Feb 8 1941 The first of the German forces for north Africa, the 5th Panzer Regiment, left Naples by sea transport. The British intercepted the Japanese merchant ship Yamafuji at the entrance to the Persian Gulf and confiscated all the mail it was carring. Protests were filed with the British.
1942 The main attack on Singapore was launched after dark as three Japanese Divisions crossed the narrow waters between Johore and the Island on small landing craft. A bridgehead was established without difficulty, and the Japanese set out for Tengah airfield, their immediate major objective. Lieutenant General Masaharu Homma ordered a general pullback for all Japanese forces on the Bataan front. The Japanese were exhausted at this point and badly needed fresh troops before a final drive could be started.
1943 Kursk, held by the Germans since Nov. 11 1941 was reoccupied by Soviet troops. It had served as a key German base. Finland, though the U.S., offered to negotiate an end to its war with Russia. Major General Orde Windgate’s first Chindit group, made up of the 77th Indian Brigade, set off from Imphal to conduct irregular warfare behind Japanese lines in Burma. Supplied by air drops, the British, Indian and Ghurka troops trekked through the impossible junglr to cut Japanese communications Japanese rear-gaurd units were evacuated from Guadalcanal. A total of 10,652 men were removed from the Island in a week, a remarkable feat in view of the American air and naval presence in the area.
1944 A six ton bomb, heavest used in the war to date, was dropped by an R.A.F. bomber on the Gnome-et-Rhone factory at Limoges, France. The Germans trapped at Nikopol refused to surrender to the Red Army troops who pressed their encirclement to win total control of the important manganese center.
1945 The British XXX Corps launched an offensive to clear the erea between the Meuse and Rhine rivers, opening the battle of the Reichswald. The Colmar pocket was reduced to four villages west of the Rhine. Paraguay declared war on Germany and Japan. British civilian casualties from the start of the war through this date were 57,468 killed and 79,178 injured.
Feb 9 1941 British warships attavked targets on the northern Italian mainland. Force H, operating out of Gibraltar, steamed into the Gulf of Genoa and bombarded factories and port facilities in the city of Genoa, hit the oil refinery at Leghorn, and Ark Royal aircraft mined La Spezia. The British force returned to Gibraltar without suffering damage of any kind. El Agheila was occupied by the British, who had now penetrated about 500 miles into Libya. The advance was halted at this point as LOndon decided to pull out many of the units and send them to Greece. In a radio broadcast to the United States, Churchill pleaded for arms support: " Give us the tools and we’ll finish the job."
1942 Tengah airfield on Singapore fell to the Japanese. Its capture permitted the quick resupply of the invading force and,if there was any remaining doubt on the outcome, sealed the fall of Singapore. Percival ordered all defenes be concentrated in the southern sector of the island,around the city of Singapore. Japanese forces suffered heavy casualties in Luzon. Chiang Kai-shek began a visit to India. He conferred with British officials and urged Indian nationalists leaders, particulary Jawaharlal Nehru to lay aside political differences and join in the military effort against Japan. Roosevelt called on Vichy French government to reaffirm its position of neutrality. He noted reports of supplies being sent from France to Axis forces in North Africa.
1943 All organized Japanese resistance on Guadalcanal ended. The Americans were completely unaware of the pullout and were surprised when they realized late in the afternoon that no Japanese were left. Belgorod was recapyured by the Russians, cutting the rail line to Kharkov.
1944 Allied forces at Anzio suffered more setbacks despite heavy naval and air support to keep the Germans from driving the Allies into the sea. Roosevelt requested Chiang’s permission to send a U.S. military mission to the Chinese Communist base area and headquarters in Shensi Province.
1945 British and Canadian forces cracked the Siegfried line and reached the Rhine. U.S.87th Division units reached the north end of Schwammenauel Dam and seized the control house. The Colmar was closed, with the German Nineteenth Army eliminated as a fighting force. It had lost about 25’000 men in the Alsace fighting. Allied forces now held the west bank of the Rhine from Strasbourg to the Swiss border. Intense fighting continued in and around Manilia. U.S. units on the outer defenses of Nichols Field encountered intense opposition. Ramree Island off the coast of Burma was secured by British Commonwealth forces.
Feb 10 1940 Germany and the Soviet Union concluded an expanding trade treaty involving increases in materials to be exchanged. By the time Germany invaded Russia, Moscow had delivered 1.5 million tons of grain, a million tons of mineral oil, and vast amounts of chrome and manganese. Germany procastinated during the 16 months the treaty remained in effect but did provide substantial amounts of raw materials and military goods, including the heavy Cruiser Lutzow.
