Tuesday, 10 February 1942

US NAVY 

PACIFIC—USAAF LB-30s bomb and damage Japanese seaplane carrier Chitose in Makassar Strait south of Celebes.

           Japanese submarine I-69 shells Midway but is immediately bombed and damaged by USMC F2As (VMF 221).

ATLANTIC—Submarine R-5 (SS-82) fires three torpedoes at what she later reports as a German U-boat at 35°00'N, 65°45'W, but the attack is not successful. By the time R-5 has reloaded, the enemy is gone. While R-5's captain is criticized for erring in judgment for failing to follow up his contact during darkness and continuing the attack, his inexperience (R-5is his first command) is considered, as is the fact that it is that commanding officer's first war patrol. R-5's quarry may have been U-564, which sinks Canadian motor tanker Victolite at 36°12'N, 67°14'W the same day.

US ARMY AIR FORCE

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US ARMY

CHRISTMAS ISLAND—U.S. detachment arrives.

MIDWAY—Shelled by enemy submarine.

LUZON—I Corps is rapidly reducing Big Pocket. South Sector forces are compressing Japanese in Anyasan–Silaiim area.

SINGAPORE—General Wavell visits Singapore and orders the island held and all remaining RAF personnel withdrawn to Netherlands East Indies. Japanese deepen penetration to supply depot area. AIF Malaya, which is further reinforced in W Area, falls back to line Kranji–Jurong, partially prepared switch line position; is later forced from this line.

NETHERLANDS EAST INDIES—Japanese ,continue conquest of Borneo and Celebes; on Celebes, land force at Makassar.

BURMA—46th Brigade, Indian 17th Division, which has recently relieved Indian 16th Brigade along the Salween in Martaban area, begins fighting withdrawal from Martaban toward Thaton, since Japanese have bypassed Martaban.

US MARINE CORPS

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