13 February 1939

U.S.A.: Washington: Louis Brandeis, the first Jew to sit on the US Supreme Court, retires.

FINLAND: Finnish Foreign Minister Väinö Tanner is again at Stockholm. He is told by the Swedish Prime Minister Per Albin Hansson and Foreign Minister Christian Günther that Sweden would not send troops to help Finland. Also any British and French requests to allow their troops to cross Swedish territory on their way to Finland would be refused.

The Soviet tanks expand the Soviet breach of Mannerheim line at the Lähde sector.

GIBRALTAR: U.S. freighter SS Exford, detained at Gibraltar by British authorities since 5 February, is released.

JAPAN: The government cancels their arbitration treaty with the Netherlands.

SS Norna torpedoed and sunk by U-53. The ship went missing after leaving Gibraltar.

FRANCE: During the night of the 13-14th, RAF Bomber Command dispatches 28 bombers to Le Havre but they encounter icing and thick cloud and only meagre bombing results were claimed. There are no losses.

GERMANY: Operation Sealion is formally cancelled. This is the plan for the cross channel invasion of England. While postponed many times, this cancellation makes it final.

During the night of the 13-14th, RAF Bomber Command dispatches 39 bombers to Cologne and 18 to Aachen but all encountered icing and thick cloud and only meager bombing results were claimed. There are no losses.
Admiral Erich Raeder, head of the German Navy, brings a new plan to Chancellor Adolf Hitler. Raeder proposes that the Germans drive through Libya, into Egypt, and keep on going through Iraq, Iran, and all the way to India, thus drying up Britain's oil supply, hooking up with the Japanese, and winning the war. To do so, the German will have to divert more resources to the Mediterranean, starting with massive supplies to North Africa. To do that, the Germans will have to invade Malta. Hitler orders the Luftwaffe's Air Fleet 2 to hammer Malta and knock out its airfields and will to resist. General Erwin Rommel, commanding the Afrika Korps, who will lead the drive to India, thinks it's a great idea.

U.S.S.R.: The Soviet winter offensive continue to meet increasing German resistance. Despite this, the Soviet spearhead has reached Belorussia.

MEDITERRANEAN SEA: Submarine HMS Tempest is depth charged for 7 hours by Italian gunboat Circe and has to be scuttled in the Gulf of Taranto at 39 11N 17 47E with 39 casualties. 24 survive. The scuttled submarine sinks just after the Italians secure a towrope. (Alex Gordon)(108)

SINGAPORE: After escaping from the fall of Singapore, river gunboat HMS Scorpion is sunk by gunfire from IJN destroyers in the Banka Strait off Berhala Island, Sumatra. Little is known about her fate but it is believed that there might have been 20 survivors. (Alex Gordon)(108)

The 85,000-man British army is now penned inside a 28-mile (45 kilometer)-long perimeter surrounding Singapore City. The Japanese main thrusts are against the western part of the South Area. British forward units pull back during the night of the 13-14th, to cover the Alexandra area, where the main ordnance depot and ammunition magazine are located. The Japanese seize or damage most of the reservoirs, leaving the city with only seven days supply of water. Allied forces are in full retreat, with hordes of deserters causing chaos. Troops on duty have had barely an hour's sleep in days, and are exhausted. The famed 15-inch (38,1 cm) guns have been destroyed or captured. Lieutenant General Arthur Percival, General Officer Commanding Malaya Command, signals General Sir Archibald Wavell, Commander in Chief American-British-Dutch-Australian (ABDA) Command, that he doesn't think he can fight for more than two days. Wavell orders Percival to fight on. Meanwhile, the advancing Japanese themselves are desperately short on ammunition, and General YAMASHITA Tomoyoki commanding the 25th Army, is down to his last rounds. All remaining British shipping, small ships and other light craft, sail from Singapore during the night of the 13-14th. Some personnel are withdrawn in these vessels among them Rear Admiral, Malaya, and Air Officer Commanding, Far East.
British officers take time to court-martial one of their own, New Zealand-born Captain Patrick Heenan of the Indian Army, on a charge of treason. Heenan is charged with leaving RAF supplies intact on bases as British troops retreated, enabling advancing Japanese air units to take advantage of them. He has also given information about Malaya's defenses to the Japanese for years. Heenan is convicted and executed by firing squad at sundown.

