This day in the war in Europe 65 years ago

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14 February 1942

GERMANY: During the night of the 14/15th, 98 aircraft of RAF Bomber Command attack Mannheim; a Hampden and a Whitley are lost. Sixty seven aircraft claimed to have bombed the city in difficult conditions however, the Germans report only a light raid, with two buildings destroyed, 15 damaged, some railway damage and with one man wounded and 23 people bombed out.

NORTH AMERICA: "This Is War!," a 30-minute 13-week anti-fascist radio series, debuts this Saturday night at 1900 hours Eastern Time. This is the only radio series to air on all four networks, The Blue Network, CBS, Mutual and NBC. The program features such Hollywood stars as James Stewart, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., and Tyrone Power in shows that promote the Army, Navy, and Air Force and help Americans understand themselves and the enemy.

Movie Director Frank Capra is called up for duty with the Army Signal Corps.

UNITED KINGDOM: The Area Bombing Directive is issued to the RAF Bomber Command. It states that raids "should now be focused on the morale of the enemy civil population and, in particular, of the industrial workers." This represents a substantial shift in policy and targets civilian residential areas rather than factories.

WESTERN FRONT: During the night of 14/15th, 15 RAF Bomber Command aircraft attack Le Havre while one Manchester flies a leaflet mission. There are no losses.

 

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15 February 1942

ATLANTIC OCEAN: A Brazilian merchant ship is torpedoed and sunk by German submarine 'U-432' 30 miles (48 kilometers) southwest of Cape Henry, Virginia.

MEDITERRANEAN: Two merchant vessels on a convoy to Malta are sunk.

WESTERN FRONT: During the night of the 15-16th, RAF Bomber Command dispatches ten Whitleys and six Halifaxes to attack the port area at St Nazaire; only nine aircraft bomb visually, in cloudy conditions. No aircraft are lost but three crash in England.

 

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16 February 1942

ATLANTIC OCEAN: The German Unternehmen NEULAND begins with simultaneous attacks on Dutch and Venezuelan oil ports to disrupt production and flow of petroleum products vital to the Allied war effort; German submarine 'U-156' shells a refinery on Aruba, Netherlands West Indies, and torpedoes
and damages a U.S. merchant tanker as she lies alongside Eagle Dock; a second torpedo misses the ship and runs up on the beach. There are no casualties among the 37-man crew. The enemy does not emerge from the action unscathed, however, for the explosion of a shell prematurely in a gun barrel injures two men on board 'U-156', which will receive permission to put in to French Martinique Island.

GERMANY: During the night of the 16-17th, RAF Bomber Command dispatches 37 Hampdens and 12 Manchesters to the Frisian Islands; one Hampden and one Manchester are lost. Eighteen Wellingtons fly roving commissions over Northern Germany, eight aircraft bomb Bremen, seven bomb Aurich, two hit Oldenburg, one hit Wilhemshaven.

NORTH AMERICA: The US Navy launches a new battleship, the USS 'Alabama'.

WESTERN FRONT: During the night of the16-17th, RAF Bomber Command dispatches 11 aircraft to drop leaflets in France.

During the night of the 16-17th, two RAF Bomber Command bombers hit Schipol Airfield in Amsterdam and Sosterberg Airfield.

Eight RAF Bostons, of No. 88 and 226 Squadrons, commenced the first regular operations with this new type the of day bomber. They searched for German shipping off the Dutch coast without success or loss.

 

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17 February 1942

EASTERN FRONT: In Russia, the Soviet Army struggles to push the German lines back near Rhzev, on the Moscow front. The Soviet Air Force drops 7,373 Soviet paratroopers behind German lines amid fog; more than a quarter fall directly onto German lines and are taken prisoner.

GERMANY: During the night of the 17-18th, 12 RAF Bomber Command bombers are sent on a roving commission over northwestern Germany but visibility is poor and most bombing results are unobserved; eight other aircraft bomb the city of Essen.

NORTH AFRICA: General Sir Claude Auchinleck, Commander in Chief Middle East Command, is ordered to release two more divisions for action in the Far East, the British 70th and the Australian 9th. The Australian 9th Division is subsequently allowed to remain in Middle East.

UNITED KINGDOM: The House of Commons holds a debate on the escape of the German ships from Brest, France. Prime Minister Winston Churchill announces the formation of a commission of inquiry under Mr. Justice Bucknill.

WESTERN FRONT: During the night of the 17-18th, three RAF Bomber Command Hampdens drop leaflets over Paris. Five Bostons of RAF Bomber Command fly an uneventful shipping search off the Dutch coast. RAF Bomber Command dispatches one Whitley during the night to drop leaflets over Oslo.

 

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18 February 1942

ATLANTIC OCEAN: A Brazilian tanker is torpedoed and sunk by German submarine 'U-432' about 78 miles (126 kilometers) northeast of Norfolk, Virginia.

The Free French submarine 'Surcouf', then the largest submarine in the world, is sunk in a collision with a U.S. merchant ship near the entrance to the Panama Canal. There are no survivors of the 130- man crew.

UNITED KINGDOM: British miners are exempted from soap rationing.

