Royal navy stores ship USS Pollux breaking up upon the rocks of Lawn Point, Newfoundland, 18 February 1942 (Photo by Ena Farrell Edwards via Maine Independent Journal).
Battle of the Pacific: The Battle of Bilin River in Burma ends on 18 February 1942 when the Indian 17th Infantry Division pulls out and begins heading back toward the Sittang River (Sittaung River). Brigadier Sir John Smyth's troops have put up a gallant fight, but the Bilin River is dry, offering no protection, and Japanese troops have moved through the jungle around them to cut off their lines of communication. The 17th is a new division fighting its first battle and has held out since 14 February under heavy pressure in close-quarters jungle fighting. Burma Army commander Lieutenant General Sir Thomas Jacomb Hutton makes the somewhat perilous journey to the front to give General Smyth the order directly. There is some feeling that the order has come too late and that the 17th Division cannot make it back to the Sittang River in good order, which is the last good defensible position before Rangoon and the 17th the only troops before the capital as well. This is blamed on Hutton, who has never before commanded a major formation in the field and has been a high staff officer, most recently as Chief of the General Staff in India. This will be his first and last field command. The war in Burma now comes down to a race to a critical bridge across the Sittang River between the 17th Division and the Japanese, and the Japanese actually now are closer. The British accept reality and begin evacuating Rangoon.
Rear Admiral Karel Doorman, ABDA Commander during the Battle of Badung Strait.
The Allied command (ABDA) sends naval units into the Badung Strait under the command of Dutch Admiral Karel Doorman in order to interdicts a Japanese invasion fleet sailing for Bali. This leads to the Battle of Badung Strait. Bali is critical because of its proximity to the ABDA naval base at Surabaya. US Navy submarines USS Seawolf and Truant make the first attack but score no hits. Later, the US Army Air Force sends 20 planes to bomb the invasion convoy but score only one hit on transport freighter Sagami Maru. These attacks cause the Japanese ships (after landing their troops) to retreat north with ABDA surface warships in hot pursuit. At about 22:00, cruisers HNLMS De Ruyter and Java and the destroyers USS John D. Ford, Pope, and HNLMS Piet Hein sight the fleeing Japanese ships and open fire. As the ABDA ships pass through the Strait, Japanese ships counterattack and a torpedo from destroyer Asashio hits Piet Hein, sinking it. The two forces later exchange gunfire which damages Japanese destroyer Michishio and ABDA cruiser Tromp and destroyer Stewart (Tromp heads to Sydney for repairs and thus misses the Battle of the Java Sea). The Battle of Badung Strait is considered a victory for the Japanese because they are able to drive off a larger ABDA force and inflict more damage than they sustain. The invasion of Bali proceeds without further interruption and the airfield there quickly falls to a reinforced battalion of Japanese troops.
Light cruiser Tromp, damaged during the Battle of Badung Strait on 18 February 1942 (Naval History and Heritage Command NH 80909).
The Japanese obviously have their sights on Surabaya, and a bombing raid there today sinks Dutch submarine K VII despite its being submerged in the harbor at the time. Fortunately, the submarine is operating with a skeleton crew and only the 13 men aboard - not the normal complement of 31 - perish.
The British in Java know that their fate rests in their own hands and that little help is likely before the Japanese arrive. A volunteer group departs from Batavia, Java, to Oosthaven, Sumatra, in order to salvage whatever they can find despite the island's recent occupation by the Japanese. They pull off this clandestine mission brilliantly right under the noses of the Japanese as destroyer HMS Jupiter and minesweeper Burnie evacuate the rear guard from the port. The volunteers rescue many spare parts and stores. Light cruiser Danae and destroyer Encounter evacuate 877 people from Padang. Meanwhile, overhead, P-40s of the Fifth Air Force shoot down six of nine Japanese bombers attacking Soerabaja, Java at a cost of one P-40. There are vicious dogfights over Soerbaja which result in three additional Japanese fighter losses.
A German dispatch rider on the Eastern Front on 18 February 1942. He has adapted a gas mask as face protector against temperatures as low as -40°. He is wearing sheepskins.
