January 18th, 1942...US Marines, covered by aircraft from USS Enterprise, arrive at Pago Pago, American Samoa. Germany, Japan, and Italy sign a treaty of alliance and cooperation in war against the Allied powers.

The Soviet Union marks this event with a massive airborne assault; 1,643 paratroopers jumping behind German lines near Vyazma. The paratroopers link up with partisans to disrupt German supply lines, thus hindering German logistics and communications.

Over Malaya, British and New Zealand Buffalo fighters shoot down two Japanese planes with no loss to themselves. Gordon Bennett hurls his Australian troops in ambushes against the Japanese, and scores some successes. But superior Japanese firepower and armor sends the Australians reeling back. Bennett delivers tough quotes to Australian newspapermen, but keeps his headquarters far back from the battlefield, and does not visit the front.

New Zealand's Deputy Prime Minister, Walter Nash, leaves New Zealand for Washington, to serve as Minister in Washington until 1943.

January 19th, 1942...With Japanese troops 30 miles from Singapore island, Winston Churchill cables his top commander on the spot, Lord Wavell, to ask what sort of defenses the island has. Wavell's answer: there are neither plans nor fortifications to defend the north side of this "impregnable fortress." Churchill is staggered, and orders what Wavell has been pushing for, digging entrenchments. The defenders of Singapore react by hiring local labor to dig trenches...then waste five days arguing over how much overtime pay they should get.

Churchill orders Wavell and Malaya's commander, Gen. Archibald Percival, to fight to the last man, and refuse to surrender. Wavell is happy to comply, but Singapore's immense 15- inch guns face the ocean...not the north, where the Japanese armies are.

January 20th, 1942...In Malaya, Percival cuts his orders: withdrawal to the island of Singapore. Wavell flies in to find his orders to fortify the north coast have not been followed. He orders Percival to do so. Churchill signals Wavell: "I want to make it absolutely clear that I expect every inch of ground to be defended, every scrap of material for defenses to be blown to pieces to prevent capture by the enemy, and no question of surrender to be entertained until after protracted fighting among the ruins of Singapore."

The Japanese 55th Infantry Division marches into Burma from Thailand, opening up another theater of war. The Japanese move through the jungle and surround British detachments.

In Russia, Soviet troops recapture Mozhaisk, pushing the Nazis back from Moscow.

In Berlin, Reinhard Heydrich, head of the SS and Gestapo, summons some of Germany's top bureaucrats for a special meeting at 26 am Grossen Wannsee. Among those who sit at the baize conference table are Martin Luther of the Reich Foreign Ministry, People's Court Chief Judge Roland Freisler, and Wilhelm Stuckart, Germany's chief legal draftsman.

Heydrich calls the Wannsee Conference to order by telling the flunkies that "The Fuhrer has ordered the Final Solution of the Jewish Question. We estimate there are 11 million Jews in the world today. The Final Solution will 'resettle' them all." Heydrich orders his assembled staff to prepare and execute plans to comb occupied Europe (and anywhere else the Nazis can reach) for every living Jew. They will be packed in rail transports and shipped to extermination camps in occupied Poland, and murdered en masse, as efficiently as possible. After discussion, death by gassing is the preferred method.

To ensure that the Final Solution works smoothly, that deportations are orderly and systematic, and adequate deceptions are used throughout, SS Major Adolf Eichmann is appointed to carry out the conference's decisions. Eichmann will send three million Jews to their deaths.

The same day, a young Jew, Jakub Grojanowski, having escaped from the labour gang at Chelmno which was being forced to bury the bodies of Jews who have been gassed, reaches the nearby village of Grabow. He tells the local Rabbi, "Don't think I'm crazed and have lost my reason. I am a Jew from the nether world. They are killing the whole nation of Israel. I myself have buried a whole town of Jews, my parents, brothers, and the entire family."

January 21st, 1942...British Hurricane fighters go into action against the Mitsubishi Zero in Malaya. The Hurricanes shoot down eight Japanese bombers. Then the Zeros pounce. It turns out the Hurricanes are no match for Zeros except above 20,000 feet, and Zero pilots simply don't go that high, or pull Hurricanes down to meet them. The British lose five Hurricanes. The Japanese bombers whack Singapore.

Australian troops, trapped by a Japanese roadblock at Parit Sulong, try to break through swamp and jungle to reach British lines. Before setting off, they leave their wounded at the roadside, "lying huddled around trees, smoking calmly, unafraid." The Japanese capture the men and shoot them.

Japanese bombers attack Royal Australian Air Force bases in New Guinea, and do considerable damage.

In the Philippines, the Japanese make an amphibious movement around American positions, trying to outflank them.

In North Africa, Gen. Erwin Rommel has had enough retreating, and decides that the best defense is a good offense. He counterattacks the British in force.

For once, Rommel has the advantages...British troops are scattered, exhausted, and short on equipment after the gruelling Crusader battles. The Royal Navy has only three cruisers in the Mediterranean, not enough to halt convoys from Italy to North Africa. So Rommel has built up 120 tanks and enough fuel to attack.

