6 February 1942

UNITED KINGDOM: Corvettes HMCS Eyebright and Drumheller arrived Londonderry with Convoy SC-66.

FRANCE: During the night of the 6-7th, RAF Bomber Command dispatches 57 Wellingtons and 3 Stirlings to attack the German fleet at Brest; only 21 aircraft claimed to have bombed the primary target area, in thick cloud; one Wellington is lost.

GERMANY: In Berlin, Adolf Hitler orders the Minister of Armaments and War Production, Dr. Fritz Todt, to chair a committee to coordinate all ministries involved in armaments design, manufacture and production. One of the grave problems facing Germany is its inability to organize its war effort. The various companies, ministries, and Nazi party organizations bicker and feud amongst themselves for priorities and resources, hamstringing the war effort.
During the day, the RAF Bomber Command dispatches 33 Hampdens and 13 Manchesters to carry out minelaying operations in the Frisian Islands; one Hampden is lost.

EGYPT: Cairo: A new Wafd (nationalist) government is formed under British pressure.

BURMA: Two P-40 pilots of the 1st Fighter Squadron, American Volunteer Group (AVG, aka, “The Flying Tigers”) shoot down four Nakajima Ki-27, Army Type 97 Fighters (later given the Allied Code Name “Nate”) near Rangoon at 1000 hours. One pilot shoots down one while the second gets three.

SINGAPORE: (by Jim Paterson) Men of the 2/29th Battalion AIF take up positions in reserve between the 22nd Brigade on the north-west coast and the 27th brigade positions on the north coast near the Causeway. The battalion had received a new commander and replacements for the 500 enlisted men and 19 officers lost during the Maur River battles. The 2/29th was a Victorian unit with most of the men from the Collinwood area, the replacements however were from all over Australia; they included 220 Queenslanders, 150 New South Welshmen, 70 Tasmanians and 100 Victorians. The new commander Col S.A Pond noted that the Queenslanders seemed to be the best trained. Under normal circumstances these men would have gone to a training depot behind the lines before being sent to fighting battalion while the battalion was undergoing a period of reorganization and refit, this was impossible in Singapore. When these men 1,907 men in all, along with the 2/4th Machine Gun Battalion arrived in port a rumour done the rounds of Singapore that they were paroled criminals and the sweepings of every port in Australia. Another rumour that half of the 2/4th MG Battalion, a fully trained veteran unit, had jumped ship in Perth, Western Australia were accurate to a degree, 94 men from 400 jumped ship. The men were normal recruits. Lt-Col Anderson VC commander of the 2/19th Battalion received 640 replacements, Anderson comments to, another officer that 'scores of them don't know how to load a rifle; while hand grenades and mortars were absolute mysteries!'

The merchant ship Empire Star is finally allowed the berth along side the wharves, she had a cargo of 16 tanks and 2,000 tons of ammunition. The local dock workers and stevedores know her cargo and refuse to unload the ship so the ships crew had to do the work themselves. As soon as the ship made fast to the docks Japanese aircraft appeared overhead and attacked the ship, in a panic lines were cast off and the ship made clear of the docks. Each time the ship tried to unload the same thing happened, he master suspected Japanese fifth columnist were to blame.

After off loading the survivors of Empress of Asia HMAS Woolongong's crew spent the their last day in Singapore. Her captain, Lt Gordon Keith RANR purchased a 40mm Bofors from the army store for a crate of Gin. In the last few days people getting out of Singapore had been driving their cars up the wharves and boarding ships, in most cases leaving the keys in the ignition. 'Bunny' Barton CPO from HMAS Woolongong acquired a brand new large black Buick. He drove the car around Singapore, visiting friends and naval stores depots mustering provisions. At the depot near the Causeway the gate had a large sign with "No Smoking, Cigarettes to be surrendered to guard" The guard was a mean looking Gurkha, so the sailors gave over their cigarettes. The Gurkha looked over the packets took a cigarette from the brand he favored, lit it and handed all the cigarettes back to the sailors!

The evacuation of Singapore continued unabated, HMS Danae, HMIS Sutlej and HMAS Yarra left Singapore escorting Convoy EMU consisting of Devonshire and Felix Roussel for India and City of Canterbury for Batavia. These ships had arrived the previous day as part of BM.12A with the 18th Division aboard.

Japanese plans are now in place, staff advise General Yamashita to leave the Sultans palace because it comes under frequent enemy artillery fire. Yamashita refuses! Order are send that all preparation be completed by the 7th. When it appears that this target will not be met the General postpones X Day by 24 hrs. Yamashitas greatest fear is that the British will open the oil fed lines into the straits. The oil contained in Singapore is enough to fuel the entire Royal Navy for six months. If the oil is deliberately released into the straits and ignited the whole operation may be in doubt. For this reason he orders the oil tank farms destroyed by artillery fire, this is carried out and the great oil fire is started, soon the entire island is hidden under thick black smoke.

General YAMASHITA Tomoyoki, General Office Commanding 25th Army, summons his top officers at 1100 hours to give them their orders. The Imperial Guards Division, whose men are 6 feet (1,8 meters) tall and drilled for ceremonial, will feint on the evening of 7 February, by taking Palau Ubin Island opposite Changi (today the international airport) in the northeast. Next day, the 5th and 18th Divisions will assault Singapore Island's northwest corner. The plan is a replica of British Field Marshal Allenby's victory in Palestine in 1918. That evening, British chief engineer Brigadier Ivan Simson tells Lieutenant General Ernest Percival, General Office Commanding Malaya Command, that the Japanese will probably attack the northwest corner of Singapore Island. So Percival orders Simson to concentrate supplies in the EAST.