Eastern Front: The German situation at Demyansk deteriorates on 18 February 1942 when the 290th Infantry Division is forced to withdraw from a salient that it has been holding in the northwest section of the pocket. This "northern corner post" has been the source of much hope for the Germans within the pocket as an area close to the main German lines where a relief attempt could aim over the shortest distance. The Red Army, meanwhile, is busy trying to hem the Germans in at Demyansk and push them back into a small area where they are unable to receive air supplies and can be starved into submission. They are tightening the ring by bringing in more troops and trying to drive as much room between the pocket and the main German lines as they can. The Luftwaffe airlift continues, but it is bringing in less than half of the supplies that the trapped forces claim that they need to hold out. Time is the Germans' ally, however, as the spring thaw (Rasputitsa) is only a month away.
European Air Operations: The Luftwaffe is active in the North Sea, sinking 348-ton minesweeping trawler HMS Botanic and 214-ton anti-submarine trawler Warland.
RAF Bomber Command continues its leafletting missions tonight, with six or seven bombers dropping them over Paris and Lille. Another 25 Hampdens drop mines around the West Frisian Islands and off Wilhelmshaven and Heligoland. The British lose one Hampden on this mission.
French submarine Surcouf, lost on or about 18 February 1942 under mysterious circumstances.
Battle of the Atlantic: Free French submarine Surcouf disappears and is believed lost on or about 18 February 1942. The Surcouf is the largest French cruiser submarine and is headed for the Panama Canal to transit to the Pacific Theater of Operations. She left Bermuda on 12 February and loses contact late today. The Surcouf did not stop in Martinique because that island's government remains loyal to the Vichy regime. The US Navy investigates and concludes that the Surcouf sinks after a collision with US freighter Thompson Lykes about 80 miles (70 nautical miles, 130 km) north of Cristóbal, Colón, Panama. A post-war explanation based on service records is that the 6th Heavy Bomber Group operating out of Panama was the culprit. Conspiracy theories within the French Navy later claim that "friendly fire" caused the sinking, but exactly who is supposed to have fired on the submarine is left unsaid. Another possibility is that the submarine did collide with the freighter and the bombers mistakenly finished it off. The Surcouf's wreck is never located and 130 men perish, with no survivors. There is a memorial to Surcouf and its crew in Cherbourg, France.
Four-stack destroyer USS Truxtun, which is lost on 18 February 1942 with 46 survivors and 119 fatalities (Maritime History Archive, Memorial University, PF-306.984. John Cardoulis Photograph Collection.).
The weather is rough in the North Atlantic, and this causes tragic losses. US Navy destroyer USS Truxton and 7,350-ton stores ship USS Pollux both run aground in heavy gales off Newfoundland, Truxton at Chambers Cove and Pollux at Lawn Point. The ships are lost and the foul weather hampers search and rescue operations, with 110 men perishing on the Truxton and 93 on Pollux. Another ship, the Wilkes, also runs aground but is saved. Credit goes to the local inhabitants of Newfoundland for making heroic efforts to save 186 crewmen total in brutal conditions. As one man puts it, "Hardly a dozen men from both ships would have been saved had it not been for the superb work of the local residents." Memorial services have been held for this disaster on 18 February 1992 and 2012.
U-432 (Kptlt. Heinz-Otto Schultze), on its fourth patrol out of La Pallice, sinks 4053-ton Brazilian freighter Olinda about 78 miles (126 km) northeast of Norfolk, Virginia. Schultze stops the neutral freighter off Cape Hatteras with a shot across the bow and allows the crew to disembark before sinking it with gunfire and one torpedo at 21:00. All 46 men on the freighter survive, picked up on the 19th by destroyer USS Dallas (DD 199).
U-108 (KrvKpt. Klaus Scholtz), on its sixth patrol out of Lorient, gets the final (fifth) victory of the patrol southeast of Sable Island when it torpedoes and sinks 5265-ton British freighter Somme. Captain Scholtz questions the crew in their lifeboats, but they disappear. There are no survivors from the 58-man crew.
