Friday 20 March 1942

The MacArthur family (Jean, Arthur, and Douglas) at the Terowie train station on 20 March 1942 (Photo - Terowie Citizens' Ass. Inc.).

The President of the United States ordered me to break through the Japanese lines and proceed from Corregidor to Australia for the purpose, as I understand it, of organizing the American offensive against Japan, a primary object of which is the relief of the Philippines. I came through and I shall return.

The phrase "I shall return" becomes a battle cry for many in the Pacific Theater of Operations. MacArthur does not spend much time at Terowie, where he and his party are only changing trains, but his remarks are broadcast around the world. He has had a long, lonely ride to think up what to say, and he does it right.

"Burma. 20 March 1942. General Sir Archibald Wavell (right) is greeted by General T. J. Hutton, General Officer Commanding in Chief of Burma, upon his arrival at an RAF airfield." Australian War Memorial P02491.106.

Elsewhere, the Japanese remain on the attack. In Burma, the Battle of Yunnan-Burma Road continues with the beginning of the Battle of Oktwin. The Japanese 143rd Regiment, reinforced with cavalry units of the 55th Division, attacks the positions of the Chinese 5th Army Cavalry Regiment north of the Kan River. The Chinese quickly pull back to the north of Toungoo, leaving only one company to keep tabs on the advancing Japanese. There is little to delay the Japanese advance on Toungoo, but the 200th Chinese Division now has had enough time to build defensive positions in the Toungoo area which may be useful. The Japanese have the fresh 18th and 56th divisions, which just arrived by sea at Rangoon over the past few days, available.

The Japanese attempt to neutralize the strong Allied air power in Burma by attacking the American Volunteer Group (AVG) base at Magwe. They also attack "Burwing" (the RAF command in Burma). The British pull back from Tharrawaddy.

The 20 March 1942 Brooklyn Eagle is full of optimism due to the stirring words of General MacArthur in Australia.

In the Philippines, Major General Jonathan Wainwright learns that he has been promoted to the rank of Lieutenant-General. He now is given command of all U.S. forces in the Philippines (USFIP).

Japanese Mitsubishi G4M Navy Type 1 "Betty" bombers attack Broome Airfield in Western Australia. They attack from high altitude and do not cause any damage because most of the bombs miss the airfield completely. One nearby aboriginal is killed by a bomb splinter.

USS South Dakota (BB-57) is commissioned in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It will see heavy action in the Pacific during the second half of 1942 and later serve in the Atlantic for a while before returning to the Pacific.

"USS_Grunion (SS-216), stern view at rest. March 20, 1942, at the Electric Boat Co., Groton, CT. In a little less than 6 months, the boat and all her crew would be M.I.A." (U.S. Navy).

Eastern Front: General Erich von Manstein, commander of the German 11th Army in Crimea, launches a minor counterattack to recover ground lost during the recent Soviet offensives on the Parpach Narrows. The attack is aimed to recover Korpech', a German strongpoint which was the only major Red Army gain in the recent battles. The spearhead of the German/Romanian advance is the 22nd Panzer Division, which is inexperienced and equipped with weak Czech-built Panzer 38(t)s.

The attack goes wrong right from the start, with some of the panzers running into a minefield and others being slowed by thick fog. The Red Army reacts quickly and blocks the advance with a battalion of T-26 tanks and four heavy KV-1 tanks of the 55th Tank Brigade. After losing 32 of 152 tanks damaged or destroyed, Manstein calls off the attack. The one success of the attack is that it disrupts the Soviets' own planned attack in the same area, so it serves as an unintended spoiling attack.

The first flight of Mitsubishi J2M1 Raiden "Jack" was on 20 March 1942. It will make its combat debut in June 1944 at the Battle of the Philippine Sea. The Raiden became a mainstay of the Japanese Air Force in the last year of the war.

On the Volkhov River, the Germans participating in Operation Raubtier have cut off 130,000 Soviet troops to the west. The Red Army finally realizes the danger and General Kirill A. Meretskov’s Volkhov Front launches a determined attempt to relieve the pocket. This bears some fruit and a small opening is achieved through which a limited number of men and supplies can be funneled. However, the Germans are determined to seal their victory and the fierce battle along the river continues. The Soviet relief attempt is insufficient for the trapped Soviet forces to escape, and, in any event, they do not have permission to retreat back across the Volkhov even were that possible.

With Operation Raubtier having accomplished its main mission, the Wehrmacht quickly shifts to the next operation on the docket. This is Operation Brueckenschlag ("Bridge-building"), an attempt to relieve the Demyansk pocket.  There is some doubt whether the trapped men in the Demyansk Pocket can hold out through the Spring thaw ("Rasputitsa"), which is fast approaching, so every day is precious. German resources, especially in the air, are so light that they cannot do even these small operations contemporaneously, but only in sequence. Adolf Hitler personally is ordering these shifts from East Prussia, keeping a close eye on daily developments. The Luftwaffe spends today shifting its units from the Volkhov to the Demyansk area, and Generalmajor Walter von Seydlitz-Kurzbach shifts his attack units into position on the X Corps line. The relief attack is scheduled to begin at daylight on the 21st.

"Seaman James Sweeney with his Lewis gun." A gunner on board the trawler HMS Cornelian, 20 March 1942. © IWM (A 8009).

European Air Operations: A prolonged lull in operations continues today on the Channel Front. During the day, RAF Bomber Command sends 13 Manchesters and 6 Lancasters to lay mines in the Frisian Islands. Due to poor weather, only 11 manage to lay their mines in the proper area. The RAF also sends two bombers to attack Essen, but they return without completing their mission due to weather conditions.

