March 21st, 1942 (SATURDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM: Woburn, England: A story passed to London by British agents in occupied Europe is causing satisfied chuckles among "Leeper's Sleepers" who work at the Duke of Bedford's seat, Woburn Abbey, requisitioned for the duration. Apparently German troops conducted a house-to-house search in Bucharest, looking for a Romanian freedom radio station. They did not find it - in fact the station operates from Woburn Abbey.
It is just one of several clandestine transmitters directed at Hitler's Europe, supposedly operated by anti-Nazis but actually run by a secret government agency, camouflaged as a department of the ministry of economic warfare, which until five days ago was run by Hugh Dalton. Churchill dubbed Dalton "minister of ungentlemanly warfare". Dalton appointed an old hand at the intelligence game, Rex Leeper, and told him that he would back him an any kind of dirty tricks he could work up.
Some are fiendishly simple. As one agent confessed: "It's wonderful the chaos you can cause by switching destination labels on railway wagons."
Subversive slander is another handy and potent weapon, although it can backfire. Rumours of orgies, degeneracy or luxury living by Nazi leaders while the people suffer have been set off by agents in casual conversation in Europe, only to surface later as hard intelligence.
Forged identity cards and fake German newspapers with gloomy reports are routine at Woburn Abbey. One of the most successful operations is run by Sefton Delmer, a former Daily Express correspondent in Berlin. His Gustav Siegfried Eins radio station, supposedly run by disgruntled German soldiers, likes to tell German soldiers at the front that back home foreign workers are going to bed with their wives and infecting them with VD.
The Gloster factory rolls out its final Hawker Hurricane. (22)
Destroyer HMS Rotherham launched.
GERMANY: Berlin: Severe penalties including sentences in concentration camps, are announced to deter people from making unnecessary journeys by rail.
Intent on gearing the German war industry up to the highest possible levels of production, Hitler today appointed former merchant sailor and early Nazi street fighter, Fritz Sauckel as Reich Plenipotentiary-General for Labour Mobilisation, to seize forced labourers from occupied Europe. Labour shortages are the greatest impediment to increased production at the moment. Sauckel is to use whatever methods are necessary to obtain sufficient numbers of workers: they may be snatched from the streets or from their homes. They are then to be transported, without food, water or sanitation, to their places of work. Krupp, the manufacturer of guns, tanks and ammunition, is expected to be one of Sauckel's best customers.
Able-bodied men and women from occupied countries are ideal employees from the German point of view. They can be worked unpaid until they drop, and their keep costs almost nothing. Forced labour camps are carefully sited to suit the needs of German industry. There were 21 million foreign workers in Germany at the beginning of this year plus 1.5 million PoWs working in German industry or agriculture. Both figures are expected to grow dramatically as a result of today's move.
The RAF Bomber Command dispatches a Wellington to Essen during the day but it returns due to lack of cloud cover.
U-960 laid down.
U.S.S.R.: In the northern sector south of Lake Ilmen, thirteen divisions of the German 16th Army and 2nd Armeekorps in a salient at Demyansk kessel begin to withdraw. The route is partially subject to interdiction artillery fire but is not completely cut. The winter thaw holds them up and it is not until 21 April that the divisions make contact with German troops. The salient resembles a mushroom lying on its side, with the corridor at the base being about 10 kilometres wide. The number of divisions inside the salient varies as some are relieved and others are sent in.
"At the beginning of March 1942 such a relief attack had been planned and significant reinforcements shuttled into the Staraya Russa area to carry it through. Hitler entrusted the operation to General Walther von Seydlitz-Kurbach, who received command of the Tenth Army Corps and its specially beefed-up force consisting of the 5th and 8th Jäger Divisions, and the 122nd, 127th, and 329th Infantry Divisions. Seydlitz’s attack against the Soviet forces between 10th Armeekorps and the pocket was scheduled for 7:30am, March 21." (p.223).[*]
This was known as "Operation GANGWAY" (Unternehmen ‘Fallreep’). It took nearly a month of heavy combat from without and within the kessel to enable the link-up to, and eventual exit of the besieged German troops from the Demjansk pocket. Sydnor notes:
"On April 22, seventy-three days after the encirclement of German forces around Demjansk, the bridgehead was secure enough for Seydlitz to begin ferrying supplies across the river by barge; the siege had officially ended." (p.226). (257)
(Jack McKillop, Russ Folsom, Pat and Diane McTaggart & Jeff Chrisman)
ITALY: The Second Battle of Sirte. The Axis, now aware of the British supply convoy sailing from Alexandria, Egypt, to Malta, dispatch Vice Admiral Angelo Iachino from Taranto with the battleship Littorio and four destroyers; Rear-Admiral Angelo Parona also sets sail from Messina with the heavy cruisers Gorizia and Trento, the light cruiser Bande Nere and four destroyers.
