19 Jan 1942


- US Secretary of War Henry Stimson formally asked Chiang Kaishek to approve a US commander for Chinese troops fighting in Burma; Chiang agreed, albeit with ambiguous language. ww2dbase [Chiang Kaishek | CPC]
- German Type IXC U-Boat U-505 departed Kiel, Germany on her first patrol. ww2dbase [U-505 | Kiel, Schleswig-Holstein | DS]
- HMS Cumberland resumed Home Fleet duties after arrival from Murmansk, Russia. ww2dbase [Cumberland | Arctic Convoys | DS]
- German submarine U-66 sank Canadian ship Lady Hawkins 150 miles off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, United States at 0743 hours; 251 were killed, 71 survived. On the same day, German submarine U-123 sank US ship City of Atlanta (43 were killed, 3 survived) and US ship Norvana in the same general area, killing 43 of 46 aboard; US tanker Malay was damaged in the same attack. ww2dbase [Second Happy Time | CPC]
- Japanese troops captured the airfield at Tavoy (now Dawei), Burma. ww2dbase [Invasion of Burma | Tavoy, Tanintharyi | CPC]
- Jaroslav Krejcí was named the prime minister of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia. ww2dbase [Prague | CPC]
- Returning from the United States, the nationalist Prime Minister of Burma, U Saw, was arrested by the British police in Egypt after being detected communicating with the Japanese while at Lisbon, Portugal. He would spend the next four years a prisoner in the British Protectorate of Uganda. ww2dbase [AC]
- Robert von Greim was mentioned in the Wehrmachtbericht radio report. ww2dbase [Robert von Greim | CPC]
- Friedrich-Wilhelm Müller was mentioned in the Wehrmachtbericht daily radio report. ww2dbase [Friedrich-Wilhelm Müller | CPC]
- USS Astoria departed Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii. ww2dbase [Pearl Harbor Navy Base and Ford Island Naval Air Station | Astoria (New Orleans-class) | Pearl Harbor, Oahu | CPC]
- USS Pensacola arrived at Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii. ww2dbase [Pearl Harbor Navy Base and Ford Island Naval Air Station | Pensacola | Pearl Harbor, Oahu | CPC]
- Rensuke Isogai was named the Governor-General of occupied Hong Kong. ww2dbase [CPC]
- Dispersed ships of Allied convoy QP-5 began to arrive in Allied waters. ww2dbase [Arctic Convoys | CPC]
- Japanese troops landed at Sandakan, British North Borneo unopposed at 0700 hours. ww2dbase [Dutch East Indies Campaign, Borneo | Sandakan, Sabah | TH]
- The headquarters of the Indian 45th Brigade in Malaya was destroyed by a Japanese air raid at 1000 hours, wounding General Duncan and killing all of his staff officers. Elsewhere in British Malaya, Australian 8th Division withdrew from Gemas to prevent being cut off by a Japanese flanking maneuver. ww2dbase [Invasion of Malaya and Singapore | Gemas | CPC]
- Soviet 3rd and 4th Shock Armies advanced toward Toropets and Kholm, Russia. ww2dbase [Rzhev-Vyazma Offensive and the Demyansk Pocket | Kholm, Novgorod | CPC]
- Seven US airmen set up the VIII Bomber Command at RAF Daws Hill in Buckinghamshire, England, United Kingdom. ww2dbase [High Wycombe, England | CPC]
- The US 2nd Marine Brigade (detached from 2nd Marine division) with 8th Marines arrived in American Samoa. ww2dbase [AC]



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