Remembering History by day WW2

[Peter Clare]

USS JACOB JONES (DD-130) (February 28, 1942)

This old four stack 1,340 ton destroyer (Lt. Cmdr. Hugh Black) left New York to take up anti-submarine patrol duties off the coast of New Jersey. At 5am on the 28th, disaster struck. Two torpedoes fired from the U-578 streaked towards the unsuspecting destroyer and struck with a shattering roar the port side of the ship. It took only a few seconds for the ship to break up, the forward section plunging to the bottom. All the occupants of her living quarters were killed when one of the torpedoes struck the stern.
By now, only 35 crew members of her complement of 149, were left alive on the mid section but managed to lower life rafts and abandon the sinking vessel. No sooner had the ship disappeared than her depth charges exploded killing many of the men on the rafts. Hours later one of the rafts was sighted but only twelve men in it were alive and one died on the way to shore. The survivors on the other rafts were never found. From the Jacob Jones, 138 crewmembers had died.
The destroyer USS Black (DD-666) was later named in honour of the Jacob Jones' commander.

[Peter Clare]

28 February 1942.

In the early hours British paratroopers raided a German radar post at Bruneval, north of Le Havre on the Normandy coast. the force was evacuated by RN ships. Vital parts of the radar installation were taken back to Britain.

Bruneval

[Peter Clare]

29 February 1944.

South of Ceylon, the cargo liner Palma 5,419 tons, Liverpool to India was sunk by U 183.

East of the Seychelles, the cargo ship Ascot 7,005 tons, India to Mauritius was sunk by the Japanese submarine I-37.

[Peter Clare]

March 1, 1941
Bulgaria joins the Axis

On this day, the southeastern European nation of Bulgaria joins the Axis powers by signing the Tripartite Pact.
When the Second World War broke out, Bulgaria declared its neutrality. But Bulgaria's King Boris was eager to expand his country's borders, and Germany had already coerced Romania to restore south Dobruja--which had been lost in World War I--to Bulgaria. Bulgaria had chosen the wrong side in World War I, deciding that its territorial needs then would best be met by joining the Central Powers (Austria-Hungary and the German Empire). They were wrong, and King Boris was determined not to make the same mistake again.
Believing Hitler's boasts that he had already won the war, King Boris chose to pitch his country's tent on the Axis side of the war. Hitler needed a compliant Bulgaria through which to march his troops en route to offensives against both Yugoslavia and Greece. If the Germans were victorious in Greece, Bulgaria hoped, as a new war partner, to gain access itself to the Aegean by claiming Greek territory to its south. On March 1, the Germans came marching through the Balkans, as the Bulgarian king signed the Tripartite Pact in Vienna with Hitler looking on.
Bulgaria benefited in the short term from the alliance; it made territorial gains in both Greece and Yugoslavia. But Hitler was not through exploiting its "partner"-the Fuhrer wanted Bulgaria's help in its war with the Soviet Union. While King Boris prepared Bulgarian troops for the Eastern Front in 1943, communists and agrarian reformers mounted a vigorous resistance campaign, assassinating more than 100 pro-Nazi officials. King Boris also died at this time-from a heart attack. A Regency Council was formed, which remained loyal to Germany. Successive governments rose and fell until the Soviet Union's invasion of Bulgaria in September 1944 resulted in an armistice and a postwar, pro-Soviet Bulgaria.

[Peter Clare]

HMAS PERTH (March 1, 1942)