U-96 (Kptlt. Heinrich Lehmann-Willenbrock), on its third patrol out of Lorient, torpedoes and sinks 5589-ton British freighter Black Osprey about 130 miles south of Iceland. There are 26 dead and 11 survivors from Black Osprey, which is a straggler from Convoy HX-107.
" Entering Drydock # Two, at Pearl Harbor Navy Yard, 18 February 1942. Sunk as a result of damage received in the 7 December 1941 Japanese air raid, she was refloated on 12 February 1942. Note oil staining along her hull, marking her waterline while she was sunk. Collection of Vice Admiral Homer N. Wallin, USN (Retired). U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph."Catalog #: NH 83056.
Battle of the Mediterranean: At Malta, fuel is running low because of difficulties running tankers to the island from Alexandria due to Luftwaffe air patrols. Governor Lt. General Dobbie warns the War Office that fuel stocks will only last until the end of June, with coal and kerosene running out a little before then. Gasoline for trucks and other vehicles will run out around the first of May, while submarine diesel and furnace oil for ships is down to a two-month supply. Dobbie sums up:
Until situation in Cyrenaica radically changes difficulties of getting convoys from east will not diminish. Consider it essential to explore seriously and very urgently possibility using all other available means of getting supplies not only from east but from west also. This is all the more important if situation French North Africa is likely to deteriorate. I am sure these things are being closely considered by you but I feel it important to point out very clearly that the problem is an urgent one.
Getting convoys to Malta from the west has become vastly more difficult since Lieutenant General Erwin Rommel's Afrika Korps retook Benghazi in January.
Propaganda posters entitled "Ein Hetzer plaudert aus der Schule!" (roughly translated, "A hound howls from the school!") issued by the "Parole der Woche," a wall newspaper (Wandzeitung) published by the National Socialist Party propaganda office in Munich on 18 February 1942. Essentially, the poster portrays the man pictured as being a Communist. (United States Holocaust Memorial Museum).
War Crimes: In Singapore, the occupying Japanese begin on 18 February a purge of Chinese residents who are perceived as hostile to their rule. This "cleansing operation" (Sook Ching) lasts until 4 March 1942. This is a meticulously planned and intentional operation by the occupying government, not an ad hoc massacre like many other atrocities committed by Japanese soldiers. The targeted include, inter alia, members in the China Relief, wealthy donors to the China Relief, men with tattoos (who are assumed to be triad members), anyone found with a weapon, and members of the previous British bureaucracy. However, the purge is not limited to any particular groups in some legalistic fashion, it encompasses anyone that local Japanese authorities feel is a threat to their rule. Executions take place at several locations, including Punggol Point, Changi Beach, Katong, and on ships off the coast. British POWs are ordered to bury about 300 bullet-ridden corpses that drift ashore at Belakang Beach. Estimates of victims reach as high as 100,000. The Sook Ching war crimes trial in 1947 convicts some perpetrators, but many, including leader Masanobu Tsuji, escape justice. The Sook Ching incident causes bitter animosity within the Singapore Chinese community toward both the Japanese and the British, who locals feel acted inadequately both to protect them from the Japanese and to punish the perpetrators after the war.
Propaganda: Japanese occupation troops in Singapore have Allied POWs sweep the streets for the newsreel cameras. The Japanese also begin dismantling vestiges of British rule such as statues, memorials, and signs.
Salem (Ohio) News, 18 February 1942. The headline correctly notes that "Zero Hour Nearing on East Indies Front."
Chinese/Indian Relations: Chiang Kai-shek continues his two-week visit to British India by meeting today with Mahatma Gandhi in Calcutta. Yesterday, Chiang met with Jiddah, another revolutionary. These meetings are a slap at the British, who Chiang holds in low esteem since the Tulsa incident at the end of 1941 during which the local British commanders in Burma attempted to hijack American lend-lease supplies intended for China.
British/Australian Relations: General Archibald Wavell, Commander in Chief ABDA Command, defies the wishes of Lieutenant General John Lavarack, General Officer Commanding I Australian Corps, and orders Australian troops aboard requisitioned passenger liner SS Orcades to land at Batavia, Java. Wavell tells the Australian Prime Minister that they are needed for the defense of the airfield. This runs counter to negotiations between the highest levels of the British and Australian governments that all available Australian troops will be returned to Australia for the defense of the homeland.
