June 17, 1942: The Mersa Matruh Stakes Begin

Wednesday 17 June 1942

Maxim Gorki fort after the German capture, 17 June 1942 (Glanz, Federal Archive RH 82 Bild-00146).  

Battle of the Mediterranean: The North African campaign breaks wide open on 17 June 1942 as British attempts at forming a new defensive line east of Tobruk fail. The British 8th Army continues to lose its grip on the approaches to Tobruk. Before dawn, it evacuates the defensive box at El Adem, and later in the day at Sidi Rezegh. A counterattack by the British 4th Armored Brigade at Sidi Rezegh loses 30% of its tanks.

Afrika Korps commander General Erwin Rommel leads the 21st Panzer Division personally in his command car. They take RAF Gambut by 22:00, capturing 15 flyable aircraft and fuel supplies. The panzers reach the coastal road south to Bardia at 23:30, effectively encircling Tobruk and cutting its defenders off from Egypt except by naval resupply. 

June 17, 1942, is usually considered the start of the second siege of Tobruk (the first being a successful British/ Australian defense from 10 April - 17 December 1941). This is a disaster that stuns Winston Churchill and makes him look around for yet another military commander in North Africa.

The situation is chaotic for the British, and General Ritchie orders the complete abandonment of Libya by any British forces that can escape. They are to head for Mersa Matruh, Egypt - if they can make it there ahead of General Rommel's panzers (a garrison of 30,000 is left in Tobruk). This becomes known sarcastically within the 8th Army as the "Mersa Matruh Stakes" (after horseracing Stakes races) and the "Gazala Gallop." Mersa Matruh is a full 100 miles/ 160 km to the east and the Afrika Korps appears to be unstoppable, so the need for speed is evident.

The Staffelkapitaen of 3./JG 27, Oblt. Hans-Joachim Marseilles, raises his victory score to 99 early in the day. Toward sunset, his fellow pilots convince him to fly another mission to hit the century mark, and indeed that is what happens. Marseilles shoots down a lone Hawker Hurricane south of Gambut Airfield,, becoming only the 11th Luftwaffe fighter to hit that mark and the first to do so entirely against the Western Allies (victories against the Russians are considered much easier). But Marseilles does not stop there, he also climbs from his first "low victory" to claim a high-flying Photo-reconnaissance Spitfire for victory 101. He claims another six RAF planes in total during the day. JG 27 is aided by recaptured airbases closer to the front, its new Ain-el-Gazala base was recaptured only on 16 June.

Having become a propaganda hero now when not long ago he was considered something of a malcontent and screwup, Marseilles now is put on a 2-month leave and sent to Fuhrer Headquarters to receive a new decoration.

Germans enter shattered Fort Maxim Gorki, 17 June 1942 (Glanz, Federal Archive RH 82 Bild-00150).

Eastern Front: There are still Soviet holdouts in the Maxim Gorki fortress in Crimea who control underground passages and some gun emplacements. These need to be eliminated to clear the way to Severnaya Bay and take Sevastopol from the north. A Junkers Ju 87 Stuka pilot, Oberleutnant Maue, scores a direct hit on the fort's 30.5cm eastern naval gun, knocking it out. Heavy siege howitzers (such as the massive Dora and Karl guns) are working on the other heavy Soviet guns and Wehrmacht engineers who reach the fort late in the day. There still are about 1000 Soviets hiding out in the three-level fortress.

Luftwaffe General Wolfram von Richthofen, already ordered to report to a new assignment but still in the theater until the 23rd, writes:

During the night, the 54th Army Corps positioned itself, then overran the Red front lines and took the majority of the forts north of Severnaya Bay. We [the Luftwaffe] pin down the artillery east of Sevastopol and at the front and destroy much. We [hit] the forts again and again.

Richthofen is not exaggerating - the Luftwaffe has flown a total of 3899 sorties and dropped 3086 tons of bombs since 13 June. Later in the day, he adds in typical WWII German Nietzschean rhetoric that "our giant fire-magic fell on Battery Headland. The infantry were very enthusiastic!"

Around this date - the German and Soviet versions differ on several key points, including the dates - Soviet General Belov, who is leading a large mixed force of Soviet troops and partisans, escapes a huge German dragnet for him. He escapes with some of his men (again, how many is unclear) across the Rollbahn (main road) that the Germans control about ten miles east of Roslavl. Reflecting an enduring and somewhat bizarre German fascination with some adversaries, General Franz Halder writes in his war diary:

Cavalry Corps Belov is now floating around the area west of Kirov. Quite a man, that we have to send no less than seven divisions after him.

Halder does not mention that Belov has accomplished little beyond making the Germans ignore other important things to focus on him as he hides out in the woods and swamps near Bryansk.

The remaining Soviet pocket in the north near Velizh also receives attention in Halder's notes for the day:

In [the] North, we have neither positive nor negative evidence on the enemy's intention of giving up the Velizh pocket. In any event, [Army Group] North has freed the larger part of Eight Armored Divisions for a southward drive through Demyansk. On the Volkhov, attacks were again repelled and the sack further compressed.

Unknown to Halder, who has been paying little attention to this sector (which probably reflects the same about Hitler), the Volkhov pocket contains a very big prize: Soviet General Andrey Vlasov, the leader of Second Shock Army. His forces penetrated deep into the German lines during the latter stages of the winter counteroffensive, but now they are trapped. Unlike Belov, he has little hope of escape on the ground, and he refuses to abandon his men and fly out. Unknown to anyone but himself, Vlasov also is an anti-Bolshevist who believes that Stalin is an enemy of the people. Or, perhaps he is just the ultimate opportunist. In any event, with no way to fight out of the trap his army is in and little hope of rehabilitating his career following this complete defeat, Vlasov soon must make important and far-reaching decisions about his allegiance.

A Grumman F4F-4 Wildcat on the hangar deck of escort carrier USS Long Island (AVG-1), 17 June 1942. Also visible are other Wildcats and a Curtiss SOC-3A Seagull (Naval History & Heritage Command 80-G-14524).

Battle of the Pacific: The USAAF 11th Air Force plans a bombing run on the Japanese positions on Kiska Harbor, but it is scrubbed due to bad weather. Other patrol missions also are canceled.

US Navy aircraft carrier USS Saratoga flies off P-40s of the 73rd Fighter Squadron, 18th Fighter Group to Midway Island. These replace planes lost during the Battle of Midway. The P-40s immediately commence dawn to dusk patrols that last until 23 June 1943.

The Syracuse, New York, Post-Standard has quite a fanciful headline about a supposed battering of the Italian Fleet. In fact, there were no "U.S. Fliers" involved in the battle of 15 June 1942, and it was the British Fleet, not the Italian, that was "battered." This particularly egregious headline reflects the standards during the first year of the (U.S.) war, when there were insufficient "good" military successes and so some were just fabricated by the press to sell newspapers.

European Air Operations: The Bay of Biscay is of vital importance to the Axis as the route of U-boats to the open ocean, so it maintains constant patrols. British destroyer HMS Wild Swan, sailing through a pack of Spanish trawlers after refueling as a convoy escort (not of the trawlers, the convoy is over the horizon), is spotted and attacked by a dozen Luftwaffe Junkers Ju 88 bombers. At the cost of six of their own planes, the bombers score four near-misses that destroy Wild Swan's steering control. It collides with one of the trawlers, and both ships sink. The bombers also sink three other trawlers. There are 31 dead due to exposure after the sinking, with 133 survivors and 11 additional survivors from the trawler Wild Swan had collided with (some sources say there are 158 total survivors, perhaps including some from the other sunk trawlers, all picked up in any event by HMS Vansittart). Wild Swan commander Claude Sclater receives the DSO for the gallant action despite losing his ship.