MALTA: In a repeat of Force H's mission on 7 March 1942, 16 more Spitfires are delivered to Malta.
LIBYA: The British Eighth Army continues raids on forward landing grounds of Axis forces as a diversion for a convoy to Malta. The raids are partially successful drawing off part of the enemy's aircraft.
INDIA: New Delhi: Sit Stafford Cripps, the lord privy seal, arrives here next week armed with new constitutional proposals for India. Although he declined to reveal what these proposals would be before leaving London, there seems little doubt that some sort of independence will be offered. The Labour Party is committed to Indian independence and Churchill, a doughty champion of British rule, has been pressed strongly by President Roosevelt to offer India self-government after the war.
With the possibility of a Japanese threat to India, the millions of Indians who are serving with Allied forces will expect nothing less, whatever the ultimate problems of reconciling the Hindu majority and Moslem minority.
The Assam-Burma-China Ferry Command is activated. It consists
of 25 Pan-American World Airways DC-3 transports, which are soon diverted from
mission of taking supplies to China in order to supply forces withdrawing from
Burma.
BURMA: The Japanese open a 24-hour air operation against Magwe Airdrome in Burma where the American Volunteer Group's (AVG's) 3d Fighter Squadron and RAF units are based. AVG pilots down two Nakajima Ki-27 Army Type 97 Fighters (Allied Code Name "Nate") at 1430 hours. The Japanese attack destroys nine RAF Bristol Blenheims and three AVG H87s on the ground and three RAF fighters are shot down.
The Burma 1st Division, upon being relieved on the Toungoo
front by the Chinese 200th Division, Chinese 5th Army, begins a movement to the
Irrawaddy front, leaving a large area south of Toungoo undefended. Lieutenant
General Joseph Stilwell, Commanding General American Army Forces, China, Burma
and India and Chief of Staff of the Chinese Army, now in Burma, issues orders
for Chinese participation in the defence of the line Toungoo-Prome. The Chinese
5th Army is charged with the defence of Toungoo; its 200th Division is
reinforced by attachment of the Temporary 55th Division (T-55th ) of the Chinese
6th Army, which is to move to Pyawbwe. In army reserve, the Chinese 22d Division
is directed to Taungdwingyi, where it is to be prepared to assist the British in
the Prome area while the Chinese 96th Division is to move to Mandalay.
Japanese bombers and fighters open as 24-hour operation against Magwe
Airdrome. Pilots of the 3d Fighter Squadron, American Volunteer Group (AVG, aka,
“The Flying Tigers”), shoot down two Nakajima Ki-27, Army Type 97 Fighters
(later assigned the Allied Code Name “Nate”) at 1430 hours. The Japanese attack
the airfield and destroy nine RAF Blenheim Mk. IV bombers and three AVG P-40s on
the ground and three RAF Hurricane Mk. IIs in the air.
JAPAN: In THE JAPAN TIMES newspaper, Rear Admiral SOSA Tanetsuga warns the Japanese people of American bases in Alaska and the Aleutians that could threaten the Homeland.
COMMONWEALTH OF THE PHILIPPINES: US forces start a retreat to the heavily fortified island of Corregidor in Manila Bay.
Lieutenant General Jonathan Wainwright, as commander of U.S. Forces in the Philippines (USFIP), which supersedes U.S. Army Forces, Far East (USAFFE), establishes headquarters on Corregidor Island and appoints Major General Lewis Beebe his chief of staff. Major General Edward P. King, Jr., is named commander of Luzon Force.
NEW GUINEA: The first four Curtiss Kittyhawks Mk. IAs of RAAF No. 75 Squadron arrive at Seven Mile Airdrome at Port Moresby. As Flight Lieutenant Turnbull leads his flight of four aircraft at low level in the approach to the runway at the Seven Mile aerodrome, one of the Anti-Aircraft gunners opens fire . Immediately other guns go into action and the firing continues until Turnbull had actually landed and the other three pilots had lowered their under-carriages.
Three of the four aircraft were damaged, one of them so severely that it was never flown again, and Jeffrey escaped death by a margin of no more than an inch or two when a bullet ripped through the cushion behind his head.
The remainder of the squadron arrives two hours later.
Of the squadron's twenty-one pilots only four had been in combat.
Two—Jackson and Turnbull—had flown against German and Italian aircraft in the Middle East ; another, Flight Lieutenant Anderson, was a survivor from the interception of the Japanese attack on Rabaul by Wirraways of No 24 Squadron, and the fourth, Flying Officer Woods, had served as second pilot of a Hudson operating from Port Moresby.
