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• British troops in the southern tip of British Malaya completed the withdraw into Singapore, thus marking the start of the siege. After sundown, British gunboats HMS Dragonfly and HMS Scorpion once again sailed for Rengit to evacuate the last of the enveloped British troops there. ww2dbase [Invasion of Malaya and Singapore | TH]
• Operation Oiled: 7 British Stirling bombers were launched from RAF Lossiemouth, Scotland 0030 hours, and 8 Halifax bombers were launched from the same location between 0204 and 0234 hours. Their target was the German battleship Tirpitz in Norway. None of them reached their target due to bad weather. ww2dbase [CPC]
• Erwin Rommel was promoted to the rank of Generaloberst; at the same time, the Panzergruppe Afrika was renamed the Panzerarmee Afrika. ww2dbase [Erwin Rommel | CPC]
• German submarine U-106 sank US tanker Rochester 80 kilometers off Norfolk, Virginia, United States at 1805 hours, killing 3 of 35 aboard. ww2dbase [Second Happy Time | CPC]
• Japanese 55th Infantry Division captured the airfield at Moulmein, Burma. ww2dbase [Invasion of Burma | CPC]
• 800 men of the Japanese Special Naval Landing Force and 4,000 Japanese Army troops landed on the island of Ambon in the Dutch East Indies, covered from above by carrier aircraft of Hiryu and Soryu. Without air support, the 2,800 Dutch and 1,100 Australian troops withdrew toward Passo, failing to destroy bridges behind them. ww2dbase [Dutch East Indies Campaign, Celebes and Moluccas | CPC]
• 400 Japanese troops landed at Adang Bay and began a 155-mile trek across jungles to assault Bandjermasin, the capital of Dutch Borneo. ww2dbase [Dutch East Indies Campaign, Borneo | CPC]
• The British 1st Armoured Division in Libya withdrew toward Gazala. ww2dbase [Operation Crusader | CPC]
• Japanese submarine I-64 sank Indian freighter Jalatarang 62 miles southeast of Madras, India. ww2dbase [CPC]
• German bombers heavily damaged British minesweeping trawler HMS Loch Alsh 45 miles east of Grimsby, England, United Kingdom; she would sink as she was being towed to port for repairs. ww2dbase [CPC]
• British submarine HMS Thunderbolt attacked an Axis convoy with three torpedoes 6 miles west of Lefkada, Greece at 0939 hours; all torpedoes missed; escorting Italian torpedo boat Solferino counterattacked with 29 depth charges without success. ww2dbase [Thunderbolt | CPC]
• British submarine HMS Thorn sank Italian submarine Medusa off Pola, Yugoslavia at 1410 hours; 57 were killed, 1 survived. ww2dbase [CPC]
• USS Stewart made rendezvous with USS Marblehead. ww2dbase [Stewart | CPC]

• Japanese troops executed Australian prisoner of war Captain Herbert Silverman at Rabaul, New Britain. On the same day, Australian Thomas McBride Price led 5 Catalina aircraft on an attack on Rabaul, claiming one bomb hit; Price reported the presence of newly arrived large anti-aircraft weapons. ww2dbase [New Guinea-Papua Campaign, Phase 1, Bismarck Islands | Rabaul, New Britain | CPC]

• Shokaku departed Truk, Caroline Islands for Yokosuka, Japan to pick up aircraft. ww2dbase [Shokaku | Truk | CPC]

• Naka departed Balikpapan, Dutch Borneo. ww2dbase [Naka | Balikpapan, Borneo | CPC]
• Submarine USS Saury ended her first war patrol at Surabaya, Dutch East Indies. ww2dbase [Saury | Surabaya, Java | DS]

• Adolf Hitler spoke at the Berlin Sports Palace, threatening the Jews of the world with annihilation. ww2dbase [Adolf Hitler | Berlin | CPC]

• Hans-Joachim Marseille arrived in Benghazi, Libya. ww2dbase [Hans-Joachim Marseille | Benghazi | CPC]

• USS Yorktown, Louisville, and St. Louis and task group crossed the 180th meridian while transiting from Pago Pago, Samoa to the Gilbert Islands. ww2dbase [Line Crossing Ceremony | Yorktown (Yorktown-class) | Louisville | St. Louis | DS]

• German Luftwaffe group I./KG 100, flying He 111 bombers, was ordered to move from Focsani, Romania to Saky, Ukraine. They were to fly raids against Soviet shipping in the Black Sea and supply columns along the Black Sea coast. ww2dbase [Focsani, Vrancea | CPC]

30 Jan 1942 Interactive Map