The Michigan Daily of 17 June 1942 buries a gripping story of tourists in Virginia Beach, Virginia, watching U-boat sinkings. Much more prominence is given on the same page to a water main break in Seattle. 

Battle of the Atlantic: U-129 torpedoes and sinks 3274-ton U.S. freighter Millinocket north of La Isabela, Cuba. There are 11 dead and 24 survivors, who are picked up by Cuban fishing boats.

U-158 torpedoes 1560-ton Norwegian tanker Moira southeast of Port Isabel, Texas. There are one dead and 18 survivors, who are rescued by U.S. fishing boats. 

U-158 gets a second victim, 3601-ton Panamanian freighter San Blas, east of Matamoros, Mexico/McAllen, Texas. There are 30 deaths and 14 survivors, who are picked up by a U.S. Navy Consolidated PBY Catalina.

Axis mines laid in the Chesapeake Bay by U-701 (Kptlt. Horst Degen) early on 13 June 1942 claim another victim, 7177-ton U.S. collier Santore. The ship capsizes and sinks in less than two minutes. The burning ship can be seen from shore. There are three deaths and 43 survivors, who are rescued by the U.S. Coast Guard. The wreck is raised and scrapped in 1954. This mining of Chesapeake Bay claims five ships (only 15 mines were laid) and is considered the most successful mining operation in American waters during World War II.

Spy Stuff: Either later on 16 June or early on 17 June, U-202 lands four German agents at Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida. They follow four other German spies who landed on Long Island on 12/13 June as part of Operation Pastorius. The New York group (or at least their leader) already is planning to defect to the FBI. Unlike the other group, the Florida spies do not wear their uniforms ashore, only bathing suits and their military caps. They promptly put on civilian attire and board trains to Chicago, Illinois, and Cincinnati, Ohio.

Actress Joyce Randolph on the premiere cover of "Yank" magazine, 17 June 1942. Randolph, 97 as of the time of writing, becomes famous as Trixie Norton on "The Honeymooners." 

US Military: Flight Captain Jackie Cochran, RAF Air Transport Auxiliary, who will go on to form the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASPs), begins a mission that will see her become the first woman to ferry a bomber across the Atlantic. She leaves Montreal to pick up her plane at Gander, Newfoundland and will arrive in the British Isles on 19 June aboard her twin-engine Lockheed Model 414 Hudson Mk.V. 

Today is the first issue of "Yank, the Army Weekly." It is written by enlisted rank soldiers. Never available for public purchase, "Yank" eventually reaches a circulation of over 2.5 million in 41 countries. It lasts until the last day of 1945. Popular cartoons include "G.I. Joe," "Sad Sack," and work by Bil Keane of Family Circus. The 1st Armored Division at Fort Bliss revives the magazine in 2014.

President Roosevelt signs a bill raising the minimum service pay to $50 per month.

Japanese Homefront: Japanese Prime Minister Hideki Tojo survives an assassination attempt by 31-year-old Park Soowon of Korea. Tojo is hit in the left arm near the old war ministry building in Tokyo. Soowon is immediately dispatched in a hail of bullets.

Radio Tokyo today finally acknowledges the Doolittle Raid of mid-April, calling it a “stunt raid of very little consequence.” While this, in actuality, is quite true, it was a great morale boost for the Allied side. The propaganda newscaster goes to great lengths to point out that only 11 crewmen escaped to Cairo and the remaining 61 were being hunted down or were dead already (a great exaggeration). The Americans are warned that further "pointless stunts" will result in harsh reprisals and "100% loss" of the enemy fliers. 

American Homefront: President Roosevelt orders the Army to oversee the construction of an atomic weapons complex. This will be done by the US Army Corps of Engineers. This is the first step in the building of the Oak Ridge, Tennessee nuclear facility, Hanford, Washington, reactor, and the weapons lab at Los Alamos, New Mexico as part of the Manhattan Project. 

A Green Bay Packers newsletter dated 17 June 1942. Reflecting the times, it contains a "Packers Honor Roll" of players now serving in the armed forces.

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June 13, 1942: British Disaster in North Africa

Saturday 13 June 1942

The Bf-109F4Trop of Luftwaffe ace Hans Joachim Marseilles (WNr 10137) of 3.JG27 near Bir Hackeim in North Africa, 13 June 1942. Note planes taking off in the background (Optiz, Richard, Federal Archive Picture 101I-443-1567-19).

Eastern Front: The Germans continue grinding forward toward the port of Sevastopol on 13 June 1942. In the northeast sector, the German 22nd Infantry Division attacks at 03:00 with the goal of taking the important Soviet fortress Fort Stalin. The Soviets have just 200 men to hold it. After brutal hand-to-hand fighting, the Germans take the critical fort, which controls the way to Severnaya Bay.

The Soviets counterattack, but the Germans, now in possession of the fort, hold it and wipe out a company of Soviet soldiers. The Germans lose 32 dead, two missing, and 126 wounded and now have a clear path into the port of Sevastopol. At Fuhrer Headquarters in East Prussia, General Halder notes with satisfaction that "According to reports from frontline commands, the enemy is beginning to soften." This is a good thing for 11th Army Commander General Erich von Manstein (undoubtedly the source of this "news") because Hitler has been threatening to withdraw attack forces and convert the battle into a siege due to its slow progress. This would rob Manstein and the 11th Army of the glory of a quick, victorious campaign, so he needs results soon.

Local Luftwaffe commander Wolfram Von Richtofen, though, is more concerned about turf wars. His flak guns (primarily 88mm) are also useful against ground targets, so the army keeps "borrowing" them without asking his permission. This has been a constant source of friction throughout the campaign that has reached the highest levels of local leadership. He vents his frustration in his diary today:

I keep all flak guns subordinate and deploy them together in great concentration at Schwepunkte [the point of attack] against ground targets. The army wants formally to control them and spread them throughout divisions and, therefore - as always, like last time at Kerch - fritter them away. The most basic reason: the competitive jealousy of the army's artillery [soldiers], to whom I cannot give my flak guns because they have obsolete ideas and want to deploy them according to the tactical viewpoints of Wallenstein [from the 17th Century]. I remain stubborn, and the army continues to rage.

While this sort of thing may seem minor, it is a vivid illustration of the inter-service rivalries and jealousies that characterize the Wehrmacht (and other armies to one extent or another).

In general, the Luftwaffe is having a great time over Crimea. The front is so confined that Richtofen can actually see the remaining Soviet airfields from his observation tower. He personally can see when they are preparing to take off (dust clouds erupt when the engines start) and alerts his own fighter units, which can shoot them down as they take off. "Destroyed 18 Russian [aircraft] in this manner today," he writes today in his diary, "four by bombing. It is great fun!"

P-40 "Aleutian Warhawk," 13 June 1942. This 11th Fighter Squadron Curtiss P-40E, ship #19 and named "Ruthie Babe," taxis out on Umnak's steel matting to takeoff for patrol duty in the Aleutian Islands.

