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• Andrew Cunningham was born. ww2dbase [Andrew Cunningham | CPC]

• John Collins was born. ww2dbase [John Collins | CPC]

• Armenak Artem Khanferiants was born in the village of Mets Takhlar in the Elisabethpol Governorate of the Russian Empire. His birth date was also recorded as 25 Dec in the Old Style calendar. ww2dbase [Sergei Khudyakov | Mets Takhlar | CPC]

7 Jan 1902 Interactive Map

• Kasuga was commissioned into Japanese service in Genoa, Italy. ww2dbase [Kasuga | Genoa, Liguria | CPC]

• Vice Admiral Chikataka Tamari was named the chief of staff of the Ryojun Naval District (previously known as Port Arthur; now Lushunkou, Liaoning Province, China), Kwantung Leased Territory in northeastern China. ww2dbase [Ryojun Guard District | Lushunkou, Liaoning | CPC]

7 Jan 1905 Interactive Map

• Betty Gillies was born. ww2dbase [Betty Gillies | CPC]

• Robert Greim was promoted to the rank of Fähnrich. ww2dbase [Robert von Greim | CPC]

• Floating crane Alexandre La Valley became the first self-propelled vessel to transit the Panama Canal. ww2dbase [Panama Canal | CPC]

7 Jan 1914 Interactive Map

• Joseph Stilwell boarded USMS New York at New York, New York, United States. ww2dbase [Joseph Stilwell | New York | CPC]

• Emden was launched at the Reichsmarinewerft shipyard in Wilhelmshaven, Germany. Admiral Hans Zenker gave a speech at her launching, and the ship was christened by the widow of Karl von Müller, who had commanded the original warship by the same name of Emden during WW1. ww2dbase [Kriegsmarinewerft | Emden | Wilhelmshaven | CPC]

7 Jan 1925 Interactive Map

• Ira Eaker completed a 7-day flight aboard "Question Mark", breaking the endurance flight record. He and the entire crew won Distinguished Flying Cross medals for this feat. ww2dbase [Ira Eaker | CPC]

• The United States criticized the Japanese aggression against China. ww2dbase [Battle of Jinzhou | CPC]
• Cruiser Köln began to perform gunnery drills and training operations in the North Atlantic. ww2dbase [Köln | CPC]

• Governor Zhang Jinghui of Harbin, Heilongjiang Province, China, with support from the Japanese declared the secession of Heilongjiang from China to join the puppet state of Manchukuo. ww2dbase [Zhang Jinghui | Harbin, Songjiang | CPC]

• German Chancellor Heinrich Brüning met with Adolf Hitler regarding the upcoming re-election and President Paul von Hindenburg's old age. Brüning attempted to convince Hitler that they should convince the Reichstag to cancel the election and keep Hindenburg in power, but Hitler secretly considered to challenge Hindenburg in the election. ww2dbase [Adolf Hitler | CPC]

• The League of Nations approved the results of the Saar plebiscite, which allowed Saar to be incorporated into German borders. ww2dbase [CPC]
• The prototype Ki-9 trainer aircraft took its first flight. ww2dbase [Ki-9 | CPC]

• Erwin Rommel was briefly without a position in the German Army. ww2dbase [Erwin Rommel | CPC]

• Luo Yingde, flying an I-16 fighter, shot down a Japanese A5M2b fighter over Nanchang, Jiangxi Province, China. ww2dbase [Luo Yingde | Nanchang, Jiangxi | CPC]

• Scharnhorst was commissioned into service. ww2dbase [Scharnhorst | CPC]

• Japanese bombers attacked Chongqing, China during the day. ww2dbase [Bombing of Shanghai, Chongqing, and other Cities | Chongqing | CPC]

• SS-Hauptsturmführer Alexander Piorkowski was named the commandant of Dachau Concentration Camp in southern Germany, replacing Hans Loritz. ww2dbase [Dachau Concentration Camp | Dachau, München-Oberbayern | CPC]

7 Jan 1939 Interactive Map

• Battle of Raate Road ended with the Finnish 9th Division routing the Soviet 44th Division over the past few days. On the same day, General Semyon Timoshenko took command of Soviet Army forces in Finland. ww2dbase [The Winter War | TH]
• Vessels of German First Minesweeper Flotilla sank British submarine HMS Seahorse southeast of Helgoland, Germany. Entire crew of 36 was lost. ww2dbase [CPC]
• At 0940 hours, British submarine HMS Undine spotted three trawlers 20 miles west of Helgoland, Germany and moved in to attack. The trawlers, actually minesweepers, counterattacked, forcing Undine to dive. A depth charge attack caused damage to Undine's hydroplanes, leading to the scuttling. The crew of 27 was later rescued by the German minesweepers. ww2dbase [CPC]
• USS Helena departed Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. ww2dbase [Helena (St. Louis-class) | CPC]

