15 February 1939

UNITED KINGDOM: The first deliveries of the Lockheed Type 14, named "Hudson" by the RAF, arrive at Liverpool docks. (22)

GERMANY: The special camp for Jews at the concentration camp at Buchenwald is closed and demolished after the breakout of typhus. (More...)

PANAMA: The 51,731 ton German passenger liner 'Bremen' becomes the largest vessel to have traversed the Panama Canal. (More...)

UNITED KINGDOM: London: The BBC's Forces Programme, which takes the air on 18 February, will broadcast dance music on Sundays, removing a ban which has been in force since the BBC was set up in 1922. The service has been brought in because troops in France were bored with the Home Service. They tuned into 'Radio Fecamp', the French commercial station, before it closed down on 4 January. Home listeners can also hear the new service, from 11am to 11pm.

DENMARK: Copenhagen: Danish newpapers are full of protests against the sinking of the 5,177 ton 'Chastine Maersk' by a U-boat. U-boat commanders have been ordered by Hitler to torpedo any ship under British control without warning in order to stop the supply of food and war materials reaching Britain. This directive means that any ship sailing towards a British-controlled war zone, such as the English Channel, the world's busiest shipping lane, can be attacked without warning. Any ship which is following a zig-zag course is also to be sunk without warning.
The policy is already in effect as evidenced by the sinking of Danish, Dutch, Norwegian and Swedish ships in the last few days.
Danish, Norwegian and Swedish ship owners have been meeting here and have decided to press for urgent action by their governments; one possibility is that neutral ships should henceforth travel in convoys protected by naval vessels.
Last night the British Admiralty announced the sinking of two more U-boats, including the one which sank a 12,000 ton meat ship in the Bay of Biscay. Any joy at the sinkings needs to be countered by the news that German ship yards are now building U-boats faster than Britain can sink them.

FINLAND: Summa falls to the Soviet army, and the Finns are forced to retreat to the second of the Mannerheim Line defences.

U.S.A.: President Franklin D. Roosevelt embarks in heavy cruiser USS Tuscaloosa (CA-37) at Pensacola, Florida, for a cruise to Panama and the west coast of Central America to discuss Pan-American defence and to inspect the Panama Canal.
The Commander in Chief, U.S. Fleet, noting that reports on air operations in the European War stressed the need of reducing aircraft vulnerability, recommended that naval aircraft be equipped with leak-proof or self-sealing fuel tanks and with armour for pilots and observers. Although the Bureaus of Aeronautics and Ordnance had been investigating these forms of protection for two years, this formal statement of need gave added impetus and accelerated procurement and installation of both armour and self-sealing fuel tanks.

ATLANTIC OCEAN: At 2315, U-14 spotted two steamers in a line and an escort and fired at 2340 a torpedo at the second ship that detonated prematurely. This ship was the Sleipner, which sank after being hit in the bow by a second torpedo at 2355. The other steamer, the Rhone stopped to rescue survivors and send distress signals, but was also hit by a torpedo at midnight and sank.

At 0837, the unescorted and neutral Steinstad was hit amidships by a G7a torpedo from U-26 and sank within 5 seconds about 75 miles west of Aran Island, Ireland. The U-boat had sighted the ship at 1912 the evening before, noticed the Norwegian flag and followed her during the night to stop the vessel according to the prize rules at the first daylight. At 0750, the Germans fired a shot across the bow of Steinstad, which did not react apart from turning towards the U-boat after the third shot was fired. So the following shots were aimed more closely to the ship without actually hitting her and shortly thereafter the crew abandoned ship in two lifeboats. The master and 12 crewmembers in one of the lifeboats were never seen again, despite of an aircraft search in the area. The other lifeboat with 11 survivors made landfall at Arranmore Island on 20 February.

At 1400, the Den Haag was torpedoed and sunk by U-48. The 13 survivors in one lifeboat were picked up by the British SS Glen Orchy. The other lifeboats with bodies were later found adrift; some bodies washed ashore on the French Coast.

At 0207, the Maryland was hit by one torpedo from U-50, broke in two and sank within seven minutes. A first torpedo fired at 0154 had detonated prematurely. The ship was reported missing after sending her position the last time on 10 February, only a wrecked lifeboat was later found at North Uist.

ATLANTIC OCEAN: At 0038, the Alnmoor, a straggler from convoy SC-21, was hit by one torpedo from U-123 and sank SSE of Rockall. The master and 54 crewmembers were lost.

