Tuesday 10 February 1942

"Der Adler", Nr. 3, 10 February 1942.

American Homefront: Pursuant to an order issued by Donald M. Nelson, Chairman of the War Production Board, all remaining car production in the United States ceases on 9 February 1942. In a well-publicized event, the last civilian car is completed for the duration at the River Rouge Ford Plant. This order benefits the war effort in two ways. First, automobile production consumes a huge percentage of the United States' strategically important raw materials (for instance, 51% of malleable iron, 75% of plate glass, 68% of upholstery leather, 80% of rubber). This frees the materials up for war production. Second, the production lines are rapidly being converted to military goods.

A 1942 Lincoln. As an indication of how far World War II set the automotive industry back, consider that Ford offered an automatic transmission on 1942 Lincolns and Mercurys, the "Liquamatic," as an option. Ford quickly withdrew it for reasons unknown and did not offer another automatic transmission until 1951.

Automotive production lines ultimately produce 50% of all aircraft engines, 33% of all machine guns, 80% of tanks and tank parts, 100% of all Army trucks, and 50% of all diesel engines used by the military. Perhaps the auto manufacturers' most vital contribution is the production of 27,000 complete aircraft, including most of the B-24s that enter service at the Willow Run plant. Other vital goods also flow from the auto production lines, including 20% of all munitions production.

An article in the 10 February 1942 Der Adler military magazine summarizes the war in the Pacific. On the right is a summary of Ritterkreuz (Knight's Cross) winners. Medals were extremely important in the Wehrmacht and gave certain solders prestige and fame far beyond that usually accorded their rank.

Battle of the Pacific: With the Japanese holding a large swathe of northwestern Singapore, General Sir Archibald Wavell, Commander in Chief ABDA, arrives by air to review the situation. He orders the island held, which the local generals do not consider very difficult, but also orders all remaining RAF personnel to fly to bases in the Netherlands East Indies. The situation on the ground continues to deteriorate for the British, with the Japanese now able to ferry across artillery and even armor to northwest Singapore. The 11th Indian Infantry Division (Major-General B. W. Key) makes a desperate counterattack against Japanese troops which have seized the heights to the south of the Causeway, but this fails. The overall commander of all Allied forces in Singapore, Lieutenant-General Arthur Percival, orders a secondary defensive line behind the main defensive line around Jurong in the west, but subordinate commanders misinterpret this to mean a general withdrawal to the east. This leads to a collapse of the Kranji-Jurong Switch Line. General Wavell orders Percival to launch a quick counterattack to re-establish the line, but through muddled communications and lack of ready troops, this counterattack does not take place before the Japanese launch further attacks in the sector.

Japanese troops during the Battle of Bukit Timah, 10 February 1942. That is a Type 97 'Chi-Ha' medium tank.

In London, Prime Minister Winston Churchill is dismayed at the reports that he is receiving from Singapore. He cables General Wavell:

I think you ought to realize the way we view the situation in Singapore. It was reported to Cabinet by the CIGS [Chief of the Imperial General Staff, General Alan Brooke] that Percival has over 100,000 [sic] men, of whom 33,000 are British and 17,000 Australian. It is doubtful whether the Japanese have as many in the whole Malay Peninsula ... In these circumstances, the defenders must greatly outnumber Japanese forces who have crossed the straits, and in a well-contested battle, they should destroy them. There must at this stage be no thought of saving the troops or sparing the population. The battle must be fought to the bitter end at all costs. The 18th Division has a chance to make its name in history. Commanders and senior officers should die with their troops. The honor of the British Empire and of the British Army is at stake. I rely on you to show no mercy to weakness in any form. With the Russians fighting as they are and the Americans so stubborn at Luzon, the whole reputation of our country and our race is involved. It is expected that every unit will be brought into close contact with the enemy and fight it out.

While Churchill somewhat overstates the number of Allied troops in Singapore, he is generally correct that the British outnumber the Japanese. However, the Japanese have battle-hardened, disciplined troops who have a record of victories down the length of the Malay Peninsula. The British have many service troops, bureaucrats, and unarmed troops (thanks to Japanese sinkings of supply ships). They also are victims of poor leadership and an extremely difficult defensive posture with many areas of vulnerability and little air support.

The U.S. Navy only now has gotten around on 10 February 1942 to provide official notifications to next of kin of those who perished during the Pearl Harbor attack on 7 December 1942. Here is a notice about Chicago resident and U.S. Marine Herbert A. Dreesbach. Private Dreesbach, born in 1917, enlisted on 8 October 1940 and was aboard the U.S.S. Arizona as a loader, 5" gun. As with many others who perished on USS Arizona, Private Dreesbach's body was not recovered and is believed to remain aboard the ship. This notice appeared in the Chicago Daily Tribune, 10 February 1942.

On the Bataan Peninsula in the Philippines, the Allies continue attacking Japanese pockets behind the Main Line of Resistance (MLR). The main remaining pocket is on the western half of the peninsula in the I Corps sector. While these pockets do not represent true threats to the MLR, they are a major distraction for both sides. The Japanese troops under General Homma have pulled back in some areas to concentrate their forces for a final offensive.

