu-Johnston-Palmyra triangle.
Jan 6 . Yorktown (CV-5) sails from San Diego to escort Second Marine Brigade to American Samoa.
Jan 6 . Planes from Truk attack Rabaul in the Bismarcks.
Jan 7 . Battle of Moscow ends with Soviet victory.
Jan 8 . Seaplane from Japanese submarine I-19 reconnoiters Pearl Harbor.
Jan 9 . Japanese capture Kuala Lumpur, Malaya.
Jan 10. Operation Paukenschlag sends 5 U-boats to U.S. coast; will sink 26 ships in the next month.
Jan 10. Dutch submarine O-19 torpedoes and sinks Japanese army cargo ship Akita Maru.
Jan 11. Japan declares war on the Netherlands; invasion of Netherlands East Indies begins as Japanese Army and naval force land at Tarakan. Eastern Force makes airborne assault on Menado with Special Landing Force going ashore at Menado and Kema, Celebes. These operations will secure control of the northern approaches to the Java Sea.
Jan 11. German destroyers lay minefields off Newcastle and Cromer which sink four ships.
Jan 11. U.S. Army transport Liberty Glo from Australia to Philippines is torpedoed by Japanese submarine I-166 off Palawan.
Jan 11. Naval Station Pago Pago, Samoa, is shelled by Japanese submarine.
Jan 11. Enterprise (CV-6, TF 8, VAdm Halsey) departs Pearl to join escort of Marines to Samoa.
Jan 12. Saratoga (CV-3, TF 11, VAdm VAdm Leary) torpedoed 500 miles SE Hawaii by Japanese submarine I-6.. She is able to return to Pearl and is sent to West Coast for repairs until June 1.
Jan 12. Captives shipped from Wake Island to Japan; 5 beheaded to assure good behavior.
Jan 13. War Production Board replaces Supply Priorities Board.
Jan 14. Japanese Army warns taking of ten hostages for each attack on a soldier.
Jan 14. Tanker Norness is torpedoed and sunk by German submarine U-123; start of second 'Happy Time'.
Jan 15. ABDA (American, British, Dutch and Australian) force formed in Western Pacific. (Destroyed by Mar 1.)
Jan 16. Senator Truman notes only 25% production warplanes are the equal of the best foreign combat planes.
Jan 16. Japanese invade Burma from Thailand.
Jan 16. Three Japanese submarines mine Darwin, Australia.
Jan 17. Japanese sub I-60 is sunk by British destroyer HMS Jupiter off Java.
Jan 17. British Home Fleet was ordered to sea for possible break-out by German naval units into Atlantic.
Jan 18. Germany, Italy, and Japan sign new military pact in Berlin.
Jan 18. Four ships torpedoed by U-boats from Newfoundland to North Carolina.
Jan 19. City of Atlanta and Lady Hawkins torpedoed and sunk by German submarine off South Carolina.
Jan 19. Japanese forces invaded Burma.
Jan 20. Marines arrive Pago Pago covered by Enterprise  and Yorktown.
Jan 21. Enterprise and Yorktown task forces set course for the Japanese-held Marshalls and Gilberts.
Jan 22. Lexington departs to raid Wake Island.
Jan 23. Neches (AO-5), fleet oiler, torpedoed and sunk. Lexington has to cancel raid on Wake Island.
Jan 23. Japanese take Rabaul, good harbor, becomes major Japanese base. Also land at Bougainville.
Jan 24. Battle of Makassar Strait off Balikpapan, Borneo, sinks four Japanese transports without loss.
Jan 24. Japanese land at Kendari, Celebes; Kavieng, New Ireland; and Subic Bay, P.I.
Jan 25. Thailand declares war on the United Kingdom and United States.
Jan 26. First U.S. Army troops land at Northern Ireland escorted by Texas (BB-35), Wasp (CV-7).
Jan 27. Australians warn that New Caledonia could be captured before US troopships, then underway, arrive.
Jan 27. Submarine Gudgeon (SS-211) sinks Japanese submarine I-73.
Jan 28. Conference, all Latin American nations, except Argentina and Chile, sever ties with Germany, Italy, and Japan.
Jan 29. Inter-island army transport, General Royal T. Frank sunk with all hands by I-71, 2-miles W of Maui.
Jan 29. Five-inch projectiles containing radio-proximity fuzes were test fired with 52% satisfactorily.
Jan 30. Lexington sent to south to cover return of Enterprise and Yorktown from the attack on the Gilbert and the Marshall Islands.
Jan 30. Wakefield (AP-21) and West Point (AP-23) bombed at Singapore, load refugees and escape. See rest of story
Jan 31. Civilians evacuated from Howland and Baker Islands.
Jan Summary: 57 Allied and neutral ships of 143,000 tons sunk. < Dec 41     < First Days     Chronical     Feb 42 > 1942 -- Jan , Feb , March , April , May , June , July , Aug , Sep , Oct , Nov , Dec