WESTERN FRONT: An armed U.S. freighter is torpedoed by German submarine 'U-161' while lying at anchor at Port of Spain, Trinidad; there are no casualties among the 36-man merchant crew and 9-man Armed Guard.

During the night of the 18-19th, six RAF Bomber Command aircraft drop leaflets over Paris and Lille.

During the night of the 18-19th, RAF Bomber Command dispatches 25 Hampdens on a mining mission over the West Frisian Islands.

The USN destroyer USS 'Truxtun' (DD-229) and stores issuing ship USS 'Pollux' (AKS-2) run aground during storm near Placentia Bay; the former just east of Ferryland Point and the latter off LawnPoint. Minesweeper USS 'Brant' (AM-24) arrives on scene and contributes rescue parties as well as brings medical officer and corpsmen from destroyer tender and Support Force flagship, the destroyer tender USS 'Prairie' (AD-15). The tragedy produces deep admiration for the lifesaving efforts of the local population.

"Hardly a dozen men from both ships would have been saved," one observer writes later, "had it not been for the superb work of the local residents."

Many men jeopardize their own lives frequently to save the American sailors; several hang by lines over the cliffs to keep survivors from dragging over sharp rocks as they are pulled up from the beach below; others go out in a dory, risking swamping several times in the rough waves; after working all day rescuing USS 'Truxtun's' people, some of the local inhabitants then toil all night rescuing USS 'Pollux's' men with a stamina that defies description. Though poor, the men, women, and children of the town of St. Lawrence turn out to outfit the ;

"....survivors with blankets, warm clothes, boots, fed them, cleaned them up as best they could and turned them in their own beds."

Subsequently, they turn a deaf ear to offers to pay for food and clothing used in succoring the shipwrecked Americans.

 

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19 February 1942

ATLANTIC OCEAN: An unarmed U.S. tanker is torpedoed and sunk by German submarine 'U-128' about 20 miles off Cape Canaveral, Florida and an armed U.S. freighter is torpedoed and sunk by German submarine 'U-96' in the North Atlantic, about 300 miles west-southwest of St. Johns, Newfoundland. Although 'U-96' sees three lifeboats pull away from the ship, no survivors from the 30-man merchant complement or the seven-man Armed Guard are ever found.

The transport USS 'William P. Biddle' (AP-15) arrives at Guantanamo Bay and disembarks the USMC's 9th Defense Battalion.

GERMANY: During the night of 19-20th, seven RAF Bomber Command Wellingtons visually bomb Essen.

NORTH AMERICA: The Canadian Parliament votes to introduce military conscription. (A note on Canadian conscription - although Canada had conscription the draftees were only to serve on the home front and not til late 44 that any consripted troops were sent overseas. According to Wiki only 2463 went overseas and 79 lost their lives. [contributed by pbfoot.])

President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs Executive Order 9066, authorizing the removal of any or all people from military areas "as deemed necessary or desirable." The military in turn defines the entire West Coast, home to the majority of Americans of Japanese ancestry or citizenship, as a military area. By June, more than 110,000 Japanese Americans were relocated to remote internment camps built by the U.S. military in scattered locations around the country. For the next two and a half years, many of these Japanese Americans endured extremely difficult living conditions and poor treatment by their military guards.

General Dwight D. Eisenhower is appointed as Chief of the War Plans Division for the US Army.

UNITED KINGDOM: Prime Minister Winston Churchill announces changes in the War Cabinet. It now has seven members instead of nine. Out went Lord Beaverbrook, who ceases to be minister of production. He had often been at loggerheads with Ernest Bevin, the powerful minister of labour. Out also went Sir Kingsley Wood, the chancellor of the exchequer, and Arthur Greenwood, the minister without portfolio. In came Sir Stafford Cripps, the darling of Labour's discontented left-wingers. Clement Attlee, Labour's leader, is now to remain deputy prime minister.

WESTERN FRONT : During the night, two RAF Bomber Command aircraft drop leaflets on Paris and Lille.

Police arrest several French Resistance leaders, including the philosopher Georges Politzer.

After their arrest by the order of French Premier Marshal Henri Petain, General Maurice Gamelin, former Commander in Chief of Allied Forces in France, and former Prime Ministers, Paul Reynaud and Leon Blum are put on trial, in Riom, for the French loss in this war. The defendants present evidence which tends to implicate the entire French military establishment, many of whom are now serving in the Vichy Government. The trial is adjourned and never completed.

 

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20 February 1942

ATLANTIC OCEAN: German submarines sink 2 US freighters. One is an unarmed U.S. freighter sunk by German submarine 'U-432' about 125 miles (201 kilometers) east-southeast of Ocean City, Maryland. There are no survivors from the 38-man crew.

An armed U.S. freighter is torpedoed by German submarine 'U-156' about 60 miles (97 kilometers) west of Martinique. The 52 crewmen are rescued by the small seaplane tender USS 'Lapwing' (AVP-1) and then scuttles the irreparably damaged merchantman with gunfire.

German submarine 'U-156' puts in to the French island of Martinique in the Caribbean to put ashore one of the men wounded by the premature barrel explosion on 16 February.

EASTERN FRONT: German casualties in the USSR so far are 199,448 dead, 708,351 wounded, 44,342 missing and 112,627 cases of severe frostbite.

