25 February 1942

UNITED KINGDOM: Westminster: Sir Stafford Cripps makes a speech asking why so many resources are being spent on building up Bomber Command.

The debate that began in the House of Commons yesterday comes to a close with many speakers being sharply critical of government policy, with the bombing of Germany being called into question.

Major General James E Chaney, Commanding General US Army Forces in British Isles (USAFBI), instructs Brigadier General Ira C Eaker and the staff of the VIII Bomber Command to proceed to HQ, RAF Bomber Command for a study of bombing operations, and to make reconnaissance of certain airfields and submit plans for the reception and assignment of US Army Air Forces units.

FRANCE: Paris: Galtier-Boissière's diary notes more arrests by the Gestapo. "Marie-Claude, daughter of Lucille Vogel and widow of Vaillant-Couturier".

During the night of the 25-26th, three RAF Bomber Command aircraft drop leaflets on Paris and Lille.

GERMANY: During the night of 25-26th, RAF Bomber Command dispatches 61 aircraft, 43 Wellingtons, 12 Manchesters and six Stirlings, to visually bomb a the floating drydock at Kiel; 36 aircraft bomb the target. In the bombing of the harbor area, the accommodation ship Monte Sarmiento is hit and burnt out with the loss of 120-130 lives; 16 people are also killed and 39 injured in the town. Three Wellingtons are lost. Nine Hampdens also fly a mining mission along the coast.

NORWAY: During the night of the 25-26th, RAF Bomber Command dispatches 21 Whitleys to bomb aluminium factories at Heroya and Odda. These areas are cloud-covered and the Whitleys return without bombing.

U.S.S.R.: Black Sea Fleet and Azov Flotilla: Shipping loss: MS "TSch-405 "Vzrivatel"" - by field artillery, close to Eupatoria (later raised) (Sergey Anisimov)(69)

MEDITERRANEAN SEA: British submarine HMS P38 is sunk off the coast of Tunisia by Italian destroyers.

INDIA: U.S. Major General Joseph Stilwell is promoted to the rank of Lieutenant General, AUS, and confers with GHQ, India, at New Delhi.

BURMA: The Japanese are infiltrating into the Pegu Yomas mountain range through a gap of some 30-40 miles (48-64 kilometres) that exists between the Burma 1st Division at Nyaunglebin and the Indian 17th Division at Pegu, threatening the Rangoon-Mandalay road.
Pilots of the American Volunteer Group (AVG, aka, “The Flying Tigers”) shoot down three Nakajima Ki-27, Army Type 97 Fighters (later assigned the Allied Code Name “Nate”) over Rangoon at 1200 hours. At 1700 hours, the AVG pilots shoot down 23 Japanese Army fighters and an Army bomber over Rangoon.

NETHERLANDS EAST INDIES: On Java, General Archibald Wavell, Commander in Chief, American-British-Dutch-Australian (ABDA) Command, closes his HQ and departs for Australia. The ABDA Command is dissolved effective 0900 hours and the defence of Java is left to Dutch General Ter Poorten. The Dutch are to be assisted by British, Australian and American detachments. Wavell resumes his previous command, Commander in Chief India.
     On Java, the Australian Blackforce is concentrated around Buitenzorg, about 40 miles (64 kilometres) south of Batavia. The U.S. 2d Battalion, 131st Field Artillery Regiment (75mm Gun) (Truck-Drawn) is attached to Blackforce. (The 131st was a Texas National Guard unit inducted into Federal service on 25 November 1940.)
     Japanese destroyers land a small force on Bawean Island, 85 miles (137 kilometres) north of Surabaja, and set up a radio station.
     A Dutch PBY Catalina spots Japanese transports moving to invade Java. At 1125 hours, all available Allied cruisers and destroyers are ordered to join Admiral Doorman's Eastern Striking Force at Surabaja, Java. The cruisers HMS Exeter and HMAS Perth with destroyers HMS Jupiter, HMS Electra and HMS Encounter sail from Batavia to Surabaja. Without waiting for the arrival of the British reinforcements, Admiral Doorman sails with the heavy cruiser USS Houston (CA-30), the Dutch light cruisers HNMS De Ruyter and HNMS Java and seven destroyers from Surabaja at dusk. He carries out a sweep to the east along the coast of Madoera Island in the hope of intercepting the Japanese transports reported near Bawean Island. No contact is made however and the Allied force return the next morning to Surabaja where it is joined by the British detachment from Batavia. From then onwards the Eastern Striking Force became known as the Combined Striking Force, under the command of Dutch Rear-Admiral Karel Doorman. One of the problems faced by this force is that each Navy uses their own standards that are not compatible, e.g., signalmen must grapple with four different types of flag codes.

