Bill Sparks – Cockleshell Heroes Memorial Plaque Unveiled

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On Sunday the 25th August, 2013, a plaque was unveiled in the museum to commemorate Cpl Bill Sparks D.C.M., by local dignitaries including the Mayor of Castle Point. Many local councillors were in attendance.

Bill Sparks was one of two survivors, alongside Major ‘Blondie’ Hasler, amongst ten men who embarked on ‘Operation Frankton’. These commandos set out with collapsible canoes to plant mines on German ships in Bordeaux, canoeing through miles of water, in the black of the night, to the dock. Many canoes capsized, leaving the men to swim as a death sentence, whilst others were caught and executed by Germans. Only one canoe reached the target containing the two survivors. However, the men were only told what this suicide entailed after they had embarked on the HMS Tuna with the canoes on board.

Bill Sparks retired to Canvey Island in 1971, during his later life, because it was near the sea so he could practice canoeing, which had become a hobby of his. He lived initially in a council estate down Maple Way.

Training in the waters around Canvey for his re-enactment in 1983
(courtesy of CanveyIsland.org)

SECOND WORLD WAR MAY 1942

May1

SECOND WORLD WAR MAY 1942

(Britain)

British forces begin “Operation Ironclad”, the invasion of Madagascar on the 5^th May 1942. A full frontal attack on the defences at Diego-Suarez on the 6^th May 1942 was a failure with the loss of five tanks. The Vichy-French defences took the British by surprise as they were unaware of the level of resistance. The South Lancs. Regiment worked their way round the Vichy defences, despite the swamps, and caused a great deal of chaos when the radio station and one of the barracks were captured. When the radio-set of the South Lancs. failed, communications between them and the main attack force was lost and they were forced to withdraw. HMS Anthony, an old destroyer dashed straight past the harbour defences and broke the deadlock of the highly effective French defence system. Landing fifty Royal Marines in the Vichy rear area they captured the French artillery command post with its barracks and naval depot at Diego-Suarez. With Diego-Suarez secure the British 29^th Independent Infantry Brigade, led by Brigadier Oliver Lease headed for the French naval base at Antanamitarana. Assisted by twelve light tanks they advanced the 21 miles overcoming any little resistance with bayonet charges. Lease’s frontal assault forces broke through the Vichy defences and Antanamitarana surrendered on the 7^th May 1942. Ten light tanks sent to Madagascar were destroyed. In the three days of fighting the British lost 109 men killed and 283 wounded with the French suffering 700 casualties. In the meantime Vichy forces had asked for Japanese assistance but they were not in a position to help. However, three Japanese submarines arrived three weeks later on the 29^th May 1942. A Japanese reconnaissance plane had seen that HMS Ramilies was at anchor in Diego-Suarez Harbour, but she changed berths after the plane was spotted. Two Japanese midget submarines were launched and one entered the harbour and fired a torpedo and seriously damaging Ramilies. The second sank the 6,993 ton oil tanker British Loyalty. Madagascar was finally secured by the Allies when the Vichy forces surrendered on the 6^th November 1942.

The attack on the city of Exeter on the night of 3^rd/4^th May 1942 was another “Baedeker Raid”. The raid was selected by the German Luftwaffe for the city’s cultural and historical significance rather than the strategic or military value. Just after midnight, twenty bombers began the raid which devastated the city centre. The area of Bedford Circus and many adjoining streets were destroyed. The results of the high explosive bombs was the start of many fires which were soon out of control. With the assistance of fire services from Torquay and Plymouth most of the fires were finally under control on the 5th May 1942. The area around the Cathedral was mostly obliterated but the Cathedral itself was hit by an explosive bomb which demolished St. James’ Chapel. The City Library and the Vicars Choral College were destroyed. Of the city’s 20,000 houses, 1,500 were completely obliterated and a further 2,700 badly damaged. The area also suffered the destruction of many shops, offices, warehouses and pubs. A total of 156 people were killed and further 583 were injured. Despite Germany’s radio boast that “Exeter is the jewel of the West, we have destroyed that jewel, and we will return to finish the job” the May 1942 raid was the last suffered by the city.

Soviet Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov arrived in London on the 20^th May 1942 for talks that would enable a treaty of alliance be signed between Britain and the Soviet Union. When Molotov met Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Leader of the House of Commons Anthony Eden discussions soon became difficult. The Soviets were pushing for a “Second Front” in order to divert German military resources away from the Eastern Front. Churchill argued, that even with American assistance, Britain was not in a position to launch an offensive across the channel to attack Europe. However, Britain would continue to provide aid to the Soviet Union. Rather than invading Europe for the sake of action at any price, it was deemed better to continue with the aid and not launch an offensive which would end in disaster. On the 21^st May 1942 Churchill and Molotov signed the Treaty of Alliance. A proviso was added on the 26^th May 1942 that peace with Germany would not be signed by either side without the approval of the other.

Codenamed Operation Millennium the first “Thousand Bomber Raid” by the Royal Air Force (RAF) was conducted against Cologne on 30^th May 1942. The massive raid was launched expecting the devastation might be enough to knock German out of the war or at least severely damage German morale. The raid was useful for propaganda purposes for the RAF in that the war was finally being taken to Germany. Sir Arthur Harris, who was nicknamed “Bomber Harris”, had been appointed Commander-in-Chief (C-in-C) of Bomber Command in February 1942. Bombing raids against Germany prior to the 30^th May 1942 were limited owing to the small number of aircraft used and the lack of navigational aids. Later in the war better aircraft and electronic navigational aids increased the accuracy of the raids. Harris was directed by Winston Churchill with Cabinet agreement to carry out “Area bombing” rather than “Strategic bombing” of military targets. The consensus of opinion was that the Nazis had entered the war under the rather childish delusion they were going to bomb everyone else but nobody was going to bomb them. At Rotterdam, London, Warsaw and half a hundred places they put their rather naïve theory into operation. Harris used his now famous quotation, “They sowed the wind, and now they are going to reap the whirlwind”. Because of the losses encountered on the raids of German held territory Britain’s bomber strength was limited after the Battle of Britain. Every individual mission launched resulted in lost aircraft which Britain was struggling to replace. Harris put together a plan to send a 1,000 bomber raid against Cologne. He knew his raid would attract German interceptor aircraft and air defence crews but they would only have short time to attack the bombers. He assembled 416 front-line bombers and crew plus all available second-line and even training crews to attack Cologne’s industrial goods and chemical plants. Churchill approved of the 1,046 bombers attacking the target over a 90 minute period. Approximately 4,500 tons of bombs were dropped on the city crippling industrial output and damaging 600 acres of Cologne. Nearly 500 Germans were killed and approximately 45,000 were left homeless because of the raid. Britain lost 40 bombers but over 1,000 bombers made it back home. 22 year old Lesly Manser VC was piloting an Avro Manchester bomber “D” for Dog and after dropping his quota of bombs he aircraft was caught in the searchlight beams. After being hit by flak which overheated his port engine, he took evasive action to escape the anti-aircraft fire. The rear gunner was wounded and with the front cabin filled with smoke he attempted to get the aircraft and crew to safety. He was over Belgium when the port engine burst into flames, a crash was inevitable, refusing a parachute be ordered his crew to bail out. Staying at the controls he secured his crew’s safety by sacrificing himself. One member of his crew was taken prisoner, but the remaining five crew members evaded capture and made their way back to Britain. Their testimonials were instrumental in the posthumous award of the Victoria Cross for Lesley Manser. However, despite the losses the Allied leaders were not concerned over the outcome of the raid as Harris expected to receive losses. British cities had been forced to endure similar raids during the Blitz of late 1940/early 1941.

(Germany)

On the 10^th May 1942 German Generalfeldmarschall Albert Kesselring informed Fuhrer Adolf Hitler that Malta had been neutralised. As commander of the Luftwaffe in the Mediterranean Kesselring’s information was incorrect as he was apparently unaware of the second delivery of Spitfire fighters.

The Amerikabomber project plan was submitted to Reischsmarschall Hermann Goering on the 12^th May 1942. The concept being that the Luftwaffe should obtain a long range strategic bomber capable of attacking the United States from Germany. It was Hitler’s suggestion that long range attacks against the United States was a feasible proposition and thought the Portuguese Azores islands could be used as a transit airfield. With the Azores approximately 1,000 miles west of Portugal it was thought bombers could be developed to achieve the required results. Four aircraft manufacturers were considered but it was the Junkers JU390 that was selected for production. However, although the project was conducted and various design changes investigated it was finally abandoned for being too expensive. The project was also too reliant on the rapidly diminishing production capacity required for the war in Europe to continue.

Reinhardt Heydrich was a high ranking German SS officer and police official within the Nazi party. He was one of the main architects of the Holocaust, ”The Final Solution to the Jewish question”. Hitler described him as “the man with the iron heart”. In September 1941 Heydrich was appointed deputy Protector of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia which was part of German occupied Czechoslovakia. The Czechoslovak government-in-exile located in London co-operated with British Intelligence and devised Operation Anthropoid to assassinate Heydrich. Two exiled Czechoslovak soldiers were selected and trained by British Special Operations Executive (SOE) to carry out the mission. Jozef Gabčik and Jan Kubiš were parachuted into Nehivizdy east of Prague and the planning of the assassination began. Various plans were discussed but they settled on a car attack in Prague. On 27^th May 1942, the car in which Heydrich was travelling, slowed down at a hair pin bend and it was here Gabčik’s Sten submachine gun jammed and did not fire, Rather than speed away Heydrich ordered his driver to stop to confront Gabčik. Kubiš threw a converted anti-tank mine at the car and it landed against the rear wheel. The explosion wounded Heydrich with metal fragments and seat stuffing causing serious damage to his left side. He was transported to Bulovka Hospital and appeared to making a recovery.

The German Authorities issued a directive on the 27^th May 1942 that all Jews in occupied Belgium must wear the distinctive Jewish badge. The badge was a yellow star with the letter “J” in the centre. It was to be worn on the left side of the chest. All Jews were also required to carry an identification card stamped with word “Jew” in both the Flemish and French language. The directive for the wearing of the yellow star came into effect on the 3^rd June 1942.

On the 29^th May 1942 in Nazi occupied Paris Hitler ordered all Jews must wear identification badges on their outer clothing. Propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels advised Hitler the badge should be the Yellow Star of David and in the centre the word “JUDE” written in mock-Hebrew script. The wearing of the identification badge singled the Jews out for future German persecution.

(America)

President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed a bill creating the Women’s Auxiliary Army Corps (WAAC) on the 15^th May 1942. U.S. Representative Edith Nourse Rogers of Massachusetts introduced a bill for the creation of WAAC in May 1941, because the threat of war was looming. The condition being, if women served to support the army, they would receive all rights and benefits afforded to soldiers unlike the status of women in the Great War. Following the attack on Pearl Harbour in December 1941, congress approved the bill on the 14^th May 1942 and was signed into law by the president the following day, Oveta Culp Hobby was sworn in as the first director on the 16^th May 1942, and WAAC was established.

The U.S. 1^st Armoured Division arrived in Northern Ireland on the 16^th May 1942. They departed on RMS Queen Mary from the Brooklyn Army Terminal on the New York’s Port of Embarkation on the 11^th May 1942. Upon arriving in Northern Ireland the division trained on the moors under the command of Major-General Orlando Ward. They transferred to England in October 1942. The 1^st Armoured Division, nicknamed “Old Ironsides” was the first armoured division to see battle in the Second World War.