Farther north on the front, the Germans have been trying to corner a large partisan force led by Soviet General Mayor Belov in the vicinity of Bryansk. Operating in a heavily wood area, Belov has a heterogeneous force composed of partisans, airborne troops, regular army soldiers, trucks, wagons, and tanks. The weak link in the German effort is a thinly held road on the east (the Rollbahn) which Belov's forces have been able to cross basically at will because the Germans do not have enough troops to close it. The Germans finally succeed in building a screening line along the entire road about this date and await a breakout attempt.

The main concern among German leadership, though, is not these minor operations, but the looming main offensive on the southern front. General Halder notes with satisfaction success in one of the preliminary operations for Operation Blau. Operation Wilhelm is a shallow pincer operation launched by the Sixth Army on June 10th east of Kharkov by VIII Corps in the north near Volchansk and III Panzer Corps in the south near Chuguyev. The aim was to cross the Donetsk River and meet near Belyy Koloez. Today the pincers meet after III Panzer Corps fights through several lines of Soviet tanks. Halder notes with satisfaction, "Operation Volchansk has scored a fine success. Large enemy bodies encircled, 20,000 PWs [prisoners] so far." The total POW count after all the counting is done comes to 24,800. Another preliminary attack, Operation Fridericus II, is planned to begin in about a week.

Not everything is rosy in Rastenburg, however. Halder records a meeting with General Quartermaster (supply chief) Eduard Wagner regarding Blau. "Fuel problems. Computations indicate that the fuel reserve for 'Blau' will last only until mid-September." He also has a meeting with General Blumentritt about "Preparations for next winter," though nobody has any idea where the front will be then.

A more ominous entry is a meeting that Halder has with General Ochsner about the Crimean campaign. "Approach to chemical warfare of the part of the enemy powers (increasing interest)," Halder writes,  and the conversation then turns to "Conditions for gas warfare on the Volkhov river." The implication here is that Allied preparations for chemical warfare (some is being manufactured in Canada, for instance) may be used by the Germans as a pretext for actually using gas on the battlefield.

Luftwaffe aerial reconnaissance of Sevastopol (Karantinna Bay, Artilleryskaya Bay, scale 1:8000), 13 June 1942 (Federal Archive Picture 168-278-020).

Battle of the Pacific: The victorious U.S. Navy carriers of Task Force 11 from the Battle of Midway return to Pearl Harbor, now commanded by Admiral Frank Fletcher aboard USS Saratoga. Fletcher's command is short-lived, however, as he disembarks today and is soon replaced. The Japanese fleet - what remains of it - is still a day away from a safe anchorage at Hashirajima.

The Japanese send 27 "Betty" bombers against the RAAF airfield at Port Darwin. Led by Lieutenant Commander Goro Katsumi of the Takao Ku, the bombers leave Koepang at 08:12, escorted by 45 "Zeke" fighters of the 3rd Ku. They are intercepted by 36 P-40 Warhawks of the 49th Fighter Group. The Americans lose three planes in the encounter, while the Japanese lose two Zekes. There are multiple accusations by American pilots that the Japanese strafed U.S. pilots in parachutes, though everyone survived. The bombers do get through and drop 19,980 kgs of bombs on the airfield, damaging the runways, water pipeline, fuel dum, and telephone poles. One Lockheed Hudson is damaged on the ground.

In Alaska, the USAAF 11th Air Force continues to harass the new Japanese presence on Kiska Island. Despite bad weather, it sends five B-17s three B-24 Liberators, and PBY Catalinas to bomb shipping there.

US submarine USS Sargo torpedoes and sinks Japanese troopship Konan Maru off Yap, Caroline Islands.

US Submarine Drum (SS-228) torpedoes and sinks Japanese freighter Shonan Maru northeast of Mikimoto, Honshu.

Japanese freighter Nagasaki Maru hits a Japanese mine and sinks off Nagasaki, Japan.

RAAF Hudsons attack Japanese shipping off Ambon, NEI (Indonesia), sinking auxiliary patrol boat Taifoku Maru and damaging gunboat Taiko Maru.

The USAAF 5th Air Force once again sends B-17 bombers to attack Lakunai Airfield at Rabaul.

Battle of the Indian Ocean: An unidentified Japanese submarine torpedoes and sinks 3748-ton Yugoslavian freighter Supetar in the Mozambique Channel about 100 nautical miles (190 km) south of Beira, Mozambique.

A downed P-40 after the 13 June 1942 Japanese raid on Port Darwin (Credit: "49th Fighter Group: Aces of the Pacific" by William N Hess).

European Air Operations: The weather continues to be poor on the Channel Front ("10/10ths" in pilot-speak). Many RAF units occupy themselves throughout the day with practice bombing, gas drills, aerobatics and formation flying, and similar exercises. There are some convoy patrols that do not find any enemy ships. 

Luftwaffe planes find 345-ton Dutch freighter Brabant off the coast of north Cornwall and sink it. there are no known casualties.

Battle of the Baltic: Soviet submarine Shch-405 has hit a mine and sinks in the Gulf of Finland off Someri Island, and today the Soviet Navy writes it off. The wreck is found in 2018. The Finns have an observation post on the island and the Soviets are considering sending a force to occupy it.

Battle of the Atlantic: US Coast Guard cutter USS Thetis drops depth charges on U-157 (KrvKpt. Wolf Henne), on its second patrol out of Lorient, northeast of Havana, Cuba, sinking it with all hands. All 52 aboard perish. U-157 ends its career with one victory of 6401 tons.

Italian submarine Leonardo Da Vinci torpedoes and uses its deck gun to sink 6438-ton British freighter Clan Macquarrie in the general vicinity of Freetown. There is one death, the Chief Engineer.

Before dawn, U-159 (Kptlt. Helmut Friedrich Witte), on its second patrol out of Lorient, pumps two torpedoes into 4693-ton US passenger ship / freighter Sixaola 50 miles off Bocas Del Toro, Panama. There are 29 deaths and 172 survivors. Most of the survivors are picked up by American gunboat USS Niagara (PG-52) and US Army tug Shasta, while 42 make landfall in a lifeboat.

U-159 gets another victim at sunset when it sends another two torpedoes into 6762-ton American freighter Solon Turman 100 miles north of Cristobal, Canal Zone. There are one death and 52 survivors. In both of these sinkings, the U-boat surfaces and offers assistance to the survivors before departing.

U.S. tanker Gulfprince has a close call six miles south of the Ship Shoals Sea Buoy off the coast of Louisiana when U-506 attacks it. The tanker evades two torpedoes, then evades a third. A fourth hits it but does not explode. Gulfprince scoots into New Orleans.

The Vichy French agree to immobilize aircraft carrier Béarn, light cruiser Emile Bertin, and training cruiser Jeanne D'Arc at Martinique, French West Indies.

An Allied convoy forms up to cross the Atlantic Ocean, 13 June 1942. (Naval Supply Corps Newsletter/Library of Congress).

Battle of the Mediterranean: German General Erwin Rommel's forces break out of the "Cauldon," routing British and South African forces trying to hold the Gazala Line. This becomes known as "Black Saturday" in the British Army.

The breakout begins when the 21st Panzer Division uses the cover of a sandstorm to attack the 2nd Scots Guards and 6th South African Anti-tank battery (eight guns) at Rigel Ridge, a key defensive position on the "Knightsbridge Box." The Guards Brigade is forced to withdraw after dark. Ultimately, the South African artillery unit is overrun, with the gunners firing at the approaching panzers over open sights. The Germans capture over 3000 prisoners and destroy 138 Allied tanks. 