"Plan for Initiation of U.S. Army Bombardment Operations in the British Isles" is released by the US Army Air Force. It spells out an agenda of using the British Isles to bomb German infrastructure on the Continent. Major General Ira C Eaker submits a report to Major General James E Chaney, requested on 25 February 1942, analyzing the best methods for this air offensive. It concludes that an effective campaign can be waged by combining USAAF daylight precision bombing with RAF night area bombing. The effects of the bombing campaign can be enhanced by close coordination between the two air forces.

"Launch of the U.S. Navy light cruiser USS Birmingham (CL-62) at the Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company shipyard, Newport News, Virginia (USA), on 20 March 1942." US Naval History and Heritage Command NH 75592.

Battle of the Atlantic: U-71 (Kptlt. Walter Flachsenberg), on its fifth patrol out of St. Nazaire, uses its machine gun to stop 5766-ton US freighter Oakmar about 300 miles east of Cape Hatteras. Oakmar is unarmed, so the U-boat's machine gun alone is sufficient to force the crew to abandon ship (the seas are too rough to use the deck gun). Flachsenberg then fires a torpedo that misses due to the rough seas, but a second at 21:39 hit forward of the bridge, causing the ship to sink. There are six dead and 30 survivors, with several of the crew lost due to the rough weather.

Italian submarine Enrico Tazzoli (Cmdr Carlo Fecia di Cossato) spots British tanker Davila while heading back to Bordeaux but cannot attack because of previous war damage on its patrol. However, the crew of the Davila spots the submarine and decides to attack it. Cossata dives when the Davila begins firing at him. Both ships escape without damage. This is a rare instance of a tanker attacking a submarine instead of vice versa.

Norwegian 823-ton freighter Risøy is attacked by three aircraft and sunk near Trevose Head, Cornwall, England. There is one death.

British tanker Davila, which attacked the Italian submarine Enrico Tazzoli on 20 March 1942.

Battle of the Mediterranean: U-652 (Oblt. Georg-Werner Fraatz), on its eighth patrol out of Salamis, Greece, when its crew spots 1050-ton British destroyer HMS Heythrop (L 85) about 40 miles northeast of Bardia. At 10:54, Fraatz fires four torpedoes, one of which hits destroyer Heythrop. HMS Eridge (L 68) takes Heythrop in tow, but it sinks on the way to Alexandria. There are 16 dead and 150 survivors.

The Royal Navy is running another major convoy operation to Malta from Gibraltar. Force H brings a flight of Spitfires to replace the planes lost in the recent Luftwaffe onslaught on the island. This is operation MG 1. A separate convoy of four freighters, MW-10, also departs from Alexandria bound for Malta. The Royal Navy positions six submarines in the Gulf of Taranto in case the Italian Fleet decides to intervene. With all of these ships in motion, the possibility of a major battle is likely, and this leads eventually to the Second Battle of Sirte.

Luftwaffe Field Marshal Albert Kesselring, who has brought his headquarters of Luftflotte 2 to Italy from the Eastern Front, begins a massive aerial assault on Malta. Kesselring considers Malta the key to control of the central Mediterranean and asks Hitler around this time to invade it, to which Hitler replies, "I will, Field Marshal, I will!"

British destroyer Heythrop, sunk by U-652 off Bardia on 20 March 1942.

As a decoy for the naval operations, the British Eighth Army is tasked with drawing German attention to land operations. It launches raids against German landing grounds in the Derna and Benghazi area after dark.

Malta itself remains under heavy air attack. Bombs land all over the island, and there are several mass air raids involving many dozens of Luftwaffe aircraft. The Germans also increasingly are strafing civilian areas with cannon fire. Ta Qali airfield is so badly damaged that the Army must be called to repair it.

Rhodesian Pilot Officer Douglas Leggo, shown here before his commission, was shot down and perished on 20 March 1942. The message on the plane is written in Shona (Media Drum World).

Partisans: Operation Munich, an anti-partisan operation in the Yelnya-Dorogobuzh area that began on 19 March, continues today. The partisans sometimes make a stand and fight ferociously, but more often they just melt away into the forests and towns and blend in with innocent townspeople. The Red Army has reinforced the partisan forces with trained soldiers who provide organizational and weapons skills.

At the Polish town of Zgierz, the German occupation forces decide to enforce draconian new rules for taking reprisals against partisans. The Germans round up 100 Poles from a nearby labor camp and execute them in front of an assembled crowd of 6000 from Zgierz and the surrounding area.

US tanker Oakmar, sunk by U-71 on 20 March 1942.

Soviet/Japanese Relations: While both nations are engaged in fights to the death, Japan and the USSR maintain eerily normal relations. Today, their representatives sign an extension of the 1928 Russo-Japanese Fishing Convention in Kuibyshev (the location of most of the bureaucracy of the Soviet government).

US Military: New US Navy aircraft carrier USS Hornet (CV-8) arrives in San Diego after transiting the Panama Canal. It will soon begin carrier qualifications. The Hornet has been experimenting with launching B-25B bombers in anticipation of a bombing raid on a target yet to be disclosed to anyone on board the ship. Sixteen B-25s are being prepared for this mysterious mission by stripping them of everything not deemed essential.

British Government: Sir Stafford Cripps, on his way to India to talk to Mahatma Gandhi and other Indian nationalists, stops off in Cairo to receive a briefing.

Railroad Magazine, March 1942.

Holocaust: Adolf Hitler discusses the Final Solution with Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels at Rastenburg. Goebbels notes in his diary:

Here, the Fuhrer is as uncompromising as ever. The Jews must be got out of Europe, if necessary by applying the most brutal methods.

It is not only the Jews, of course, who are the recipients of the "most brutal methods." Hitler's first objective, though, is to obtain slave laborers for the Reich's war needs.