GERMANY: The German naval warships, 'Admiral Scheer' and 'Prinz Eugen' leave BrŸnsbuttel for Norway.

NORTH AMERICA: The US supplies the USSR with a $1,000 million loan.

US Admiral William D. Leahy writes to President Roosevelt that he expects a recall "for consultation" since the French have not responded positively to Roosevelt's message of 11 February. President Roosevelt, while sympathetic to Admiral Leahy's position, subsequently informs his ambassador to Vichy that;

"to hold the fort [in Vichy] is as important a military task as any other in these days."

Leahy is thus retained in France.

UNITED KINGDOM: Major General Ira C. Eaker, who is to command the USAAF VIII Bomber Command, 8th Air Force, arrives by air with six staff officers to select a headquarters site and prepare for the arrival of American troops; he reports to Major General James E. Chaney, Commanding General U.S. Army Forces, British Isles (USAFI).

 

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21 February 1942

ATLANTIC OCEAN: An unarmed U.S. tanker is torpedoed by German submarine 'U-504' about three miles (4,8 kilometers) east of Jupiter Inlet, Florida.

An unarmed U.S. tanker is torpedoed and sunk by German submarine 'U-67' about 225 miles (362 kilometers) west of Aruba, Netherlands East Indies.

On convoy escort destroyer HMS 'Montgomery' rescued the survivors of 'Scottish Standard'. USS 'Wickes' (DD-75), was commissioned as HMS 'Montgomery' (G-95) on 25 Oct. 1940.

EASTERN FRONT: The Soviet Army surrounds part of the German 16.Armee at Vyazma, a city northwest of Moscow. The Luftwaffe will airlift supplies to the Vyazma garrison until it is rescued in April. The same air supply tactic will fail next year at Stalingrad.

GERMANY: During the night of the 20-21st, 21 RAF Bomber Command aircraft visually bomb eight cities. Six bomb Koblenz, five bomb Mannheim, three bomb Frankfurt-am- Main, two each bomb Aachen and Cologne, and one each bombs Darmstadt, Dortmund and Karlsruhe.

NORTHERN FRONT: During the night of the 20-21st, eight RAF Bomber Command aircraft attack four airfields to provide a diversion for a Fleet Air Arm strike from the aircraft carrier HMS 'Victorious' on the German heavy cruiser 'Prinz Eugen', which had taken shelter in a Norwegian fjord near Trondheim after being torpedoed and damaged by the submarine HMS 'Trident'. The Fleet Air Arm strike was not successful, because of poor weather conditions. Five aircraft attack Lista and one each attack Christiansand, Mandel and Stavanger. The aircraft attacking Stavanger is lost.

WESTERN FRONT: During the night of the 20-21st, one RAF Bomber Command aircraft visually bombs the port area at Ostend.

During the night of the 20-21st, two RAF Bomber Command Manchesters drop mines off the West Frisian Islands.

US Ambassador Admiral William D. Leahy USN (Retired), receives an instruction to see French Vice Premier Admiral Jean Darlan immediately about German submarine U-156's receiving assistance at Martinique. Unless the Vichy French can assure the U.S. government that no Axis ships or planes will be allowed to enter French ports or territory in the Western Hemisphere, and that unless such assurances are rigidly maintained, the United States...

"will take such action in the interest of security of the Western Hemisphere as it may judge necessary and in accordance with existing inter-American obligations. "

Leahy writes in his diary that everything points to his early recall to Washington "for consultation."

 

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22 February 1942

ATLANTIC OCEAN: Two U.S. tankers are sunk off the coast of Florida by German submarines:
(1) an armed tanker is torpedoed and sunk by 'U-128' 25 miles (40 kilometers) east of the city of Melbourne; six of the nine Armed Guards and 30 of the 41-man crew are rescued;
(2) an unarmed tanker is torpedoed and sunk by 'U-504' about 41 miles (66 kilometers) northeast of West Palm Beach; only one of the 36-man crew survives. An unarmed U.S. freighter is torpedoed and sunk by German submarine 'U-129' about 125 miles (201 kilometers) southeast of Trinidad, British West Indies.

GERMANY: During the night of the 22-23d, 36 RAF Bomber Command aircraft attempt to bomb the floating dock at Wilhelmshaven which the Germans might be using to repair the battleships 'Scharnhorst' or 'Gneisenau'. The area was cloud-covered and bombs were mostly released on the estimated position of the city. Three other aircraft bomb the city of Emden.

UNITED KINGDOM: HQ of U.S. Army Bomber Command, U.S. Army Forces, British Isles (USAFBI), is established under Major General Ira C. Eaker. Hugh Dalton is appointed president of the British board of trade. Air Marshall Arthur Harris is appointed Head of Bomber Command for the RAF. Amplifying the above: He first went to war against the Germans with the 1st Rhodesian Regiment in South-west Africa in 1915. He has 20 years experience of bombing. He learnt the hard way - flying worn-out Bristol Fighters on punitive raids against the tribesmen of the North-West Frontier, and Vickers Vernon transports fitted with bomb racks against Iraqi rebels. He has since commanded No. 4 Bomber Group and, for a year of the war, No 5 Bomber Group.Known to his friends as "Bert", he is a prickly individual and no respecter of authority. It is possibly for this reason that he has caught the eye of Churchill. He believes in strategic bombing and can be relied on to carry out Bomber Command's new orders to attack German civilian morale. He faces opposition, however, from those who regard his command as a costly diversion of resources.