As noted above, Private Herbert Dreesbach perished aboard the USS Arizona. His sister, Elaine H. Dreesbach, enlists in the US Marines in 1944 and is stationed in Hawaii. Chicago Daily Tribune, 25 February 1945. Born in 1919, Elaine later marries, moves to Arkansas, where she has two sons and two daughters and passes away in 2007.

The Japanese continue advancing on Borneo, taking Banjarmasin and a nearby airfield on the south coast. These are not vital areas for the Allies, but the Japanese are advancing in the direction of Java, the heart of their defenses in the Netherlands East Indies. The 5th Air Force sends some LB-30s (export B-24 Liberators) to attack Japanese shipping in the Makassar Strait. They find, bomb, and damage Japanese seaplane carrier HIJMS Chitose.

The Michigan Daily of 10 February 1942 has big news - the Regents have adopted a three-Semester school year. Oh, and over on the left is news that the Japanese have invaded Singapore Island in a night assault.

About 2000 US Army troops arrive on Christmas Island, Line Islands. The large defensive forces on Christmas Island also includes P-39s of the USAAF 7th Air Force's 12th Pursuit Squadron, 50th Pursuit Group.

Japanese submarine HIJMS I-69 once again shells Midway Island. However, this time the defending Americans strike back, sending F2A Buffalo fighters of the Marine Fighting Squadron VMF-211 to bomb it. The fighters strafe I-69, lightly damaging it and forcing the submarine to return to Kwajalein for repairs.

The Japanese bomb and sink 5236-ton American tanker Mindanao. The Japanese will raise the Mindanao later in 1942, rename it Palembang Maru, and put it into service until it is sunk by air attack on 4 March 1945 off Saigon.

HMS Eagle on 10 February 1942 (Imperial War Museum).

Eastern Front: The Wehrmacht has suffered serious losses during the winter when they had planned on building up their forces during an inactive period. This is due to the successful Red Army counteroffensive which began around Moscow and spread both north and south. Army Group Center takes 110,000 casualties during February and receives 70,000 replacements. Since the Soviet counteroffensive began in early December, the Army Group is short 227,000 troops. About a quarter of the replacements are men returning from hospitals, while many of the others are untrained men who previously have been deferred.

The Cypriot Mule Corps in the Western Desert, North Africa,10 February 1942 (Imperial War Museum).

European Air Operations: The RAF launches its major operation in February, sending 55 bombers to attack Bremen, three Whitleys to bomb Emden, and one bomber each to attack Borkum, Cuxhaven, and Wilhelmshaven. RAF Bomber Command also sends 20 bombers (12 Wellingtons and 8 Stirlings) to attack the German naval base at Brest, but the area is covered by heavy clouds and little is accomplished there. The RAF incurs no losses in these operations.

An article in the 10 February 1942 Der Adler about combat in Finnland.

The British still are completely unaware that the Kriegsmarine is planning its Channel Dash (Operation Cerberus) to begin from Brest after dark on 11 February. Adolf Galland, in overall command of the critical air portion of the operation, completes the last of eight rehearsals for the operation. His plan is to have fighters circling very low around the ships as they dash up the channel, avoiding British radar until the ships are sighted and the RAF appears. Everything is meticulously planned, and the air portion of the Channel Dash has the codename Unternehmen Donnerkeil (Operation Thunderbolt).

The Luftwaffe continues its operations against British shipping, damaging 3176-ton British freighter Lieutenant Robert Mory about five miles west of Trevose Head.

A helpful article on 10 February 1942 Der Adler discusses the mascots of Luftwaffe units. These could be cartoon characters, animals, or abstract symbols. For instance, the man with the cane in the middle-right of the left page is the cartoon character Adamson, used in the 4th, then 8th Staffel of elite fighter squadron JG 26. JG 26 was perhaps the Luftwaffe unit best known to Allied fighter pilots, as it served on the Channel front throughout the war.

Battle of the Atlantic: A mine sinks 3648-ton German freighter off Borkum, west of Vlieland, the Netherlands. This sinking sometimes is attributed to a torpedo from an unknown source, but a mine seems more likely, especially considering that RAF recently has dropped numerous mines in the general vicinity.

Battle of the Mediterranean: The two sides have settled down to garrison duty after the Afrika Korps' rapid advance past Benghazi. Off the coast, U-652 (Oblt. Georg-Werner Fraatz), on its fifth patrol out of La Spezia, attacks a British tanker off Sidi Barrani but misses. After dark, a Luftwaffe attack on the village of Qormi, which is packed with refugees, kills 16 people and destroys 30 houses.

A good view of the Adamson character used on planes in 8/JG 26.