British 8th Army now has only 75 armored vehicles remaining. This disaster compels British commander General Auchinleck to order a general retreat from the Gazala Line. This once again exposes Tobruk to attack. Auchinleck also is quickly falling out of favor with Prime Minister Winston Churchill.

At sea, Axis forces continue their attacks on two Royal Navy convoys converging on Malta from opposite ends of the Mediterranean. The convoy heading from Gibraltar is Operation Harpoon, while that from Palestine and Egypt is Operation Julius.

The three separate convoys of Operation Julius assemble off of Mersa Matruh, Egypt, during the afternoon as the weather deteriorates. As a side effort, a submarine accompanying the convoy lands five commandos on Crete, and they destroy about 20 Luftwaffe aircraft at Maleme Airfield. This does not stop Axis air attacks, however, which begin after dark and last through the night, with the convoys illuminated by flares.

U-83 (Kptlt. Hans-Werner Kraus), on its eighth patrol out of Salamis, while patrolling off Al-Ramkin Island, Lebanon, uses its deck gun to sink 91-ton British schooner HMS Farouk. There are nine deaths and nine survivors.

Scene from one of the convoys to Malta on or about 13 June 1942 (© IWM A 10853).

Battle of the Black Sea: The Luftwaffe, which is once again permitted to operate over the Black Sea due to a secret deal between the local Luftwaffe commander and the head of local naval forces (and contrary to a standing order of overall Luftwaffe commander Wolfram von Richthofen), bombs and sinks Soviet transports Gruzyia and TSch-27, patrol boat SKA-092 and minesweeper T-413 off Cape Fiolent, motor ship SP-40, five barges, and a floating crane, most in Sevastopol Harbor.

The Soviets get one back with a pre-dawn attack on the German naval base at Yalta. Bombers hit the port while a Soviet MTB slips in and fires three torpedoes at the crowded port. It sinks the Italian mini-submarine CB-5 and causes damage to other vessels. This attack alarms local naval commander Konteradmiral Schweinitz and causes the Germans to send additional flak batteries to the port and for the Kriegsmarine to install anti-torpedo nets.

Spy Stuff: The four German saboteurs landed by U-2020 on Amagansett Beach (Operation Pastorius) on 12 June arrive in New York City and book hotel rooms in Manhattan. Up to now, they have strictly followed protocol and assumed that everyone else in their unit is devoted to the Third Reich. However, during the evening two of the men have a heart-to-heart and confess to each other that they oppose the regime and the mission.

Meanwhile, the Coast Guardsman who spotted the Germans during his normal foot patrol as they arrived, Seaman 2nd Class John C. Cullen, alerts his superiors. A search of the beach reveals their buried uniforms and equipment. The Coast Guard alerts the FBI and the White House. This begins a manhunt, but the authorities have no idea where to look. The incident is kept secret so as to not alarm the public.

The OSS, the predecessor of the CIA, is created on 13 June 1942.

Applied Science: The US Navy uses non-rigid airship K-2 to test the Long Range Navigation (LORAN) system from the airship base at Lakehurst, New Jersey. This first airborne test is a success, as the equipment guides the airship from 50-75 miles offshore to, as the pilot says, "the middle of the hangar." 

US Military: The first issue of Yank magazine is published, dated 17 June 1942. The final issue is 28 December 1945.

The US 1st Armored Division in Northern Ireland receives the last of its tanks. The Americans hold a parade through town, and Sir Archibald Sinclair gives a speech. The US presence in Ireland is intended not just to build up an American military presence in the British Isles, but also to play on Irish sympathies for America. Americans, for instance, financed much of the Irish fight for independence and there are many Irish-Americans in the U.S. armed forces.

The Bureau of Navigation is renamed the Bureau of Naval Personnel.

German Military: Munitions Minister Albert Speer, General Adolf Galland, and General Erhard Milch visit Peenemunde to observe a test flight of the Me 163A. Three aircraft take off at once in a formation takeoff. The Me 163 Komet is a revolutionary rocket plane already has set a new world speed record (on 2 October 1941). While very fast, the plane still has some issues, such as a jettisonable undercarriage that makes landing an adventure.

US Government: President Roosevelt issues Executive Order 9182, creating the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) and Office of War Information (OWI). The former, which coordinates overseas espionage activities, is ultimately succeeded by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). The latter is a major propaganda initiative that results in the Voice of America (VOA), numerous patriotic radio programs that glorify the new U.S. ally Russia (such as "An American in Russia,"), and pro-war effort films and documentaries (such as "This is Our Enemy").  

Advertisement in The New Yorker, June 13, 1942 p. 9.

American Homefront: In her syndicated "My Day" column, First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt writes:

In the morning paper I read that, not satisfied with wiping out the village of Lidice, the Germans have gone further and killed 34 more people in the cities of Prague and Bruenn ‘in reprisal.’ It does not seem to cross their minds that they are imprinting the name of this village on the minds of the people of the world. None of us will ever forget a little village named Lidice. Reprisals of this kind only bring more reprisals, so that it is an unending spiral of murder.

Roosevelt is correct that the name of Lidice will be long-remembered. The Germans have placed a bounty on the assassins of Reinhard Heydrich and given local communities until 18 June to turn them in.

Future History: Abdulsalami Abubakar is born in Minna, Northern Region, British Nigeria. He joins the new Nigerian Air Force in 1964, later transfers to the Nigerian Army, and becomes the 11th President of Nigeria in 1998 due to the military coup of 1983.

The Saturday Evening Post of 13 June 1942.

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May 27, 1942: Heydrich Fatally Wounded in Prague

Wednesday 27 May 1942

The car, bearing license plate SS-3, in which Reinhard Heydrich was attacked in Prague on 27 May 1942. Incidentally, the current whereabouts of this particular vehicle are hotly disputed among historians (Federal Archive Image 146-1972-039-44T).

Battle of the Pacific: USS Yorktown arrives at Pearl Harbor on 27 May 1942, requiring extensive repairs in a hurry if it is to participate in the anticipated Japanese attack on Midway Island in early June. This begins a frenzied, around-the-clock repair job in drydock on the carrier. Her flight deck must be repaired and whole sections of the internal frame cut out and replaced. Fortunately, the elevators are undamaged, which makes it possible for the Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard to return Yorktown to operational status within 72 hours.

The Japanese, meanwhile, cannot use two of their aircraft carriers, Zuikaku and Shōkaku, due to their damage at the Battle of the Coral Sea. However, Admiral Yamamoto is confident that his four large carriers Akagi, Kaga, Soryu, and Hiryu with a total of 229 embarked aircraft will suffice. The First Mobile Carrier Force/Carrier Strike Force (Kido Butai) under Admiral Nagumo departs for Midway from the Inland Sea today, and other units depart from Saipan and Guam, effectively beginning the operation.

In a mishap that is a sign of things to come, the crew of Japanese submarine I-19 is preparing to launch its "Glen" scout plane for reconnaissance over Bogoslof Island in the Aleutians when a US destroyer on patrol enters the area. The Japanese have to dive immediately, destroying the plane. However, I-25 successfully launches its plane for an overflight of Kodiak Island without incident.

The USAAF continues beefing up its air forces in the Aleutians, with Patrol Wing 4 commander arriving in Kodiak Island from Seattle.

B-17s of the Fifth Air Force bomb the Japanese overseas headquarters at Rabaul. P-39s fo the 8th Fighter Group fight Japanese Zeros attacking Port Moresby, losing two P-39Fs.