An English translation of a dispatch in which the Chilean consul in Prague, Gonzalo Montt Rivas discusses the Holocaust winds up in American files by 20 March 1942. This is the earliest proof that American authorities had reason to know the Holocaust was in progress. In the memo, Rivas tells his colleagues about a German decree that Jews living abroad could no longer be German subjects and that their property would be confiscated. Writing in Spanish, Rivas says:

The Jew [residing abroad] loses German nationality immediately... The fortune which the Reich obtains in this manner will serve to solve the questions in connection with Jews

Rivas notes that "The German triumph [in the war] will leave Europe freed of Semites."

The first mass transport of Jews to the Auschwitz death camp begins on 20 March 1942. Occupation authorities in Poprad, Slovakia, tell local unmarried Jewish women and girls to assemble at the local school at 8 a.m. to be taken to do war work. The Hlinka guard, the military arm of Catholic priest Jozef Tiso’s First Slovak Republic, loads them into windowless cattle cars. The car is empty save for a vegetable tin to serve as a toilet. Within a week, the 800 victims, joined by others along the way, are inmates at Auschwitz.

American Homefront: With fuel rationing in effect, companies are finding creative ways to get their employees to work. Today, the Chief of Transportation at Redstone Ordnance Plant (later Redstone Arsenal) in Madison County, Alabama, establishes a Share-A-Ride program. The Army provides gasoline to drivers with cars who are willing and able to drive other employees to and from work. A growing fraction of these employees, incidentally, are women.

''Li'l Abner'' Comic Strip From 20 March 1942 Featuring Li'l Abner & Mammy Yokum -- Drawn & Signed by Al Capp.

March 1942

March 1, 1942: Second Battle of Java Sea
March 2, 1942: Huge Allied Shipping Losses at Java
March 3, 1942: Japan Raids Western Australia
March 4, 1942: Second Raid On Hawaii
March 5, 1942: Japan Takes Batavia
March 6, 1942: Churchill Assaults Free Speech
March 7, 1942: British Defeat in Burma
March 8, 1942: Rangoon Falls to Japan
March 9, 1942: Japanese Conquest of Dutch East Indies
March 10, 1942:US Navy attacks Japanese Landings at Lae
March 11, 1942: Warren Buffett's First Stock Trade
March 12, 1942: Japan Takes Java
March 13, 1942: Soviets Attack In Crimea Again 
March 14, 1942: The US Leans Toward Europe
March 15, 1942: Operation Raubtier Begins
March 16, 1942: General MacArthur Gets His Ride
March 17, 1942: MacArthur Arrives in Australia
March 18, 1942: Japan Attacks In Burma
March 19, 1942: Soviets Encircled on the Volkhov
March 20, 1942: "I Shall Return," Says MacArthur
March 21, 1942: Germans Attack Toward Demyansk
March 22, 1942: Second Battle of Sirte
March 23, 1942: Hitler's Insecurity Builds
March 24, 1942: Bataan Bombarded
March 25, 1942: Chinese Under Pressure in Burma
March 26, 1942: Win Or Die, Vows MacArthur
March 27, 1942: The Battle of Suusari
March 28, 1942: The St. Nazaire Commando Raid
March 29, 1942: The Free Republic of Nias
March 30, 1942: Japanese-Americans Off Bainbridge Island
March 31, 1942: Japanese Seize Christmas Island

2020

Sunday 1 March 1942

HMS Exeter is hit by a torpedo fired by Japanese destroyer Inazuma during the Second Battle of the Java Sea, 1 March 1942.

Damaged during the First Battle of Java Sea, Royal Navy cruiser HMS Exeter (famous for helping to destroyer German heavy cruiser Admiral Graf Spee in 1939) is ordered on 28 February to leave immediately from Surabaya to Ceylon for repairs. The decision comes just before the Japanese Navy sweeps the sea later that night in the Battle of Java Sea. At nightfall, Exeter and escorting destroyers HMS Encounter and USS Pope depart from the main north entrance (rather than the less obvious southern one) of the harbor due to Exeter's draft. The seas are swarming with Japanese, ships, and they spot Exeter at 04:00 on 1 March. They elude their pursuer, but the Japanese sight them again at 09:35. Heavy cruisers Haguro and Nachi, accompanied by destroyers Kawakaze and Yamakaze, approach and cause the Exeter to change course to the northeast. However, this only leads the British ships toward another group of Japanese warships (heavy cruisers Ashigara and Myōkō and destroyers Inazuma and Akebono). At 10:20, the ships begin firing at each other. At 11:20, a shell hits Exeter's boiler room, slowing it to four knots, and the Japanese cruisers close in. Exeter sinks at 11:40 about 90 miles (78 nautical miles and 140 km) northwest of Bawean. Both destroyers are sunk soon after, Encounter after her captain orders her scuttled and Pope by dive bombers. While the Japanese rescue 652 men from Exeter, 152 of them perish in Japanese custody.

HMS Exeter sinking on 1 March 1942 (U.S. Navy photo NH 91772 from the U.S. Navy Naval History and Heritage Command, captured by US forces on Attu Island in 1943).

Japanese Aichi D3A ("Val") dive bombers operating near Christmas Island attack and sink US Navy fuel tanker USS Pecos and damage accompanying destroyer USS Edsall. Battleships Hiei and Kirishima are alerted to the destroyer's plight and they sail to the area and sink it using gunfire. There are five survivors of the Edsall who are captured and executed by the Japanese at Kendari on Celebes Island.

With the seas now cleared of large Allied warships, the invasion of Java continues without serious interruption. The first landings begin just after midnight at around 00:15. Japanese transport ships unload troops at Bantam Bay in West Java (near Merak and Eretan Wetan) and Kragan in East Java. Facing little opposition, the Japanese in the western force quickly sets up its headquarters at Serang, while the eastern force takes Kalidjati airfield by noon. The Allied defenders send defensive forces to the landing zones during the day, but they do not arrive in numbers large enough to counterattack until 2 March.

