This day in the war in Europe 65 years ago

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22 January 1942

WESTERN FRONT: The unarmed U.S. freighter SS 'Norvana' is torpedoed and sunk by German submarine 'U-123' south of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina. There are no survivors, and pieces of wreckage from the ship when she explodes hit her attacker.

GERMANY: RAF bombers attack Munster.

NORTH AFRICA: Continuing swiftly eastward, Axis forces occupy Agedabia.

The Afrika Corps formally becomes the Panzerarmee Africa.

EASTERN FRONT: In Leningrad, the mass evacuation of civilians begins via the "ice road" across Lake Ladoga. (About 440,000 people are transported out of Leningrad between 22 January and 15 April 1942.) Meanwhile, Soviet forces recapture Uvarovo, 20 miles (32 kilometers) west of Mozhaisk.

 

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25 January 1942
NORTH AFRICA: Speeding eastward again, the forces of General Erwin Rommel, General Officer Commanding Panzerarme Africa, capture Msus. The weakened British 1st Armoured Division of 13 Corps, Eighth Army, is ordered to fall back on Mechili, leaving a detachment to protect the withdrawal of the Indian 4th Division from Benghazi and Barce. General Claude Auchinleck, Commander in Chief Middle East Command, visits Eighth Army HQ, where he remains until 1 February. General Neal Ritchie, General Officer Commanding Eighth Army, revokes the order for a general withdrawal of 13 Corps and orders the Indian 4th Division, over which he takes direct control, and the British 1st Armoured Division to counterattack in the Msus area.

URUGUAY: The government breaks diplomatic relations with Germany, Italy and Japan.

WESTERN FRONT: The German submarine 'U-125' attacks unarmed U.S. tanker SS 'Olney', forcing the latter aground off Cape Lookout, North Carolina. 'Olney' is subsequently removed from her predicament, however, repaired, and returned to service.

 

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26 January 1942
WESTERN FRONT: An armed U.S. freighter is torpedoed and sunk by German submarine 'U-125' off the eastern seaboard. There are no survivors from either the 36-man civilian crew or the 9-man Armed Guard.

U.S. troops of the 133d Infantry, 34th Division, arrive in Northern Ireland.

GERMANY: The RAF bombs Hanover.

NORTH AFRICA: The German advance is stalled by a sandstorm.

 

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28 January 1942

SOUTH AFRICA: Pro-Axis extremists blow up five power stations in an attempt to sabotage supplies to the Rand gold mines.

GERMANY: Hitler decorates the Luftwaffe pilot Adolf Galland with the Diamonds to the Knight's Cross. Goering is appalled that the jewels are paste.

WESTERN FRONT: "Sighted sub, sank same." During an antisubmarine sweep astern of convoy HX 172, the crew of a PBO-1 Hudson of USN Patrol Squadron Eighty Two (VP-82) based at NAS Argentia, Newfoundland, attacks a surfaced submarine off Cape Race, Newfoundland. Although the pilot (Aviation Machinist's Mate First Class Donald F. Mason) reports "sighted sub, sank same," no U-boat is lost on this date.

SOUTH AMERICA: The Third Conference of Foreign Ministers of the (21) American Republics at Rio de Janeiro is concluded. Despite the efforts of Argentina and Chile, Pan-American unity is preserved; within days, all Latin American nations that had not already done so (except Argentina and Chile) sever ties with Germany, Italy, and Japan. Today, Brazil and Paraguay break diplomatic relations with Germany, Italy and Japan.

NORTH AFRICA: The Indian 4th Division is authorized to withdraw from Benghazi since armored elements of the 13 Corps, British Eighth Army, are too busily engaged to assist it. The Indian 7th Brigade, the last to withdraw, finds its line of retreat blocked but breaks out to the south and eventually makes its way back to Eighth Army. Rommel's troops enter Benghazi as the British retreat; this is the fourth time the city has changed hands.

UNITED STATES: The Air Force Combat Command activates Headquarters 8th Air Force at Savannah AAB, Savannah, Georgia, under command of Brigadier General Asa N Duncan. The 8th is originally designated as the U.S. air element of Operation GYMNAST, the early plan for the Allied invasion of northwest Africa.