(Eastern Front)

The Battle of the Kerch Peninsular began on the 8^th May 1942 when the axis powers of Germany and Romania counter-attacked the Soviet Forces in the Crimean Peninsula. The Crimea is a peninsular located on the north of the Black Sea and the southern tip of the Ukraine which had been under Nazi German control since the beginning of Operation Barbarossa in June 1941. Operation Barbarossa was the German invasion of the Soviet Union. The huge port facility at Sevastopol was defended by the Soviet Union Coastal Army but they were trapped and surrounded by the Germans. Soviet Dictator Joseph Stalin believed the German Wehrmacht was danger of imminent collapse. On the 8^th December 1941 he instructed STAVKA, the Soviet Supreme Command, to begin planning for a major offensive to link up with the Coastal army trapped in Sevastopol. By linking up with the defenders at Sevastopol the Soviet Union would liberate the Crimea. Following the Soviet offensive which began on the 29^th December 1941 numerous attacks and German resistance followed. The Soviet Black Sea Fleet’s ability to supply the Soviet forces in Sevastopol was severely curtailed, by early May 1942 Sevastopol’s defenders were in desperate need of food and military supplies. On Bustard Hunt, the German codename for the counter-attack, began on the 8^th May 1942 where the German forces faced a vastly superior number of Soviet troops. The Soviet defence line extended north to south across the peninsular. The Soviet Army did not expect a major attack as they outnumbered the Axis forces two to one. The Soviets deployed three armies to defend the peninsular, one to the northern front, one to the southern front and one in reserve. On the southern front an anti-tank ditch had been constructed and three lines of defence had been built on the swampy ground. However, they failed to deploy their troops into a well prepared defence in depth. To support the German armoured and motorised attack, strong air cover was required. The Luftwaffe had increased their strength to 800 aircraft and soon the numerically superior Soviet air defences had collapsed. The remaining Soviet air reconnaissance failed to spot the German land force build-up. Within hours the Luftwaffe had knocked out the Soviet southern communication headquarters. When the ground attack began the southern army were not in a position to counter attack and they were forced to retreat. On the 9^th May 1942, German engineers finished breaching the anti-tank ditches and the land forces swung north trapping the Soviet northern army against the Sea of Azov. The northern army surrendered on the 11^th May 1942 allowing the Germans to pursue the retreating Soviet forces. The speed of the German advance was rapid after the Luftwaffe had destroyed the Soviet air opposition. The Luftwaffe was free to bomb the fleeing Soviet columns and burned Kerch and its harbour on the 12^th May 1942. Kerch fell on the 15^th May 1942 and on the 18th May 1942 the Soviet Army was in major retreat. The final defeat and destruction of the Soviet ground forces was on the 20^th May 1942. In the twelve days of Operation Bustard Hunt the Luftwaffe lost 37 aircraft whilst the Soviets lost 417 aircraft. Operation Bustard Hunt ended on the 19^th May 1942 and the Germans conquered Sevastopol six weeks later. German casualties amounted to approximately 7,500 men including 1,700 killed or missing. An estimated 162,000 Soviet soldiers were left stranded following the evacuation by sea of between 37,000 and 115,000 Soviet soldiers. Of the Soviet soldiers left stranded 28,000 were killed and the remainder taken prisoner.

The Second Battle of Kharkov began on the 12^th May 1942. Following a winter offensive by the Soviet forces that drove the German troops away from Moscow, the Soviet Army under the command of Marshal Semyon Timoshenko launched an offensive against their German opponents. The winter offensive had established a front line west of Moscow down to a salient slightly south of Kharkov. Stalin had overestimated the Soviet Union’s newly raised army and was also convinced the Germans were a finished force and would collapse by mid-1942. On the 14^th May 1942 Hitler ordered air strikes against the salient. After a promising start, Timoshenko’s offensive in the salient was halted by massive German air strikes on the 15^th May 1942. With the Soviet army hemmed into narrow area in the salient the Germans launched a pincer attack. The pincer attack to the north of the salient was accompanied with German tanks and began on the 16^th May 1942. The lack of heavy artillery was insufficient for the Soviet failure to halt the German tanks and overwhelming German defences. The German infantry were more experienced than the numerically superior but technical inferior Soviet troops in the north. While at the salient Soviet troops were facing heavier air strikes from the Luftwaffe, who had air superiority. By the 18^th May 1942 STAVKA suggested the offensive be withdrawn. The Soviet commanders claimed the German offensive was exaggerated and Stalin refused to sanction the withdrawal. When the Germans attempted to encircle the salient from the north on the 19^th May 1942 Stalin authorised the abandonment of the Soviet offensive. By the 20^th May 1942 the Soviets were conducting a fighting retreat. The German offensive continued and by the 24^th May 1942 they surrounded Kharkov. The Soviet troops outnumbered the Germans by about two to one but they couldn’t establish superiority and make the numbers count. The first attempt by the Soviets to break the encirclement was on the 25^th May 1942. Blind courage alone and with arms linked the Soviet soldiers charged the German machine guns. Without the need for accuracy the German machine gunners killed hundreds of Soviet troops. With complete air supremacy the Luftwaffe dropped anti-personnel cluster bombs into the salient killing the exposed Soviet infantry in their droves. The surviving Soviet soldiers were forced into a crowded position on the 26^th May 1942 and by the 28^th May 1942 Timoshenko called a halt to any further Soviet break-out attempts from the encirclement. However, when the Germans finally took Kharkov on the 31^st May 1942 less than one in ten Soviet troops were able to break-out. Kharkov was a major setback putting an end to the winter counteroffensive undertaken by the Soviet army. During the Second of Battle of Kharkov the Soviet forces sustained approximately 75,000 killed, wounded or missing and approximately 240,000 Soviet prisoners-of-war. They also lost the bulk of their armour. Estimates indicate the German casualties being 20,000 dead, wounded or missing.

(Mediterranean)

During the Desert Campaign, despite having been forced to retreat in late 1941 General Erwin Rommel, began his spring offensive from the Gazala Line on the 26^th May 1942. Rommel, nicknamed the “Desert Fox”, and his Afrika Korps were receiving regular supplies from Libya. One of his objectives would be the capture of the port facilities at Tobruk in order that his supply line would be a lot closer to his attacking Afrika Korps. British Commander-in-Chief of Middle East Theatre General (later Field Marshall) Sir Claude Auchinleck had received a telegram from Winston Churchill to take the offensive in North Africa on the 14^th April 1942. With no apparent movement by the 10^th May 1942 Churchill ordered Auchinleck to begin the attack in the Desert War When by the 17^th May 1942 Churchill had not received a reply he demanded an explanation for the delay, to be despatched before the 20^th May 1942. Auchinleck sent a reply on the 19^th May 1942 to say the attack was imminent once all his supplies were in place. However, Rommel began his offensive from the Gazala Line on the 26^th May 1942 and imposed a significant initial defeat on the British. To boost their defences the British utilised United States Sherman tanks, nicknamed by the Germans “Tommy Cookers” or ‘Ronsons’ (light first click), but they were still forced to retire. A British counter-attack with an ensuing tank battle stalled Rommel’s offensive well short of Tobruk. On the 31^st May 1942 Rommel set up a defensive line to the west of Tobruk because he had out-run his supply line. Libya had not been receiving regular supplies from Italy since the RAF’s reinforcement fighters based in Malta were attacking and destroying Italian supply ships. Whereas at the beginning of the month German supplies were reaching their destination, the tables had been turned by the end of the month.

Arriving at Gibraltar for the second time on the 9th May 1942 USS Wasp and HMS Eagle launched 64 Spitfires to fly onto Malta, Of the 64 Spitfires launched 61 aircraft successfully landed on Malta. One plane and pilot was lost on take-off, one plane piloted by Canadian Pilot Officer Jerrold Smith experienced problems with his long range fuel tank and was forced to return to Wasp. His Spitfire was the first to land on an aircraft carrier. One Spitfire and pilot was unaccounted for. Within minutes of landing all the Spitfires were refuelled, re-armed and airborne with fresh experienced pilots. The Spitfires were in the air awaiting the expected air raid whose intention was to destroy them. The ensuing air battle saw 47 German aircraft destroyed or damaged for the loss of 3 Spitfires. After the first delivery on the 20^th April 1942 many of the 47 Spitfires delivered to Malta had been destroyed on the ground before even entering combat. For the second delivery lessons had been learned. Disguised as a Vichy-French destroyer Leopold, 100 spare Merlin engines plus ground crews trained on Spitfires along with food and general stores, HMS Welshman arrived at Malta on the 10^th May 1942. Extensive preparations for the invasion of Malta had been made by the Germans and Italians, who hoped that an air and an amphibious landing would eliminate the island as an air and naval base. This would secure the Axis forces an uninterrupted flow of supplies to the Afrika Korps in the desert campaign. With Rommel’s successes in the desert campaign the invasion of Malta, code named Operation Bowery, was postponed indefinitely on the 21^st May 1942. The landing of soldiers, and the invasion of Malta was finally cancelled in November 1942. By the 31^st May 1942 Kesselring’s air superiority had been greatly reduced by the arrival of the Spitfires which had proved effective against the incoming fighters and bombers. Compared to a couple of months previously where Kesselring had several hundred aircraft as his disposal he was down to a combined total of 83 serviceable aircraft.

(Pacific)

When General Douglas MacArthur was ordered by President Franklin D. Roosevelt to evacuate the Philippines he was forced to hand over his command. Major-General Jonathan M. Wainwright inherited the unevitable position of Allied Commander South West Pacific Area. After Major-General Edward P. King surrendered the Bataan Peninsula, Corregidor was the last of the Philippine islands to resist the Japanese. Corregidor and the Bataan Peninsular had been besieged since the end of December 1941 by the Japanese air force bombardment. The garrison on the island consisted of combined units of the U.S. Army, U.S. Navy and locally recruited Filipino soldiers valiantly resisting the bombardment. Following the fall of Bataan on the 9^th April 1942 the Japanese artillery began immediate bombardment of Corregidor. The initial landings of the Japanese were not without diffiulties, as the defenders fiercely resisted. The Japanese landed troops and equipment despite the strong sea currents and the layers of oil on the beaches (caused by earlier sunken ships). On the 6^th May 1942 Wainwright knew that more Japanese would land at night and in order to save thousands of lives he decided the best course was to surrender. In a radio message to Roosevelt Wainwright said “There is a limit of human endurance and that point has long been passed”. Prior to the surrender the Marine Regimental flag and the National Colours were burned to prevent them being captured. Corregidor’s defeat marked the fall of the Philippines and Asia but the Japanese timetable for the conquest of Australia and the Pacific was severely upset. The 11,000 American and Filipino defenders were escorted away from Corregidor as prisoners of war. However, U.S. Army and Navy nurses (the “Angels of Bataan and Corregidor”) continued to work on Corregidor but were the sent to Santo Tomas Internment Camp in Manilla. Wainwright was held in Manchuria while the remainder were sent to various Japanese prison camps. The conquest of the Philippines was a Japanese victory which had been expected would take two months but in actual fact take five months. The commander General Masaharu Hommer was relieved of command over his inability to conquer the Philippines in the projected time scale. The Americans and Filipino defeat was the worst in the U.S. military history. The Japanese suffered losses of an estimated 17,000 to 19,000 killed, wounded or missing during the Battle for the Philippines. Approximately 23,000 American and 100,000 Filipino soldiers were either killed, wounded or captured. Wainwright was the highest ranking American officer taken as prisoner of war and remained so until the Japanese surrender in 1945. Upon release from captivity in 1945 both Generals, Wainwright at Corregidor and King at Bataan, expected to be court martialled for disobeying orders not to surrender but were treated as heroes when they arrived back in the United States.

Burma (now Myanmar) was under British rule since 1^st January 1886 with the city of Rangoon the capital. Burma was unprepared and under-sourced to prevent the Japanese offensive and Rangoon fell, owing to the superior numbers of troops and equipment Japan had at her disposal. General William “Bill” Slim led the remnants of the Burma Corps to safety. They marched 900 miles north from Burma to Manipur in India in 100 days. Whilst the retreat was a bitter humiliation it was not a rout as General Slim organised a fighting retreat through dust bowls, jungles and mountains allowing him to always stay ahead of the advancing Japanese. Oil fields were destroyed during the retreat ensuring access to oil was denied to the Japanese. General Slim with his officers plus staff and the remainder of the Burma Corp arrived in India just before the monsoon rains began in May 1942 after beginning the retreat at the end of January 1942.

—

On the 3^rd May 1942 American General Joseph Stilwell decided Burma should be evacuated. In February 1942 Stilwell had been promoted to Lieutenant-General and assigned to the China-Burma-India theatre (CBI) where he had three major roles:-

1) Commander of all U .S. forces in China, Burma and India.

2) Deputy Commander of the Burma-India theatre under Admiral Louis Mountbatten.

3) Military advisor and Commander-in-Chief to Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek, commander of all Nationalist Chinese forces.

Between the wars Stilwell served three tours of China where he mastered written and spoken Chinese. He earned the nickname “Uncle Joe” for his concern for the average soldier under his command. He is also remembered as “Vinegar Joe” after he harshly criticised a poor performance during an exercise. When he discovered a subordinate had drawn a caricature of him rising out of a vinegar bottle he had the caricature photographed. He also kept a Latin motto on his desk Illigitimi non Carborundum which translates as “Don’t let the bastard’s grind you down”. From early in his career Stilwell’s short temper and colourful language made him stand out against his fellow officers. He had no patience for inefficiency or stuffiness. It led him to have a deep disdain for the British he worked with in Burma, an attitude that caused problems. When Stilwell first arrived in India it was just in time to experience the collapse of the Allied defence of Burma which denied China all lease-lend equipment. On the 4^th May 1942, the evacuation began. As Commander-in-Chief of Chiang Kai-shek’s military forces, he led the retreat of the 5^th and 6^th Chinese army together with his administration staff along the Burma Road to India. After a 140 mile march he personally led his staff and the remnants of the Chinese army into Assan in India on the 20^th May 1942. By the 20^th May 1942 the Japanese conquest of Burma was completed. There is no evidence but it is possible that the “Arcadian Conference” of January 1942 did not match Stilwell’s strategy. The conference concluded that the defeat of Germany in Europe must be the number one priority and the Pacific War secondary. With his disdain for the British it is also possible Stilwell’s complaint to Chiang Kai-shek that Britain was reluctant to fight, was that he may well have dismissed the fact that Britain was overstretched and weary. British and Commonwealth forces were stretched very thinly after having stood alone for two years against the aggression of Nazi Germany and her allies.

