28 February - 6 March 1942

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28 February 1942

US Eastern Seaboard : German submarine U-578 attacked destroyer USS Jacob Jones 10 kilometers east of Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, United States, hitting US destroyer with two or three torpedoes, sinking her. About 80 of the 110 aboard were killed.

At 0844 hours, the unescorted 1,582-ton Norwegian motor merchant Leif was hit by two torpedoes from German submarine U-653 east of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, United States. The foreship broke away and sank immediately, followed by the rest of the ship eleven minutes later.

At 1117 hours German submarine U-156 (Korvettenkapitän Werner Hartenstein) on the surface intercepted , shelled with her deckgun and sunk the unescorted and unarmed steam 7,017-ton US tanker Oregon, which was steaming 130 miles north of Mona Passage, north of the Dominican Republic. 10 out of 44 tanker crew were killed , rest reached Dominician shores

The 2,605-ton Panamanian cargo steamer Bayou, built in 1919, formerly called Lake Fairfax in 1940, was on route from Rio De Janeiro, Brazil for Canada carrying a cargo of manganese ore when she was torpedoed by German submarine U-129 and sank off Dutch colony of Surinam. There was only one survivor.

Atlantic Ocean : The 3,836-ton Latvian steamship Everasma was torpedoed, shelled and sunk by Italian submarine Leonardo da Vinci midway between Senegal and Puerto Rico.

Philippines : US submarine Permit delivered ammunition to Corregidor, Philippine Islands. Upon departure, the submarine evacuated 31 US Navy personnel.

Port Moresby , Papua New Guinea : 7 Japanese Type 1 bombers of the 4th Air Group, escorted by 6 Zero fighters, attacked Port Moresby, Australian Papua, destroying 3 Catalina aircraft, damaging 1 Catalina aircraft, and damaging seaplane base facilities. The Japanese lost one fighter to anti-aircraft fire; the downed pilot, Flying Petty Officer 1st Class Katsuaki Nagatomo, was captured.

Burma : General Archibald Wavell, who believed Rangoon, Burma must be held, relieved Thomas Hutton for planning an evacuation.

Dutch East Indies : In the Dutch East Indies, Allied cruisers USS Houston and HMAS Perth and Dutch destroyer HNLMS Evertsen were ordered to sail through Sunda Strait to Tjilatjap, where they would encounter main Japanese invasion convoy (58 troops transports and two minelayers escorted by four heavy cruisers (Mikuma ,Mogami , Suzuya , Kumano) , one light cruiser (Natori , flagship of Admiral Kenzaburo Hara) and 12 destroyerd. In the resulting Battle of Sunda Strait at night time when Japanese naval forces had the advantage with night fighting training and night vision optical equipment , USS Houston , HMAS Perth and HNLMS Evertsen would sink with the loss of 693 men. 300 of so were picked upby Japanese vessels. Rest of their crews reached Java and Sumatra to be prisoners of Japanese.Japanese lost one mine layer and four troop transport ships (accidently hit by friendly torpedo fire from Japanese cruisers) and ten killed. Meanwhile, Japanese troops from invasion convoy landed at Bantam Bay and Eretan Wetan, west and east of Batavia, respectively; another force landed 100 miles east of Surabaya.

Java could not be saved; on February 28 the carrier Sea Witch brought twenty-seven crated aircraft to Tjilatjap, but it was too late to assemble the planes, which the Dutch, to prevent them falling into Japanese hands, dumped in the harbour. Royal Navy heavy cruiser HMS Exeter along with destroyer escorts HMS Encounter and USS Pope departed Surabaya, Java, Dutch East Indies for Ceylon.

The 903-ton Dutch motorship Parigi , on passage from Surabaya in the Dutch East Indies to Australia, was torpedoed by Japanese submarine I-53 and sank off of the Bali Strait.

The Singaporean ship Ban Ho Guan (Captain Van der Berg) was sailing under the British flag). She was previously Dutch-owned and named De Haan. As she was evacuating people from Padang, Sumatra, Dutch East Indies she was torpedoed by Japanese submarine I-4. The captain and a few people survived but it was estimated that over 250 people on board lost their lives.