The Second Battle in the Java Sea, 1 March 1942. Heavy cruiser Myoko and Ashigara are firing on the Exeter.

Everyone on the Allied side can see that the end is near for Java, and evacuations are in full swing. The USAAF flies its last three B-17s and an A-24 Dauntless squadron back toward Australia. Nine P-40s, six RAAF fighters, and four RNAF fighters attack the Japanese landings, losing three planes. The Japanese Air Force then counterattacks the P-40 base at Blimbing Airdrome and destroys the surviving fighters on the ground.

In the Philippines, the front is quiet but the Allied position is withering. The 34th Pursuit Squadron has been engaged in heavy fighting for two months and is down to its last two planes. The Japanese, however, also are taking heavy casualties, having lost 2700 killed and 4000 wounded. The difference between the two sides is that the Japanese can easily bring in reinforcements from the north, while the Allies are effectively blockaded by the oppressive Japanese sea and air presence.

Dutch freighter Rooseboom, sunk west of Sumatra on 1 March 1942.

Japanese submarine HIJMS I-59 (later I-159), under the command of Lieutenant Yoshimatsu, torpedoes and sinks 1035-ton Dutch freighter at 23:35 west of Sumatra. Two men are picked up by a passing Dutch freighter in the water nine days later, with well over 100 deaths. There is one other (known) survivor, and he tells quite a tale. The sinking is best remembered for the account of the events endured by the survivors in the sole lifeboat that is launched before the ship quickly capsizes told by Corporal Walter Gardiner Gibson. According to Gibson, 80 people are crowded in the boat which is designed to hold only 28 people, with many more survivors left to swim in the water. Some of the swimming men try to build a raft from flotsam, but it sinks and they all drown. There is no food or water and people in the boat begin to hallucinate, many killing themselves due to their agony. A group of survivors in the boat's bow throws the weaker ones overboard at night, and then they themselves are pushed overboard to drown. When the survivors are down to a group of two white men, a Chinese woman, and four Javanese seamen, the Javanese murder and eat the other white man. Eventually, the lifeboat grounds on an island off Sumatra, Sipora. The four Javanese sailors all perish (two disappear into the jungle). The Japanese shoot the Chinese woman as a spy and put Gibson in a POW camp. Gibson lives to write two books about his experiences, "The Boat" (1952) and "Highland Laddie" (1954).

President Polk, sunk near the Gilbert Islands on 1 March 1942.

Japanese aircraft bomb and sink 9225-ton US troopship President Polk near the Gilbert Islands. The Americans later raise the ship and return it to service.

Japanese submarine HIJMS I-25 launches its Yokosuka E14Y1, Navy Type 0 Small Reconnaissance Seaplane "Glen" to perform reconnaissance over Hobart, Tasmania. As on its other flights, the seaplane carries out its mission without being spotted.

Destroyer USS Pope (DD-225) sinking on 1 March 1942 during the Second Battle of the Java Sea. This photo was taken from a Japanese floatplane.

Eastern Front: While the front has stabilized following the Soviet counteroffensive in December, the German position remains much shakier than anyone ever expected. General Halder, head of OKH, issues an analysis showing that total casualties are approaching half the number of men that began the campaign. While many of those men are still fighting, the winter was not the respite that the Wehrmacht expected and instead has turned into a struggle to the death. Replacements are not coming close to making up all the losses, and ammunition supplies are becoming an issue as well.

After almost two weeks of indecision about whether to even approach Hitler with the idea of another retreat, today Fourth Army General Heinrici arrives at the Fuhrer headquarters in Rastenburg to plead his case with Hitler. Hitler, however, already is thinking about operations elsewhere to regain the initiative and rescue the trapped units at Kholm and Demyansk and is not concerned about the troops near Moscow. To Heinrici's (and everyone else's) astonishment, Hitler immediately grants the withdrawal request. He explains that previously he had been "deliberately obstinate" about retreats, but the front situation has improved so much in recent weeks that he no longer cares exactly where it is. Heinrici returns to headquarters with permission to pull troops back from an exposed position at Yukhnov.

Guns of Japanese cruiser Myoko firing during the Second Battle of the Java Sea, 1 March 1942.

On the Crimea, the Soviet effort along the Parpach Narrows front now is focused on the Romanian forces at the north end of the line. They are the only sector that has given up serious ground. Today, the German 170th Infantry Division moves up and stops this threat, leaving the Red Army in possession of a bulge at the extreme northern end of the line. The Soviets land a small party at Alushta today, but it achieves nothing and quickly re-embarks, while the Soviet Navy bombards Yalta and Feodosiya to little effect. The Soviets already have lost 40 tanks during their offensive and now are achieving little, but they refuse to abandon it. Lieutenant General Dmitry Timofeyevich Kozlov prepares one last attack on the 2nd against the German strongpoint at Koi-Asan.

HMS Exeter sinking after the Second Battle of Java Sea, 1 March 1942.

European Air Operations: The RAF conducts no major missions today.

Battle of the Atlantic: U-656 (Kptlt. Ernst Kröning), on its second patrol out of Brest, is bombed and sunk by a Lockheed PBO-1 Hudson (VP-82 USN) south of Cape Race, Newfoundland. An unlucky boat, U-656 sinks or damages no ships during its career. There are no survivors of the 45 aboard. This U-boat sinking by an airplane is a rare event for this period of World War II.

Battle of the Mediterranean: Royal Navy submarine HMS Unbeaten sinks 3415-ton Vichy French tanker PLM.20 5 nautical miles east of Mehedia (Mahdia), Tunisia.

US/British Relations: Winston Churchill rightfully fears a Japanese expansion into the Indian Ocean. Today, he informs President Roosevelt of the Royal Navy's desire to land troops at Diego Suarez, Madagascar. Madagascar is under Vichy French control, and already there are Japanese submarines around India. The invasion is still tentative at this point, however, and no plans have been prepared.

