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• At 1500 hours, the main offensive against Bataan defences at the Philippine Islands began, spearheaded by 6,500 men of the newly arrived and inexperienced 65th Infantry Brigade (which replaced the veteran Japanese 48th Division); the first attacks at the Abucay-Mauban defensive line were repelled by US-Filipino troops. Meanwhile, US Marines from Batteries A and C of 3rd Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment who remained on Bataan under naval control were integrated into a naval battalion for ground combat. ww2dbase [Invasion of the Philippine Islands | AC]
• HMS Indomitable was joined by Australian destroyers Nestor, Nizan, and Napier off Cape Guardafui in eastern Africa. ww2dbase [Indomitable | CPC]
• USS Pollack sank Japanese freighter Teian Maru at night off Japan with one or two torpedoes fired. A torpedo was also fired at an escorting destroyer, but that torpedo missed. ww2dbase [Pollack | CPC]
• British destroyer HMS Vimiera struck a mine and sank in the Thames estuary in southern England, United Kingdom; 96 were killed, 14 survived. ww2dbase [CPC]
• Japanese submarine I-65 damaged a tanker and sank Dutch freighter Benkoeln in the Java Sea; 101 survived. ww2dbase [CPC]
• British submarine HMS Triumph struck a mine and sank off Milos, Greece, killing all 59 aboard. ww2dbase [CPC]
• German submarine U-568 was attacked by a British Sunderland aircraft 70 miles northwest of Mersa Matruh, Egypt and suffered minor damage. ww2dbase [CPC]
• Dispersed ships of ALlied convoy QP-4 began to arrive in Allied waters. ww2dbase [Arctic Convoys | CPC]

• Cruisers USS Boise and USS Marblehead, escorted by destroyers USS Barker, USS Parrott, USS Bulmer, USS Stewart, and USS Pope, joined Dutch transport Bloemfontein off Australia, carrying hastily assembled supplies, field guns, and men of the Headquarters Battery of US 26th Field Artillery Brigade and the 1st Battalion of US 131st Field Artillery. The group sailed toward Surabaya, Java, Dutch East Indies. ww2dbase [Stewart | CPC]

• An Australian Hudson bomber conducted a reconnaissance mission from Kavieng, New Ireland over Truk, Caroline Islands; it was the longest RAAF flight to date. The crew of the Hudson spotted a large invasion fleet being prepared at Truk. ww2dbase [New Guinea-Papua Campaign, Phase 1, Bismarck Islands | Truk | CPC]

• Japanese troops began to fall back from Changsha, Hunan Province, China. A section of the evacuation was ambushed by Chinese troops at Luoyang River, causing heavy casualties. ww2dbase [Third Battle of Changsha | Changsha, Hunan | CPC]

• A transport of 1,005 Jews departed from Theresienstadt Concentration Camp in occupied Czechoslovakia for locations in Eastern Europe. Most of them were sent to Riga, Latvia. ww2dbase [Discovery of Concentration Camps and the Holocaust | Theresienstadt Concentration Camp | Terezín, Cechy | CPC]

• In Germany, 31 French officers were transferred from the Oflag IV-C prisoners of war camp at Colditz Castle to Oflag IV-D at Elsterhorst. ww2dbase [Colditz Castle | Colditz, Sachsen | CPC]

• Japanese Kaidai-type submarine I-58 sank Dutch ship Camphuijs in the Java Sea. ww2dbase [I-58/I-158 | Invasion of Malaya and Singapore | Java Sea | CPC]

• I-68 arrived at Kure, Japan and received repairs. ww2dbase [I-68/I-168 | Kure, Hiroshima | CPC]
• Kaga departed Iwakuni, Japan. ww2dbase [Kaga | Iwakuni, Yamaguchi | CPC]

• USS S-43 transited the Panama Canal. ww2dbase [S-43 | CPC]

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

• Soviet 3rd and 4th Shock Armies attacked German defenses south of Demyansk, Russia, making advances but suffering heavy casualties. ww2dbase [Rzhev-Vyazma Offensive and the Demyansk Pocket | Demyansk, Leningrad | CPC]
• In Leningrad, Russia the Soviet Naval Staff issued orders directing the fleet and shipyards to concentrate their efforts towards overhauling and repairing Soviet submarines (some of which were being employed as power-station generators for the besieged city) in order to prepare for a spring offensive in the Baltic Sea. Submarine crews and other specialists were recalled from the front (where many were fighting ashore) to assist in the preparation of some thirty submarines for the campaign. In Apr 1942 the submarines would be divided up into three groups by Brigade Commander A. M. Stetsenko according to their sea fitness. The first group, consisting of the most experienced Captains, such as Y. P. Afanasev, S. P. Lisin, and G. Ya. Osopov, was expected to have ten submarines ready to sail by the end of May 1942 with another seven nearing completion of their overhauls; the second group was scheduled to be ready by Aug 1942 and the third by the autumn. ww2dbase [Leningrad | AC]

• HMS Eagle completed her refit at Liverpool, England, United Kingdom. ww2dbase [Eagle | Liverpool, England | CPC]
• Stephen Beattie stepped down as the commanding officer of destroyer HMS Vivien. ww2dbase [Stephen Beattie | CPC]

9 Jan 1942 Interactive Map