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WWII On This Day: February 14

What happened on February 14 during World War II? This date brings together 6 events from 1942, 1943 and 1944, with period photographs and links to the full operations documented across WW2 Theatres.

1942
The Scherl publishing building burning in Berlin after an air raid, July 1944.
Bundesarchiv Bild 183-J30142 · CC BY-SA 3.0 DE · Source
The Bombing of Cities

Britain names the city as the target

The Air Ministry directive of 14 February 1942 made the morale of the German civil population, especially industrial workers, the primary object of Bomber Command operations. It followed years in which the force had struggled to identify and hit small industrial targets accurately at night. The Butt investigation had demonstrated the scale of that accuracy problem. Policy now treated the built-up urban area as a practicable aiming point because destroying housing, services and urban infrastructure was expected to reduce industrial output through dislocation and declining morale. A clarification immediately after…

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Searchlights and anti-aircraft tracer over Cologne during Operation Millennium, 30–31 May 1942.
Royal Air Force official photographer · Imperial War Museums C 2615 · Public domain
Area Bombing Begins

The Area Bombing Directive changes the target system

The Air Ministry authorised Bomber Command to resume intensive operations for the period in which Gee was expected to remain effective. The directive made the morale of the enemy civil population, particularly industrial workers, the primary focus of the renewed offensive and concentrated the main effort on the industrial cities of western and north-western Germany. Air Staff correspondence removed an ambiguity that could otherwise have left nominal factories or dockyards as the practical aiming points. Where a target list named an industrial installation inside a city, the general aiming point…

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Lieutenant-General Arthur Percival and the British surrender party walking to the Ford Motor Factory in Singapore on 15 February 1942.
British official photographer / Imperial War Museums HU 2781 · UK Government public domain · Source
The Fall of the Southern Empires

Palembang Opens the Western Approach to Java

Japanese airborne and ground forces took Palembang and the surrounding airfields in mid-February, opening direct access to the oil installations of southern Sumatra and placing additional Japanese air power on Java’s western approach. The timing was severe for the Allies. Singapore was collapsing at almost the same moment, so the base that might once have covered the western side of the Malay Barrier was disappearing while Sumatra itself was being penetrated. Java could still receive ships and aircraft, but the routes by which they approached were being compressed from both…

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1943
A Chindit column crosses a river in Burma during Operation Longcloth in 1943.
Imperial War Museums, IND 2290 · UK Government public domain
The Arakan and the Chindits

The Chindit groups cross the Chindwin

Wingate issued final instructions on 13 February and divided the force into northern and southern groups. The northern group began crossing the Chindwin on 14 February, while the southern group crossed farther south around the same period. River crossing equipment, mules and darkness made the movement slow. Once across, the columns marched mainly at night, dispersed in the jungle by day and depended on wireless calls for supply drops. The Chindwin marked the last major natural barrier between the force and Japanese-held Burma. From this point the columns had no…

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French Spahis withdraw from the Sidi Bou Zid area on 14 February 1943 as the German armoured attack develops.
French Spahis withdraw from the Sidi Bou Zid area on 14 February 1943 as the German armoured attack develops. U.S. Army official history, photograph printed on p. 416 · U.S. Government public domain Source
Operation Torch and the Tunisian Campaign

German armour strikes the U.S. positions at Sidi Bou Zid

German panzer groups attacked American positions around Sidi Bou Zid on 14 February, encircling the isolated hill defences and defeating the local armoured response. The 1st Armored Division lost tanks and its forward formations became separated. American commanders attempted to counter-attack on the following day. Their forces entered a prepared German armoured defence and suffered further losses, opening the road towards Sbeitla. An official U.S. Army history photograph records French Spahis withdrawing from the area during the attack.

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1944
General Harold Alexander speaks to British and American officers at Anzio on 14 February 1944; IWM NA 11881.
General Harold Alexander speaks to British and American officers at Anzio on 14 February 1944; IWM NA 11881. No. 2 Army Film & Photographic Unit / Imperial War Museums · UK Government public domain Source
Cassino and Anzio: The Road to Rome

Alexander visits commanders on the Anzio perimeter

General Harold Alexander visited British and American officers at Anzio on 14 February as German forces assembled for another major assault. The Allied corps was defending a confined, heavily shelled perimeter with increasing dependence on artillery and sea supply. Discussions of the position took place while reinforcement and counter-battery fire remained urgent needs. The visit was photographed by an official British Army cameraman.

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