7 - 13 March 1942

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7 March 1942

Pacific Ocean : American submarine USS Grenadier attacked Japanese transport Asahisan Maru 82 miles northeast of Tokyo, Japan at 1500 hours, hitting her with four torpedoes but only one detonated; Asahisan Maru was damaged but was able to return to Yokohama, Japan for repairs.

RAAF Hudson aircraft detected Japanese transports 55 miles north of the coast of New Guinea.

Arctic Ocean : The 2,815-ton Russian passenger-cargo vessel Ijora went missing near the Kola Inlet. It was reported to have been sunk by the German destroyer Friedrich Ihn during operations against Convoy QP-8. On March 7, the German battleship Tirpitz sailed from Trondheim with three destroyers. She failed, however, to reach the both Arctic convoys PQ-12 , which was her target and returning QP-8 , while the British Home Fleet also failed initially to intercept her.

Atlantic Ocean : German submarine U-126 torpedoed and sank US freighters Barbara and Cardonia between Cuba and Haiti.
German submarine U-155 torpedoed and sank Brazilian cargo ship Arabutan 50 kilometers off North Carolina, United States.
German submarine U-129 torpedoed and sank US cargo ship Steel Age off Dutch Guyana.

Swedish cargo ship Skane was torpedoed and sunk by Italian submarine Giuseppe Finzi off Bahamas.

Toward the end of the day, at 2314 hours, German submarine U-701 (Kapitänleutnant Horst Degen) sank 349-ton Danish steam trawler Nyggjaberg from the Faroe Islandsby gunfire , killing all 21 aboard.

At 1759 hours the unescorted 9,755-ton South African whale factory ship Uniwaleco was hit by one of two torpedoes from German submarine U-161 (Kapitänleutnant Albrecht Achilles) in the Caribbean Sea 45 miles west of St. Vincent Passage. The ship apparently went out of control because she ran in circles and settled but did not sink. At 1814 hours, the submarine fired a coup de grâce which hit aft and caused her to sink within three minutes after breaking in two. 18 crew members were lost. The master and 32 crew members landed on St. Vincent.

Burma : Rangoon is evacuated by British and Indian forces. ÂŁ11,000,000 worth of oil installations of Burmah Oil Company in southern Burma near Rangoon were destroyed as British retreated from the city, preventing Japanese capture; this destruction would result in 20 years of High Court litigation after the war. Also destroyed were 972 unassembled Lend-Lease trucks and 5,000 tires. From Rangoon, 800 civilians departed aboard transports for Calcutta, India.

The Anglo-Indian troops in the Rangoon region were held up by a Japanese roadblock at Taukkyan, which was assaulted repeatedly without success.

The 382-ton British merchant ship Nyounghla was scuttled at Rangoon, Burma.

Dutch East Indies : Japanese troops reached Tjilatjap, Java, Dutch East Indies during the day and captured Lembang in the evening, which overlooked Bandoeng. Dutch sailors scuttled minelayer Gouden Leeuw at Surabaya, Java to prevent capture.

The invasion of Java is about to end. The situation in the western part of the island is critical since decision to surrender Jakarta two days ago. Dutch forces are outnumbered five to one and Japanese have absolute air supremacy over Java and rail links between east and west of the Java were severed.

That night Dutch commander in Chief in Java General ter Poorten officially surrendered his entire command to Japanese. 100,000 Dutch, British, Australian and American troops were taken prisoner. Their travails had only just begun. In all, 8,500 Dutch soldiers were to die in captivity, nearly a quarter of those who were taken prisoner. A further 10,500 Dutch civilian internees were to perish, out of 80,000 interned. Many soldiers and civilians died while hiding on remote islands, hoping for rescue, or building boats in which to seek possible succour on other islands.