1941 Britian broke off diplomatic relations with Rumania because of its territory was “being used by Germany as a military base in furtherance of her plans for prosecuting the war. These measures are bring taken without a word of disent from the Rumanian government.” About 680,000 German troops were soon to be stationed in Rumania. British forces under the command of Lieutenant Sir Alan Cunningham began advancing into Italian Somaliland and Ethiopia from Kenya. A force made up of the South African 1st Division and two African divisions struck out for the Indian Ocean port of Kismayu
1942 The 82,423 ton liner Normandie which had been taken over by the U.S., burned and turned over on its side in New York, the apparent result of a welder’s carelessness. Berlin implied it was the result of Axis sabotage. Wavell visited Singapore and ordered the Island to be held at all costs. All remaining R.A.F. personnel, however, were ordered evacuated. French-Canadian M.P. Pierre Gauthier spoke out against a Canadian $ 1 Billion grant to Britian, saying “so-called patriots” supporting such aid would throw this country into the arms of the United States sooner than we expect.
1943 Russian troops advancing toward Kharkov took Chuguev and Volchansk.
1944 The pro-Allied Italian government was given administrstive control over Southern Italy, Sicily and Sardinia. Hungary’s ambassador in Lisbon was instructed to inform the Western Allies that Budapest wished to surrrender unconditionally, but not to the Russians. The Japanese abandoned Truk as a major naval base. Australian forces completed their occupation of the Huon Peninsula on New Guinea. Russian bombers attempted to bomb the Tirpitz in Kaafiord, Norway. 15 aircraft started out on the raid, but only 4 found the battleship. A one-ton bomb scored a near miss, but Tirpitz escaped major damage.
1945 A Soviet Sub sank the German transport General von Steuben in the Baltic. Of the 3,000 injured soldiers and civilian evacuees from East Prussia aboard, 300 survived. A severe earthquake rocked Tokyo, followed almost immediately by a devistating raid by 90 B-29 bombers. Germans flooded the Roer River valley, which was to frustrate the U.S. 9th Army’s planned offensive toward Dusseldorf. German forces were able to concentrate on defending positions between the Rhine and Meuse. The East Prussian Port of Elbing was taken by the Russians.
1936 Italian forces launched a 200,000 man attack against Amba Aradam in Northern Ethiopia where defending forces had concentrated their greatest strenth, 60,000 men. Rome described the attack as the Italian “battle of annihilation.” A law was enacted making the Gestapo a supreme Reich Agency, giving Heinrich Himmler, chief of the SS and the Gestapo, absolute control over German internal security.
1939 Poland declared it would not permit German road or Rail transit across the corridor. Japanese forces occupied French-occupied Hainan Island in the South China Sea, giving them a base for Southern and Chinese operations.
Feb 11 & 12 1940
Intense fighting developed between thr Russians and the Finns on the Karelian front as the Red Army launched what was to become the decisive assult on the Mannerheim line. About 140,000 Russians attacked on a 12 mile front, a massive concentration of seven men each tard.
12th The Finnish cabinet authorized moves to end the wae against the Russians. It became apparent the Karelian defense line would not hold. Ay the same time, Finland requested aid from Sweden, which was regected. The first contingent of ANZAC troops reached Egypt.
1941
11th Five merchant ships in a British convoy off the Azores were sunk by the Luftwaffe bombers.
12th German troops began landing in Tripoli. Rommel flew to Tripoli to assume command of the German forces in North Africa. German planes attacked Benghazi, the first action in Africa for the Luftwaffe.
1942 London claimed that during December and January 5,500 tons of gasoline and aviation fuel had been sent from France to German forces in Libya. More Japanese forces crossedthe Salween River in Buma. The Japanese issued an ultimatum for Singapore’s surrender. Japanese planes bombed Samarai Island, 380 miles north of Australia. The Australian government called up all married men up to 35 years old, unmarrieds up to 40. The U.S. granted China a 500 million $ loan.
12th The German battle cruisers Scharnhorst and Gneisenau and the cruiser Prinz Eugen ran the English Channel and the Dover Strait and broke into the North Sea from Brest. A three ship British convoy for Malta from Alexandria was attacked and all ships were sunk. Japanese forces continued pulling back in Luzon. The Japanese began occupying Bandjarmasin, the capital of Borneo, and Makassar, capital of Celebes.
1943 12th The escape route for the Germans from Rostoz was narrowed as the Russians cut the main rail line at Krasnoarmeisk. Red Army units threatened encirclement of the German Corps defending Kharkov.
1944 11th Allied forces were repulsed in theirt efforts to stem the German pressures at Anzio. New efforts were begun to break the Gustav Line at Cassino.
