Events in History
- Jan 3 Canadian Army troops arrive in North Africa
Historic Event
Jan 4 Thomas Mann completes his tetralogy, "Joseph & His Brothers"
Conference of Interest
Jan 13 British Prime Minister Winston Churchill arrives in Casablanca, French Morocco for a conference of Allied forces in World War II
Historic Event
Jan 13 Adolf Hitler declares "Total War" against the Allies
Historic Event
Jan 14 Heinrich Himmler views Warsaw
- Jan 14 World War II: Japan begins Operation Ke, withdrawal of its troops from Guadalcanal
- Jan 14 World War II: Franklin D. Roosevelt travels from Miami to Morocco to meet with Winston Churchill, becoming the first American president to travel overseas by airplane
Casablanca Conference
Jan 14 World War II: Casablanca Conference begins between Winston Churchill, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and other Allied representatives
- Jan 15 1st transport of Jews from Amsterdam to concentration camp Vught
- Jan 15 World's largest office building, the Pentagon is completed to house the US military
- Jan 15 1,000 workers complete air conditioning system for Pentagon
- Jan 15 World War II: The Soviets begin a counter-offensive at Voronezh
- Jan 16 -60°F (-51°C), Island Park Dam, Idaho (state record)
- Jan 16 1st US air raid on Ambon
- Jan 16 German 2nd SS-Panzer division evacuates Charkow
- Jan 16 Red Army recaptures Pitomnik airport at Stalingrad
- Jan 17 Tin Can Drive Day in the US, salvage collected for the war effort
Siege of Leningrad
Jan 18 Soviets announce they have broken the long siege of Leningrad by Nazi Germany by opening a narrow land corridor, though the siege would not be fully lifted until a year later
- Jan 18 US rations bread & metal - banning presliced bread reduce bakery demand for metal parts
Historic Event
Jan 19 1st Warsaw Ghetto Uprising begins
- Jan 21 Soviet forces reconquer Worosjilowsk
- Jan 21 Soviet forces reconquer Gumrak airport near Stalingrad
- Jan 21 Admiral Sir Andrew Cunningham, Royal Navy, promoted to Admiral of the Fleet
- Jan 22 Allied Joint Chiefs of Staff determine invasion of Sicily for July 10th
- Jan 22 Temperature rises 49°F (9°C) in 2 minutes in Spearfish, South Dakota
- Jan 22 66.34 cm (26.12") precipitation over 24 hour period in Hoegees Camp, California (state record)
- Jan 23 British 8th army marches into Tripoli
- Jan 23 Japanese Mount Austen on Guadalcanal captured
- Jan 24 Adolf Hitler orders German troops at Stalingrad to fight to the death
- Jan 27 1st US air attack on Germany (Wilhelmshafen)
- Jan 29 New Zealand cruiser Kiwi collides with Japanese submarine I-1 at Guadalcanal
- Jan 29 Sidney Kingsley's "Patriots" premieres in NYC
- Jan 29 U.S. cruiser "Chicago" is heavily damaged by Japanese bombers on the first day of the Battle of Rennell Island
- Jan 30 6 British Mosquitos bomb Berlin in daylight
- Jan 30 German assault on French in Tunisia
- Jan 30 German under officers shot down in Haarlem Neth
Nazi General Friedrich Paulus Surrenders
Jan 30 Adolf Hitler promotes Friedrich Paulus, commander of the 6th Army, to Field Marshal in the hope that he will not surrender
Victory in Battle
Jan 31 Field Marshal Friedrich Paulus surrenders to Soviet troops at Stalingrad
Birthdays in History
Doris Kearns Goodwin
Jan 4 Doris Kearns Goodwin, American historian and writer (Team of Rivals, No Ordinary Time), born in Brooklyn, New York
- Jan 6 Osvaldo Soriano, Argentine journalist & writer, born in Mar del Plata, Argentina (d. 1997)
- Jan 7 Sadako Sasaki, Japanese child victim of the Hiroshima atomic bomb, born in Hiroshima, Japan (d. 1955)
- Jan 9 Robert Drewe, Australian author, born in Melbourne, Australia
- Jan 9 Elmer MacFadyen, Canadian politician, born in Charlottetown, Canada (d. 2007)
- Jan 14 Shannon Lucid, Chinese astronaut (STS 51G, 34, 43, 58, 76/79), born in Shanghai, China
- Jan 17 Daniel Charles Brandenstein, American astronaut (STS 8, 51-G, 32, 49), born in Watertown, Wisconsin
René Préval
Jan 17 René Préval, President of Haiti (1996-2001, 2006-2011), born in Port-au-Prince (d. 2017)
- Jan 18 Kay Granger, American politician, born in Greenville, Texas
- Jan 19 Margriet Francisca, Dutch Princess
- Jan 22 H James "Jim" Saxton, (Rep-R-NJ, 1984- )
- Jan 23 Bill Gibb, Scottish fashion designer, born in New Pitsligo, Scotland (d. 1988)
- Jan 26 Sherian Grace Cadoria, brigadier general
- Jan 27 A H Harper, CEO (Baltic Exchange)
- Jan 29 Charles Fitzgerald-Lombard, Abbot of Downside
Deaths in History
George Washington Carver
Jan 5 George Washington Carver, African-American agricultural scientist (studied the peanut), dies at 81
Nikola Tesla
Jan 7 Nikola Tesla, Serbian-American physicist (tesla motor), dies at 86
- Jan 7 George Washington Crile, American surgeon (conducted the first direct blood transfusion and studied the effects of surgical shock), dies at 78
- Jan 8 Richard Hillary, Australian Spitfire pilot and author (The Last Enemy), dies in a crash during a night training at 23
- Jan 9 Robin G Collingwood, English philosopher (Roman Britain), dies at 53
- Jan 11 Agustín Pedro Justo, President of Argentina (1932-38) during the Infamous Decade, dies at 66
- Jan 11 Carlo Tresca, NY's Italian newspaper editor/anti-fascist, murdered
- Jan 12 Jan Campert, Dutch resistance fighter and poet (18 Dead), dies at 40
- Jan 12 Frank Alvord Perret, American volcanologist renowned for his research at Vesuvius, Etna, Stromboli and Kilauea dies at 75
- Jan 13 Sophie Taeuber-Arp, Swiss artist dies of accidental carbon monoxide poisoning at 53
- Jan 16 Franz Courtens, Flemish painter (Sunny Lane), dies at 88
- Jan 23 Alexander Woollcott, American drama critic (The New Yorker), dies of a heart attack on radio, at 56
- Jan 24 John Burns, British minister of Local Government (1905-14), dies
- Jan 26 Nikolai Vavilov, Soviet botanist and geneticist (identified the centers of origin of cultivated plants), dies at 55
- Jan 26 Harry H. Laughlin, American eugenicist (b. 1880)