Indian Ocean : 150 miles southwest of Tjilatjap in Java, Dutch East Indies, the Norwegian Merchant steamer Woolgar, carrying 4,500 tons of coal and 450 tons of ammunition and explosives, was attacked by Japanese bombers. Three bombs were direct hits and lifeboats were launched. These survivors were machine-gunned and some Chinese crew were killed. A fourth bomb hit the vessel which resulted in the explosion of the TNT in the hold, which ripped the ship apart. The lifeboat with remaining crew in it was 88 days at sea before reaching the Andaman Islands where they were taken prisoner by the Japanese.

Dutch passander ship Poelou Bras was bombed and sunk by Japanese navy dive bombers from Japanese carrier Hiryu. 240 were killed.

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8 March 1942

Iceland : US Army troops relieved the US 1st Marine Brigade (Provisional) at Reykjavik, Iceland.

Atlantic Ocean : German submarine U-701 torpedoed and sank Royal Navy anti-submarine trawler HMS Notts County 113 miles southwest of Iceland at 0039 hours, killing all 41 aboard. Off the Grand Banks, Newfoundland, U-587 sank Royal Navy anti-submarine trawler HMS Northern Princess, killing all 38 aboard.

British cargo ship Baluchistan was torpedoed and sunk by U-68 in Atlantic Ocean

Arctic Ocean : German battleship Tirpitz and escorting destroyers got as close as 60 miles from Allied convoy PQ-12 but poor weather prevented the Germans from realizing this fact. In the evening, Admiral Otto Ciliax commanding Tirpitz and her escorts turned his fleet back toward its home port.

Essen , Germany : Royal Air Force dispatched 211 bombers to attack Essen, Germany, some equipped with the new GEE navigational system. The results were less than hoped for as only a few homes and a church were destroyed, killing 29 civilians, while the industrial centers, the primary targets, were untouched. British scientists hope to developand improve GEE further to improve bombing raid accurancy during night raids over Germany.

London , UK : An annoyed Winston Churchill, not satisfied with Cairo’s reasons for not attacking at Gazala, summoned the British C-in-C Middle East back to London, England, United Kingdom to “confer with him about the situation”.

Burma : 200th Division of the Chinese 5th Army arrived at Taungoo, Burma to assist the British defense.
Japanese 215th Regiment enters Rangoon a few hours after last British and Indian rearguard along with General Alexander retreated from the city.

Lae and Salamanua , Papua New Guinea : At dawn, Japanese warships bombarded the invasion beaches at Lae and Salamaua on eastern New Guinea island; the few defending Australian troops of the New Guinea Volunteer Rifles fled into the jungle without putting up an opposition to the subsequent Japanese troop landing. By noon both Lae and Salamanue fell to Japanese South Sea Naval Detachment and they put up their bridgeheads on the shore. At 1200 hours, five RAAF (RoyalAustralian Air Force) Hudson bombers attacked Japanese shipping in Huon harbor, lightly damaging transport Yokohama Maru. Later on the same day, B-17 bombers from Horn Island at the tip of Queensland, Australia attacked newly established Japanese positions at Lae and Salamaua, damaging two hangars at the airstrip at the latter location.

Dutch East Indies : Dutch troops at Bandoeng, Java, Dutch East Indies surrendered at the Isola Hotel in Lembang at 1000 hours between Dutch General Jacob J. Pesman and Japanese Colonel Toshishige Shoji. In the afternoon, Dutch Governor Tjarda Van Starkenborgh Stachouwer, General Hein Ter Poorten, and Major General Jacob Pesman surrendered all Dutch forces on Java to Japanese General Hitoshi Imamura.

Dutch minesweeper HNLMS Jan van Amstel was shelled and sunk by Japanese destroyer Arashio in Maduro Strait. 23 from her crew killed.

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9 March 1942

Arctic Ocean : At 0640 hours, Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm aircraft spotted a German fleet centered around battleship Tirpitz returning to Trondheim. At 0730 hours, Royal Navy carrier HMS Victorious launched 12 Albacore aircraft to attack, reaching Tirpitz and destroyer Friedrich Ihn at 0830 hours. The attack caused no damage to the German warships; two Albacore aircraft were lost. Tripitz and her escorts arrived at Bogen near Narvik, Norway later that day.