Canadian Military: The Canadian Women's Army Corps receives full Army status as "a Corps of the Active Militia of Canada." Before this, the only women's units admitted to this status were the nursing sisters.

Auschwitz 2.

Holocaust: The Germans begin building the Sobibor concentration camp near the town of Włodawa (Wolzek), Poland. The location is chosen due to the nearby Chełm – Włodawa railway line connecting the General Government with the Reichskommissariat Ukraine. Local people begin the construction and are soon replaced by the forced labor of a Sonderkommando of local Jewish residents. Ultimately, well over a hundred thousand people are murdered at the camp.

Also on 1 March 1942, Auschwitz Birkenau (also known as Auschwitz 2) is established. It is intended to house Soviet prisoners of war but ultimately becomes the main extermination camp at Auschwitz.

One of the first ration books (The National WWII Museum).

American Homefront: Nationwide food rationing takes effect throughout the United Staes. Not everything is rationed - for instance, fresh fruit and vegetables are not - so everyone can always find something to eat. People also are free to grow or raise their own food. However, certain food items such as coffee and sugar must be imported and thus are rationed because the shipping is needed for other purposes.

By now, about 10,000 family members of US servicemen have been evacuated from Hawaii. About 20,000 remain to be shipped to California. They are taking up all of the shipping space, which leaves none for the proposed internment on the mainland (favored by the US Army) of Japanese-Americans. This indirectly blocks their removal from the islands.

Cornelius Vanderbilt III passes away in Miami Beach, Florida at the age of 68. He is most remembered for his interest in yachting and for serving honorably as a brigadier general in World War I.

The owners of the major league baseball clubs decide against allowing players who now are in the military from playing for their clubs when they are available, i.e., on leave or based nearby.

The Japanese 2d Division celebrates landing at Merak, Java, on 1 March 1942.

Future History: The wreck of HMS Exeter was discovered on 21 February 2007 some 60 miles (97 km) from the last position given by its commander, Captain Oliver Gordon (who survives). It was classified as a British war grave and thus was considered untouchable. However, when another diving expedition visits the location in November 2016, it finds the right spot - but the ship itself is missing. Exeter, along with the nearby wreck of destroyer Encounter and two other vessels, apparently had been illegally scavenged during the intervening decade. It must have been a major salvage operation, one of the biggest in history. How this was done without anyone knowing about it in approximately 60 meters (200 feet) of water remains a mystery, along with what was done with the wrecks (presumably scrapped).


February 1942

February 1, 1942: The US Navy Strikes Back
February 2, 1942: Germans Recovering in Russia
February 3, 1942: Japanese Shell and Bomb Singapore
February 4, 1942: Battle of Makassar Strait
February 5, 1942: Empress of Asia Sunk
February 6, 1942: The Christmas Island Body
February 7, 1942: The Double-V Campaign
February 8, 1942: Japan Invades Singapore
February 9, 1942: French Liner Normandie Capsizes
February 10, 1942: US Car Production Ends
February 11, 1942: Tomforce Fails on Singapore
February 12, 1942: The Channel Dash
February 13, 1942: Japanese Paratroopers In Action
February 14, 1942: RAF Orders Terror Raids
February 15, 1942: Japan Takes Singapore
February 17, 1942: Indian Troops Defect to Japanese
February 18, 1942: Battle of Badung Strait
February 19, 1942: FDR Authorizes Internment Camps
February 20, 1942: O'Hare the Hero
February 21, 1942: Crisis in Burma
February 22, 1942: Bomber Harris Takes Over
February 23, 1942: Bombardment of Ellwood, California
February 24, 1942: US Raid on Wake Island
February 25, 1942: Battle of Los Angeles
February 26, 1942: Gneisenau Eliminated
February 27, 1942: Battle of Java Sea
February 28, 1942: Battle of Sunda Strait

March 1942

March 1, 1942: Second Battle of Java Sea
March 2, 1942: Huge Allied Shipping Losses at Java
March 3, 1942: Japan Raids Western Australia
March 4, 1942: Second Raid On Hawaii
March 5, 1942: Japan Takes Batavia
March 6, 1942: Churchill Assaults Free Speech
March 7, 1942: British Defeat in Burma
March 8, 1942: Rangoon Falls to Japan
March 9, 1942: Japanese Conquest of Dutch East Indies
March 10, 1942:US Navy attacks Japanese Landings at Lae
March 11, 1942: Warren Buffett's First Stock Trade
March 12, 1942: Japan Takes Java
March 13, 1942: Soviets Attack In Crimea Again 
March 14, 1942: The US Leans Toward Europe
March 15, 1942: Operation Raubtier Begins
March 16, 1942: General MacArthur Gets His Ride
March 17, 1942: MacArthur Arrives in Australia
March 18, 1942: Japan Attacks In Burma
March 19, 1942: Soviets Encircled on the Volkhov
March 20, 1942: "I Shall Return," Says MacArthur
March 21, 1942: Germans Attack Toward Demyansk
March 22, 1942: Second Battle of Sirte
March 23, 1942: Hitler's Insecurity Builds
March 24, 1942: Bataan Bombarded
March 25, 1942: Chinese Under Pressure in Burma
March 26, 1942: Win Or Die, Vows MacArthur
March 27, 1942: The Battle of Suusari
March 28, 1942: The St. Nazaire Commando Raid
March 29, 1942: The Free Republic of Nias
March 30, 1942: Japanese-Americans Off Bainbridge Island
March 31, 1942: Japanese Seize Christmas Island

2020

Tuesday 24 February 1942

Douglas SBD-3 Dauntlesses on the deck of USS ENTERPRISE (CV-6) prepare for the Wake Island Raid, 24 February 1942. USS Northampton is visible in the background (colorized, US Navy).