Australian cruiser of 6,830 tons launched in 1934 under the name HMS Amphion. Transferred to the Australian Navy in 1939 and renamed HMAS Perth. During the Battle of the Java Sea the Perth's commander, Captain Hector Waller, pulled his ship out of line when the heavy cruiser HMS Exeter was hit and placed it between the Japanese warships and the Exeter to save it from further damage (the Exeter later sank). The Perth, accompanied by the American cruiser Houston, was later sunk in the Sunda Strait half an hour after midnight about four miles from St. Nicholas Point in Java as the two ships attempted to escape southwards from the battle area and into the Indian Ocean. Unfortunately they ran straight into a Japanese invasion fleet of destroyers and troop transports in Banteng Bay and after a long running battle during which all ammunition was expended, both ships were sunk by torpedoes. On board the Perth were 45 officers, 631 ratings, 4 civilian canteen staff and six Royal Australian Air Force personnel, a total of 686 men. Casualties were 23 officers and 329 ratings killed. There were 334 survivors who were taken prisoners of war. Of these, around 106 died in captivity. Not one of the Perth's officers died while a prisoner of war, due no doubt to the privileges granted to men of officer rank. For this heroic act, Captain Waller never received the equivalent of the British VC as did the captain of the Houston. The Dutch government offered its highest award, the Militare Willems-Orde posthumously to Captain Waller, but to its everlasting shame, the Australian government turned it down. In World War II, twelve Victoria Crosses were awarded to members of the Australian forces engaged in operations against Japan but not a single VC was awarded to the Royal Australian Navy.

The Australian Cruiser HMAS Perth

[Peter Clare]

USS HOUSTON (March 1, 1942)

Sunk in the Sunda Strait by torpedoes from the same warships that sunk HMAS Perth The Houston went down just twenty minutes later about a mile from the Perth, taking 643 men to their deaths. The 368 survivors made their way to Bantam Bay on the western shores of Java, only to be captured by the Japanese who had already occupied the area some hours before. Of the survivors, seventy-seven died while in Japanese captivity. Both captains of the Perth and Houston went down with their ships. Captain Robert Rooks, the commander of the Houston , was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor, posthumously. The Houston lies in approximately 107 feet of water just north of Panjang Island.

[Peter Clare]

USS EDSALL (March 1, 1942)

During World War II, four American destroyers were not accounted for, they had simply 'disappeared', or so it was thought at the time. The Edsall was one of those ships. In February, 1942, she and the destroyer USS Whipple, were ordered to rendezvous with the carrier USS Langley about 200 miles south of Java. The Langley was carrying 32 P-40 fighters, their pilots and ground crews who were to bolster the meagre air defences in the Dutch East Indies. Early next morning the ships were attacked by nine Japanese bombers which soon reduced the Langley to a blazing wreck that had to be abandoned, sixteen of the Langley's crew died. The Edsall rescued 117 of her survivors. Ordered to proceed to Christmas Island to join up with the navy tanker USS Pecos and then proceed to Fremantle, Australia, but not before the Langley's survivors were transferred over to the Pecos (Lt. Cmdr. E. Abernethy)
The three ships parted company and the Whipple set sail for the Cocos Islands to refuel while the Pecos continued on to Fremantle with the Edsall. Underway, just south of Christmas Island, the Pecos was attacked and sunk by Val bombers from Japanese carriers in the area. Altogether 85 men on board the Pecos were lost. The Whipple, after picking up her distress calls, turned back and rescued 232 survivors. The Edsall, last seen sailing over the horizon on her way back to Java, was never heard of again. In 1952, investigators learned that eight of her crew had been picked up by the Japanese warship Ashigara and deposited on Celebes Island. Investigating the long forgotten P.O.W. camp on the island, a group of natives directed the searchers to five graves covered with jungle vegetation.
The five graves were opened and five skeletons found, all identified by their ID tags. All five skeletons were of men from the Edsall. The USS Whipple survived the war.

[Peter Clare]

USS Pecos (March 1, 1942)

US navy oiler of 5,400 tons commissioned August 25, 1921, (Lt. Cmdr. E.P. Abernethy) sunk by aircraft from Japanese carriers south of Christmas Island. The ship was in company with the US carrier USS Langley and the escorting destroyers USS Peary and USS Whipple. When the Langley was sunk with sixteen of her crew the Pecos and Whipple rescued many of her survivors. Of the 317 souls aboard the Pecos, 232 were saved leaving a death toll of 85.

[Peter Clare]

USS PILLSBURY (March 1, 1942)

An American destroyer of 1,109 tons (Lt. Cmdr. H. Pound) Sunk by gunfire from the Japanese warship Ashigara south of the island of Java while en route to Exmouth, Australia, escorting the Ashville, an American gunboat. All of 149 crew of the Pillsbury perished as did the crew of the Ashville which was also sunk.

[spidge]

That's unusual..........No survivors.