Happy New Year. With the Allies in retreat everywhere but Russia, the New Year opens grimly. But the free world's defiance is seen in Washington DC, where Winston Churchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt sign, along with 26 nations, the United Nations Declaration. The Axis reacts to this rhetoric by advancing. Japanese troops head for Manila in the Philippines and Kuantan in Malaya.
Japanese bombers paste Rangoon.
The Indians rout the Japanese, but only 30 men in one Indian company survive. In Borneo, Japanese troops invade the island of Labuan, scooping up the British Resident, Hugh Humphrey. In Zagreb in Croatia, Nazi engineers finish demolishing the city's immense Synagogue, spiritual home to the city's 12,000 Jews. They will be joined by pro-Nazi youth from Denmark, Norway, The Netherlands, and Belgium. After the war, those pro-Nazis will have a lot of explaining to do at their treason trials.