EASTERN FRONT: Soviet Marshal Konstantin Timoshenko advances into the Ukraine. The Ukrainians are happy to see him, as the Germans have been practicing massacres.

 

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29 January 1942
SOUTH AMERICA: The government breaks diplomatic relations with Germany, Italy and Japan.

ATLANTIC OCEAN: US Coast Guard gunboat USCGC 'Alexander Hamilton' (WPG-34) is torpedoed by German submarine 'U-132' at 1312 hours local 20 miles (32 kilometers) west of Reykjavik, Iceland. One torpedo, of a four-torpedo spread, smashed into the ship's starboard side, directly abeam of the stack. It hit the fireroom bulkhead and flooded the two largest compartments of the ship, blew up two boilers, exploded directly under the main electrical switchboard, demolished the starboard turbines and flooded the auxiliary engine room, and wrecked the auxiliary radio generator and emergency diesel generator as well. The blast also destroyed three of the ships seven boats. The interior of the ship was plunged into darkness--no heat, steam, nor electricity remained. As the ship settled by the stern, it is abandoned. Later, a tug attempts to take her to port but high seas prevent this.

MEDITERRANEAN: Great Britain and the Soviet Union sign a treaty of alliance with Iran, wherein Iran agrees to remain neutral; Britain and the USSR promise to withdraw their troops from Iranian territory six months after hostilities with the Axis cease. The Persian Corridor is to become the principal route for movement of supplies to the USSR. The alliance started off shakily: the Soviets bought up most of Iran's grain harvest, which caused a bread shortage and riots in the streets. Allied troops put the rebellion down, and the United States shipped in grain to compensate for the losses. The Soviet Union then attempted to agitate for the overthrow of the shah by supporting the Tudeh (Farsi for "masses") party, which the Soviets believed would be more generous in oil concessions. Tudeh forces did manage temporarily to take over northern Iran in December 1944.

NORTH AFRICA: The Axis main forces remain in the Msus area, but elements pursue the Indian 4th Division of the British Eighth Army as it falls back slowly toward the Derna line. Rommel's Axis forces enter Benghazi
and capture 1,300 trucks.

NORTH AMERICA: Five-inch (12.7 cm) projectiles containing radio-proximity fuzes are test fired at the Naval Proving Ground, Dahlgren, Virginia, and 52 percent of the fuzes functioned satisfactorily by proximity to water at the end of a 5-mile (8 kilometer) trajectory. This performance, obtained with samples selected to simulate a production lot, confirmed that the radio proximity fuze would greatly increase the effectiveness of anti-aircraft batteries and led to immediate small scale production of the fuze.

EASTERN FRONT: On the central front, the Soviet Army continues to deepen its salient southwest of Kaluga and the Soviets report the capture of Sukhinichi.

 

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30 January 1942
GERMANY: Hitler turned up at Berlin's Sports Palace today to celebrate the ninth anniversary of his coming to power. There was little to celebrate. He admitted that the offensive on the eastern front was stalled, and blamed the extreme cold, with temperatures of minus 42 Fahrenheit. He confessed:

"I do not know if the war will end this year."

He also warns:

"The result of this war will be the complete annihilation of the Jews ... the most evil universal enemy of all time will be finished."

ATLANTIC OCEAN: The hulk of the US Coast Guard gunboat USCGC 'Alexander Hamilton' (WPG-34), torpedoed by a German U-boat yesterday, is again taken in tow by a tug. The tow progresses 18 miles (29 kilometers) but the cutter's list increases rapidly to starboard and she suddenly capsizes at 1728 hours.

An unarmed U.S. tanker is torpedoed, shelled, and sunk by German submarine 'U-106' about 150 miles (241 kilometers) east-northeast of Norfolk, Virginia.

NORTH AMERICA: The last pre-war automobiles produced by General Motors' Chevrolet Division and Chrysler's DeSoto Division roll off the assembly lines today.

The Secretary of the Navy authorizes a glider program for the Marine Corps consisting of small and large type gliders in sufficient numbers for the training and transportation of two battalions of 900 men each.

California Governor Culbert Olson revokes the professional and business licenses of 5,000 Japanese, German and Italian aliens in California. The revocations mostly affect Japanese-Americans.