—

From the 4^th to 8^th May 1942 a major naval “Battle of Coral Seas” was fought by the Imperial Japanese Navy and the combined air and naval forces of the U.S.nd Australia. Historically significant was the fact that the opposing aircraft carriers were involved in the first action in which neither sighted nor fired directly at each other. The Japanese need to strengthen their defences in the South Pacific requiring them to invade and occupy Port Moresby in New Guinea and Tulagi in the Solomon Islands. Early in 1942 U.S. Intelligence in Washington had broken the Japanese naval code and were fully aware of the proposed invasion of Port Moresby and Tulagi. Pre-warned the Allied defenders of Tulagi sighted the oncoming Japanese fleet. The defenders included American, Australia and U.K. forces. Anticipating that the Japanese would attack with superior numbers of troops, the joint commanders ordered the evacuation of Tulagi on the 2^nd May 1942. They began the destruction and demolition of their equipment and facilities to deny the Japanese access to them. On the 3^rd May 1942, unopposed, the Japanese invasion and occupation of Tulagi was successful. The U.S. Navy carrier task force and a joint American-Australian cruiser force was sent to oppose the Japanese offensive. On the 4^th May 1942 several Japanese warships were sunk or damaged in a surprise attack by aircraft from the U.S. fleet carrier USS Yorktown. On the 6^th May 1942, now aware of the presence of the U.S. carriers in the area, the Japanese proceeded to the Coral Seas. On the 7^th May 1942 aircraft from both American and Japanese carriers searched for the opposing navy. Japanese aircraft torpedoed aircraft carrier USS Lexington incapacitating her to the point where she had to be scuttled to prevent being captured. Japanese aircraft damaged Yorktown and despite the damage suffered she was able to return and limp into Pearl Harbour for repairs on the 27^th May 1942. The repairs were estimated to take two weeks but just 48 hours after arriving receiving hasty repairs Yorktown left Pearl Harbour on the 30^th May 1942 in readiness for the forthcoming Battle of Midway. Both sides claimed victory after the Battle of the Coral Seas. The Japanese won the tactical victory in terms of enemy ships lost. America’s losses included one aircraft carrier, an oiler and a destroyer totalling 42,471 tons. The Japanese lost a light aircraft carrier, a destroyer and several smaller ships totalling 19,000 tons. From a strategic perspective the battle was an Allied victory. For the first time the Japanese had not achieved their invasion plan, the capture of Port Moresby in New Guinea. The Japanese failure to capture Port Moresby was a morale booster for the the Allies after a series of defeats during the initial six months of the war in the Pacific.

The South Pacific Territory of Wallis and Futuna, lying to the east of Australia, had been under the protection of France since April 1887. During the early part of the Second World War the islands were administered by the Vichy French government. However, a Free French corvette based in New Caledonia deposed the regime on the 26^th May 1942. The Allies controlled the islands when the U.S. Marine Corp landed on the 29^th May 1942. They denied the Japanese the chance for occupation.

Prior to the Battle of Midway, a follow-up to Japanese Operation “K” was proposed for the 30^th May 1942. The operation was scheduled for Japanese intelligence to locate the U.S. aircraft carriers. The Americans became aware the Japanese were preparing another reconnaissance mission similar to the one employed at Pearl Harbour. They were also aware that the French Frigate Shoals was a possible rendezvous as a refuelling site for Japanese flying boat reconnaissance aircraft. American naval patrols increased, the area mined and two American warships were anchored there. A Japanese submarine reported back to the Japanese navy their findings which prompted a cancellation of the plan. With this cancellation the Japanese were not able to observe the U.S. naval activity or to keep track of the American carriers.

(Other Theatres)

In Canada, the Battle of St. Lawrence began on the 12^th May 1942 when German U-boat U-553 torpedoed and sank the British freighter Nicoya. Before departing the Gulf of St. Lawrence to return to routine patrolling in the North Atlantic U-553 also torpedoed and sank the Dutch freighter Leto. The lower St. Lawrence River and the Gulf of St. Lawrence was the primary convoy assembly area for war materials designated for Europe especially for Britain. The Battle of St. Lawrence continued intermittently until October/November 1944. The German Kriegsmarine did not have any formal plans to attack shipping in the area but any attacks were opportunist.

Mexico declared war on Germany on the 22^nd May 1942. The reasons for the declaration was that two Mexican oil tankers transporting crude oil to the United States were sunk by German U-boats in the Gulf of Mexico. Relationships between the two had been strained since the Spanish Civil War where both countries supported the opposing sides of the conflict. Mexican troops fought for the Allies with more soldiers engaged in the Philippines rather than Europe. Brazil and Mexico were the only two Latin-American nations to contribute troops during the Second World War.

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SECOND WORLD WAR April 1942

Apr1

SECOND WORLD WAR April 1942

(Britain)

The Royal Air Force (RAF) sustained their campaign of strategic bombing of Germany when Cologne was attacked by 263 aircraft on the 5^th April 1942. Cologne was chosen because it was within range of the recently introduced radio navigation GEE system. Bomber Command had preferred Hamburg which had a large industrial centre of shipyards, U-boat pens and oil refineries. However, Hamburg was attacked on the 8^th April 1942, when a total of 272 aircraft carried out the largest raid to date on a single target with the loss of five aircraft. On another raid on the 17^th April 1942 the RAF lost eight aircraft out of 173 which had started 75 separate fires. Rostock’s ocean port was a favourite target for air attacks by the RAF because it was easy to find off the Baltic Sea. The Heinkel aircraft factory was one of the prime war industries that was targeted. From the 24^th to 27^th April 1942 the city was heavily bombed for four nights in a row.

(Germany)

German public opinion demanded heavy reprisal attacks against British cities following successful RAF raids on Cologne, Hamburg and Rostock. German Führer Adolf Hitler was enraged and on the 14th April 1942 he ordered the Luftwaffe to retaliate. On the same day the Luftwaffe began planning for the “Baedeker Blitz” as a tit-for-tat series of raids to try to persuade the RAF to reconsider the bombing of Germany. The plans proposed selecting cities for their cultural and historical significance rather than their military value. The “Baedeker Blitz” was thought to be influenced by the “Baedeker Guide” which was a reference to the popular travel guide at the time. The first raid was directed against Exeter on the 23^rd April 1942 which caused minimal damage. On the 24th April 1942 Exeter was again attacked with over 80 fatalities. The Luftwaffe caused widespread damage and approximately 400 casualties when they attacked Bath on both the 25^th and 26^th April 1942. Norwich was the next to be attacked on the 27^th April 1942 causing 67 deaths from the 90 tons of bombs dropped. 0n the 28^th April 1942 York was attacked causing 79 deaths but limited damage.

On the 5^th April 1942 Hitler issued Führer Directive 41 for the summer offensive in Russia on the Eastern Front. The directive summarised the goals of “Operation Blue” (Fall Blau). Commander General Friedrich Paulus would lead the assault of The Sixth Army on Stalingrad. Hitler set the date for the capture of the city as being the 25^th August 1942.

Anton Schmid was executed by the Germans on the 13^th April 1942 for saving Jewish lives during the Holocaust. Schmid was born in Vienna, Austria, in January 1900 and was brought up as a devout Roman Catholic and was an electrician by profession. He was drafted into the German Army in September 1939 but because of his age he was basically a civilian in uniform. In August 1941 he was transferred to Vilnius, the German occupied zone of the Soviet Union, where he was employed by reassigning German soldiers separated from their units. In September 1941 he witnessed the execution of 3,700 Jews in the Ponary Massacre. Schmid did not set out to help Jews in the Ghettos but because of their appeals for help his rescue actions began by his helping the Jewish resistance movement. He was arrested in January 1942 and at his trial he was found guilty and executed on the 13^th April 1942. It is thought he managed to save an estimated 250-300 Jews but because his trial records did not survive, who denounced him or what offenses he was charged with will never be known.

On the 17^th April 1942, French General Henri Giraud, who was captured in 1940, escaped from a castle prison at Königstein, Germany. He made his escape by lowering himself down the castle wall and jumping on a moving train, which takes him to the French border. Hitler, outraged, ordered Giraud’s murder upon being caught, but the French General was able to make it to North Africa via a British submarine. He joined the French Free Forces under General Charles de Gaulle and eventually helped to build the French army.

The German Ministry of Aviation had proposed a scheme whereby long range bombers were capable of attacking America from Germany and using the Azores as a transit airfield should be built. The finalised thirty-three page draught for the German Amerikabomber design competition was completed on the 27^th April 1942. Ten copies of the proposal were available for submission, however, these plans were abandoned as too expensive.

Hitler summoned Italian dictator Benito Mussolini and Italian Foreign Minister Ciano Puch to Salzburg on the 29th April 1942. The conference enabled the two leaders to discuss the strategy of the Axis Powers in the Mediterranean and the Eastern Front. When the problem of manpower reinforcements was discussed, Mussolini agreed to send Italian troops to the Eastern Front. The outline plan for the invasion of Malta was discussed. The concept of an invasion, codenamed Operation Herkules, was approved. A mid-July 1942 date was set for the invasion but was postponed because the commanders of the Army, Navy and Airforce were not in agreement. Eventually the plan was cancelled.

(America)

By the 1^st April 1942, owing to the shortage of frigates and corvettes acting as suitable escort vessels, the U.S. was slow to adopt the convoy system. When Germany and Italy declared war on the U.S. in December 1941 the Axis submarines entered the “Second Happy Time”. This period saw the submarines attacking Allied vessels and merchant shipping along the Eastern Seaboard of America. The only problem for the Axis submarines was that the patrol period in U.S. waters was only a couple of weeks. After that they had to conserve sufficient fuel to return home across the Atlantic. The “Second Happy Time” lasted until about August 1942 whereby they sank 609 ships totalling 3.1 million tons for the loss of only 22 U-boats. This period equated to approximately one quarter of all Allied shipping losses during the whole of the Second World War.

The Pacific War Council was formed on the 1^st April 1942 in Washington DC, and consisted of representatives from America, Britain, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and China to control the Allied war effort in the Pacific and Asian Campaigns. The council never had any direct operational control following the closing down of the American-British-Dutch-Australian Command (ABDACOM) in February 1942. However, any decisions made were referred to the combined U.S.-British Chiefs of Staff. The United States government had effective control and strategy in the Pacific war owing to the sheer volume of military materials it was supplying to the Allies. By the time the Pacific War Council was formed there were relatively few U.S. forces in the Pacific but that would soon change.

When America entered the war in December 1941, the Wickes Class Destroyer USS Roper was part of the Atlantic Fleet. In early February 1942 she completed a convoy escort to Londonderry, Ireland then returned to the American east coast for patrol and escort duties. Whilst on patrol, off the coast of North Carolina, during the night of the 13^th/14^th April 1942 Roper closed on an unknown contact to establish its identity. The contact was the surfaced German U-boat U85. A torpedo fired by U85 missed Roper and the ensuring chase ended with the sinking of U85 by gun fire. Fearing a second U-boat attack, Roper delayed rescue operations until daybreak. U85 lost twenty-nine sailors who were buried with full military honours at Hampton National Cemetery, Virginia. USS Roper was the first U.S. naval vessel to sink a German U-boat in the war. Roper’s commanding officer, Lieutenant Commander Hamilton W. Howe received the Navy Cross for this engagement. Roper served in three theatres of war for which he received Battle Stars. The Atlantic Campaign with one star, the European/African/Middle East Campaign with two stars and the Asiatic/Pacific Campaign with one star. The Battle Star was an award issued to U.S. Navy ships for participating in the various theatres of war. Very few U.S. Navy ships were awarded with at least three Battle Stars.

The U.S. Government promulgated black-out restrictions on the Eastern Sea Frontier of the USA on the 18^th April 1942. The U.S. Naval Command were concerned that the bright lights on the seafront would create silhouettes of Allied supply ships making them vulnerable targets for German U-boats. Street lights were to be covered in order to only allow a small light to be cast straight down. All bright lights on the seaward side were to be switched off or screened so as not to be visible directly from the sea up to a range of two miles.

(Mediterranean)

April 1942 was a devastating month for Malta. Force “K” was the name of three separate British Royal Navy task forces. The first task force operated against Axis commerce raiders and to intercept their efforts to stop Malta’s supply ships. The second task force operated against Axis convoys sailing from Italy to Libya. Sustained Axis air attacks led to Force “K” being reduced and on the 8^th April 1942 the last ship of the force was withdrawn. Malta desperately needed more fighters to combat the Axis air attacks. The lack of supplies to the island meant that food rations were almost depleted and the population on the brink of starvation. Fuel and military resources were running out to add to the misery. A hand written letter from King George VI to the island’s Governor Lieutenant-General Sir William Dobie dated the 15^th April 1942 awarded the island of Malta the George Cross for “heroism and devotion”. The letter read, “To honour her brave people I award the George Cross to the island fortress of Malta to bear witness to a heroism and devotion that will long be famous in history. George RI”. Dobie’s reply sent on the 20^th April 1942 to Churchill was seen to be a defeatist message. The message was that “By God’s help Malta will not weaken but will endure until victory is won”.

