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• German submarine U-66 sank British tanker Empire Gem 20 miles off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, United States at 0240 hours. ww2dbase [U-66 | Second Happy Time | CPC]
• German submarine U-106 sank British ship Empire Wildebeeste in the Atlantic Ocean 430 miles southeast of Nova Scotia, Canada at 0653 hours. ww2dbase [U-106 | Second Happy Time | CPC]
• U-333 sank Norwegian ship Ringstad in the Atlantic Ocean off Newfoundland at 1525 hours. ww2dbase [U-333 | Second Happy Time | CPC]

• John Curtin, the Australian Premiere, called for an Australian representative to be appointed to the Imperial War Cabinet, and further proposed the establishment of a Pacific Council for joint consultation between all the Allied countries particularly concerned. ww2dbase [John Curtin | AC]
• Australian Deputy Prime Minister Francis Forde announced in the afternoon that the Japanese had presumably landed at Rabaul, New Britain, Bismarck Islands. ww2dbase [Frank Forde | New Guinea-Papua Campaign, Phase 1, Bismarck Islands | CPC]

• Thomas McBride Price led the second Australian attempt at attacking Rabaul, New Britain (the first having been abandoned on the previous day due to weather); clouds over Rabaul obscured both the attackers (5 Catalina aircraft) as well as the defenders, thus the only damage caused was minor friendly fire incidents on the Japanese side. ww2dbase [New Guinea-Papua Campaign, Phase 1, Bismarck Islands | Rabaul, New Britain | CPC]

• Japanese aircraft attacked Rangoon, Burma for the second day in a row. From the Thai-Burmese border, Japanese troops marched in multiple columns toward Moulmein, Burma, looking to capture the nearby airfield. ww2dbase [Invasion of Burma | Rangoon | CPC]

• During the night, American warships screened the withdrawal of US and Dutch warships after those ships had successfully attacked a Japanese convoy off Balikpapan, Borneo, Dutch East Indies. Japanese aircraft responded, damaging USS Houston and USS Marblehead, wounding 70 servicemen; the Japanese lost four aircraft. The Japanese pilots inaccurately reported 3 cruisers sunk. ww2dbase [Houston | Dutch East Indies Campaign, Java | Marblehead | Makassar Strait | CPC]
• Japanese Sasebo Special Naval Landing Force captured Kendari, Celebes, Dutch East Indies, overcoming the 400 Dutch defenders at the airfield. ww2dbase [Dutch East Indies Campaign, Celebes and Moluccas | Kendari, Celebes | CPC]
• Destroyer Yukikaze escorted the Japanese invasion force for Kendari, Celebes, Dutch East Indies. ww2dbase [Yukikaze | CPC]
• USS Swordfish sank Japanese gunboat Myoken Maru off Kendari, Celebes, Dutch East Indies. ww2dbase [Swordfish | Bali Sea | CPC]
• Dutch bombers attacked Japanese troop transports off Dutch Borneo as the ships sailed toward Balikpapan. Dutch submarine K-18 damaged Japanese patrol boat P37 and suffered damage from depth charge counterattacks. After sundown, 5,500 Japanese troops landed unopposed at two sites north and east of Balikpapan. Finally, US destroyers USS Paul Jones, USS Parrot, USS Pope, and USS John D. Ford attacked Japanese transports at Borneo, sinking Kuretake Maru, Sumanoura Maru, and Tatsukami Maru, and further damaging patrol boat P37. ww2dbase [Dutch East Indies Campaign, Borneo | Balikpapan, Dutch Borneo | CPC]
• Dutch submarine K XVIII fired four torpedoes at Japanese cruiser Naka off Borneo, Dutch East Indies, all of which missed; Naka gave pursue to the submarine unsuccessfully. ww2dbase [Naka | Borneo | CPC]
• Nachi provided support for the landings at Kendari, Celebes, Dutch East Indies. ww2dbase [Nachi | Dutch East Indies Campaign, Celebes and Moluccas | Kendari, Celebes | CPC]
• USS S-39 arrived at Surabaya (Soerabaja), Java, Dutch East Indies, ending her second war patrol. ww2dbase [S-39 | Surabaya, Java | CPC]

• Leonardo da Vinci departed Bordeaux, France at 0916 hours and arrived at La Pallice, La Rochelle, France at 1910 hours. ww2dbase [Leonardo da Vinci | Bordeaux, Aquitaine | CPC]
• Radio Paris played La Marseillaise, the French national anthem, as it reported on a conference in Toulon, France led by Minister of Information Paul Marion on national and social revolution. The song was banned in the German occupied zone, but as this use was used in support of a German initiative, the occupation administration turned a blind eye. ww2dbase [CPC]

• Hans-Joachim Marseille departed Berlin, Germany. ww2dbase [Hans-Joachim Marseille | Berlin | CPC]

• USS Astoria arrived at Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii. ww2dbase [Astoria (New Orleans-class) | Pearl Harbor Navy Base and Ford Island Naval Air Station | Honolulu, Oahu | CPC]

• HMS Indomitable refueled near the Cocos Islands in the eastern Indian Ocean. ww2dbase [Indomitable | CPC]

• Submarine chaser USS Sturdy accidentally rammed submarine USS S-26 in the Gulf of Panama in the darkness, killing 46 of the 49 aboard. ww2dbase [S-26 | Gulf of Panama | CPC]

• USS S-44 departed the Panama Canal Zone for a security patrol of the region. ww2dbase [S-44 | CPC]

• The 2nd Battalion of the Japanese 20th Infantry Regiment continued to make landing attempts at Quinauan Point, and Longoskawayan Point, Bataan on Luzon of Philippine Islands, increasing the strength of the small beachhead. After sundown, US and Filipino troops began withdrawing from the Abucay-Mauban defensive line to the new Orion-Bagac defensive line. ww2dbase [Invasion of the Philippine Islands | CPC]

• Germans retook Sukhinichi, near Kaluga, Russia. ww2dbase [Sukhinichi, Kaluga | TH]
• Allied convoy QP-6 departed Murmansk, Russia. ww2dbase [Arctic Convoys | Murmansk | CPC]

• Troop convoy MS2 arrived at Singapore, disembarking an Australian machine gun battalion and 1,900 green conscripts. ww2dbase [Invasion of Malaya and Singapore | Singapore | CPC]

• USS Honolulu entered Mare Island Naval Shipyard in California for general upkeep. ww2dbase [Mare Island Navy Yard | Honolulu | Vallejo, California | DS]

• USS Yorktown, Louisville, and St. Louis departed Pago Pago, Samoa bound for the Marshall and Gilbert Islands. ww2dbase [Yorktown (Yorktown-class) | Louisville | St. Louis | Pago Pago, American Samoa | DS]

24 Jan 1942 Interactive Map