12th Germans forced Allied troops on the Anzio beachhead to fall back to the final defensive liune. The first Allied assult on Monte Cassino in Italy was repulsed. Allied planners set May for the cross Channel invasion of France. U.S. Marines occupied Rooke Island at the western end of New Britian. Arno Atoll in the Marshalls was taken by the Marines, the begining of mopping-up operations to clear the many islands and atolls in the area. The entire east bank of lake Peipus in the Soviet Union was cleared of German troops. Russian units reached a point within 45 miles of Pskov. The city controlled the approaches to Latvia.
1945 11th The German garrison in Budapest was reduced still further as the Russians occupied 45 city blocks. More than 15,000 Germans were killed trying to escape. Breslau was threatened with encirclement, posing a menance to Dresden 80 miles to the west. AllGerman resistance ended inside besieged Poznan. Record raids were launched against Essen and Dortmund as 1,079 and 1,108 heavy bombers raided the cities with 5,000 and 5,487 tons of bombs respectively.
12th The 20th Indian Division crossed the Irrawaddy west of Mandalay, Burma. The U.S. sub Batfish sank its third Japanese sub in four days off the Philippine coast. Japanese troops inside Manila were totally isolated. German women were pressed into Volkssturm service. All women between 16 and 60 were declared eligible.
Feb 13 1942 The Russian Army reentered Byelorussia. As the forward elements moved west, German defenses were srenthened. Japanese forces began tightening their circle around the defenders of Singapore. The British began requisitioning even the smallest boats. Premier Antonescu met with Hitler, who called for more Rumanian troops for service in Russia.
1943 Russian control was established over the entire rail line between Rostov and Voronezh.
1945 Budapest fell after a 45 day fight, about 35,000 Germans were captured. Breslau’s 150,000 man garrison was threatened by encirclement. Organized German opposition ended in the Reichswald. Prum was captured after Allied units established bridgeheads, across the Our and Sauer rivers Summary courts were established by Germany in the combat area for the Wehrmacht and Waffen SS troops, with death sentences to be carried out “normally by firing squad, but in the case of particularly base scoundrels by hanging.” Nichols Field near Manila was secured by the 11th Airborne Division.
13-14 In the most intense incendiary attacks of the war, R.A.F. and U.S. planes devisteted the German city of Dresden in raids which have become synonymous with the term “terror bombing”. At least 35,000 people were killed in the firestorms ( which were most vividly described by a P.O.W. witness, Kurt Vonnegut,Jr., in his novel Slaughterhouse Five). General George C. Marshall said the raids were in responce to a Russian request to “paralize” Dresden in support of their drive from Breslau. Churchill said "The destruction of Dresden remains a serious query against the conduct of Allied bombing. General Slim launched a new drive toward Meiktila to cut off Lieutenant General Heitaro Kimura’s forces in the Mandalay area. The 7th Indian Division began the operation by crossing the Irrawaddy at Nyaungu.
Feb 14 1940 Britian began arming its merchant ships operating in the North sea.
1941 Hitler issued a virtual ultimatum to the Yugoslav minisers he had summoned to Berchtesgaden, demanding Yugoslavia’s participation in the Axis, rights of transit for the German troops and arms, economic cooperation, and passivity to the German occupation of Bulgaria. Roosevelt at the same time, sent a personal message to the Yugoslav regent, Prince Paul, warning against Yugoslav participation in the Axis. The first German ground units landed at Tripoli. The new Japanese ambassador to the United States, Admiral Kichisaburo Nomura, presented his credentials to President Roosevelt.
1942 14-16 The Japanese invaded the Island of Sumatra and quickly seized the oil-refining area of Palembang. About 360 paratroopers were used in taking the area.
1943 Red Army troops recaptured Rostov, the main outlet for the Germans retreating from the Causcasus. Kleist’s Army Group A had to withdraw to the Taman Peninsula between the sea of Azov and the Black sea. The first Panzer Army was the only force to get through to the north before Rostov fell. By retaking Rostov, the Russians eliminated the threat to the Caucasus and its oil riches. German forces launched a powerfull counteroffensive from the Faid Pass in Tunisia and broke through to the Kasserine Pass. Allied forces began pulling back to the west toward Sbeitla.
1945 The U.S. XII Corps established a solid bridgehead beyond the Siegfried line. U.S. Sixth Army forces reached the Bataan Peninsula. American P.T. Boats entered Manila Bay for night reconnaissance, the first U.S. naval units to operate in those waters since May 1942. Chile declared war on Japan
1938 Britian’s Singapore naval base, under construction since 1928, was opened. Its guns were positioned to defend the facility from attack by sea, but not against a land invasion through Malaya.