Japanese submarine I-153 sank British freighter City of Manchester south of Java, Dutch East Indies; 3 were killed, 6 were captured by I-153’s crew, and 128 were rescued by USS Whippoorwill and USS Lark.

Malaya : Japanese killed 2,000 civilians, mostly ethnic Chinese, in Kota Tinggi, Johor in Malaya.

Leningrad : USSR : In Leningrad, still effectively besieged, more than 100,000 people had died that February of starvation.

Germany : General Franz Halder noted in his diary that the campaign in the Soviet Union had thus far caused 1,005,636 German casualties, 202,251 of which were killed. He also noted that there were 112,627 cases of frostbite.

London , UK : ‘I cannot help feeling depressed at the future outlook,’ King George VI wrote in his diary on February 28. ‘Anything can happen, and it will be wonderful if we can be lucky anywhere.’

[merdiolu]

1 March 1942

Indian Ocean : US Navy oiler USS Pecos were sunk off Christmas Island in the Indian Ocean by Japanese carrier aircraft. While en route to rescue survivors of Pecos, which included survivors of USS Langley , American destroyer USS Edsall was intercepted by Japanese battleships Hiei and Kirishima and sunk at 1731 hours by Japanese gunfire ; 147 were killed, 6 survived and were captured.

ABDA naval command was disbanded after the defeats at the Java Sea region.

Burma : In the face of defeats in Burma , General Archibald Wavell commander in chief of India , replaced Major General John Smyth with Major General David Cowan and demoted General Thomas Hutton to be the chief of staff of Cowan.

Gilbert Islands , South West Pacific : The 9,260-ton American passenger ship SS President Polk was being used as a troopship when sunk by Japanese aircraft at Canton Island, Gilbert Islands. The ship was later raised and re-entered service.

Dutch East Indies : While Royal Navy heavy cruiser HMS Exeter and her escorts destroyer HMS Encounter and American destroyer USS Pope were trying to escape to Ceylon, they were intercepted by four heavy Japanese cruisers (Haguro , Nachi , Ashigira and Myoko ) and five Japanese destroyers in Bali Strait. In the resulting engagement known as Second Battle of Java Sea ,HMS Exeter which was already damaged and in slow speed due to battle damage in First Battle of Java Sea , HMS Encounter and USS Pope all three Allied ships were sunk by gunfire and torpedoes of Japanese cruisers and destroyers. Over 400 crewmen were killed and 800 were picked up and captured by Japanese vessels

After this engagement , in a through sweep in Java Sea , Japanese warships sank six Dutch and British cargo and transport ships (Rooseboom, Pariji, Modjokerto, and three others) and two Royal Navy minesweepers escaping from Java between Dutch East Indies and Australia.

Four remaining US destroyers in Java Sea (USS John Edwards , USS Alden , USS John Ford and USS Paul Jones) sailed away from Surabaya, Java , passed through shallow Eastern Strait and managed to evade Japanese pursuers and managed to arrive Freemantle , Australia on March 2nd.

Last Allied naval vessel Dutch destroyer HNLMS Witte de Vith was bombed and sunk by Japanese aircraft in Surabaya , Java. Remaining seven Dutch cargo and transport ships and two Dutch minesweepers were scuttled at Surabaya and Batavia harbours to prevent their capture by Japanese

American destroyer USS Perch was located , depth charged and badly damaged by Japanese destroyer Amatsukaze but managed to evade her pursuer

Also on this date, Japanese troops landed on Java and immediately began marching for Batavia, with the Japanese 2nd Division capturing Serang and the 230th Infantry Regiment capturing Kalidjati airfield at Soebang en route.

Port Moresby , Papua New Guinea : The first four of No. 75 Squadron RAAF’s Kittyhawk fighters arrived at Port Moresby, Australian Papua. Two of them would see combat later on the same day, with Flight Officer Barry Cox and Flight Officer Wilbur Wackett shooting down one Ki-21 bomber flying a reconnaissance mission over Port Moresby.