FRANCE: During the night of the 15-16th, RAF Bomber Command dispatches ten Whitleys and six Halifaxes to attack the port area at St Nazaire; only nine aircraft bomb visually, in cloudy conditions. No aircraft are lost but three crash in England.

Submarine HMS P 38 torpedoes and sinks Italian merchant Ariosto (4116 BRT) off Tunisia. 138 Allied POW's are lost.

BURMA: The Indian 17th Division begins a withdrawal behind the Bilin River line, the 46th Brigade abandoning Thaton. The Japanese follow closely and try to outflank division.

SINGAPORE: Japanese General Yamashita accepts the surrender of Singapore from General Percival.

Singapore has fallen to the Japanese army. The formal surrender took place this afternoon when Lieutenant-General Arthur Percival, the British commander, met his Japanese counterpart, Lieutenant-General Tomoyuki Yamashita - the "Tiger of Malaya."

This staggering disaster is the greatest military defeat in British history. Tokyo is ecstatic with "victory fever" as the Japanese celebrate their triumph: their army has taken Singapore more than a month ahead of the timetable set for it by the Japanese Supreme Command.

The Allied C-in-C, General Wavell, flew to Singapore five days ago to organise attempts to stave off the impending catastrophe. There were angry words at a morning conference at Fort Canning when Wavell showed Percival a melodramatic cable from Churchill.

It read: "Battle must be fought to bitter end. Commander and senior officers should die with their troops. The honour of the British Empire is at stake." Percival issued a provisional plan for a defensive arc around Singapore, with the northern sector to be occupied by the 11th Indian and 18th British Divisions commanded by Major-General Heath. Major-General F. K. Simmons for the southern sector.

Later that day, Percival, pressed by Wavell, ordered Bennett to mount a counter-attack. It was unsuccessful and led to further losses and confusion. The Japanese did not press their attacks - but the skies were dominated by the enemy and so was the sea. Three Japanese divisions were in invincible positions, and Percival chose not to counter-attack again.

Communications were chaotic. Water supplies were at a critical level and the lives of a million civilians in jeopardy. Despite his earlier cable, Churchill was forced to give Percival discretion to cease resistance. Tonight, 130,000 British and Imperial troops were preparing for a long ordeal as prisoners.

In Singapore City, there was almost no water, food reserves were only sufficient for a few days, and the only fuel left was in the tanks of vehicles. Lieutenant General Arthur Percival, General Officer Commanding Malaya Command tells his officers that he has permission to surrender and he sends two emissaries to the Japanese lines with a Union Jack and white flag to ask for a cease fire at 1600 hours. General YAMASHITA Tomoyuki, commander of the 25th Army, replies by note which is characteristically blunt. No terms, no discussion of terms, no cease fire, until Percival has "signed on the dotted line." The note is a bluff; the Japanese are nearly out of supplies and ammunition but he hopes to intimidate the British into surrender. Exhausted, drenched with sweat, Percival walks to the Ford Motor Factory to meet his conqueror. Percival signs the surrender document at 1810 hours and the Japanese shelling stops at 2030 hours. The Malayan campaign lasted 70-days during which the Japanese had advanced 650 miles (1046 kilometres). The Allied defenders numbered 138,708: 67,340 Indians; 38,496 British; 18,490 Australians; and 14,382 local volunteer troops. More than 130,000 troops become POWs.

NETHERLANDS EAST INDIES: On Sumatra, the Japanese invasion fleet enters the mouth of the Musi River near Palembang, and unloads troops of the 229th Regiment despite repeated and costly attacks by aircraft from Palembang II airdrome. The troops advance to Palembang capturing the town and relieving the paratroopers that jumped yesterday. Dutch and RAF personnel withdraw from Palembang, where the demolition of refineries is only partially completed. British personnel holding landing grounds in central and north Sumatra are ordered to the west coast for withdrawal to Java.
Late in the day, the first ship of the convoy carrying the Australian Imperial Force’s 7th Division from the Middle East arrives at Oosthaven in southern Sumatra in the fast liner SS Orcades. The 3400 troops on the ship are the 2/3 Machine Gun Battalion, the 2/2 Pioneer Battalion and supporting troops. On learning of the surrender of Palembang, Lieutenant General John Lavarack, General Officer Commanding 1st Australian Army, persuades General Sir Archibald Wavell, Commander in Chief American-British-Dutch-Australian (ABDA) Command, to allow the troops to proceed to Batavia on Java.