German/Romanian Relations: Romanian dictator (Conducător) Ion Antonescu arrives in Rastenburg, East Prussia, for a two-day visit with Adolf Hitler. Romania is the Reich's only source of natural oil and also has a well-respected army which incurred heavy casualties taking Odessa in 1941. Hitler already is thinking ahead to the summer campaign and presses Antonescu to provide large formations for a major offensive in the Army Group South sector. Antonescu agrees but asks for modern weaponry and the transfer of northern Transylvania from Hungary, which would reverse the Second Vienna Award of 30 October 1940. Hitler basically replies that he will think about both requests but he ultimately never grants them. This is a reminder to everyone that Romania and Hungary are almost more interested in fighting each other over their conflicting claims in Eastern Europe as they are in defeating the Soviet Union. Throughout the war, Romanian and Hungarian units are always separated by Wehrmacht formations.

Death notices are a fact of life... and death ... during wartime. Here is one from the 10 February 1942 LA Daily World regarding a US Marine, Russell John Durio, killed in action at Pearl Harbor. He was born in 1922, had enlisted on 12 October 1940, and was aboard the USS Arizona. His body is believed to be still aboard USS Arizona.

Finnish Military: The Finnish Army upgrades its Tank Battalion to an armored brigade.

US Military: The Fifth Air continues redeploying its forces. It sends the air echelon (B-17s) of the 88th Reconnaissance Squadron (Heavy), 7th BG (Heavy) from Hickam Field, Hawaii, to Fiji.

British Homefront: Soap rationing begins in Great Britain.

Look magazine, 10 February 1942. "Why America Can't Lose" is a feature article. The lady pictured on the cover is actress Elyse Knox, future wife of football star Tom Harmon. Mrs. Harmon passed away in 2012.

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

Sunday 8 February 1942

Firefighters in Singapore battle a fire set by Japanese bombs on 8 February 1942.

Battle of the Pacific: After hours of preliminary bombardment by Japanese artillery, on 8 February 1942 the invasion of Singapore Island at Lim Chu Kang begins at 20:30 when Japanese boats carrying troops approach northwest Singapore. The Japanese troops of the 5th and 18th Divisions land at Sarimbun Beach, which is defended by just three battalions Australian 22nd Brigade. The Japanese gradually expand their foothold throughout the night, eventually landing 4000 troops. By midnight, the Japanese invaders have local ascendancy and the overwhelmed Australian troops have lost communication with each other and are in full retreat.

A map of the Battle of Sarimbun, the invasion of Singapore Island. Shown as blue circles are troops of the Australian 22nd Brigade, with the red arrows indicating Japanese landings. The Australian troops are positioned at the shoreline but are overwhelmed and in retreat, before 8 February 1942 is done.

In the Philippines, Lieutenant General Homma Masaharu, the Commander of the Japanese 14th Army, is alarmed by reports that the Allies are exerting massive pressure on several pockets of Japanese Army troops behind the Main Line of Resistance (MLR). Homma suspends all offensive operations and orders withdrawal of his most exposed forces for rest and reinforcement. On the Allied side, US I Corps on the western half of the MLR makes good progress against two pockets, completely cutting off the Japanese. After dark, one of the Japanese forces, the one in the "Little Pocket," escapes through the jungle back to Japanese lines, thus ending resistance there. Further south, the Allies achieve a major victory when they eliminate a small Japanese pocket at Quinauan Point. This attack is assisted by men from US Navy submarine tender USS Canopus, who land on the beach in a motor launch and hem in the Japanese. The Japanese are squeezed between these men and units of the Philippine Army Scouts and 57th Infantry Regiment. All but 34 Japanese, who escape by sea, are killed or captured.

Japanese troops crossing the Singapore Strait to invade Singapore ca. 8 February 1942 (Australian War Memorial 129751).

The Japanese continue their gradual occupation of Borneo today when they land at Bandjermasin in southeast Borneo. US Army Force Fifth Air Force bombers based at Singosari Aerodrome, Java, mounts a raid on  Kendari II Airdrome on Celebes. The defending dozen Japanese fighters spot the force early and shoot down two of nine B-17 bombers and damage a third. The surviving bombers abort the mission and return to base.

Continuing a rather trendless pointless trend of the first few months after the Pearl Harbor attack, a Japanese submarine surfaces. It shells Allied installations. HIJMS I-69, which has been in the vicinity of Midway since 21 January 1942 and whose crew may simply be bored, shells Midway atoll to little purpose.

A Soviet Aerosan RF-8/GAZ-98 snowmobile in action, February 1942. They are powered by a propeller (not shown) in the rear, like an airboat in the Everglades.

Eastern Front: While the German troops in Demyansk have been isolated for some time, 8 February 1942 is regarded as the date on which the pocket there forms. The Soviets are under the command of General Kurochkin. Encircled are about 90,000 Wehrmacht troops and around 10,000 auxiliaries under the command of II Corps (General Walter von Brockdorff-Ahlefeldt). These men are members of the 12th, 30th, 32nd, 123rd and 290th infantry divisions, and the SS Division Totenkopf, as well as the Reich Labour Service, Ordnungspolizei (uniformed police), Organisation Todt, and other auxiliary units. Many have been swept into the pocket by the advance of the Soviet Northwest Front under the command of General Lieutenant Pavel Kurochkin. The Red Army successfully has severed the Demyansk position, which has been forbidden to withdraw due to Hitler's "stand fast" orders, from its railhead at Staraya Russa south of Lake Ilmen. While the Soviet advance has severed the German lines of communication, it has not captured any major German fortified positions, and eliminating the Demyansk pocket turns into their best chance to do that. The Luftwaffe already has an air supply to Demyansk in progress under the command of Luftflotte 1. Unlike some later and notorious airlifts, the Demyansk airlift (and the contemporaneous one to the smaller trapped garrison about 62 miles (100 km) to the south at Kholm) is successful. This is because it benefits from relatively short flights and a lack of concentrated Red Army anti-aircraft fire in the forested areas surrounding the pocket.