Feb 15 1940 Germany declared any armed British merchant ship would be treated as a combatant
1942 Singapore and its garrison fell to the Japanese. A total of 64,000 British, Indian, and Australian defenderes on the Island surrendered after 9,000 had been killed in combat. General Percival had been directed to fight as long as possible but was given discretion in determining when further resistance was futile. Faced with an impossible military situation and a criticle water shortage, Percival elected to surrender. He personally met with General Tomoyuki Yamashita, commanding the Japanese 25th Army, and the armustice was signed at 6:10 pm. Singapore fell in 70 days. The Japanese thought it would take 100 when trhe campaign was being planned. Total Allied casualties in the entire Malayan campaign were 67,340 Indian, 38,496 British, 18,490 Australian, and 14,382 local volunteer troops. Japanese casualties were 9,824. All Alied shipping in the Mediterranean halted because of severe losses. Allied forces on Sumatra were ordered to the west coast for evacuation.
1943 Vichy France began drafting laborers for work duties. Contrary to Hitlers orders to stand and fight, the II SS Panzer Corps withdrew from Kharkov
1944 The abbey atop Monte Cassino was heavily bombed by air and artillery. Roosevelt said such monuments could not be spared when American lives were at stake. Destruction of the heavliy fortified abbey, it was assumed, would deny German defenderes their commanding position over the countryside. Even though the abbey virtually leveled, the Allies still could not take it. Indian and New Zealand forces were repulsed in a frontal assult after the bombardment. The London based Polish government said it would refuse to accept the Curzon line as the post war frontier between Poland and Russia.
1945 Martial law was proclamed in Germany with the establishment of summary courts. Death sentances were ordered for anyone found guilty of attempting to undermine German resolution or stiking power. Ukrainian Front troops reached Brandedburg Province. The 7th Indian Division consolidated its bridgehead over the Irrawaddy at Pagan in Burma. U.S.38th Division elements landed on Mariveles, on the southern tip of Bataan.
1936 The Italians routed the Ethiopian force at Amba Aradam. 280 Italian guns fired 23,000 shells and about 170 planes dropped 396 tons of explosives, killing 6,000 Ethiopians. Italian aircraft pursued the retreating Ethiopian force for four days by dropping mustard gas. 6,000 moreEthiopian troops were killed this way, and the army of Ras Mulugeta was decimated
1939 Premier Imredy of Hungary was forced to resign because of his Jewish ancestry
Feb 16 1940 British raiders freed naval prisoners of war in Norwegian waters in the Altmarkepisode. Altmark was one of the German ships most sought after by the Royal Navy at this time. The tanker and supply ship had served the now scuttled Graf Spee. To the British it was a prison ship, for the Altmark was known to have hundreds of merchant seamen rescued from the nine ships destroyed by the Graf Spee. After a hemispheric search the Altmark was located at Trondheim, Norway, a neutral port. The British destroyer Cossack followed her out of Trondheim on the morning of the 16th when Altmark tried to break out, but she sought refuge in the Jossing Fjord on the southwest tip of Norway when pursued. Cossack entered the Fjord with five other men-of-war and demanded release of the prisoners. The Germans refused, and the Norwegian authorities insisted Altmark was unarmed and had been searched. Captain Philip Vian, commander of the fourth Floatilla Group, ordered an armed party from the Cossack to board the Altmark. The Germans were overpowered after a brief skirmish. The British found and freed 299 British prisoners and quickly steamed to Britian, leaving Altmark intact. What the British did may have been a violation of international law, but German and Norwegian protests were ignored. Hitler felt the incident was proof the British would not respect Norwegian neutrality and ordered accelerated planning for the occupation of Norway.
1941 Britian mined the waters of Singapore. Kismayu in Italian Somaliland fell to the South African force from Kenya. Turkey and Bulgaria signed a nonaggression pact, insuring Sofia a neutral Turkey in the projected campaign against Greece.
1942 German U-Boats shelled oil-refining facilities on Aruba and Curacao, off the west coast of Venezuela. Hitler named Martin Bormann to replace Hess as second inline, behind Goring, in the Nazi line of succession.
1943 Kharkov was reoccupied by the Russian 40th and 3rd Tank armies. Hitler equated the loss of Kharkov to Stalingrad and vowed to retake Russias 4th largest city. The Russians had now advanced 375 miles west of Stalingrad. U.S. and British forces suffered heavy losses in Tunisia, with the Germans advancing 25 miles northwest from Gafsa and to the southwest toward Feriana. British 8th Army troops attacked the Mareth defense line in Tunisia at Ben Gardane.