Atlantic Ocean : On US Eastern Seaboard , German submarine U-94 torpedoed and sank Brazilian cargo ship CayrĂş 100 kilometers east of Atlantic City, New Jersey, United States at 0225 hours; 53 were killed, 36 survived. At 1317 hours, 10 miles east of Cuba, German submarine U-126 torpedoed and sank Panamanian tanker Hanseat; all 39 aboard survived and Italian submarine Tazzoli torpedoed and sank Uruguayan cargo ship Montevideo 650 miles east of Florida, United States (14 were killed, 35 survived).

In the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, German submarine U-587 torpedoed and sank Greek cargo ship Lily fromConvoy ON68 470 miles east of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada at 1845 hours (all 32 aboard survived the immediate sinking, but only 29 would live to be rescued) In the evening, at 2109 hours, U-96 attacked the same convoy , torpedoed and sank Norwegian cargo ship Tyr 100 miles east of Halifax; all 31 aboard survived the immediate sinking, but 13 of them would never be seen again.

Washington , USA : US Navy Admiral Ernest King was appointed Chief of Naval Operations; he was to maintain his responsibility as the Commander-in-Chief (CominCh) of the US Navy.

London , UK : Admiral Harold Stark, formerly the American Chief of Naval Operations, was appointed as Commander of the United States Naval Forces in European waters with his headquarters in London, England, United Kingdom.

Burma : General Joseph Stilwell had dinner with Chiang Kaishek and his family; in a private conversation afterwards, Chiang hinted to Stilwell that he had no intention of sacrificing Chinese troops in the doomed defense of Mandalay, Burma.

Japan : Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto issued orders to the fleet to prepare for Operation C, a raid into the Indian Ocean.

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10 March 1942

Lae , Salamanua , Papua New Guinea : US Navy dive bombers and torpedo bombers from USS Lexington and USS Yorktown along with USAAF bombers from Australia and Port Moresby hit Japanese ships and airfields in northern shores of Papua New Guinea.
USAAF B-17, B-24, B-25, and A-20 bombers, escorted by USAAF P-38 fighters, attacked a Japanese convoy unloading supplies near Lae, Australian Territory of New Guinea. In a separate effort, 104 carrier aircraft from USS Lexington and USS Yorktown attacked the Japanese invasion fleet in Huon Gulf to the north of the landing beaches, sinking armed merchant cruiser Kongo Maru, auxiliary minelayer Tenyo Maru, and transport Yokohama Maru while damaging several other ships; one Dauntless dive bomber was lost in the attack, while the Japanese lost 350 troops on the transports alone. On land, Japanese consolidated the beachhead with landings at Finschhafen, while Japanese engineers reported that the airstrips at Lae and Salamaua were now ready for action; later on the same day, aircraft of the Japanese 4th Air Group would begin to arrive at Lae and Salamaua.

18 Japanese aircraft bombed Port Moresby, Australian Papua.

Hawaii , Pacific Ocean : At Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii, Joseph Rochefort concluded that the target AF which had appeared in Japanese radio messages in the past few days referred to either Johnston, Palmyra, or Midway, and he promptly sent out warnings to all three locations. Privately, he reported to his superiors that Midway was the likely target.

Twelve US Marine Wildcat fighters based at Midway Atoll, commanded by Captain Robert M. Haynes, intercepted and shot down a Japanese H6K flying boat.

Bataan , Philippines : US Army General MacArthur makes preperations to evacuate himself , his family and close staff from Philippine Islands.

General Jonathan Wainright’s car was strafed by Japanese fighters on Bataan Peninsula, Luzon, Philippine Islands in the morning as he inspected forward areas. At noon, he traveled to Corregidor as requested by Douglas MacArthur, who informed him that President Franklin Roosevelt had ordered MacArthur to departand Wainwright to take the command in Bataan and Corregidor.

