M’ARTHUR BLASTS FOE’S GUNS, IGNORES PLEA BY AGUINALDO; MORE INVADERS REACH LUZON (2/7/42)

Microfilm-New York Times archives, Monterey Public Library | 2/7/42 | C.P. Trussell, Hanson W. Baldwin, A.C. Sedgwick

[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
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]

First they came for Donald Duck . . .

Enemy Plan Foiled – 2
House Forbids OCD Funds for ‘Dancers,’ Donald Duck – 3-4
The War Summarized – 4
Spy Data Sought from 1940 Census (Trussell) – 6-7
Lessons of Winter War (Baldwin) – 8
Deaths of Hunger on Rise in Athens (Sedgwick) – 8
The Texts of the Day’s Communiques on the Fighting in Various War Zones – 9-10

[Homer_J_Simpson]

http://www.onwar.com/chrono/1942/feb42/f07feb42.htm

Nazi minister killed in plane crash
Saturday, February 7, 1942 www.onwar.com

Fritz TodtFrom Germany... The German Minister of Munitions Todt, is killed in an airplane crash. Albert Speer, Hitler’s architects is appointed to replace him. Todt has been responsible for attempting to place Germany’s economy on a war footing. Speer will continue to push these policies. At this point, the German economy is still producing consumer goods at almost a prewar level although recent reversals in the USSR and Todt’s polices are being to change the situation.

In North Africa... Rommel’s Afrika Korps halts its advance near Gazala. They have recaptured almost all of the territory the British had taken in 1941. The British 1st Armored Division is in disarray and the morale of the British 8th Army is sinking.

On the Eastern Front... Soviet forces attack Rzhev, to the west of Moscow.

[Homer_J_Simpson]

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/andrew.etherington/month/thismonth/07.htm

February 7th, 1942

UNITED KINGDOM: Minesweeping trawler HMS Egilsay launched. (Dave Shirlaw)

GERMANY: East Prussia: The Nazi armaments and munitions minister, Fritz Todt, returning to Berlin after talks with Hitler, is killed when his plane crashes on take-off. Albert Speer is appointed as Minister of Munitions in his place.

During the day, RAF Bomber Command dispatches 32 Hampdens on a minelaying mission in the Frisian Islands; Luftwaffe fighters attack and three Hampdens are lost. (Jack McKillop)

FINLAND: The month-long battles at Maaselkä Isthmus culminate today as the Finnish reinforced 3rd Brigade (Lt-Col. Kai Savonjousi) finish destroying the encircled Soviet 367th Rifle Division in Krivi. The recapture of Krivi, which the Red Army had captured on the first day of their offensive on 1 Jan, brings the battles to close, and the front-line is back where it was before the Soviet offensive.

The encircled Russians fought back furiously, and the last two days have been bloody. The final Finnish offensive starts at 3 am, and by 2.45 pm the pocket has been destroyed. Finns count 4000 Russian corpses from the battlefield, only 152 POWs are taken. Finnish losses are 121 killed or missing. During the last month, both sides have suffered heavy losses and are now exhausted. (Mikko Härmeinen)

U.S.S.R.: Soviet forces attack Rzhev, to the west of Moscow. (Jack McKillop)

NORTH AFRICA: Rommel’s forces stop near the Gazala Line. He has recaptured the ground he lost last year.

BORNEO: Nine USAAF 5th Air Force B-17 Flying Fortresses based at Singosari Airdrome on Java, attempt to bomb Japanese shipping at Balikpapan but are driven off by fighters. (Jack McKillop)

NETHERLANDS EAST INDIES: Four additional USAAF 5th Air Force P-40s arrive at Blimbing Airdrome on Java from Australia. (Jack McKillop)

COMMONWEALTH OF THE PHILIPPINES: On Bataan, the I Corps opens an all-out attack against enemy pockets and partially encircles both. The 1st Division, Philippine Army (PA) is employed against Little Pocket. The 92d Infantry of the 91st Division, PA, makes the main attack against Big Pocket from the west and is supported by elements of the 11th and 51st Divisions, PA. In the South Sector, after the Philippine Scouts on the left flank come up against enemy positions in the Anyasan-Silaiim area and are brought to a halt, Filipino air corps troops and a Philippine Constabulary battalion are committed to form a continuous line from Silaiim Bay to Quinauan Point. The methodical destruction of Japanese remnants at Quinauan Point continues. A Japanese relief force attempting to evacuate troops from the southwestern coast is attacked by P-40s and shore guns and forced back to Olongapo. (Jack McKillop)

AUSTRALIA: The Japanese submarine HIJMS I-25 launches a Yokosuka E14Y1, Navy Type 0 Small Reconnaissance Seaplane (later given the Allied Code Name “Glen”), to recconnoitre Sydney, New South Wales. (Jack McKillop)

USN announced that the combined naval forces of the Australian-New, Zealand area had been placed under command of Vice Admiral Herbert F. Leary, of the United States Navy, with the title of “Commander Anzac Forces” .

