JAPANESE TAKE THIRD NEW GUINEA PORT; BRITISH JOIN CHINESE IN MID-BURMA (3/11/42)

Microfilm-New York Times archives, Monterey Public Library | 3/11/42 | Roy L. Curthoys, Raymond Daniell, Frank L. Kluckhohn, Lawrence E. Davies, Pertinax, Arthur Krock

[Homer_J_Simpson]

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[Homer_J_Simpson]

Free Republic University, Department of History presents World War II Plus 70 Years: Seminar and Discussion Forum
First session: September 1, 2009. Last date to add: September 2, 2015.
Reading assignment: New York Times articles delivered daily to students on the 70th anniversary of original publication date. (Previously posted articles can be found by searching on keyword “realtime” Or view Homer’s posting history .)
To add this class to or drop it from your schedule notify Admissions and Records (Attn: Homer_J_Simpson) by freepmail. Those on the Realtime +/- 70 Years ping list are automatically enrolled. Course description, prerequisites and tuition information is available at the bottom of Homer’s profile. Also visit our general discussion thread

[Homer_J_Simpson]

Selections from West Point Atlas for the Second World War
Battle of Bataan, 1942
The Far East and the Pacific, 1941 – Operations of the Japanese First Air Fleet, 7 December 1941-12 March 1942
The Far East and the Pacific, 1941 – American Carrier Operations, 7 December 1941-18 April 1942
Micronesia, Melanesia and New Guinea: Japanese Centrifugal Offensive-Japanese Fourth Fleet and South Seas Detachment Operations, December 1941-April 1942
Luzon, P.I., 1941: Centrifugal Offensive, 10 December 1941-6 May 1942-Fourteenth Army Operations on Luzon
Netherlands East Indies, 1941: Japanese Centrifugal Offensive, December 1941-April 1942, Sixteenth Army and Southern Force (Navy) Operations
Southern Asia, 1941: Japanese Centrifugal Offensive (and Continued Operations), January-May 1942
Eastern Europe, 1941: Soviet Winter Offensive – Operations, 6 December 1941-7 May 1942
North Africa, 1940: Rommel’s Second Offensive, 21 January-7 July 1942

[Homer_J_Simpson]

Foe’s Fleet Raided (Curthoys) – 2
Rangoon in Ruins as Defenders Quit – 2-3
Eden Asserts Foe Murdered Britons (Daniell) – 4-5
The War Summarized – 4
M’Leish Accuses Japanese in Spain (Kluckhohn) – 5
To Guard Property for Coast’s Aliens (Davies) – 5
Nazis Said to Get Fuel in Martinique (Pertinax) – 5-6
Faith in ‘Sea Otter’ (Krock) – 7
World Battle Variants (by Hanson W. Baldwin) – 8
The Texts of the Day’s Communiques on Fighting in Various Zones – 9-10

[Homer_J_Simpson]

http://www.onwar.com/chrono/1942/mar42/f11mar42.htm

MacArthur leaves Philippines vowing return
Wednesday, March 11, 1942 www.onwar.com

General Wainwright and General MacArthurIn the Philippines... “I shall return.” Words spoken by American General Douglas MacArthur as he leaves Luzon. General Wainwright takes over his command.

In Burma... American General Stillwell takes command of the Chinese 5th and 6th Armies (actually size of European army divisions). His first action is to concentrate forces around Mandalay and in the Shan States.

In the Mediterranean... German U-boat, U-565 sinks the British cruiser Naiad, north of Sollum.

[Homer_J_Simpson]

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/andrew.etherington/frame.htm

March 11th, 1942

UNITED KINGDOM: Lord Woolton, the minister of food, announced today that there will be no more white bread on sale after 6 April, in order to save shipping. The “national wheatmeal loaf”, which is not brown, but off-white in colour, will take its place. It has failed to catch on voluntarily, accounting for only 7% of sales. “In spite of advertisements I have issued, the nation has made it quite clear that it prefers white bread,” Lord Woolton admitted, “but I don’t believe it wants it as the expense of troop movements.”