USS Pollux, one of the ships sunk off the Newfoundland coast on 18 February 1942.
US Military: U.S. Major General George H. Brett, deputy commander of the ABDA Command and the de facto commander in Australia, sends Major General Lewis H. Brereton, Commanding General 5th Air Force, to India to begin building up forces there. Brett also informs the War Department that Java is lost in the absence of an immediate major counteroffensive in Burma and China. Since there are no plans or resources for such attacks, that effectively means that Brett is wiping his hands of responsibility for Java and, by inference, all of the Netherlands East Indies.
Air units of the 91st Bombardment Squadron (light), USAAF 5th Force, begin operating out of Malang, Java. They are equipped with A-24 Dauntlesses. Their ground support remains trapped in Bataan, the Philippines.
B-17s of the 22nd Bombardment Squadron (Heavy), 7th Bombardment Group (Heavy), 5th Air Force, depart from Australia bound for Nandi Airport, Fiji. They are heading ultimately for their new base at Jogjakarta (Yogyakarta) Airfield, Java.
Chief of Staff General George C. Marshall sends President Roosevelt a memorandum in which he emphasizes the need for "More shipping than is now in sight." He forecasts troop availability:
By December 1942, there will be 1,800,000 troops ready for overseas service, and by the end of 1943 about three and a half million. We are now endeavoring to secure from the War Shipping Administration an additional eighteen cargo ships per month for military use, which would permit an overseas force of 750,000 by the end of 1942. This number, however, would be less than half of the troops potentially available.
Marshall warns that current shipbuilding plans will permit an overseas force only half as large as possible at the end of 1943, too. He urges "Immediate steps" to "increase the tempo of the shipbuilding program to a much higher figure."
US Government: Intense discussions continue in Washington, D.C., about the internment of Japanese along the west coast. Western Command leader General DeWitt's memorandum arrives at 17:00 which outlines his recommendation that American-born Japanese from Category A areas (primarily urban and military centers in Oregon and Washington State) be forcibly evacuated and removals of enemy aliens from his command begin as soon as possible.
Public sentiment is strongly in favor of tough measures. In an editorial in the Craig Empire Courier of Craig, Colorado, the editor endorses Pulitzer Prize winner Westbrook Pegler’s view that “the Japanese in California should be under armed guard to the last man and woman right now and to hell with habeas corpus until the danger is over.” This view is widespread.
South Africa: Governor-General Sir Patrick Duncan has his term extended by five years.
Air-raid shelter under construction between Hunter and Scott Streets, Newcastle, NSW, February 18, 1942.
British Homefront: For health and sanitary reasons, the government exempts miners from the soap ration.
American Homefront: Glenn Miller and his Orchestra record "Don't Sit Under the Apple Tree," written by Sam H. Stept, Lew Brown, and Charles Tobias. This war-themed popular tune is performed with the tried and true formula of vocals by Tex Beneke, Marion Hutton, and The Modernaires. The song goes on to spend thirteen weeks on the Billboard charts and becomes the twelfth best-selling record of the year. The Andrews Sisters also perform the song to acclaim in "Private Buckaroo" with the Harry James Orchestra. Patti Andrews later says that "Don't Sit Under the Apple Tree" is their most requested song.
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer releases "Born to Sing," starring Virginia Weidler and Ray McDonald. The film features Mickey Rooney's father, Joe Yule Sr., Margaret Dumont, and Leo Gorcey of Bowery Boys fame.
Battle of the Pacific: At Bataan on 16 February 1942, the Allies score a major success when they almost completely eliminate a wedge driven into their Main Line of Resistance (MLR). The I Corps, holding the western half of the MLR, has reduced the salient to about 100 yards. Further south, a Japanese bridgehead at Salaiim Point also is eliminated. The surviving Japanese attempt to reach the MLR but eventually are caught after they cover about seven miles. North of Bataan, in Manila Bay, the Allies on Carabao Island continue to hold out, but today the Japanese cut their water pipeline. The men holding Fort Frank on the island begin distilling water.