California and Washington State , USA : The US authorities rounded up 112,000 Americans of Japanese descent and moved them to inland camps well away from the Pacific coast.

Atlantic Ocean : The 9,551-ton Norwegian motor tanker Finnanger, since 1941 in British Admiralty service as a Royal Fleet Auxiliary, was torpedoed and shelled by German submarine U-158 (Kapitänleutnant Erwin Rostin) and sank southeast of Cape Race, Newfoundland. Finnanger returned fire and fought a courageous fight, but the crew had to abandon the ship. U-158 shelled the ship until she sank. Nothing was ever heard of the 39 crew on board.

Norwegian ranker Charles Ricine was torpedoed and sunkby Italian submarine Giuseppe Finzi in Atlantic Ocean ,all her crew were rescued by American destroyer USS Moffat

The 4,890-ton British steamship Carperby, carrying 2,009 tons of coal and 3,262 tons of coke, was torpedoed and sunk by German submarine U-588 (Kapitänleutnant Victor Vogel) about 420 miles south of Newfoundland. None of her complement of 40 survived.

In exchange , German submarine U-656 was located , depth charged and sunk on the surface by a Hudson patrol bomber of US Navy VP-82 squadron 33 miles south of Cape Race, Newfoundland, killing all 45 aboard. NOTE : This is the first U-Boat kill of US Armed Forces during the war.

Arctic Sea : Allied convoy PQ-12 departed Reykjavík, Iceland inbound to Murmansk, Kola Peninsula USSR and convoy QP-8 departed Murmansk, Russia.

The Soviet trawler RT-19 Komintern, built in 1930, while fishing off the Gusinaia Banka, Berrants Sea, was most probably torpedoed by German submarine U-436 (Kapitänleutnant Günther Seibicke) and sunk, northeast of Cape Teriberskij, Russia.

Black Sea : The 3,356-ton Soviet cargo ship (training) Chapaev struck a mine and sank in the Black Sea off Sevastapol, Russia. Between 86 and 120 crew lost their lives.

Crimea , Ukraine : Soviet 51st Army launched its offensive from Kerch Peninsula against 17th German Army towards Sevastapol. German forces are expecting the attack and repulsed it.

Leningrad , USSR : Rations are cut down in besieged city and more than 300.000 able bodied civilians are organised to bury bodies and clean up rubble and repair the damage of German air and artillery bombings by Soviet authorities. A small flotilla is being organised to transport supplies from Tikhvin across Lake Ladoga to Leningrad after thaw sets in.

Mediterranean Sea : The 5,417-ton French cargo ship PLM-20 was torpedoed and sunk by the Royal Navy submarine HMS Unbeaten, five nautical miles east of Mehedia, Tunisia. She had sailed from Sfax in Tunisia in a convoy, on passage from Sfax to Bizerta with a cargo of phosphates

Italian auxilary cruiser Egitto struck a British mine and sank off Taranto , 77 from her 340 crew members died

[merdiolu]

2 March 1942

Atlantic Ocean : The 2,362-ton Norwegian merchant steamer Gunny loaded with 3,100 tons of manganese ore and mahogany was 400 miles south of the Bermudas when she was torpedoed amd sunk by German submarine U-126 (Kapitänleutnant Ernst Bauer) at 2047 hours.

Minsk , Belarussia : SS Einstazgruppen Special Execution squads shot and killed 5.000 Jews within three days

Mediterranean Sea : By using her deck gun , Royal Navy submarine HMS Turbulent shelled and sank three Geman manned Greek cargo ships Apostoles , Chariklia and Evangelistria on the surface in Aegean Sea. 33 German troops and naval personnel aboard were killed

Italy : 16 British RAF Wellington bombers from Malta attacked Palermo, Sicily, Italy, hitting and destroying Italian ammunition ship Cuma with bomb hits, whose explosion damaged five Italian warships and eight Italian and German freighters nearby.

Tokyo , Japan : Japanese Navy Minister Admiral Shimada removed previously recognized rules of engagements in naval warfare due to “Allied retaliation and hatred”.