WESTERN FRONT: During the night of the 22-23d, three RAF Bomber Command aircraft bomb the port area of Ostend.

Stulpnagel has a farewell tea in the Paris Talleyrand with Ernst Junger. Junger describes him ;

"In him, delicacy, grace, suppleness, are oddly mixed, suggesting a ballet master, with features like wooden guignol, melancholy and maniacal. He had sent for about the question of hostages, because he was most concerned that the record in the future be accurate. Beside, the question is the only one which has to do with his departure. Seen from the outside, he displays the grand proconsular power of someone in his position, and there is no way of learning the secret history of the quarrels and intrigues within the palace walls. The story is filled out with the struggle against the embassy and the Nazi party in France, the latter slowly gaining ground, without the Army High Command lending its support to the general."

Stulpnagel goes on to say that the campaign in Russia is taking an unexpected turn and he considered that Germany's tactical interests lay in securing its empire with the minimum of force. If you're wondering who these people are: Stulpnagel is the Milit`rbefehlsaber (German Military Governor) of Paris. Ernst Junger is a German writer who at the time was a member of Stulpnagel's staff, and kept a diary.

 

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23 February 1942

ATLANTIC OCEAN: Two U.S. merchant ships are attacked by German submarines:
(1) An armed freighter is torpedoed by 'U-161' about 275 miles(443 kilometers) west of Martinique; the damaged ship engages the sub in a surface gunnery action before the freighter is subsequently abandoned and the crew rescued. An attempt is made to tow the ship to St. Lucia but she sinks short of the island.
(2) An unarmed tanker is torpedoed by 'U-502' about 54 miles (87 kilometers) north of Aruba, and although initially abandoned is reboarded. She is ultimately repaired and returned to service; there are no casualties among the 36-man crew.

EASTERN FRONT: Soviet troops capture Dorogobuzh on the Dniepr River. German reports that day say that a partisan camp of more than 500 men armed with heavy machine guns and anti-tank guns, is located east of Minsk. In the Cherven region, partisans;

"have strict orders not to start any action, only to attack and destroy German search parties."

GERMANY: During the night of the 23-24th RAF Bomber Command dispatches 23 Hampdens on minelaying mission off Wilhelmshaven and Heligoland. One aircraft lost.

MEDITERRANEAN: Italian dictator Benito Mussolini delivers a speech in Rome stating,

"We call bread bread and wine wine, and when the enemy wins a battle it is useless and ridiculous to seek, as the English do in their incomparable hypocrisy, to deny or diminish it."

NORTH AMERICA:The USN's Bureau of Aeronautics outlines a comprehensive program which became the basis for the wartime expansion of pilot training. In place of the existing seven months course, the new program required 11 months for pilots of single or twin-engine aircraft and 12 months for four-engine pilots, and is divided into three months at Induction Centers, three months in Primary, three months in Intermediate and two or three months in Operational Training, depending on the type aircraft used.

NORTHERN FRONT: Submarine HMS 'Trident' (Cmdr. Sladen) sights KMS 'Prinz Eugen', in the North Sea, and fires three torpedoes, one of which hits aft, damaging 'Prinz Eugen's' rudder and blowing away 30 feet of her stern. She is taken into Lo Fjord at Drontheim, and temporary repairs (including the fitting of two jury rudders) is completed by the beginning of May (1942).

UNITED KINGDOM: Prime Minister Winston Churchill informs Australian Prime Minister John Curtin that the convoy carrying the Australian 6th and 7th Divisions will proceed to Australian after refueling at Colombo, Ceylon.

HQ of the USAAF's VIII Bomber Command is established at Daws Hill Lodge, High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, England; Major General Ira C Eaker assumes command.

 

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24 February 1942

EASTERN FRONT: Some 764 Romanian Jewish refugees heading for Palestine are killed when a Soviet submarine sinks their steamer 'Struma' in the Black Sea. The Romanian ship 'Struma' sailed from Constansa under the command of a Bulgarian captain, G.T. Gorbatenkoin, and flying the Panamanian flag. There are 747 Romanian Jews on board, many from the town of Barland, their hope was to reach Palestine. After three days at sea, the 'Struma' anchored off the outer harbour at Instanbul, with engine trouble. Here she awaited British permission to proceed to Palestine, permission which the British refused, one reason given was;

"It will encourage a flood of refugees"

