Articles by WWII at 70

Timor. Australian Sparrow Force, having reestablished contact with the Australian mainland using a radio built out of recycled parts, is supplied by airdrop to continue guerrilla operations against Japanese forces in Portuguese Timor.

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At 8.30 AM in the Caribbean 80 miles North of Bonaire, U-66 torpedoes American SS Alcoa Partner. Carrying 8500 tons of bauxite ore, SS Alcoa Partner sinks within 3 minutes (10 dead, 25 survivors escape in a lifeboat and reach Bonaire 37 hours later).

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At 8.31 AM 110 miles Northwest of Bermuda, U-108 sinks British SS Modesta (17 crew and 1 gunner lost, 19 crew and 4 gunners picked up by Belgian merchant SS Belgian Airman and landed at Bermuda).

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Siege of Leningrad Day 229. The Spring thaw finally makes the ice road across Lake Ladoga unusable. The Road of Life has operated for 152 days carrying over 100,000 tons of food and ammunition into the city and bringing out 440,000 civilians.

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Overnight, in the South Atlantic 1600 miles East of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, German armed merchant cruiser Michel spots a tanker and launches torpedo boat LS-4 (named Esau). US tanker Connecticut, carrying a cargo of 100-octane gasoline, explodes when hit without warning by Esau’s 2 torpedoes, spilling burning gasoline on the surface which envelops 2 lifeboats (36 killed, 18 survivors taken prisoner by Michel but 2 will die as Japanese POW’s).

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Operation Abercrombie. Overnight, Allied raiding party (100 British commandos of B and C troops No. 4 Commando and 50 Canadian infantry of 2nd Canadian Infantry Brigade, commanded by Major Lord Lovat) crosses the English Channel in motor torpedo boats and land near Boulogne, France, from the newly-designed new Landing Craft Support. They reconnoitre the beaches but fail to capture any German prisoners for interrogation or destroy a searchlight battery (1 British commando shot through the ankle by a German sentry).

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At 0.30 AM 30 miles off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, U-84 torpedoes Panamanian SS Chenango which sinks within 1 minute (30 killed). 2 men escape on a raft and are picked up by a US Coast Guard PBY Catalina flying 12 days later (1 man dies 2 days later, 1 Irish fireman survives). At 2.36 AM 500 miles East of North Carolina, U-201 sinks Norwegian SS Bris (5 dead, 21 survivors in 2 lifeboats rescued by American motor tanker Chester D. Swain on May 3 and by patrol vessel YT-132 on May 4). At 4.48 AM 175 miles East of Nantucket, U-752 sinks American SS West Imboden (all 35 hands rescued next day by US destroyer USS Bristol). At 6.54 PM 475 miles East of Virginia, U-576 sinks American SS Pipestone County (all 35 hands escape in 4 lifeboats and rescued after 3-17 days).

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USSR. After a month of fighting since March 21, German forces under General Walther von Seydlitz-Kurzbach break out of the Demyansk pocket through the “Ramushevo corridor”. Of 100,000 Germans trapped in the pocket, 3,335 have been killed and 10,000 wounded. The airlift to supply the troops since February 8 has cost 265 Luftwaffe aircraft (including 106 Junkers Ju52, 17 Heinkel He111 and 2 Junkers Ju86) and 387 airmen while Soviets have lost 408 aircraft, including 243 fighters. The successful supply mission and subsequent breakout convinces Hitler and Göring that holding large pockets can tie up large Soviet formations; they will try the same tactic at Stalingrad, later in the year.

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At 2.15 AM, U-130 surfaces and uses the 88mm deck gun to shell the Bullen Baai Company petroleum storage facility, near Willemstad on the Dutch island of Curaçao in the Caribbean (no damage done). Dutch return fire with their 120 mm naval gun battery forcing U-130 to submerge.

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At dawn in the middle of the South Atlantic 1360 miles East of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, German armed merchant cruiser Michel shells and stops British tanker MV Patella carrying 10,000 tons of British Admiralty oil (3 killed, 60 survivors taken off). MV Patella is scuttled.

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At 3.55 AM 300 miles East of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, U-123 (out of torpedoes and with only 29 rounds for the deck gun) closes on the surface to 400 meters and sinks US freighter SS Alcoa Guide with the deck gun plus 37mm and 20mm anti-aircraft guns (6 dead, 27 survivors in lifeboats picked up on April 19 by US destroyer USS Broome, 1 man on a raft picked up by British SS Hororata after 30 days). At 5.23 AM 100 miles West of Grenada in the Caribbean, U-66 sinks Panamanian tanker Heinrich von Riedemann carrying 127,041 barrels of crude oil (all 44 hands escape in 3 lifeboats).