In Burma, the bitter battle at Bilin River continues. The 17th Indian Infantry Division is the only large Allied formation between the Japanese and Rangoon, and the fate of Burma hangs in the balance. The two understrength Japanese infantry divisions making the attack, the 33d and 55th, are well-trained in jungle warfare and can operate independently of motor transport. The Allied troops, on the other hand, are deficient in those areas. The Japanese maintain pressure on the British garrisons but also stealthily send units through the jungle to cut off the British lines of communication. Army Commander General Hutton comes forward to see how things are going and is dismayed. The Bilin River at that time of year is dry and little more than a sandy ditch, offering little defensive aid. The Sittang River to the rear is much more useful defensively. He gives Brigadier Sir John George Smyth, V.C., commander of the 17th, permission to withdraw.
The Japanese Times & Advertiser for 16 February 1942 is full of happy news for its English-speaking readers about the fall of Singapore. This is an occupation newspaper, as indicated by the carmine and green seals.
In Borneo, Japanese troops continue expanding their presence, taking Sintang, West Kalimantan. In Sumatra, the Japanese advance on Palembang from two directions and take it without trouble. The British now, aside from stragglers, have abandoned Sumatra. However, the evacuation has been hurried and they have left behind a lot of equipment, particularly at Oosthaven.
Japanese planes attack an Allied convoy bound for Timor. It is led by US Navy heavy cruiser USS Houston and the destroyer USS Peary. The planes score no hits, but near-misses kill two men and injure 18 others. After this incident, the convoy is rerouted to Darwin, Australian, thereby virtually abandoning any hope of holding a position on Timor.
The Daily Mirror of 16 February 1942 reports the loss of Singapore, announced in a radio address by Prime Minister Winston Churchill the previous night.
In Singapore, the victorious Japanese begin their lengthy occupation. They hoist their flag over the former British governor's residence in Singapore and also rename the city "Light of the South." The name change, however, is ignored by just about everyone. The Japanese also begin recruiting from the Indian troops in Singapore. Ultimately out of about 40,000 Indian personnel in Singapore, 30,000 join the Japanese-affiliated Indian National Army (INA) under the command of Rash Behari Bose. Some serve as guards over the British POWs at Changi Prison. There are still naval actions offshore, and today, the Japanese use gunfire to sink Royal Navy ship HMS Pulo Soeti in the Banka Straits (55 dead, 25 survivors).
Time Magazine, 16 February 1942, has Soviet Marshal Shaposhnikov on the cover.
Eastern Front: Reporting from the encircled garrison at Demyansk, Generalleutnant Graf Walter von Brockdorff-Ahlefeldt reports to OKH that he has 95,000 men with him in the pocket. In order to hold the pocket, Brockdorff reports that he requires 200 tons of supplies per day. While the Luftwaffe is using every available plane to supply the Demyansk pocket, he is only receiving 80-90 tons of supplies per day.
European Air Operations: During the day, RAF No. 88 and 226 Squadrons send eight Boston bombers on anti-shipping operations off the Dutch coast. This is a new mission for the Boston bombers, their first regular one. This mission does not result in any ships attacked or bombers lost.
After dark, RAF Bomber Command sense 37 Hampden and 12 Manchester bombers to lay mines in the Frisian Islands. One Hampden and one Manchester fail to return. Another 18 Wellingtons hit different targets in northern Germany with eight planes bombing Bremen, seven bombing Aurich, two bombing Oldenburg, and one bombing Wilhelmshaven. Two bombers hit Schipol Airfield at Amsterdam and Soesterberg Airfield near Utrecht. The British also send 11 bombers to drop leaflets over France. One British tactic at this stage is simply to spread out their attacks in order to maximize their nuisance value, as every raid requires that city's tired workers to get out of bed and troop down to shelters. Some raids force all of the Reich's workers to do so because it is unclear where the bombers will strike. In some ways, this is more useful to the British war effort than the actual effects of the bombs dropped.
U-156 (foreground) and U-507 (background) in September 1942 during the Laconia incident.