Battle of the Pacific: The evacuation of Java picks up steam on 24 February 1942 as reports flood in of a Japanese convoy heading southwest in the Strait of Makassar. All US Army Air Force bombers are ordered to fly to Australia, and any that cannot fly are to be destroyed. The order comes none too soon, as during the day Japanese bombers attack the Bandoeng airfield and destroy three B-17 Flying Fortresses on the ground. Japanese bombers are in action and they sink 7117-ton Dutch freighter Kota Radja at Surabaya and lightly damage Royal Navy heavy cruiser HMS Exeter and Australian light cruiser HMAS Hobart.

"View taken aboard USS ENTERPRISE (CV-6) showing Grumman F4F-3 Wildcats preparing for takeoff." Naval History and Heritage Command.

US Navy Task Force 16 (Vice Admiral William F. Halsey) raids Wake Island. Bombing Squadron Six and Torpedo Squadron Six send their SBD Dauntlesses and TBD Devastators from USS Enterprise. Heavy cruisers USS Northampton and Salt Lake City chip in some SOC-1 Seagulls to bomb the island. Northampton and Salt Lake City stand offshore and shell the atoll under the command of Rear Admiral Raymond A. Spruance. The attack sinks two Japanese patrol boats and two Kawanishi H6K4 Navy Type 97 Flying Boats. In the air, F4F Wildcats shoot down a third Kawanishi flying boat. There are still many American POWs on Wake Island, and to their number is added the crew of an SBD Dauntless that is shot down over the island. For security reasons, this raid is not announced by the Navy until 25 March.

US Navy submarine USS Swordfish continues its evacuation of highly placed individuals in the Philippines. Having already evacuated Manuel Quezon, today it embarks U.S. High Commissioner to the Philippine Islands Francis B. Sayre and his party of 12, plus five sailors, at Manila Bay. Swordfish heads for Fremantle, Western Australia, due to the ongoing evacuation at Java.

"Wake Island Raid, 24 February 1942. Crewman readies rear-cockpit 30 Cal MG. Mount on a Douglas SBD-3 Dauntless prior to the launching of airstrikes against Wake. View taken on board USS Enterprise (CV 6)." National Archives photograph, 80-G-66279.

The after-effects of the 19 February air raid are still being felt in Darwin, Australia. Three-masted 1894-ton iron sailing ship Kelat, requisitioned by the Australian Navy and used as a collier, sinks unexpectedly at anchor. This sinking comes as a surprise and is likely due to everyone involved being fully engaged in repairing other damage and simply forgetting to run the ship's pumps.

As they have done previously, the Japanese perform some surreptitious aerial reconnaissance over Pearl Harbor. Japanese submarine HIJMS I-9 sends its Yokosuka E14Y1 Navy Type 0 Small Reconnaissance Seaplane over the naval base. As in previous overflights, this one goes undetected by the US military.

The Melbourne, Australia, Argus reports on the recent Darwin air aid, 24 February 1942.

Eastern Front: The weather is improving on 24 February 1942, and this helps the Luftwaffe airlift to the Demyansk and Kholm pockets. The Luftwaffe is using all of its transport planes and many bombers in this airlift, and the supplies are just barely keeping the garrisons fighting. Neither side really has the initiative at this point, but, strangely, both sides think they have it.

European Air Operations: The RAF sends 42 Hampdens and 9 Manchester bombers on minelaying operations near the Frisian Islands and off Whilehlmshaven and Heligoland. Two Hampdens fail to return. An additional five bombers drop leaflets on France and Belgium.

The wrecks of Luftwaffe aircraft in a British scrapyard, 24 February 1942. Types visible are Junkers Ju 88, Heinkel He 111 and Messerschmitt Bf 109E (Dennis Richards: Royal Air Force 1939–1945. Volume I: The Fight at Odds; London, HMSO, 1953).

Battle of the Atlantic: U-boats have a big day in the North Atlantic on the Convoy routes. About 420 miles southeast of St. John's, Newfoundland, several U-boats spot Convoys ONS-67 and ON-66. They are part of Wolfpack Rochen. It is a very confusing day in the North Atlantic, with multiple U-boats firing torpedo spreads into different convoys and many hits scored - but which ships are hit by which U-boat can be difficult to pin down. Different sources may give different U-boats credit for some sinkings.

U-158 (Kptlt. Erwin Rostin), on its first patrol out of Heligoland, attacks ONS-67 at 08:55. His victim is the 8032-ton British tanker Empire Celt, which is hit by two torpedoes. There are six dead and 47 survivors. The Empire Celt eventually breaks in two, with the stern portion remaining afloat at least until 4 March. U-158 later damages 8146-ton British tanker Diloma at 10:35 with one torpedo, but the tanker is able to make it to Halifax under reduced power. All 60 people on Diloma survive.

MV Eidanger, sunk on 24 February 1942.

U-558 (Kptlt. Günther Krech), on its sixth patrol out of Brest, joins the party at 06:51 and ultimately sinks two ships and damages a third (which another U-boat later sinks):

• 8009-ton British tanker Anadara (damaged, then sunk)
• 5578-ton British freighter Inverarder
• 9432-ton Norwegian tanker Eidanger

U-558's first attack is on Eidanger, which is hit by one torpedo but remains afloat. At 09:50, it attacks the convoy again and damages 8009-ton British tanker Anadara, sinks 5578-ton freighter Inverarder, and put another torpedo into 9432-ton tanker Eidanger. All 62 people on the Anadara perish when it is finished off by U-587 (Kptlt. Ulrich Borcherdt) later in the day. Tanker Eidanger takes hours to sink, so U-558 puts another two torpedoes into it at 15:40 to finish it off. Meanwhile, all 42 people on Inverarder survive despite the fact that it sinks fairly quickly. All 39 people on the Eidanger survive. Those are how things break in the North Atlantic, whether you survive depends on which ship you are on, and not whether it sinks right away.