A Flak 88 artillery piece in the Demyansk pocket, February 1942.

European Air Operations: Weather conditions are poor, so an RAF mission by four Blenheim Intruders to the Netherlands is recalled while still over the English Channel.

Battle of the Atlantic: U-108 (KrvKpt. Klaus Scholtz), on its sixth patrol out of Lorient, torpedoes and sinks 7174-ton British freighter Ocean Venture about 100 miles northeast of Norfolk, Virginia (near Cape Hatteras). There are a dozen survivors and 31 deaths.

The ships which are slated to be involved in German Operation Cerberus, the Channel Dash, continue working up their seaworthiness after a year of inactivity at Brest, France. Adolf Galland, Luftwaffe Inspector of Fighters, prepares air cover for the mission. Operation Cerberus is scheduled for the night of 11 February due to lunar conditions.

SS Duino, sunk on 8 February 1942.

Battle of the Mediterranean: Royal Navy submarine HMS Proteus collides with Italian torpedo boat Sagittario off the North African coast. Both ships make it back to port, the Proteus with bent hydroplanes.

1334-ton Italian freighter SS Duino hits a mine and sinks off Cape San Vito, near Bari, Italy. This sinking is sometimes credited to HMS Upholder, but it is usually attributed to a mine. Italian 2710-ton freighter Salpi is also damaged and perhaps sunk in this incident.

The Demyansk and Kholm pockets.

US/Philippine Relations: Philippine President Manuel Quezon asks President Franklin Roosevelt to grant his country independence and declare it a neutral area. Roosevelt ignores the request but gives the US area commander, General Douglas MacArthur, permission to surrender Filipino troops if he sees fit. This, of course, is not something the Filipino troops or MacArthur have any desire to do, as rumors of Japanese atrocities are floating throughout the theater.

US Military: A fire at Camp Edwards, Cape Cod, destroys 125 vehicles and causes an estimated $250,000 in damage. There are no injuries or deaths.

Canadian Military: The third contingent of Canadian troops lands in Great Britain.

A Todt Organisation fortification at Cap Gris Nez, France, in 1942/43 (Maier, Federal Archive Bild 146-1973-036-01).

German Government: Having spent an extended period at the Wolfsschanze ("Wolf's Lair") near Rastenburg in East Prussia, Dr. Fritz Todt perishes in an aircraft accident shortly after takeoff on 8 February 1942. Reich Minister for Armaments and Ammunition Todt recently had acquired new powers over the economy to improve war production. These powers would have impinged upon the fiefdoms of other top German officials, most significantly those of Reichsmarschall Hermann Goering, whose Reich Air Ministry investigates the crash and flatly denied "the possibility of sabotage." Regardless, there are suspicions of assassination. Todt's is one in a series of mysterious transport plane crashes, including those of General der Jagdflieger Werner Mölders and General Hans-Valentin Hube, which remove promising leaders of the Third Reich. Todt's name remains on structures throughout Europe by virtue of inscriptions commemorating their erection by military engineering company Organisation Todt.

Albert Speer, right, with Adolf Hitler.

Albert Speer, Adolf Hitler's favorite architect who has been working on civic improvements in Berlin, just happens to be at the Wolfsschanze. He arrived there the previous evening in order to accompany Todt back to Berlin. However, Speer canceled this trip with Todt a few hours before takeoff, claiming fatigue from a late-night discussion with Hitler. Upon learning of the crash, Hitler instantly offers the position to Speer., who accepts. There is speculation that Hitler made this uncharacteristically quick decision in order to forestall a major battle within his inner circle over the Ministry and its immense power over the Reich economy. In particular, Goering was known to covet the Ministry, which would solidify his growing empire of factories throughout Austra and the Balkans (the "Hermann Goering Works"). Hitler also appoints Speer to replace Todt as head of the Organisation Todt, which is tasked with building fortifications throughout Europe.

Albert Speer, left, famously accompanied Adolf Hitler, center, on an early-morning visit to Paris in mid-1940. Speer was there as Hitler's friend and architect, not for any military reason.