Turkey, for some unknown reason, likewise refused them to disembark although the local Jewish community, who were already running a camp for Displaced Persons, were quite willing to take the 'Struma's' passengers and were in the meantime supplying them with food and water. One of the passengers, Medeea Marcovici, suffered an embolism and was transferred to the Jewish hospital in Instanbul. She was granted a visa for Palestine and died in 1996. After two months at Instanbul with engines that were damaged beyond repair, conditions on board became appalling, many of the passengers now suffering from dysentery and malnutrition. Eventually the Turkish police arrived to tow the 'Struma' out into the Black Sea. The British had exerted strong pressure on Turkey to pursue this course. The enraged passengers fought them off, but a second attempt, where force was used, succeeded and the 'Struma' was towed out and cast adrift outside Turkish territorial waters. This inhuman decision by the Turkish and British governments was to destroy the special relationship between Britain and the Zionist Jews. On the water for 74 days since leaving Conatansa, the 'Struma', hopelessly overcrowded, and with no country willing to accept them, was suddenly torpedoed and sunk by the Russian submarine SHCH-213 commanded by Lt. Col. Isaev, just ten miles from Instanbul. All on board, a total of 796 persons, perished except one, nineteen year old David Stoljar who today (1999) lives in Oregon USA.The British High Commissioner in Palestine, Sir Harold MacMichael, stated:

'The fate of these people was tragic, but the fact remains that they were nationals of a country at war with Britain, proceeding direct from enemy territory. Palestine was under no obligations towards them".

Six German divisions cut off at Demyansk, in the northern sector of the Moscow front are defying all the Red Army's efforts to crush them. The Demyansk pocket and other similarly defended localities are frustrating the Soviet offensive. One remarkable aspect of the Demyansk operation is that the 100,000 men in the pocket are completely cut off and are being supplied with food, fuel and ammunition by air. All types of aircraft are being used. Junkers Ju52 transports are the main workhorses, but bombers are also carrying in supplies. They are protected by every available Messerschmidt Bf109, but the Russians are having a field day, while other bombers are being shot down by a flak corridor set up by the USSR. Supplies are also being airlifted into another fiercely defended pocket, or "hedgehog", around Kholm. It is even more dangerous here, for the airfield is in range of Russian artillery and the Germans are being forced to drop supplies by parachute or land them by glider. The effect of the "hedgehogs" is the break up the cohesion of the Russian front. The Russians cannot maintain their offensive and the Germans cannot regroup effectively. Both sides are now showing signs of exhaustion. The Germans lose more men from frostbite than from gunshot, and the Russians are simply running out of steam.

NORTH AMERICA: The Voice of America shortwave radio station broadcasts for the first time with the words,

"The Voice of America speaks. ... we shall speak to you about America and the war. The news may be good or bad, but we shall tell you the truth."

Its first programs are in German.

The USN's Bureau of Aeronautics issues a contract for television equipment, including camera, transmitter, and receiver, that is capable of airborne operation. Such equipment promises to be useful both in transmitting instrument readings obtained from radio-controlled structural flight tests, and in providing target and guidance information necessary should radio-controlled aircraft be converted to offensive weapons.

The US gun manufacturers stop production of 12 gauge shotguns for civilian consumption as they converted to war production.

 

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25 February 1942

ATLANTIC OCEAN: Five U-boats - four of them outward bound from their Biscay bases and fully loaded with torpedoes - have caused havoc with one of the first convoys to leave the United States for Europe. The convoy was sighted 600 miles north-east of Cape Race and trailed until the submarines formed a hunting pack and struck. In the three-day battle that followed, eight ships - six of them large tankers - were sunk. The U-boats escaped unscathed.

EASTERN FRONT: Black Sea Fleet and Azov Flotilla: Shipping loss: MS "TSch-405 "Vzrivatel"" - by field artillery, close to Eupatoria (later raised) (Sergey Anisimov)(69)

GERMANY: During the night of 25-26th, RAF Bomber Command dispatches 61 aircraft, 43 Wellingtons, 12 Manchesters and six Stirlings, to visually bomb a the floating drydock at Kiel; 36 aircraft bomb the target. In the bombing of the harbor area, the accommodation ship 'Monte Sarmiento' is hit and burnt out with the loss of 120-130 lives; 16 people are also killed and 39 injured in the town. Three Wellingtons are lost. Nine Hampdens also fly a mining mission along the coast.

MEDITERRANEAN: British submarine HMS P38 is sunk off the coast of Tunisia by Italian destroyers.

British Commandoes land on the Italian held Island of Castelorizzo in the Dodecanese Islands.

NORTH AMERICA: In Washington, the Air War Plans Division recommends the removal of Operation GYMNAST (an early Allied plan for the seizure of Casablanca and the invasion of Northwest Africa) from the list of current projects. This proposal, if adopted, would leave the 8th Air Force uncommitted to any operation.

UNITED KINGDOM: The debate that began in the House of Commons yesterday comes to a close with many speakers being sharply critical of government policy, with the bombing of Germany being called into question. Sir Stafford Cripps makes a speech asking why so many resources are being spent on building up Bomber Command. Major General James E Chaney, Commanding General US Army Forces in British Isles (USAFBI), instructs Brigadier General Ira C Eaker and the staff of the VIII Bomber Command to proceed to HQ, RAF Bomber Command for a study of bombing operations, and to make reconnaissance of certain airfields and submit plans for the reception and assignment of US Army Air Forces units.

WESTERN FRONT: During the night of the 25-26th, three RAF Bomber Command aircraft drop leaflets on Paris and Lille.

Galtier-Boissire's diary notes more arrests by the Gestapo. "Marie-Claude, daughter of Lucille Vogel and widow of Vaillant-Couturier".

