Partial results of the “Little Blitz.” Click to enlarge.
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.
The Royal Navy light cruiser HMS Penelope is torpedoed and sunk off Anzio, Italy, with the loss of 415 crew members on February 18, 1944. It earns the dubious distinction of being the last British cruiser to be lost in the war. The Germans conduct their heaviest night raid on London since 1941 as the Luftwaffe intensifies “the Little Blitz.” The American raid on the Japanese base at Truk Lagoon is completed. Over the two days of the raid, the Japanese lose two cruisers, four destroyers, several other warships, 140,000 tons of cargo shipping and over 250 airplanes. In Italy, a third attack in as many days by Indian troops fails to dislodge the Germans from Monte Cassino. New Zealanders manage to force their way across the Rapido River near the town of Cassino, but ultimately are pushed back.
The Allies begin the “Big Week” bombing campaign against German industrial cities on February 19. First target: Leipzig, on which 2,300 tons of bombs are dropped. Danish saboteurs attack rail lines round Aarhus, Denmark. Unable to withstand sustained Allied air attacks and heavy ground artillery fire, the Germans halt their Anzio counterattack and withdraw.
On February 20, the ferry boat SF Hydro — carrying “heavy water” for nuclear-weapons research from Telemark, Norway, to Germany for safekeeping — sinks on Lake Tinn, the largest lake in Norway and one of the deepest in Europe — up to 1,500 feet deep. The vessel had been sabotaged by the Norwegian Resistance. The British Admiralty announces that the Royal Navy had engaged in an 11-day battle with U-boats in the Strait of Gibraltar, during which three ships have been sunk and several damaged.
On February 21, organized Japanese resistance ends on Eniwetok.
In Europe, on February 22, planes of the U.S. Eighth Air Force, flying in dense clouds and freezing conditions, bomb the Dutch cities of Enschede, Arnhem and Nijmegen by mistake. More than 800 civilians are killed. In the Mariana Islands, Japanese bombers and torpedo planes attack the ships of U.S. Task Force 58, led by Adm. Raymond Spruance. In Moscow, Joseph Stalin announces that three quarters of Soviet territory has been liberated and that the Red Army has advanced over 1,000 miles in some places.
U.S. Navy planes on February 23 attack the Japanese-held islands of Saipan, Guam and Tinian in the Mariana Islands. In Asia, “Merrill’s Marauders” (U.S. Army 5307th Composite Unit [Provisional]) begin U.S. Lt. Gen. Joseph “Vinegar Joe” Stilwell’s Sino-American advance into northern Burma. In the Marshall Islands, American forces complete the occupation of Eniwetok Atoll. U.S. losses are 339 killed, 750 wounded. The Japanese garrison has been wiped out. Of 3,400 troops on the island, only 66 prisoners are taken. In Italy, Maj. Gen. Lucian Truscott replaces Maj. Gen. John Lucas as commander of the U.S. Fifth Army’s VI Corps at Anzio.
On February 24, the U.S. government announces that, so far, American casualties total 19,499 killed, 45,545 wounded, 26,339 missing and 26,754 captured.