Everyone, on both sides of the conflict, ultimately agrees that this choice of Speer to replace Todt is among Hitler's most inspired appointments. An architect by training, Alber Speer has virtually no experience in the management of armaments. What he does have in abundance, though, is common sense and few scruples about fulfilling Hitler's wishes. Speer certainly has his detractors within the Reich leadership, where he is disparaged and lazy and not fully committed to ultimate victory. However, Albert Speer is ambitious and savvy enough to use his close relationship with Hitler (whom he has known since before Hitler became Chancellor when he was hired to renovate the Berlin NSDAP headquarters) to defend and even expand his powers. Speer ultimately may have cause to regret his appointment, as he is found guilty after the war of using slave labor and spends 20 years in prison. However, on 8 February 1942, Speer is merely one of Hitler's old cronies who finds himself with vast new powers through a stroke of fortune.

A Luftwaffe Junkers Ju-52 flying in the Demyansk airbridge operation, 1942.

New Zealand: The government of New Zealand announces a potato shortage.

Holocaust: Dawid Rubinowicz, a 12-year-old Jewish boy in Occupied Poland, records in his diary an incident that he is told by another boy. He writes that a German soldier had entered a Jewish family's house and:

turned everyone out of the place. He’d then ordered the snow to be shoveled into the house because it was so dirty inside. I didn’t believe it. In the evening, however, I went and saw with my own eyes that it was really true, what he’d told me in the morning. Everyone was terrified, as you can well imagine.

While not as famous as Anne Frank's diary, the stories in the Rubinowicz diary are just as tragic.

Separately, a transport train of 96 Soviet POWs arrives today at Auschwitz. Ultimately, about 15,000 Red Army POWs are sent there, and most perish.

American Homefront: Japanese nationals already are heading toward inland internment camps. As recalled by Toyojiro Suzuki, a member of the Japanese fishing settlement on Terminal Island in Los Angeles Harbor, he was imprisoned on 2 February by members of the Immigration and Naturalization Service and the Federal Bureau of Investigation before being embarked on a train east on 6 February. His train arrives today, 8 February 1942, in Missoula, Montana en route to a destination unknown. With him are approximately 150 other future internees. They are being taken to a camp outside Bismarck, North Dakota, where they arrive on 9 February.

Times Square, New York City, February 1942 (John Vachon for Office of War Information).

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

Sunday 28 December 1941

Finnish T-28 crewmen in Karhumäki in -40° weather, December 1941 (SA-Kuva).

Battle of the Pacific: On New Britain Island in the Bismarck Archipelago, Australian National Airlines (ANA) begins evacuating dependents from the naval base at Rabaul on 28 December 1941. The Japanese already have this key naval base in their sites and are preparing Operation R for early 1942. Plan R is planned to be undertaken by the Japanese South Seas Detachment under Major General Tomitaro Horii once it secures Guam.

Muslims in the Indian Army celebrate Id-ul-Adha at Woking Mosque, 28 December 1941 (Islamic Review, September 1942, 293-294, via Woking Mission).

The Japanese Navy considers Rabaul vital for control of the nearby Caroline Islands, which includes a key Imperial Japanese naval base at Truk. It also is strategically located along Allied convoy routes from the United States to Australia and New Zealand. The Allies also consider Rabaul important as the capital of the Australian-administered Territory of New Guinea and a secure fleet anchorage, but the Australians only first garrisoned it in March 1941. As of 28 December 1941, Rabaul only has about 1400 soldiers there in "Lark Force." The Japanese place much more strategic importance on Rabaul than do the Allies. They are determined to capture New Britain to use Rabaul as a springboard for their ambitions to the west and south.

Destroyer tender USS Melville in a photo taken on 28 December 1941. It services neutrality patrol ships in the North Atlantic at Bermuda and occasionally sails to Europe.

In the Philippines, the Japanese advance in southern Luzon, crossing the Agno River and approaching Cabanatuan. The Filipino 52nd Infantry Regiment retreats to Tiaong, and the Filipino 51st Division receives orders to withdraw into the Bataan Peninsula. The Japanese in the area advance along Route 1 and seize Luisiana, forcing the Filipino 1st Infantry Regiment to withdraw. The US Army Air Forces in the region continue to withdraw, with the 17th Bombardment Squadron withdrawing from Cabcaben to Limay, Luzon.

The Florence (South Carolina) Morning News for 28 December 1941 headlines "Undefended Manila Set Afire In Three-Hour Bombing."

Dutch B-10 bombers fly from Singapore to bomb the Japanese at Kuching, Borneo. The Japanese are approaching Singawang while retreating Dutch and British troops head into the jungle toward Sampit and Pangkalanbun. There is a Dutch airfield near there at Kotawaringin which the Allied troops hope to protect and at which supplies can be received.

At Midway Island, which has recently been reinforced with troops and equipment originally destined for Wake Island, the seaplane tender USS Tangier and its accompanying ships depart. They carry with them 850 civilian construction contractors.

The London Margarine Factory (the white building) at Wormerveer Noorddijk, the Netherlands (just northwest of Amsterdam), burns down on 28 December 1941.

Battle of the Mediterranean: Off of the Egyptian coast near Mersa Matruh, U-75 (Kptlt. Helmuth Ringelmann) torpedoes and sinks 1587-ton British freighter Volo. Royal Navy destroyer HMS Kipling, guarding Convoy AT-6, chases down U-75 and sinks it with depth charges. There are 30 survivors and 14 men perish.