Ugaki speaks in his diary: "Enormous numbers of transports have been sailing to the south from Singapore in the last few days, escorted by a fair number of cruisers and destroyers. The British have experienced evacuations at Norway, Dunkirk, or at Crete in Greece... In spite of our fairly big air strength, attacks against these vessels seem to be rather mild." (Ed Miller)

NETHERLANDS EAST INDIES: On Java, Lieutenant General John Lavarack, General Officer Commanding 1st Australian Army, tells General Sir Archibald Wavell, Commander in Chief American-British-Dutch-Australian Command, the he has drafted a recommendation that the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) should not be landed in the East Indies. Wavell asks him to wait until tomorrow until he can prepare a recommendation and then both are forwarded to the Combined Chiefs of Staff and the British and Australian War Offices. Wavell also suggests that there were “advantages in diverting one or both divisions of the AIF to Burma or Australia.”
An RAF reconnaissance plane sights a large concentration of Japanese shipping north of Bangka Island, at the same time many boats, full of British and Australian troops, were fleeing Singapore and found themselves among the enemy vessels. The launch carrying Rear-Admiral Spooner, Rear Admiral, Malaya, and Air Vice-Marshal Pulford, Air Officer Commanding, Far East, is driven ashore on a small uninhabited island north of Bangka Island. Two months later disease and starvation forced the survivors to surrender; the two flag officers were not among them and are never seen again.

Submarine USS Seadragon ends her first war patrol at Surabaya. Due to the continuous Japanese air raids on this Dutch base she left for Tjilatjap 21 Feb 1942. Later she was ordered to Fremantle where she arrived Mar 1942.

Submarine USS Salmon ended her first war patrol at Tjilatjap, Java.

Submarine USS Sturgeon ends her second war patrol at Surabaya. Due to the Japanese air attacks on that base she departed for Tjilatjap shortly afterwards.

COMMONWEALTH OF THE PHILIPPINES: Japanese dive bombers raid the Bataan peninsula, killing their own men by mistake.

On Bataan, the I Corps, after searching entire area of Big Pocket without finding any live Japanese, turns its full attention to the salient, Upper Pocket, in the main line of resistance. Elements released from the Big Pocket assault force join in the battle. In the South Sector, troops complete destruction of Japanese troops in the Silaiim area.

PHOENIX ISLANDS: Chartered U.S. passenger ship SS President Taylor, transporting 900 Army troops to occupy Canton Island, runs aground on a reef off her destination, and becomes stranded.

AUSTRALIA: Gazetted today. Lieutenant Colonel Charles Groves Wright Anderson, VC, MC. Awarded the Victoria Cross. 'During the operations in Malaya from the 18th to 22nd Jan 1942, Lieut. Col. ANDERSON, in command of a small Force, was sent to restore a vital position and to assist a Brigade. His Force destroyed ten enemy tanks. When later cut off, he defeated persistent attacks on his position from air and ground forces, and forced his way through the enemy lines to a depth of fifteen miles. He was again surrounded and subjected to a very heavy and frequent attacks resulting in severe casualties to his Force. He personally led an attack with great gallantry on the enemy who were holding a bridge, and succeeded in destroying four guns. Lieut. Col. Anderson throughout all this fighting, protected his wounded and refused to leave them. He obtained news by wireless of the enemy position and attempted to fight his way back through the eight miles of enemy occupied country. This proved to be impossible and the enemy were holding too strong a position for any attempt to be made to relieve him. On the 19th January, Lieut. Col. Anderson was ordered to destroy his equipment and make his way back as best he could round the enemy position. Throughout the fighting, which lasted for four days, he set a magnificent example of brave leadership, determination and outstanding courage. He not only showed fighting qualities of a very high order but throughout exposed himself to danger without any regard to his own personal safety.' (Daniel Ross)

TERRITORY OF HAWAII: Pearl Harbor: The superstitious Admiral Halsey refuses to take Task Force 13 out as scheduled; renumbered Task Force 16, it will sail tomorrow.

