World War II As It Happened
A MaritimeQuest Daily Event Special Presentation
Sunday January 11, 1942
Day 864

January 11, 1942: Front page of The People, London, England.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)
Note the report in columns 4-5: "Mystery Of General Udet - Nazi Air Chief Was Executed"
(British United Press apparently making a story out of whole cloth. They claim that Ernst Udet was executed because of an order of faulty metal for aircraft. Udet committed suicide on Nov. 17, 1941. Nothing to date has been uncovered to suggest that Udet was killed or coerced into suicide by the Nazi regime.)
Also note the report in columns 4-5: "Sugar And Fat Rations Cut"


January 11, 1942: Front page of the Sunday Pictorial, London, England.
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January 11, 1942: Front page of The Sunday Post, Glasgow, Scotland.
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January 11, 1942: Front page of The Sunday Sun, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
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Note the report in column 1: "Java Sea Murder By Japs"
This report was true. The Dutch freighter Langkoeas, was sunk by the Japanese submarine I-58 on Jan. 3. After the ship was sunk, the commanding officer of the submarine, Lt. Cdr. Soshichi Kitamura rammed lifeboats and machine-gunned survivors in the water. This was not the first time a Japanese submarine commander had committed such an atrocity in the war. As early as Dec. 8, 1941 a Panamanian flagged ship named Donerail was sunk and the survivors were machine-gunned by the submarine. This would happen on many more occasions during the war. I don't know if Kitamura did this again, but he ended the war sinking only 5 ships for a total of 27,066 tons. He died in March of 1978.


January 11, 1942: Front page of The Sunday Star, Washington, D.C.
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January 11, 1942: Front page of the Detroit Times, Detroit, Michigan.
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Note the report in columns 6-7: "Help Scrap the Japs - Buy a Bomber For Uncle Sam"
(The American version of the British "Spitfire Fund.")


January 11, 1942: Front page of The Hammond Times, Hammond, Indiana.
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January 11, 1942: Front page of The Kingsport Times, Kingsport, Tennessee.
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January 11, 1942: Front page of The Port Arthur News, Port Arthur, Texas.
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January 11, 1942: Front page of The Ogden Standard Examiner, Ogden City, Utah.
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January 11, 1942: Front page of the Oakland Tribune, Oakland, California.
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January 11, 1942: Front page of the Völkischer Beobachter, the official newspaper of the NSDAP.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)
1. Die Hauptstadt der Malaienstatten gefallen.
(The capital of the Malay States fallen.)
[The Germans reporting the fall of Kuala Lumpur.]
 
2. Spätes Geständnis Londons - Die Versenkung des Kreuzers Galatea.
(Late Confession of London - The sinking of the cruiser Galatea.)
[HMS Galatea was sunk by U-577 on Dec. 15, 1941 with the loss of 470 men.]




   
Page published January 11, 2023