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February 17, 1942: Front page of the News and Chronicle, London, England. |
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Note the report in column 4: "Submarine Shells U.S. Oil Depot" |
(U-156 was the submarine responsible for this. The three ships hit were the 6,452-ton Arkansas, the 2,396-ton Oranjestad, which was sunk with the loss of 15 men and the 4,317-ton Pedernales, 8 men were lost in this ship. Arkansas and Pedernales were both repaired and returned to service.) |
Also note the report in column 5: "3 U-boats Believed Sunk in Atlantic" |
(The first U-Boat sunk by U.S. forces was U-656, which was sunk on Mar. 1, 1942 by a Lockheed Hudson flown by Ens. William Tepuni, USNR of VP-82. This was off Newfoundland. A second, U-503, was sunk off Newfoundland by VP-82 on Mar. 15th. The first U-boat sunk off the U.S. east coast was U-85, which was sunk by USS Roper DD-147 on Apr. 14, 1942. A full two and a half months after this report.) |
February 17, 1942: Front page of The Daily Mail, Hull, England. |
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February 17, 1942: Front page of The Yorkshire Post and Leeds Mercury, Leeds, England. |
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February 17, 1942: Front page of the Western Mail and South Wales News, Cardiff, Wales. |
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February 17, 1942: Front page of the Evening Telegraph and Post, Dundee, Scotland. |
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February 17, 1942: Front page of The Examiner, Launceston, Tasmania, Australia. |
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February 17, 1942: Front page of The Sydney Sun, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. |
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February 17, 1942: Front page of The Telegraph, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. |
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February 17, 1942: Front page of The Winnipeg Tribune, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. |
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February 17, 1942: Front page of the Biddeford Daily Journal, Biddeford, Maine. |
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February 17, 1942: Front page of The Evening Star, Washington, D.C. |
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Note the report at top left: "Two Nazi Battleships Crippled In Dover Fight, Churchill Says" |
(Operation Cerberus, better known as the Channel Dash, was when the Germans sailed the battleships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau with the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen, along with a strong escort force, from France back to Germany. The reason for this was that the ships were under constant attack by the RAF in the French ports. The ships were effectively trapped and since they could not sortie from France as planned and because the German High Command believed, rightly, that the two ships would ultimately be destroyed should they remain tied up in France, it was decided not to let them die on the vine, but to move them back to Germany through the English Channel, which was an almost unbelievable risk. The operation was a terrible embarrassment to the British, allowing such heavy ships, which were under observation, to make it through the Straits of Dover, should have been impossible. For the Germans the operation was an incredible political and logistical success, but ultimately, it did not help the German naval situation. The entire force made it to port in Germany, but both Scharnhorst and Gneisenau had been mined en route. Scharnhorst was repaired, but Gneisenau, while it was being repaired, was seriously damaged in an air raid at Kiel. The ships bows were replaced and in April Gneisenau was moved to Gotenhafen. Heavier guns were to be fitted, but further German navy failures soured Hitler on the idea of spending so much money, time, and manpower resources on a ship like Gneisenau. The project was abandoned and Gneisenau never sailed again. The heavy gun turrets were removed and used as shore batteries, and the ship was more or less abandoned. When the Soviets neared the city, Gneisenau was towed out and sunk as a blockship. The ship was later raised and scrapped by the Poles.) |
February 17, 1942: Front page of The Evening Gazette, Xenia, Ohio. |
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Note the photo at top: "More Bad News For The Axis" |
(The launching of the Battleship Alabama BB-60.) |
February 17, 1942: Front page of The Port Arthur News, Port Arthur, Texas. |
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February 17, 1942: Front page of the Tucson Daily Citizen, Tucson, Arizona. |
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February 17, 1942: Front page of The Bakersfield Californian, Bakersfield, California. |
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February 17, 1942: Front page of the Teltower Kreisblatt, Kreis Teltow, Brandenburg, Germany. |
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1. Eingeschlossene Sowjets vernichtet. |
(Trapped Soviets destroyed.) |
February 17, 1942: Front page of the Völkischer Beobachter, the official newspaper of the NSDAP. |
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1. Churchills trübseliges Geständnis - Es geht jetztnicht mehr aus eigener Kraft - Der Bankrotteur: England geht schweren Zeiten entgegen. |
(Churchill's doleful confession - It can no longer be done on its own - The bankrupt: England is facing difficult times.) |
Page published February 17, 2023 |