Battle of the Atlantic: German Operation Neuland begins on 16 February 1942. This is the extension of U-boat operations south from the Atlantic coast (Operation Paukenshchlag) into the Caribbean. The operation opens with several coordinated U-boat attacks. The strategic targets in this area are several oil refineries, the Venezuelan oil fields, and the Panama Canal. The most important refineries are on Dutch-owned Curaçao, processing eleven million barrels per month, which is the largest in the world; the refinery at Pointe-à-Pierre on Trinidad, the largest in the British Empire; and a large refinery on Dutch-owned Aruba. This region is the originating source of the four oil tankers of petroleum that the British Isles require on a daily basis. The entire United States oil industry also is concentrated along the Gulf of Mexico, so these are very high stakes indeed. The Germans have the advantage of being able to use the Vichy French facilities at Martinique, though such use is extremely limited as the Allies are closely watching Martinique.
In a very rare direct attack by Reich forces on land targets in the Western Hemisphere, U-156 (Kptlt. Werner Hartenstein), on its second patrol out of Lorient, attempts to shell Aruba. Hartenstein orders the crew to use the 37 mm (1.46 inch) deck gun to fire on the important oil refinery installation on the island. However, through sheer negligence, the two-man gun crew forgets to remove the water plug from the gun barrel. This causes the shell to explode within the barrel and throw shrapnel everywhere. The explosion kills the triggerman, Matrosengefreiter Heinrich Büssinger, and causes the gunnery officer standing nearby, II WO Leutnant zur See Dietrich von dem Borne, to lose his right leg. This disaster does not cause Hartenstein to abandon his attack, however. He orders the crew to saw off the shattered portion of the barrel, and they pump 16 rounds at the refinery. The shortened barrel, however, is not as accurate as it otherwise might be at long range, so only two shells are reported to hit the target. They cause a dent in an oil storage tank and a hole in a house. After this, Hartenstein sets a course for another part of the island.
SS Oranjestad, sunk by U-156 on 16 February 1942.
Before the attack on the oil refinery, Hartenstein at 01:31 torpedoes two Lago Company oilers in San Nicholas Harbor. Both ships, the SS Pedernales and Oranjestad, are loaded with oil and burst into flames. There are 8 deaths and 18 survivors on the Pedernales and 15 deaths and 7 survivors on the Oranjestad. At 03:13, Hartenstein puts one torpedo into US Texaco-owned tanker SS Arkansas at Eagle Beach (nest to the Arend/Eagle Refinery). The ship settles to the shallow harbor bottom but there are no casualties.
SS San Nicholas, sunk by U-502 on 16 February 1942.
U-boats are active elsewhere in the Caribbean, too. U-502 (Kptlt. Jürgen von Rosenstiel), on its third patrol out of Lorient, has a big day off the Venezuelan coast. During mid-morning, it sinks three ships:
2395-ton British freighter Tia Juana (17 dead, nine survivors)
2391-ton British freighter San Nicolas (seven deaths, 19 survivors).
These U-502 attacks seriously disrupt the flow of oil from the important Venezuelan oil fields.
U-67 (Kptlt. Günther Müller-Stöckheim), on its third patrol out of Lorient, damages 3177-ton Dutch tanker Rafaela one mile north of Willemstad, Curaçao. The ship is towed to port but there it breaks in two and sinks. Rafaela later is raised, repaired, and returned to service.
SS Ramapo, sunk by U-108 on 16 February 1942.
U-108 (KrvKpt. Klaus Scholtz), on its sixth patrol out of Lorient, torpedoes and sinks 2968-ton Panamanian freighter Ramapo about 180 miles north of Bermuda. The Ramapo is traveling as an independent and the torpedo strikes at 15:56, breaking the ship in two after a boiler explosion. Captain Scholtz surfaces and questions the survivors in their lifeboats, but they are never found. All forty men perish.
U-564 (Kptlt. Reinhard Suhren), on its fourth patrol out of La Pallice, uses its 88 mm deck gun to damage independent British tanker Opalia about 300 miles northwest of Bermuda. U-564 fires all 83 rounds in its inventory but does not succeed in sinking the tanker, hitting it with only three rounds. The tanker makes it to port and suffers only three injured men due to shell splinters.
