Diary March 1, 1942

03-1942, Diary WW2, War Diary, Year 1942 / 1 minute of reading

HMS Exeter shortly before sinking after she was heavily damaged by 4 Japanese heavy cruisers.

WW2 War Diary for Sunday, March 1, 1942:

Sea War

Pacific: HMS Exeter sunk by Japanese cruisers and destroyers south of Borneo. US destroyer Pope crippled by dive bombers and sunk by gunfire. 2 Japanese task forces (including 4 carriers and 2 fast battleships) under Admirals Nagumo and Kondo wreak havoc among Allied shipping around Java. 9 warships and 10 merchant ships sunk and 3 merchant ships captured (March 1-7). Ships sunk include 3 destroyers – USS Edsall, Pillsbury and HMS Stronghold – and naval tanker Pecos (carrying survivors from old carrier USS Langley).

Eastern Front

Southern sector: Russians counter-attack in the Crimea.

Air War

Mediterranean: Severe raids on Malta. RAF night raid on shipping at Tripoli.

Home Fronts

USA: Death of Cornelius Vanderbilt III, multi-millionaire railway magnate, inventor and soldier; aged 68.

About The Author

Kretaner

My name is Norman 'Kretaner' and since my childhood I am interested in history and strategy games. Later, I have learned programming and the development of computer games, and finally with the Internet, also web design. I'm in the fortunate position to combine all my interests with my work and to live on a place of my choice, on Crete. All information, figures, specifications and statistics used here had been compiled from a variety of sources and the large, over decades collected, library of the author about military history, WW2 and weapons.