World War II As It Happened
A MaritimeQuest Daily Event Special Presentation
Saturday, February 28, 1942
Day 912

February 28, 1942: Front page of the News and Chronicle, London, England.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)
 
Note the report in column 4: "He Need Not Have Died, Frau Emilie"
(A report on a radio Moscow propaganda broadcast to Germany.)


February 28, 1942: Front page of The Daily Mail, Hull, England.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)


February 28, 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 V.C. For Dead Airman - Yorkshire-Born Hero"
(Lt. Cdr. Eugene Esmonde, DSO, RN awarded the Victoria Cross for his actions during the German Channel Dash.)


February 28, 1942: Front page of the Western Mail and South Wales News, Cardiff, Wales.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)


February 28, 1942: Front page of the Press and Journal, Aberdeen, Scotland.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)
 
Note the report in column 7: "Socialist Post-War Policy"
(Even during wartime, socialists never stop trying to push their dangerous and destructive agenda. They see chaos as opportunity, as has been demonstrated in the U.S.A. recently with the covid chaos.)


February 28, 1942: Front page of The Examiner, Launceston, Tasmania, Australia.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)


February 28, 1942: Front page of The Sydney Sun, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)


February 28, 1942: Front page of The Telegraph, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)
 
Note the report in columns 2-3: "Japs. Lost 184 Ships"
(The claims are completely false, but who could challenge them? The press and therefore the public had to accept what they were told by the authorities. No aircraft carriers, battleships or cruisers had been sunk. Only 4 destroyers and 5 submarines had been sunk. The Japanese had lost 21 warships [including submarines] since Dec. 7, 1941. Of these, 4 had been lost through accidents, not enemy activity. They had also lost 38 merchant ships, but only 30 to enemy action, the rest were lost through accidents.)


February 28, 1942: Front page of the Winnipeg Free Press, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)


February 28, 1942: Front page of the Biddeford Daily Journal, Biddeford, Maine.
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February 28, 1942: Front page of The Evening Star, Washington, D.C.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)
 
Note the report at top left: "Allies Turn Back Japanese Fleet In First Java Invasion Attempt"
(This was one of the tamer headlines about the Battle of the Java Sea, nevertheless, it was completely wrong. Between Feb. 27th and Mar. 9th, the ABDA [American-British-Dutch-Australian] Command would suffer appalling losses, while the Japanese sustained relatively few and successfully invaded Java. The complete details of the coming days can be found in many books and covering them here is far beyond the scope of this page, but I would like to give you some perspective about the events of those days. Keep the following information in mind when you read headlines like;

"Jap Convoys retreat after Allies Register Smashing Naval Triumph" or "Jap Invasion Attempt Smashed By Allies" or "Allies Win Big Naval Battle" or Allied Navy Routes Japs" all which appear on this page.

Feb. 25: The Japanese depart for the invasion of Java. They are split into two forces, which was the typical Japanese tactic, one which almost always failed. Almost one hundred transports ships of all sizes were escorted by a huge force of cruisers, destroyers, minesweepers, submarine chasers, and all kinds of support vessels. Air cover was provided by the aircraft carrier Ryujo and the seaplane carrier Chiyoda along with shore-based aircraft. A third force, under Admiral Nagumo, consisting of aircraft carriers, battleships, cruisers and destroyers takes up a position south of Java.

The invasion forces are sighted by waiting Allied submarines on Feb. 25, but no attack is made against them. Japanese air reconnaissance sights Allied ships off Java and the invasion force is stopped. There was no great battle, the Japanese just retired to avoid combat.

Feb. 26: The ABDA force, under the command of Rear Admiral Kaerl Doorman, sortied, but did not locate the Japanese. They sortie again on the 27th and this time they found one of the invasion forces and the Battle of the Java Sea began.

Feb. 27: The Dutch destroyer Kortenaer is sunk by a torpedo fired from Haguro, 59 men are lost. Then HMS Exeter, veteran of the Battle of the River Plate, is hit by a Japanese shell and is forced to retire, 13 men are killed. HMS Electra is sunk by a torpedo attack with the loss of 109 men.

HMS Jupiter hits a Dutch mine and sinks, taking 84 men with her. HNLMS De Duyter, flagship of the squadron, is sunk sometime during the night of Feb. 27-28, three hundred and sixty-six men, including Doorman, were lost. HNLMS Java, also sunk in the same action takes five hundred and thirty men with her.

In a separate action with Nagumo's covering force, USS Langley AV-1 is sunk, fortunately only 16 men were lost. In all of this, only two Japanese warships had been damaged, none were sunk.