With Soviet troops having taken Naro-Fominsk near Moscow, Soviet engineers build a bridge near there on 28 December 1941. Photo: Soviet news agency RIAN.

Eastern Front: The German plan to combat the Red Army landings near Kerch is to eliminate the bridgeheads one at a time. This strategy is forced upon them because of their lack of troops in the Kerch Peninsula. Lieutenant General Kurt Himer, commander of the German 46th Infantry Division in Lieutenant General Hans Graf von Sponeck's 42nd Army Corps, uses troops recalled from the port of Feodosiya as part of a renewed effort to eliminate the three main Soviet bridgeheads near Kerch. The 1st and 3rd Infantry battalions of Infantry Regiment 97 attack at dawn. Supported by two 10.5 cm howitzers, six Heinkel He 111 bombers and a handful of Stukas, the German troops wipe out the Soviet bridgehead at Zyuk by noontime. The two battalions take 458 prisoners and count about 300 Red Army troops killed at a cost of only 40 casualties. Another German attack at Cape Khroni by Infantry Regiment 72 also wipes a Red Army bridgehead. These are stunningly successful operations that illustrate the fragility of a bridgehead if attacked quickly. Overall, the two operations take about 1700 prisoners. Sponeck and Himer now turn their attention to the Bulganak Bay bridgehead, where about 1000 Red Army troops are trying to consolidate. Once this is eliminated, it appears the Soviet landings would have been completely repulsed.

"The Commanding Officer of the Royal Naval Air Station Hatston, Captain Fancourt, RN, talking to Sub Lieut (A) Mewton, RNVR, on the flight deck of HMS VICTORIOUS." This photo was taken sometime between 28 and 31 December 1941. © IWM (A 6987).

Around Moscow, German troop strength is declining fast both due to combat casualties and frostbite. The low temperatures and heavy snow are making aerial reconnaissance impossible, which, as Second Army commander General Rudolf Schmidt reports, leaves his troops "blind." General Ludwig Kuebler at Fourth Army - Army Group Center commander Field Marshal Hans Guenther von Kluge's former command - warns that even his own headquarters now is almost in the front lines. Soviet cavalry is across the Sukhinichi/Kaluga railroad and roaming far to the rear, virtually unimpeded no matter how far west they choose to go.

Jozef Gabčík and Jan Kubiš, landing in the Protectorate in the night between 28 and 29 December 1941, carried out the successful assassination of the Deputy/Acting Reich-Protector Reinhard Heydrich.

Special Operations: After extensive training funded by the Czechoslovak government-in-exile, Special Operations Executive (SOE) agents Jan Kubiš and Jozef Gabčík parachute into Czechoslovakia (the German Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia) from a Handley Page Halifax on 28 December 1941. This is the start of Operation Anthropoid. There, the two men find a local priest, František Samek, who helps them to go into hiding for several months. Their mission is to assassinate the province's Reichsprotektor Reinhard Heydrich, the ruthless SS-Gruppenführer who is a key figure behind the "Final Solution" and who ruthlessly suppresses all dissent. December 28 is remembered every year in the village of Nahvizdy in central Bohemia for the arrival nearby of the two agents.

"Fairey Fulmars of 809 Squadron ranged on the flight deck for a squadron exercise." This photo was taken between 28 and 31 December 1941 apparently aboard HMS Victorious (© IWM (A 6968)).

Australian/US Relations: The first of several Allied conferences takes place at RAAF Base Amberley Field southwest of Brisbane. This is a follow-up to Prime Minister John Curtin's New Year's Message released on 27 December 1941 in which he characterized the United States as his country's chief protector. The Australian and the United States militaries reach some formal agreements for the conduct of the war. These include building bases on a line between Brisbane and Darwin which contain refueling depots at Charleville, Cloncurry, Daly Waters, and Darwin. This is to provide for servicing of routine air traffic. In addition, Royal Australian Air Force pilots will train new US Army Air Force pilots for B-24 crews at Archerfield and for P-40 pilots at Amberley. The prescribed course will teach night flying, dive-bombing, and aerial gunnery. These Amberley Field conferences build a close working relationship between the Royal Australian Air Force and the USAAF throughout the war.

A US military Diamond-T 969A 4 ton Wrecker, built to military specifications. This photo was taken on 28 December 1941.

US Military: Rather than use vulnerable civilian construction workers who now are being captured all across the Pacific Theater, the US Navy decides that it would be best to form a separate construction service. US Navy Chief of Bureau of Yards and Docks Vice Admiral Ben Moreell places a formal request with the Bureau of Navigation for such units. This is the birth of the Naval Construction Battalion, more colloquially known as the Seabees for the acronym of its name.

New Zealand Military: The tiny New Zealand military has its 2nd Division fighting in Libya with great distinction. However, it now finds that it has few troops on hand to defend against a potential Japanese attack. There is little war industry in New Zealand and a complete lack of tanks, artillery, and other instruments of modern warfare. However, the time has come to start worrying about the homeland. The military begins raising three battalions and the New Zealand Navy recently has sent minesweeper HMNZS Gale to Fiji. More minesweepers are to be sent to Fiji to form a minesweeping flotilla. These can serve as troop-convoy escorts.