The 6,668-ton Japanese collier Kosei Maru was sunk by a mine in Lingayen Gulf, Phillipines with the loss of two crewmen, two gunners and nine passengers.

Burma : Japanese 55th Infantry Division began pursuing the retreating British troops from Rangoon, Burma.

Atlantic Ocean : German submarine U-161 torpedoed and sank Canadian passenger ship Lady Nelson (25 were killed, 204 survived) and British freighter Umtata (4 were killed, 169 survived) off Port Castries, Saint Lucia at 0449 hours.

At 2310 hours, when northeast of Anguilla, the 9,959-ton Norwegian motor taker Charles Racine was torpedoed and sunk by the Italian submarine Giuseppe Finzi (Commander Ugo Giudice).

At 0632 hours, the unescorted 6,776-ton American unarmed steam tanker Gulftrade was torpedoed and sunk by German submarine U-588 three miles off Barnegat Light on the coast of New Jersey, United States. 17 from her crew killed.

Murmansk , Kola Peninsula , Russia : Soviet transport Kiev and merchant ship El Occidente, both of which fell out of Allied convoy PQ-12 several days prior, arrived at Iokanka, Russia.

Essen , Germany : Overnight, 62 RAF bombers attacked Essen, Germany using GEE navigation system, damaging railways leading to Krupp factories, killing 6 civilians and wounding 12.

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11 March 1942

Luzon , Philippines : General Douglas MacArthur, his family, and a small staff departed Corregidor by three USN PT boats (a huge blow on morale of US and Philippino troops in Bataan) heading to Mindanao island in south to board a few remaining still operational US Army Air Force planes operating from there to fly to Australia ; General Jonathan Wainwright remained at Bataan as commanding officer of US and Filipino forces in the Philippine Islands.

Mindanao , Philippines : Japanese troops landed on Mindanao, the southern-most of the Philippine Islands.

Australia : George Brett dispatched 4 B-17 Flying Fortress bombers, with skeleton crew, from Melbourne, Victoria, Australia to Batchelor Field near Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia, via Daly Waters, Northern Territory; these aircraft were meant to be used to evacuate Douglas MacArthur and his family and staff from the Philippine Islands.

Pacific Ocean : American submarine USS Pollack (SS-180; Lieutenant Commander Stanley Moseley) fired six torpedoes at 1,454-ton Japanese cargo ship Fukushu Maru (none hit) and four torpedoes at 5,266-ton passenger ship Baikal Maru (1 hit, resulting in sinking) in the East China Sea.

Burma : General Joseph Stilwell takes command of Nationalist Chinese forces in Burma. Chiang Kaishek told Joseph Stilwell that he was now ready to commit three elite Chinese armies (5th, 6th, and 66th) to Burma. Stilwell would soon find out that Chiang had secretly ordered the Chinese commanders to avoid decisive confrontations, thus rendering the Chinese troops useless to Stilwell’s command.

Dutch East Indies : Japanese submarine I-2 intercepted British passenger ship Chilka 340 miles west of Padang, Sumatra, Dutch East Indies at 1400 hours, killing 7. Chilka signaled surrender at 1425 hours. The captain of I-2 gave the crew some time to abandon ship before proceeding to sink her by gunfire.

Mediterranean Sea : German submarine U-565 torpedoed and sank Royal Navy light cruiser HMS Naiad 30 miles north of Sidi Barrani, Egypt at 2000 hours; 82 were killed, 582 survived.

Arctic Ocean : Merchant ship Sevaples fell out of Allied convoy PQ-12 in poor weather. Allied convoy QP-8 arrived at ReykjavĂ­k, Iceland.

Atlantic Ocean : German submarine U-701 torpedoed and sank British anti-submarine trawler HMS Stella Capella 38 miles east of Iceland at 0211 hours, killing all 33 aboard.