In an effort to sustain Malta’s air defences a further 47 Spitfires flew onto the island on the 20^th April 1942. United States Navy aircraft carrier USS Wasp had joined the British Home Fleet in early April 1942 and departed Glasgow on the 13^th April 1942 with the 47 Spitfires on board. This was the first of two deliveries to Malta. Wasp with her British escorting vessels passed through the Straits of Gibraltar on the 19^th/20^th April 1942. Eleven Grumman F4F Wildcat fighters patrolled over Wasp whilst the Spitfires took off and headed for Malta. With the Spitfires safely launched Wasp retired toward Gibraltar. However, efficient Axis intelligence tracked the Spitfires to their destination. Heavy German air raids destroyed many Spitfires whilst on the ground before they were ready for combat. As a result Wasp was required to make a second ferry to Malta in May 1942.

Field Marshall Sir Claude Auchinleck, nicknamed “The Auk”, was Commander-in-Chief of the Middle East Theatre based in Cairo. “The Auk’s” responsibilities also included Persia and the Middle East as well as the Desert War in North Africa. After the besieged garrison of Tobruk was relieved and German General Rommel’s army had withdrawn to El Agheilla in December 1941, The “Auk” appeared to have believed the enemy had been defeated. British Prime Minister Winston Churchill was desperate for some sort of British victory over the Axis Powers. On the 14^th April 1942 he sent a telegram to Cairo for Auchinleck to take the offensive in North Africa.

(Pacific)

The American 164^th Infantry Regiment of the North Dakota National Guard, or Task Force 6814, joined the Allied forces on New Caledonia. Task Force 6814 had departed New York and in early April 1942 arrived at Noumea, New Caledonia. Task Force 6814 prepared quickly for debarkation and were rapidly transferred into smaller vessels for the trip ashore and were then dispersed inland. New Caledonia, a French territory, was a critical stop on the supply route to Australia. The French and Australian defences were minimal and Task Force 6814 were there to defend the island from possible Japanese attack. The Japanese were keen to overcome the island because of the harbour, an airfield and it had natural war materials. The raw materials consisted of nickel, chromium and iron as well as an abundance of tropical fruit, timber and a substantial meat and fish canning industry. With the arrival of Task Force 6814 the Japanese were denied the occupation of the island.

With the Japanese having overwhelmed the Philippine islands the only Allied stronghold was the Bataan Peninsula and the island of Corregidor. On the 4^th March 1942 President Franklin D, Roosevelt ordered General Douglas MacArthur to evacuate the Philippines. The command of the renamed United States Forces in the Philippines (USFIP) was handed over to Lieutenant General Jonathon Mayhew Wainwright IV. The American and Filipino forces manged to fight off the Japanese in a fighting retreat despite the lack of supplies. By the 2^nd April 1942 Japanese troops had trapped them on the Orian-Bagac Line. The Japanese all-out assault on Bataan began on 3^rd April 1942 when the air force bombed the stronghold with the assistance of 3,000 artillery pieces. By the 5^th April 1942 Japanese forces overwhelmed Mt. Samat but the defenders still resisted. The American forces attempted a last offensive on the Japanese on the 8^th April 1942. On the same day the U.S. senior commander on Bataan was Major General Edward P. King, who was convinced further resistance was futile and proposed capitulation. The following morning, the 9^th April 1942, King met with Japanese Major General Kameichiro Nagano and after several hours of negotiations the American and Filipino defenders of the Bataan Peninsular surrendered. The Radio broadcast on the 9^th April 1942 was that “Bataan had Fallen”.

“The Bataan Death March” began. As the commanding officer in Bataan, Major General King was one of approximately 75,000 U.S. and Filipino personnel who surrendered to the Japanese. He was to suffer the same privations and suffered as brutally as those under his command. He was held in captivity for over 3 years. The prisoners were rounded up by the Japanese and were forced to march some 65 miles from Mariveles, on the southern end of the Bataan Peninsula to San Fernando. The prisoners and approximately 38,000 equally weakened civilian non-combatants were starved, sick and debilitated after weeks of siege conditions. The march took around five days and groups of 100 were escorted by their captors. The marchers were starved and beaten and those too weak to walk were bayoneted. It is believed that because of the brutality of their captors, thousands of troops died but exact figures are unknown. Survivors of the march were taken from San Fernando to prisoner-of-war camps, where thousands more died from disease, mistreatment and starvation. Japanese military culture, at the time, was that to surrender was dishonourable and death was preferred rather than be taken prisoner. They despised any enemy who surrendered and treated them harshly. Upon release from captivity in 1945, Major General King at Bataan and later LT. Gen. Wainwright at Corregidor, both expected to be court martialled for disobeying orders not to surrender but both were treated as heroes when they arrived back in the United States.

The island of Corregidor in Manilla Bay remained the final obstacle and point of resistance against the Japanese Imperial Army. By not securing the island of Corregidor the Japanese would be denied the use of the finest natural harbour in the Far East, Manilla Bay.

With the fall of Bataan on the 9^th April 1942 all organised opposition by the U.S. Army Forces East ended. Japanese artillery bombardment on Corregidor began immediately after the fall of Bataan on the 9^th April 1942. More Japanese guns were brought in and the Japanese shelling became even more intense over the next few weeks. General Wainwright prohibited counterbattery shelling for three days, fearing there were wounded POWs on Bataan who might be killed. The combined strength of the islands of Corregidor totalled 14,728 American and Filipino military and civilian personnel. The defenders were living on starvation rations and drinking water was only distributed twice a day. Constant bombing and shelling often interrupted the distribution of rations. The carcasses of horses killed by the bombardment was eaten to supplement their food supply. Under orders from the army, seven private ships sailed toward Corregidor from Cebu Island with a supply of food. Out of the seven, only one ship, MV Princessa, reached the island. Corregidor fell in May 1942.

The Australian-administered Territory of New Guinea was a part of the Dutch East Indies. With the dissolution of ABDACOM in March 1942 the Japanese had occupied the Dutch East Indies. When the Japanese achieved their first landings on New Guinea on the 2^nd April 1942 the island came under Japanese occupation. By the 6^th April 1942 the Japanese Navy began landing troops ashore on Manus Island, which is located north-east of New Guinea in the Bismarck Sea. The Japanese were to occupy New Guinea and Manus Island until the end of the war.

When Field Marshal William (Bill) Slim was promoted to command the Fourteenth Army I^st Burma Corps in March 1942, it was shortly before the Japanese attack on Burma on the 3^rd April1 1942. Slim led the 900mile retreat to India and stayed ahead of the advancing Japanese who captured Migyaungye on the 12^th April 1942, during the Burma Campaign. By the 15th April 1942 the 1^st Burma Corps began destroying the infrastructure of the oilfields at Yenangyaung to prevent the advancing Japanese capturing them intact. With the capture of Lashio on the 29^th April 1942 the Japanese cut off the Burma Road, which had been used to supply the Chinese during the 2^nd Sino/Japanese War.

In the Indian Ocean the island of Ceylon (Sri Lanka) was strategically important as it controlled vital Allied shipping routes to the Middle East and Australia. Since the fall of Singapore, British authorities anticipated the Japanese would capture Ceylon to disrupt British supply routes. British Intelligence correctly assessed the Japanese intention and Ceylon was hastily garrisoned by Australian troops returning from North Africa. Aircraft carrier HMS Indomitable was relieved of naval duties to serve as a high-speed shuttling facility by ferrying available planes to Ceylon. Newly appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Eastern Fleet, Admiral Sir James Somerville arrived at Colombo on the 24^th March 1942. British Intelligence had forewarned the Eastern Fleet of the impending attack and subsequently the fleet evacuated the harbour before the Japanese raid. However, on the 5^th April 1942 the Japanese Navy attacked the port of Columbo where they expected to destroy the British Eastern Fleet. Most of Ceylon campaign was conducted at sea with both navies searching for each other. The Japanese failed to destroy, or even locate the main bulk of the British Eastern Fleet. They did, however, inflict massive damage to the port facilities at Colombo and Trincomalee, destroyed a third of the land based fighters and nearly all of the land based strike aircraft. One small aircraft carrier and two cruisers, together with twenty-three merchant ships were sunk and the Japanese achieved this amount of damage for the loss of twenty aircraft. Although militarily the Japanese navy was victorious, the campaign was short lived. British intelligence detected the Japanese carrier fleet travelling eastward by the 10^th April 1942 as it appears the Japanese did not have short-term plans to follow up on their success. The Japanese aircraft carriers required maintaining and resupplying after months at sea. The difficulty in maintaining front line air units contributed to the decision to return east as the war in the Pacific was rapidly becoming in need of Japanese naval attention.

To demonstrate that the Japanese mainland was vulnerable to an American air attack, Lieutenant Colonel James Doolittle led an air raid which was known as the “Doolittle Raid” against Tokyo on the 18^th April 1942. Sixteen B-25B Mitchell two engine bombers were launched from the U.S. Navy’s aircraft carrier USS Hornet whist deep in the Western Pacific Ocean. The bombers flew without fighter escort the 2,400 nautical mile raid. The B25 had a normal range of 1,300 miles and needed modifications to enable allow extra fuel to be carried for the mission. The plan called for the bombers to attack military targets in Japan and fly on westward to land in China. Each B25 had a five man crew and carried four 500lb, bombs, one of which was an incendiary bomb. The bombers arrived over Japan about noon, Tokyo time, and bombed ten military targets in Tokyo, Yokosuka, Nagoya, Kobe, Osaka and Yokohama. The raid caused minimal material damage to Japan but it did kill about 50 and injured another 400 military and civilian people. It did, however, have major psychological effects as it raised doubts about the military’s ability to defend the home islands. The attack was an important boost to American morale and served as retaliation for the attack on Pearl Harbour. Fifteen of the sixteen B25s crash landed in China while the last B25 running low on fuel landed at Vladivostok in the Soviet Union. It was immediately confiscated and its crew were interred for over a year. Of the eighty crew members, seventy seven survived the mission. Three men were executed by the Imperial Japanese Army troops following the capture of eight crew members in Eastern China. By having lost all his aircraft, Doolittle expected to be court-martialled, but instead received the Medal of Honour and a two rank promotion to brigadier general.

(Other Theatres)

In Canada on the 27^th April 1942, Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King introduced a plebiscite to the nation with regards to conscription. King had been elected Prime Minister in 1940 on the premise that Canada would not be involved in another European war. When France fell in 1940, Canada introduced conscription for home service only, but only volunteers who wished to serve overseas were allowed to go. The plebiscite was a referendum of sorts asking the nation whether they wished to be involved in conscription. This relieved King of the commitment he had made during the election campaign of 1940. To assist the nation over the plebiscite King made a speech in the Canadian House of Commons on the 10^th June1942 where he commented that is policy was “not necessarily conscription, but conscription if necessary”. Over 70% of French Canadians in Quebec voted against conscription. The overall majority of the population was 66% in favour of conscription. Quebec’s strong majority against conscription prompted King not to pursue the issue until later when events necessitated a change of policy.

The Battle of Madagascar began when British assault troops departed Durban in South Africa on the 28^th April 1942. The island of Madagascar was controlled by the Vichy French and therefore part of the Axis Powers. Madagascar’s capture was vital to the Allies to prevent the Imperial Japanese Navy having a base close to the Allied shipping routes to India, Australia and Southeast Asia. The amphibious assault on Madagascar included Allied naval, land and air forces. The naval contingent consisted of over fifty vessels commanded by South African born Admiral Sir Edward Syfret of the Royal Navy. In overall command of the amphibious assault on Madagascar was Major-General Robert Sturgess of the Royal Marines.

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SECOND WORLD WAR February 1942

Feb1

SECOND WORLD WAR February 1942

Britain

The “Channel Dash” was a German naval operation which saw battleships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau and heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen and their escorts leave the French port of Brest on the 11^th February 1942. The ships left their harbour in Brest just after 9.00 pm and approached the Straits of Dover undetected 12 hours later. The British belated response by the RAF, Fleet Air Arm, Navy and coastal artillery was due to bad winter weather with reduced visibility and airfields blocked with snow. This limited the number of aircraft and naval vessels available to stop the “Channel Dash”. Adolf Hitler ordered the Olerkommand der Marine (OKM German Navy high-command) to return the ships to German bases as protection against a British invasion of Norway. For surprise the short dash up the English Channel, from Cornwall to Dover, rather than the longer detour around the British Isles was the preferred option. Scharnhorst and Gneisenau were damaged by mines in the North Sea and they reached German ports on the 13^th February 1942. Scharnhorst was out of action for nearly a year. Gneisenau went into dry dock on the 26/27^th February 1942 and was bombed, never to sail again. Prinz Eugen together with escorts steamed to Norway arriving on the 21^st February 1942. Whilst patrolling off the Trondheimfjord Prinz Eugen was torpedoed by British submarine HMS Trident. The torpedo caused serious damage to the stern, making steering almost impossible, in addition to killing 50 members of the crew. However, she was able to reach Trondheim where emergency repairs were carried out over the next few months.

