Remembering History by day WW2

[Peter Clare]

16 February 1942.

The submarine Thresher attacked a ship off Suda Bay, Crete, and was attacked with bombs and depth-charges. When she surfaced, two unexploded bombs were found inside the hull casing. They were safely removed by Lieutenant P.S.W Roberts and Petty Officer T.W. Gould; both were awarded the Victoria Cross.

[Peter Clare]

16 February 1940.

The destroyer Cossack rescued 299 seamen from merchant ships sunk by the German pocket battleship Admiral Graf Spee, from the supply tanker Altmark in Jossingfjord, Norway. The tanker had been spotted by RAF aircraft.

[Bodston]

Sunday 16 February 1941

Fresh Greek Offensive
The Athens news agency Athinaiko Praktoreio reported:
The Greek general staff reports that the Greek troop offensive that began on Friday is continuing with undiminished violence. Yesterday Greek forces again won important victories in which prisoners and large amounts of war matériel of every kind fell into their hands. Greek assault troops succeeded in penetrating strongly fortified Italian positions at various points on the front, which has shifted along its whole length between Lake Ochrida (on Yogoslav-Albanian border) and the coast.

[Bodston]

Tuesday 16 February 1943

Hard Fighting in Tunisia
The American United Press News Agency reported:
The fighting east of Sbeitla in central Tunisia lasted all day Monday, with strong armored forces, artillery and dive bombers operating on both sides. In the morning American armored units went on the counterattack east of Sbeitla to drive back the two Axis columns which advanced on Sunday, and to prevent any further enemy advance to Sbeitla. So far, nothing has been reported about the outcome of these operations.

[Bodston]

Friday 16 February 1945

Beromünster Radio (Switzerland)
Last Monday evening, February 12, marked the publication of a joint declaration signed by President Roosevelt, Marshal Stalin and Prime Minister Churchill, summarising the results of their week-long conference. . . Most significant for Europe was their statement about (the fate of) Europe after the liberation. This statement was clearly inspired by the Americans and reflects the "open door" principle, that is, the idea of joint responsibility and cooperation among the Allies within the liberated nations, as well as inside the so-called former Axis satellite nations. The policy, by giving the other Allies joint control, is designed to curtail the exclusive rights of any individual major Allied power to dispose affairs in an occupied country.

[Peter Clare]

February 17, 1944
U.S. troops land on Eniwetok atoll

Operation Catchpole is launched as American troops devastate the Japanese defenders of Eniwetok and take control of the atoll in the northwestern part of the Marshall Islands.
The U.S. Central Pacific Campaign was formulated during the August 1943 Quebec Conference. President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Prime Minister Winston Churchill agreed on, among other things, a new blueprint for fighting in the Pacific: an island-hopping strategy; the establishment of bases from which to launch B-29s for a final assault on Japan; and a new Southeast Asia command for British Adm. Louis Mountbatten.
The success of the island-hopping strategy brought Guadalcanal and New Guinea under Allied control. Though those areas were important, the Allies also still needed to capture the Mariana Islands, the Marshall Islands, and the Gilbert Islands, which had comprised an inner defensive perimeter for the Japanese. Each was a group of atolls, with between 20 to 50 islets, islands, and coral reefs surrounding a lagoon. The Allies planned an amphibious landing on the islands--all the more difficult because of this unusual terrain.
On February 17, a combined U.S. Marine and Army force under Adm. Richmond Kelly Turner made its move against Eniwetok. Air strikes, artillery and naval gunfire, and battleship fire 1,500 yards from the beach gave cover to the troops moving ashore and did serious damage to the Japanese defenses. Six days after the American landing, the atoll was secured. The loss for the Japanese was significant: only 64 of the 2,677 defenders who met the Marine and Army force survived the fighting. The Americans lost only 195.
The position on Eniwetok gave U.S. forces a base of operations to finally capture the entirety of the Marianas. Eniwetok was also useful to the United States after the war--in 1952 it became the testing ground for the first hydrogen bomb.

[Peter Clare]

HMS BLUEBELL (February 17, 1945)
Royal Navy corvette of 925 tons, enroute from Loch Ewe in Scotland to the Kola Inlet in Russia, when sunk by the U-711 (Lange). One torpedo hit the ammunition magazine which exploded blowing the ship apart. The Bluebell (Lt. G. Walker) was scouting ahead of Convoy RA-64 on the lookout for enemy submarines when at 5.30pm the torpedo hit. The corvette sank in about four minutes. There was only one survivor from her 86 man crew. (The U-711 was sunk on May 4, 1945, near Harstad, Norway, by depth charges dropped from aircraft of the escort carriers HMS Trumpeter, HMS Queen and HMS Searcher. Forty of her crew died and twelve survived)

[Peter Clare]

17 February 1940.

The destroyer Cossack arrived at Leith carrying 299 merchant seamen taken off the German tanker Altmark. (See post #1082. 16 February 1940)

[Peter Clare]

17-18 February 1944.

On 17-18 February 1944 the nine carriers of Task Force 58 attacked the Japanese Navy's most advanced anchorage at Truk in the Caroline Islands. The heavy units of the Combined Fleet had recently removed to Singapore; although the US Navy was disappointed by the small number of warships sunk, the aircraft sank numerous auxiliaries in the lagoon, which never again regained its importance as a base.

Japanese Training Cruiser Katori Damaged by air attack off Truk. Later sunk 40 miles west of Truk.

Japanese Destroyer Maikaze Sunk in company with Katori.
Japanese Destroyer Fumizuki Sunk south-west of Truk.
Japanese Destroyer Oite Sunk west of Truk.
Japanese Destroyer Tachikaze Sunk at Truk.

Japanese Armed Merchant Cruiser Akagi Maru Sunk north west of Truk.

Japanese Cruiser Naka Sunk 35 miles west of Truk.

[Bodston]

Wednesday 17 February 1943

Kharkov falls to Russians
Moscow; The Soviet Information Bureau reported:
The troops of General Golikov have captured Kharkov. On Tuesday Soviet artillery, brought from Zhopozhnikov and moved into position around Kharkov, aimed three hours of devastating fire at the German defensive positions. Then white flares shot up ordering the artillery to cease fire, and two minutes later, seven armoured formations burst out of their carefully camouflaged positions and rolled against the German lines. Two German panzer divisions, the "Adolf Hitler" and the "Reich," assembled in a fan formation, tried to halt the onslaught. They took extremly heavy losses as Russian assault artillery followed hard in the wake of Russian tanks.
While the armoured attack continued, two Russian columns circled around Kharkov from the north and mounted a surprise attack on the rear of the concentrated German motorised infantry.

March on the Mareth Line
17 February 1943, Cairo
The British Reuters News Agency reported:
The lead columns of the British Eighth Army have already left Ben Gardane far behind and are advancing virtually unopposed against the (Italian defended) Mareth Line (in Tunisia.)