Having proceeded through Gaspar Strait to the north of Banka Island and failed to contact the Japanese force (which has already reached Banka Strait), the ABDA striking force (Rear Admiral Karel Doorman, RNN) is attacked by Japanese naval land attack planes of Genzan, Mihoro, and Kanoya Kokutais (Naval Air Corps) as well as carrier-based aircraft from the carrier HIJMS Ryujo. The Australian light cruiser HMAS Hobart is straddled, while near misses damage U.S. destroyers USS Barker (DD-213) and USS Bulmer (DD-222), which will need to retire to Australia for repairs.
Five USAAF 5th Air Force B-17 Flying Fortresses on an anti-shipping strike claim hits on a Japanese cruiser and another ship.

Minelayer HNLMS Pro Patria scuttled by own crew at Palembang to prevent capture by the Japanese.

Destroyer HNLMS Van Ghent while taking part in the Allied sortie against the invasion convoy for Palembang. During the transfer through Stolze Strait, she was accidentally beached on the reef of Bamidjo between Banka and Billiton island in position 03.05S 107.21E. There were no casualties and the entire crew was taken off by HNLMS Banckert.

Submarine USS Seawolf departs Surabaya for her 4th war patrol. She is ordered to patrol in the Java Sea.

AUSTRALIA: U.S. Army transport USAT Meigs, U.S. freighters SS Mauna Loa and SS Portmar, and Australian coaster Tulagi, escorted by heavy cruiser USS Houston (CA-30), destroyer USS Peary (DD-226) and Australian corvettes HMAS Swan and HMAS Warrego sail from Darwin, Northern Territory, for Koepang, Timor, Netherlands East Indies. The convoy is carrying the Australian 214 Pioneer Battalion and the U.S. 148th Field Artillery Regiment (75mm Gun) (Truck-Drawn) (less the 2d Battalion), to reinforce Allied troops on Timor. (The 148th is an Idaho National Guard unit inducted in September 1940.) The units are to secure Penfoie airdrome, the only staging point on Timor for flights to Java.

COMMONWEALTH OF THE PHILIPPINES: In the II Corps area on Bataan, the Japanese attack in limited strength to ease pressure against troops withdrawing northward from the I Corps sector. The I Corps continues to make steady progress against salient in the main line of resistance.

SOLOMON ISLANDS: On Guadalcanal, Martin Clemens, appointed as His Majesty's Commissioner for Guadalcanal (and Coastwatcher for the Royal Australian Navy's Islands Coastwatching Service), takes up his duties at the Aola station. Armed with a simple and easily-broken Playfair code, and a 100-pound (45 kilogram) transmitter and receiver, Clemens' job is to report all hostile ship movements in the sound north of the island. His radio, which requires 12 to 16 men to carry when it has to be moved, can transmit 400 miles (644 kilometres) by voice and 600 miles (966 kilometres) using Morse Code. While he awaits the Japanese advance, Clemens handles tribal disputes, judges cases, and raises the Union Jack over his home every morning.

CHRISTMAS ISLAND: This British possession is seized by the Japanese. (Mike Yared) Location of Christmas Island. (Daniel Ross)

TERRITORY OF HAWAII: Submarine USS Grayback departs Pearl Harbor for her 1st war patrol. She is ordered to patrol in the Mariana and Bonin Islands area.

ATLANTIC OCEAN: A Brazilian merchant ship SS Buarque (5152-ton), an old American Hog Islander, is torpedoed and sunk by German submarine U-432 30 miles (48 kilometres) southwest of Cape Henry, Virginia at 36.35N, 75.20W. One passenger dies of a heart attack; the other 84 passengers and crew survive (Jack McKillop and Keith Allen)

At 0026, the Biela, dispersed from convoy ON-62, was torpedoed and sunk by U-98 about 400 miles southwest of Cape Race. The master, 43 crewmembers and five gunners were lost.

At 0434, the Meropi was torpedoed and sunk by U-566. The ship had been in convoy ON-60 and continued alone after the dispersal off Halifax.

UNITED KINGDOM: Submarine HMS L-27 completed ASW training Harbor Grace; to USA for refit.

Frigate HMS Berry commissioned.

Destroyer HMS Trafalgar laid down.

Submarines HMS Visigoth and Supreme laid down.

Submarine HMS Templar commissioned.

Frigate HMS Berry commissioned.

Sloops HMS Modeste and Nereide laid down.

GERMANY: A man from U-635 took his own life in Hamburg. [Maschinengefreiter Werner Grande].