AUSTRALIA: Arriving at Brisbane, Queensland, from the U.S. are three USAAF bombardment groups (one light and two medium), with their assigned 12 squadrons, in addition to a pursuit squadron. Two of the groups will enter combat in April.

U.S.A.: Los Angeles: The city is recovering from a false alarm of an air-raid which caused anti-aircraft defences to fire at "unidentified aircraft."

Reports of unidentified aircraft approaching Los Angeles, California, from the ocean during the night of the 24th-25th result in the city being blacked out from 0227 to 0721 hours. During the "Battle of Los Angeles," some 1,400 rounds of 3-inch (7.62 cm) antiaircraft ammunition is fired against various "targets." Later the US Army will conclude that the "battle" had been touched off by one to five unidentified aircraft, but the USN will maintain there was no reason for the firing.
The War Production Board bans the use of rubber thread in brassieres, girdles and corsets for the duration of the war.

Washington: Thousands of American residents of Japanese descent are being forcibly moved from the west coast to internment camps in inland states. More than 112,000 people are being ordered into buses and lorries, often at gunpoint - whether or not they are American born or naturalised citizens. Such is anti-Japanese hysteria in the United States since the attack on Pearl Harbor that most civil rights campaigners have turned a blind eye to the mass evacuation.

All 3,000 Japanese -American residents of Terminal Island, Los Angeles, have been given three days in which to leave.

The decision is a response both to fears on the part of the army and navy that the Japanese might help a Japanese invasion and to pressure from the public and politicians. Since the attack on Pearl Harbor seven Japanese have been murdered by vigilantes.

One senator has called for all Japanese, whether citizens or not to be placed in "concentration camps". Similar scenes are taking place in western Canada. Men are being parted from their families and placed in labour camps.

In Washington, the Air War Plans Division recommends the removal of Operation GYMNAST (an early Allied plan for the seizure of Casablanca and the invasion of Northwest Africa) from the list of current projects. This proposal, if adopted, would leave the 8th Air Force uncommitted to any operation.

The all-Nisei Varsity Victory Volunteers (Triple V) is formed in Hawaii as part of the 34th Combat Engineers Regiment. (Gene Hanson)

The U.S. Coast Guard assumes responsibility for U.S. port security under Executive Order 9074.

Escort carrier USS Breton laid down.

Destroyer KNM Stord (ex-HMS Success) laid down.

ATLANTIC OCEAN: At 0218, the unescorted steam tanker La Carriere was torpedoed by U-156 about 70 miles SW of Guanica, Puerto Rico. The ship sank only after two additional hits and two missed torpedoes at 0839. Eleven crewmembers and four gunners were lost. The master and four crewmembers were picked up by a USCG cutter and landed at Trinidad. 21 crewmembers landed at Guanica the same day.

Five U-boats - four of them outward bound from their Biscay bases and fully loaded with torpedoes - have caused havoc to convoy ON-67, westbound from Liverpool to Halifax. It was sighted 600 miles north-east of Cape Race and trailed until the submarines formed a hunting pack and struck.

In the three-day battle that followed, seven ships - six of them large tankers - are sunk.

The seven sinkings are: the Norwegian ship Finnanger by U-158 on 24 February 39 dead; the British Adellen by U-155 on the 22nd 36 dead; the British Anadara by U-558 and U-587 on 24 February, 62 dead; the Norwegian Eidanger by U-558 and U-158 on the 24th, no dead; the British Empire Celt on the 24th by U-558, six dead; the British Inverarder by U-558 on the 24th,,no dead; the Norwegian Sama by U-155 on 22 February, 20 dead.