US Marines and Navy Seabees of the 8th Defense Battalion move southwest from Samoa to occupy the Wallis Islands, a French possession. They will remain there through 1943. While unbelievably dull, the stay will be broken up by a visit by First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt during her tour of the Pacific.

Subhas Chandra Bose with Adolf Hitler (right) at Wolfsschanze, East Prussia, on 27 May 1942. Bose is an Indian nationalist who the Axis leaders hope will stir up an uprising in India against the Allies.

Battle of the Indian Ocean:  While the Burma campaign "officially" concluded on 26 May, Japan and its allies are still busy occupying bypassed areas. Today, Thai forces capture Kengtung, Burma.

The Tenth Air Force transfers the B-17s of the 11th Bombardment Squadron of the 7th Bomber Group from Karachi to Lahabad, India.

Eastern Front: The Soviet armies southeast of Kharkov are trapped in a ten-mile by two-mile pocket but are still fighting hard to escape. The Luftwaffe proves deadly over the pocket, with  Ju 87s, Ju 88s, and He 111s raining down SD-2 cluster bombs and SC250 bombs on the milling masses of Red Army troops and their T-34 tanks clogging the roads. There is no refuge in the pocket, and three Soviet generals perish in the 26th-27th May fighting.

At Fuhrer Headquarters in East Prussia, General Franz Halder notes:

At Izyum, an attack from outside was repelled. Reduction of the pocket is progressing; the enemy has been split into smaller groups, which are dwindling as our prisoner take mounts.

Unusually, and in a sign of the importance he places on the Kharkov victory, Halder returns to this situation later in his report:

Army Group intends to develop the success west of Izyum into further offensive operations east of Kharkov and east of the Donets, at Izyum, in order to gain further successes in the area before the start of operation "Blau."

Red Army General Timoshenko, meanwhile, is still ordering offensive operations for the trapped men to break out. However, the Germans have a clear advantage now and mass surrenders are beginning.

European Air Operations: It is another quiet day on the Channel Front in unsettled weather. The RCAF does an anti-shipping sweep over the North Sea and along the Dutch Coast. RAF No. 121 Squadron badly damages two minesweepers off Flushing Harbor, destroys one Bf 109 fighter (shot down by Jimmy Daley), and damages four others. 

British freighter Empire Purcell of PQ-16, on fire after being bombed in the Arctic. Shortly after this picture was taken, ammunition in the hold exploded, destroying the ship.

Battle of the Atlantic: It is a brutal day for the Allies in the Arctic. The Luftwaffe has been reinforced in northern Norway at Hitler's orders, and today that decision pays dividends. Convoy PQ-16, spotted by a reconnaissance plane on 25 May, comes under fierce air attack about 100 miles southeast of Bear Island. The convoy, bereft of air cover, suffers horribly in three major attacks, one at mid-day (three ships sunk, one damaged), the second in mid-afternoon (one sunk and one damaged), and then in the evening under the midnight sun (two ships sunk, one damaged. The only good news for the Allies is that the convoy suffers no more losses after today due to the arrival on the 28th of three Soviet destroyers and four minesweepers that enhance anti-aircraft protection.

The ships hit today that sink include:

• 5689-ton US freighter Alamar (all 45 men survive) (later sunk as a navigation hazard by US submarine USS Trident).
• 7457-ton British freighter Empire Lawrence (19 dead)
• 7049-ton British freighter Empire Purcell (8 dead)
• 5481-ton US freighter Mormacsul (3 dead) (later sunk as a hazard to navigation by USS Trident).
• 6167-ton US freighter City of Joliet (all survive) (actually sinks on 28 May)
• 5171-ton British freighter Lowther Castle (sunk by an aerial torpedo).

U-753 (KrvKpt. Alfred Manhardt von Mannstein), on its fourth patrol out of La Pallice, torpedoes and sinks 6578-ton Danish tanker Hamlet off Morgan City, Louisiana. Everyone survives, picked up in their lifeboat by fishing vessels.

U-558 (Kptlt. Günther Krech), on its seventh patrol out of Brest, torpedoes and sinks 2622-ton US Army transport USAT Jack 100 miles southwest of Port Salut, Haiti. The ship sinks quickly, within four minutes, and the suction swamps a lifeboat. Another, damaged, lifeboat contains 16 survivors, who are picked up by submarine USS Grunion (SS-216) on 31 May. Another seven men spend 32 days on a raft before being found, while five others on a raft disappear. There are 37 deaths, including 8 US Army personnel traveling as passengers.

U-172 (Kptlt. Carl Emmermann), on its second patrol out of Lorient, torpedoes and sinks 8940-ton British tanker Athelknight southeast of Bermuda. This is U-172's first sinking of the war. Athelknight had been part of Convoy OS-28, but the convoy was dispersed. There are nine dead and 43 survivors. The crew spends about a month before being saved, 25 men picked up by British freighter Empire Austin after 28 days, and the remaining 18 men in a lifeboat that manages to sail 1200 miles to St. Bartholomew Island, Leeward Islands on 23 June.

U-578 (KrvKpt. Ernst-August Rehwinkel), on its fourth patrol out of St. Nazaire, torpedoes and sinks 6269-ton Dutch freighter Polyphemus off Bermuda. The ship, with a crew of 61, is also carrying 14 survivors of the Norwegian freighter Norland. Rehwinkel surfaces and gives the survivors some cigarettes and directions to land. There are 60 survivors of the 75 men on board, most of whom make it to Nantucket Island. Along the way, U-566 (Kptlt Borchert) also spots one of the lifeboats, also surfaces, and also gives the men some supplies and directions.

British 710-ton minesweeper HMS Fitzroy sinks from unexplained causes, likely from hitting a British mine, 40 nautical miles east of Great Yarmouth. There are 13 deaths.

British 501-ton trawler HMS Arctic Pioneer sinks after colliding with battleship King George V off Portsmouth. It is later raised, refloated, repaired, and returned to service.

US 37-ton scow K No. 12 founders and sinks eight miles west of Cape Saint Elias, Alaska. Everyone survives.

Dutch 482-ton coaster Oorlogschip hits a mine and sinks off Hoek van Holland. Casualties are unknown.

M/V Athelknight, shown here in a pre-war photo as a "modern tanker," was sunk by U-172 off Bermuda on 27 May 1942.

Battle of the Mediterranean: A day after launching a feint against the center of the British Gazala Line in Libya, General Erwin Rommel launches his main attack from the south. The attack has been meticulously planned out so that Allied minefields will provide cover for the Axis flank and rear.

Rommel splits his forces to accomplish multiple objectives at once. The 90th Light Division at the far right of the attack has the most success, capturing British supply dumps at El Adem. The 15th Panzer Division in the center, runs into the British 4th Armoured Brigade of the 7th Armoured Division and, after a terrific fight, pushes the British M3 (Grant) tanks back toward El Adem. The Italian Ariete Division of XX Motorized Corps blasts through the 3rd Indian Motor Brigade of 7th Armoured Division, which loses 23 tanks and 440 men killed and about 1000 prisoners, but the Italians then run into trouble. The 21st Panzer Division finds a gap and advances without opposition.

The key issue for Rommel today is at Bir Hakeim. There, the 1st Free French Brigade under General Marie-Pierre Kœnig defends an old fort and is well dug in. Rommel has placed too much confidence in the Ariete Division and underestimated the Free French. The Italians are stopped cold at the fort with the loss of 31-41 tanks of the IX Tank Battalion. Although the Axis forces surround it, Bir Hakeim with its effective French fortifications remains a problem for the Afrika Korps well into June. Overall, Rommel's attack today is a success, achieving complete surprise and smashing into the Allied defenses.

