World War II As It Happened
A MaritimeQuest Daily Event Special Presentation
Monday, January 26, 1942
Day 879

January 26, 1942: Front page of the News and Chronicle, London, England.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)
 
Note the report in column 5: "3 Jap Ships Sunk and 4 Probables"
(This report is about the Battle of Balikpapan U.S. forces sank the 5,175-ton Kuretake Maru, the 7,064-ton Tatsukami Maru, the 3,519-ton Sumanoura Maru and the 4,124-ton Myoken Maru, the Dutch aircraft sank the 6,764-ton Nana Maru and the Dutch submarine HNLMS K-XVIII sank the 6,988-ton Tsuruga Maru. While the number of ships sunk was large, the casualties to Japanese personnel were small in comparison. Only about 120 were killed, including those on patrol boat 37, which was sunk by both U.S. and Dutch forces. The losses failed to stop the Japanese from making their landings on Balikpapan, Borneo.)


January 26, 1942: Front page of The Daily Mail, Hull, England.
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January 26, 1942: Front page of The Yorkshire Post and Leeds Mercury, Leeds, England.
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January 26, 1942: Front page of the Western Mail and South Wales News, Cardiff, Wales.
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January 26, 1942: Front page of the Post and Journal, Aberdeen, Scotland.
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Note the report in column 7: "20,000 Ton Rommel Ship Sunk"
(The unnamed ship was probably the 13,068-ton Victoria, an Italian passenger/cargo ship under German control.)


January 26, 1942: Front page of The Sydney Sun, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
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January 26, 1942: Front page of The Telegraph, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.
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January 26, 1942: Front page of The Lethbridge Herald, Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada.
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Note the reports in columns 4-5: "Run Starts On Sugar" and "Canada, U.S. Place Sugar On Rationing"
[The reports are concluded here.]


January 26, 1942: Front page of The Winnipeg Tribune, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.
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January 26, 1942: Front page of the Biddeford Daily Journal, Biddeford, Maine.
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Note the sub-headline and report in columns 1-2: "American Ship Sunk Off North Carolina Coast"
[The report is concluded here.]


January 26, 1942: Front page of The Evening Star, Washington, D.C.
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January 26, 1942: Front page of The Evening Gazette, Xenia, Ohio.
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January 26, 1942: Front page of the San Antonio Express, San Antonio, Texas.
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January 26, 1942: Front page of The Helena Independent, Helena, Montana.
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January 26, 1942: Front page of the San Mateo Times, San Mateo, California.
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Note the report in column 4: "Bay Scow Claims Jap Submarine"
(I can't say for sure if this scow came into contact with a submarine, but I have no record of a Japanese submarine reporting such an incident. There is no doubt that no Japanese submarine was sunk in this incident.)
Also note the report in columns 6-7: "Foe Aircraft Carrier Sunk; U.S. And Dutch Score Naval Victory"
(This report is about the Battle of Balikpapan. No Japanese aircraft carriers were sunk in this battle. The first Japanese aircraft carrier sunk in World War II was the Shoho, which was sunk in the Battle of the Coral Sea on May 7, 1942.)


January 26, 1942: Front page of the Teltower Kreisblatt, Kreis Teltow, Brandenburg, Germany.
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1. Die deutschen U-Boote vor der USA. - Küste - Kapitänleutnant Hardegen versenkte allein 8 Schiffe darunter 3 Tanker.
(The German submarines in front of the USA. - Coast - Lieutenant Captain Hardegen alone sank 8 ships including 3 tankers.)
[Reinhard Hardegen, commanding officer of U-123, sank 8 ships for a total just over 49,000 tons during his patrol off the U.S. coast. Up to this date he had sunk two tankers and damaged a third, but he would sink one more ship, a tanker on Jan. 27.]
 
2. General Rommel schlägt die Briten nordostwärts Agedabia.
(General Rommel defeats British north-east of Agedabia.)


January 26, 1942: Front page of the Völkischer Beobachter, the official newspaper of the NSDAP.
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1. Rommels Panzervorstoß bei Agedabia ein voller Erfolg.
(Rommel's tank advance at Agedabia a complete success.)



   
Page published January 26, 2023