Burma : Japanese 33rd and 55th Infantry Divisions crossed Sittang River at Kunzeik and Donzayit, Burma, forcing the British 2nd Battalion Royal Tank Regiment to fall back 20 miles as the Japanese troops captured the village of Waw.

Dutch East Indies : Japanese troops advancing toward Batavia, Java, Dutch East Indies were halted by Australian troops at Leuwiliang. At Soebang, 250 Dutch troops with 20 tanks attacked Kalidjati airfield, but the attack was repulsed. East of Batavia, Japanese troops captured the oilfields at Tjepoe (now Cepu). As the Japanese troops approached, the Dutch colonial government relocated to Bandoeng, US personnel began evacuation by aircraft, and the Dutch Navy continued to scuttle destroyers, submarines, minesweepers, and other warships at Surabaya to prevent capture.

American destroyer USS Stewart was bombed and badly damaged by Japanese aircraft then scuttled by her crew in Surabaya , Java.

Dutch Commander in Chief Conrad Helfrich escaped Java, Dutch East Indies by Catalina aircraft.

American submarine USS Sailfish torpedoed and sank Japanese transport Kamogawa Maru east of Bali in the Lombok Strait in the Dutch East Indies at 2100 hours, killing 326.

Indian Ocean : Japanese heavy cruiser Maya, destroyer Arashi, and destroyer Nowaki intercepted and sank Royal Navy destroyer HMS Stronghold by gunfire in the Indian Ocean at 1900 hours, killing 75.

Japanese heavy cruisers Takao and Atago intercepted and sank US destroyer USS Pillsbury by gunfire 500 miles south of Java, Dutch East Indies at 2100 hours, all 173 aboard were killed.

[merdiolu]

3 March 1942

Java Sea : After surving Japanese depth charge attack two days ago and then making emergency repairs , US submarine , USS Perch attempted to make a test dive, but it failed without almost disastrous results. As repairs continued, she was discovered by two Japanese cruisers and three Japanese destroyers. Commanding officer David A. Hurt gave the abandon ship order, sinking the ship and giving up himself and his crew, totaling 59 men, to the Japanese.

Japanese destroyers Arashi and Nowaki sank US gunboat USS Asheville south of Java, Dutch East Indies, killing all 170 aboard by machine gunning the survivors in the water

Indian Ocean : Dutch cargo ship Siantar was torpedoed and sunk in west of Shark Bay , Australia byJapanese submarine I-1

Dutch East Indies : Australian troops continued to hold against Japanese attacks at Leuwiliang west of Batavia, Java, Dutch East Indies. In eastern Java, Japanese captured Bojonegoro.

Broome , Australia : In Western Australia, , 9 Japanese Zero fighters from Koepang, Timor, Dutch East Indies attacked the flying boat anchorage at Roebuck Bay (destroying 15 flying boats) and the airfield at Broome (destroying 5 bombers and 2 transport aircraft; one of the transports shot down at Broome, a DC-3 airliner carrying evacuees from Java, Dutch East Indies, crashed into the jungle 50 miles north of the city, destroying its cargo of £150,000-£300,000 worth of diamonds. 70 people killed in Broome. Only 1 Japanese Zero fighter was lost during the attack.

Rabaul , New Britain : At Rabaul, New Britain, the Japanese South Seas Force began embarking transports Yokohama Maru and China Maru, while the Maizaru 2nd Special Naval Landing Force began embarking transports Kongo Maru, Tenyo Maru, and Kokai Maru for the invasion of Lae and Salamaua in the Australian Territory of New Guinea.

Burma : General Joseph Stilwell met with Chiang Kaishek in Lashio, Burma. At the conclusion of the meeting Stilwell officially assumed the title of Chief of Staff to the Supreme Commander of the China Theater and Commanding General of US Army Forces in the China Theater of Operation, Burma, and India.

Japanese troops forced Indian 17th Infantry Division out of Payagyi, Burma.

