January 10, 1942
Today in World War II Pacific History
Day by day chronology

SATURDAY, 10 JANUARY 1942

Malaya: Ind 3 Corps abandons Port Swettenham and Kuala Lumpur while falling back to cover Port Dickson and Seremban area. Japanese planes, which since late December have been making night attacks on airdromes on Singapore, begin daylight raids on the airdromes.

NEI: Gen Wavell, Supreme Commander of ABDA area, flies to Java, where he confers with members of ABDA staff; establishes hq at Lembang, 10 miles N of Bandoeng.

Burma: Commander of Ind 17th Div arrives in Burma to take charge of Tenasserim operations.

FEAF: Fighter units complete a movement began on December 24, 1941 from various bases on Luzon to Bataan Peninsula.

U.S. Army: At dawn General Douglas MacArthur and chief of staff, Maj. Gen. Richard K. Sutherland plus their senior staff travel by PT Boat from Corregidor Island to Mariveles on the Bataan Peninsula. Next, they drove up the East Road to General George E. Parker's headquarters where they talked with II Corps officers and inspected positions in that sector. Moving west across the Pilar-Bagac road MacArthur met General Jonathan M. Wainwright and inspected I Corps installations. When Wainwright offered to show MacArthur their 155mm howitzers, MacArthur replied, "I don't want to see them. I want to hear them." That same day, a Japanese aircraft dropped a message behind U.S. lines that demanded their surrender. This eight hour inspection was Macarthur's only visit to the area.

In II Corps area, Japanese force driving S along East Road splits, most of it moving W; both forces reach OPL along Calaguiman R below Samal and exert strong pressure against it. Enemy column pushing south in central Bataan is slowed by jungle terrain. In I Corps area, Japanese western assault force reaches Olongapo without opposition.

U.S. Navy: Destroyer Paul Jones (DD-230) rescues survivors from Dutch steamships Camphuijs (sunk on 9 January by Japanese submarine I-158 at 04°40'S, 111°47'E) and Benkoelen (also sunk on the 9th by Japanese submarine I-165 at 04°50'S, 112°50'E).

Submarine Pickerel (SS-177) torpedoes and sinks Japanese gunboat Kanko Maru at mouth of Davao Gulf, off Cape San Augustin, P.I., 06°19'N, 125°54'E.

Submarine Stingray (SS-186) torpedoes and sinks Japanese cargo ship Harbin Maru in South China Sea off the south coast of Hainan Island, 17°40'N, 109°20'E.

Dutch submarine O-19 torpedoes and sinks Japanese army cargo ship Akita Maru and torpedoes merchant cargo ship Tairyu Maru at the mouth of the Gulf of Siam, 07°40'N, 102°50'E.

Lost is TBD-1 Devastator 0281 from USS Saratoga (CV-3) lost off Hawaii pilot rescued.

MS Herstein departs Port Moresby bound for Rabaul.