Yesterday                  Tomorrow

February 11th, 1942 (WEDNESDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM:

ENGLISH CHANNEL: Scharnhorst , Gneisenau, and Prinz Eugen made their "Channel Dash" in Operation Cerberus.

Operation Cerberus. Leaves Brest with Gneisenau and the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen escorted the destroyers Paul Jakobi, Richard Beitzen, Friedrich Ihn, Hermann Schoemann, Z-25, and Z-29 for a dash through the English Channel. Group commanded by Vice Admiral Otto Ciliax. Scharnhorst strikes two mines while passing through the English Channel but enters Wilhelmshaven on the 13th.

FRANCE: During the night of the 11-12, 25 Wellingtons and 6 Whitleys of RAF Bomber Command bomb Le Havre; one Wellington is lost. Other operations include 18 Wellingtons attacking Brest (one Wellington is lost) and five aircraft flying leaflet missions.

VICHY FRANCE:  Admiral William D. Leahy, USN (Retired), U.S. Ambassador to Vichy France, receives instructions from President Franklin D. Roosevelt that the U.S. government has learned that French ships are to be used to transport war materiel between France and Tunisia, and that unless the French government gives assurances that no military aid would go forward to any Axis power, and that French ships would not be used in the furtherance of Axis acts of aggression in any theater of war, the ambassador would be recalled to the United States "for consultation in a determination of American future policy with regard to the government of Vichy." 

GERMANY: During the night of the 11-12th, RAF Bomber Command dispatches 49 aircraft to bomb Mannheim while one Manchester drops mines in the Frisian Islands.

U.S.S.R.: Black Sea Fleet and Azov Flotilla: Shipping loss: ML "Doob" - mined in Kazachiya bay in Sevastopol (Sergey Anisimov)(69)

BURMA: Additional Japanese forces cross the Salween River in the Paan area and engulf a battalion of the Indian 46th Brigade. 

SINGAPORE: At 0300 hours, a Japanese force advancing along the Jurong Road eastward towards the village of Bukit Timah, encounters and virtually annihilates an Australian battalion. The Japanese then pass through the village. The Allies make four counterattacks against the Japanese invaders but all fails with heavy losses and they must retreat to their final perimeter around the city itself.  Lieutenant General YAMASHITA Tomoyuki, Commander of the 25th Army,  now has 30,000 men on the island and calls on the British commander to surrender. Lieutenant General Arthur Percival, General Officer Commanding Malaya Command, who has 85,000 men, rejects the demand. 
 

AUSTRALIA: American supply officers struggle to find charter boats and pilots who can sail supplies through the Japanese blockade to Bataan. They have no luck. 
     Eleven USAAF 5th Air Force A-24 Dauntlesses depart Darwin, Northern Territory, for a two-day flight to Java. 

Vice Admiral C. E. L. Helfrich of the Netherlands Navy succeeded Admiral Hart as Commander of United Nations naval forces in the SW Pacific.

NETHERLANDS EAST INDIES: Nine USAAF 5th Air Force P-40s arrive at Blimbing Airdrome on Java after flying from Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia, via Timor Island. 

Submarine USS Seal leaves Surabaya for Tjilatjap.
 

COMMONWEALTH OF THE PHILIPPINES: On Bataan, the I Corps makes substantial progress against Big Pocket, but the enemy succeeds in withdrawing through a gap on the north  side. In the South Sector, the Japanese fall back to Silaiim Point, between the Silaiim and Anyasan Rivers, under pressure. 

The US submarine Shark I (SS-174), commanded by Louis Shane Jr., is believed sunk by Japanese surface craft (the destroyer Yamakaze - Mountain Wind ) 120 miles off Menado, Celebes in position 01.45N, 127.15E. The destroyer spotted a submarine and opened fire with its 5" guns noting the sub soon started to sink. Voices were heard in the water but no attempt was made to rescue survivors. All 58 hands are lost. (Joe Sauder, Jack McKillop and Dave Shirlaw)
 

CANADA:  In Montreal, Quebecois riot against conscription plans that may call for Canadian draftees to be sent overseas to fight, in violation of government policy. Canadian troops who cannot be sent overseas are called "Zombies." 

HMCS Standard Coaster commissioned for coil skid towing duties.

U.S.A.: Washington: Secretary of War Henry Stimson calls President Roosevelt and recommends the mass evacuation of people of Japanese descent from the Pacific Coast area. Roosevelt tells Stimson to do whatever he believes is necessary. (Scott Peterson) More...

Submarine USS Tradewind laid down.

WEST INDIES:  U.S. Army troops arrive at Curacao and Aruba to assume occupation duty (with the cooperation of the British and Dutch governments) at this naval operating base whose primary mission will be port security, convoy routing, and protection of tankers transporting oil to U.S. ports. 

ATLANTIC OCEAN: Whilst escorting convoy SC.67, Flower class corvette RCN HMCS Spikenard is torpedoed and sunk by U-136. There are 8 survivors.  Prior to 7 Dec 41 Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, USN had been "unofficially" escorting convoys along the Eastern Seaboard of the US to ensure the safety of "Neutral" American merchant vessels. US efforts went a long way in assisting the RN and RCN with convoy duties freeing up many ships for convoy escort across the Atlantic. However, most don't realize that the Japanese attack with the official US entry into the war brought an immediate decrease in USN support in the Atlantic as the US diverted ships to the Pacific. As indicated in the official history of the Canadian Navy in WW.II - "The Far Distant Ships", - "...the blow which fell on Dec 7 was of such stunning magnitude that for the moment all plans relating to the western war had to be altered to stem a tide of absolute disaster. Before US strength had ever reached the size envisaged in the plan for the Atlantic, it had to be diverted to the Pacific. US ships had to be withdrawn from the western Atlantic in such numbers that by Feb 42 only 2 USCG cutters remained on escort duty." This US withdrawal from the Atlantic, coupled with the RN ships now needed in the Pacific and for Russian support on the Murmansk run, left Atlantic convoys stripped of escorts. Early in 1942 (a "happy time" for the German U-boats), the real backbone of the Atlantic convoys were the tiny, short-ranged and under-armed Canadian corvettes. Into the winter storms, Convoy SC.67 sailed early in Feb 42 from Newfoundland - bound for Londonderry. The Canadian corvette HMCS Spikenard was the senior ship of the escort for SC.67. Other escorts included HMCS Chilliwack, Shediac, Louisburg, Lethbridge and Dauphin. All went well until just before 2300, on 10 Feb. The convoy was due south of Iceland, when Chilliwack attacked a submerged contact on the port bow of the formation. Almost immediately thereafter, Louisburg at the rear of the convoy spotted the wake of a torpedo running down her port side. Spikenard had been zigzagging on the starboard wing of the convoy when another torpedo struck the nearby tanker, Heina. A few seconds later, Spikenard was struck by a torpedo that ripped out her forepeak and destroyed the bridge and radio. Spikenard may have become aware of U-136 in the few minutes before - as action stations had been sounded and the speed increased just before she was hit. We'll never know, because not a man on Spikenard's bridge survived that night. In a few minutes, Spikenard sunk by the fore and headed for the bottom. Only eight men survived - to be found by a westbound British ship the next day. Spikenard had been torpedoed at about the same time as the tanker, and sank so quickly, that the other escorts didn't realize she was gone until morning. (Alex Gordon and Dave Shirlaw)(108).

 

Top of Page

Yesterday        Tomorrow

Home