German submarine U-94 torpedoed and sank Norwegian cargo ship Hvoslef 2 miles east of Fenwick Island, Delaware, United States at 0316 hours; 6 were killed, 14 survived. At 0758 hours, German submarine U-158 struck 2,609-ton US steam merchant Caribsea on the starboard side with a torpedo 20 kilometers east of Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point, North Carolina, United States, just off the Cape Lookout Lighthouse. The Caribsea rapidly settled and sank in less than three minutes in shallow waters. Only seven out of 28 crew survived.

Further south, U-126 torpedoed and sank US freighter Texan within 5 kilometers of the northern coast of Cuba. Italian submarine Tazzoli torpedoed and sank Panamanian cargo ship Cygnet 5 mile east of the Bahamas; all 30 aboard survived.

North Sea : The 951-ton coastal collier Horseferry was attacked , torpedoed and sunk by a German E-boat S-70, east of Cromer Knoll, Norfolk, England. Eleven of her crew were killed in the attack.

Rio de Janerio , Brazil : Brazilian goverment seizes all Axis property in retaliation of merchant shipping sunk by U-Boats.

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Would cover that for March 11 in my “America at war!” thread.

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12 March 1942

Atlantic Ocean : German submarine U-126 torpedoed and sank US freighter Olga at 0611 hours (1 was killed, 32 survived) and damaged US freighter Colabee off Bahamas. 520 miles northeast of the British Virgin Islands, Italian submarine Morosini torpedoed and sank British freighter Manaqui.

At 1536 hours German submarine U-578 fired a spread of two torpedoes at unescorted 3,089-ton Norwegian steam merchant Ingerto (Master Olaf Ellingsen) straggled behind Convoy ON70 in the Atlantic Ocean; one of them struck after 1 minute 11 seconds, causing the ship to sink quickly.

Mediterranean Sea : Royal Navy submarine HMS Turbulent (Commander John Wallace Linton) sank the Greek caique Agia Paraskevi with gunfire north of the Zea Channel, southeast of Athens, Greece. Two of the crew were wounded.

Murmansk , Kola Peninsula , Russia : Allied convoy PQ-12 arrived at Murmansk, Russia.

Lithuania , Baltics : On March 12, ten Soviet parachutists landed near Birzai, in Lithuania. They were seen, chased and shot by local Lithuanian militia , and all their equipment, including a radio transmitter, was seized. But such setbacks did nothing to deter the despatch of further partisan units behind the German lines.

Indian Ocean : British authorities evacuated the Andaman Islands.

Burma : US Army Lieutenant General Joseph Stilwell was named the commander of American forces in the CBI theater.

Mindanao , Philippines : Captain Henry Goodwin led a flight of 4 B-17 Flying Fortress bombers from Batchelor Field, Darwin, Australia to Mindanao, Philippine Islands to embark Douglas MacArthur. 3 aircraft would be turned back due to mechanical troubles (1 of these 3 would crash on the return trip). The lone aircraft that made it (1st Lieutenant Harl Pease, Jr.) was judged to be in too poor of shape to embark MacArthur, and was sent back to Australia by Brigadier General William Sharp.

Dutch East Indies : On Sumatra, Dutch East Indies, Japanese troops landed at Sabang at 0235 hours, Koetaradja at 0330 hours, Idi at 0540, and Laboehanroekoe at 0700 hours. They would capture the airfield at Medan in the morning.

British General Sitwell, Australian Brigadier Blackburn, and US Colonel Searle formally surrendered to Japanese General Maruyama at Bandung, Java, Dutch East Indies at 0730 hours.

New Calodenia , South West Pacific : Troops of US Americal Division occupied French colony of New Caledonia in the South Pacific, where a major base at Nouméa was planned to be built in the near future.

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13 March 1942

Atlantic Ocean : German submarine U-126 torpedoed and damaged US cargo ship Colabee 10 miles north of Cuba at 0441 hours, forcing her to run aground to prevent sinking; 23 were killed, 14 survived. She was declared a total loss.

