Diary February 20, 1942

Recovery of a supply bomb in Demiansk 'Cauldron'.
Recovery of a supply bomb in Demiansk ‘Cauldron’.
WW2 War Diary for Friday, February 20, 1942:

Air War

Eastern Front – Demiansk Airlift: force of Ju 52s (increasing from 40 in February to 300 in May) maintains trapped German 16th Army in Demiansk ‘Cauldron’, north of Smolensk, losing 262 aircraft.
Pacific: F4F Wildcat fighter flown by Lt ‘Butch’ O’Hare, of USS Lexington, shoots down 5 Mitsubishi G4M Betty bombers in ten minutes near Gilbert Islands.

Eastern Front

German frostbite casualties now total 112,627, including 14,357 requiring amputation.

Pacific

East Indies: Japanese land on Timor Island (Dutch and Portugese), north of Australia (occupation completed February 24).

Neutrals

Vichy France: THE RIOM WAR GUILT TRIAL. Vichy French Supreme Court, sitting at Riom, near Clermont-Ferrand, examines ex-Prime Ministers Daladier and Blum, General Gamelin and others on charges of being ‘responsible for the defeat of France’. Accused later deported to Germany and Court dissolved, June 13, 1942.

Sea War

Atlantic: Italian submarine group Da Vinci (4 boats) sinks 14 merchantmen (February 20-March 24) in the Caribbean.

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