February 21st, 1942 (SATURDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM: Destroyer HMS Opportune launched.
Light cruiser HMS Gambia commissioned.
Minesweeper HMS Arcturus laid down.
VICHY FRANCE: US Ambassador Admiral William D. Leahy USN (Retired), receives an instruction to see French Vice Premier Admiral Jean Darlan immediately about German submarine U-156's receiving assistance at Martinique. Unless the Vichy French can assure the U.S. government that no Axis ships or planes will be allowed to enter French ports or territory in the Western Hemisphere, and that unless such assurances are rigidly maintained, the United States "will take such action in the interest of security of the Western Hemisphere as it may judge necessary and in accordance with existing inter-American obligations." Leahy writes in his diary that everything points to his early recall to Washington "for consultation."
THE NETHERLANDS: During the night of the 20-21st, two RAF Bomber Command Manchesters drop mines off the West Frisian Islands. (Jack McKillop
BELGIUM: During the night of the 20-21st, one RAF Bomber Command aircraft visually bombs the port area at Ostend.
GERMANY: The German naval warships, Admiral Scheer and Prinz Eugen leave Germany for Norway.
During the night of the 20-21st, 21 RAF Bomber Command aircraft
visually bomb eight cities. Six bomb Koblenz, five bomb Mannheim, three bomb
Frankfurt-am-Main, two each bomb Aachen and Cologne, and one each bombs
Darmstadt, Dortmund and Karlsruhe.
NORWAY: During the night of the 20-21st, eight RAF Bomber Command aircraft attack four airfields to provide a diversion for a Fleet Air Arm strike from the aircraft carrier HMS Victorious on the German heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen, which had taken shelter in a Norwegian fjord near Trondheim after being torpedoed and damaged by the submarine HMS Trident. The Fleet Air Arm strike was not successful, because of poor weather conditions. Five aircraft attack Lista and one each attack Christiansand, Mandel and Stavanger. The aircraft attacking Stavanger is lost.
INDIA: Chiang Kai-shek makes a broadcast asking the people to support China and the Allies in their war against Japan.
INDIAN OCEAN: The Canadian Tramp Shipping Line merchantman Canadian Cruiser (7,178 GRT) was sunk in the western Indian Ocean north of the Mozambique Channel, in position 06.36S, 047.18E, by the German armoured ship, or 'pocket battleship', Admiral Scheer, KptzS Theodore Kranke, CO. The entire crew of thirty-six men was taken prisoner. Canadian Cruiser was carrying a load of iron ore to Durban, South Africa. She was sighted by Admiral Scheer’s floatplane at 09:15 and was finally intercepted in the afternoon. The master claimed to be an neutral American ship but the Germans insisted on boarding to search her, at which point Canadian Cruiser tried to get underway and began transmitting a distress signal. Admiral Scheer opened fire with light Anti-Aircraft guns and forced her to take the way off the ship. A boarding party inspected the ship and her documents, which revealed her true identity. Five scuttling charges were set and detonated, which quickly sent the heavily laden ship to the bottom. One of Canadian Cruiser‘s crewmembers, Ordinary Seaman W.H. MacArthur, later escaped from a prisoner of war camp near Bordeaux, France, and made his way home, via Spain. Although many ships had received her original distress signal, it was not until MacArthur returned that her fate was established with certainty.
BURMA: Burma is
removed from the jurisdiction of the ABDA Command. The British 7th Armoured
Brigade arrives at Rangoon from the Middle East and is soon committed on the
Pegu front. The Indian 17th Division continues toward Sittang bridge near
Mokpalin with the Japanese in close pursuit.
American Volunteer Group (AVG, aka “The Flying Tigers”) and RAF pilots
mistakenly attack a column of Indian troops northeast of Rangoon, killing 160
and destroying or damaging scores of vehicles.
THAILAND: During the early afternoon, pilots of the 1st Fighter Squadron, American Volunteer Group (AVG, aka “The Flying Tigers”) attack Tak Airdrome at Rahaeng and destroy two bombers and a fighter.
COMMONWEALTH OF THE PHILIPPINES:
A lull settles over the entire front on Bataan as both sides dig in and prepare
for further action. The Japanese have completed their withdrawal from I Corps
area; diversionary forces employed against II Corps are ordered back to the
Balanga area.
The U.S. War Department orders General Douglas
MacArthur, Commanding
General U.S. Army Forces, Far East (USAFFE), to move his headquarters to
Mindanao Island and then go to Australia to take command of Allied forces in the
Southwest Pacific.
MacArthur threatens to resign his commission and join the
Bataan defence forces as a volunteer, but his advisers talk him out of it.