On the 20^th February 1942 American General Ira Eaker arrived in Britain together with six Staff Officers. Eaker was placed in charge of the 8^th Bomber Command (VIII BC). On the 23^rd February 1942 the newly formed (VIII BC) was established at RAF Bomber Command headquarters at RAF Daws Hill in High Wycombe. Potential sites for the United States Army Air Force (USAAF) installations had been surveyed in May 1941 even though America was still a ‘neutral’ country.

Under the Ministry of Labour’s Youth Registration Scheme 16 year old Princess Elizabeth, the future Queen, registered for war service on the 25^th February 1942. Elizabeth was the first female member of the Royal Family to register and serve in the military. Her family refused to leave the country during the war and chose to remain in London in solidarity with the British public. Elizabeth’s mother explained in a letter “The children will not leave unless I do. I will not leave unless their father does, and the king will not leave the country in any circumstances whatsoever”. The decision of the Royal Family to remain in England was greeted with major support from the public.

America

The United States automotive industry switched over to war production on the 1^st February 1942. The Great Depression of 1929 to 1939 had drastically reduced the number of vehicle manufacturers from the boom years of the 1920s. The industry was dominated by three large companies: General Motors, Ford and Chrysler. When the Second World War began in 1939 the American economy rapidly expanded and when the U.S. entered the war in December 1941 all vehicle manufacturers were converted to war production. On the 1st February 1942 all passenger vehicle production ceased as the emphasis was on the production of jeeps, tanks and aircraft engines. The industry employed thousands more production workers and was a major factor in the victory of the allies in 1945.

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On the 2^nd February 1942 Joseph Warren Stilwell (known as Vinegar Joe) was promoted to Lieutenant-General and assigned as the Commander-in-Chief of all allied forces in the China-Burma-India theatre of war. He arrived in India later in the month where he had three major roles.

1) Commander of all U.S. forces in China, Burma and India.

2) Deputy Commander of the Burma-India Theatre under Admiral Louis Mountbatten.

3) Military advisor to Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek, the commander of All Nationalist Chinese forces.

He had been selected for these positions because between the two world wars he had served three tours in China, where he mastered spoken and written Chinese.

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Dwight D. Eisenhower, newly assigned to the General Staff in Washington, along with other top U.S. and U.K. military leaders met on the 9^th February 1942 to discuss the military strategy of the war. The Atlantic Charter was confirmed by the United Nations that the Allies were obligated not to sign a separate peace deal with the Axis powers. The defeat of Germany was the primary objective as they were considered to be the more powerful of the Axis powers. A heavy bombing campaign should be the primary target against Germany. The consensus of opinion was that an offensive against Germany by the Allies forces should be employed at the earliest possible time. The British persuaded the Americans that a landing in France was not a viable proposition in 1942 but focus should be on driving the Axis powers out of North Africa. The war in the Pacific was considered to secondary.

In New York on the 10^th February 1942, the French cruise Liner SS Normandie was being converted to a troopship when she caught fire from welding torch sparks. She had sailed into New York harbour at the outbreak of the war and was seized by the U.S. Authorities. On the 20^th December 1941 President Franklin D. Roosevelt approved Normandy’s transfer to the U.S. Navy. In honour of the Marquis de la Fayette the navy renamed her USS Lafayette. The Marquis de la Fayette was the French general who fought alongside the colonialists during the American War of Independence. The sparks from the torch ignited a stack of life jackets and the fire spread rapidly along the varnished woodwork which had not been removed. The ships fire protection system had been disconnected and the New York fire hoses were not compatible with ships water inlets. A fifteen minute delay in the arrival of the Fire Department coupled with a strong wind allowed the blaze to spread to the upper decks. As firefighters on the dockside and fire boats poured water on to the blaze the ship began to list to the port side. This was due mainly because more water was being pumped in from the fireboats. By early evening the fire was considered to be under control and the authorities began to close down the operation. However, water was pouring into the lower decks, further increasing the list to port. By midnight the authorities abandoned Lafayette and she finally capsized at approximately 02.45 am the following morning. Enemy sabotage was suspected but a later investigation concluded the fire was accidental. USS Lafayette never sailed under the U.S. flag she was finally broken up for scrap on the 31^st December 1948.

In mid-February 1942 the American government discussed possible espionage on American shores by Japanese-American citizens. On the 19^th February 1942 President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the order committing the internment and relocation of Americans of Japanese ancestry. The order affected the lives of about 117,000 people, the majority of whom were American citizens. The relocation and internment began on the 25^th February 1942. Canada followed suit and relocated 21,000 Japanese residents from its West Coast. Over 2,000 people of Japanese descent were also relocated to the U.S. from Peru, Brazil, Chile and Argentina but Mexico dealt with their own Japanese population.

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Pacific War

There were tactical raids by the U.S. Navy aircraft carrier fleet together with other warships against the Imperial Japanese Navy on the Marshalls-Gilbert Islands on the 1^st February 1942. The object was to attack the Japanese naval garrisons in the Marshall and Gilbert Islands. The raids were carried out by two separate U.S. carrier task forces, under the overall command of Vice Admiral William Halsey Jr. The raid on the Gilbert Island was assigned to Task Force 17 carrier USS Yorktown command by Rear Admiral Frank Jack Fletcher. The aircraft inflicted moderate damage to the Japanese naval installations and destroyed three Japanese aircraft. Task Force 17 lost two aircraft in the raid. The second raid, carried out by Task Force 8, on the Marshall Island was assigned to USS Enterprise commanded by Halsey himself. The strikes inflicted light to moderate damage to the three naval garrisons. Three small Japanese warships were sunk and fifteen Japanese aircraft destroyed. Six U.S. aircraft were lost plus a float plane, which was damaged during recovery, and it was abandoned and sank. During a Japanese aerial counter attack the heavy cruiser USS Chester was hit and slightly damaged by a Japanese bomb. Immediately upon completion of the raids the two task forces retired from the area. The raids had very little strategic impact other than boosting the morale of the U.S. Navy following the attack on Pearl Harbour and the loss of the Wake Islands. The raids convinced the Japanese Naval Combined Fleet commander Isoroku Yamamoto that he needed to engage the U.S. carrier fleet in battle in order to destroy them, which resulted in the Battle of Midway later in the year.

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The first Japanese air strike on Surabaya, Java occurred on the 3^rd February 1942. Shore facilities were hit and a number of Dutch flying boats were strafed and sunk whilst moored in the harbour. The port and airfield on the island received almost daily air attacks and many aircraft were destroyed. The attacks continued until the Japanese assault began.

On the 27^th February 1942 the Allied navies of the combined American-British-Dutch-Australian Command (ABDACOM) was defeated at the hands of the Imperial Japanese Navy. The Battle of Java Sea began when ships carrying the Japanese amphibious forces gathered to strike at Java and the main Allied naval forces under the command of the Dutch Rear-Admiral Karel Doorman sailed to intercept them. The Japanese troop transport ships were escorted by two heavy and two light cruisers and fourteen destroyers. The ABDACOM force consisted of two heavy and three light cruisers and nine destroyers. Upon engaging with the Japanese in the Java Sea the ABDA forces attempted to reach the transport ships but were repulsed by superior firepower. The Japanese heavy cruisers were far more powerful being armed with ten 200mm guns compared to ABDA’s heavy cruisers being armed with nine and six 200mm guns respectively. The battle raged intermittently from mid-afternoon until midnight. Of the ten Japanese transport ships four were sunk by ABDA forces who also damaged one Japanese destroyer. However, ABDACOM lost two cruisers, three destroyers and 2,300 sailors killed. One of the cruisers sunk was the flagship HNLMS De Ruyter whereby Admiral Karel Doorman was killed. The remaining ABDA fleet dispersed in different direction and another five ships were lost. The ABDA naval force had been almost totally destroyed allowing the Japanese access to Java, one of the most important food producing regions in the Far East. With the conquest of the Dutch East Indies Japan gained control of the 4^th largest oil producers in the world.

Java was part of the Dutch East Indies. +

The Japanese invasion of Java (Operation “J”) began on the 28^th February 1942 when Japanese troops landed on the island. The invading army consisted of 35,000 troops under the command of General Hitoshi Imamuba. The defenders of the island were the combined troops of ABDA. Dutch Lt-General Hein Ter Poorten was the overall commander of ABDACOM, in Java, who had a total force of 34,500 Men. The Battle for Java would last until March 1942 when the ABDACOM surrendered.

——

The Battle of Reboul was conducted on the 9^th February 1942 when the Japanese overran the Australian Territory of New Guinea on New Britain Island and captured the city and harbour of Reboul. The Japanese were eager to capture Port Moresby on the south coast of Papua New Guinea which would give them a springboard for a possible invasion of Australia. By capturing Port Moresby the Japanese would neutralise the Allies principal forward base in the Pacific. General Douglas MacArthur, the Supreme Commander Allied Forces South West Pacific Area was determined to hold Port Moresby. From the 19^th February 1942 the first of at least 111 attacks from Reboul were carried out on the Australian mainland. The first and deadliest was when Japanese aircraft bombed Darwin on the 19^th February 1942 causing a great deal of damage and killing 235 people. The result was that Darwin’s use in the Northern Territories, as a major naval base, was abandoned by the Australians.

The island of Singapore was next on the Japanese invasion agenda following the occupation of Malaya. The British High Command had all the defensive guns positioned on the East Coast pointing out to sea. They were guilty of racial arrogance who didn’t take the Japanese threat seriously. Singapore had been previously bombed for the first time by Japanese long-range bombers on the 8^th December 1941. Allied troops had fully retreated from Malaya to the island by the 9^th February 1942. The defensive planning strategy was poor and although the garrison commander Lieutenant General Arthur Percival had 85,000 Allied soldiers at his disposal they were of mixed quality with regard to battle experience. When the senior officers of the individual British, Australian and Indian forces began to have disruptive disagreements, Percival’s overall defence strategy was compromised. The Japanese began the invasion with a fifteen hour bombardment of heavy naval guns on the 8th February 1942. On the same day the first wave of Japanese troops crossed the Johore Strait from Malaya to begin the land assault. However, two days prior to the Japanese attack (6^th February 1942) a patrol from the Australian 22^nd Brigade was sent over to Malaya at night to gather intelligence reports on the Japanese positions. After a large number of Japanese troops were located, the request to shell the Japanese was ignored by Malaya Command as insignificant. They believed any invasion would be from the sea on the North East coast and not through the jungles of the North West coast. On the 14^th February 1942 the rapid advance of the Japanese troops through the jungle on bicycle brought them to the Alexandra Barracks Hospital. Upon entering the hospital the Japanese forces were approached by a British Lieutenant, acting as an envoy with a white flag, He was killed immediately by the Japanese with a bayonet. Doctors and nurses were also killed along with fifty Allied hospitalised soldiers, some who were undergoing surgery. The following day approximately 200 male staff and patients were marched away and killed by the bayonet. On the 15^th February 1942, with the water system badly damaged and both rations and ammunition almost exhausted Lieutenant General Percival surrendered to the Japanese HQ. Approximately 80,000 Allied troops were captured and became prisoners-of-war. British Prime Minister Winston Churchill called the surrender the “worst disaster in British Military History”.

The Sarawak royal yacht Vyner Brook, prior to the surrender of Singapore, evacuated the island on the 12^th February 1942. On board the ship were many injured service personnel, civilian men, women and children and 65 nurses of the Australian Army Nursing Service. En-route to an unknown destination, the ship was bombed and sunk by Japanese aircraft on the 16^th February 1942. Two nurses were killed during the bombing and the rest were washed up on various beaches of Bangka Island in the Dutch East Indies. 22 of the 65 nurses were among approximately 100 survivors who reunited on Bangka Island’s Radji Beach. An officer of the Vyner Brook went to Muntok to surrender the group to the authorities once they became aware the island were occupied by the Japanese. In the meantime army matron Irene Melville Drummond suggested the civilian women and children should leave for Muntok. After they left the nurses stayed to care for the wounded and set up a shelter with a large Red Cross sign plainly visible. The ship’s officer returned with approximately 20 Japanese soldiers who ordered all the walking wounded to travel around a headland. The Japanese soldiers returned after the nurses heard a quick succession of shots. A Japanese officer ordered the remaining 22 nurses and a civilian woman to wade into the surf. When the women were waist deep a machine gun, which had been set up on the beach, shot the women killing all but Sister Lt. Vivian Bullwinkel. The wounded soldiers who were left on stretchers were killed by being bayonetted. By lying motionless in the water, although shot in her diaphragm, Sister Bullwinkel reached the shore once the troops had gone. When on the beach she crawled into the bush where she lay unconscious for several days. When she awoke she encountered the only other survivor Private Patrick Kingsley. He was a British soldier who had survived being bayonetted by the Japanese. She dressed his wounds and her own, then on the 25^thFebruary 1942 they surrendered to the Japanese. Sister Bullwinkel spent three years in a Japanese POW camp but Private Kingsley died before reaching one. At the Military Tribunal for the Far East in 1947 Sister Bullwinkel, who survived the war. Gave evidence of the massacre. According to the Australian government the perpetrators of the massacre remain unknown and therefore unpunished for this crime. Evidence, later discovered, appears to have been suppressed by the Australian government that most of the nurses had been raped before being massacred.