The Congress passes the Emergency Price Control Act which allows the Office of Price Administration (OPA) to place ceilings on prices and rents.

 

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31 January 1942
ATLANTIC OCEAN: Two British merchant tankers are torpedoed and sunk by German submarines: the first by 'U-107' about 590 miles southeast of New York City and the second by 'U-109' about 320 miles southeast of Atlantic City, New Jersey.

While escorting troop convoy NA2 from St, John's, Newfoundland, RN destroyer 'Belmont' is torpedoed by 'U-81' and sinks with the loss of her entire ship's company. USS 'Satterlee' (DD-190), was commissioned as HMS 'Belmont' (H-46) on 8 Oct. 1940, as part of the bases for destroyers deal.

HMS 'Culver' (ex USCGC Mendota) was torpedoed by a U-boat in the mid-Atlantic.

MEDITERRANEAN: The U.S. Military Mission to USSR, which is to advise and assist Russians on lend-Iease matters, arrives at Basra; the group subsequently proceeds to Tehran, Iran, where headquarters is established.

NORTH AMERICA: The last pre-war automobiles produced by Chrysler, Plymouth, and Studebaker roll off the assembly lines today.

UNITED KINGDOM: The British government recognizes the independence of Ethiopia.

Major General Ira C Eaker is designated Commanding General, Bomber Command, U.S. Army Forces in British Isles (USAFBI) and ordered to proceed to the UK.

WESTERN FRONT: RAF Bomber Command attacks four targets visually during the night:
(1) 50 bombers attack the German fleet at Brest; five aircraft are lost;
(2) 14 attack the port area at St. Nazaire;
(3) six attack the port area at Le Harve;
(4) one attacks the port area at Cherbourg.

 

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1 February 1942
ATLANTIC OCEAN: British intelligence suffers its most serious setback of the war when the Germans change the Enigma code used by their U-Boats. The British won't break this code, called "Shark," for a year, giving the Germans a major advantage in the Battle of the Atlantic. To make matters worse, the Germans break the British merchant ship code and now the Germans know where the British are, instead of vice versa.

EASTERN FRONT: The Soviet Army continues its powerful offensive throughout February but with diminishing success as German resistance stiffens with the arrival of reinforcements. Further efforts to break through to Leningrad and Sevastopol are futile, but some success is achieved in other sectors. Soviet forces in the Crimea are reinforced.

GERMANY: Germany begins rationing tobacco, with women receiving only half the male allowance.

NORTHERN FRONT: Vidkun Quisling is appointed head of the Nazi puppet government in Norway.

NORTH AFRICA: British General Sir Neal Ritchie, General Officer Commanding Eighth Army, orders a general withdrawal of 13 Corps, to the line Gazala-Bir Hacheim in order to avoid envelopment. The Indian 4th Division, which reverts to 13 Corps command, completes a withdrawal to the Derna line during the night of 1-2 February.

NORTH AMERICA: The USAAF activates the VIII Bomber Command at Langley Field, Virginia; VIII Interceptor Command at Selfridge Field, Michigan; and the IX Interceptor Command at New Orleans AAB, Louisiana.

SOUTH AFRICA: Two bombs are planted in Johannesburg.

WESTERN FRONT: At a meeting in the Velodrome d'Hiver in Paris, Jacques Doriot, speaks to a PPF crowd of 50,000, according to his parties estimate, 30,000 according to the Propaganda Abteilung. The crowd roared in turn for Hitler, Petain and Rommel. [PPF stands for Parti Populaire Francais - a Fascist party formed in 1936 by Jacques Doriot, which collaborated with the Germans.

 

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2 February 1942
ATLANTIC OCEAN: An unarmed U.S. tanker is torpedoed and sunk by German submarine 'U-103' about 90 miles (145 kilometers) east of the mouth of the Delaware River, New Jersey. Exposure to the frigid weather will eventually kill 34 of the 38-man crew who survive the loss of the ship at the outset.