LCdr. Herbert Sharples RAYNER, was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross (DSC). The citation (awarded as per the London Gazette) read: “For courage and enterprise in action against enemy submarines.” (Dave Shirlaw)

GERMANY:
U-957 laid down.

U-186, U-212 launched. (Dave Shirlaw)

MEDITERRANEAN SEA: U-565 sinks HMS Naiad (AA cruiser) at 32 01N 26 19E, north of Sollum, Egypt. Seventy-seven of Naiad’s 470 crewmembers are lost. (Alex Gordon and Dave Shirlaw)(108)

MALTA: The military garrison is placed under command of Commander in Chief Middle East Forces. Naval and RAF garrisons are under command of Commander in Chief Mediterranean and Air Officer Commanding in Chief, respectively. Lieutenant General Sir William Dobbie, Governor of Malta, remains commander in chief. (Jack McKillop)

INDIA: New Delhi: Lieutenant-General “Vinegar Joe” Stilwell, a lanky, thin-lipped American general with a reputation for forcefully speaking his mind, will next week take over command of all American forces in the China-Burma-India theatre. Stilwell, who served with distinction in the Great War, is a student of Chinese and a former military attaché in Peking. He will also be chief-of-staff to Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek - although he prefers to eat and sleep with his troops.

BURMA: The Burma Army regroups in preparation for the defence of upper Burma. In the Irrawaddy Valley, the Indian 17th Division is disposed in the Tharrawaddy area. In the Sittang Valley, the Burma 1st Division, after successful diversionary attacks against Shwegyin and Madauk, east of Nyaunglebin, withdraws, except for the 13th Brigade, to positions north of Kanyutkwin. Lieutenant General Joseph Stilwell, Commanding General American Army Forces, China, Burma and India and Chief of Staff of the Chinese Army, is placed in command of the Chinese 5th and 6th Armies (actually the size of a Western division). The Chinese 6th Army is holding Shan States; the Chinese 5th Army, except for the 200th Division disposed in the Toungoo area, is to concentrate at Mandalay. (Jack McKillop)

COMMONWEALTH OF THE PHILIPPINES: General Douglas MacArthur leaves Luzon. “I shall return!” General Douglas MacArthur, Commanding General U.S. Army Forces, Far East, his family, Rear Admiral Francis W. Rockwell and their staffs embark from Corregidor and Bataan in four motor torpedo (PT) boats, PT-32, PT-34, PT-35 and PT-41, of Motor Torpedo Boat Squadron Three (MTBRon 3). The plan is that the boats will make for Tagauayan Island, in the Cuyo Group, and arrive by 0730 hours tomorrow morning.
Three USAAF B-17 Flying Fortresses takeoff from Australia to fly to Del Monte Field on Mindanao to pick up the MacArthur party. One turns back due to mechanical problems, the second crashes at sea off Mindanao and the third lands at Del Monte however; it is in poor mechanical condition. (Jack McKillop)
Major General Jonathan Wainwright assumes command of the 95,000 Americans and Filipinos on Bataan and Corregidor. (Jack McKillop)

EAST CHINA SEA: Submarine USS Pollack (SS-180), operating in the East China Sea about 270 miles (435 kilometres) east of Shanghai, China, sinks a Japanese merchant cargo ship and a passenger-cargo. (Jack McKillop)

CANADA: Canadian and U.S. representatives meet in Ottawa to discuss the construction of buildings and facilities on the Northwest Staging Route, the air route that will be established between Edmonton, Alberta, and Whitehorse, Yukon Territory, to permit flying aircraft from the continental U.S. to the Territory of Alaska.. The meeting ends tomorrow. (Jack McKillop)

Corvette HMCS Galt completed refit Liverpool , Nova Scotia.

BRAZIL: President Vargas has today confiscated up to 30% of the funds of German, Italian and Japanese citizens resident in Brazil, recalled all Brazilian ships to port and confined the Japanese ambassador and his staff to the embassy.

