UNITED KINGDOM: London: General de Lattre de Tassigny is appointed C-in-C French Forces, North Africa.
ITALY: General Harold Alexander, Commander in Chief 15th Army Group, orders the U.S. Fifth Army to mount an amphibious operation below Rome (Operation SHINGLE) between 20 and 31 January; shortly before the assault landing at Anzio. The Fifth Army is to thrust sharply toward Cassino and Frosinone while the British Eighth Army is to keep the Germans pinned down in its sector by exerting pressure and employing deceptive measures. (Jack McKillop)
NEW GUINEA: The 126th regiment of the 32nd Div. of the US Sixth Army land at Siador on the north coast, cutting off Japanese rearguard forces from the main Japanese base, Madang, only 55 miles away. US losses in Operation Dexterity were 55 killed; Japanese casualties were 1,275. The landings signal the long-awaited drive west by forces under General MacArthur to expel the Japanese from New Guinea.
The loss of Saidor, a Japanese supply depot, is a strategic disaster for the Japanese commander, General Adachi. The only escape route for his 20,000 men, now sandwiched between Australian and US troops, is a 200-mile inland retreat through dangerous, often impassable, jungle. The 7th Marines attack in an effort to expand the perimeter at Cape Gloucester.
U.S.A.:
ATLANTIC OCEAN:
U-539 was the first U-boat to depart on a combat patrol equipped with the Snorkel breathing device.
During an attack by two Liberators (RAF Sqn 224/C/G) on U-625, the Commander, Kptlt. Hans Benker, and one man were lost overboard. The boat, on its return leg of the patrol, was damaged and returned to Brest on 6 Jan. (Dave Shirlaw)
PB4Y (VB 107) sights and tracks German blockade runner Weserland, en route from Japan to Germany, 595 miles south-southwest of Ascension Island. Destroyer Somers (DD-381) intercepts Weserland and opens fire.