7005-ton freighter Empire Hail is torpedoed and sunk at 01:45 east of St. John's. This sinking is usually ascribed to U-94 (Kptlt. Herbert Kuppisch), but this may not be accurate. In any event, all 49 men on board perish. These convoy battles can become quite difficult to break down and figure out exactly which U-boat sank which ship. Empire Hail either is a straggler or has been dispersed from Convoy ON-66.

Norlavore, sunk on or about 24 February 1942.

U-432 (Kptlt. Heinz-Otto Schultze) on its fourth patrol out of La Pallice, might be the U-boat that sinks 2713-ton US freighter Norlavore off the east coast of the United States (this sinking is a mystery). Norlavore, on a journey between Baltimore and Puerto la Cruz, Venezuela, is reported missing on 24 February 1942. There is heavy weather in the area, so the sinking may be related to that. Nobody survives, and it is not certain how many were aboard.

U-752 (Kptlt. Karl-Ernst Schroeter), on its fourth patrol and en route from Bergen to La Pallice, reports torpedoing a tanker in Convoy HX 175. However, it is unclear which ship is involved, if any.

Paris-soir newspaper, 24 February 1942.

Battle of the Mediterranean: Fighting on land has quieted down, but the war at sea is never-ending. RAF Squadron No. 830, based on Malta, attacks Axis shipping off Tripoli. No ships are damaged or sunk, but the British lose a Swordfish when it is shot down. The crew perishes.

Battle of the Black Sea: Soviet submarine Shch-213 sinks two ships near the mouth of the Bosphorus. One is the Struma, discussed below. The other is 454-ton Turkish naval auxiliary Cancaya, off Kara Burnu. Everyone survives.

Stjepan Filipovićin on the gallows (United States Holocaust Museum).

Partisans: Axis forces capture Yugoslav communist Stjepan Filipovićin in Valjevo (now Serbia). After a quick trial, he is hanged on 27 March 1942, aged 26. He is named a National Hero of Yugoslavia on 14 December 1949. He is best remembered for his defiant stance on the gallows when he holds his arms up high and shouts (in his native language) "Death to fascism, freedom to the people!"

Spy Stuff: The Soviets and Germans have been vying for the support of Turkey, and today the Soviet NKVD decides to do something about it in a very roundabout way. They sponsor a Macedonian student in Ankara to assassinate German Ambassador to Turkey Franz von Papen. Exactly why the Soviets want to assassinate von Papen is a mystery, because he is not particularly influential within the Third Reich's upper reaches, but maybe they don't know that. The Soviets may be trying to impress the Turks with their ability to affect events in Turkey. Perhaps they just figure that a former German Chancellor (for about five months in 1932) is a worthy target. The student, in a scene somewhat foreshadowing a latter assassination attempt on Reinhard Heydrich, first tries to shoot von Papen. When that fails, he tries to blow von Papen up. Unfortunately for the student and the Soviets, the student mistimes his throw of the bomb and it explodes in his hand, killing him. Von Papen thus continues on as ambassador and is credited with some diplomatic moves that don't sway the Turks to the Axis but do at least keep it neutral.

A Luftwaffe aerial reconnaissance photo of Sevastopol on 24 February 1942. The Red Army continues to hold out in Sevastopol against General Manstein's 11th Army (Federal Archive Picture 168-278-015).

Propaganda: Voice of America (VOA) makes its first broadcast from New York City via short-wave radio. This first show by announcer William Harlan Hale is in German, who opens it by saying:

Here speaks a voice from America. Every day at this time we will bring you the news of the war. The news may be good. The news may be bad. We shall tell you the truth.

VOA is intended for non-US audiences and is designed to give the Allied version of facts and to counter enemy propaganda. While perhaps not as influential as the nightly BBC broadcasts to Occupied Europe, VOA at least provides a face to the United States war effort there. This begins a long history of VOA throughout the Cold War that continues to this day, now broadcast in English and fifty-two other languages.

Applied Technology: Apparently for the first time, the US military becomes interested in the new medium of television. The Bureau of Aeronautics of the US Navy begins the process of procuring television equipment that is capable of operating from airplanes. The Navy isn't quite sure what to do with television but has vague plans to use it for radio-controlled remote operation of weapons and aircraft.

Third Officer John Norie and the senior cadet of the motor tanker Anadara. Later sunk with the loss of all hands (Wreck Site).

US/British Relations: Brand new (launched on 18 July 1942) escort carrier USS St. George (CVE-17) is transferred under Lend-Lease to the Royal Navy, which renames it HMS Pursuer (D73).

US Military: Major General Joseph Stilwell, Commanding General American Army Forces, China, Burma, and India, completes his journey from the United States to Karachi (now in Pakistan).

Under orders to head to India, U.S. Major General Lewis Brereton and his staff board two bombers and depart Melbourne, Victoria. Brereton's new position is as commander of the10th Air Force.

The USAAF makes big progress in building up its assets in Australia.

• Headquarters, 3rd Bombardment Group (8th, 13th, 89th, and 90th Bombardment Squadrons) arrives in Brisbane, Australia with A-20s. 
• Headquarters, the 22nd Bombardment Group (Medium) (2nd, 19th, and 33rd Squadrons and 10th Reconnaissance Squadron) with B-26s;
• Headquarters, 38th Bombardment Group (Medium) (70th and 71st Squadrons and 15th Reconnaissance Squadron with B-26s)
• 35th and 39th Pursuit Squadrons (both Interceptor), flying P-39s.

USAAF forces in Australia at this time are under the command of U.S. Major General George H. Brett, deputy commander of the ABDA Command.

