March 3rd, 1942 (TUESDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM: The new Lancaster bomber makes its operational debut, when four aircraft lay mines in the Heligoland Bight with No.44 (Rhodesia) Squadron.
Commander James Douglas Prentice RCN was awarded the Distinguished Service Order (DSO). The citation, awarded as per the London Gazette of 03 Mar 42 (there was no Canada Gazette), read: "For bravery and enterprise in action against enemy submarines - HMCS Chambly." James "Chummy" Prentice was born in Victoria, BC After service with the RN (retired in the rank of Commander), he was enrolled in the RCN as a LCdr (Temp), on 15 Jun 27. The records indicate he was serving as a staff officer at HMC Naval Base, Sydney, CB, on 28 Aug 39, in the rank of Acting Commander. He went on to become one of Canada's premier U-boat killers with three U-boats to his credit (U-501 on 10 Sep 41, U-621 on 18 Aug 44, and U-984 on 20 Aug 44). He retired from the RCN in the rank of Captain on 02 Apr 46.
Destroyer HMS Ithuriel
commissioned.
Paris: 'We were returning with Robert Rey from dining near the Opéra', wrote Galtier-Boissière, 'when the antiaircraft opened up violently, making the ground shake. Away to the west there was a terrific raid. The Pont Neuf was crowded with bystanders who watched the bombing as they would have done a firework display on July 14.' This, the first massive air-raid on Paris, was targetted on the Renault factory at Boulogne-Billancourt, where tanks were being made for the Heer. The bombing was inaccurate; some 500 killed and three times as many wounded.
RAF Bomber Command dispatches 235 aircraft, 89 Wellingtons, 48 Hampdens, 29 Stirlings, 26 Manchesters, 23 Whitleys and 20 Halifaxes to bomb the Bellincourt Renault Factory during the night of the 3rd-4th. The Renault factory, in the town of Boulogne-Billancourt just west of the center of Paris, was making an estimated 18,000 trucks a year for the German forces. The aircraft were dispatched in three waves, the crews of the leading wave being selected for their experience. The plan called for the massed use of flares and a very low bombing level so that crews could hit the factory without too many bombs falling in the surrounding town. There were no Flak defences. The target was bombed by 223 aircraft which caused serious damage to production facilities; unfortunately, some bombs fall off target, hitting nearby houses, killing 500 Frenchmen, including whole families. Only one Wellington is lost. The main raid lasted 1 hour and 50 minutes. One aircraft bombed the port area at Dieppe while two Whitleys drop leaflets over Paris.
VICHY FRANCE: The government announces that 'official' German figures put the number of French arrested in 1941 at 5,390 and executions at more than 250.
GERMANY: Four RAF Bomber Command
Wellingtons jettisoned their bombs
over Emden during the night of the 3rd/4th; one
Wellington was lost. Four Lancasters
fly a minelaying mission in Heligoland Bight; this was the first Lancaster
mission of the war.
POLAND: Chelmno: An estimated 3,200 Jews from Zychlin are gassed.
INDIAN OCEAN: The gunboat USS
Asheville (PG-21) is sunk by gunfire of Japanese destroyers HIJMS Arashi and
Nowaki about 355 miles (571 miles) south-southeast of Tjilatjap, Java.
Asheville's sole survivor will perish in a POW camp in 1945. (Jack McKillop and
James Paterson)
BURMA: Fighting continues in the
Waw-Pyinbon area, northeast of Pegu. The British 63d Brigade Group arrives at
Rangoon.
Chinese leader Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek meets General Archibald Wavell,
Commander in Chief India, in Burma.
PACIFIC OCEAN:
Whilst escorting a number of Allied ships, destroyer HMS
Stronghold is intercepted by a force of three IJN cruisers and two destroyers
and sinks due to gunfire, 220 miles South of the Sunda Strait at 11 30S 109 03E.
There are 70 casualties, and all ships in company (depot ship Anking, MMS.51 RFA
Francol) are sunk except for the Dutch MV Zaandam.
Sloop HMAS Yarra is sunk in the above action. (Alex
Gordon)(108)
USN Submarine Operations in the PACIFIC:
USS Seawolf (SS-197) sinks an armed transport at 07-02 N, 125-33 E in Davao harbor.
USS TAMBOR (SS-198) sinks a civilian cargo ship at 21-18 N, 108-39 E, NW of Hainan Island.
USS FINBACK (SS-230) sinks a sampan at 25-25 N, 126-31 E.
0200: USS HADDOCK (SS-231) sinks a civilian cargo ship at 32-18 N, 126-52 E. (Skip Guidry)
After having attacked Wake Island on 24 February, Task Force Sixteen (TF 16) built around the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise (CV-6) is en route to attack Marcus Island. SBD Dauntlesses on antisubmarine patrol attack two Japanese submarines but the task force commander, Rear Admiral William F. “Bull” Halsey, opts to continue the mission.