Burma prior to the Second World War was part of the British Empire but the British regarded Burma as a military “backwater” unlikely to be subjected to a Japanese threat. However, Japan was looking to extend it’s territory in the far east to obtain the raw materials Japan needed to conduct the war. Burma had oil, food production and rubber. The need to have control of rubber production was that the Japanese were aware that rubber was the only commodity that America was not self-sufficent in. Japanese were able to begin their invasion of Burma through the newly allied Thailand. In December 1941 they began bombing the capital Rangoon and caused considerable damage to the dock area. The commander of the Burma Army was Lieutenant General Thomas Hutton had only the 17^th Indian Infantry Division and the 1^st Burma Division to defend the country. They were also expecting assistance from Chiang Kai-Shek’s Chinese Nationalist forces. By the 17^th February 1942, Hutton considered the capital city of Rangoon could not be defended and attempted to divert reinforcements to ports further north. However, General Sir Archibald Wavell, as Commander-in- Chief of ABDACOM, ordered Rangoon to be held. Japan had declared war on the U.K. and America in December 1941 and Wavell held the position of Commander-in-Chief India. In addition he was made C-in-C of ABDACOM. When the Japanese troops crossed the Salween River on the 20^th February 1942 via Thailand and the Burma Army withdrawing they were gradually being overwhelmed. Major-General “Jackie” Smythe VC blew the bridge over the Sittang River on the 23rd february1942 to prevent the Japanese crossing. The problem was that most of his division was on the wrong side of the river. They Burma Army did manage to cross the river to safety. The blowing of the bridge only delayed the Japanese by a few days. On the same day British Prime Minster Winston Churclhill ordered a complete withdrawal of of the Burma Army to India. Both Hutton and Smythe were sacked by Wavell and General Harold Alexander took over temporary command of the Burma Army. With Malaya lost and the British position in Java precarious ABDACOM was closed down. Wavell returned to India, as C-in-C India, and his resonsibilities now included the defence of Burma. Hutton later served as Secretary of War Resources. Smythe returned to the U.K. to retire, through ill health, with the rank of Colonel and the honoury rank of Brigadier.

With the Japanese rapid advance in the Philippines the forces of the Philippine and American armies retired to the south of the islands. Retired General Douglas MacArthur had been appointed a defence advisor to the Philippine government prior to the war. Following the attack on Pearl Harbour MacArthur was recalled to service in the U.S. army to become commander of the United States Army Forces in the Far East (USAFFE). This appointment united the Philippine and U.S. armies under one command. On the 21^st February 1942, fearful that MacArthur, as America’s most experienced general, would be captured and taken prisoner President Franklin D. Roosevelt ordered him to evacuate the Philippines.

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Other Theatres

In the Desert Campaign, Commander of the Afrika Korps Erwin Rommel’s second offensive began on the 20^th January 1942 with an unexpected counter attack from Benghazi. The attack forced the British to retreat 350 miles to the Gazala Line. By the 5^th February 1942 Rommel ended his offensive by reaching El Gazala, Libya which became the new front line until Rommel was finally ready to attack the Gazala Line in May 1942.

In Norway on the1^st February 1942, Vidkun Quisling was elected to the post of Minister-President. Quisling was a Norwegian politician and Nazi collaborator. In the 1920s he was posted as a diplomat to the Soviet Union. He returned to Norway in 1929 and served as Minister of Defence in the Norwegian government until 1933 when he founded the fascist Nasjonal Samlink (National Union) party. In 1939 Quisling turned his attention towards Norway’s preparations for the European War, which seemed inevitable, and wished to increase the county’s defence spending to guarantee neutrality. He was also a supporter of Adolf Hitler with the “Jewish problem in Norway”. He had met with Adolf Hitler in December 1939 and urged a German occupation of Norway. The intention of the occupation would be to enable the Germans to break the British naval blockade in the North Sea and Norway would provide ideal U-boat bases. When the Second World War began Norway was a neutral country and was not allied to Britain or Germany. Fearful that any Anglo-Russian alliance would make neutrality impossible, Quisling’s fascist beliefs reasoned that Norway would have to become an ally of Germany. By 1940 the NS party was still only peripheral, but on the 9^th April 1940 when the Germans invaded Norway he attempted to seize power in the world’s first radio broadcast Coup d’état. He proclaimed himself head of government as leader of the NS party and the occupying Germans supported Quisling. Because he was unpopular with Norwegian population he had to be accompanied by German bodyguards. By the end of January 1942 the Germans announced the German administration would stand down and on the 1^st February 1942 they duly elected Quisling to the post of Minister-President of the national government even though he was aware of his unpopularity in Norway.

William Mackenzie King was a Canadian statesman and politician who was serving as Prime Minster of Canada in 1942. The government had promised not to introduce military conscription in 1940. In response to the Conservative Party lobbying Mackenzie King to introduce compulsory military conscription he passed a law on the 19^thFebruary 1942 to allow a plebiscite on conscription. The plebiscite was asking the people of Canada whether they were in favour of conscription therefore releasing the government of any obligations they had previously promised. The plebiscite result was 66% in favour but Quebec province had a strong majority who voted against conscription. This action prompted Mackenzie King not to pursue the issue.

—————————————————-

Air Raid Damage Reports Brentwood Division Essex Fire Service January 1942.

Jan31

Air Raid Damage Reports Brentwood Division Essex Fire Service January 1942.

Date Time Location Damage

08/01/1942 Found Billericay 1 – exploded British Smoke float found in a field

500 yards South West of Downham Church. No damage or casualties. Time and date of falling not known.

14/01/1942 21.30 Foulness 1 – H.E exploded on the foreshore. No casualties.

Slight damage to windows of Government property.

30/01/1942 18.30 Barling A torn and deflated Naval Kite grounded in a field

500 yards South of Mucking Hall Farmhouse and 300 yards West of Mucking Hall Road. Inscribed Mk. 6-29509X – AAD/AB2- R.N. – “Smokey Joe”. RAF informed (Removed by Naval Authority 3.2.42).

30/01/1942 18.30 Pitsea A Naval Kite Balloon grounded at junction of

Northlands Drive and Rosemary Drive. No damage or casualties. Removed to Scotch Bakery. Naval Control informed.

SUBJECT. INSPECTION OF KIT AND EQUIPMENT.

Jan15

SUBJECT. INSPECTION OF KIT AND EQUIPMENT. Capt Benham

TO Troop Commanders.

TROOP COMMANDERS WILL CARRY OUT AN INSPECTION OF ALL N.C.O.s AND MENS KIT. ATTENTION MUST BE PAID TO THE FOLLOWING

ANTI GAS Equipment &Clothing, All Ranks to be in Possession of –

Respirator Mk 5…..1 Wallets A/G ……1

Container Type “A” 1 Flannelette……..2 pieces

Mk VI Cotton Waste…..4 ozs

Eyeshields A/G……6 Capes A/G………1

Gloves A/G Prs ……1 Detectors Individual 1 Pair.

Detectors Gas Ground… All Officers and N.C.O.’s … 1 Pad.

Detectors Paper Arthur……. Pads of 25…. 100 G.P.C.’s & G.P.O.’s.

Outfits A/Dimming…… 1 per Man.

Ointment A/G No 2……2 per Man.

Ointment A/G No 2……10 per Troop for Bren & A/T Rifle.

Discs Identity.

One Red & One Green Per Officer and other Rank.

Officers – Personal No. Rank Initials, Name & Religious denomination.

Other Ranks – No Initials, Name & Religious denomination.

Ear stoppers.

ON NO ACCOUNT WILL THE UNIT BE STAMPED ON DISCS.

Kit, Home Scale.

All Ranks should be in possession of full Kit-Home Scale.

Tropical Kit – All Ranks will be issued with –

Trousers Tropical Drill…..1 prs. Buttons G.S…………..9

Shorts “ “ ……1 prs Hooks G.S…………….2

Shirts “ “ ……2. Buckles (shorts) ..……2

Hose Tops prs……………1. Helmets (Tropical)……1

Putties short prs………….1. Chin Straps…………..1

Jackets Drill………………1. Sea Kit Bag…………..1

Marking of Baggage.

All Kit Bags will be Marked with 3 YELLOW BAR with Serial No 1433.

Vehicles –

In white on the Offside Front Wing in front of the Side Lamp M/Cs on extension of the Front Mudguard.

Gun Stores etc –

All U/S articles and articles Deficient, will be issued as soon as these articles are drawn from the R.Q.M.S.

Suits A/G.

Dr and Fitters etc, All Troops should be in possession of 6 suits of protective Clothing H.G.24. These have been Issued.

Check Rifle Oil Bottles – Fill With oil Bren & A/T Rifles.

All Men for Over Sea Service must be in possession of One New Pair of Boots and one good repair pair.

Signed C.A. Shirley Capt R.A.

10^th Field Bty R.A.

Rank and Name	Kit	A/Gas	Inspections	A.B. 64	Identity discs
Medical	Rifle	Equipment

B.S.M. Bax
Sgt Hipwell
Sgt Fowles
Sgt Grey
Sgt Fox
Sgt Cook
Bdr Bugler
Bdr Brannan
Bdr Brannagan
Bdr Onions
Bdr Ellis
Bdr Murray
Bdr Avery
L/Bdr Head
L/Bdr Bell
L/Bdr Watson
Gnr Appleton
Gnr Bruce
Gnr Baker Gnr Beechy
Gnr Burlong
Gnr Conroy
Gnr Connelly
Gnr Clare Gnr Crilly
Gnr Carmichael
Gnr Davies
Gnr Foster
Gnr Forrest
Gnr Green
Gnr Graves
Gnr Heys
Gnr Harris
Gnr Nunn
Gnr Offer A
Gnr Offer S
Gnr Southern
Gnr Hammond
Gnr Askew
Gnr Milliard
Dvr Chatfield
Dvr Deabill
Dvr Evans
Dvr Elliot
Dvr Hutchinson
Dvr Head
Dvr Lythgoe
Dvr Sleigh
Dvr Sutton
Dvr Wilson
L/Bdr Few
Bdr Cathcart

Air Raid Damage Reports Brentwood Division Essex Fire Service November 1941.

Nov30

Air Raid Damage Reports Brentwood Division Essex Fire Service November 1941.

Date Time Location Damage

03/11/1941 12.00 Dunton A British Tiger Moth Training ‘plane number

N.6848, piloted by Sergt. Charles Alexander McMillan, of No.1 E.F.T.F. RAF stationed at Hatfield Herts, landed at Park Farm having lost his bearings. No damage or casualties, took off under his own power.

06/11/1941 19.45 Wallasey 2 – Para mines exploded at Lower Barn Farm.

Island Damage to farm buildings. No casualties. One tailcap found 1/2 mile from River Crouch. Stencilled letters and numbers scratched out. 2nd, found 800 yards from River Crouch. Stencil scratched out. Letters H.q.f.M. 1834.

08/11/1941 09.55 Landwick On the 7.11.41 on instructions, Sergt. William

Wood Dow Petrie. Regt No. 1880533 of the 205th Field Company, R.Es stationed at Battlesbridge and a party of men were going to make a roadway across a minefield situated near the Sewage Farm, Landwick. Before starting on the road way several mines had to be exploded and this was done 7th inst. At 09-55 hrs the 8th inst. Sergt Petrie and five men went to the minefield to carry out their job of putting a fence on either side of the supposed roadway, but before commencing work the Sergeant went into the supposed roadway to make certain that all the mines had been exploded and he there found a recovery wire leading to a mine. He told his men to stand back, which they did. He then got hold of the wire with his hand and walked towards the mine. Sergt Petrie had almost reached the mine when it exploded and blew him to pieces. The remains of Petrie’s body was conveyed to Billericay Mortuary. No other person was hurt.

08/11/1941 13.20 Bowers A British Spitfire made a forced landing at Smokey

Gifford Farm, due to shortage of petrol. Air-screw and under-carriage damaged. The Pilot, Flight Sergt. Sanderson from 616 Squadron, West Malling, Kent escaped injury.

08/11/1941 19.45 Great 2 – Para mines. One exploded 100 yards North of

Wakering Old Halfway House Farm. Telephone wires down. No casualties. One unexploded with parachute attached on Saltings at Fleet Head Creek. 30 yards from sea wall at Wick Farm. 1st Para tailcap found 100 yards North of Old Halfway House Farm. 1 1/2 miles from River Roach. Letters embossed thereon OOS.M. 2018. 2nd Para tailcap found 100 yards North East of Old Halfway House Farm 1 1/2 miles from River Roach. North wind. (Unexploded mine removed by Admiralty 15.11.41).

11/11/1941 Ingrave 1 – Unexploded A.A. Shell found in a clover field,

100 yards South East of Hatch Farm, Thorndon Park. No damage or casualties. Date and time of falling not known. (Disposed of BDS 20.12.41).