'U-581' (Type VIIC) is sunk in the mid-Atlantic south-west of the Azores, in approximate position 39.00N, 30.00W, by the British destroyer HMS 'Westcott'. 4 dead and 41 survivors. 'U-581' was sunk near the coast of Pico Island, in front of a place called Guidaste. One of the officers, Ltn. Walter Sitek, managed to swim 6 km to shore where he was picked up by the locals. He then managed to pass through neutral Spain and make his way to Germany again when he again went to sea on a U-boat. Oblt. Walter Sitek commanded 3 boats (U-17, U-981 and U-3005) during the rest of the war and survived the fighting. The rest of the crew, 37 men, were picked up by the British destroyer and taken to POW camp being finally released in 1947.

NORTH AFRICA: The Egyptian Cabinet resigns after a dispute with King Farouk regarding his pro-Axis sympathies.

General Claude Auchinleck, Commander in Chief Middle East Command, orders the British Eighth Army to hold Tobruk as a supply base for a future offensive.

UNITED KINGDOM: The British Naval Staff reports that the German battleships 'Gneisenau' and 'Scharnhorst' will probably attempt to leave Brest, in occupied France, and pass up the English Channel through the Straits of Dover.

 

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3 February 1942
ATLANTIC OCEAN: A Panamanian freighter is torpedoed, shelled, and sunk by German submarine 'U-103' approx. 15 miles south of Fenwick Island light located on the Delaware/Maryland border in the U.S.

EASTERN FRONT: German forces of Heeresgruppe Mitte launch a counterattack at Vjasma, cutting off and encircling several Soviet divisions.

NORTH AFRICA: The British evacuate Derna.

NORTH AMERICA: The major league baseball club owners hold a special meeting to discuss wartime regulations, they decide to allow 14 night games for each club, with the Washington Senators allowed 21. Two All-Star Games will be played, one with a military All-Star team. Curfews are set for night games with no inning to start after 0050 hours local.

The Canadian Women's Auxiliary Air Force is renamed the Royal Canadian Air Force (Women's Division).

 

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4 February 1942
ATLANTIC OCEAN: USS 'Branch' (DD-197), which was commissioned as HMS 'Beverley' (H-64) on 8 Oct, 1940, part of the destroyers-for- bases deal, today attacks and sinks 'U-187'.

An unarmed U.S. tanker is torpedoed, shelled, and sunk by German submarine 'U-103' about 20 miles (32 kilometers) southeast of Cape May, New Jersey.

NORTH AFRICA: The British ambassador to Egypt, Sir Miles Lampson, presses King Farouk to appoint a pro-Allied government by surrounding his palace with tanks.

13 Corps, British Eighth Army, completes a withdrawal to the line Gazala-Bir Hacheim and is fortifying it while Axis forces hold the line Tmimi-Mechili. A lull ensues until summer during which both sides conduct harassing operations and prepare to renew the offensive. The British gradually relieve battle-weary forces with fresh troops as they become available.

UNITED KINGDOM: Canadian press baron Max Beaverbrook is appointed Britain's Minister of Production. His steamrolling determination as Minister of Aircraft Production has already resulted in Britain producing more fighters than Germany.

 

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5 February 1942
ATLANTIC OCEAN: An unarmed U.S. tanker is torpedoed, shelled, and sunk by German submarine U-103 about 175 miles (282 kilometers) east-northeast of Norfolk, Virginia.

EASTERN FRONT: The British kick off Operation Disclaim, parachuting a team of agents near Sarajevo to join up with the partisans.

MIDDLE EAST: The Iranian government breaks diplomatic relations with Vichy France.

NORTH AFRICA: General Erwin Rommel's offensive is halted by the British at Gazala, just west of Tobruk. The British forces lose 40 tanks, 40 field guns and 1,400 troops. This was a disaster for the Allies in more ways than one; now the Allied convoys to Malta must pass between Axis occupied Crete and Axis airfields in Benghazi. The Axis forces are also in trouble; they have run to the end of their supply line, and his southern flank is hanging in mid-air, vulnerable to British raiders like the Special Air Service. Both sides gasp for breath in the intense desert heat. Rommel's engineers repair the damaged port of Benghazi, and motorize some units with captured British trucks (which are actually captured American lend-lease 2-1/2 ton trucks, which are very survivable). Another gain for Rommel is the recapture of Axis ammunition stocks in Benghazi, which had been left behind in the December retreat, and inactivated by removing their lighters. Now these stocks are made serviceable.