During the night of the 25-26th, RAF Bomber Command dispatches 21 Whitleys to bomb aluminum factories at Heroya and Odda. These areas are cloud covered and the Whitleys return without bombing.

 

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26 February 1942

ATLANTIC OCEAN: Two U.S. merchant ships are sunk off the U.S. coast by German U-boats:
(1) an unarmed bulk carrier is torpedoed, shelled, and sunk by 'U-432' about 55 miles (89 kilometers) east-northeast of Cape Hattaras, North Carolina.
(2) an armed tanker is torpedoed by 'U-578' 5 miles (8 kilometers) off Sea Girt, Delaware.

EASTERN FRONT: The Soviet Army engages the German 16.Armee near Starya Russa, inflicting heavy casualties.

GERMANY: During the night of the 25/26th, RAF Bomber Command dispatches 49 aircraft, 33 Wellingtons, ten Hampdens and six Halifaxes, to attack the floating drydock at Kiel; 26 aircraft bomb the target. Crews claimed good results in clear weather with bombs close to the floating dock. A high-explosive bomb scored a direct hit on the bows of the battleship 'Gneisenau', causing severe damage and killing 116 men in the crew. This proved to be the end of 'Gneisenau' as a fighting unit. Bombing in the town of Kiel destroyed several houses and killed 16 people. Two Wellingtons and a Halifax are lost. Individual aircraft bomb Flensburg and Husum.

NORTH AFRICA: Prime Minister Winston Churchill exhorts General Claude Auchinleck, Commander in Chief Middle East Command to launch an offensive against the German and Italian forces that are gathering in front of the Gazala line. He reminds Auchinleck that the longer he waits, the more time General Erwin Rommel will have to rebuild his strength. To this General Auchinleck replies that his intention is to first build up an armored striking force as quickly as possible and strengthen the defenses of the Gazala line. Only then would he mount a major offensive, which he advised Churchill would be in early June. The British XIII Corps is made responsible for defenses organized in depth over 36-mile (58 kilometer) area from Gazala to Bir Hacheim. The British XXX Corps prepares defensive positions on the frontier and has a detachment at Giarabub.

NORTH AMERICA: Soviet Ambassador to the U.S. Maxim Litvinov demands the Allies open a second front. He states that;

"only by simultaneous offensive operations on two or more of the fronts can Hitler's armed forces be disposed of."

Canadian Prime Minister MacKenzie King orders the evacuation of all persons of Japanese ancestry from the coastal regions of British Columbia.

UNITED KINGDOM: The British government outlines a building plan to boost employment and provide cheap housing for all after the war.

WESTERN FRONT: During the night of the 25/26th, two RAF Hampdens drop leaflets on Paris.

1000 Jews have already been arrested in Paris on General Stulpnagel's orders. Adolf Eichmann cables Lischka to arrange to deport as a preliminary measure resulting from the Wannsee conference.

 

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27 February 1942

GERMANY: RAF Bomber Command fly three missions during the night of the 27th-28th: 68 aircraft, 33 Wellingtons, 17 Manchesters and 18 Hampdens, are dispatched to bomb the drydock at Kiel; the area is completely cloud-covered and only 50 aircraft bombed the approximate position of Kiel but, although Kiel reports hearing the planes, no bombs dropped in the town. No aircraft were lost. (2) In a second mission, 33 aircraft are dispatched to bomb the battleship 'Scharnhorst', which is believed to be at Wilhelmshaven, but the cloud was present here also; 26 aircraft drop their bombs but Wilhelmshaven reports only three bombs exploding, in the water of the harbor; three Whitleys are lost. (3) In the final mission, 11 Hampdens and four Manchesters lay mines in the Frisian Islands without loss.

NORTH AMERICA: President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs an executive order authorizing the creation of the Joint Mexican-U.S. Defense Commission.

WESTERN FRONT: In a daring raid on France tonight British Parachute Regiment soldiers seized top-secret German RDF (radar) equipment. The paras had been trained for this operation, jumping at night into snow near the clifftop target at Bruneval, near Le Havre. The leader, Major John Frost, blew four blasts on his whistle to signal the attack and charged with four men through the front door of the enemy chateau overlooking the site, shooting as he went. Royal Engineers, guarded by paratroopers, tore out the aerial and other essential parts of the Wurzburg tracking device with crowbars. Enemy bullets hit the equipment as they worked. For a time afterwards it seemed as if the escape route down a cliff to a beach rendezvous was blocked by a clifftop machine-gun post, whose bullets hit Sergeant-Major Strachan in the stomach. Then a team of paras which had landed off the drop zone joined the fight after a forced march. Hit by crossfire - and a Gaelic battle cry as the enemy attacked - the German gunners fled. On the beach, survivors of the raid waited, but at first no-one responded to Frost's signals calling in the boats. As his men prepared to fight to the last round, the word was passed:

"The ruddy Navy's here!"