CANADA and U.S.A.: The governments of the two countries approve the construction of a U.S. Military Highway through Canada to Alaska.

U.S.A.: A Congressional subcommittee recommends immediate evacuation of all Japanese-Americans from strategic areas on the West Coast. The US Army has already drawn up plans to move the Japanese-Americans east of California's Sierra Nevada mountains. They send a letter to Roosevelt in which they recommend the "immediate evacuation of all persons of Japanese lineage" aliens and citizens alike from the entire strategic area of California, Washington, and Oregon. (Jack McKillop and Scott Peterson) More...

Japanese sub I-17 shells oil depot at Goleta, California, to no effect. (Patrick Holscher)

USS PC-555 and PC-562 laid down.

USS PC-552 launched.

USS YMS-113 launched.

FRANCE: The ghost town of Lorient, on the Atlantic coast of France, evacuated by all non-essential personnel last week, was hammered again by the RAF tonight, when 466 planes dropped over 1,000 tons of bombs. The reason for such intense attacks is to deny the port to packs of U-boats using it as a base for attacks on merchant shipping. Around 1,000 sorties are made on Lorient each month at present. St. Nazaire is also targeted, along with the U-boat engine works at Copenhagen, hit by low-level Mosquitoes 17 days ago.

Tonight's Lorient raid was by Lancaster, Halifax, Wellington and Stirling bombers. Seven are feared lost - three Wellingtons, two Lancasters, a Halifax and a Stirling. Privately, the boss of Bomber Command, Air Chief Marshal Harris, has misgivings about submarine pens as targets: "U-boats using these bases are amply protected by concrete, bomb-proof shelters."

Early intelligence reports suggest that while the port and city adjoining these shelters are being flattened, the submarines survive. Mining the approaches to their bases, convoy escort missions by aircraft, and raids on inland factories building prefabricated U-boats are all more effective.

U.S.S.R.: Soviet troops retake control of the Rostov-on-Don to Voronezh railway line with the recapture of Novosherkassk.

AUSTRALIA: Blamey ( MacArthur's Commander Allied Land Forces) sees the plans for Elkton I, Allied plan to push Japan out of New Guinea and New Britain, during a meeting with MacArthur in Brisbane. (Michael Mitchell)

Submarine USS Trigger departs Midway for her 4th war patrol. She is ordered to patrol off Palau.

Submarine USS Scamp arrives at Pearl Harbor.

CANADA: Corvette HMCS Chambly completed refit Liverpool , Nova Scotia.

N/S Edna Louise Belden RCN, through the physical danger of blinding snowstorms (during which one plane was lost) Belden, accompanied from St John's Newfoundland to Toronto, Ontario, two critically burned cases, and two who were helpless, with head and hand burns. Throughout the five days of the trip, originally planned to be a few hours, she showed great nursing skills, resourcefulness in meeting the contingencies of the delays and changes in transportation, devotion to duty and exemplary cheerfulness.

U.S.A.: "I Had The Craziest Dream" by Harry James and his Orchestra with vocal by Helen Forrest reaches Number 1 on the Billboard Pop Singles chart in the U.S. The song is from the motion picture "Springtime In The Rockies" starring Betty Grable, John Payne, Carmen Miranda and Cesar Romero. This song, which debuted on the charts on 5 December 1942, was charted for 18 weeks, was Number 1 for 2 weeks and was ranked Number 9 for the year 1943.

Destroyer escort USS Austin commissioned.

Destroyer USS Ordronaux commissioned.

USS SC-1063, SC-1266 and SC-752 commissioned.

USS PC-1086 laid down.

Destroyer escorts USS Ira Jeffery and Poole laid down.

Fleet tug USS Yuma laid down.

USS PCS-1378 laid down.

USS SC-1357 laid down.

ATLANTIC OCEAN: U-620 sunk NW of Lisbon, Portugal, in position 39.18N, 11.17W, by 5 depth charges from an RAF 202 Sqn Catalina. 47 dead (all hands lost).