UNITED KINGDOM: In WW2 a British Commonwealth sailor could be awarded one of four awards for gallantry in action; the Victoria Cross, the Conspicuous Gallantry Medal, the Distinguished Service Medal or be mentioned in dispatches. Only the Victoria Cross or the mentioned in dispatches could be awarded posthumously in WW2.

US Naval Operating Base, Londonderry in County Derry, Ireland is established to serve as a turnaround point for transatlantic convoys.

 

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6 February 1942

ATLANTIC OCEAN: An unarmed U.S. freighter, en route from Fajardo, Puerto Rico, to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is torpedoed and sunk by German submarine 'U-10'. There are no survivors from the 35-man crew.

The five German U-boats that have been raiding Allied shipping along the U.S. east coast break off Operation Drumbeat to return to their bases in France. They have sunk 25 ships in 25 days, including nine by 'U-123'. Still,precautions along the coast are few: many oceanside communities are not blacked out at night; lighthouses and buoys are still lit; ships do not zig-zag; and the Navy has too few vessels to organize convoys. Admiral Karl Donitz is sending 15 subs to replace the first five; ten will stalk the Atlantic seaboard and five will prowl the Caribbean. During February this second wave of U-boats will sink 48 ships nearly half of them tankers.

'U-82' (Type VIIC) is sunk north of the Azores, in position 44.10N, 23.52W, by depth charges from the British sloop HMS 'Rochester' and the corvette 'Tamarisk'. 45 dead (all hands lost). The boat was lost during an attack on convoy OS-18 while returning from operations off the US East Coast (Operation Drumbeat).

GERMANY: In Berlin, Adolf Hitler orders the Minister of Armaments and War Production, Dr. Fritz Todt, to chair a committee to coordinate all ministries involved in armaments design, manufacture and production. One of the grave problems facing Germany is its inability to organize its war effort. The various companies, ministries, and Nazi party organizations bicker and feud amongst themselves for priorities and resources, hamstringing the war effort.

NORTH AFRICA: A new Wafd (nationalist) government is formed under British pressure in Egypt.

NORTH AMERICA: The first Combined Chief of Staff Conference in Washington, DC. begins. [This conference is the combined high military leaders of the UK and the US.] This is a followup to the Arcadia Sumit of December, 1941.

The Navy Department redesignates Naval Coastal Frontiers--Eastern, Gulf, Caribbean, Panama, Hawaiian, Northwest, Western, Philippine's Sea Frontiers.

WESTERN FRONT: During the night of the 6-7th, RAF Bomber Command dispatches 57 Wellingtons and 3 Stirlings to attack the German fleet at Brest; only 21 aircraft claimed to have bombed the primary target area, in thick cloud; one Wellington is lost.

During the day, the RAF Bomber Command dispatches 33 Hampdens and 13 Manchesters to carry out minelaying operations in the Frisian Islands; one Hampden is lost.

 

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7 February 1942
EASTERN FRONT: Soviet forces attack Rzhev, to the west of Moscow.

GERMANY: The Nazi armaments and munitions minister, Fritz Todt, returning to Berlin after talks with Hitler, is killed when his plane crashes on take-off. Albert Speer is appointed as Minister of Munitions in his place.

During the day, RAF Bomber Command dispatches 32 Hampdens on a minelaying mission in the Frisian Islands; Luftwaffe fighters attack and three Hampdens are lost.

NORTH AFRICA: Rommel's forces stop near Gazala.

NORTH AMERICA: President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs Executive Order 9054 establishing the War Shipping Administration (WSA) to bring the control and operation of all U.S. merchant shipping under a single head. The WSA's most pressing task is to mobilize the shipping capacity of the country (the majority of which is still in private hands by the end of the year 1941) to bring it under single control so that vessels can be allocated more readily on the basis of overall shipping needs of the U.S. and the Allies.

The federal government orders passenger car production stopped and the automobile industry converted to wartime purposes. The government offers automakers guaranteed profits regardless of production costs throughout the war years. Furthermore, the Office of Production Management allocates US$11 billion to the construction of war manufacturing plants that would be sold to the automobile manufacturers at remarkable discounts after the war.