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Before dawn, 8000 Japanese troops land at sites on all 3 sides of Panay Island, Philippines. They occupy the main towns of lloilo City and Capiz unopposed, as well as copper mines near San Jose. Filipino troops (poorly trained and equipped, under the command of US officers) execute a planned withdrawal into the mountains to avoid confrontation with the numerically superior and better trained Japanese, blowing bridges and burning stores at lloilo that leads to destruction of much of the city.

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Burma. Japanese troops break through the British defenses and cut the road from Minhia, on the Irrawaddy River, North to Yenangyaung in several places. Allies retreat using British 7th Armoured Division tanks to break the Japanese roadblocks. At 1 PM, British General Slim orders the demolition of oilfields and the refinery at Yenangyaung. 1 million gallons of crude oil are ignited and oilwells are plugged with cement (Japanese will access the oil by simply redrilling the wells).

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Britain lacks aircraft carriers in the Mediterranean to transport fighter aircraft to within flying distance of Malta (“club runs”), to provide much-needed protection from German and Italian air raids. America loans carrier USS Wasp and destroyers USS Lang and USS Madison, on the request of British Prime Minister Winston Churchill. USS Wasp and escorts leave the Clyde Estuary, Scotland, after loading 52 Spitfires and their pilots (601 and 603 Squadrons).

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150 miles North of Norway, U-435 & U-436 attack convoy QP-10 from Murmansk, USSR, to Reykjavik, Iceland. At 1 AM, U-436 sinks Soviet SS Kiev (6 crew killed including at least 1 woman). The remaining crew and 8 passengers (family of staff at the Soviet embassy in London) are picked up after 30 minutes by British anti-submarine trawler HMS Blackfly. At 1.29 AM, U-435 torpedoes Panamanian SS El Occidente which sinks before the lifeboats can be launched, so the crew jumps overboard into the freezing water (20 die but 21 survivors are picked up 30 minutes later by British minesweeper HMS Speedwell). U-435 also sinks British SS Harpalion at 3.50 PM, which had been bombed and damaged by German Ju88 bombers earlier in the day (all 70 crew had already abandoned ship).

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At 6.26 AM 20 miles off Wilmington, North Carolina, U-203 damages Panamanian tanker SS Stanvac Melbourne (3 killed, 45 survivors), which is towed to Wilmington for repairs and returns to service on July 2. At 7.09 AM 60 miles South of Haiti, U-154 sinks US freighter SS Delvalle (2 dead, 61 survivors) after a running battle lasting 9 hours during which SS Delvalle unsuccessfully tries to ram U-154. At 7.21 PM 300 miles Northeast of Anguilla, U-130 sinks US tanker SS Esso Boston carrying 105,400 barrels of crude oil (all 37 hands escape in 3 lifeboats). Italian submarine Calvi sinks Panamanian tanker MV Ben Brush off the coast of Brazil (1 killed, 34 survivors).

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Bataan Death March. Japanese massacre 350 Filipino POWs (91st Division) as they march North around Mount Samat towards the transfer station at Balanga. All afternoon, men are beheaded or bayoneted (Pantingan River Massacre). As POWs pour into Balanga, promised food, water and medical treatment fail to materialize. Dysentery and other diseases start to spread due to overcrowding.

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At 2.20 AM 880 miles East of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, U-654 sinks British SS Empire Prairie (all 44 crew and 5 gunners lost). 20 miles off Cape Hatteras, U-203 sinks British tanker MV San Delfino with 7 torpedoes at 5.08 AM, (24 crew and 4 gunners lost, 20 crew and 2 gunners picked up by British anti-submarine trawler HMS Norwich City) and U-552 torpedoes US tanker SS Tamaulipas at 6.27 AM, which burns until sinking next morning (2 drowned, 35 survivors on 2 lifeboats also picked up by HMS Norwich City). Norwegian MV Chr. Knudsen goes missing 2 days out from New York, presumably sunk by U-85 (all 33 hands lost).

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Bataan, Philippines. Overnight, the bedraggled, diseased, malnourished and exhausted US II Corps troops fall back to the last defensive in line in Southern Bataan along the Lamao River. General Wainwright on Corregidor is under orders from MacArthur not to surrender, so he orders General Edward King, in command on Bataan, to mount a counterattack. King knows this is impossible as “II Corps as a tactical unit no longer existed” and I Corps on the West side of the peninsula is in no position to provide support and unilaterally decides to surrender (without informing Wainwright, to spare him any responsibility). US forces spike guns and destroy fuel and ammunition dumps. US submarine tender USS Canopus, tug USS Napa and floating drydock USS Dewey are all scuttled in Manila Bay. At 12.30 PM, General King surrenders 60,000 Filipino and 15,000 American troops on Bataan to Japanese Colonel Nakayama.

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Indian Ocean. At 1.50 AM, 200 miles off the Southern tip of India, Japanese submarine I-3 sinks British collier Fultala carrying 8,000 tons of coal.

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