1944 German forces launched their major attack on the Anzio beachhead. The 14th Army aided by the Luftwaffe which was more active than ever before in attacking the pocket, hoped to drive the Allies into the sea. The Germans made limited gains against the U.S. 3rd Division positions but suffered heavy personnel and tank losses U.S. Army and Marine units converged at the Itni River, effectively securing all of the western part of New Britian. R.A.F. bombers dropped 2,642 tons of explosives on Berlin in 39 minutes. It was the heaviest raid of the war on the German capital. 42 of the 806 aircraft were shot down.
1945 American paratroopers landed on Corregidor Island, followed by a boat-borne 34th Division infantrymen two hours later, completelysurprising the Japanese. A total of 4,215 Japanese died defending the Island, to the loss of 136 Americans. An Indian brigade landed on the Arakan coast 62 miles south of Akyab to cut off the Japanese retreating toward Prome. Breslau was totally surrounded by the Red Army.
Feb 17 1940
Finnish forces began pulling back from the Karelian defense line. The Russians now had assembled 35 divisions, and the Finn’s, with 15 depleted divisions, were on the defensive. Britian announced that 400,000 more children would be evacuated from the larger cities and sent to the safer countryside.
1941
TheU.S. Senate began debating the lend-lease bill
1942 Auchinleck was ordered to release two more divisions for far east duty. Subsequently only one,the British 70th, actually left the middle east
1943 British forces captured Medenine in Tunisia, but U.S. and British units began falling back on the other fronts in the face of heavy German armor attacks. The Mark VI tanks were proving effective for the Germans since their introduction into combat.
1944 Soviet forces completed the “liquidation” of 10 German divisions trapped in the Ukraine. Moscow announced that 55,000 Germans were killed and 18,200 were taken prisoner in the Kanyew pocket. American forces invaded Eniwetok Atoll without opposition. More than 1,000 tons of bombs were dropped by Allied planes as part of a massive bombardment to prevent a German breakthrough to the sea at Anzio. Naval gunfire and Artillery barrages helped contain the Germans who had driven a wedge into the center of the U.S. 45th Division line.
1945 U.S. forces began operations to retake the Bataan peninsula. Toyko area aircraft plants and airfields were attacked by U.S. naval planes. In a disasterous attempt to clear beach defenses on Iwo Jima, 170 U.S. Navy Frogmen were killed.
1933 Hitler directed German police forces to work cooperatively with the Nazi SS and SA and in dealing with opposition forces " to make free use of their weapons whenever necessary"
This is an awesome thread!
I forgot one
1944 U.S. warships led by 6 battleships and planes from 9 carriers attacked the Japanese base at Truk in the Carolines. Most of the airsrips were destroyed and 2 cruisers,3 destroyers and 200,000 tons of merchant shipping were sunk. Because of the damage inflicted and the inability of the Japanese to use Truk as a forward base, the Allies were able to bypass the Island and neutralize it by keeping it isolated. The attacks on Truk and other important Japanese base, Palau, during Feb and Mar had a critical effect on the war. About 1/3 of all tankers assigned to the combined fleet of Japan were sunk, which was to impair future fleet operations of the ship poor Imperial Navy.
Feb 18 1942
The Japanese crossed the Bilin River in Burma, And the situation on all sectors began to deteriorate. British authorities ordered mass evacuations from Rangoon.
1943 Convoy ON 166 was intercepted by U-Boats in the North Atlantic. Over the next week, 15 of the Allied ships were picked off and sunk. Tatahouine in Tunisia was occupied by the British. German units of the German 16th Army began pulling back along Northern Russian front. Soviets tanks were 36 miles east of Zaporozhye. Madame Chiang Kai-shek addressed a joint meeting of the U.S, house and senate. British Chindits, the long-range penetration forces of General Orde Wingate, crossed the Chindwin River in Burma and eventually cut the Mandalay-Myitkyina rail line well behind Japanese lines.
1944 German forces made their deepest penetration into the Anzio beachhead, driving the U.S. 179th Infantry Regiment back to its final line. The U.S. military regarded this as the crucial day of the Anzio operation. Little ground was taken in assaults on Monte Cassino. Both sides began regrouping along the Gustav Line. German Army Group North began withdrawing from the Russian Narva-Newel front. Russian troops captured Staraya Russa. London was subject to a new wave of bombing in the “little blitz”. British and New Zealand aircraft bombed Amiens prison in France, breaching the walls, and permitting 70 Resistance internees to escape. The prisoners had been scheduled to be executed. Allied destroyers bombarded Rabaul and Kavieng.