A group photo of No. 2 Platoon, D Company at Burnham Camp in New Zealand. This is the largest military base in New Zealand's South Island.

British Homefront: William Joyce, aka Lord Haw-Haw, delivers his typical English-language propaganda broadcast on behalf of the Reich Ministry of Public Enlightenment from Hamburg, Germany. This broadcast is recorded and preserved. Joyce urges listeners to "Tell Roosevelt to keep his hands off the Royal Navy."


December 1941

December 1, 1941: Hitler Fires von Rundstedt
December 2, 1941: Climb Mount Niitaka
December 3, 1941: Hints of Trouble in the Pacific
December 4, 1941: Soviets Plan Counteroffensive
December 5, 1941: Soviets Counterattack at Kalinin
December 6, 1941: Soviet Counterattack at Moscow Broadens
December 7, 1941: Japan Attacks Pearl Harbor
December 8, 1941: US Enters World War II
December 9, 1941: German Retreat At Moscow
December 10, 1941: HMS Prince of Wales and Repulse Sunk
December 11, 1941: Hitler Declares War on US
December 12, 1941: Japanese in Burma
December 13, 1941: Battle of Cape Bon
December 14, 1941: Hitler Forbids Withdrawals
December 15, 1941: The Liepaja Massacre
December 16, 1941: Japan Invades Borneo
December 17, 1941: US Military Shakeup
December 18, 1941: Hitler Lays Down the Law
December 19, 1941: Brauchitsch Goes Home
December 20, 1941: Flying Tigers in Action
December 21, 1941: The Bogdanovka Massacre
December 22, 1941: Major Japanese Landings North of Manila
December 23, 1941: Wake Island Falls to Japan
December 24, 1941: Atrocities in Hong Kong
December 25, 1941: Japan Takes Hong Kong
December 26, 1941: Soviets Land in the Crimea
December 27, 1941: Commandos Raid Norway
December 28, 1941: Operation Anthropoid Begins
December 29, 1941: Soviet Landings at Feodosia
December 30, 1941: Race for Bataan
December 31, 1941: Nimitz in Charge

2020

Friday 26 December 1941

Manila, Philippines is declared an open city 26 Dec 1941 (US Army Center of Military History).

Eastern Front: Soviet troops from the Taman Peninsula land near Kerch on the Crimea early on 26 December 1941. The landings are difficult, both because of the weather conditions and local defenders. The 224th Rifle Division and 83rd Naval Infantry Brigade successfully land at Cape Khroni to the northeast of Kerch. Another battalion follows later in the day, bringing T-26 tanks and light artillery. Other landings are less successful, with an attempted 302nd Mountain Rifle Division landing at Kamysh Burun south of Kersh prevented by Wehrmacht troops of the 42nd Infantry Regiment (Colonel Ernst Maisel) firing down at them from high ground. In addition, an attempted landing at Etigen is wiped out by the German 2nd Battalion of the 42nd Infantry Regiment. Two successive landings at Stary Karantin are smashed by the German 1st Battalion (Major Karl Kraft) of the 42nd Infantry Division, but enough men get ashore to seize the docks at Kamysh Burun and establish a bridgehead.

German soldiers west of Moscow, December 1941 (original via Wikipedia and Creative Commons).

The Red Army troops have all sorts of difficulties, with some drowning, some of their whaleboats capsizing, and men freezing to death of hypothermia. However, there are no German troops nearby, so they manage to build a bridgehead. The Luftwaffe begins counter-attacking around 10:50 with He-111 medium bombers and Ju-87 Stuka dive bombers, and they sink Soviet transport Voroshilov at Cape Tarhan and another ship off Cape Zyuk. About 450 men perish in the Voroshilov and 100 on the other ship. The Luftwaffe also sinks several Soviet ships off Kamysh Burun, enabling only 2175 out of 5200 Soviet troops to get ashore there.

Soviet troops retaking Naro-Fominsk southwest of Moscow ca. 26 December 1941.

Army Corps commander Lieutenant General Sponeck, in control in the Kerch Peninsula while General Erich von Manstein focuses the bulk of the 11th Army further west at Sevastopol, spends the day trying to figure out the Soviet objectives from the confused reports from the front. The German intelligence services extract information from a captured Soviet officer at Cape Khroni suggesting that the plan is to land 25,000 troops at Kerch. Lieutenant General Kurt Himer quickly orders troops east from the port of Feodosiya on the southern coast - leaving that port undefended. By the end of the day, the Germans feel they have enough troops in a position to launch a counterattack against the northern landings and eliminate them while holding in the south. However, the German forces are a hodgepodge of infantry, artillery, and combat engineers who are being assigned tasks for which they are not prepared. The counterattack is scheduled for around midday on the 27th.

Seaplane tender USS Tangier, which lands US Marines of the 4th Defense Battalion and their guns and equipment on Midway Island on 26 December 1941. Tangier had been sent to do the same at Wake Island, but the Japanese conquered Wake before Tangier could get there, so it was diverted. Included in this shipment are a 5-inch gun, twelve anti-aircraft machine guns, and radar equipment.