During heavy seas U-653 lost an officer overboard. [Oberleutnant zur See Werner Laudon] (Alex Gordon)

U-507 (Type IXC) is sunk n the South Atlantic north-west of Natal, in position 01.38S, 39.52W, by depth charges from a US Catalina aircraft (VP-83/P-10). 54 dead (all hands lost).

Previously, U-507 (along with U-156 and U-506 and Italian submarine Cappellini) took part in the rescue operations after the sinking of SS Laconia in September 1942 off Africa. About 1500 men were saved by these boats and French ships from Dakar (which arrived on Sept 16, 4 days after the sinking). 7 Oct, 1942 One man lost after illness at sea. [Obersteuermann Kurt Warkentin] (Alex Gordon)

UNITED KINGDOM: The Supreme Headquarters, Allied Expeditionary Force (SHAEF), an alliance of British, American and French forces responsible for planning and executing Allied activities in Western Europe against the Germans. SHAEF, led by supreme commander Major General Dwight Eisenhower, is the organisation charged with developing Operation Overlord, the Allied invasion of north-west Europe. (Jean Beach)

NORTH SEA: Minesweeping trawler HMS Cap d'Antifer sunk by a German Motor Torpedo Boat.

FINLAND: The motion picture "The Flame of New Orleans" is released here. It was released April 25, 1941 in the US. Directed by Rene Clair, the film stars Marlene Dietrich, Bruce Cabot, Mischa Auer and Andy Devine. This period comedy set in 1840 New Orleans, has Dietrich trying to convince her fiancé that she is two different women while being chased by another man. The film was nominated for one technical Academy Award.

PACIFIC OCEAN: Submarine USS Hake sinks a Japanese sampam with gunfire in the Banda Sea in position 04.37S, 125.26E.

Frigate HMCS Orkney collided with SS Blairnevis which sank. There is no record of loss of life in this incident. Orkney proceeded to Dunstaffnage, Scotland, for repairs. Orkney was part of Escort Group 25, which was engaged in escorting merchant shipping into Liverpool when the accident occurred. The weather the time of the accident was foul with heavy rain that further reduced visibility. Blairnevis was a new merchant ship, loaded with valuable bauxite. She had to be grounded to avoid her sinking and blocking the swept channel in the Mersey River estuary. Following the collision, Orkney's repairs lasted until Apr 45 when she proceeded to Louisbourg, Nova Scotia, for a refit to modify her for tropical duty in preparation for the invasion of Japan.

GERMANY: Berlin: General Walther Wenck, Guderian's chief of staff, is appointed to command the German offensive on Soviet positions east of Berlin.

The Establishment of Flying Courts-Martial
(Fliegender-Gerichtstdnde)

With the express permission of the Reichsfuhrer-SS, the Commander of Wehrkries III (Berlin) has made the following arrangements on the establishment and competence of Summary Courts in the area under his
command:

1) Summary Courts for dealing with crimes committed by members of the Wehrmacht and Waffen-SS will be set up at selected points in the patrol area.

2) Summary Courts will only pass sentences of death or grant acquittals.
Cases that do not call for a death sentence, or require further investigation will be referred to normal courts-martial.

3) Summary Courts will have a Wehrmacht judge as President, and two soldiers as assessors.

4) By virtue of the powers vested in me by RFSS and Commander of the Replacement Army, all sentences passed by a Summary Court are subject to confirmation by me.

5) Such confirmation must be obtained immediately, if necessary over the telephone, so that death sentences can be carried out without delay.

6) Death sentences will be carried out in the vicinity of the Court, normally by a firing squad, but in the case of particularly base scoundrels, by hanging.

Troops from General Sir Henry Crerar's First Canadian Army have almost won a desperate hide-and-seek battle for the Reichswald, 50 square miles of close-growing evergreen firs on a hogsback between the Maas and the Rhine river south of Nijmegan. The town of Cleve has been taken by the 43rd Division of Lt-Gen Sir Brian Horrocks's XXX Corps, after it broke free of a snarlup of tanks and lorries churning around in rain-sodden roads.