FINLAND: Marshal Mannerheim states for the first time openly that he won't order any offensive operations anymore. Earlier he had promised to attack after Germans have taken Leningrad. Germans have been putting hard pressure to Finnish leadership throughout the 1942 to cut the Lend and Lease supply route. USA has on the other hand threatened to declare war if Finns try to stop Lend and Lease shipments. Ryti is elected for the president of the republic for the second term. (Gene Hanson)

U.S.S.R.: The rear-guard of the 40th Panzer Corps escapes annihilation by the Fourth Ukrainian Front. (Gene Hanson)

NORTH AFRICA: Rommel's 15th Panzer Division attacks the US II Corps and succeeds in taking Gafsa.

Submarine USS Pickerel torpedoes and sinks SS Tateyama Maru (1990 BRT) off the east coast of Honshu in position 39.18N, 142.08E.

Submarine USS Gato torpedoes and sinks stores ship Suruga Maru (991 BRT) in Bougainville Strait in position 06.27S, 156.02E.

Submarine USS Guardfish ends her 3rd war patrol at Brisbane.

Submarine USS Tunny sinks a Japanese sampam with gunfire east of the Bonin Islands in approximate position 25.00N, 147.00E.

USS SC-1019 commissioned.

USS YMS-16 commissioned.

USS SC-1305 launched.

USS YMS-235 launched.

Submarine USS Tullibee commissioned.

Destroyer escorts USS Neuendorf and Manning laid down.

ATLANTIC OCEAN: U-225 (Type VII) is sunk in the North Atlantic, position 55.45N, 31.09W, by depth charges from a British B-24 Liberator aircraft (Sqdn 120/S). 46 dead (all hands lost). (Alex Gordon)

The Atlantic Sun had developed engine trouble and straggled from the convoy ON-165. At 1000, the tanker tried to catch up with the convoy when struck by two torpedoes from U-607 on the port side 150 miles off Cape Race. The first torpedo split the ship in half abaft the midships house and the other blew a large hole in the bow. The forward section sank in 20 minutes. The after section appeared sound enough to be taken into port under power. After the ship broke in two, 22 men led by the chief officer abandoned the after section. They returned two hours later and reboarded the after part of the ship, going below to change clothing. 30 minutes later with the men still below, a third torpedo from U-607 struck near the stern post, causing the stern to sink 30 minutes later. After the hit a lifeboat with eight men cleared the ship half-swamped and without oars. Others went over the side into the sea just before the ship turned over keel up and sank. The ordinary seaman William Golobich was picked up by the U-boat from the water and took him to St. Nazaire. He eventually went to Milag POW camp. Those who remained behind faced moderate seas and 25° weather. None of the ten officers, 36 men, 19 armed guards (the tanker was armed with one 5in, one 3in and eight 20mm guns) and one passenger on board survived except the man that was taken prisoner.

USCGC Calypso removed 42 persons from lifeboat of SS Buarque (Brazil) east of Cape Henry.

UNITED KINGDOM: Corvette HMCS Giffard departed Londonderry escort for convoy ON.224.

GERMANY: General der Panzertruppen Friedrich Kühn, is killed in an air raid on Berlin. General der Panzertruppen is three star rank, equivalent to an American Lieutenant-General. He is the highest ranking officer of the Heer to be killed by enemy action in the war. (Jeff Chrisman)

ITALY: 142 Fifteenth Air Force Boeing B-17 Flying Fortresses dropped 353 tons of bombs on the monastery at Monte Cassino.

This was the first heavy-bomber attack on Monte Cassino Benedictine Abbey in support of the New Zealand Corps assault to establish a bridgehead across the Rapido River south of Cassino. Also bombing were Twelfth Air Force North American B-25 Mitchells and Martin B-26 Marauders.

It was Lt-Gen Sir Bernard Freyberg whose newly-formed New Zealand Corps has the task of assaulting the heights, who asked for the monastery to be bombed on the grounds that it was being used as an observation post for German artillery. US generals were against the bombing; and the decision was taken only when General Sir Henry Maitland Wilson, the supreme Allied commander in the Mediterranean, flew out over the monastery and thought he saw radio aerials. He was wrong. The monastery was not occupied by the Germans, though they may have been there to help the monks remove books and manuscripts for safekeeping in the Vatican.

After the aerial bombardment the New Zealanders and the 4th Indian Division began their assault tonight - only to be repulsed by German paratroopers. Ironically, the Germans are now moving into the wrecked monastery, which makes a better defensive position.

MEDITERRANEAN SEA: Submarine HMS Upstart sinks German auxiliary minelayer Niedersachsen (1794 BRT, former French Guyane) off the Italian Riviera.