USS Yorktown (CV-5) arrives in Pearl Harbor, 27 May 1942, escorted by tug Hoga (YT-146). Yorktown proceeds directly to drydock for repairs, The tip of the sunken USS Arizona's mast can be seen just to the right of Yorktown (Naval History and Heritage Command 80-G-21931). 

Special Operations: Two specially trained soldiers of the Czechoslovak army-in-exile, Jan Kubiš and Warrant Officer Jozef Gabčík, have been hiding out in occupied Czechoslovakia since 28 December 1941 on a unique mission. They are there to carry out Operation Anthropoid, which is an assassination operation against Stellvertretender Reichsprotektor (Deputy/Acting Reich-Protector) of the provinces the Reich calls Bohemia and Moravia (Czechoslovakia) Reinhard Heydrich.

A devoted supporter of Adolf Hitler's agenda and a key instigator of the Holocaust, Heydrich is widely feared throughout Czechoslovakia for his brutal and uncompromising methods. In addition to his duties in Czechoslovakia, Heydrich remains chief of the Reich Security Main Office. He was the leader of the infamous "Wannsee Conference" on 20 January 1942 that formulated the master plan for the Holocaust. In fact, the plan to establish killing centers at Belzec, Sobibor, and Treblinka is codenamed "Operation Reinhard" (Aktion Reinhard) in his honor. He is a true celebrity throughout Occupied Europe.

Heydrich has been Deputy Reich Protektor (the actual Protektor is a figurehead, Konstantin von Neurath) of Bohemia and Moravia since 27 September 1941. This appointment is widely seen as a reward for his slavish devotion to Reichsfuhrer-SS Heinrich Himmler and the Third Reich. Tellingly, Neurath has been on "leave" since Heydrich's appointment because he has been too "soft" on the Czechs, whose labor is badly needed for the war effort.

Today, the two agents, trained by the British Special Operations Executive (SOE), spring into action. After a quiet morning, at around 11:00 Heydrich has his driver take him from his home to the airport to fly to Berlin. He has an appointment for a meeting with Hitler, who may have a new assignment for him. The agents ambush Heydrich's open-top Mercedes 320 Cabriolet B chauffeur-driven limousine at Prague 8-Libeň near Bulovka Hospital. This is a fairly crowded area with tram stations nearby.

A view of the location of the Reinhard Heydrich assassination, with the death car. The assassins chose this spot because Heydrich's car had to slow down to make a turn here.

Gabčík steps forward and attempts to use a Sten submachine gun, which he has concealed under a raincoat, to fire at Heydrich. However, the gun jams. Incredibly, Heydrich, apparently believing that Gabčík is a lone attacker, tells the driver to stop. He then, stands up in the rear of the limo and draws his Luger pistol to fire at Gabčík. If Heydrich had just told his driver to proceed, he would have suffered no consequences from the attack.

Instead, events now take a deadly turn. Kubiš is nearby and throws a modified anti-tank grenade (concealed in a briefcase) at Heydrich. However, Kubiš makes a poor throw and the bomb falls short, landing against the limo's rear wheel. When it explodes, shrapnel and pieces of the car hit Heydrich, badly injuring him, though he does not realize how badly immediately. Kubiš himself also is lightly wounded by shrapnel.

At that point, Heydrich and his driver, SS-Oberscharführer Johannes Klein, leap out of the Mercedes. Heydrich heads toward Gabčík, standing with his jammed gun, while Klein (whose own gun has jammed) chases Kubiš, who pedals away on a bicycle through crowds of people taking the trams nearby.

A gunfight then erupts between Gabčík and Heydrich, both using pistols. Heydrich soon collapses, apparently from his bomb injuries, while Klein turns and pursues Gabčík, who also flees on a bicycle. Gabčík escapes after shooting Klein in the leg.

Two people, a Czech woman and an off-duty policeman, flag down a passing delivery van and have it drive Heydrich, who is conscious but in severe pain, to nearby Bulovka Hospital. Surgeons there, primarily Dr. Walter Diek, Dr. Slanina, and Professor Hollbaum, do what they can, but Heydrich is in very bad shape (he passes away on 4 June 1942).

Adolf Hitler and Himmler are furious when they hear the news of the attack. Himmler sends his top SS doctor, Karl Gebhardt, to care for Heydrich, while Hitler ponders sending notorious SS General Erich von dem Bach-Zelewski, currently serving in anti-partisan duties in the occupied USSR, to Prague to conduct reprisals. Zelewski is well known throughout the SS for his brutal methods and complete lack of human sentiment when such would conflict with his orders, so Hitler's desires are obvious.

Himmler, however, talks Hitler out of this, claiming Zelewski can't be spared from the Front. He also dissuades Hitler from his most brutal planned reprisals, namely, simply exterminating 10,000 Czechs known to be "politically unreliable." Himmler is not being a "nice guy," he simply knows that Czech labor is important to the war effort and is thinking strategically.

As the day ends, Heydrich remains barely alive, while Kubiš and Gabčík, who think they have failed in their mission to kill Heydrich and know they are being hunted down, are sheltering at a local safe house. Hitler appoints Kurt Daluege, chief of the national uniformed Ordnungspolizei (Order Police), to replace Heydrich. Daluege turns out to be just as bad as Zelewski might have been, destroying entire towns such as Lidice in an orgy of bloodshed. Daluege quickly issues a deadline of 18 June for the two agents to be caught or, he warns, the people of Czechoslovakia will face extreme reprisals. However, Daluege doesn't wait until that date to begin a campaign of terror against any Czechs and Czech municipalities that he thinks have anything remotely to do with the two agents.

"Troops wade ashore from a tank landing craft during a combined operations exercise at Thorness Bay on the Isle of Wight, 27 May 1942." © IWM H 20202.

Partisans: Near Bryansk, the German anti-partisan Operation Hannover makes some ground as the heavy rains ease up. A German pincer movement has its points meet at Furtsevo. However, Soviet General Below has escaped with his men. Overall, the results are disappointing for Fourth Army, which thought it could trap Belov and end the threat he and his men pose. On the bright side for the Germans, about 2/3 of the Soviet volunteers it had sent into the pocket as spies return (or are caught in the pincer) and provide some useful information.

General Halder sees the glass as half full:

The attacks against Cav. Corps Belov resulted in a gratifying success. Here, too, the enemy has been split into smaller groups; some still are putting up stubborn resistance.

Halder obviously does not yet know that Belov has escaped, and is relying on overly optimistic reports from field commanders. It will take five days to sort things out and figure out who was captured and who escaped.

Holocaust: The requirement that began in the Balkans that Jewish residents wear a yellow identification badge extends to Belgium.

Preparations begin for Operation Fahndung nach deutschem Blut (roughly, "Find German Blood"). This is a German plot to kidnap Polish children deemed "racially German" and raise them in Germany. Planning for Operation Zamość, an operation to clear all Poles from the Zamość region of Poland and replace them with Germans, also begins.

Guards at Auschwitz shoot 168 prisoners against the execution wall in the courtyard of Block 11. The victims are members of the group of Polish painters, artists, and actors who were arrested at the Artists' Cafe in Krakow on 16 April 1942. The reason they are chosen is due to the fact the executions are done in reprisal for the murder of a Luftwaffe commander in Krakow.