Washington , USA : Combined Chiefs of Staff approved the division of Western Pacific into two zones, with Burma and all Southeast Asia west of Java-Sumatra border under the command of British General Archibald Wavell, and areas to the east under the command of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Atlantic Ocean : German submarine U-129 torpedoed and sank US transport ship Mary 165 miles north of Dutch Suriname in the Atlantic Ocean at 1705 hours; 1 was killed, 33 survived. On the other side of the Atlantic Ocean, German submarine U-68 torpedoed and sank British cargo ship Helenus 86 miles west of Monrovia, Liberia at 1721 hours; 6 were killed, 76 survived.

Arctic Ocean : Soviet cargoship Kiev fell out of Allied convoy PQ-12 in poor weather.

English Channel : German cargo ships Abbeville and Jean et Jacques were both torpedoed and sunk by Royal Navy motor torpedoboats MTB 31 and MTB 34 off Calais.

Billancourt , Paris , France : RAF Bomber Command under new leadershipof Air Marshal Arthur Harris started mass scale area bombing operations. Total of 224 RAF bomber aircraft took of in the night and bombed the Renault automobile plant and industrial area (which produces spare parts and tires for German Army) in Billancourt , near Paris, France. This raid is notable for start of RAF’s Area Bombing tactics. First pathfinder aircraft marked the target area with flares then the bomber force hit the target area illuminated with flares , in three attack waves and devastating the area with explosive and incendiary bombs. There was no German AA guns or any other air defence in the area. Most of the targeted factories and industrial plants in the target area were destroyed.

Although German propaganda would make much from 367 French civilians died and 9.000 became homeless in this attack , a French informer in German pay reported, disparagingly, to the military authorities: ‘In general, if the pulse of public opinion is taken, indignation is not widespread enough.’ On the following day a German guard was shot dead by Resistance in a Paris street. Twenty French Communists were at once shot in reprisal. ‘That’s the method I proposed,’ Dr Goebbels noted in his diary, and he added: ‘If rigorously applied it will lead to visible results.’

Meanwhile four engine RAF Avro Lancaster bomber made its debut mining the harbor at Brest, France.

Mediterranean Sea : By using her deck gun Royal Navy submarine HMS Turbulent shelled and sunk two caiques carrying German troops to Crete in Aegean Sea.

Chelmno , Poland : An estimated 3.200 Jews were gassed in Chelmno death camp

[merdiolu]

4 March 1942

Marcus Island , Central Pacific : US Navy aircraft carrier USS Enterprise launched aircraft against Japanese occupied Marcus Island. Cruisers USS Salt Lake City and USS Northampton shelled Marcus Island.

US Navy submarine USS Grampus torpedoed and sank Japanese tanker Kaijo Maru in the Pacific Ocean, killing all 90 aboard.

US Navy submarine USS Narwhal sank Japanese Army cargo ship Taki Maru 200 miles south of Japan in the Pacific Ocean.

Japanese cargo ship Moriaka Maru struck a mine and sank off Nakadori Island , Japan.

Burma : General Harold Alexander arrived in Burma.

In Burma, Japanese troops enveloped Chinese troops at Toungoo while British 7th Queen’s Own Hussars regiment clashed with Japanese troops at Pegu.

Dutch East Indies : All Dutch troops evacuated Batavia and Leuwiliang, Java, Dutch East Indies after sundown for Bandoeng 70 miles to the southeast.

US submarine USS S-39 (SS-144; Lieutenant J. W. Coe) torpedoed and damaged Japanese fleet oiler Erimo south of Belitung Island in the Sunda Strait between Java and Sumatra in the Dutch East Indies. Erimo’s commanding officer, Captain Soma, beached Erimo on Bali Island to prevent sinking. Japanese light cruiser Yura rescued survivors, but four crewmen were lost. Erimo was abandoned as a constructive total loss.

Indian Ocean : The 865-ton Dutch steam merchant Merkus en route to Bombay, India from Tjilatjap, Java, Dutch East Indies, was attacked and sunk by gunfire by the Japanese submarine I-7 in the Indian Ocean close to the Cocos Islands. The crew of the Merkus would reach Sumatra, Dutch East Indies. I-7 then went on to torpedo and sink another Dutch vessel, the 3,271-ton passenger vessel Le Maire.

