February in WW2
This page gives a daily diary snapshot of February in WW2.
1 February 1945: US Sixth Army reaches the Siegfried Line
2 February 1943: Fieldmarshal Von Paulus surrenders the German 6th Army to the Russians at Stalingrad
3 February 1945: USAAF launches a 1000 bomber raid on Berlin, escorted by 900 fighters
4 February 1945: Yalta Conference opens
5 February 1945: US troopes enter Manila
6 February 1941: Erwin Rommel appointed commander of the Afrika Corps
7 February 1942: Japanese troops land on Singapore Island
8 February 1941: Lend –Lease Bill passed by US House of representatives
9 February 1943: US troops link up at Tenaro, Gudalcanal and discover that the Japanese have evacuated the island
10 February 1945: US First Army captures the Schwammanuel Dam
11 February 1942: The Channel Dash: German warships Scharnhorst, Gneisenau and Prinz Eugen escape up the Channel from Brest
12 February 1945: Canadian troops capture Kleve, Germany
13 February 1945: RAF bombing causes a firestorm in Dresden in a `severe case of over bombing`. Estimates vary between 135,000 and 250,000 dead
14 February 1941: German units start to arrive in Tripoli
15 February 1942: Singapore surrenders to the Japanese. (1944) Massive air and artillery bombardment destroy the abbey at Monte Cassino
16 February 1940: HMS Cossack rescues British prisoners from the prison ship Altmark in Norwegian waters
17 February 1943: Norwegian Commandos parachute into Norway, intent on destroying the heavy water plant at Norsk Hydro
18 February 1943: Well behind Japanese lines the Chindits cut the railway line between Mandalay and Myitkina, Burma
19 February 1945: US Marines land on Iwo Jima, Pacific
20 February 1945: President Roosevelt is sworn in for a forth term, with Harry S truman as Vice-President
21 February 1940: Work begins on a new concentration camp in Poland near Oswiecim ( Auschwitz)
22 February 1941: General Mc Arthur ordered to leave the Philippines
23 February 1945: US Marines take Mount Suribachi on Iwo Jima
24 February 1944: USAAF bombers raid Schweinfurt in Germany
25 February 1943: Allied troops recapture the Kasserine Pass
26 February 1945: Operation Blockbuster; Canadian units drive into Holland
27 February 1945: US marines take IWO Jima airfield
28 February 1943: Norwegian Commandos destroy the heavy water plant at Norsk Hydro, the basis for the film ‘The Heroes of Telemark’
29 February 1944: US troops land on the Admiralty Islands