February 1942 (1)

(top) Navy plane over Wotjie Atoll, smoke is from fuel & ammo dump eruption. (bottom) 2 US vessels during battle

 

1 February – Adm. Halsey sent aircraft from the Enterprise and Yorktown to strafe and bomb Kwajalein and 5 other sites during the Marshall-Gilbert raids.  A fleet that also included the Salt Lake City and Northhampton.  Enemy transports were sunk or damaged and the Japanese commanding admiral was killed, at the cost of 13 planes.  The enemy retaliated and hit the Enterprise.  The US exaggerated the success of this battles by using headlines that read, “Pearl Harbor Avenged.”

Further information on this___Link Here.

In the Java/Sumatra area, allied naval forces were small compared tho the enemy fleet.  After a confrontation occurred between the two sides, the USS Marblehead found it necessary to go to Ceylon for repairs and the Houston‘s rear turret was out of commission.  Australian and Dutch troops on Sumatra were driven south.  The following day, the Dutch naval base at Surabya, on Java, was heavily damaged by an enemy air attack.

Port facilities at Oosthaven, Sumatra destroyed.

4 February – in the Madura Strait, Netherlands RAdm. Doorman suffered a massive air attack as his allied naval forces attempted to intercept a Japanese invasion fleet off Borneo.  One Dutch cruiser and 2 US cruisers were damaged.  10-20 February – the Japanese made paratrooper drops on Sumatra as Borneo and Celebes went under the enemy’s control.  The Japanese then followed up with jumps on Kupang, Timor.  Dutch and US ships engaged the enemy’s navy in the Badeong Strait (east of Bali).  One Japanese destroyer was damaged and the Dutch lost 2 vessels.

Japanese at Singapore

Gen. Percival had made the error of concentrating his force of the 18th British Division on the coastline of Singapore and the 22nd Australian Brigade in the dense mangrove swamps.  On 7 February – Gen. Yamashita sent the Konoye Division across the strait, headed directly to those swamps.  By dawn of the following day, 30,000 enemy troops were ashore attacking in bayonet charges during the pouring rain and pushed the Allies into retreat.  The 27th Brigade, in the central area were left defending their front.  13 February – almost all of the ships carrying evacuees fell prey to the enemy bombers and vessels; the Japanese picked up some of the survivors.

The ABDACOM area of responsibility

Despite Churchill’s insistence that Singapore could hold out for 6 months, the ‘City of Lions’ fell.  15 February – at 1800 hours, Percival and his officers emerged from his headquarters in front of Japanese reporters and newsreel cameramen to record a stage-managed surrender to Yamashita.  The battles had cost both sides about 10,000 men.  European women and children were then incarcerated in Changi camp and thousands of Chinese civilians were executed.  On the Japanese home front, the government decreed 2 bottles of beer or sake per family and a bag of candy for the children in celebration.

The staged Singapore surrender.

Sir Max Hastings, British journalist, historian and author, has said, “At Singapore the Japanese had a brilliant general and a terrific army up against one of the most incompetent range of commanders that the British army has ever put in the field.”  Hastings believes that the “British forces in Singapore was not unique in the context of the Second War War…the British convinced themselves that if the other side had air superiority, then the British were entitled to expect to lose the ground battle….The British Army was just not very good.”

The Japanese continued to advance to Burma and the Allied ABDA Air Command was down to 55 fighters.  Gen. Wavell sent a cable out: “Loss of Java, though a severe blow…would not be fatal.  Efforts should NOT therefore be made to reinforce Java which might compromise Burma and Australia.”  Prime Minister Curtin recalled his 1st Australian Division from sailing across the Indian Ocean.  But, Churchill interceded and redirected the division to Rangoon, telling Curtin, “…your greatest support in this our of peril must be drawn from the U.S.” (Once again, Australia had lost a method of self-defense).

Click on images to enlarge.

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Humor –  Aussie and British style today….

Tank crew poster at Aberdeen training grounds.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Farewell Salutes – 

Owen Boyd – Lynnwood, WA; US Army, Korea

Tom Chappell – Born in England, Belle Glade, FL; RAF & RCAF, WWII, instructor at Clewiston, FL pilot & Bombardier school

Keith Dawson – Manurewa, NZ; RNZ Army # 815463 / RNZ Air Force # 44883, WWII

William Howell – South Jordan, UT; US Army, Korea, 4th Signal Battalion

Obrad Marinkovich – San Antonio, TX; US Air Force, fighter pilot (Ret. 30 years)

Bernard Murphy, FL; US Army, MSgt (Ret. 22 years), Korea & Vietnam

John O’Kane – Waltham, MA; US Army, WWII, ETOGeorge Scherr – Washington, IL; US Army, Korea, Engineers

Henry Turner – Canton, GA; US Army, WWII mortar crew, Korea & Vietnam

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