NETHERLANDS EAST INDIES: A small Japanese force lands and occupies the town of Gorontalo on Minahassa Peninsula, west of Menado, on Celebes Island. On Sumatra, the first Japanese air raids hit Palembang P1 Airfield at 1100 hours; two Blenheims and four Hurricanes are shot down and two Buffaloes are destroyed on the ground.

At 1100 the first Japanese air raids struck Palembang P1 airfield. The Japanese were still unaware of the existence of P2. By the end of the day the Allies had lost two Blenheims with the loss of all six aircrew shot down by Sgt Maj Hiroshi Onozaki of 59th Sentai. Two Hurricanes were shot down with one pilot killed and a further two Hurricanes remained missing. Two Hurricanes came in damaged; One of these BG678 was piloted by a South African Sgt Dick Parr who came in with his severed little finger from his left hand in his shirt pocket after a 20mm shell exploded in his cockpit. Two Buffaloes were also destroyed on the ground as a result of the raids and by days end the airfield was covered in debris and burning aircraft. Of the two missing 258 Squadron Hurricanes the wreckage of the plane and the body of Plt Officer Cardwell Kleckner and American was latter found in the jungle, Plt Officer Campbell-White a New Zealander returned to base shaken and bedraggled four days latter, escorted by helpful natives. In return Plt Officer Reg Bainbridge of 232 Squadron claimed a single Ki 43 shot down.

The evacuation of Singapore continued unabated, HMS Danae, Sutlej and HMAS Yarra left Singapore escorting convoy E.M.U. consisting of Devonshire and Felix Roussel for India and City of Canterbury for Batavia. These ships had arrived the previous day as part of BM.12A with the 18th Division aboard. At midnight HMAS Woolongong departed Singapore Harbor, she would be the last allied warship to enter or leave the harbor for 4 years.

COMMONWEALTH OF THE PHILIPPINES: In the I Corps area on Bataan, the Japanese receive reinforcements and attack late in the day to relieve pockets. While some elements increase pressure against the1st and 11th Divisions, Philippine Army, others drive toward Big Pocket until stopped by the 11th Division 800 yards (732 meters) from their objective. A small salient in the corps main line of resistance is thus formed and called Upper Pocket. In the Manila Bay area, Japanese artillery, emplaced along the south shore of the Bay in the vicinity of Ternate, begins a daily bombardment of fortified islands. Forts Drum and Frank receive the main weight of shells.

NEWFOUNDLAND: Corvettes HMCS Nanaimo and Matapedia left St John's to escort Convoy SC-68 to Londonderry.

U.S.A.: The first Combined Chief of Staff Conference in Washington, DC. begins. This is a follow up to the Arcadia Summit of December, 1941.

The Navy Department redesignates Naval Coastal Frontiers--Eastern, Gulf, Caribbean, Panama, Hawaiian, Northwest, Western, Philippine–as Sea Frontiers.

ATLANTIC OCEAN: The British ships HMS ROCHESTER and HMS TAMARISK, escorting convoy OS-18, sink attacking U-boat U-82 (Type VIIC), in position 44.10N, 23.52W, by depth charges. All 45 submariners are lost. They were returning from operations off the US east coast (Operation Drumbeat). (Alex Gordon)

An unarmed U.S. freighter, en route from Fajardo, Puerto Rico, to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is torpedoed and sunk by German submarine U-107. There are no survivors from the 35-man crew.
The five German U-boats that have been raiding Allied shipping along the U. S. east coast break off Operation Drumbeat to return to their bases in France. They have sunk 25 ships in 25 days, including nine by U-123. Still, precautions along the coast are few: many oceanside communities are not blacked out at night; lighthouses and buoys are still lit; ships do not zig-zag; and the Navy has too few vessels to organize convoys. Admiral Karl Donitz is sending 15 subs to replace the first five; ten will stalk the Atlantic seaboard and five will prowl the Caribbean. During February this second wave of U-boats will sink 48 ships nearly half of them tankers.

At 0530, the unescorted SS Halcyon was shelled by U-109 after two torpedoes missed at 0007 and 0242. The U-boat fired 200 shells with the 10.5cm gun and about 60 rounds with the 3.7cm Flak, until the vessel sank at 0745

At 1608, the unescorted and unarmed SS Major Wheeler was hit by one torpedo from U-107 amidships and sank by the stern within two minutes east of Cape Hatteras. The U-boat had spotted another freighter, but disengaged and followed the Major Wheeler. None of the eight officers and 27 crewmen survived.

At 1210, the unescorted MS Opawa was hit amidships by one torpedo from U-106 about 400 miles NNE of Bermuda. The ship had been chased since 0832 hours and stopped after the hit. The U-boat dived to get closer and observed the launching of four lifeboats. At 1417, U-106 surfaced and shelled the ship with 93 rounds until she sank at 1459. However, 54 crewmembers and two gunners were lost. The master and 14 crewmembers were picked up by the Dutch merchantman Hercules and landed at New York.

U-82 sunk north of the Azores, in position 44.10N, 23.52W, by depth charges from sloop HMS Rochester and corvette HMS Tamarisk. 45 dead (all hands lost).