SS Pedernales sinking, 16 February 1942.
Battle of the Mediterranean: The Governor/Commander of Malta reports to Whitehall that he needs more artillery and men to fire them. Luftwaffe air activity over the island has increased markedly. Today, there are multiple attacks. A Junkers Ju 88 drops eight bombs on Luqa aerodrome and escapes unscathed, two other Junkers 88 bombers drop bombs on Ta Qali and in the sea off Grand Harbor, a Junkers drops four bombs on St. Paul's Bay, and other bombers attack Ta Qali again. There are other bombing attacks as well and numerous fly-bys. The air situation has become nerve-wracking for the British. However, unbeknownst to the Allies, Hitler still has not authorized an invasion of Malta despite the obvious utility to the Wehrmacht of doing so.
War Crimes: While Singapore fell on 15 February 1942, echoes from that defining moment continue to reverberate throughout the region. In the final days before its capture, Singapore refugees sought any means of escape that they could find. Since the Japanese possessed the only airfield and there were no more large ships willing to make the dangerous passage, that meant overloaded small craft, basically anything that could float. One of those ships was the Sarawak royal yacht Vyner Brooke, which carried wounded soldiers and 65 members of the Australian Army Nursing Service from the 2/13th Australian General Hospital. Also on board the 1670-ton vessel were many civilians and assorted other refugees. This results in the Bangka Island Massacre.
The NY Times for 16 February 1942 is full of very accurate news about the deteriorating situation for the Allies in the Pacific Theater of Operations.
Like many other ships leaving in the final days, the Vyner Brooke did not make it far. Japanese aircraft bombed and sank it, and whoever could swim or get in a lifeboat made it to nearby Bangka Island. An officer went to Muntok and brought back Japanese soldiers, who quickly marched the wounded Australian soldiers out of sight and bayoneted and shot them. The Japanese soldiers then returned, told the 22 surviving nurses to walk into the surf. After their matron, Irene Drummond, calls out, "Chin up, girls, I'm proud of you and I love you," the Japanese machine-gun them. The Japanese then bayoneted anyone else who they could find. Incredibly, one of the 22 nurses, Sister Lt. Vivian Bullwinkel, survives in the water despite having been shot in the gut. She manages to elude the Japanese and meet up with a British soldier, Private Patrick Kingsley, who had been bayoneted but also survived. Kingsley soon passes away from his wounds, but Bullwinkel survives three years in a POW camp and gives testimony at the Tokyo War Crimes Tribunal in 1947.
British Military: The British form the 10th Army under Lieutenant-General E.P. Quinan. Its responsibilities are Iran and Iraq. Quinan has been the commander of Iraqforce and is famous for his attention to detail (a "spit and polish" officer), something that is extremely prized in a peacetime army but not so much in chaotic war conditions.
Dignitaries and sailors attending the launch of USS Alabama, 16 February 1942 (US Navy).
US Military: The battleship USS Alabama (BB-60) is launched at Norfolk Naval Shipyard. It is the fourth and final member of the South Dakota class. As of the date of this writing, USS Alabama is a National Historic Landmark based at Mobile, Alabama and is part of a museum.
The USAAF Fifth Air Force continues organizing its forces. HQ 49th Pursuit Group (Interceptor) and 7th Pursuit Squadron (Interceptor) transfer from Melbourne to Bankstown, Australia with P-40s. The 8th Pursuit Squadron (Interceptor) transfers from Melbourne to Canberra, also with P-40. The air echelon of the 16th Bombardment Squadron, 27th Bombardment Group, transfers from Brisbane to Batchelor with A-24s. The ground echelon remains trapped on Bataan.
Australian Military: Following the tragic losses suffered by their troops in Singapore, the Australian Chiefs of Staff recommend that "if possible, all Australian forces now under order to transfer to the Far East from the Middle East should be diverted to Australia." This indirectly is hurting the Allied situation in the Middle East, where Australian and New Zealand troops have carried much of the burden against General Erwin Rommel's Afrika Korps. However, the Australians rightly fear the seemingly unstoppable Japanese advance southward towards them.
