FRIDAY, 22 JANUARY 1943
ALASKA (Eleventh Air Force) A weather reconnaissance aircraft
finds Kiska closed in and flies
a negative search for the two B-24s missing since Monday. For the first time
the weather aircraft draws AA fire through the overcast at Kiska,
suggesting that the Japanese have fire-control radar.
CBI (Tenth Air Force) In Burma, nine India Air Task Force P-40s bomb and strafe
Nsopzup and hit targets of opportunity south of the town.
SOUTH PACIFIC (Thirteenth Air Force) B-17s bomb Rekata
Bay on Santa Isabel without loss. HQ XIII Fighter Command and HQ 4th Photographic Group transfer
from Noumea to Espiritu Santo.
SOUTHWEST PACIFIC (Fifth Air Force) B-24s bomb Simpson Harbor shipping and searchlights at Rabaul. In the Dutch East Indies, B-24s attack a vessel off Amoina, Ambon. B-25s bomb the Lae area. A-20s strafe small boats in Baden Bay and at Woiba. Lost is B-24D pilot Regan. On this date
the Papua Campaign ends with the collapse of organized resistance on the Sanananda front. The 39th Troop Carrier Squadron, 317th Transport Group with C-47s arrives
Garbutt Field from the US. B-17s bomb Tetsuzan Maru off Rabaul with 30 landing craft aboard is lost at roughly Lat 4°15'S, Long 152°10'E.
U.S. Army: On Guadalcanal, XIV Corps opens final offensive toward the Poha River at 0630. Assault troops are supported by arty, air, and naval gunfire. CAM Div pushes W toward heights SE of Kokumbona (Hills 99 and 98) with elements of 3 regts in assault. 6th Marines, advancing along coast, is stopped by enemy fire from ravine W of Hill 94. 147th Inf in center and 182d on left are hampered more by terrain than by enemy. 147th Inf seizes Hill 95. 182d Inf makes contact with 27th Inf of 25th Div N of Hill 88. On corps S flank, 25th Div attacks toward Hill 87. 1st Bn, 27th Inf, with role of conducting holding action while 2d Bn, 161st Inf, envelops enemy's S flank, moves forward from Snake and quickly takes Hill 87, day's objective, from which enemy has withdrawn; continuing attack, also seizes Hills 88 and 89 by 1035. To exploit this advantage, div boundary is altered and 27th Inf is ordered to continue as rapidly as possible toward Kokumbona. By 1700, 27th Inf holds heights just E and S of Kokumbona (Hills 90 and 98). 2d Bn, 161st Inf, the enveloping force, advances slowly through jungle from Hill Y to Hill 87. 2d Bn, 35th Infantry aided by a M3 Stuart tank force 200 yard gap in the north part of The Gifu strong point and during the night repels a final enemy counterattack.
Australian Army:
18th Brig eliminates last small pocket on coast west of Sanananda. During the Papuan Campaign, Australians suffer approximately 5,700 casualties.
U.S. Army: In New Guinea, the Papua Campaign ends in decisive defeat of Japanese. This is the first land victory of the war against Japanese on land. Organized resistance on Sanananda front collapses. The 163d Inf finishes clearing the Soputa-Sanananda Road. Cost to each side has been heavy. Of the estimated force of 16,000 committed by enemy in Papua, about 7,000 are buried by Allied forces; prisoners, for the large part Korean and Chinese, total some 350. U.S. forces suffer 2,788 casualties. The battle-weary 126th Inf is withdrawn from zone of combat.
USN: Freighter Peter H. Burnett is torpedoed by Japanese submarine I-21 about 500 miles east of Newcastle at roughly 32°54'S, 159°32'E, and abandoned; other than one sailor who dies of from the explosion, there are no casualties. When I-21 withdraws, the freighter is reboarded. USS Tautog (SS-199) sinks Japanese army cargo ship Yashima Maru (ex-Dutch passenger-cargo ship Mijer), five miles east of Salier Strait off southern tip of Celebes, N.E.I., 05°40'S, 120°30'E.
