World War II Database

• Home
• » Events
• » WW2 Timeline
• » 15 Feb 1942

• Dutch destroyer HNLMS Van Ghent ran aground en route to Palembang, and was scuttled. ww2dbase [TH]
• German submarine U-432 sank Brazilian ship Buarque 40 kilometers east of Hampton Roads, Virginia, United States. ww2dbase [Second Happy Time | CPC]
• Archibald Wavell recovered from his fall at Singapore and was released by the hospital. ww2dbase [Archibald Wavell | CPC]
• Dispersed ships of Allied convoy QP-7 began to arrive in Allied waters. ww2dbase [Arctic Convoys | CPC]
• Tsingtau was assigned to the 6th Fast Attack Craft Flotilla. ww2dbase [Tsingtau | CPC]

• An Allied troop convoy consisted of four transports (with Australian and American troops aboard) departed from Darwin, Australia for Timor, escorted by cruiser USS Houston, destroyer USS Peary, sloop HMAS Swan, and sloop HMAS Warrego. ww2dbase [Dutch East Indies Campaign, Java | Darwin, Northern Territory | CPC]

• Japanese troops penetrated Indian 17th Infantry Division positions on the Bilin River north of Rangoon, Burma. ww2dbase [Invasion of Burma | CPC]

• Akagi departed Palau with Kaga, Carrier Division 2, and Cruiser Division 8, screened by Destroyer Squadron 1 for the attacks on Davao and Port Darwin, Australia. ww2dbase [Akagi | Palau | CPC]
• Kaga departed Palau Islands, Caroline Islands. ww2dbase [Kaga | Palau | CPC]
• Yugure departed Palau, Caroline Islands at 1400 hours. ww2dbase [Yugure | Palau | CPC]

• 100 additional Japanese paratroopers arrived at Palembang, Sumatra, Dutch East Indies, helping with the securing oil refineries and other facilities. 200 kilometers to the south, British troop transport Ocrades arrives at Oosthaven with 3,400 Australian troops, but the ship would continue on to Java without disembarking the troops. North of Palembang, Japanese troops disembarked at the mouth of the Musi River; the British RAF interfered by attacking the landing with over 50 aircraft, sinking 20 landing craft and killing 100 Japanese. Finally, in the Bangka Strait, Japanese naval gunfire sank British tug HMS Yin Ping; 50 were killed, 25 survived. ww2dbase [Dutch East Indies Campaign, Sumatra | Sumatra | CPC]
• The 537-ton Dutch merchant vessel Makasser was scuttled in Bangka Strait, which separated Sumatra from Bangka Island in the Dutch East Indies, when approached by the Japanese Nagara-class cruiser Yura and the Fubuki-class destroyer Asagiri. ww2dbase [Bangka Strait | HM]

• No. 94 Squadron RAF lost four Kittyhawk fighters in combat over Martuba, Egypt. Squadron Leader Ernest M. Mason's aircraft was among the four, shot down and killed by German ace Oberfeldwebel Otto Schulz. ww2dbase [Martuba | CPC]

• USS Yorktown departed Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii for Marcus Island. Before she departed, she took on cryptanalyst and linguist Forrest "Tex" Biard. ww2dbase [Pearl Harbor Navy Base and Ford Island Naval Air Station | Yorktown (Yorktown-class) | Pearl Harbor, Oahu | CPC]
• USS Grayback departed Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii for her first war patrol. ww2dbase [Grayback | Pearl Harbor Navy Base and Ford Island Naval Air Station | Honolulu, Oahu | CPC]

• Japanese submarine I-165 sank 4,471-ton British steam merchant ship Johanne Justesen (owned by the British India Steam Navigation Company of London) in the Arabian Sea off the southern tip of India, killing 1. ww2dbase [Arabian Sea | CPC, HM]

• While escorting German bombers over Gambut, Libya, Hans-Joachim Marseille spotted enemy fighters taking off from a nearby airfield to challenge them. He would shoot down two P-40 fighters, Flight Sergeant Frank Reid at 1300 hours as his 47th kill and Flight Officer P. J. Briggs at 1303 hours as his 48th kill. ww2dbase [Hans-Joachim Marseille | Gambut | CPC]

• Repair ship Akashi departed Davao, Mindanao, Philippine Islands. ww2dbase [Akashi | Davao | CPC]

• As of this date, 1,632 Crimean Tatars were fighting in self-defense battalions under the German banner. ww2dbase [Deportation of Crimean Tatars | Krym | CPC]

• With Winston Churchill's permission, Arthur Percival decided to surrender Singapore. A delegation bearing a white flag was dispatched at 1130 hours, but it was turned back by the Japanese, who requested Percival to surrender in person, which Percival complied at 1715 hours. At the Ford Motor Factory at Bukit Timah, Percival signed the surrender document at 2030 hours, making the biggest capitulation in British militay history official. ww2dbase [Invasion of Malaya and Singapore | Singapore | AC, CPC]

15 Feb 1942 Interactive Map