1945 U.S. Third Army troops launched another drive to break through the Siegfried Line. Russian General I.D. Chernyakhovsy, commander of the Third White Russian Front,died of wounds received in a battle outside Konigsberg. Only 39 when he died, Chernyakhovsky was one of the youngest and best generals in the Red Army. Troops under his command fought at Kursk, Captured Minsk, Vilna, and Kaunas, and battled their way into East Prussia.
1938 Italy declared its refusal to get involved in the Austrian dispute, easing Hitler’s deepest fear, that Rome would challenge Nazi domination of their mutual neighbor.
1939 French troops reoccupied east African territory which had been ceded to Italy in 1935, the result of Italy’s denunciation of the 1935 agreement.
SurpriseAttack,
Do you know all this stuff? This is awesome!
I enjoy this thread.
Tank-you very much! I have lots of books about WWII, and I figure If your interested in this game as much as these people are, That you would all enjoy a little history or facts, or you could say hey didn’t I just read that destroyers bombarded land?, or that all the major counties had paratroopers by a certain date.
I hope it gives you as much pleasure as it gave me when I read them
I’m back to work next week so my posts will be in the evening, good news that means theres a better chance to get to Toronto this spring
Feb 19 1940 Hull extends the U.S. moral embargo to the Soviet Union.
1941 The 8th Australian Division landed in Singapore. Ambassador Nomura said there would be a war between Japan and the United States only if the United States wanted it.
1942 About 150 carrier-based Japanese naval aircraft attacked the Australian city of Darwin, killing 240 people and injuring 150. Without adequate defenses, the Australians absorbed decisive material losses, including the sinking of 11 transports, an American destroyer, several supply ships and vast quantities of stores. The result was the certain loss of Java which would no longer be supplied. Japanese troops landed on the portuguese island of Timor in the East Indies. Tokyo said the action was taken in self defense and that the force would withdraw when the area was secure. The neutral Portuguese accepted the occupation. Bali was invaded by the Japanese. Mandalaycame under aerial attack for the first time. Defending forces were ordered to fall back from the Bilin River. The British war cabinet was reformed. Canada’s Parliament voted to begin military conscription. The Supreme Court of Vichy France began trials in Riom to establish responsibility for the military defeat and National disaster of 1940.
1943 Allied defenses in Tunisia were restructured in the face of a deteriorating situation. The Germans and Italians began frontal assaults on American positions in the Kasserine pass. German Army Group South opened a counteroffensive toward Kharkov and Belgorod.
1944 The Anzio battle turned in favor of the Allies. German reserve strenth was sapped by costly actions to clear the beachhead. U.S. troops and tanks of the 6th Armored Infantry, backed by air and Artillery, advanced more than a mile. U.S. Army and Marine units landed on Engebi Island, Eniwetok Atoll, in the Marshall Islands. Enemy resistance slowed the advance inland.
1945 U.S. Marines invaded Iwo Jima . The Island was known as the unsinkable airfield, 755 miles from the main Japanese home Island of Honshu. It was used by Japanese fighters to intercept U.S. bombers attacking the home Islands. The 30,000 man invasion force was not sure of what to expect because Iwo had been pounded by ships and planes for 72 days before the amphibious assault. Despite the merciless preinvasion raids, the Japanese were stubborn defenders, and the next month of fighting was to exact one of the highest casualty tolls of the Pacific war. U.S. Army troops were put ashore on Samar and Capul islands, which, with the occupation of Biri Island the next day, gave the U.S. controll of the San Bernadino Strait in the Philippines. Units of the 80th Division began encircling German troops trapped within the Siegfried Line. Himmler made his first peace overtures to the Swedish Count Folke Bernadotte of the Red Cross. The U.S. government requested all public amusements to observe midnight curfew.
1937 An attempt was made in Addis Ababa to assassinate the Italian viceroy of Ethiopia, General Rodolfo Graziani, who was wounded. Large scale reprisals, including executions, followed as the Italians vowed to keep the Ethiopians in line.
1938 The British cabinet, still clining to the belief that Iyaly would check Germany in Austria, rejected Eden’s proposal for a withdrawl of Italian troops from Spain. Nazis were permitted to join the ruling party of Austria, the Fatherland Front.
Feb 20 1940 Moscow offered new peace terms to Finland.
1942 The U.S. provided the Soviet Union with a 1 Billion dallar loan. Hitler received a report on the staggering number of German casualties suffered thus far in the Russian campaign. 199,448 dead 708351 wounded, 112,627 cases of servere frostbite, and 44,342 missing. He was nonetheless optimistic, saying, " Now that January and Febuary are past, our enemies can give up the hope of our suffering the fate of Napoleon. Now we’re about to switch over to squaring the account. What a relief. All civilians were ordered evacuated from Rangoon. Japanese planes intercepted a U.S. Navy Task force en route to Rabaul. The American ships were forced to rurn back, but the Japanese losses were now extremely heavy and plans for operations against New Guinea had to be delayed. Bali and Timor were occupied by the Japanese. U.S. Navy Lieutenant Edward “Butch” O’Hare shot down 5 Japanese bombers in 5 minutes. The first Navy ace of the war, O’Hare was later honored by having Chicago’s airport named for him.
