WWII: Japanese forces invade Burma. The following Commands of the United States Eighth Air Force are established: VIII Bomber Command initially at Langley Field in Virginia, and VIII Fighter Command at Selfridge Field in Michigan. January 20 – The Holocaust: Nazis at the Wannsee Conference in Berlin decide that the "Final Solution (Endlösung) to the Jewish problem" is deportations to extermination camps. January 21 – WWII: Erwin Rommel launches his new offensive in Cyrenaica. January 23 – WWII: The Battle of Rabaul begins. Before dawn, 5,000 troops of Japan's elite South Seas Detachment storm ashore at Rabaul. With control of the air and support from the guns of their own ships, the Japanese overwhelm the small Australian garrison, the majority is either killed or captured. January 25 – WWII: German forces under Erwin Rommel of Panzer Group Afrika reaches Msus. General Alfred Godwin-Austin orders the 4th Indian Division from the British 13th Corps to evacuate Benghazi. Thailand declares war on the United States and the United Kingdom. January 26 – WWII: The first American forces arrive in Europe, landing in Northern Ireland. January 31 – WWII: Malayan Campaign: The last organized Allied forces leave British Malaya, ending the 54-day campaign, and the Johor–Singapore Causeway is severed. February February 1 – WWII: Marshalls–Gilberts raids: Admiral William Halsey Jr sends airstrikes from the carrier USS Enterprise against Kwajalein, Taroa, Wotje in the Marshall Islands. At the same time, cruisers and destroyers bombard Taroa and Wotje. The strikes inflict light to moderate damage on the three islands' naval garrisons, sink three warships and damage several others, including the light cruiser Katori and damage 15 Japanese aircraft. Further south, the carrier USS Yorktown attacks Jaluit, Mili and Makin in the Gilbert Islands. They inflict moderate damage to the Japanese naval installations and destroy three aircraft. The Kriegsmarine introduces the M4 (German Navy 4-rotor) Enigma machine for U-boat traffic, blinding Allied cryptanalysts to their radio signals for most of the year. The Command staff of the United States Eighth Air Force reaches England. Mao Zedong makes a speech on "Reform in Learning, the Party and Literature", starting the Yan'an Rectification Movement in the Chinese Communist Party. February 3 – WWII: Rommel suspends his offensive in Cyrenaica. February 7 – United States Maritime Commission fleet operations are transferred to the War Shipping Administration (lasting until September 1, 1946). February 8 – WWII: Battle of Singapore: Japanese