The 503rd and 504th Parachute Infantry Battalions are joined together to form the 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. This unit later becomes famous in England as the "Red Devils." As a result of its renown, it will be allowed to wear a distinctive maroon beret that ultimately becomes standard wear for all paratroopers.

Troops of one of the Indian mule pack companies watering their mules at drinking troughs in a camp in Lebanon, 24 February 1942. Exact location unknown. © IWM (E 8771).

Chinese Government: Following his two-week visit to India with his wife, Chinese leader Chiang Kai-shek arrives in Kunming on his way back to Chungking.

Holocaust: About 781 (this number has changed over time due to scholarship) Jewish refugees are drifting in the Black Sea off Yam Burnu in 240-ton Panamanian freighter MV Struma en route from Romania to Mandatory Palestine when disaster strikes. Soviet submarine Shch-213 torpedoes Struma, whose engines have failed, killing all of the refugees but one (David Stoliar) plus all 10 crewmen. The Soviet sub is under secret orders to sink all neutral and enemy shipping entering the Black Sea as part of a blockade of the region. Stollar eventually makes it to Palestine and passes away in 2014. Among other things, the Struma disaster becomes a rallying cry within Israel (after it is established) and a subject of recriminations within the British government.

"The wrecks of Luftwaffe aircraft in a British scrapyard, 24 February 1942. The fuselage of a Junkers Ju 88 is being lifted by a crane." © IWM (E (MOS) 56).

Norwegian Homefront: Norwegian satrap Vidkun Quisling is finding resistance to his rule in unusual places. His government has demanded that the bishops of the Lutheran Church publicly proclaim their allegiance to Quisling's puppet government. Rather than accede to this demand, the bishops begin to resign on 24 February 1942. They are led by Dr. Berggray, Bishop of Oslo, who resigns today, and all others follow on 2 March 1942. Displeased, Quisling suspends the bishops (which is overkill, as they have resigned) and appoints loyalists in their places. This is a key step in a long battle between the leaders of the local church, the judiciary, and other prestigious organizations to Quisling's rule.

German Homefront: Anton Drexler, who founded the German Worker's Party (DAP) which ultimately became the NSDAP on 24 February 1920, passes away from natural causes in Munich on 24 February 1942. Drexler, an almost forgotten historical figure, was the co-founder of the DAP in Munich on 5 January 1919. In September 1919, Drexler noticed a new member in the audience who got into a loud argument with another attendee. Impressed by this stranger, Drexler went up to the man, gave him a pamphlet, and encouraged him to join the DAP. The man was Adolf Hitler, and this was his first contact with the organization. Hitler received approval from his army superiors to join the DAP and quickly began raising its profile. Hitler did not replace Drexler as leader until July 1921. After that, Drexler left the party completely in 1923 and faded into obscurity. However, Drexler did later reestablish a minor connection with the NSDAP, though he never again attained any power.

Moses Anger, who is registered at Auschwitz on 24 February 1942. He will perish there on 3 March 1942 (Auschwitz Memorial).

American Homefront: Just as automobile manufacturers have converted to production of military vehicles, gun manufacturers cease all production today of civilian 12-gauge shotguns and retool for military production.

Future History: Joseph Isadore Lieberman is born in Stamford, Connecticut. After graduating from Yale University Law School, Joe (as everyone calls him) embarks on a legal career, then embarks on a political career. He is elected to the Connecticut Senate in 1970, where he serves for a decade, then serves as Connecticut Attorney General from 1983 to 1989. After that, Lieberman serves as US Senator from Connecticut from 1989 to 2013. Lieberman wins the 2006 Senate race running as an Independent rather than on his typical Democratic Party line. Lieberman is instrumental in the creation of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in 2002. Since leaving the Senate, Joe Lieberman has remained active in politics.

Paul Pond is born in Portsmouth, Hampshire, England. As Paul Jones, he becomes a popular radio personality in Great Britain, including presenting "The Blues Show" on BBC Radio 2 for 32 years up until April 2018. Paul Jones also records numerous albums, from "My Way" in 1966 (including the hit song "High Time") to "Suddenly I Like It" in 2015. Paul Jones remains active as of 2019.

Patricia Joanne "Jenny" O'Hara is born in Sonora, California. She becomes a noted stage, film, and television actress in the United States. She is particularly noted for being on numerous popular television series beginning in 1975 and continuing up to the time of this writing, though never becoming a celebrity. Jenny O'Hara remains active as an actress.

Abraham Bienenstock, registered at Auschwitz on 24 February 1942. He will perish there on 28 February 1942.

February 1942

February 1, 1942: The US Navy Strikes Back
February 2, 1942: Germans Recovering in Russia
February 3, 1942: Japanese Shell and Bomb Singapore
February 4, 1942: Battle of Makassar Strait
February 5, 1942: Empress of Asia Sunk
February 6, 1942: The Christmas Island Body
February 7, 1942: The Double-V Campaign
February 8, 1942: Japan Invades Singapore
February 9, 1942: French Liner Normandie Capsizes
February 10, 1942: US Car Production Ends
February 11, 1942: Tomforce Fails on Singapore
February 12, 1942: The Channel Dash
February 13, 1942: Japanese Paratroopers In Action
February 14, 1942: RAF Orders Terror Raids
February 15, 1942: Japan Takes Singapore
February 17, 1942: Indian Troops Defect to Japanese
February 18, 1942: Battle of Badung Strait
February 19, 1942: FDR Authorizes Internment Camps
February 20, 1942: O'Hare the Hero
February 21, 1942: Crisis in Burma
February 22, 1942: Bomber Harris Takes Over
February 23, 1942: Bombardment of Ellwood, California
February 24, 1942: US Raid on Wake Island
February 25, 1942: Battle of Los Angeles
February 26, 1942: Gneisenau Eliminated
February 27, 1942: Battle of Java Sea
February 28, 1942: Battle of Sunda Strait

2020