US Marine Corps pilots scramble to attack
Japanese forces on Guadalcanal

A German U-boat undergoes routine maintenance
while on the lookout for Allied
shipping in the Mediterranean

January 1-3
Eastern Front, Caucasus
Soviet troops launch offensives to encircle the German forces in the north of the region. Since August 1942 the Germans have been attempting to conquer the resource-rich area and reach the oil supplies of the Near and Middle East. The Soviet South Front moves toward Rostov and the Terek River, from where the Germans withdraw on the 3rd.

January 2
Pacific, Papua New Guinea
US forces meet stubborn Japanese resistance after assaulting Buna on the east coast.

January 3
Sea War, Mediterranean
British Chariot 'human torpedoes' damage the Italian cruiser Ulpio and a tanker in Palermo harbor, Sicily.

January 3-9
Sea War, Atlantic
U-boats destroy seven of nine tankers, carrying 100,000 tons (90,720 metric tonnes) of oil in the TM-1 convoy, which is sailing from the Caribbean to the Mediterranean.

January 5
Africa, Tunisia
The US Fifth Army is formed under Lieutenant General Mark Clark. Allied forces form a line from Cape Serrat on the Mediterranean to Gafsa in the south. A stalemate arises in Tunisia until Field Marshal Erwin Rommel's offensive in February.

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