1943 Axis forces cleared the Kasserine Pass. The U.S. II Corps fell back to avoid being totally routed. The Germans and Italians swung out and started driving northward toward Thala and westward to Tebessa.
1944 Allied forces drove a wedge into the middle of the German line at Anzio and inflicted heavy losses, but the Germans were already preparing another offense. More than 1,000 U.S. bombers stuck German aircraft factories centered in the Brunswick and Leipzig areas. British patrol aircraft caught a nest of German U-Boats in the Strait of Gibraltar, sinking 3 and damaging several others. The southern part of Eniwetok was secured. Norwegian Lieutenant Knut Haukelid, working with the British, sank the ferry Hydro in lake Tinnsjo which was carrying rail tank cars loaded with heavy water from the Norsk Hydro facility at Vemork. The material was being shipped to Germany for atomic research purposes. Haukelid planted explosives with a time charge set to go off when the ferry reached the deepest part of the lake. The vessal went down in1,300 feet of water, making it impossible to recover most of the heavy-water containers. Of the passengers,gaurds and crew 26 were drowned and 27 rescued.
1945 Allied units broke through the Siegfried Line along a broad front. Japanese units on Mount Suribachi on Iwo Jima pounded Marines, whose units suffered 20 to 30 percent casualties in the first two days of combat. The White House in announcing Roosevelts meetings in Africa with Haile Selassie and Kings Farouk and Ibn Saud, said pointedly that de Gaulle had refused to meet with the President.
1932 Japanese troops occipied Tunhua in China’s Kirin Province
1938 Hitler recognized Manchukuo and indicated that Japanese expansionism was not abhorrent. Even the greatest victory gained by Japan would be infinietly less dangerous for civilization and world peace than any success achieved by Bolshevism.
Feb 21 1942
British forces began pulling back behind the Sittang River in Burma. A brigade from the Middle East arrived in Rangoon. In a farewell message to the people of India Chiang Kai-shek called for the wholehearted support in the war and indicated Britian “without waiting for any demands on the part of the people of India, will as speedily as possible give them real power”.
1943 British Commandos raided Akyab in Burma and withdrew after attacking Japanese positions. Churchill tanks were put into action in Tunisia as the Allies groped to stop the Axis offensive. Fighting was intense in several sectors as the three pronged German drive reached a point 21 miles beyond the Kasserine Pass and threatened the entire Allied force in central Tunisia. The U.S. 43rd Division and Marine force occupied the Russell Islands in the Solomans. Occupation of the islands provided the Allies with a fighter airstip 60 miles northwest of Guadalcanal.
1944 Eniwetok was totally cleared except for scattered mopping-up operations. It was to be used by U.S. forces as a major advance base for forthcoming advances in the pacific. Russian forces pressed forward in the Lake Ilmen area. Tojo took direct command of the Japanese Army by becoming chief of the generalstaff. Washington called on the republic of Ireland to expel all Axis diplomats, who were chargrd with engaging in espionage activities.
1945 Troops of the U.S. Third Army pushed forward toward the Saar-Moselle triangle. Bataan, except for small Japanese pocket around Mount Natib, was retaken by U.S. forces, who suffered a total of only 50 casualities in regaining an area which was contested four years before at a cost of a thousandsof lives. U.S. Marines on Iwo Jima had now lost half of their tanks while making progress measured in yards.
1938 Austria banned all gatherings and demostrations of all parties except the government approved Fatherland Front. The action was designed to suppress Nazi agitation.
Feb 22 1940 Russian forces gained control of the islands in the Gulf of Finland.
1941 Rommel began moving moving his German units into position for an offensive in Libya. Foreign Secretary Eden and Sir John Dill met with Greek officials in Athens to discuss specifics of British military assistance to Greece.
1942 President Roosevelt ordered MacArthur to leave the Philippines. The General was named commander of Allied forces in Australia. B-24s of the U.S. Tenth Air Force dropped 40 British magnetic mines in the mouth of the Rangoon River in Burma, the begining of a campaign to interfere with the Japanese shipping in occupied areas.
1943 Rommel ordered a halt in the Axis drive befor hi forces reached El Kef. They pulled back to the Kasserine Pass. Regiment Normandie, an anti-Vichy French flight group, went into action for the first time on the Russian front. Formed in Syria in 1942, the 72-man French contingent flew fighters with remarkable success, downing 117 German planes to 25 losses by the end of the year.