14/11/1941 Great 1 – Unexploded H.E. found in marshland on the

Wakering West side of Brickfields. No damage or casualties. Date and time of falling not known. (discredited by BDS 28.11.41).

15/11/1941 19.15 Foulness 1 – Para mine exploded on Shalford Farm. No

damage or casualties. Tailcap with 1057 punched in metal found the 18.11.41, 650 yards East of Foulness Road and 500 yards North of sea wall at Shalford Creek.

21/11/1941 09.15 Rochford A deflated Barrage Balloon grounded in a field 200

yards East of Sutton Road. Number 21217. (Removed by Naval Authorities 22.11.41).

21/11/1941 09.15 Stambridge A deflated Barrage Balloon grounded in a field 1/2

mile East of Stambridge Church. No markings. (Removed 22.11.41).

21/11/1941 10.25 Nevendon A deflated Naval Kite Balloon grounded 150 yards

North of the Cricketers P.H. Arterial Road. Inscribed K.B/MARY V.I.A. 8432. (Removed by Naval Authorities 22.11.41).

23/11/1941 16.20 East A Tiger Training ‘plane No. T.6706 bearing RAF

Horndon markings and piloted by Sergt. Pilots Maguire & Penson of a Cambridge Aerodrome made a forced landing in a field 300 yards North of LMS Railway. They were trying to locate another aircraft believed to have made a forced landing in the area and declined further ( Rest of entry missing on original).

24/11/1941 19.30 Rochford Slight damage was caused to windows and

and Great ceilings of property by blast from a mine exploding

Wakering in the Southend Boro. No casualties.

25/11/1941 Found Hockley 1 – H.E unexploded in a greenhouse at McGee’s

Nurseries. No casualties. Believed to have fallen March 1941. (Disposed of by BDS 26.11.41).

27/11/1941 19.15 Foulness 1 – H.E exploded in open ground 1/2 mile East of

The Rectory. No damage or casualties.

SECOND WORLD WAR November 1941

Nov2

SECOND WORLD WAR November 1941

(Britain)

In the Mediterranean the Royal Navy’s Force “K” was based in Malta after re-establishing a flotilla of surface ships for the first time since April 1941. Force “K” consisted of two light cruisers, HMS Aurora and HMS Penelope alongside two destroyers HMS Long and HMS Lively. British intelligence knew the Italian cypher code so when The Duisburg Convoy departed from Naples the British were ready and waiting. The Duisburg Convoy consisted of two German vessels, three Italian vessels and two fuel tankers carrying supplies to the Italian Army, civilian colonialists and the Afrika Korp in Libya. The convoy was escorted by six Axis destroyers. On the night of 8^th/ 9^th November 1941 the Battle of Duisburg Convoy commenced when Force “K” located the convoy east of Syracuse where they opened fire on the convoy. All the merchant ships were sunk also one destroyer. Whilst picking up survivors another Axis destroyer was sunk by submarine HMS Upholder. Force “K” suffered almost no damage while completely surprising the escorting Axis destroyers. After the attack Force “K” headed at high speed back to their base in Malta completely out-pacing the pursing Axis escorts.

British aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal delivered a squadron of Hurricane fighters to Malta on the 12^th November 1941. This enabled the continued defence of the island against the Axis Powers. Whilst returning to Gibraltar Ark Royal had received a message to the effect that German U-boats were active off the coast of Spain. On the 13^th November 1941 a torpedo struck Ark Royal amidships between the fuel bunker and bomb store. The explosion caused Ark Royal to shudder after creating a gigantic hole below the water line on the starboard side. With engines still running Ark Royal continued taking in water and by the time she stopped she was listing heavily to starboard. With the exception of a damage control party the crew was ordered to abandon ship. The tug Thames arrived from Gibraltar and attached a tow line to Ark Royal and began to tow her away. She continued to list further until the early hours of the 14^th November 1941 the remaining crew were ordered to abandon ship. At about 06.19 on the 14^th November1941 Ark Royal finally capsized and sank 25 miles (41 km) east of Europa Point, the southernmost tip of Gibraltar. With the exception of one seaman killed at the time of the explosion, the remaining 1,487 officers and crew were transported safely to Gibraltar.

HMS Barham was a Royal Navy Queen Elizabeth class battleship and flagship to the Battle Squadron in the Mediterranean. The Battle Squadron consisting of HMS Barham, HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Valiant with an eight destroyer escort, sailed from Alexandria in Egypt on the 25^th November 1941 to hunt for Italian convoys. Off the Egyptian coast German U-boat U-331 commanded by Oberleutnant zur See Hans-Diedrich von Tiesenhausen detected the faint engine noise of the British ships and proceeded to position herself in readiness to attack. With extraordinary luck U-331 passed through the British sonar screen undetected but was too late to attack Queen Elizabeth as she was the leading ship but Barham was closing rapidly. Tiesenhausen ordered all four bow torpedoes to be fired at a range of 375 m. (410 yds). Three of the four torpedoes struck amidships and Barham quickly capsized lying on her side and sank a few minutes later when a massive explosion tore the ship apart. 862 officers and ratings were killed including Captain Geoffrey Cook. Destroyer HMS Hotspur rescued 327 survivors including Vice-Admiral Henry Pridham –Wippel and Australian N-class destroyer HMAS Nizam rescued a further 150 men. Upon discharging the four torpedoes U-331’s conning tower appeared above the surface. The order to crash dive was given immediately and she plummeted out of control until she stabilised undamaged at 150 m. (490 ft.). Although far exceeding her design depth she managed to escape undetected and eventually reached the port of Salamis in Cyprus on the 3^rd December 1941. For this action Tiesenhausen was subsequently promoted to Kapitläieutnant and awarded the Knight’s Cross of the Iron Cross after the announcement of the sinking of HMS Barham had been released.

————-

(Germany)

By the outbreak of the war in 1939 German Colonel-General Ernst Udet had risen to the post of Director-General of Equipment for the Luftwaffe. Udet became an alcoholic because of the stress of the position and on the 17^th November 1941he committed suicide by shooting himself in the head. His suicide was concealed from the public and he was reported having died on a flight testing a new weapon. He was buried alongside the Red Baron in the Invalidenfriedhof Cemetery in Berlin. Udet had been a notable flying ace of the Great War and was the highest scoring fighter pilot to survive the war. He became squadron commander under the administration of Manfred von Richtohofen (The Red Baron) and later under Herman Göring. In 1933 he joined the Nazi Party and was involved in the development of the Luftwaffe. Following the failure to win the Battle of Britain, Udet was blamed by Herman Göring, Supreme Commander of the Luftwaffe, for the defeat. When Operation Barbarossa, the German invasion of the Soviet Union on the 22^nd June 1941 was launched, Udet realised the Soviet air force was strong and technically very advanced and the coming war with the Soviet Union might destroy Germany. German Dictator Adolf Hitler was not informed of Soviet’s air force strength and torn between the truth and loyalty Udet suffered a mental breakdown. Göring controlled him by giving him drugs and his drinking enabled Göring to manipulate him which led to him taking his own life.

————-

(Eastern Front)

Germany invaded the Soviet Union under the code name Operation Barbarossa on the 22^nd June 1941. At the beginning of November1941 and during the Battle for Moscow the attacking German forces were worn out with only one third of their motor vehicles still functioning. Serious logistical issues prevented the delivery of warm clothing and other winter equipment being delivered to the front. Whilst the battle was raging the Soviet Union’s “1941 October Revolution Parade” took place on the 7^th November 1941. The General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union Joseph Stalin delivered a speech in Red Square to the soldiers who would go straight out to defend Moscow immediately after the parade The gist of the speech was that the German invader was facing disaster and that the Soviet Army would liberate the Russian people with complete destruction of the German Army on the Eastern Front. He maintained morale on the German troops was beginning to decline. Despite the attacking German forces being worn down the Germans still manged to continue their drive toward Moscow. By the 15^th November 1941 the muddy ground was frozen and the Germans very slowly continued their advance toward Moscow. Winter clothing still had not arrived by the 28th November 1941 but the German Panzer tanks were on the outskirts of Moscow and awaiting the inevitable counter-attack.

The Battle of Rostov was fought on the Eastern Front around Rostov-on-Don in the Soviet Union during November 1941. The participants being the Nazi German Army Group South and the Soviet Union Southern Front. The Germans had advanced across the Mius River by the 17^th November 1941. The Germans captured Rostov on the 21^stNovember 1941 taking over 10,000 Soviet prisoners-of-war. The Soviet Union’s Southern Front counter-attacked from the north six days later and threatened to surround the overstretched German Motorised Army Corps. The German Commander Gerd von Rundstedt ordered a retreat to the Mius River to prevent encirclement. Adolf Hitler immediately fired him for disobeying the order of “No Retreat”. Hitler relented after Rundstedt’s successor Walther von Reichenau confirmed the retreat order. When the Soviet army retook Rostov on the 28^th November 1941 the counter-attack was the first successful Soviet victory of the war.

Operation Arctic Fox ended on the 17^th November 1941 when the joint German/Finnish and the opposing Soviet armies dug-in east of Kestenga in the Soviet Union. Operation Arctic Fox was launched on the 1^st July 1941 and was part of the ultimate aim of capturing the town Salla in Finland and then advancing to block the railway to Murmansk. Salla was captured and the more experienced Arctic Finnish Army approached to within 30km (19 miles) of the Murmansk railway. Facing strong Soviet reinforcements both sides dug-in on the 17^th November 1941.

————-

(Desert War)

In the Western Desert the Allied Army had advanced 560 mile from Egypt and occupied the Libyan port of Tobruk in early December 1940. German General Erwin Rommel had been summoned to take command of the Afrika Korps and landed at the Libyan port of Tripoli on the 12^th February 1941. The orders were for him to lead his army to total victory and to capture the port of Alexandria in Egypt. The 241 day Siege of Tobruk began on the 12^thApril 1941. The 9^th Australian Division had been left to defend Tobruk in order to deny the Axis Powers its port facilities. The remaining Allied army were withdrawn in order to organise and prepare a counter attack against the expected Axis invasion.

——

Erwin Rommel nicknamed the “Desert Fox“, was the commander of the Deutsches Afrika Korps, began to plan for a new offensive in November 1941 to capture the Port of Tobruk. Following the June 1941 offensive known as 0peration Battleaxe the defeated British appointed General Claude Auchinlech a Commander of the newly formed Eighth Army. Auchinlech’s position had been swapped with General Sir Archibald Wavell who became Commander-in-Chief, India. Operation Battleaxe was the British Army offensive designed to relieve the Siege of Tobruk and was the first time the Axis Powers fought on the defensive. However, the British suffered heavily with the loss of a great number of tanks and withdrawing just ahead of a German encircling movement. Auchinlech reorganised his forces and on the 18^th November 1941 he launched Operation Crusader, a major offensive to relieve Tobruk. The British Eighth Army advanced west from their base at Mersa Matruth. They crossed the Libyan border near Fort Maddalena approximately 50miles (80km) south of Sidi Omar. The Eighth Army was relying on the Desert Air Force to heavily reduce enemy air opposition. The air offensive, planned to attack Axis airfields and destroy aircraft on the ground, was cancelled the night before it was due owing to torrential rain and storms. On the first day (18^th November 1941) the Eighth Army did not encounter any resistance as they approached the enemy positions. On the 19^th November 1941 the Eighth Army’s 22nd Armoured Brigade advance was halted when they engaged the Italian Ariete Division who knocked out many British tanks. The 7^th Armoured Brigade in the centre of the attack had advanced within sight of Tobruk and captured Sidi Rezegh airfield. Also on the 19^th November 1941 the right flank of the 4^th Armoured Brigade became heavily engaged with the 21^st Panzer Division. Rommel revised his plans on the 20^th November 1941 in which he called off his attack on Tobruk. Rommel’s counter offensive against the Eighth Army began on the 22^ndNovember 1941 with the recapture of the airfield at Sidi Rezegh. By the 24^thNovember 1941 Rommel had inflicted heavy losses on the Allies and the Afrika Korps advanced fifteen miles into Egypt before he outran his supply train. Meeting stiffening resistance from the British Rommel retreated to Bardia in Libya. On The 27^th November 1941 the New Zealanders reached Tobruk and thereby relieved the siege.

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Other Fronts)

The United States reached an agreement with the exiled Dutch government on the 23^rd November 1941 whereby the Americans occupied Suriname. This occupation guaranteed the protection of the Bauxite mines which Germany needed for the production of arms. Suriname now a Dutch coastal colony in South America with the Atlantic Ocean on its northern coastline. Guyana is on its western border, French Guiana on the eastern border and Brazil to the south. The economy of Suriname during the Second World War was primarily dependant on the export of bauxite, gold, petroleum and agricultural products rather than the original slave orientated production of cocoa, sugar-cane and cotton.