• Capitano Tarantini was launched at the Cantieri navali Tosi di Taranto shipyard in Taranto, Italy. ww2dbase [Capitano Tarantini | Taranto, Puglia | CPC]

• Australian 6th Division and British 4th Armoured Division nearly surrounded Tobruk, Libya after capturing Acroma 10 miles to the west. ww2dbase [Operation Compass | CPC]
• British submarine HMS Rover attacked an Italian convoy off the coast of Libya 25 miles west of Tobruk. Italian torpedo boats Clio and Castore counterattacked, damaging HMS Rover, putting her out of commission for the following 13 months for repairs at Malta. ww2dbase [CPC]
• German torpedo boats Kondor and Wolf laid a minefield off Dover, England, United Kingdom but Wolf sank in a British minefield north of Dunkirk, France on the way home. ww2dbase [CPC]
• Italian submarine Giacomo Nani attacked Allied convoy HX.99 200 miles south of Iceland without success. British corvette HMS Anemone and French corvette La Malouine counterattacked, sinking Nani; all 58 Italian sailors and officers were rescued and taken prisoner. ww2dbase [CPC]

• Chinese Nationalist forces began attacking the surrounded Chinese Communist New Fourth Army troops at Maolin, Anhui Province, China. ww2dbase [New Fourth Army incident | Maolin, Anhui | CPC]

• Admiral Cunningham's Mediterranean Fleet, consisted of battleship HMS Warspite, battlesip HMS Valiant, aircraft carrier HMS Illustrious, and 7 destroyers departed Alexandria, Egypt, to meet the Excess convoy. ww2dbase [Malta Campaign | Warspite | Alexandria | CPC]

• Alpino Bagnolini departed Le Verdon-sur-Mer, Aquitaine, France at 1200 hours and arrived at Pauillac, Aquitaine at 1630 hours. ww2dbase [Alpino Bagnolini | Le Verdon-sur-Mer, Aquitaine | CPC]

• Admiral Somerville's Force H, consisted of battlecruiser HMS Renown, battleship HMS Malaya, aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal, cruiser HMS Sheffield, and 7 destroyers, departed Gibraltar to cover the Excess convoy which left Gibraltar on the previous day. ww2dbase [Malta Campaign | CPC]

7 Jan 1941 Interactive Map

• Japanese troops made probing attacks at the opening of the Bataan peninsula at Luzon, Philippine Islands. Meanwhile, General MacArthur organized his forces into two corps and a rear area service command. ww2dbase [Invasion of the Philippine Islands | TH]
• The Soviet Volkhov Front attempted to force Germans back from Leningrad. ww2dbase [Siege of Leningrad | TH]
• USS Pollack sank Japanese cargo ship Unkai Maru No. 1 off Japan with one of two torpedoes fired; this was the first confirmed sinking by the Submarine Force of the US Navy Pacific Fleet. ww2dbase [Pollack | CPC]
• Franz Halder noted that there was a very brief thought of using chemical weapons against Soviet troops, but discussions never went beyond this idea. ww2dbase [Franz Halder | CPC]
• During a meeting with top German leaders, Adolf Hitler noted his belief that the United States' commercial prowess would not be able to overcome the Axis powers. ww2dbase [Adolf Hitler | CPC]
• US President Franklin Roosevelt submitted a US$29,000,000,000 budget to the US Congress to fund the construction of 60,000 aircraft, 45,000 tanks, and 8,000,000 tons of shipping. ww2dbase [Franklin Roosevelt | CPC]
• Japanese tanks wiped out the Indian 11th Division at Slim River, British Malaya early in the morning; by 0930 hours, both the road and railway bridges were secured by Japanese troops. ww2dbase [Invasion of Malaya and Singapore | CPC]
• Archibald Wavell inspected troops and defenses in Singapore. ww2dbase [Archibald Wavell | CPC]
• A Japanese invasion force departed Davao, Mindanao, Philippine Islands for Tarakan, Dutch Borneo. ww2dbase [Dutch East Indies Campaign, Borneo | CPC]
• ShCh-401 attacked an enemy ship with three torpedoes off Helnes, Norway at 0038 hours; all torpedoes missed. ww2dbase [ShCh-401 | CPC]
• George Brett was promoted to the temporary rank of lieutenant general. ww2dbase [George Brett | CPC]

• 18 Japanese Type 96 G3M bombers were spotted over Tabar en route to Rabaul, New Britain; when they struck Rabaul, they destroyed one Wirraway fighter and one Hudson bomber. ww2dbase [New Guinea-Papua Campaign, Phase 1, Bismarck Islands | Rabaul, New Britain | CPC]