A Churchill tank leaves a tank landing craft (TLC 121) during combined operations exercises at Thorness Bay on the Isle of Wight, 27 May 1942.

Japanese Government: Prime Minister Hideki Tojo, leader of the "War Party," addresses the Diet. The speech is notable for his encouragement of Indians to follow Subhas Chandra Bose and rise up against the Allies and assert independence. This is not just a product of wishful thinking, as many Indian troops, such as those in Singapore, already have changed sides.

American Homefront: "Prelude to War," an official US Government film stating who the enemies of the United States are and why they are being fought, receives national release after premiering in New York City on 13 May 1942. It also was shown as an army training film before this release. "Prelude to War" features Walter Huston as the narrator and includes footage of top German leaders such as Adolf Hitler, Joseph Goebbels, Hermann Goering, and Rudolf Hess. This film is marketed with the tagline, "Your boy wants to see it!"

There is nothing subtle about this film, directed by Frank Capra. It is proud to serve as obvious propaganda and does a very good job of it. "Prelude to War" is now in the public domain. In 2000, the United States Library of Congress mandated that this film be included among "culturally significant" films selected for preservation in the National Film Registry.

A gun-coupled camera aboard a British RAF Spitfire plane made this record of a German Focke-Wulf Fw 190 fighter aircraft getting shot down in May 1942, over an unknown location. The Fw 190 was still a mystery plane to the RAF at this point. Note the pilot bailing out (AP Photo).

May 1942

May 1, 1942: Japanese Take Mandalay

May 2, 1942: Cruiser Edinburgh Sunk

May 3, 1942: Japanese Take Tulagi

May 4, 1942: Fletcher Attacks at Tulagi

May 5, 1942: British Invade Madagascar

May 6, 1942: Corregidor Falls to Japan

May 7, 1942: Scratch One Flattop!

May 8, 1942: Lexington Sunk in the Coral Sea

May 9, 1942: Manstein on the Attack in Crimea

May 10, 1942: Spitfires Rule Over Malta

May 11, 1942: First Japanese Retreat at Deboyne

May 12, 1942: Soviets Attack At Kharkov

May 13, 1942: Crisis at Kharkov

May 14, 1942: Where in the World is AF

May 15, 1942: Germans Take Kerch

May 16, 1942: Sobibor Begins Operation

May 17, 1942: Germans Counterattack at Kharkov

May 18, 1942: Soviet Command Confusion 

May 19, 1942: Soviet Panic at Kharkov

May 20, 1942: Churchill and Molotov Negotiate

May 21, 1942: U-106 Sinks the Wrong Tanker

May 22, 1942: AF is Midway!

May 23, 1942: German Forces Surround Soviet Armies at Kharkov

May 24, 1942: German Anti-Partisan Operations in Full Swing

May 25, 1942: Soviet Breakout at Kharkov Fails

May 26, 1942: Rommel Pounces in North Africa

May 27, 1942: Heydrich Fatally Wounded in Prague

May 28, 1942: German Victory At Kharkov

May 29, 1942: Japanese at Madagascar

May 30, 1942: First RAF Thousand-Plane Raid

May 31, 1942: The Attack on Sydney Harbour

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April 19, 1942: British in Burma Escape

Sunday 19 April 1942

USS Nevada leaves Pearl Harbor for a trial run on April 19, 1942, after hurried repairs from the 7 December 1941 air raid (U.S. Navy).

Battle of the Pacific: The Doolittle raiders end their mission in the early morning hours of 19 April 1942 by crashing in China or ditching their B-25 bombers in the sea. Ultimately, 15 of the 16 planes are destroyed in crashes. One crew lands near Vladivostok, Russia, where the crew is interned because the USSR is not at war with Japan (they escape in 1943). The Japanese capture eight crewmen, of whom three are executed as "war criminals." One crewman dies of disease in prison. Most of the remaining crewmen are helped by Chinese civilians and manage to return home via Burma and India. Colonel Doolittle, who lands in a rice paddy near Chun Chow and is helped by local civilians, is promoted (in absentia) to Brigadier General.

The Japanese search hard for the Doolittle crews and while doing so execute an estimated 250,000 Chinese civilians in reprisal. In Tokyo, the raid takes the military command by surprise and alarms it even though the attack actually caused little damage. The danger is that it has exposed shortcomings in the sea "outfield" defensive perimeter. It recalls some units to the home islands for defense and beefs up sea patrols. Admiral Yamamoto speeds up spans for the invasion of Midway in order to provide better security on the sea approaches to Japan. Because the life of the Emperor was placed in jeopardy by the raid, the official position is that it is unpatriotic to argue against the adoption of a more defensive strategy.

The Sunday Tribune of 19 April 1942 has many pictures of the recent surrender of Bataan.

In Washington, D.C., there are wild rumors of a raid (due to Japanese radio reports that "Enemy bombers appeared over Tokyo for the first time in the current war"), but the White House and War Department issue no statements. President Roosevelt is in Hyde Park, New York, and finally is informed about the raid. Advisor Samuel Rosenman suggests that if any reporters ask where the raid originated, he could tell them it came from "Shangri-La," a fantasy Himalayan city in James Hilton's novel "Lost Horizon."

In the Philippines, the Japanese complete the capture of Cebu Island. A Japanese submarine shells and sinks 1406-ton Philippine freighter El Cano off Corregidor. The Japanese lose guard boat No. 21 Nanshin Maru (scuttled) and No. 1 Iwate Maru (sinks) as a result of the air attacks from the USS Enterprise in preparation for the Doolittle raid.

The press is full of reports of a daring air raid on Japan, but there is no official word yet and the details are only provided by Japanese radio broadcasts. San Francisco Chronicle, 19 April 1942.

Battle of the Indian Ocean: The British 1st Burma Division, about 7000 men, crosses the Pin Chaung River in Burma on 19 April 1942, meeting up with an advancing Chinese relief column. The Chinese attack at 08:00 and make little progress, but attack again in the afternoon and make contact with the British around 16:00 after the Japanese pull back to the south and east. The British under the command of Captain J.A. Clifford thereby avoid being trapped and save the troops. Clifford stays in the vicinity to collect stragglers, some of whom have escaped after being captured.

The Chinese leader, General Lo Cho-Ying, had refused to rescue the British, but subordinate commander General Sun Li-Jen responded favorably to a telephone appeal from British commander Major General James Bruce Scott and led 1121 men to help the British. The 1st Burma Division is in poor condition, having lost its heavy equipment and with many Burmese troops having deserted. King George VI will award General Sun with the Commander of the Order of the British Empire medal and also some of his subordinate commanders with other awards. The Chinese remain in the area to attack south toward the Yenangyaung oil fields but face heavy Japanese opposition. All told, the Japanese have lost 700 killed in the battle around the Yenangyoung oil fields while the Allies have lost roughly 550 men - and control of the installation.

A Finnish Second Lieutenant takes a break, April 1942 (SA-Kuva).

Eastern Front: Lieutenant General Mikhail Grigoryevich Yefremov, commander of the Soviet 33rd Army, commits suicide to avoid being taken prisoner by the Germans near Vyazma. He does so while personally leading a failed breakout attempt across a highway out of a pocket south and east of Smolensk that had formed during a Soviet attempt to take Vyazma in February 1942. The Germans had found a copy of orders for the breakout in the uniform of a dead Soviet soldier and were ready and waiting at the crossing point. They form three lines of defense at the road and destroy the remnants of the 33rd Army with withering machine-gun and artillery fire.