JAVA SEA: On the evening of 1
March, the submarine USS Perch (SS-176) surfaced 30 miles (48 kilometres)
northwest of Surabaja, Java, and started in for an attack on the enemy convoy
that was landing troops. Two Japanese destroyers attacked and drove her down
with a string of depth charges which caused her to bottom at 135 feet (41
meters). Several more depth charge attacks caused extensive damage, putting the
starboard motors out of commission and causing extensive flooding throughout the
boat. After repairs, the sub surfaced at 0200 hours on 2 March only to be again
driven down by the enemy destroyers. The loss of oil, and air from damaged
ballast tanks, convinced the enemy that the sub was breaking up and they went on
to look for other kills, allowing USS Perch to surface. With the submarine's
decks awash and only one engine in commission, the crew made all possible
repairs. During the early morning of 3 March, a test dive was made with almost
fatal results. Expert handling and good luck enabled her to surface from that
dive; only to be attacked by two enemy cruisers and three destroyers. When the
enemy shells commenced to straddle, the commanding officer ordered all hands on
deck, and with all possible hull openings open, USS Perch was scuttled. The
entire crew of 54 men and five officers were captured by a Japanese destroyer;
all but six men, who died of malnutrition in Japanese POW camps, survived the
war.
NETHERLANDS EAST INDIES: The Dutch continue a losing battle for Java against superior enemy forces.
AUSTRALIA: Western Australia: At 1000 hours local, 12 Japanese Navy Zero fighters swept in over the harbour at Broome, early today in an attack which killed 70 people and destroyed 24 flying boats and land aircraft.
The flying boats had been carrying refugees including children, from the war in Java, with Broome as a staging post on the evacuation route. Warning of a possible raid was given when a Japanese aircraft appeared yesterday, making three circuits of the port before flying off. Aircraft captains were warned to take off as soon as possible after daybreak.
In 15 minutes, the raiders - who were not opposed - wrecked every flying boat and destroyed all land aircraft including two Flying Fortresses and two Liberators, one of which took off only to be shot down over the sea. Only one of the 33 people on board survived. The raid, and smoke sighted at sea, caused the impression among many townspeople that the Japanese were about to invade.
The aircraft include two B-17 Flying Fortresses, two B-24 Liberators, two RAAF Hudsons and 12 amphibians.
Two of the dozen flying boats destroyed are two Short S-23
C-Class Empire Boats, (1) British Overseas Airways Corp. (BOAC), msn S-845,
registered G-AEUC and named “Corinna,” and RAAF A18-12, msn 849, ex Qantas VH-ABC,
named “Coogee.” Casualties include 20 USAAF airmen and an estimated 45 Dutch
women and children. The airfield at Wyndham, Western Australia, is also
attacked.
Japanese fighters returning to their carrier from the raid on Broome shoot
down KNILM Douglas DC-3-194B, msn 1937, registered PK-AFV. This is one of the
last civilian aircraft to leave Java and is carrying a very valuable consignment
of diamonds; there are no survivors.. Jack McKillop)
NEWFOUNDLAND: U-587 fired torpedoes into the harbour at St John's, but did not sink anything.
U.S.A.: The Combined Chiefs of Staff (CCS) take under consideration a recommendation to continue Operation SUPERGYMNAST, the projected plan to combine the US and British plans for the seizure of Dakar, Casablanca and Tunisia, as an "academic study" only. Thus the proposed Northwest African venture (Operation GYMNAST) ceases to affect the USAAF 8th Air Force until it is revived later as Operation TORCH.
By executive order, the War Department reorganises into three
autonomous sections: Army Air Forces, Army Ground Forces, and Services of
Supply. The Air Corps continued to exist as a combatant arm of the Army.
The War Production Board decrees that suits for men and boys no longer
will have trouser cuffs and pleats, vests and patch pockets.
ATLANTIC OCEAN: An unarmed U.S. freighter, the 5,104-ton Mary, of the A.H. Bull Steamship Company, en-route from New York to Suez. is torpedoed and sunk by German submarine U-129 about 250 miles (402 kilometres) northeast of Paramaribo, Dutch Guiana. One man dies. (Jack McKillop & Keith Allen)
Merchant ship Helenus sunk by U-68.
At 1705, the unescorted and unarmed SS (Hog Islander) Mary was
hit by two torpedoes from
U-129 about 165 miles off the
north coast of Brazil, while steaming on a nonevasive course at 10 knots. The
first torpedo struck on the port side at the #3 hold. The explosion blew a
column of water over the bridge, wrecked the radio shack and killed one crewman.
The second struck about 8 seconds later at the #4 lower hold. Most of the eight
officers and 26 crewmen had abandoned ship in two lifeboats, before the ship was
hit by a coup de grâce at 1717 on the port side at the #1 hold, causing the ship
to sink about 15 minutes later. The U-boat surfaced and Clausen questioned the
survivors in the boat of the master before leaving the area. The survivors in
the lifeboats were picked up after sailing 540 miles in six days by the American
steam merchant Alcoa Scout about 38 miles northeast of Georgetown, British
Guyana and taken to Port of Spain, Trinidad. The master, Severin Broadwick, also
lost his next ship to a U-boat, when the George Calvert was sunk by
U-753 (Von Mannstein) on 20
May 1942. He survived the sinking again, but lost another ship to a U-boat, when
Thomas Ruffin was so badly damaged by
U-510 (Neitzel) on 9 Mar 1943,
that the ship was declared a total loss.