NORTHERN FRONT: The month-long battles at Maaselk Isthmus culminate today as the Finnish reinforced 19th Brigade (Col. Kai Savonjousi) finish destroying the encircled Soviet 367th Rifle Division in Krivi. The recapture of Krivi, which the Red Army had captured on the first day of their offensive on 1 Jan, brings the battles to close, and the front-line is back where it was before the Soviet offensive.The encircled Russians fought back furiously, and the last two days have been bloody. The final Finnish offensive starts at 3 am, and by 2.45 pm the pocket has been destroyed. Finns count 4000 Russian corpses from the battlefield, only 152 POWs are taken. Finnish losses are 121 killed or missing. During the last month, both sides have suffered heavy losses and are now very exhausted.

 

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8 February 1942
ATLANTIC OCEAN: A British freighter is torpedoed and sunk by German submarine 'U-108' about 100 miles east-northeast of Norfolk, Virginia.

EASTERN FRONT: Soviet General Kurochkin's troops encircle 90,000 German soldiers at Demyansk in the USSR.

UNITED KINGDOM: The third contingent of Canadian troops arrives in Great Britain.

 

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9 February 1942

NORTH AMERICA: The 85,000 ton French passenger liner SS 'Normandie', built in 1931 and regarded by many as the most elegant ocean liner ever built, burns and sinks in New York Harbor during its conversion to a USN transport to be named 'Lafayette' (AP-53). When France surrendered to the Germans in June 1940 and the puppet Vichy regime was installed, the 'Normandie' was in dock at New York City. The US Navy immediately placed it in "protective custody," since the U.S. government did not want a ship of such size and speed to fall into the hands of the Germans, which it certainly would if it returned to France; the Navy took control of the ship shortly after Pearl Harbor. While undergoing conversion to a transport, a welder accidentally set fire to a pile of flammable life preservers with his torch, and by early the next morning the ship lay capsized in the harbor, a gutted wreck. Salvage from this ship will be auctioned in July, 1945.

On this day, Congress pushes ahead standard time for the United States by one hour in each time zone, imposing daylight saving time--called at the time "war time."

The Screen Actors Guild rejects General Hershey's plan to defer movie stars that was announced yesterday.

The 78th Pursuit Group (Interceptor) and its three subordinate units, the 82d, 83d and 84th Pursuit Squadrons (Interceptor) , USAAF are activated at Baer Field, Fort Wayne, Indiana.

Canadian Anti-conscription candidates are soundly defeated in four by-elections.

 

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10 February 1942

ATLANTIC OCEAN: Two Canadian ships are sunk: (1) German submarine 'U-564' sinks a Canadian motor tanker about 450 miles southeast of Atlantic City, New Jersey, and (2) Canadian corvette HMCS 'Spikenard' is torpedoed and sunk by 'U-136' off Iceland; 57 crewmen are lost.

GERMANY: RAF Bomber Command attacks five cities visually during the night without loss:
(1) 34 bombers attack Bremen;
(2) six attack Emden;
(3) and one bomber each attacks Borkum, Cruxhaven and Wilhelmshaven.

WESTERN FRONT: Fifteen bombers of RAF Bomber Command attack the German fleet at Brest visually during the night without loss.

 

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11 February 1942

EASTERN FRONT: The Soviet Black Sea Fleet and Azov Flotilla: Shipping loss: ML "Doob" - mined in Kazachiya bay in Sevastopol.

GERMANY: During the night of the 11-12th, RAF Bomber Command dispatches 49 aircraft to bomb Mannheim while one Manchester drops mines in the Frisian Islands.

NORTH AMERICA: In Montreal, Quebecois riot against conscription plans that may call for Canadian draftees to be sent overseas to fight, in violation of government policy. Canadian troops who cannot be sent overseas are called "Zombies."

WESTERN FRONT: During the night of the 11-12, 25 Wellingtons and 6 Whitleys of RAF Bomber Command bomb Le Havre; one Wellington is lost. Other operations include 18 Wellingtons attacking Brest (one Wellington is lost) and five aircraft flying leaflet missions.

