5 March 1942

UNITED KINGDOM: Conscription is to be extended to men aged up to 45 and women aged between 20 and 30.

Admiral of the Fleet Sir Dudley Pound is replaced by Field Marshall Sir Alan Brooke, Chief of the Imperial General Staff, as Chairman of the British Chiefs of Staff Committee. This appointment improves relations between Prime Minster Winston Churchill and the Committee as Admiral Pound was noted for a strictly maritime point of view.
Winston Churchill proposes to U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt that a U.S. division be sent to New Zealand on the condition that the New Zealand Expeditionary Force remains in the Middle East.
Civil servants' pencil sharpeners are withdrawn to conserve pencils.

Minesweeping trawler HMS Ensay and Sir Argavaine launched.

Submarines HMS Trooper and P-311 launched.

Escort carrier HMS Stalker launched.

Destroyer HMS Melbreak launched.

Corvette HMCS Morden departed refit Clyde to escort Convoy ON-73.

Minesweeper HMS Hythe commissioned.

Corvette HMS Pennywort commissioned.

U.S.S.R.: Kuibyshev: The premiere of the seventh symphony(Leningrad) by Dmitri Shostakovich, a bleak work written during the siege of Leningrad.

Moscow announces recapture by the Soviet Army of Yukhnov, northwest of Kaluga, on the central front.

YUGOSLAVIA: Chetnik guerrillas commanded by Chetnik leader Major General Draza-Dragoljub Mihajlovic, rout Italian forces in Montenegro.

INDIA: Major General Lewis H. Brereton takes command of the USAAF 10th Air Force with HQ at New Delhi. The 10th Air Force has eight tactical aircraft, all B-17 Flying Fortresses.

BURMA: Rangoon: The city's prisons and lunatic asylums are thrown open; large-scale arson and looting follow, and a wounded orang-utan escapes from the zoo.

British Lieutenant General Sir Harold Alexander arrives in Rangoon to become General Officer Commanding Burma Army. General Archibald Wavell, Commander in Chief India, has given Alexander orders to hold Rangoon at all costs. Alexander immediately orders the 1st Burma Division to counter-attack the Japanese from the north and the 17th Indian Division, which has be reinforced, to attack east of Pegu. Meanwhile, the Japanese capture Pegu, a railroad junction 50 miles (80 kilometres) north of Rangoon, and threaten to trap Alexander's forces.

JAPAN: Imperial General Headquarters issues Navy Directive No.62 ordering Commander-in-Chief, Combined Fleet, upon completion of the Java operation, to annihilate the remaining enemy force in Dutch New Guinea and to occupy strategic points of that territory. The objectives of the occupation are to survey the country for possible sites for air bases, anchorages and oilfields, as well to secure a good communication and supply line with British New Guinea.

NETHERLANDS EAST INDIES: The Dutch continue a losing battle for Java. At dusk, the Dutch troops in the vicinity of Batavia, the capital, surrender to the Japanese and, by 2130 hours that night, the city has been occupied. The Allies retreat toward Bandung in Java's central highland.
Carrier-based Japanese aircraft mount a damaging raid on the naval base at Tjilatjap, Java sinking 17 ships and completely destroying the harbour.

BISMARCK ARCHIPELAGO: The Japanese convoy bound for Huon Gulf, New Guinea, sails from Rabaul, New Britain Island, during the night of the 5th/6th.

COMMONWEALTH OF THE PHILIPPINES: Japanese transport Takao Maru, damaged and driven aground off Vigan, Luzon, on 10 December 1941, is destroyed by Filipino saboteurs.

NEWFOUNDLAND: Corvette HMCS Moose Jaw completed temporary repairs St John's.

U.S.A.: The Air Force Combat Command activates HQ XII Interceptor Command at Drew Field, Tampa, Florida.
The Civil Air Patrol (CAP) begins flying antisubmarine patrols off the east coast.
The weekly magazines “Liberty” and “Saturday Evening Post” announce price increases to begin in April: from 5 cents per copy to 10 cents. (In year 2002 dollars, that is an increase from 56 cents to $1.11.)

The motion picture "The Invaders" opens at the Capitol Theater in New York City. This British film was originally entitled "Forty_Ninth Parallel" when it was released in Britain in 1941. Directed by Michael Powell, this war drama about a U-boat crew stranded in northern Canada stars Eric Portman, Leslie Howard, Raymond Massey, Laurence Olivier and Glynis Johns.

ATLANTIC OCEAN: At 2244, the unescorted and unarmed SS Mariana was hit aft of the mast by one torpedo from U-126 47 miles (76 kilometres) north of Grand Turk Island in the Turks and Caicos Islands and sank within five minutes. The crew of eight officers and 28 crewmen all perished.

At 1533, the unescorted OA Knudsen was hit on the port side in tank #6 by one torpedo from U-128 east of Abaco Island, Bahamas. The ship started listing and the engines were stopped. The crew abandoned ship in the starboard lifeboat and a motorboat, but eight men remained on board, managed to restart the engines and head for land. A first coup de grâce at 15.42 hours missed, but a second fired at 16.42 hours hit on the port side in tank #9, killing a British deckboy. The remaining men abandoned ship in the port lifeboat and the master ordered the starboard lifeboat containing 24 men to head for nearest land while the motorboat and the port lifeboat stayed near the ship. The master and four crewmembers then reboarded the tanker, rigged up a new antenna and managed to establish a radio contact with a land station. They also transferred some petrol to the motorboat and abandoned the vessel. At 0230 on 6 March, the master and six crewmen again reboarded the OA Knudsen in order to save the vessel. 15 minutes later, U-128 began shelling the tanker, which caught fire and eventually sank. Shrapnel had injured the master and five men during the shelling before they were able to leave the ship with the motorboat. In the evening, they spotted the starboard lifeboat and took it in tow. Land was reached in the night, but they gave up trying to find a suitable landing place. On 7 March, the boats were taken in tow by a schooner, which landed them at Cornwall, Abaco Island. On 10 March, an able seaman died of wounds in a hospital and was buried on Abaco Island.

The unarmed U.S. freighter Collamer had lost Convoy HX-178 in heavy seas, unable to maintain convoy speed and with damage to her deck cargo, the master decided to return to Halifax. At 1135 hours on 5 Mar 1942, the Collamer was hit by one torpedo from U-404 43 miles (69 kilometres) southeast of Halifax, off the coast of Nova Scotia, while proceeding on a nonevasive course in rough seas at 9 knots. The torpedo struck the starboard side amidships, causing the boilers to explode and killed the engine room crew of three officers and four men. The ship began to sink fast by the stern and the crew of seven officers and 31 men abandoned ship in two lifeboats. But before they could get away, a second torpedo struck the ship underneath the bridge just aft of the #2 hatch on the port side. A terrific explosion caused the ship to sink immediately by the stern. The radio operator had managed to send a SOS to Halifax. After several hours, two aircraft appeared and signalled the British SS Empire Woodcock, which picked up the survivors.

At 2307, the unescorted Benmohr was torpedoed and sunk by U-505 about 210 miles SSW of Freetown. The master, 51 crewmembers and four gunners were rescued by an RAF 95 Sqn Sunderland and landed at Freetown.