On the 24^th November 1941 the United States granted $3.2 billion Lend-Lease aid to the Free French government. This figure coupled with a further Lend-Lease agreement of $46.9 billion to the British, the Soviet Union and the Republic of China made a total $50.1 billion. In general the aid was free and in return the U.S.A. had access to leases on land and naval bases in Allied territory during the course of the war. This effectively ended any pretence of neutrality by the United States.

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HMAS Sydney was a Leander light-cruiser operated by the Royal Australian Navy. She was active during the Abyssinian crisis at the start of the war, she then joined the British Mediterranean Fleet and provided support for the Malta convoys. She returned to Australian waters in February 1941. On the afternoon of the 19^th November 1941 Sydney was off the coast of Western Australia near Carnarvon heading south toward Freemantle. Sydney spotted an unidentified merchant ship in the distance on a north bound course. She immediately turned away and Sydney increased speed to intercept whilst requesting identification details. Further requests from Sydney established she was a Dutch Merchant Ship Straat Malakka but she was not on Sydney’s list of ships meant to be in the area. Straat Malakka had not identified herself because she was the German auxiliary cruiser Kormoran In disguise. As Kormoran did not know the call sign the two ships engaged. Both ships were sunk by the other during the action. Of the 399 personnel on Kormoran 318 survived and served as prisoners-of-war who were repatriated to Germany in early 1947. Mystery surrounds the loss of Sydney, as apart from the discovery of a Carly float and lifebelt, nothing from Sydney or the 645 aboard was discovered.

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In the East Africa Campaign the Italian army made a last stand around the town of Gondar in Ethiopia and surrendered to the British on the 28^th November1941. When Italian dictator Benito Mussolini declared war on Britain and France in June 1940 he had already proclaimed the formation of the Italian East Africa. This territory included Ethiopia, Italian Eritrea and Somalia from which the Italians initiated operations in preparation for an assault on Egypt. The Italian forces consisted of 250,000 Italian soldiers and native troops who outnumbered their British opponents. However, Italian East Africa was isolated and far from supplies from the mainland thereby limiting the operations they could undertake. In June 1940 the Italians attacked the British in the Sudan, Kenya and British Somalia whereby the British evacuated Somalia to Aden. This was one of the few successful Italian campaigns which was accomplished without German assistance. The Regia Marina (Italian Navy) maintained a naval fleet based at Massawa in Eritrea which posed a threat to British convoys traversing the Red Sea. In doing this they lost a lot of vessels. The British counter-attacked in June 1941 which gradually led to their defeat of the East Africa Campaign and the final surrender on the 28^th November 1941 in the town of Gondar.

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Air Raid Damage Reports Brentwood Division Essex Fire Service October 1941.

Oct31

Air Raid Damage Reports Brentwood Division Essex Fire Service October 1941.

Date Time Location Damage

04/10/1941 18.45 Rochford A British Miles Magester Aeroplane No. T.9753

made a forced landing in a field 300 yards North of the Cock P.H. at Stroud Green, owing to ground mist. No damage or casualties. Aircraft from the 402 Squadron, Hull, attempting to land at Rochford.

07/10/1941 Foulness 1 – H.E unexploded found in a field at Jerry Wood,

Island Small Gains Farm, 500 yards North of main road. No damage or casualties. Date and time of falling believed 02.20 hrs the 23.6.41 (disposed of BDS 15.12.41).

07/10/1941 Ingrave 1 – H.E unexploded found in 45 Acre field, behind

Hatch Farm, 500 yards from Arterial Road. No damage or casualties. (disposed of BDS 6.11.41).

11/10/1941 20.10 Foulness 1 – H.E. exploded 80 yards East of sea wall, 1/4

Island mile East of Eastwick Head. No damage or casualties.

12/10/1941 Rayleigh 1 – A.A. unexploded Shell found in the garden of

“Barrington” Hockley Road. No damage or casualties. Date and time of falling not known. (Disposed of BDS 17.10.41).

17/10/1941 Ingrave 1 – A.A. unexploded Shell found in a clover field

200 yards South East and at rear of Hatch Farm. No damage or casualties. Date and time of falling not known.

18/10/1941 10.55 Canvey A Navy Barrage Balloon broke away from a ship in

Island the River Thames opposite Chapman Lights and disappeared in a North Easterly direction. Should clear Southend. Will burst when high enough.

25/10/1941 12.00 Little Warley 1 – A.A. unexploded Shell found in a meadow 200

yards West of “Beredens” Cranham Road. No damage or casualties. Date and time of falling not known. (Disposed of BDS 12.11.41).

30/10/1941 Rayleigh 1 – H.E. unexploded found in field 10 yards East of

path running North from Sandhills Road. No damage or casualties. Date and time of falling not known. (Disposed of BDS 12.11.41).

SECOND WORLD WAR September 1941

Sep1

SECOND WORLD WAR September 1941

(Eastern Front)

During the German invasion of the Soviet Union, code named Operation Barbarossa, Leningrad was completely surrounded on the 1^st September 1941. The Finnish Army, who were allied to Germany, advanced on the Soviet Union from the north whilst the German Army advanced from the south. The Siege of Leningrad began on the 8^th September 1941 when the German Army severed the last road to the city. With the German forces still advancing on Leningrad, Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin appointed General Georgy Zhukov to take over the defence of the city on the 11^th September 1941. Zhukov began the erection of stronger defences. On the 16^th September 1941. German Dictator Adolf Hitler ordered a major artillery and bombing offensive against the city and by the 30^th September 1941 the Siege of Leningrad had claimed over 4,900 civilian lives. The blockade was broken on the 18^th January 1943 when the Soviet Army opened a land corridor along the coast. The siege officially ended on the 27^th January 1944 when the Soviet Army expelled the German forces from the southern outskirts of the city. The siege lasted 872 days and became one of the longest and most destructed sieges in history.

During Operation Barbarossa, Hitler ignored the advice of his Generals to advance his forces to Moscow. He believed a simultaneous attack on Leningrad in the north and the Ukrainian city of Kiev in the south would destroy the Soviet Army. His miscalculation was to cost Germany dearly and the campaign in Russia was doomed. Operation Barbarossa had been postponed for a month. The splitting of the advance on Moscow wasted valuable summer weather and the German Generals predicted disaster when the Russian winter set in. At the same time Hitler’s directive ordered the German army to attack Kiev and on the 10^th September 1941 the army had surrounded the city. Commander-in-Chief of the Soviet Armed Forces Marshall Semyon Budyonny had been ordered to defend Kiev. With the German army surrounding the city, he requested permission from Stalin to evacuate. Stalin refused permission but on the 17^th September 1941 permission was given. It was too late as Kiev was captured on the 18^th September 1941 and the commander General Kirponos was killed. Something like half a million Russian soldiers and vast amounts of equipment was captured and German troops murdered 30,000 Jews on the outskirts of Kiev.

When Germany invaded the Soviet Union they reached Estonia in July 1941. Hopes of the Estonian people were high that the Germans were liberators from Soviet oppression and restoring Estonia’s independence. It soon became apparent that the Germans were replacing one occupation with another. Germany fully occupied Estonia on the 5^th September 1941 and the Estonians began to self-govern the country on the 15^th September 1941 under the guidance of the Germans.

0n the Lithuanian/Belarus border Nazi Germany established a Jewish ghetto in the Lithuanian city of Vilnius. The city was predominantly Polish and Jewish and the Lithuanians were in the minority. The German army entered Vilnius in June1941 followed by the German death squad. Local Lithuanian leaders proposed Jewish and Polish ethnic cleansing and formulated a plan to implicate the Jews and Poles as aggressors. Two civilian Lithuanians dressed as Jews broke into a Jewish apartment and fired upon German soldiers. They fled the apartment and returned with German infantry who captured two Jews and accusing them of firing at German soldiers. The Jews were beaten and then shot on the spot. In retaliation to the “Jewish offence” all Jews were driven out of the neighbourhood the Nazis had selected for the future ghetto. They were taken to Lukiškes Prison then on to Paneriai, also known as the Ponary, in Vilnius. By the 6^th September 1941 between 5,000 and 10,000 Jews were murdered. The establishment of the ghetto to imprison the Jews of Vilnius was the prime objective.

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(Other Theatres)

In the Balkans following the Axis invasion of Yugoslavia in April 1941, Germany placed Serbia under the authority of a military government. The Axis powers consisted of Germany, Austria and Italy decided to set up a puppet government to maintain control of the country in order not to tie up a large amount of German manpower. On the 1st September 1941 General Milan Nedić was installed as the new Prime Minister. Nedić was the former chief of staff of the Royal Yugoslav Army who was threatened that if he did not accept the position, then Germany would bring in Bulgarian troops to occupy the whole of Serbia. Nedić accepted the position and the puppet government stayed in power until October 1944 when Serbian partisans and the Soviet Army forced the occupiers to withdraw.

In Germany on the 1^st September 1941, German Jews and all Jews from the age of six years were ordered to wear the “Yellow Star of David” badge. This order included Jewish citizens of the current German annexed states. The order for Jews to wear the badge in the future annexed states of Estonia, Luxemburg, Slovakia and Romania were soon to follow. From here-on all Jews were easily identified

In September 1941 the American navy was assisting the British Royal Navy in escorting merchant convoys in the North Atlantic through U-boat infested waters. The U.S. Navy destroyer U.S.S. Greer was the first American vessel to fire on a German ship on the 4^th September 1941. Conflicting evidence indicates that German U-boat (U-652) fired upon S.S. Greer but did not make any contact. The identity as an American vessel was unmistakeable as she was flying the American flag. It would appear S.S. Greer immediately attacked the U-boat with depth charges. U-652 survived the attack and joined up with a wolf pack seeking British convoys. In his fireside chat on the 11^th September 1941 President Franklin D. Roosevelt used this incident to declare that Germany had been guilty of an “act of piracy”. Roosevelt confirmed his order to “shoot on sight” if threatened effectively declaring naval war on Germany and Italy in the Battle of the Atlantic. On the 26^th September 1941 the U.S. Navy implemented the order of all-out war on Axis shipping in U.S, waters.

In the U.S.A. the first Liberty ship S.S. Patrick Henry was launched from a shipyard in Baltimore, Maryland on the 27^th September 1941. The vessels became known as Liberty ships when Roosevelt launched S.S. Patrick Henry and in his speech he quoted the phrase “Give me Liberty or give me death”. S.S. Parick Henry was launched nearly ten weeks before the United States officially entered into the war. The United States adapted the British concept of ships to replace those lost in the Atlantic convoys. Owing to low-cost of construction the ships were mass produced. Between 1941 and 1945 eighteen American shipyards built 2,710 Liberty ships (an average of three ships every two days). This was achieved because they were constructed in sections and welded together, not the traditional riveting. As America entered the war the shipyard men were enlisted in the armed forces and the shipyards employed women to replace them.

The Allied Powers of Britain and the Soviet Union invaded and occupied Iran in August 1941. Reza Shah had been the Shah of Iran from December 1921 and encouraged German commercial policies. By the beginning of the war Germany was Iran’s largest trading partner. The Germans agreed to sell a steel factory the Shah desired whilst the Germans would have access to the oil fields. The Shah replaced the pro-British Prime Minister Ali Mansur with Mohammed Ali Foroughi. When negotiations with the British began, Foroughi implied he and the Iranian people wanted to be liberated from the Shah’s rule. Foroughi proposed handing all German nationals over to the British and Soviet Union authorities, but was planning the secret evacuation of the German nationals from Iran. On the 16th September 1941 the Red Army occupied the Iranian capital Tehran and Britain and the Soviet Union forced the Shah to abdicate in favour of his son, for having not handed German residents over to the Allies. Crown Prince Mohammed Reza Pahlavi took the oath to become the new Shah of Iran.

The uprising of the northern city of Drama in Greece began on the 28^th September 1941. The Bulgarian Army entered Greece in April 1941 following Germany’s invasion of Greece. The official annexation of Greece followed when the Bulgarian government failed to bring changes to the Greek population by stealing land and houses in favour of Bulgarian settlers. Once the Bulgarian occupation of Greece had been established the uprising began. Under the guidance of the Macedonian politburo of the Communist Party of Greece a revolt broke out on the 28^th September 1941. The following day, the 29^th September 1941 the uprising was suppressed by the Bulgarian occupation authorities. Bulgarian retaliations were not limited to the rebels but included many citizens of Greece suspected as being involved. The suppression and subsequent massacre precipitated a mass exodus of the Greek population seeking refuge in the German occupation zone of Central Macedonia. Over 2,000 rebels and citizens died during the uprising.

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The Bay Museum & Research Facility

Category Archives: World War II

Bill Sparks – Cockleshell Heroes Memorial Plaque Unveiled

SECOND WORLD WAR MAY 1942

SECOND WORLD WAR April 1942

SECOND WORLD WAR February 1942

Air Raid Damage Reports Brentwood Division Essex Fire Service January 1942.

SUBJECT. INSPECTION OF KIT AND EQUIPMENT.

Air Raid Damage Reports Brentwood Division Essex Fire Service November 1941.

SECOND WORLD WAR November 1941

Air Raid Damage Reports Brentwood Division Essex Fire Service October 1941.

SECOND WORLD WAR September 1941