Unternehmen Cerberus: To the fury of the British, three of Germany's most powerful ships made a daring dash up the English Channel today. By this evening they were within range of the safety of the German ports.'Scharnhorst', 'Gneisenau', and 'Prinz Eugen' begin their "Channel Dash" in Unternehmen Cerberus. They will leave Atlantic port of Brest move through the English Channel in daylight to naval bases in Germany. This morning at dawn, a pair of Spitfires from RAF Hawkinge patrolling the French coast noted unusual activity by light naval forces. The weather is bad, and getting worse, with snow on the ground, very heavy and low cloud, and poor visibility. At 0920, the Germans begin efforts to jam British radar along the South Coast. Given this unusual behaviour, a second pair of Spitfires are sent to investigate at 1020. On their return, they reported spotting a "convoy" including a possible capital ship. It was not until 11.09am today that an RAF Spitfire (one of two flown by senior RAF officers on a separate operation) spotted the German ships, by which time they were in the Straits of Dover. The Dover Castle guns fired, but fell short. The Eight boats from Ramsgate and Dover Motor Torpedo boats sped out, but could not get within range because of the powerful German E-boat escort. They did fire but at extreme range. Six Swordfish of 825 Naval Air Squadron, which had earlier been moved from Lee-on-Solent to RAF Manston to help concentrate attacks in the chokepoint of the Dover Straits, led by Lieutenant-Commander Eugene Kingsmill Esmonde (b.1909), are ordered at 1130 to mount an attack as soon as possible. made a brave attack, despite the fact that their Spitfire escort was not ready. It was recognized that his slow and vulnerable aircraft would need significant fighter escort to survive. Three fighter squadrons from RAF Biggin Hill and two from RAF Hornchurch were ordered to accompany him. The Biggin Hill aircraft were to defend against the now very large Luftwaffe fighter escort covering the ships, whilst the Hornchurch aircraft were to accompany his torpedo bombers in a low level attack, distracting anti-aircraft fire and strafing the ships to keep gunners heads down. However, the Hornchurch fighter controller telephoned Esmonde to warn him that his squadrons simply could not reach the rendezvous by the allotted time. The timing was also exceptionally tight for the nearer Biggin Hill units. But Esmonde feared that even a short delay might take the German ships out of reach. As soon as the first ten Spitfires from 72 Squadron appeared overhead at Manston at 1228, he set off with his Swordfish, with only one-fifth of his planned escort. The RAF Station Commander at Manston said of Esmonde -

"He knew what he was going into. But it was his duty. His face was tense and white. It was the face of a man already dead. It shocked me as nothing has ever done since."

German fighter attacks began only ten miles out from the English coast. The Spitfires engaged, but found it impossible to keep track of both their opponents and the Swordfish, flying at only about 100mph at very low level. The other two Biggin Hill squadrons arrived to engage German fighters in the general area. One Spitfire was lost, and two Messerschmitts were thought to have been destroyed. Esmonde's six Swordfish pressed on alone, under heavy fighter attack and then, as the battlecruisers came into sight, intense anti-aircraft fire. The lower port wing of Esmonde's biplane was shot away, but he somehow managed to keep flying until he was eventually shot down and killed with his two crewmen just before he got in torpedo range. The two Swordfish with him managed to drop their torpedoes before being shot down; five of their six crew survived. The second section of three Swordfish were also all shot down, with the loss of all nine men aboard. Their efforts were in vain, with no torpedoes hitting their targets. Esmonde was awarded a posthumous Victoria Cross, and the other seventeen men were also decorated. Seven Beaufort torpedo-bombers of 217 Squadron attempted to find their targets in the bad weather, and eventually five attacked, without success. Fighters shot down one. Other Beauforts and Hudsons attempted attacks, with the loss of four aircraft. Meanwhile, six elderly Royal Navy destroyers usually used for convoy duties, dashed south along the East Coast, coming under several air attacks. A squadron of RAF Whirlwind fighters was sent out to try to ward off the Luftwaffe, but was bounced and lost four aircraft. The effort proved too much for the worn engines of HMS 'Walpole', and she had to turn for home. The other five made radar contact at 1517, and ran in under heavy fire. The destroyers were repeatedly straddled, and HMS 'Worcester' set on fire. Torpedoes were fired, but once again the range proved too great for accuracy. However, all the destroyers survived and retired to Harwich. Bomber Command RAF mustered 242 bombers to attack the ships off the Dutch coast before dark. Visibility was by now appalling, down to 1000-2000 yards in heavy rain, and the very low cloud base meant that bombs could not be dropped from sufficient altitude to have a chance of penetrating armour. 39 bombers were able to attack the German ships or their escorts, but 188 could not find them, and 15 were shot down. Fighter Command also sent up a total of 398 fighters - 102 strafed German patrol boats in the area, and claimed 16 enemy aircraft shot down, for the loss of 17 RAF fighters. But it was not until late tonight that mines - dropped by the RAF - succeeded where bombers had failed. The battle cruisers were damaged, 'Scharnhorst', seriously, as they neared German waters and ports. The RAF lost 42 aircraft.