At 1522, the Fort St. Nicolas was hit by a Gnat from U-410 and sank east of the island of Capri. The master, 48 crewmembers, 14 gunners and four passengers were rescued by a RAF crash launch and landed at Salerno. The Fort St. Nicolas was participating in the Operation Shingle, the landings at Anzio-Nettuno.

AUSTRALIA: The RAAF forms No. 7 Operational training Unit (OTU) at Tocumwal, New South Wales, to provide operational training for B-24 crews.

SOLOMON ISLANDS: US Marine Torpedo Bomber Squadron One Hundred Thirty Four (VMTB-134) flying TBF Avengers against the Japanese at Rabaul, New Britain, Bismark Archipelago, make the first combat use in the Pacific of forward firing rockets.

PACIFIC OCEAN: Japanese submarine I-43 is sunk by the USS Aspro (SS-309) east of Guam. (Mike Yared)(144 and 145)

Submarine USS Narwhal ended her 9th war patrol as she returned to base.

Submarine USS Gato sinks the Japanese guardboat Taiyo Maru No.3 (36 BRT) off Rabaul, New Britain in position 04.00S, 150.10E.

Submarine USS Silversides departs Pearl Harbor for her 9th war patrol. She is ordered to patrol west of the Mariana Islands.

Submarine USS Angler departs Midway for her 2nd war patrol. She was ordered to patrol in the South China and Sulu Sea.

Submarine USS Snook torpedoes and sinks Japanese army cargo ship Kamone Maru (875 BRT) off the south coast of Korea in position 34.23N, 128.23E.

Submarine USS Tinosa torpedoes and sinks Japanese army cargo ship Odatsuki Maru (1988 BRT) east of Dinagat Island in position 09.30N, 127.00E.

CANADA: Submarine HMS L-26 commenced ASW training Halifax.

Destroyer escorts USS Gentry and Holt launched.

Minesweepers USS Specter and Staunch launched.

Net tender USS Satinleaf launched.

Destroyer escort USS George E Davis laid down.

Minesweeper USS Sprig laid down.

ATLANTIC OCEAN: SS Epaminondas C. Embiricos sunk by U-168 at 01.30N, 73E. Two men were taken prisoner by U-168.

NORTH SEA: U-1053 sunk near Bergen in position 60.24N, 05.13E, after an accident during diving trials. 45 dead (all hands lost).

GERMANY: Eighth Air Force's 1st Air Division dispatched 224 B-17s to bomb oil targets at Ruhland. Weather conditions prevented them from finding their targets so 210 bombers hit the secondary target, Dresden, dropping 461.9 tons of bombs; two other B-17s hit targets of opportunity. One 3d Air Division B-17 also bombed Dresden as a target of opportunity releasing 2.5 tons of bombs.

The Minister of Justice, Dr. Thierack, has issued the following order: The struggle for the survival of the German Reich demands the utmost resolution and devotion of every German. Anyone trying to evade his duty to the community, and especially those guilty of cowardice or selfishness, will immediately be brought to justice with all severity, lest the failure of one individual rebound to the discredit of the entire Reich. On the orders of the Führer, and with the full accord of the Ministry of Justice, the head of the Reichskanzlei, the Ministry of the Interior and the Parteikanzlei, it is therefore decreed that:

I) Summary Courts of Justice will be setup in all parts of the Reich threatened by the enemy.

II) Such courts will consist of a Judge as President, and a political leader or official of the NSDAP and an officer of the Wehrmacht, the Waffen-SS, or the Police as Assessors. Members of the Court and a Public Prosecutor will be appointed by the Regional Commander for defence.

III) The Summary Court will be competent to deal with all acts likely to undermine German resolution or fighting power. The procedure will be that laid down in the Penal Code.

IV) The Court will be competent to pass Death Sentences, acquit prisoners, or to refer cases to the common courts of justice. All Death Sentences must be confirmed by the Commissar for defence, who will also determine the place, time, and manner of execution. Whenever the Commissar for defence is not available, and immediate execution is deemed essential, the public prosecutor will act in his stead.

V) All regulations needed for the amplification, alteration, and implementation of the above decree will be passed by the Minister of Justice in conjunction with the Minister of the Interior and the head of the Parteikanzlei. (Party Chancellery.)

VI) The Decree comes into effect with it's publication in the press and it's announcement over the Deutsche Rundfunk (German Radio Network).

Soviet forces under Konev encircle Breslau, where martial law is declared and the death sentence decreed for "undermining German resolution or striking power."

INDIA: HMIS Shivaji commissioned as the prime training establishment for the Indian Navy.

BONIN ISLANDS: LeMay sends out his B-29s in a support strike for the forthcoming Iwo Jima invasion.