These measures are in response to the torpedoing of a fourth Brazilian vessel by the Germans and the mistreatment of the Brazilian ambassador in Tokyo. They also open the way for a declaration of war against the Axis powers by Brazil.

ATLANTIC OCEAN: An unarmed U.S. freighter is torpedoed and sunk by a German submarine. U-126 sinks the first about 40 miles (64 kilometres) east of Nuevitas, Cuba. (Jack McKillop)

At 0758, the unescorted and unarmed U.S. freighter Caribsea was missed by one torpedo from U-158 about 14 miles east of the Cape Lookout Lighthouse. The torpedo missed, because Rostin thought the ship (misidentified as Coast Guard vessel) lay dead in the water, but the master reduced the speed of the vessel to four or five knots, according the order he has received to pass Cape Hatteras in daylight. A second torpedo was fired, which struck the starboard bow at the #2 hatch, causing the boilers to explode. The Caribsea sank by the head due her cargo in less than three minutes. So no radio distress signals were sent and the crew of eight officers and 20 men had no chance to launch the lifeboats. The few survivors climbed onto two rafts that floated free and they later observed U-158 passing within 100 yards. Two officers and five crewmen were picked up by the American SS Norlindo ten hours after the attack and took them to the Cape Henry Lighthouse. (Jack McKillop and Dave Shirlaw)

At 0316, the unescorted and unarmed Hvoslef was hit by two torpedoes from U-94 and sank within two minutes two miles east of Fenwick Island off Delaware Bay. The master, three Norwegian and two Swedish crewmembers were lost. The survivors kept themselves afloat in a damaged lifeboat until they landed on Rehobeth Beach near Cape Henlopen about a half-mile north of Fenwick Island Light after 14 hours. Three injured men were hospitalized in the Babe Hospital in Lewis, while the other survivors were sent to New York the following day. The body of the master was later found on a cork raft, which was located by an aircraft two days later.

ASW trawler HMS Stella Capella torpedoed and sunk by U-701 south of Iceland. (Dave Shirlaw)

[vicar7]

Looks pretty bleak on all fronts here it is truly a miracle we turned this around.

[jtonn]

I wonder if this is the “sea otter” that they spent so much print space discussing? If so, only one was built and really never put into service.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Sea_Otter_II_(IX-53)

[Homer_J_Simpson]

I wonder if this is the “sea otter” that they spent so much print space discussing? If so, only one was built and really never put into service.

It sounds like the same one. Draft not as shallow as advertised and a bunch of gas engines to power it. Note that only about half of Krock's column is about the Sea Otter. He also uses it as an example of the inefficient way the government processes technological developments and discusses ways to improve it. I like how the guy from the National Inventors Council is interested enough in the "very large banks of gasoline engines" to be installed in the vessels to "impress his associates at the Chrysler Company, which is willing and able to furnish the automobile engines now proposed to drive the craft."

By the way, I see that Senator Clark of Missouri has submitted a bill to combine the War and Navy Departments under a single "minister of Defense." Totally impractical. They would have to construct a whole new building large enough to accommodate all the services under one roof. The different branches would never tolerate such an arrangement.

[GreenLanternCorps]

Missed a small but important headline:

Three On Raft for 34 Days, Ate Albatross, Knifed Shark

Recounted in this book:

http://www.amazon.com/Raft-Courageous-Struggle-Airmen-Against/dp/1557508275

My brother had that book when we were kids.

[GreenLanternCorps]

By the way, I see that Senator Clark of Missouri has submitted a bill to combine the War and Navy Departments under a single "minister of Defense." Totally impractical. They would have to construct a whole new building large enough to accommodate all the services under one roof. The different branches would never tolerate such an arrangement.

Maybe they could use that new War Department building in Arlington, Virgina, that they started building last September? I think they call it the Hexagon...

[woofer]

Somehow, I ended up with the book on a CD in MP3 format. Quite good.