Java Sea : Australian sloop HMAS Yarra was shelled and sunk by Japanese heavy cruisers Arashi , Atago , Maya , Nowaki in 300 miles south of Java, Dutch East Indies at 0800 hours whilst attempting to protect a convoy of vessels withdrawing to Australia; 158 were killed, 13 survived. The other three ships in the small convoy (minesweeper MMS-51, Dutch depot ship Anking, and Dutch tanker Francol) were sunk during the same attack.

Dutch cargo ship Enganno escaping to Australia was bombed and sunk by Japanese floatplane from heavy cruiser Takao

Dutch cargo ship was bombed and sunk by Japanese aircraft off Java

Dutch cargoship Manipi was bombed by Japanese aircraft and sank off Java

Malaya : Japanese killed 300 civilians, mostly ethnic Chinese, in Geland Patah, Johor in Malaya.

Atlantic Ocean : The 6,675-ton British steam merchant Frumenton, carrying 10,393 tons of wheat, struck a mine eleven miles east of Great Yarmouth, England, United Kingdom and sank whilst on passage from St John’s to London.

Royal Navy light cruiser HMS Sheffield (Captain A. W. Clarke, RN) struck a mine off Iceland. She would be under repair until July 1942.

Baranowicze , Belarussia : 3.000 Russian Jews were massacred by SS Einsatzgruppen

[merdiolu]

5 March 1942

Arctic Ocean : German battleship Tirpitz, escorted by destroyers, departed from North Cape for the Arctic Ocean first time to intercept Allied convoys in Operation Sportpalast.

Atlantic Ocean : German submarine U-404 torpedoed and sank US cargo ship Collamer straggled behind her convoy HX-178 off Nova Scotia, Canada at 1135 hours. Later that day, German submarine U-126 torpedoed and sank US cargo ship Mariana 30 miles north of the Turks and Caicos Islands east of Cuba at 2244 hours, killing all 36 aboard.

The Norwegian motor tanker O. A. Knudsen of 11,007 tons full of petrol and fuel oil was torpedoed and sunk by German submarine U-128 (Kapitänleutnant Ulrich Heyse) at 1533 hours when sailing east of Abaco Island, Bahamas.

Finally, at 2307 hours on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean off Sierra Leone, British West Africa, German submarine U-505 torpedoed and sank British cargo ship Benmohr; all 56 aboard survived.

Mediterranean Sea : Royal Navy submarine HMS Thorn sank Italian auxiliary patrol vessel AS91/Ottavia with gunfire from her deck gun off Kefalonia island, Greece.

Royal Navy submarine HMS Uproar torpedoed and sank Italian merchant ship Marin Sanudo 18 miles west of Lampedusa island, Italy; Italian torpedo boats Cigno and Procione counterattacked with depth charges but HMS Uproar managed to evade them and escape.

Royal Navy submarine HMS Torbay torpedoed and sank Italian merchant ship Maddalena G. in the harbor at Corfu, Greece at 0730 hours.

Fedoshia , Crimea : In the Crimean town of Feodosiya, beginning on March 5, three anti-partisan sweeps by SS and German Army within three weeks led to the killing of more than two thousand people, of whom, according to Operational Situation Report No. 184, ‘678 were Jews, 359 Communist officials, 153 partisans, and 810 asocial elements, Gypsies, mentally ill, and saboteurs’.

Rabaul , New Britain : Japanese troop transports Yokohama Maru, China Maru, Kongo Maru, Tenyo Maru, and Kokai Maru departed Rabaul, New Britain, Bismarck Islands for New Guinea; the transports were escorted by six cruisers and eight destroyers.

Dutch East Indies : Japanese 2nd Division captured Batavia on the island of Java, the capital of Dutch East Indies. Local Dutch announced the evacuation of Batavia; Java could no longer be held against the sustained Japanese attack.