The first action by RAF Douglas Boston III light-bombers takes place when No. 88 Squadron attacks shipping.

Admiral William D. Leahy, USN (Retired), U.S. Ambassador to Vichy France, receives instructions from President Franklin D. Roosevelt that the U.S. government has learned that French ships are to be used to transport war materiel between France and Tunisia, and that unless the French government gives assurances that no military aid would go forward to any Axis power, and that French ships would not be used in the furtherance of Axis acts of aggression in any theater of war, the ambassador would be recalled to the United States;

"for consultation in a determination of American future policy with regard to the government of Vichy."

 

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12 February 1942

GERMANY: RAF Bomber Command dispatches 12 Hampdens and nine Manchesters to lay further mines in the Frisian Islands, although weather conditions were still unfavorable. Only eight aircraft laid their mines but all returned without loss, but one Hampden crashes in England.

MEDITERRANEAN: Three Allied supply ships leave Alexandria, Egypt, for Malta, but all are lost to enemy before reaching destination. The destroyer HMS 'MAORI' is sunk while moored in the Grand Harbour at Malta.

NORTH AMERICA: Lieutenant General Henry H "Hap" Arnold, Commanding General USAAF, indicates that 16 heavy bomber groups, three pursuit groups, and eight photographic reconnaissance squadrons will be sent to the UK during 1942. Brigadier General Asa N Duncan, Commanding General 8th Air Force, requests that his force, inadequate for its intended mission under Operation GYMNAST (early Allied plan for the seizure of Casablanca and the invasion of northwestern Africa), be strengthened by several bombardment and pursuit groups. This move, if carried out, would require diversion of units originally intended for other task forces.

The USAAF places a second production order for 410 Northrop P-61s.

WESTERN FRONT: Spanish dictator Francisco Franco and Portuguese dictator Antonio Salazar meet in Seville and report that they share many views.

 

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13 February 1942

EASTERN FRONT: The Soviet winter offensive continue to meet increasing German resistance. Despite this, the Soviet spearhead has reached Belorussia.

GERMANY: German Operation Sealion is formally cancelled. This is the plan for the cross channel invasion of England. While postponed many times, this cancellation makes it final.

During the night of the 13-14th, RAF Bomber Command dispatches 39 bombers to Cologne and 18 to Aachen but all encountered icing and thick cloud and only meager bombing results were claimed. There are no losses.

MEDITERRANEAN: Italian torpedo boat 'Circe' sinks the British submarine HMS 'Tempest' off Taranto.

Admiral Erich Raeder, head of the German Navy, brings a new plan to Chancellor Adolf Hitler. Raeder proposes that the Germans drive through Libya, into Egypt, and keep on going through Iraq, Iran, and all the way to India, thus drying up Britain's oil supply, hooking up with the Japanese, and winning the war. To do so, the German will have to divert more resources to the Mediterranean, starting with massive supplies to North Africa. To do that, the Germans will have to invade Malta. Hitler orders the Luftwaffe's Air Fleet 2 to hammer Malta and knock out its airfields and will to resist. General Erwin Rommel, commanding the Afrika Korps, who will lead the drive to India, thinks it's a great idea.

WESTERN FRONT: During the night of the 13-14th, RAF Bomber Command dispatches 28 bombers to Le Havre but they encounter icing and thick cloud and only meager bombing results were claimed. There are no losses.