Feb. 28: Japanese forces land on Java.

Mar. 1: The Battle of the Sunda Strait. The cruisers USS Houston CA-30 and HMAS Perth attack the Japanese force landing on Java, sinking two transports and damaging a minesweeper. Both Houston and Perth are sunk, Houston lost six hundred and ninety-three men while Perth lost three hundred and forty-two.

HMS Exeter is sunk with the loss of 54 men. HMS Encounter is shelled and sunk, 7 men are killed. USS Pope DD-225 is bombed by aircraft from Ryujo and disabled, then shelled by the same two Japanese ships that sank HMS Encounter and sunk, only 1 man was lost. The Japanese lost two transports [mentioned above] and two cruisers were damaged.

In a separate action on Mar. 1st, aircraft from Nagumo's force locate USS Pecos AO-6 and sink her. One hundred and seventy-two men, including many survivors from USS Langley, were killed. The battleship force then comes across USS Edsall DD-219, which also had survivors from Langley on board. The destroyer took on the battleships single-handed, never hauling down her flag, she went down after a severe punishing. One hundred and forty-seven men went down with the ship, five were picked up by the cruiser Chikuma. They were interrogated, tortured, and then executed at Kendrie POW camp, Celebes. Along with this, five merchant ships were sunk.

Mar. 2: HMS Stronghold is sunk, 75 men lost, USS Pillsbury DD-277 is sunk, 185 men lost. One merchant ship sunk one captured. HNLMS Banckert, HNLMS Witte de With, USS Stewart DD-224 and three Dutch submarines, K-XII, K-XVIII and K-IV are scuttled at Surabaya, Java. Stewart and Banckert were later raised and repaired by the Japanese. USS Sailfish SS-192 sinks the aircraft transport Kamogawa Maru.

Mar. 3: USS Asheville PG-21 is sunk with 160 of her 161-man crew.

Mar. 4: Japanese ships locate a small convoy and sink all but one ship, which is captured. Lost were HMAS Yara with 138 men, HMAS Anking, with 259 men lost, HMS MMS-51 with the loss of 2 men and RFA Francol and 19 men. The 7,089-ton Tjisaroea was captured.

Mar. 5: Nagumo's carrier aircraft raid Tjilatjap, Java, two ships are damaged but 15 are scuttled.

Mar. 6: HNLMS Jan van Amstel, HNLMS Eland Dubois and HNLMS Pieter de Bitter are scuttled.

Mar. 9: With much of the ABDA force sunk and the remaining ships and submarines having fled to safety, the ABDA command is dissolved.

Many of the survivors would die as prisoners in Japanese custody.
[USS Edsall DD-219 Roll of Honor.]


February 28, 1942: Front page of The Evening Gazette, Xenia, Ohio.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)
 
Note the report in column 4: "Cut Sugar Ration To Eight Ounces"
(Can you imagine this today?)


February 28, 1942: Front page of The Port Arthur News, Port Arthur, Texas.
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February 28, 1942: Front page of the Tucson Daily Citizen, Tucson, Arizona.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)


February 28, 1942: Front page of The Bakersfield Californian, Bakersfield, California.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)
 
Note the report in columns 2-3: "Axis Using Bases Close to America"
(Nowhere in the report does it say where these bases are located and nowhere does it say how they were established, supplied or resupplied. Today it seems absurd that reports like this were published without anyone asking such basic questions. Perhaps there was no opportunity for reporters to ask questions, maybe they just printed whatever the government sent out. There is an alternative reason for such a report, notice paragraph 4;

"With these disclosures, there no longer should be any question as to the urgency of very vigorous efforts to remove all Japs and Nazis and Fascists from all coast towns, defense centers and other places where they could disrupt the war program or endanger security."


Later in the report there is an excerpt from a book, purportedly written by a Japanese army officer, that outlined Japan's plan to invade the United States. Reports like this did help the government get the public on the side of interning the Japanese without due process.)


February 28, 1942: Front page of the Teltower Kreisblatt, Kreis Teltow, Brandenburg, Germany.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)
 
1. Hohe Feindverluste vor Sewastopol.
(High enemy losses before Sevastopol.)


February 28, 1942: Front page of the Völkischer Beobachter, the official newspaper of the NSDAP.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)
1. Deutschland räumt mit der Kolchosensklaverei auf.
(Germany clears slavery from kolkhoz.)
[A Kolkhoz was a Soviet collective farm.]



   
Page published February 28, 2023