Categorized | Historical

This Week in World War II: 75 Years Ago

Glenn_Seaborg_-_1964

Glenn Seaborg

By: Phil Kohn. Dedicated to the memory of his father, GM3 Walter Kohn, U.S. Navy Armed Guard, USNR, and all men and women who have answered the country’s call in time of need. Phil can be contacted at ww2remembered@yahoo.com.

On February 22, 1941, German SS troops raid the Jewish Quarter of Amsterdam, Occupied Netherlands, in reprisal for the “ammonia incident” of February 19. (Two German policemen had been sprayed with ammonia in an ice cream shop owned by German Jews.) Over the next two days, about 425 Jews are randomly arrested for “acts of defiance,” beaten, and sent to the concentration camp at Buchenwald, Germany. Of these, only two survive the war. In Athens, British representatives Anthony Eden, of the British Foreign Office, Gen. John Dill, Chief of the (British) Imperial General Staff, Gen. Archibald Wavell, Commander-in-Chief Middle East, and Lt. Gen. Alan Cunningham, Commander East Africa Force, begin a two-day meeting with Greece’s King George II and Prime Minister Alexandros Koryzis to discuss possible reinforcements for the Greek army. (Koryzis became prime minister when his predecessor, Ioannis Metaxas, died on January 29, 1941.) In the North Atlantic, five ships of a dispersed convoy returning from England to the U.S. are sunk over a 12-hour period by the German battleships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau working in tandem.

Nuclear chemist Glenn Seaborg, at the University of California-Berkeley, on February 23 produces, isolates and identifies “element 94,” later named plutonium. The same day, in Athens, the Greeks agree to a British force of about 100,000 troops with artillery and tank support. They are adamant against accepting fewer reinforcements. In East Africa, British troops move rapidly toward Mogadishu, Somaliland, having burst through the main Italian defenses. Simultaneously, the Free French make a small amphibious landing on the Red Sea coast of Italian Eritrea, in the Horn of Africa.

Troops of the German Afrika Korps and the British Commonwealth’s 13th Corps engage in their first firefight in North Africa, in the Libyan desert east of Tripoli on February 24.

Non-Jewish residents of Occupied Netherlands on February 25 begin the first popular uprising — “The February Strike” — against the Axis Powers in Europe, registering anger publicly over the German deportation of Jews from Amsterdam. German police forcefully suppress the strike within a day. In Somaliland, Lt. Gen. Cunningham’s British forces take Mogadishu after advancing 230 miles in just three days. Considerable stocks of fuel and other supplies are captured. In the Mediterranean, British submarine HMS Upright attacks an Italian convoy, sinking the Italian light cruiser Armando Diaz.

On February 26, British representatives Anthony Eden and Gen. John Dill continue their mission to the Middle East with a visit to Ankara, Turkey. Unsurprisingly, their efforts to get the Turks to form an alliance with the United Kingdom elicits no real response.

In the Indian Ocean on February 27, the light cruiser HMNZS Leander of the Royal New Zealand Navy engages the Italian armed merchant raider Ramb I and sinks her off the Maldive Islands. Ramb I’s captain and her 112 crewmen are rescued by Leander. In Los Angeles, the 13th Academy Awards ceremonies are held. The winner for Best Picture is “Rebecca,” directed by British expatriate Alfred Hitchcock.

Leave a Reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

Browse Current Issue - Click Here

Safety Announcement

We are taking safety precautions in the City of Perth Amboy, and emphasize that it is important: IF YOU SEE SOMETHING, SAY SOMETHING!!
Report Suspicious Activity – Be Vigilant – STAY ALERT! Do not think that any call or report is too small. Don’t allow the actions of a few dictate your quality of life.
FOR ALL EMERGENCIES, DIAL: 9-1-1
FOR ALL NON-EMERGENCIES, DIAL: 732-442-4400