This lack of combat experience was not to last long ; in fact, for two of them—Flying Officers Cox and Wackett—no longer than one hour. Within that time a report was received that an enemy bomber was approaching Port Moresby on the routine daily reconnaissance the defenders had come to know well. Cox and Wackett were immediately ordered to intercept.
Climbing through cloud they surprised the enemy aircraft at 10,000 feet.
Cox made the first attack and put the bomber's port engine out of action. Wackett followed with a starboard attack and put a burst of gunfire into the other engine causing it to lose height rapidly until, at a height of about 500 feet, it exploded and crashed into the sea near the entrance, through the reef, to Port Moresby Harbour. It was a spectacular first "kill" for the squadron and, achieved so soon after their arrival and in full view of the garrison, it did much to raise the defender's and the squadron's spirits. Wackett and Cox shared the credit equally.
Port Moresby radio station "jammed" the bomber's operational frequency while the interception was made, to prevent the bomber's crew from giving away the secret of the arrival of No 75 Squadron, and listeners had the satisfaction of hearing the enemy base operator calling in vain for some time after the aircraft had been destroyed.
(Jack McKillop and Daniel Ross)
AUSTRALIA: Lieutenant General George H. Brett, Commanding General of U.S. Army Forces in Australia, assumes command of all Allied air forces in Australia.
Late in the afternoon, General Douglas MacArthur"> MacArthur's train reaches Kooringa, 80 miles (129 kilometres) north of Adelaide, South Australia. One of his staff officers, Colonel Dick Marshall, who had been sent on ahead, boards the train and tells the general that there are fewer than 32,000 Allied troops, American, British, and Australian, in the whole country, most of them service forces. There is not a single tank in the nation and the only combat-ready force is one brigade of the Australian 6th Division. If the Japanese land, the Australians intend to withdraw to the "Brisbane Line," holding the settled southern and eastern coasts, abandoning the northern ports to the Japanese. Supply lines to the rest of the Allied world, committed to defeating Germany first, are long. "God have mercy on us," MacArthur whispers. It is, he writes, his greatest shock and surprise of the whole war. In Adelaide, MacArthur swaps his little train for a luxurious private car provided by the Commissioner of the South Australian Railways. The press is there to greet him and seek a statement. MacArthur scrawls on the back of an envelope, "The President of the United States ordered me to break through the Japanese lines ...for the purpose, as I understand it, of organizing the American offensive against Japan, a primary object of which is the relief of the Philippines. I came through and I shall return." (Though he had reputedly said effectively the same speech at Terowie the previous day, according the eue witnesses) (Jack McKillop and Daniel Ross)
One of the great myths of the war in Australia. The "Brisbane Line" was simply a statement of fact - if the the task was to defend "vital assets" and population then the line from just north of Brisbane to just west of Port Augusta contained the bulk of the population, assets, logistics and military infrastructure (with a separate defended locality around Perth). It had be a pre-war staff study that gave rise to the myth (when it was "discovered" by the media after prompting by Eddie Ward (ALP) as a means to put Menzies (UAP) to the political sword).
At no time were there defence preparations on the basis of this study - troops, supplies and equipment was deployed as far forward as Darwin.
Mac did not "end it" because it did not really exist.
See The Brisbane Line Controversy by Paul Burns Allen and Unwin, 1998, paperback, 254pp ISBN: 1864485396
Also
http://www.defence.gov.au/army/AHU/REVIEWS/brisbaneline-rev.htm(Daniel Ross)
CANADA: Minesweeper HMCS Courtenay commissioned.
U.S.A.: The motion picture "Secret Agent of Japan" opens at the Globe Theater in New York City. Directed by Irving Pichel, this spy thriller, the first film to include the Pearl Harbor attack in the plot, stars Preston Foster and Lynn Bari.
The United States agrees to provide US$500 million in aid to China. (With inflation, US$500 million in 1942 is equal to US$5.5 trillion in year 2002 dollars.)
President Roosevelt"> Roosevelt signs Public Law 77-503, which makes it a federal crime for a person ordered to leave a military area to refuse to do so. (Scott Peterson) More...
Submarine USS Mingto laid down.
Corvette USS Temptress commissioned.
ATLANTIC OCEAN: German submarine U-124 torpedoes two U.S. merchant tankers off the coast of North Carolina, U.S.A.: (1) The first is an unarmed tanker about 70 miles (113 kilometres) off Wilmington. The ship breaks in two and the aft end is towed to Morehead City. (2) The second is an armed tanker off the Beaufort Lightship, but little damage is inflicted and the ship reaches Beaufort without further incident.
U-652 sank HMS Heythrop.
U-71 sank SS Oakmar.