He does so with two panzer divisions, a German motorized division, and two Italian corps, taking British outposts by surprise at 8:30 a.m. Once again, the British are on the run. "Our opponents are getting out as though they'd been stung," writes Rommel.

As German troops drive through the dunes, they are slowed down by terrain. So are the British, who have to leave behind 16 of their excellent 25-lb. artillery pieces, some trucks, and more than 100 soldiers.

January 22nd, 1942...Britain's toughest battleship, HMS Warspite, having completed repairs in Seattle, puts to sea. She will cross the Pacific Ocean to reinforce the British Eastern Fleet in the Indian Ocean.

In Malaya, Lt. Col. C.G. Anderson's 45th Australian Brigade is trapped behind enemy lines. He leads his men out in small parties, and 500 Australians and 400 Indians break out. The feat earns Anderson a Victoria Cross.

In the Philippines, US and Filipino troops, having taken a beating on their first line of defense, start withdrawing to their second line of defense. The withdrawal is accomplished with a good deal of confusion.

In North Africa, Rommel's attack continues. The Afrika Korps has the best armor (the Panzer Mark IIIJ with its 50mm gun), the best anti-tank gun (the Krupp 88), and the best song, "Lili Marlene." German troops capture Agedabia, Antelat, and Saunnu, and rocket on towards Benghazi.

January 23rd, 1942...5,300 Japanese troops invade Rabaul, and defeat the 1,400 Australian defenders. More Japanese troops invade Balikpapan.

That evening, four American destroyers, Paul Jones, Pope, Parrott, and John D. Ford, launch the first surface action fought by the US Navy since 1898. Withtorpedoes and deck-guns, the four ancient (1918 vintage) destroyers sink four cargo-transports and one patrol boat, totalling 23,496 tons. US casualties are a mere four wounded. Despite American gallantry and determination, the Japanese continue to invade the Dutch East Indies.

In Bataan, Japanese troops try to outflank the Americans again, by landing at Point Longoskayan at the tip of Bataan. Gen. Douglas MacArthur tells Washington that "All maneuvering possibilities" are now over, and "I intend to fight it out to total destruction." However, the Japanese invaders run into the "Naval Battalion," consisting of grounded crewmen and fliers from Patrol Wing 10 (now defunct), sailors from USS Canopus, and 60 Marines. The Sailors have dyed their blue uniforms khaki, but the clothing has come out yellow, which baffles the Japanese. Some Americans have never fired a rifle. But they inflict 600 Japanese casualties, suffering 500 of their own, and destroy the attempted Japanese invasion.

Soviet troops break through between Lake Ilmen and Smolensk. Soviet troops re-take Kholm and surround Rzhev.

At Novi Sad on the Danube, Hungarian soldiers drive 550 Jews and 292 Serbs on to the ice of the river, which the Hungarians then shell until the ice breaks up and the Jews and Serbs are drowned.

Controversy rages in North Africa as Italian Field Marshal Count Ugo Cavallero meets with Erwin Rommel and Luftwaffe Field Marshal Albert Kesselring at Rommel's tactical HQ at Agedabia. At issue is Rommel's next move. Cavallero doesn't think Rommel has the supplies to continue his advance. Rommel wants to drive further east. Cavallero is right, but Rommel wins the day and the point.

On the battlefield, however, German troops advance. One of Rommel's assets is his field codebreaker unit, under Maj. Wilhelm Seebach. This outfit has broken most British field codes, and reads detailed radiograms sent to Washington by the US military attache in Egypt. From these intercepts, Rommel knows that the British are desperately short of gasoline.

In Berlin, Adolf Hitler tells his aides that "The Jews must clear out of Europe. If they refuse to go voluntarily, I see no other solution but extermination."

January 24th, 1942...Japanese troops invade Kendari in the Dutch East Indies island of Celebes. Aircraft from the Japanese carriers Hiryu and Soryu bomb the Allied seaplane base at Ambon, held by Australian and Dutch troops.

Australian troops evacuate Lae and Salamaua in New Guinea. Japanese troops are now moving to cut Australia off from the United States.

US troops, including the remaining four P-40 aircraft, finish mopping up the Japanese attempts to invade Bataan's peninsula by sea at its tip.

As Japanese forces advance, the cause of their victory becomes clearer. Japanese troops wear lightweight cotton uniforms and rubber-soled boots. Packs, belts, holsters, are all made from rubberized fabric. The standard pack is 13 inches square and five inches deep, secured by tape, all light and adaptable, if not durable.

British troops, however, wearing hob-nailed boots and a steel helmet, also wear a webbing pack down the back, another dangling at the side, and a gas-mask bag strapped to the chest. This is all fitted with countless straps of canvas webbing with brass buckles. The British Lee-Enfield rifle weighs a further 10 lbs. Burdened down with this gear, British troops depend on trucks and roads.