4 February 1942

UNITED KINGDOM: Canadian press baron Max Beaverbrook is appointed Britain's Minister of Production. His steamrolling determination as Minister of Aircraft Production has already resulted in Britain producing more fighters than Germany.

Minesweeper HMS Dornoch launched.

Minesweeping trawlers HMS Ruskholm and Hunda launched.

Destroyer HMS Pakenham commissioned.

NORTH AFRICA: As the British dig in on the Gazala/Bir Hacheim line and Rommel contemplates his next move, grave doubts surround the future of the Eighth Army commander, Lt-Gen Neil Ritchie. One popular commander, Lt-Gen A. R. Godwin-Austen, has resigned and General Auchinleck, has ordered Major-Gen Eric Dorman-Smith to sound out senior officers in secret. Auchinleck and Dorman-Smith picnicked today in the desert - where they could talk freely. The major-general said that Ritchie was "not sufficiently quickwitted or imaginative". But Auchinleck - who has already sacked one commander - decided that Ritchie should stay. "To sack another would affect morale," he said.

EGYPT: Cairo: The British ambassador to Egypt, Sir Miles Lampson, presses King Farouk to appoint a pro-Allied government by surrounding his palace with tanks.

LIBYA: 13 Corps, British Eighth Army, completes a withdrawal to the line Gazala-Bir Hacheim and is fortifying it while Axis forces hold the line Tmimi-Mechili. A lull ensues until summer during which both sides conduct harassing operations and prepare to renew the offensive. The British gradually relieve battle-weary forces with fresh troops as they become available.

SINGAPORE ISLAND: The Japanese demand the surrender of the Allied forces. The government refuses.
Tengah Airfield is abandoned after intense shelling and bombing by the Japanese.

AUSTRALIA: The USAAF Far East Air Force’s 7th Bombardment Group (Heavy), 9th Bombardment Squadron (Heavy), and 88th Reconnaissance Squadron (Heavy) begin a movement from Brisbane, Queensland, to Karachi, India. The 9th is operating from Jogjakarta, Java with B-17s; the 88th is operating from Hickam Field, Territory of Hawaii with B-17s.

JAVA SEA: Japanese reconnaissance flying boats of the Toko Kokutai (Naval Air Corps) contact and shadow the allied force (Rear Admiral Karel W.F.M. Doorman, RNN) of four cruisers and accompanying destroyers, sighted yesterday by 1st Kokutai aircraft, attempting the transit of Madoera Strait to attack the Japanese Borneo invasion fleet. The Allied fleet is now south of the Greater Sunda Islands, about 190 miles (306 kilometres) east of Surabaya, Java. On the strength of that intelligence, Japanese naval land attack planes of the Takao, Kanoya, and 1st Kokutais bomb Doorman's ships, damaging the heavy cruiser USS Houston (CA-30) and light cruiser USS Marblehead (CL-12). Dutch light cruisers HNMS De Ruyter and HNMS Tromp are slightly damaged by near-misses. USS Marblehead's extensive damage (only by masterful seamanship and heroic effort does she reach Tjilatjap, Java, after the battle) results in her being sent back to the United States via Ceylon and South Africa; despite the loss of turret III (one-third of her main battery), USS Houston, however, remains.

NETHERLANDS EAST INDIES: The small Australian garrison on Ambon Island, largely the 2/21 Battalion, surrenders to the Japanese. What followed the surrender of the Australians has become known as “The Carnage at Laha.” Up to 100 of the allied prisoners were seriously wounded or ill at the time of surrender and died shortly after. According to Japanese accounts ten men were summarily executed after falling into Japanese hands during the attacks, another 20 to 40 Australians were held at Suakodo for a few days then executed between the 6 and 8 February. These unfortunate POWs (ca. 30 Australian POWs), said a Japanese Warrant Officer after the war, were led one by one away from the native school and a little way along the road into the jungle near Laha with their hands tied behind their back. Lieutenant NAKAGAWA Ken-ichi, the head executor made each kneel down with a bandage over his eyes. The Japanese troops then stepped out of ranks to behead each POW or bayonet him one by one. Each Australian was decapitated by a sword blow to the neck severing the head, death was almost instantaneous, and carried out by about ten samurai wielding Japanese having despatched two or three prisoners. The remaining Australians at Laha perished over the next two weeks, once the dead had been burned and the battleground debris cleared by the captives.

PACIFIC OCEAN: Asiatic Fleet (Admiral Thomas C. Hart) ceases to exist. Units of Asiatic Fleet are organized into Naval Forces, Southwest Pacific Area under Vice Admiral William A. Glassford.