The paras embarked with the secret equipment and, as instructed, brought with them a captured RDF operator. They lost three dead and six captured. There was one RAF Radar expert, Flight Sergeant C.W.H. Cox. not a Royal Engineer, who identified and stripped out the vital components. To add to the drama he had never been in a boat or an aircraft before the raid. Due to an amazingly stupid senior officer, the Radar expert had to wear army uniform and wasn't allowed to dress or carry papers that would have made him look like another para. As a result, he stood out like a sore thumb and had an escort who had orders to shoot him if he looked like he was to be captured, as he was trained in British radar. It takes courage to go on a mission like that, but to go when you know your own side will shoot you to stop you being captured, is something very special. (contributed by Glider.)

 

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28 February 1942

ATLANTIC OCEAN: At the first light of dawn, German submarine 'U-578' fires a spread of torpedoes at destroyer USS 'Jacob Jones' (DD-130) operating about 38 miles (61 kilometers) east-northeast of Ocean City, Maryland. The first torpedo strikes just aft of the bridge and apparently exploded the ship's magazine; the resulting blast sheered off everything forward of the point of impact, destroying completely the bridge, the chart room, and the officers' and petty officers' quarters. As she stopped dead in the water, unable to signal a distress message, a second torpedo struck about 40 feet (12 meters) forward of the fantail and carried away the after part of the ship above the keel plates and shafts and destroyed the after crew's quarters. Only the midships section was left intact. All but 25 or 30 officers and men were killed by the explosions. 'Jacob Jones' remained afloat for about 45 minutes, allowing her survivors to clear the stricken ship in four or five rafts; only 12 men are rescued.

An unarmed U.S. tanker is torpedoed, shelled, and sunk by German submarine 'U-156' about 170 miles (274 kilometers) northwest of San Juan, Puerto Rico; the crew of 'U-156' machineguns the tanker crew trying to launch one of the lifeboats, killing six men. A total of 30 men survive the sinking.

EASTERN FRONT: 10,000 Jews from Lodz, Poland were gassed at Chelmo this week, while 4,618 Jews have died of starvation in the Warsaw ghetto.

GERMANY: The use of cars, in Germany, other than for war work is banned.

WESTERN FRONT: Six RAF Bomber Command Blenheims, with a fighter escort, bomb the port area without loss.

 

[syscom3]

1 March 1942

ATLANTIC OCEAN: A PBO-1 Hudson of Navy Patrol Squadron Eighty Two (VP-82) based at NAS Argentia, Newfoundland, that was flying support for convoy ON.72, bombs and sinks German submarine 'U-656' (Type VIIC) about 35 miles south of Cape Race, Newfoundland position 46.15N, 53.15W. All 45 hands on the U-boat are lost. The Hudson PBO-1 was one of 20 Lend-Lease Hudson IIIA's used by the USN to equip one squadron. These aircraft sank the first 2 U-boats sunk by the USN, 'U-656' on 1 March, 1942 and 'U-503' on 15 March.

EASTERN FRONT: German General Halder issues a staff analysis that German losses in the war with the USSR have already reached 1.5 million.

The people of Leningrad are in a pitiable condition. More than 100,000 died of starvation last month, and there is no sign of the siege being lifted. There are fears that their rations will be cut even further with the coming of the spring thaw. With great ingenuity the defenders have laid a light railway across the frozen surface of Lake Ladoga. Supplies are now coming in by the railway and by truck convoys across the ice from Tiklvin, on the eastern side of the lake, which was recaptured by the Red Army on 8 December after ferocious fighting. When the ice melts, however, this life-line will disappear and the besieged city will have to relay on small ships running the gauntlet of the Stukas in almost perpetual daylight. Another worry for the authorities is that when the thaws come thousands of bodies hastily buried in snow drifts - because the ground is frozen too hard to dig graves - will be exposed and bring epidemics to people already suffering from the diseases of malnutrition. Some 300,000 of the strongest people have been organized into gangs to clean up the city once the ice melts. The Leningraders are determined that their city will come to life again. It must be emphasised that the real heroes of this siege are the ordinary people who, by tremendous courage, are managing to survive an almost impossible ordeal. The Soviet advance comes to a halt during March and the battle line remains about the same throughout month, despite continued fighting on all fronts. The Germans are unable to relieve their isolated II.Armeekorps (General of the Infantry Walter Graf von Brockdorff-Ahlenfeldt), 16.Armee, southeast of Staraya Russa, but succeed in withdrawing the salient southwest of Kaluga. The Germans also contain Soviet attacks on the southern front, which are extended to region east of Kharkov.

NORTH AMERICA: The Canadian Women's Army Corps is granted full Army status as "a Corps of the Active Militia of Canada."

The owners of the major league baseball clubs consider the question of whether players in the military can play for the clubs if they are on furlough or based near a game site? The owners decide against it.

 

[syscom3]

2 March 1942

EASTERN FRONT: Minsk: The Germans shoot dead 5,000 Jews.

In Hungary, the government breaks diplomatic relations with Brazil.

MEDITERRANEAN: The Turkish government closes the Dardanelles to all ships without Turkish captains.

NORTH AMERICA: Regularly scheduled operations by the U.S. Naval Air Transport Service are inaugurated with an R4D Skytrain flight from NAS Norfolk, Virginia, to NRAB Squantum, Massachusetts.