Two hours later, at 0643 hours, German submarine U-404 torpedoed and sank Chilean freighter Tolten within 5 kilometers of Asbury Park, New Jersey, United States, killing 25 of 26 aboard. German submarine U-332 sank US schooner Albert F. Paul by gunfire 100 kilometers east of the Bahamas at 0720 hours, killing the entire crew of 8. At 1747 hours, U-332 struck again, torpedoed and sank Yugoslavian cargo ship Trepca at the same area ; 4 were killed, 33 survived.

Italian submarine Enrico Tazzoli torpedoed and sank 6,422-ton British merchant steamer ship Daytonian 330 miles off Palm Beach, Florida, United States; 1 was killed, 58 survived. Daytonian was on a voyage from Mobile, Alabama, United States to Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada with general cargo.

The 11,641-ton American steam merchant ship John D. Gill was on its second voyage, travelling on route from Atreco, Texas, United States to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States with 141,981 barrels of crude oil. At 2110 hours, just off the coast of North Carolina, United States, a torpedo from German submarine U-158 struck the starboard side. The tanker did not explode or ignite until a life ring with a self-igniting carbide lamp was thrown overboard by a crew member. The ship was immediately engulfed in flames and sanktwohours later , 23 from 49 crew members were killed.

Arctic Ocean : Merchant ship Sevaples and Soviet anti-submarine whaler Stefa, both of which fell out of Allied convoy PQ-12 several days prior, found each other while at sea as Sevaples was being attacked by a German aircraft; Stefa shot down a German attacking JU-88 aircraft.

North Sea : The 1,459-ton Swedish cargo ship Hermod was on a voyage from Rotterdam, the Netherlands to Helsingborg, Sweden when she was torpedoed by a Royal Navy MTB-boat and sank off Terschelling, the Netherlands
The 4,398-ton German-controlled Belgian steam merchant Liège was torpedoed by a Royal Navy motor torpedo boat and sank off Terschelling, the Netherlands.

Greece : After sundown and into the next date, Greek resistance hero Jerzy Iwanow-Szajnowicz swam across a Greek harbor to the German submarine U-133 and placed explosives on the ship which was preparing to leave on a combat mission. U-133 destroyed on 14 Mar 1942, killing 45 crew members.

Cologne , Germany : Overnight, 135 RAF bombers attacked Köln, Germany using GEE navigation system , killing 62 and wounding 84. RAF Bomber Command also sends 251 aircraft to bomb Essen , Germany.

Crimea , Ukraine : A major Soviet attack was launched out of Kerch Peninsula in Russia in an attempt to relieve the besieged city of Sevastopol.

Poland : 1,200 sick prisoners from the hospital within Auschwitz I camp who were judged as not able to recover were transferred to the BIb sector of Birkenau camp, where they were killed. Their bodies were transported back to Auschwitz I to be cremated.
In Poland, The Belzec Concentration Camp opened for operation with a transport of 6,000 Jews from Mielec, Poland

Burma : General Joseph Stilwell met with Genral Harold Alexander Commander of Burma. Stilwell’s diary entry for the day noted that he was unimpressed with the British general.

Indian Ocean : Japanese submarine I-164 torpedoed and sank Norwegian merchant ship Mabella 100 miles northeast of Madras, India.

Rabaul , New Guinea : Five B-17 bombers of the US 40th Reconnaissance Squadron from Australia were launched to attack Rabaul, New Britain; only one arrived over the target to drop the bomb load, which caused little damage.

Japanese minesweeper Tama Maru No. 2 sank. She was damaged by US Navy carrier aircraft in the Lae-Salamaua area of Australian Territory of New Guinea three days prior.

Pacific Ocean : US Navy submarine USS Gar (SS-206; Lieutenant Commander Donald McGregor) torpedoed and sank Japanese victualling stores ship Chichiubu Maru off Mikura Jima 100 miles south of Tokyo Bay, Japan with three of four torpedoes fired.