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WWII On This Day: January 9

What happened on January 9 during World War II? This date brings together 3 events from 1942, 1944 and 1945, with period photographs and links to the full operations documented across WW2 Theatres.

1942
Lieutenant-General Arthur Percival and the British surrender party walking to the Ford Motor Factory in Singapore on 15 February 1942.
British official photographer / Imperial War Museums HU 2781 · UK Government public domain · Source
The Fall of the Southern Empires

Bataan Holds the First Assaults

Japanese artillery and infantry opened the main attack against the first Bataan defensive line on 9 January. American and Philippine units held the difficult ground and denied Homma the quick collapse his original timetable had expected. Tactical success bought time at a cost the defenders could not replace. The population inside Bataan had already been placed on reduced rations, medical resources were limited and every day of combat consumed ammunition and strength while Japanese forces could reinforce from outside the peninsula. The first line proved that Bataan could resist. It…

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1944
British troops at the entrance to the Maungdaw–Buthidaung road captured by XV Corps in January 1944.
British troops at the entrance to the Maungdaw–Buthidaung road captured by XV Corps in January 1944. Imperial War Museums, IND 3409 · UK Government public domain Source
The Arakan and the Chindits

The second Arakan offensive takes Maungdaw

The 5th Indian Division captured Maungdaw on 9 January 1944 as XV Corps advanced down the coast while the 7th Indian Division moved in the Kalapanzin valley. Engineers improved the Ngakyedauk route across the Mayu Range to link the two sectors. The advance was deliberate and better prepared than the campaign of the previous year. The divisions had more jungle training, a clearer corps command structure and a doctrine that expected Japanese infiltration rather than treating it as a surprise. Japanese 55th Division headquarters prepared a counteroffensive intended to encircle…

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1945
Red Army combat engineers building a pontoon bridge across the Oder beside a destroyed bridge, photographed 22 January 1945.
Semyon Alperin / RIA Novosti RIAID 42325 · Public domain (per Commons file record)
The Vistula–Oder Offensive

Hitler rejects the withdrawal

The refusal left German commanders facing an offensive they expected but were unable to absorb with reserves protected behind the immediate front. Hitler rejected the Army Group A and Army Group Center withdrawal proposals and dismissed the intelligence estimates of Soviet strength. The Vistula positions and their nearby reserves therefore remained inside the reach of the opening Soviet artillery preparation.

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