A separate breakout attempt by General Pavel Belov's 1st Guards Cavalry Corps from the Smolensk/Vyazma pocket is undetected by the Germans and succeeds in crossing the road to reach the Soviet 10th Army. A monument to Yefremov is later placed in Vyazma and he posthumously is awarded the Order of the Red Banner. Belov, on the other hand, gains greatly in prestige and soon will be awarded command of the 61st Army.

In Crimea, the battles along the Parpach Narrows have died down, but the Luftwaffe is making its enhanced presence known. Today, German bombers damage tanker I. Stalin along with three other transport ships. General Manstein has managed to keep his casualties relatively low during the battles while General Kozlov's Crimean Front has lost 40% of its manpower, 52% of its tanks, and 25% of its artillery during its failed offensives. Manstein now begins planning a final offensive (Unternehmen Trappenjagd or "Bustard Hunt") to clear the Soviets out of the Kerch Peninsula once the spring thaw arrives in early May. The Soviet Stavka asks Stalin to consider withdrawing from the exposed position but the commander in chief is undecided.

Near Demyansk, General Seydlitz's relief force continues slowly grinding toward the pocket where almost 100,000 German troops are trapped. The Soviets are resisting bitterly but have nowhere to retreat between the relief column and the Lovat River. General Halder notes casually in his war diary, "Still all quiet on the front."

A Hitler Youth induction ceremony for ten-year-olds in Berlin, 19 April 1942 (Federal Archive Image 183-J01181).

European Air Operations: It is a quiet day on the Channel Front. The only activity is minelaying overnight in the Frisian Islands, during which the RAF loses one Hampden and one Wellington bomber.

Battle of the Atlantic: U-130 (KrvKpt. Ernst Kals) shells the Royal Dutch Shell refineries at Ballen Bay on Curacao in the Netherlands West Indies. A total of twelve shells cause minimal damage.

U-136 (Kptlt. Heinrich Zimmermann) torpedoes and sinks armed US freighter Steel Maker west of Bermuda. The submarine stops to question the survivors in their life boats, and Captain politely says, "I am sorry to have to sink you and do this to you, but this is war." He promises to inform the Allies of their position. Although only one crewman perishes and 36 men survive, the survivors drift in the current and the last man is not rescued until 18 May 1942. (Sources conflict on U-136's activities today but this is according to the US Navy Chronology).

U-136 also torpedoes and damages freighter Axtell J. Byles (named for a football player) off Wimble Shoals, North Carolina. The tanker makes it to Hampton Roads under its own power with no injuries to the crew.

German auxiliary cruiser Michel (formerly Polish freighter Bielsko and then hospital ship Bonn), under the command of FK (later KzS) Helmuth von Ruckteschell, shells and sinks 7468-ton British tanker Patella in the South Atlantic. There are five dead. The Germans take 60 crewmen as prisoners. This is Michel's first victory after breaking out through the English Channel and sailing on 20 March 1942.

US 7500-ton freighter Exminster collides with freighter Algic at the entrance to Cape Cod Canal, Cape Cod Bay, Massachusetts, and sinks. Algic suffers minimal damage. Exminster later is raised and towed to New York but ultimately scrapped in 1946.

US Navy destroyer Broome (DD-210) rescues 27 survivors from freighter Alcoa Guide, sunk by U-123 on 16 April 1942.

Convoy PQ-14 arrives at Murmansk, USSR.

The Lima, Ohio, News headlines the Doolittle Raid on 19 April 1942.

Battle of the Mediterranean: U-81 (Kptlt. Friedrich Guggenberger), on its fifth patrol out of La Spezia, rams and sinks 90-ton Egyptian sailing vessel Hefz el Rahman off the coast of Palestine. Royal Navy destroyer HMS Umbra torpedoes and sinks 4219-ton Italian freighter Assunta de Grigori off Sfax, Tunisia.

There are heavy air raids on Malta, as there have been since mid-March. The RAF has no planes in service on the island, so the Luftwaffe has complete control of the skies aside from anti-aircraft fire. The bombers drop 436 tons of bombs (442,376 kg) and single out anti-aircraft batteries for special attention, hitting 15 of them and killing 13 gunners. Also suffering damage are all major airfields and Grand Harbour. In Hamrun, 34 civilians perish when a bomb strikes St. Paul's Home for the Elderly, run by the Little Sisters of the Poor.

German Military: At his hunting lodge at the Rominten Heath in East Prussia, Hermann Goering gives a speech to his top Luftflotte commanders about the war in the East. "The Russian is an enemy of barbarous methods. They ought not to be initiated by us, but we've got to show a sterner face." While Goering is reticent about saying exactly what this "sterner face" means, his meaning is clear.

US Military: Battleship USS Nevada leaves Pearl Harbor for a trial run after extensive repairs from torpedo and bomb damage suffered during the 7 December 1941 Japanese air raid. She will proceed to Puget Sound Navy Yard for major repairs and modernization.

American Homefront: Bernard Joseph Smith wins the Boston Marathon with a new record time of 2:26:51.

Warren Spahn makes his major league debut for the Boston Braves, retiring the two batters he faces.

Secretary of the Treasury Henry Morgenthau encourages Americans to spend 10 percent of their income on war savings bonds.

Reserve Cavalry officer Lt. Ronald Reagan (he enlisted in 1937) is called to active duty. His first assignment is with the San Francisco Port of Embarkation at Fort Mason, California, as a liaison officer of the Port and Transportation Office. He is unable to serve overseas because the army has classified him as fit only for limited service due to his poor eyesight.

Ronald Reagan bids farewell to wife Jane Wyman in Los Angeles on April 19, 1942. He is off to report for duty as a lieutenant in the U.S. Army (AP Photo).

April 1942

April 1, 1942: Convoys Come to the USA 
April 2, 1942: Doolittle Raiders Leave Port
April 3, 1942: Japanese Attack in Bataan
April 4, 1942: Luftwaffe Attacks Kronstadt
April 5, 1942: Japanese Easter Sunday Raid on Ceylon
April 6, 1942: Japanese Devastation In Bay of Bengal
April 7, 1942: Valletta, Malta, Destroyed
April 8, 1942: US Bataan Defenses Collapse
April 9, 1942: US Defeat in Bataan
April 10, 1942: The Bataan Death March
April 11, 1942: The Sea War Heats Up
April 12, 1942: Essen Raids Conclude Dismally
April 13, 1942: Convoy QP-10 Destruction
April 14, 1942: Demyansk Breakout Attempt
April 15, 1942: Sobibor Extermination Camp Opens
April 16, 1942: Oil Field Ablaze in Burma
April 17, 1942: The Disastrous Augsburg Raid
April 18, 1942: The Doolittle Raid bombs Japan
April 19, 1942: British in Burma Escape
April 20, 1942: The Operation Calendar Disaster
April 21, 1942: Germans Relieve Demyansk

April 22, 1942: Gasoline Rationing in the US

April 23, 1942: The Mystery of Plane 8

April 24, 1942: When Will Help Arrive?

April 25, 1942: Bath Devastated in Baedeker Blitz

April 26, 1942: Hitler Expands His Powers

April 27, 1942: Luftwaffe Bombs Norwich

April 28, 1942: Brewing Clash in the Arctic

April 29, 1942: Japanese Preparing Operation Mo

April 30, 1942: U-Boats Attack!

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