1942

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The Battle of the Sittang River, Burma

February 22, 2012 in 1942, February 1942 by Editor

The Retreat into India: Aerial reconnaissance photograph of the bridge over the Sittang River, known as the Sittang Bridge, which was destroyed in the face of the advancing Japanese on 23 February 1942.

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A Soviet Army ‘destroyer detachment’ in action

February 21, 2012 in 1942, February 1942 by Editor

Soviet Army Scouts enter Yuknov during the winter months of 1942

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USS Lexington fighters hit Japanese bombers

February 20, 2012 in 1942, February 1942 by Editor

Grumman F4F-3 Wildcat fighters, of Fighting Squadron Three (VF-3) in flight near Naval Air Station, Kaneohe, Oahu, Hawaii, 10 April 1942. The planes are Bureau # 3976 (F-1, foreground), flown by VF-3 Commanding Officer Lieutenant Commander John S. Thach, and Bureau # 3986 (F-13), flown by Lieutenant Edward H. O'Hare. Photographed by Photographer Second Class H.S. Fawcett. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives (photo # 80-G-10613). On February 20, 1942, F-1, flown by Thach and LT Noel Gayler, shot down a bomber and assisted in downing two more bombers and a patrol plane. F-13, flown by Thach and ENS Leon Haynes, shot down a bomber and assisted in downing another bomber and a patrol plane. Both of these aircraft were lost a little less than a month later with USS Lexington (CV-2), during the Battle of Coral Sea.

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‘Australia’s Pearl Harbour’ – the bombing of Darwin

February 19, 2012 in 1942, February 1942, bombing by Editor

At about 1045, Peary was attacked by Japanese dive bombers, and was struck by five bombs. The first bomb exploded on the fantail, the second, an incendiary, on the galley deck house; the third did not explode; the fourth hit forward and set off the forward ammunition magazines; the fifth, another incendiary, exploded in the after engine room. A .30 caliber machine gun on the after deck house and a .50 caliber machine gun on the galley deck house fired until the last enemy plane flew away. Peary suffered 88 men killed and 13 wounded; she sank stern first at about 1300 on 19 February 1942.

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A forced labour gang in Dresden

February 18, 2012 in 1942, February 1942 by Editor

A propaganda picture of Jews being forced to clear snow in German occupied Minsk. Victor Klemperer found himself in a similar situation in the German town of Dresden.

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Marched into captivity on Singapore

February 17, 2012 in 1942, February 1942 by Editor

There are several accounts of the Japanese troops using civilians and prisoners of war for bayonet practice, sometimes as an initiation rite for new recruits.

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Heroic work saves HMS Thrasher from oblivion

February 16, 2012 in 1942, February 1942, Victoria Cross by Editor

The British T class submarine HMS Thrasher under way. She survived the exceptionally hazardous Mediterranean war and went on the a successful war in the Far East, sinking over 20,000 tons of Japanese shipping.

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The Fall of Singapore

February 15, 2012 in 1942, February 1942 by Editor

Lieut. Gen. Tomoyuki Yamashita, the Japanese Commander faces Lieut. Gen. A. E. Percival, British commander.

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The last gallant battle of HMS Li Wo

February 14, 2012 in 1942, February 1942, Victoria Cross by Editor

This is is a reconstruction of the end of HMS Li Wo, making an attack on a Japanese transport ship.

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Desperate last hours in Singapore

February 13, 2012 in 1942, February 1942 by Editor

A launch returning from an island in Keppel Harbour at Singapore after Royal Engineers had set fire to oil storage tanks there, January 1942.

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Heroic attempt to halt the ‘Channel Dash’

February 12, 2012 in 1942, February 1942 by Editor

A Fairey Swordfish Mk.I from the Torpedo Training Unit at Gosport drops a practice torpedo during training.

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The Japanese view of a ‘serene death’

February 11, 2012 in 1942, February 1942 by Editor

The Retreat into India: Electrical equipment at the Yenangyaung oilfields being destroyed as part of the 'scorched earth' policy pursued by the British in the face of the Japanese advance.

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The final stand begins on Singapore

February 10, 2012 in 1942, February 1942 by Editor

Thousands of civilians were killed by the relentless Japanese bombing of Singapore.

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The attack on Singapore begins

February 9, 2012 in 1942, February 1942 by Editor

Men of the 2nd Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders training with a Lanchester six-wheeled armoured car in the Malayan jungle, 13 November 1941.

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Red Army boys attack on the Eastern Front

February 8, 2012 in 1942, February 1942 by Editor

A publicity shot of a German soldier in a snow lined trench somewhere on the Eastern Front sometime in early 1942.

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Rommel’s advance stops at Gazala Line

February 7, 2012 in 1942, February 1942 by Editor

Rommel's Command vehicle

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Torpedo attack on a convoy in mid-Atlantic

February 6, 2012 in 1942, February 1942, submarines by Editor

The north Atlantic was a forbidding place in winter even without the threat of U-boat attack.

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Jews fall victim to Nazi savagery in Warsaw

February 5, 2012 in 1942, February 1942 by Editor

Groups of Jews are taken from the ghetto for compulsory labour, May 1941. Starvation and appalling living conditions had had a devastating impact on the population by 1942.

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Goring meets the Italians

February 4, 2012 in 1942, February 1942 by Editor

From left: Adolf Hitler; Robert Ley, the Reich labour organiser, responsible for many of the slave labour camps, he was now being sidelined because he was such a drunk; Ferdinand Porsche, the designer of the Volkswagen, now designing Panzer tanks and Herman Goring, head of the Luftwaffe, increasingly addled by drugs.

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U.S. forces resist constant assault on Bataan

February 3, 2012 in 1942, February 1942, Medal of Honor by Editor

A Japanese image of their troops advancing in the Philippines

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