Dutch repair ship Barentz and Dutcxh cargo ship Tohiti along with four more smaller Dutch vessels were either bombed by Japanese aircraft and sunk or scuttled by their crews in Tijiatab , Java.

Pacific Ocean : USS Grayback torpedoed and sank a Japanese transport and an escort vessel in the Philippine Sea off Guam, Mariana Islands , hitting them with 2 of 3 torpedoes.

American submarine USS Grampus torpedoed and sank Japanese fleet oiler Kaiju Maru off Truk , Marshall Islands

Philippines : Japanese cargoship Takao Maru was bombed by B-17s of USAAF and beached on Luzon ( later destroyed by Philippine guerillas )

Rangoon , Burma : Evacuation of Rangoon starts amid a huge chaos , arson and looting in the city. Meanwhile Japanese forces from vanguard of 15th Army entered Pegu, a mere forty miles from Rangoon.

[merdiolu]

6 March 1942

Pacific Ocean : US Navy carriers USS Lexington and USS Yorktown made rendezvous and sailed away to stage an attack on Rabaul , New Britain

Japanese auxilary cruiser Congo Maru and cargo ship Tenya Maru were bombed and sunk by US Navy dive bombers launched from USS Yorktown off New Caledonia

Japanese cargo ship Taki Maru was torpedoed and sunk by US Navy submarine USS Narwaal in East China Sea

Ceylon , Indian Ocean : Royal Navy aircraft carrier HMS Indomitable launched the Hurricane fighters of No. 30 Squadron for Colombo, Ceylon.

Burma : Anglo-Indian and Japanese troops clashed at various road blocks near Rangoon, Burma.
General Harold Alexander orders evacuation of Rangoon.

Dutch East Indies : Japanese aircraft attacked Surabaya, Java, Dutch East Indies, damaging Dutch minesweeper Jan van Amstel, killing 23. Dutch sailors scuttled minesweepers C and Pieter de Bitter, also at Surabaya, to prevent capture.Ten more mediumor small tonnage Dutch ships were either bombed and sunk by Japanese aircraft or scuttled by their crewws

Pearl Harbour , Hawaii : Joseph Rochefort’s cryptanalytic team at Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii began noticing a target location code named AF appearing in Japanese Navy radio messages, and that this target might be struck within a short time.

Atlantic Ocean : German submarine U-505 torpedoed and sank Norwegian tanker Sydhav off Sierra Leone, British West Africa at 1131 hours; 12 were killed, 24 survived. Also in that morning, Italian submarine Tazzoli torpedoed and sank Dutch freighter Astrea in the Central Atlantic. Tazzoli struck again at 2215 hours, sinking Norwegian ship Tønsberg Fjord with two torpedoes ; all 33 aboard survived.

At 2306 hours, 150 miles south of Iceland, German submarine U-701 sank British fishing trawler Rononia with gunfire, killing all 11 aboard. Italian submarine Finzi torpedoed and sank French tanker Melpomene; all 49 aboard survived. Finally, 50 miles south of Newfoundland, German submarine U-587 torpedoed and sank Greenland merchant ship Hans Egede, killing all 23 aboard.

Arctic Ocean : Merchant ship El Occidente and Soviet anti-submarine whaler Stefa fell out of Allied convoy PQ-12 in poor weather.

German battleship Tirpitz and 4 destroyers departed Trondheim, Norway to intercept Allied convoys PQ-12 and QP-8, which departed from Reykjavik in Iceland for Murmansk in Russia and from Murmansk in Russia for Hvalfjörður in Iceland, respectively. The British Royal Navy learned of this departure via Ultra decryption and dispatched a fleet centered around battleships HMS Duke of York, HMS King George V, and HMS Renown to attack.

Malta , Mediterranean Sea : Royal Navy aircraft carrier HMS Eagle delivered 15 Spitfire fighters to Malta , plus eight RAF Bleinheim bombers also reached from North Africa to Malta.

Black Sea : Soviet destroyer Smysheleny strucka mine and sank off Novorrissk