COMMONWEALTH OF THE PHILIPPINES: HQ US Army Forces, Far East (USAFFE) takes direct control of the Panay and Mindoro garrisons, which were previously part of the Visayan-Mindoro Force, established early in January under command of Brigadier General William F. Sharp.
On Bataan, the II Corps front is relatively quiet. In the I Corps area, the Japanese in Big Pocket repel still another tank-infantry attack. In the South Sector, Philippine Scouts and tanks continue their attack against Canaan Point and this time succeed in compressing the Japanese into a small area at the tip. In the Anyasan-Silaiim sector, tank-infantry attacks against the Japanese still make slow progress.

ATLANTIC OCEAN: USS Branch (DD-197), which was commissioned as HMS Beverley (H-64) on 8 Oct, 1940, part of the destroyers-for-bases deal, today attacks and sinks U-187. (Ron Babuka)

An unarmed U.S. tanker is torpedoed, shelled, and sunk by German submarine U-103 about 20 miles (32 kilometres) southeast of Cape May, New Jersey.

SS Montrolite (11,309 GRT) Canadian Imperial Oil tanker is torpedoed and sunk NE of Bermuda, in position 35.14N, 060.05W, by U-109, Kptlt Heinrich 'Ajax' Bleichrodt, Knight's Cross, Knight's Cross with Oak Leaves, CO. Of her crew of 48, there are 20 survivors. They were rescued by a passing freighter and were landed in Halifax. Montrolite had been travelling alone from Venezuela and was carrying a cargo of crude oil. Canada had a fleet of only twelve nationally flagged tankers in 1939. They were, for the most part, large and modern vessels, quite unlike the dry cargo fleet. In 1940, Canada imported 43 million tons of crude oil and five million tons of refined fuel products, 50 percent of which was brought in by tanker through the St. Lawrence River and Atlantic ports. By the summer of 1942, three of these tankers had been lost to German U-boats, leaving only three Canadian and five chartered Norwegian tankers to serve the East Coast. These losses had a nearly catastrophic impact of the supply of naval fuel oils. By Mar 42, St. John's was down to 3,000 tons (three days' supply). A month later, the supply at Halifax was down to 45,000 tons (15 days' supply). The two small coastal tankers used to supply St. John's were run in separate convoys for fear of loosing them both, which would have forced the termination of operations by the Mid-Ocean Escort Force. The gravity of the situation can be appreciated by comparing the supply levels at Halifax and St. John's with the carrying capacity of a 'notional tanker' (10,000 tons of cargo moved at 10 knots). The loss of even one more tanker could have had far-reaching operational and tactical consequences. In May 42, the US transferred twelve tankers to Canada totalling 106,000 GRT (approximately 170,000 DWT), which allowed the chartered Norwegian tankers to be released for the transatlantic route. At the same time, the US transferred 40 tankers to British control, declared an 'Unlimited National Emergency', and instituted petroleum rationing. In Sep 42, another 34 tankers were transferred to British control. These were the last tankers that could be taken up from US trade until emergency production ships began to arrive in 1943. The charter fees for all loaned American tankers were paid by the US. U-109 was a long-range Type IX U-boat built by AG Weser, at Bremen. Commissioned 05 Dec 40. U-109 completed eight patrols and compiled a record of 14 ships sunk for a total of 86,606 tons and one ship damaged for a further 6,548 tons. U-109 was sunk on 04 May 43, south of Ireland, in position 47-22N, 022-40W, by 4 depth charges from a Liberator a/c from RAF 86 Sqn. All of U-109's crew of 52 was lost. Heinrich Bleichrodt was born in 1909, at Berga, Kyffhauser. He joined the navy in 1933 and after service in the cadet ship Gorch Fock and the heavy cruiser Admiral Hipper, transferred to the U-boat force in Oct 39. He took command of U-48 on 08 Sep 40, at the age of 30. He was awarded the Knight's Cross on 24 Oct 40 (the 18th awarded in the U-boat force) and on 23 Sep 42 was awarded the Oak Leaves to the Knight's Cross (the 17th in the Kriegsmarine and 15th in the U-boat force). His First Watch Officer was 'Teddy' Suhren, ultimately a winner of the Knight's Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords. Together they sank eight ships for a total of 36,189 tons. Upon learning that he had been awarded a Knight's Cross, Bleichrodt refused to wear it until Suhren had received one as well, as he had been in charge of all surface firings. Thus, on 03 Nov 40, Suhren became the first Watch Officer to receive the Knight's Cross. In Dec 40, Bleichrodt left U-48 and in Jan 41, commissioned U-67. In Jun 41, he took command of U-109. In total, 'Ajax' Bleichrodt sank 27 ships for a total of 158,957 tons and damaged three ships for a further 16,362 tons in only eight patrols, making him the 10th highest scoring U-boat ace. He left U-109 in Jul 43 to become a tactical instructor with 2nd U-boat training division. From Jul 44 to the end of the war, he was the Commander of the 22nd U-boat Flotilla. Heinrich Bleichrodt died on 09 Jan 77 in Munich, Germany.

U.S.A.: Attorney General Francis Biddle orders Japanese, German and Italian aliens to leave 31 areas in the states of Washington and Oregon by 15 February.