• Naka departed Davao, Mindanao, Philippine Islands. ww2dbase [Naka | Davao | CPC]

• Soviet Army began an offensive near Lake Ilmen in Russia, with the aim of encircling Demyansk. ww2dbase [Rzhev-Vyazma Offensive and the Demyansk Pocket | Demyansk, Leningrad | TH]

• USS S-44 departed Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. ww2dbase [S-44 | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania | CPC]

7 Jan 1942 Interactive Map

• A 3-day German operation in the Lvov ghetto in Ukraine ended with about 10,000 deaths and the disbanding of the Jewish Council. ww2dbase [CPC]
• USS Marlin arrived at Casco Bay, Maine, United States and joined Task Group 27.1. ww2dbase [Marlin | CPC]
• HMS Jura was torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine U-371 in the western Mediterranean Sea. ww2dbase [AC]
• The British assault on Japanese bunkers at Donbaik, Burma on the Bay of Bengal coast was halted with heavy losses. ww2dbase [First Battle of Arakan | CPC]

• USAAF B-17, B-24, B-25, and A-20 bombers, escorted by USAAF P-38 fighters and RAF Catalina flying boats, attacked a Japanese convoy en route to Lae, New Guinea, sinking transport Nichiryu Maru off Gasmata, New Britain. ww2dbase [New Guinea-Papua Campaign, Phase 2 | Gasmata, New Britain | CPC]
• 44 Japanese bombers and 60 fighters took off from Rabaul, New Britain, intending to attack Port Moresby, Australian Papua; the attack was canceled after the aircraft ran into bad weather. ww2dbase [Rabaul, New Britain | CPC]

• I-168 arrived at Truk, Caroline Islands. ww2dbase [I-68/I-168 | Truk | CPC]
• Zuikaku, Mutsu, and Suzuya departed Truk, Caroline Islands, escorted by Yugure, Inazuma, Isonami, Asashio, and Ariake. ww2dbase [Zuikaku | Mutsu | Suzuya | Arashio | Yugure | Truk | CPC]

• British murderer Harry Dobkin is hanged at Wandsworth Prison in London, England, United Kingdom. Dobkin had murdered his wife whose mutilated body he had dumped in a badly damaged Baptist chapel near where he was a fire watcher, in the hope that she would appear to be another unidentified victim of the Blitz. He confessed to his crime after examination of the remains indicated death by strangulation. ww2dbase [London, England | AC]

7 Jan 1943 Interactive Map

• 11 RAF Mosquito aircraft attacked Krefeld and Duisburg in Germany. ww2dbase [Bombing of Hamburg, Dresden, and Other Cities | CPC]
• Captain Yoshimasa Sutezawa was named the commanding officer of Naka. ww2dbase [Naka | CPC]
• USS Gunnel ended her third war patrol. ww2dbase [Gunnel | CPC]
• U-23 completed her thirteenth war patrol. ww2dbase [U-23 | CPC]

• US Navy and US Marine Corps aircraft attacked a Japanese radar site at Cape Saint George, New Ireland. 3 F6F and 4 SBD aircraft were lost on this mission. ww2dbase [New Guinea-Papua Campaign, Phase 3 | Cape Saint George, New Ireland | CPC]

• U-1234 was launched at Deutsche Werft Hamburg, Germany. ww2dbase [Deutsche Werft Hamburg | U-1234 | Hamburg | CPC]
• The USAAF 306th Bomb Group flying from RAF Thurleigh launched a bombing raid against the chemical plant at Ludwigshafen, Germany. ww2dbase [Bombing of Hamburg, Dresden, and Other Cities | RAF Thurleigh | Ludwigshafen | DS]

• Barbers Point Naval Air Station: Planes of Air Group 12 on board. ww2dbase [Barbers Point Naval Air Station | Ewa, Oahu | DS]

• Japanese hospital ship Hikawa Maru arrived at Sasebo, Japan. ww2dbase [Hikawa Maru | Sasebo, Nagasaki | CPC]

• USS Puffer sank a Japanese trawler in the South China Sea with her deck gun. ww2dbase [Puffer | South China Sea | CPC]

• USS Iowa transited the Panama Canal. ww2dbase [Panama Canal | Iowa | CPC]

• Dwight Eisenhower departed Washington DC, United States. ww2dbase [Dwight Eisenhower | Washington | CPC]
• The US Court of Appeals upheld the original 1942 verdict against Fred Korematsu. ww2dbase [Internment of Japanese-Americans and Japanese-Canadians | Fred Korematsu | Washington | CPC]