Battle of the Pacific: Mandatory evacuations of civilians from Hawaii begin on 26 December 1941. The first convoy load to the port of San Francisco is carried aboard the three Matson Liners (Lurline, Matsonia, and Monterey). The loading is frantic and the captain of the Lurline does not even know how many people are aboard until a count is made en route. Everybody is tense because there have been Japanese submarine attacks off the west coast and nobody knows where the Japanese fleet has gone since the attack on Pearl Harbor.

Operation Anklet, a British Commando raid on the Lofoten Islands, takes place on 26 December 1941. It is undertaken by 300 men of No. 12 Commando assisted by Norwegian Independent Company 1. The landings are supported by 22 ships and begin at 06:00. There is no German opposition when the Commandos arrive on the island of Moskenesøya, and the Commandos capture a small German garrison and some Norwegian Quislings at the radio station at Glåpen. The Commandos occupy the island for two days.

In the Philippines, Lieutenant General Douglas MacArthur declares Manila an open city. The U.S. evacuation into the Bataan Peninsula is almost complete. The South Luzon Defense Force sets up a defensive line west of Sariaya. The Japanese send Nell and Betty bombers from Formosa to bomb shipping in Manila Bay, scoring a near miss on destroyer USS Peary. Rear Admiral Francis W. Rockwell, Commander of the Sixteenth Naval District and the Philippine Naval Coastal Frontier, establishes his headquarters on Corregidor Island while his troops burn patrol boat PT-33, which has been damaged by grounding.

U-559 torpedoes and sinks Polish 2487-ton Warszawa (shown) off Mersa Matruh, Egypt on 26 December 1941. There are 24 deaths and 453 survivors (mostly troops from Tobruk). The sinking is slightly unusual in that Warszawa is taken in tow after the first torpedo strike, but U-559 sees this and then pumps a second torpedo into it, sinking Warszawa.

On the Malay Peninsula, the Commonwealth troops continue retreating south toward Singapore. While the Indian 12th Brigade Group delays the advancing Japanese at Chemor, the 11th Indian Division slips out of Ipoh just to the south. In London, Whitehall is aware of the deterioration of the British position and notifies General Claude Auchinleck, Commander-in-Chief Middle East Command, that it transferring four RAF fighter squadrons from the Middle East to the Far East - showing that the Japanese attack at least indirectly is helping the Germans in North Africa.

"USS Tangier (AV-8) (R) unloads supplies at Midway, 26 December 1941; USS RALPH TALBOT (DD-390) and USS BLUE (DD-387) are at left; TAMAHA (YN-440) is in the background, center. TANGIER had originally been earmarked for the Wake Island relief expedition." Naval History and Heritage Command.

HMS Triumph (Lt. John Symons Huddart, RN). After sailing from Alexandria on 26 December 1941, Triumph lands a party on Antiparos Island and then goes on a patrol in the Aegean from which it does not return. It is surmised that Triumph hit an Italian mine and sank off Cape Sounion, Greece.

Winston Churchill addresses a joint session of Congress in Washington, D.C., on 26 December 1941 © IWM (A 7187).

Robertson Stadium under construction in Houston on the campus of the University of Houston, 26 December 1941 (Photography by Elwood Payne, Construction by Fretz Construction Company).

Winston Churchill addressing Congress, 26 December 1941.

December 1941

December 1, 1941: Hitler Fires von Rundstedt
December 2, 1941: Climb Mount Niitaka
December 3, 1941: Hints of Trouble in the Pacific
December 4, 1941: Soviets Plan Counteroffensive
December 5, 1941: Soviets Counterattack at Kalinin
December 6, 1941: Soviet Counterattack at Moscow Broadens
December 7, 1941: Japan Attacks Pearl Harbor
December 8, 1941: US Enters World War II
December 9, 1941: German Retreat At Moscow
December 10, 1941: HMS Prince of Wales and Repulse Sunk
December 11, 1941: Hitler Declares War on US
December 12, 1941: Japanese in Burma
December 13, 1941: Battle of Cape Bon
December 14, 1941: Hitler Forbids Withdrawals
December 15, 1941: The Liepaja Massacre
December 16, 1941: Japan Invades Borneo
December 17, 1941: US Military Shakeup
December 18, 1941: Hitler Lays Down the Law
December 19, 1941: Brauchitsch Goes Home
December 20, 1941: Flying Tigers in Action
December 21, 1941: The Bogdanovka Massacre
December 22, 1941: Major Japanese Landings North of Manila
December 23, 1941: Wake Island Falls to Japan
December 24, 1941: Atrocities in Hong Kong
December 25, 1941: Japan Takes Hong Kong
December 26, 1941: Soviets Land in the Crimea
December 27, 1941: Commandos Raid Norway
December 28, 1941: Operation Anthropoid Begins
December 29, 1941: Soviet Landings at Feodosia
December 30, 1941: Race for Bataan
December 31, 1941: Nimitz in Charge

2020