WWII On This Day: February 14

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

February 14, 1942 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

February 14, 1942 · 12:00 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

February 14, 1942 · 12:00 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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