World War II As It Happened
A MaritimeQuest Daily Event Special Presentation
Wednesday, February 18, 1942
Day 902

February 18, 1942: Front page of the News and Chronicle, London, England.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)
 
Note the report in column 5: "Sea Heroine Picked Up By Father's Ship"
(She was one of the 332 survivors. The Britannia was sunk by the German Hilfskreuzer [auxiliary cruiser] Thor on Mar. 25, 1941, 195 people lost their lives in the sinking. For her actions, Dr. Miller was awarded the M.B.E.)


February 18, 1942: Front page of The Daily Mail, Hull, England.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)


February 18, 1942: Front page of The Yorkshire Post and Leeds Mercury, Leeds, England.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)
 
Note the report in column 3: "U-Boat Sinks German Ship"
(Spreewald was sunk in error by U-333, 140 people were killed, there were 80 survivors.)


February 18, 1942: Front page of the Western Mail and South Wales News, Cardiff, Wales.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)


February 18, 1942: Front page of the Evening Telegraph and Post, Dundee, Scotland.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)
 
Note the report in column 2: "Rome Says British Cruiser Sunk"
(More lies from the Italians.)


February 18, 1942: Front page of The Examiner, Launceston, Tasmania, Australia.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)
 
Note the report in column 7: "U-boat Near New York, Commander Says"
(Kapitänleutnant Reinhard Hardegen, commanding officer of U-123 was back home in Germany when he gave this interview. He claimed sinking 10 ships for 66,000 GRT off the U.S. coast. He was incorrect. If you include the Cyclops, which was sunk while en route to the U.S.A. he sank 11 ships for a total of 67,802 and he damaged one 8,206-ton ship.)


February 18, 1942: Front page of The Sydney Sun, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)


February 18, 1942: Front page of The Telegraph, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)


February 18, 1942: Front page of the Winnipeg Free Press, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)


February 18, 1942: Front page of The Winnipeg Tribune, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.
On this date the Winnipeg Tribune ran a multi-page report titled Wide World War Book.


February 18, 1942: Front page of the Biddeford Daily Journal, Biddeford, Maine.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)
 
Note the report in column 6: "Nazis Claim Plot To Murder Hitler"


February 18, 1942: Front page of The Evening Star, Washington, D.C.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)
 
Note the report in column 5: "Huge U.S. Tanker Hit by Sub or Mine Off Virginia Coast"
(The 11,615-ton E. H. Blum neither hit a mine or was hit by a torpedo. The ship was wrecked on the coast. It was refloated and repaired and sailed until it was scrapped in 1971.)


February 18, 1942: Front page of The Evening Gazette, Xenia, Ohio.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)


February 18, 1942: Front page of The Port Arthur News, Port Arthur, Texas.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)


February 18, 1942: Front page of the Tucson Daily Citizen, Tucson, Arizona.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)


February 18, 1942: Front page of the San Mateo Times, San Mateo, California.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)


February 18, 1942: Front page of the Teltower Kreisblatt, Kreis Teltow, Brandenburg, Germany.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)
 
1. Große Erfolge an vielen Stellen der Ostfront.
(Great successes in many places on the Eastern Front.)


February 18, 1942: Front page of the Völkischer Beobachter, the official newspaper of the NSDAP.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)
1. Deutsche Unterseeboote vor dem Panamakanal.
(German submarines off the Panama Canal.)
Note the photo of German warships Scharnhorst, Gneisenau and Prinz Eugen in the English Channel during the
channel dash.
(Operation Cerberus, better known as the Channel Dash, was when the Germans sailed the battleships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau with the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen, along with a strong escort force, from France back to Germany. The reason for this was that the ships were under constant attack by the RAF in the French ports. The ships were effectively trapped and since they could not sortie from France as planned and because the German High Command believed, rightly, that the two ships would ultimately be destroyed should they remain tied up in France, it was decided not to let them die on the vine, but to move them back to Germany through the English Channel, which was an almost unbelievable risk.

The operation was a terrible embarrassment to the British, allowing such heavy ships, which were under observation, to make it through the Straits of Dover, should have been impossible. For the Germans the operation was an incredible political and logistical success, but ultimately, it did not help the German naval situation. The entire force made it to port in Germany, but both Scharnhorst and Gneisenau had been mined en route. Scharnhorst was repaired, but Gneisenau, while it was being repaired, was seriously damaged in an air raid at Kiel. The ships bows were replaced and in April Gneisenau was moved to Gotenhafen. Heavier guns were to be fitted, but further German navy failures soured Hitler on the idea of spending so much money, time, and manpower resources on a ship like Gneisenau. The project was abandoned and Gneisenau never sailed again. The heavy gun turrets were removed and used as shore batteries, and the ship was more or less abandoned. When the Soviets neared the city, Gneisenau was towed out and sunk as a blockship. The ship was later raised and scrapped by the Poles.)



   
Page published February 18, 2023