World war II chronology - February 1942

1 February 1942	Bombers and torpedo bombers from the US carrier Enterprise attack Japanese positions in Kwajalein and the island of Taroa in the Gilbert and Marshall Islands. No planes are shot down. In the Philippines, about 13 Japanese landing barges are spotted approaching Agaloma Bay. Torpedo bombers from the USS Enterprise attack the Gilberts atoll of Jaluit. Four planes are lost.
2 February 1942	In the Philippines, P-40 fighter planes from Bataan Field attack Japanese landing barges in Agaloma Bay. Nine of 13 barges are destroyed, killing over 400 troops. The British War Cabinet approves night bombing of French industrial plants. Up to this point, bombing in France had only been done in daylight, for fear of killing friendly civilians. French public opinion favored increased attacks on such factories.
5 February 1942	Submarine U-109 torpedoes and sinks Canadian merchant ship Montrolite north-east of Bermuda in the mid-Atlantic Ocean. 28 die. Japanese aircraft bomb Canadian passenger liner Empress of Asia off Singapore. The British government was using the ship as a troop carrier, taking 2253 men from Bombay India. Over 1000 men are rescued by Australian sloop Yarra.
8 February 1942	Japanese assault troops cross from Johore and land on Singapore, attacking along an eight-mile stretch.
9 February 1942	German Minister of Armaments and Munitions Dr. Fritz Todt dies in a plane crash, en route from Dnepropetrovsk to Munich. Adolf Hitler designates Albert Speer as successor. US and Filipino forces surrender in Bataan peninsula, Philippines. In New York harbor, the USS Lafayette (formerly Normandie) is accidentally ignited by a welding torch during conversion for troopship use. While fighting the fire, too much water poured into the ship capsizes it, setting it on its side in the harbor. (Salvaging and pumping out water takes 15 months and US$5 miliion.)
10 February 1942	Submarine U-564 torpedoes and shells Canadian merchant ship Victolite north-west of Bermuda. All 47 on board die. Submarine U-136 torpedoes and sinks Royal Canadian Navy corvette Spikenard south of Iceland and west of Ireland. Spikenard was part of convoy SC-67, the first convoy of the "Newfie-Derry Run", from Newfoundland to Londonderry, Northern Ireland. British Prime Minister Winston Churchill instructs commanders on Singapore to battle to the last man, that senior officers should die with their troops.
11 February 1942	German warships Scharnhorst, Gneisenau, and Prinz Eugen leave Brest, heading through the Straits of Dover to German home ports.
12 February 1942	British Royal Air Force patrols spot the three German warships traveling through the Straits of Dover. Soviet troops capture Krasnodor. Coastal guns of Dover, England, open fire on the three German warships passing by, and motor torpedo boats launch torpedo attacks, but score no hits. Six British Swordfish and eleven Spitfires attack the three German warships in the English Channel, but all Swordfish are shot down. British bombers begin attacks on the three German warships Scharnhorst, Gneisenau, and Prinz Eugen. By 1800 hours, 242 bombers have flown, but no ships have been hit. German battle cruiser Scharnhorst hits two mines, and Gneisenau hits one. Despite serious damage, they arrive safely in Kiel harbor. Scharnhorst is out of action for 12 months.
13 February 1942	German Admiral Erich Raeder proposes to Adolf Hitler that Germany's primary military tasks be the capture of Egypt and drive through to the Middle East, and for the army in Russia to capture Murmansk and seize oil wells in the Caucasus. War production should shift to submarines and planes to reduce the American flow of supplies to England. (Hitler decides against this. Instead, the army will receive first priority, to destroy the Soviet Red Army and eliminate its sources of strength.)
14 February 1942	A Directive from the British War Cabinet instructs Bomber Command to shift the primary emphasis of its attacks to specific industrial areas, including Essen, Duisburg, Düsseldorf, and Cologne.
15 February 1942	On Singapore, 130,000 British, Indian, and Australian men surrender to 35,000 Japanese forces, the greatest mass capitulation in British history. Japanese General Tomoyuki Yamashita accepts surrender of Singapore from British Lieutenant General A.E. Percival.
16 February 1942	British Bomber Command begins regular use of the Boston aircraft. US Brigadier General Ira Eaker arrives in England, to begin setting up the US 8th Air Force. Swedish forces are brought to a state of readiness, fearing a possible German attack. The German navy adds a fourth rotor to its Enigma message encoding machines. (British code-breakers are unable to break the code until December.)
17 February 1942	US Army General Douglas MacArthur reaches Australia and takes command of Allied forces. The Australian Cabinet authorizes the War Cabinet for total mobilization for war.
18 February 1942	The British Pacific War Council in London recommends that no more reinforcements be sent to the Netherlands East Indies, but that the existing garrison stay and fight the Japanese. The Australian War Cabinet approves the production of 100 improved Wirraway aircraft.
19 February 1942	Over 100 Japanese planes attack Darwin, Australia, to destroy its usefulness as a reinforcement base for the East Indies. US President Roosevelt signs Executive Order 9066, giving the Secretary of War authority to exclude any persons from areas to provide security against sabotage and espionage. (This leads to 120,000 Japanese-Americans excluded, removed, and interned.)
22 February 1942	Submarine U-129 torpedoes and sinks Canadian merchant ship George L. Torian off British Guyana in the Caribbean. In England, Air Marshal Arthur Travers Harris becomes the new Air Office Commanding-in-Chief.
23 February 1942	Japanese submarine I-9 launches a floatplane near Oahu, for reconnaissance of Pearl Harbor. It completes its mission undetected. Submarine U-129 torpedoes and sinks Canadian merchant ship Lennox off British Guyana in the Caribbean. Two die. Japanese submarine I-17 fires about 20 shells at an oil refinery at Ellwood near Santa Barbara, California, doing US$500 damage.
24 February 1942	In Canada, an order-in-council, under the War Measures Act, authorizes the relocation of Japanese Canadians to internment camps. Bombers and fighters from US carrier Enterprise make their first attack on Wake Island. No planes are lost. Russian forces encircle the entire II Corps of German 16th Army near Staraya Russa.
26 February 1942	In Canada, Japanese Canadians are ordered evacuated from the west coast. British bombers score a direct hit on German warship Gneisenau, putting an end to it.
27 February 1942	Governor of Burma Sir Reginald Dorman-Smith orders the evacuation of capital Rangoon. (The order is countermanded by British Middle East Commander in Chief Field Marshal Archibald Wavell, but the evacuation to India is carried out a week later.)
28 February 1942	Australian cruiser Perth sinks in Sunda Strait, victim of Japanese torpedoes.