Von Rundstedt brought up reserve Panzers too late to prevent the 43rd striking for Goch and Udem. Though held by no more than 10,000 poorly-trained troops, the Reichswald has offered limitless opportunities for the enemy's assault guns to fire down the rides - or avenues - and for snipers. General Meindl's First Parachute Army has also provided more hardened opposition as the Allies pressed forward. Some strongpoints were taken only after bayonet charges.

The forest is the Germans' last strong defensive point in this area, and the Allies' Operation Veritable to clear the lower Rhine paid a high price to gain it from nine German divisions. But when the Americans attack further south, they will face a greatly weakened enemy.

Private William J. Shapiro of the US 28th Infantry Division, along with another 349 G.I.'s selected for slave labour, arrives at Berga Elster concentration camp 40 miles from Leipzig. He was 19, like most of the rest of the group, he was captured at the Battle of the Bulge. On the first day of the battle, December 16, 1944, Shapiri was knocked unconscious by an artillery shell.

He woke up, vision blurred, at the first-aid station in Clervaux, Luxembourg. No bones were broken. Shapiro lay there watching fellow medics carrying wounded men on litters. It seemed quiet outside. But by evening, German machine-gun fire was audible. Shapiro heard somebody say they were surrounded and must surrender.

"I was groggy," he recalled, "but I also heard someone say, 'If you're a Jewish G.I., throw your dog tags away because there are SS troops here."

Shapiro, obeying without thinking, threw his dog tags marked with the "H" for Hebrew into a potbellied stove in the middle of the room.

Shapiro walked out of the aid station with his hands above his head. The Germans searched him. They took a gold ring he had been given by his brother for his bar mitzvah. Shapiro was left with an International Red Cross card, that for now, without his dog tags, was his only means of identification. (Personal recollection of William J. Shapiro and Mordecai Hauer, The Lost Soldiers of Stalag IX-B, by Roger Cohen, New York Times, 27 February, 2005)

HUNGARY: Budapest, the strongest of Hitler's "satellite" capitals, fell today to the Red Army after a bloody siege lasting 50 days. The German commander, General Pfeffer-Wildenbruch, was caught hiding in a sewer. According to Moscow, more than 49,000 German and Hungarian soldiers fell in the battle. Hitler made desperate efforts to hold on to the Hungarian capital, sending General Herbert Gilles's 4th SS Panzer Corps to its relief. Gilles got to within 12 miles of the city, but was then stopped in his tracks. Now, says Moscow radio, "a major obstacle has been removed and the way to Vienna is open."

The Soviet's Budapest Group has suffered such high losses that from the end of January it has been recruiting Hungarian PoWs, promising not to send them to Siberia if they joined up. By today twenty independent companies have been formed from 3100 Hungarians.

ARCTIC OCEAN: Whilst escorting the last merchant ship of convoy JW.64 into Kola Inlet, frigate HMS Denbigh Castle is torpedoed by U-992 (Oberleutnant zur See Hans Falke) She is taken in tow but as the torpedo had struck right forward, the bow began to submerge and she had to be beached. Shortly after, she capsized and slid off into deeper water. Location: 69 20N 33 33E. (Alex Gordon)(108)

INDIAN OCEAN: Frigate USS Corpus Christi picked up 15 survivors from the American Liberty ship Peter Silvester that was torpedoed on 6 February by U-862 in position 34.19S, 99.37E. The survivors were landed at Fremantle on the 18th.

COMMONWEALTH OF THE PHILIPPINES: US forces capture the Cavite naval base and Nicholls Field airbase, near Manila.

CANADA: The following AP report was released to the newswires: Sinking of a German U-boat, probable sinking of another and attacks on other undersea raiders in North Atlantic battles in which speed torpedoes were launched at Canadian ships were announced here today by Navy Minister Angus MacDonald. He said corvette St. Thomas recently sank a U-boat in the North Atlantic.

Destroyer USS Benner commissioned.

USS YMS-433 commissioned.

Destroyer USS Steinaker launched.

Destroyer USS Brownson laid down.