7 Jan 1944 Interactive Map

• The RaLa Experiment of the Manhattan Project conducted its first test using exploding bridgewire detonators. ww2dbase [Operation Trinity and Manhattan Project | CPC]
• Light cruiser USS Dayton (CL-105) was commissioned with Captain Paul William Steinhagen in command. ww2dbase [AC]
• US ace Major Thomas McGuire (38 victories) was killed in a low level combat with a group of Japanese Zero fighters led by Shiochi Sugita, the third-highest scoring ace of the Japanese Navy Air Force over Los Negros island. It was believed that McGuire failed to release his drop tanks whilst attempting a fast turn which caused his P-38 to stall and spin into the ground in a ball of fire. ww2dbase [P-38 Lightning | AC]
• Masafumi Arima was posthumously promoted to the rank of vice admiral. ww2dbase [Masafumi Arima | CPC]

• Anglo-Indian troops reached the outskirts of Shwebo, Burma. ww2dbase [Battle of Meiktila-Mandalay | Shwebo | CPC]

• The USAAF 306th Bomb Group flying from RAF Thurleigh launched a bombing raid against rail facilities at Euskirchen, Germany. ww2dbase [Bombing of Hamburg, Dresden, and Other Cities | RAF Thurleigh | Euskirchen | DS]

• The German Navy began the first of a series of evacuation convoys between the Gulf of Danzig and the trapped German Army in Latvia. ww2dbase [AC]

• USS Spot sank two small Japanese trawlers with her deck gun in the Yellow Sea. ww2dbase [Spot | Yellow Sea | CPC]
• The Japanese Army SB craft formerly known as Navy landing ship No. 112 was sunk by US aircraft in the South China Sea west of Luzon, Philippine Islands. ww2dbase [No. 101/103-class | South China Sea | CPC]
• Rear Admiral Theodore E. Chandler died aboard USS Louisville from wounds sustained the day before in an aerial special attack against the ship. ww2dbase [Philippines Campaign, Phase 2 | Theodore Chandler | South China Sea | DS]
• While escorting the Lingayen Gulf attack force off Manila, destroyers USS Shaw, Charles Ausburne, Braine, and Russel detected Japanese escort ship Hinoki at night. Following a barrage of gunfire, Hinoki sank with all hands with no damage to the American ships. ww2dbase [Philippines Campaign, Phase 2 | Shaw | South China Sea | DS]
• Gato-class submarine USS Silversides and Tambor-class submarine USS Tautog entered their patrol area covering the approaches to Sasebo and Nagasaki, Japan. ww2dbase [Tautog | Silversides | East China Sea | DS]

• USS Ticonderoga launched Air Group 80 aircraft for strikes on Japanese positions in northern Luzon, Philippine Islands; 4 men and 2 aircraft were lost. ww2dbase [Ticonderoga | DS]
• USS Yorktown (Essex-class) launched planes against airfields on Luzon, Philippines and on anti-shipping strikes. ww2dbase [Philippines Campaign, Phase 2 | Yorktown (Essex-class) | DS]

• Kamoi arrived in Takao, Taiwan after dodging several US submarine attacks during the day. ww2dbase [Kamoi | Takao | CPC]

7 Jan 1945 Interactive Map

• Dudley Morton, lost aboard USS Wahoo off Hokkiado, Japan in Oct 1943, was officially declared deceased. ww2dbase [Dudley Morton | CPC]

• USS Saint Paul departed Shanghai, China. ww2dbase [Saint Paul | Shanghai | CPC]

• Allied repatriation ship Hikawa Maru departed Kirun (now Keelung), Taiwan. ww2dbase [Hikawa Maru | Kirun, Taihoku | CPC]

• Escort carrier USS Card departed Alameda, California bound for Norfolk, Virginia. ww2dbase [Card | Alameda, California | DS]

7 Jan 1946 Interactive Map

• US General George Marshall departed China after failing to secure peace in China. ww2dbase [CPC]
• Colorado was decommissioned from service. ww2dbase [Colorado | CPC]

• Roderick Carr became the Division Controller of the London and South East Division of the United Kingdom Ministry of Civil Aviation. ww2dbase [Roderick Carr | CPC]

• Israeli aircraft attacked and shot down four Spitfire Mk XVIII fighters (of No. 208 Squadron RAF) and a Hawker Tempest fighter which were conducting reconnaissance patrols over Israel. Two RAF pilots were killed. ww2dbase [AC]

• USS Bluefish was recommissioned into service at New London, Connecticut, United States. ww2dbase [Bluefish | New London, Connecticut | CPC]
• Archerfish was selected for reactivation. ww2dbase [Archerfish | CPC]

7 Jan 1952 Interactive Map

• Emperor Showa of Japan passed away at the Fukiage Palace in Tokyo, Japan. ww2dbase [Showa | Tokyo | CPC]

7 Jan 1989 Interactive Map

• Jackie Moggridge passed away. ww2dbase [Jackie Moggridge | CPC]