A Dr. Seuss political cartoon published on 16 September 1942 shows Hitler and Tojo as thieves leading stolen cattle out of barns marked "Pearl Harbor," "Singapore," and "Maginot Line." Tojo says to Hitler, "Funny... Some people never learn to keep their barn doors locked." PM Magazine, Dr. Seuss Collection, MSS 230. Special Collections & Archives, UC San Diego Library.
Japanese Government: Japanese Prime Minister Hideki Tojo makes a speech before the National Diet in which he makes as a war aim a "new order of coexistence and co-prosperity on ethical principles in Greater East Asia." He thus basically adopts a phrase, the "Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere," proposed by philosopher Kiyoshi Miki. This expands on the "New Order" proposed by Prime Minister Fumimaro Konoe on 22 December 1938. While Konoe only foresaw Japanese dominion over areas directly adjacent to Japan, Tojo now sees a much larger swathe of territory down to the Netherlands East Indies as being rightfully Japanese. Somewhat ironically, Miki is actually a Marxist who is opposed to Japanese militaristic expansion.
Hungarian Government: Regent Admiral Horthy's party pushes a bill through the legislature which establishes a vice-regency. The bill gives Horthy the right to nominate his own candidate. In practical effect, this bill seeks to establish a de facto dynasty for the Horthy family, though there remains widespread disagreement within the government of automatic succession. In due course, Horthy nominates his son, Istvan Horthy, as vice-regent. This is considered by many, including leaders of the fascist Arrow-Cross Party, as an affront to the Reich, as Istvan is known to be "no friend" of the Third Reich and Hitler does not think very highly of him. However, at this point, the Germans do not want to "rock the boat" far behind the front lines and wish enthusiastic Hungarian participation in the coming summer offensive which they believe will be decisive. So the fascists, at least for the time being, accept this development.
The San Bernardino County California Sun Newspaper, February 16, 1942, gives instructions for building your very own Luftwaffe fighter.
US Government: The major topic in Washington, D.C., is not military operations but how to handle people along the west coast of the United States who are ethnically or legally related to Japan. President Roosevelt sends a letter to Secretary Stimson asking him to tell Congress what the plan is. Since there is no plan yet, this is a very difficult request. The Department of Justice reports that as of 16 February 1942, the number of alien Japanese apprehended has increased to 1,266, and a Treasury agent reports to Army authorities that "an estimated 20,000 Japanese in the San Francisco metropolitan area were ready for organized action." Regardless of the accuracy of such reports, there is an urgent need for a resolution to this issue. Congress, the authorities on the West Coast, the military, and the federal bureaucracy are all groping frantically for a firm answer.
Holocaust: Heinrich Himmler issues a decree regarding German objectives behind the lines in the East. He directs that "Polonized Germans" - ethnic Germans in Poland who are resistant to Germanization - be resettled in "Old Reich territory" to complete their "re-Germanization." Anyone who resists is to be sent to a concentration camp. Meanwhile, "German farmers, laborers, civil servants, merchants, and artisans" are to be resettled in former Poland in order to create "a living and deep-rooted bastion of German people." The ultimate aim is to replace the native population of Poland with a reliably "German" one and force the native population to become truly German. Ruthless measures are approved for this process, including the confiscation of property, land, and assets.
Newsweek magazine for 16 February 1942 highlights the growing use of female labor in wartime factories.
American Homefront: While World War II is well underway, the Supreme Court of the United States is still deciding cases arising out of World War I. Some of them have obvious applicability to World War II situations. In UNITED STATES v. BETHLEHEM STEEL CORPORATION (315 U.S. 289, 291), the Court declines to force a steel plant to disgorge "unconscionable" profits from wartime ship construction under the Emergency Shipping Fund Act. The Court finds that corporations are entitled to their profits from war contracts even if some people consider them excessive and that any issue of war profiteering must be addressed by Congress. There may be an element of calculation in at least the timing of this decision, as the federal government desperately needs private businesses to step forward and fill military needs. Reassuring them that they can keep their promised profits aids the current war effort.
Life magazine, 16 February 1942, highlights soldier-civilian relations.