UNITED KINGDOM: The second U.S. Army increment (8,555 personnel) of the MAGNET Force, the movement of the first U.S. forces to Northern Ireland, arrives in Belfast in a 21-ship convoy plus escorts which sailed from Brooklyn, New York on 19 February. Among the arriving troops is the 34th Infantry Division headquarters and parts of the 133d and 168th Infantry. American strength in Northern Ireland on this date is reported as 10,433 (including 534 officers, 70 nurses, and 2 warrant officers).

WESTERN FRONT: Four RAF Bomber Command Bostons attacked ships off Den Helder without loss.

 

[syscom3]

3 March 1942

ATLANTIC OCEAN: An unarmed U.S. freighter is torpedoed and sunk by German submarine 'U-129' about 250 miles northeast of Paramaribo, Dutch Guiana.

EASTERN FRONT: Chelmno: An estimated 3,200 Jews from Zychlin are gassed.

GERMANY: Four RAF Bomber Command Wellingtons jettisoned their bombs over Emden during the night of the 3rd/4th; one Wellington was lost. Four Lancasters with No.44 Squadron fly a minelaying mission in Heligoland Bight; this was the first Lancaster mission of the war.

NORTH AMERICA: The Combined Chiefs of Staff (CCS) take under consideration a recommendation to continue Operation SUPERGYMNAST, the projected plan to combine the US and British plans for the seizure of Dakar, Casablanca and Tunisia, as an "academic study" only. Thus the proposed Northwest African venture (Operation GYMNAST) ceases to affect the USAAF 8th Air Force until it is revived later as Operation TORCH.

The War Production Board decrees that suits for men and boys no longer will have trouser cuffs and pleats, vests and patch pockets.

WESTERN FRONT: RAF Bomber Command dispatches 235 aircraft, 89 Wellingtons, 48 Hampdens, 29 Stirlings, 26 Manchesters, 23 Whitleys and 20 Halifaxes to bomb the Bellincourt Renault Factory during the night of the 3rd-4th. The Renault factory, in the town of Boulogne-Billancourt just west of the center of Paris, was making an estimated 18,000 trucks a year for the German forces. The aircraft were dispatched in three waves, the crews of the leading wave being selected for their experience. The plan called for the massed use of flares and a very low bombing level so that crews could hit the factory without too many bombs falling in the surrounding town. There were no Flak defences. The target was bombed by 223 aircraft which caused serious damage to production facilities; unfortunately, some bombs fall off target, hitting nearby houses, killing 500 Frenchmen, including whole families. Only one Wellington is lost. The main raid lasted 1 hour and 50 minutes. One aircraft bombed the port area at Dieppe while two Whitleys drop leaflets over Paris.

"We were returning with Robert Rey from dining near the Opera', wrote Galtier-Boissire, 'when the antiaircraft opened up violently, making the ground shake. Away to the west there was a terrific raid. The Pont Neuf was crowded with bystanders who watched the bombing as they would have done a firework display on July 14.'

This, the first massive air-raid on Paris, was targetted on the Renault factory at Boulogne-Billancourt, where tanks were being made for the Heer. The bombing was inaccurate; some 500 killed and three times as many wounded.

The Vichy French government announces that 'official' German figures put the number of French arrested in 1941 at 5,390 and executions at more than 250.

 

[syscom3]

4 March 1942

UNITED KINGDOM: The first 40 Canadian Cruiser Tank Mk.I Rams arrive in England.

NORTH AMERICA: Tarpon Springs, Florida: Petro Botzis, owner of the Central pharmacy here, was advised Monday night by his parents that his younger brother, Anthony Botzis, was lost last week when a tanker was sunk off the eastern coast. Young Botzis was 21 and had been serving as a member of the crew aboard the tanker less than two months. He visited here about five years ago at the time of his brother's marriage and returned several years ago for a short visit.

 

[syscom3]

5 March 1942

ATLANTIC OCEAN: Two unarmed U.S. freighters are sunk by German U-boats:
(1) the first, straggling from convoy HX 178, is torpedoed and sunk by 'U-404' 43 miles southeast of Halifax, Nova Scotia;
(2) the second is torpedoed and sunk by 'U-126' 47 miles north of Grand Turk Island in the Turks and Caicos Islands. There are no survivors from the 36-man crew of the second ship.

EASTERN FRONT: Moscow announces recapture by the Soviet Army of Yukhnov, northwest of Kaluga, on the central front.

MEDITERRANEAN: Chetnik guerrillas commanded by Chetnik leader Major General Draza-Dragoljub Mihajlovic, rout Italian forces in Montenegro.

NORTH AMERICA: The Air Force Combat Command activates HQ XII Interceptor Command at Drew Field, Tampa, Florida.

The Civil Air Patrol (CAP) begins flying antisubmarine patrols off the east coast.

UNITED KINGDOM: Admiral of the Fleet Sir Dudley Pound is replaced by Field Marshall Sir Alan Brooke, Chief of the Imperial General Staff, as Chairman of the British Chiefs of Staff Committee. This appointment improves relations between Prime Minster Winston Churchill and the Committee as Admiral Pound was noted for a strictly maritime point of view.

Winston Churchill proposes to U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt that a U.S. division be sent to New Zealand on the condition that the New Zealand Expeditionary Force remains in the Middle East.

Civil servants' pencil sharpeners are withdrawn to conserve pencils.