1944 Kirvoy Rog fell to the Red Army, returning control of the whole Ukrainian industrial area to the Russians. U.S. Fifteenth Air Force bombers from Italy joined in the attacks on German aircraft factories. Japanese aircraft attacked U.S. Naval Task Force 58 approaching the Marianas but suffered heavy casualties. Allied ships operating around Rabaul and Kaviieng encountering no Japanese aircraft, a further measure of Tokto’s thinly stretched resources.
1945 The Allies launched Operation CLARION, a massive bombing attack by 10,000 aircraft from Britian, France, Italy, Hollamd, and Belgium to cut transportation lines in central Germany and isolate the western front. Two hundred individual targets were bombed, with the heavy bombers coming in as low as 5,00 feet instead of the normal bombing altitude of 25,000. The raids are credited with marking the end of large scale mobility of the German armed forces. German resistance began to disintegrate along the Siegfried Line. U.S. Third Army forces crossed the Saar River. General Eisenhower announced that 900,000 German prisoners were now being held by the Allies.
1933 Goring, newly named minister without portfolio in the Hitler cabinet,established an auxilary police force of 50,000 men to be drawn primarily from the Nazi SS and SA
Feb 23 1940 Helsinki requested Sweden and Norway to grant transit rights for foreign troops to enter Finland.
1941 German Foreign Minister Ribbentrop advised the Japanese ambassador in Berlin that Japan should enter the war against Britian as soon as possible, in its own interest. British statistics showed the fighting in north Africa to date had resulted in British Commonwealth losses of 604 killed and 2,362 wounded or missing, while the Italians had suffered 20,000 dead or wounded and 180,000 captured. Free French forces landed in Eritrea. Mussolini assured the Italian people of victory despite the setbacks in Africa and Albania. He also denied Italy and Germany had any designs on the U.S. "The lie is that the Axis powers, after they finish Great Britian, want to attack America… In all cases it is more likely that the United States, before it is attacked by Axis soldiers, will be attacked by the not well known but very warlike inhabitants of planet Mars, who will descend from the stratosphere in unimaginable flying fortresses ( A measure of the studied concern about the content of this particular speech is that Mussolini read it from a prepared text. It was only the second speech of his career which was not extemporaneous. His only previous speech delivered from text was after the German occupation of Austria.)
1942 In the first direct attack on the U.S. mainland, a Japanese sub shelled an oil refinery near Santa Barbara, California. Russian forces recaptured Dorogobuzh on the Dnieper River. In the battle of the Sittang River, the 17th Indian Division was virtually destroted. The bridge across the river was blown up with some of the Allied troops trapped on the other side. They made their way across by swimming or by small boats. U.S. B-17 attacked Rabaul, the first Allied raid on the newly established Japanese base. Stalin said the war against Germany had turned in favor of the Soviet Union. Now the Germans no longer posses the military advantage which they had in the first months of the war by virtue of their trecherous and suden attack. The momentum of unexpectedness and suddeness which constituted the resevere strenth of the German fascist troops has been fully spent.
1943 Rommel was appointed to command the newly formed Army Group Africa. The Italian General Giovanni Messe replaced him as the commander of the first Italian Army
1944 U.S. VI Corps Major General John P. Lucas was replaced by Major General Lucian K. Truscott. Lucas was seen as too conservative at Anzio, having failed to expand the beachhead and break out before the German Fourteenth Army could be organized to negate the great initial advantages Japanese forces at Sinzweya, Burma began withdrawing after failing to oust the 7th Indian Division. It was the first the British had defeated the Japanese in battle. Heavy carrier-based stikes were conducted against Japanese positions in the Marianas, Saipan,Tinian,Rota, and Guam were bombed
1945 Mount Suribachi on Iwo Jima was taken by the Marines. Pozan was taken by the Russians after a month long siege. A German force of 23,000 men surrendered. Red Army units fought their way into Breslau from the south. The U.S. Ninth and First armies smashed across the Roer River, the flood waters having subsided. U.S. forces liberated prisoners at the Los Banos internment camp in the Philippines. Heavy fighting took place in the center of Manila… Turkey and Uruguay declared war on Germany and Japan.
1932 Toyko rejected all appeals to end the fighting in China
1933 Japan issued an ultimatum to China demanding Manchukuan sovereignty over Jehol.
1937 Hitler declared the existence of Switzerland answers a European need and pronounced Germany’s intention to respect its neutrality
1939 Britain and France began Naval maneuvers in the Mediterranean in a clear warning to Italy to curb its belligerent posturing.