Destroyer HMAS Warramunga launched. (Dave Shirlaw)

CANADA: Canadian Government merchantman Maurienne (3,259 GRT) was damaged by fire while at Pier 27/28 in Halifax Harbour. She was salvaged, repaired, and returned to service in 1943.

Ch/Skr (Chief/Skipper) Henry William Stone, RCNR, was appointed to HMCS Avalon, a depot ship berthed at St. John’s, while awaiting subsequent transfer to HMCS Cowichan, a Bangor-class minesweeper. Avalon was a Great Lakes passenger steamer that had been requisitioned for use in St. John’s, as the base facilities there were rudimentary. She was used as an administrative support and temporary accommodation facility, supporting minor warships until the end of the war. Later in the war, William Stone returned to Cowichan on 23 Apr 45, this time as Skpr/Lt. (Skipper/Lieutenant), the rank designation for a Commanding Officer from the RCNR. He remained with the ship until she decommissioned on 09 Oct 45. Skippers, Chief/Skippers, and Skipper/Lieutenants, were ranks in the RCNR, whereas Skipper/Coxswains and Coxswains were Fisherman Reserve ranks. Fishermen Reserve officer ranks were supposedly equivalent to warrant ranks. Fishermen Reserve Officers did not wear braid, which made them difficult to distinguish from Padres. (Dave Shirlaw)

U.S.A.: “A String of Pearls” by Glenn Miller and his Orchestra reaches Number 1 on the Billboard Pop Singles chart in the U.S. This song, which debuted on the charts on 10 January 1942, was charted for 18 weeks, was Number 1 for 2 weeks and was ranked Number 7 for the year 1942. (Jack McKillop)

President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs Executive Order 9054 establishing the War Shipping Administration (WSA) to bring the control and operation of all U.S. merchant shipping under a single head. The WSA’s most pressing task is to mobilize the shipping capacity of the country (the majority of which is still in private hands by the end of the year 1941) to bring it under single control so that vessels can be allocated more readily on the basis of overall shipping needs of the U.S. and the Allies. (Jack McKillop)
The federal government orders passenger car production stopped and the automobile industry converted to wartime purposes. The government offers automakers guaranteed profits regardless of production costs throughout the war years. Furthermore, the Office of Production Management allocates US$11 billion to the construction of war manufacturing plants that would be sold to the automobile manufacturers at remarkable discounts after the war. (Jack McKillop)

ATLANTIC OCEAN: At 0552, the unescorted SS Empire Sun was torpedoed and sunk by U-751 south of Halifax. Eight crewmembers, two gunners and one RAF personnel were lost. The master, 34 crewmembers, twelve gunners and seven RAF personnel landed at Liverpool , Nova Scotia. (Dave Shirlaw)

[ConservativeWarrior]

Reading the “Spy” article on page 6 made my skin crawl.

It wouldn’t be hard to imagine this administration using the census data in a similar way to target conservatives/tea partiers/”domestic terrorists”, etc...

Another justification for refusing to answer all but the most basic questions.

[sport]

You can forget about imagining it, they are doing it. And when obama thinks the time is right, he will by using the law that Congress voted to give him, begin rounding up these individuals.

With Romney the Republican nominee, that probably won't be necessary this election cycle because obama will be guranteed a second term. Anyone who believes that the Republican Party will be our liberator ignores the fact that it was the Republican Party that voted to give obama the authority to arrest American citizens without probable cause and hold then indefinately without trial.

[PzLdr]

Rommel hasn’t “recaptured the ground he lost last year” [at least not yet]. The Panzerarmee Afrika stands at Gazala, WEST of Tobruk. Last year Rommel stood on the Libyan-Egyptian border, EAST of Tobruk.