The blockade runner Elcano brings 1,000 tons of food to Corregidor. This is
enough to feed Bataan for four days.
EAST CHINA SEA: The submarine USS Triton (SS-201) sinks a Japanese merchant cargo vessel 60 miles (97 kilometres) south of Quelpart Island.
NETHERLANDS EAST INDIES: Major
General George H Brett, Deputy Commanding General ABDA Command informs the U.S.
War Department of his decision to evacuate the USAAF 5th Air Force and other US
troops from Java.
On Java, USAAF 5th Air Force bombers based in Java bases fly about 20
strikes, usually in two and three aircraft elements, against shipping in the
Java Sea and against targets on Bali from this date through 1 March. Eleven
strikes are complete failures; the remainder, although causing some damage to
vessels and airfield facilities, fail to deter the invasion of Java. During the
morning, USAAF 5th Air Force P-40 pilots shoot down five Mitsubishi A6M, Navy
Type 0 Carrier Fighters (to be given the Allied Code Name “Zeke”).
On Java, General Archibald Wavell, Commander in Chief ABDA Command, warns
British Prime Minister Winston Churchill that the Japanese will soon complete
the conquest of the Netherlands East Indies and capture nearly 100,000 Dutch,
British, Australian and U. S. troops.
On Dutch West Timor, the Australians begin an attack on the village of
Babau at 0530 hours; by the end of the day, the Australian have occupied it.
AUSTRALIA: After the government confirmed its decision that all Australian Imperial Force troops should be returned to Australia instead of serving in Java, Lieutenant General Vernon Sturdee, Chief of the Australian General Staff, cables General Sir Archibald Wavell, Commander-in-Chief American-British-Dutch-Australian (ABDA) Command, that Lieutenant General John Lavarack, General Officer Commanding I Australian Corps, and his staff should be evacuated from Java as soon as possible. Sturdee also urges Wavell to evacuate the Australian troops that disembarked from the SS Orcades at Batavia, Java, on 18 February.
U.S.A.: Escort carrier USS Card launched.
Submarines USS Tinosa and Lapon laid down.
CARIBBEAN SEA: An unarmed U.S. tanker is torpedoed and sunk by German submarine U-67 about 225 miles (362 kilometres) west of Aruba, Netherlands East Indies.
At 1532, the unescorted SS Kongsgaard was attacked by U-67 with two torpedoes seven miles off North Point, Curaçao. The master saw one torpedo and he tried to evade, but one of the torpedoes struck on the port side between the bridge and the poop deck. The cargo caught fire; sending flames high above the entire afterpart. A dinghy was thrown overboard, whereupon two men tried to save themselves in it, but the flames caught up with them. Some men amidships lowered the starboard boat and then rowed away as fast as they could, after having fished some men out of the sea. At 1902, the U-boat fired a coup de grâce, which missed and at 1930 a second, which struck the afterpart and caused the tanker to sink about seven miles west of North Point. The master and six survivors in the lifeboat were rescued by a fishing vessel three hours later and taken to Curaçao. An eight survivor was also picked up; he jumped off the afterpart and swam through the flames, which had quickly spread on the water after the explosion, until he reached open water.
At 2113, motor tanker Circe Shell, dispersed from Convoy ON-60, was torpedoed and sunk by U-161 20 miles west-northwest of Port of Spain, Trinidad. One crewmember was lost. The master, 51 crewmembers and five gunners were picked up by the British tug Busy and landed at Port of Spain on 23 February.
ATLANTIC OCEAN: On convoy escort destroyer HMS Montgomery rescued the survivors of Scottish Standard. USS Wickes (DD-75), was commissioned as HMS Montgomery (G-95) on 25 Oct. 1940. (Ron Babuka)
An unarmed U.S. tanker is torpedoed by German submarine U-504 about three miles (4,8 kilometres) east of Jupiter Inlet, Florida.
U-432 spotted a steamer of 5000 GRT in heavy seas about 125 miles ESE of Ocean City, Maryland. A first torpedo missed and the U-boat then crossed behind the steamer to the port side. At 0123 a second torpedo was fired at 800 meters, which hit the freighter amidships. At 0242 a third torpedo struck forward of the bridge. It is assumed that this ship was SS Azalea City and that the nature of the cargo caused the ship to capsize after the torpedo hits. None of the eight officers and 30 men on board survived.
At 1044, motor tanker Egda was torpedoed by
U-107 after the ship had left
Convoy ON-65 to proceed to the USA alone.
U-107 was on her way home with
only two torpedoes left. One torpedo struck on port side between the #3 and #4
wing tanks, but she did not sink and reached Halifax safely under own power and
continued to New York for repairs.