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WWII On This Day: February 19

What happened on February 19 during World War II? This date brings together 6 events from 1942, 1943, 1944 and 1945, with period photographs and links to the full operations documented across WW2 Theatres.

1942
MV Neptuna explodes and oil-storage tanks burn during the first Japanese raid on Darwin, 19 February 1942; HMAS Deloraine is in the foreground.
MV Neptuna explodes and oil-storage tanks burn during the first Japanese raid on Darwin, 19 February 1942; HMAS Deloraine is in the foreground. Royal Australian Navy Historical Collection / Australian War Memorial 128108 · Public domain Source
The Fall of the Southern Empires

Darwin Is Bombed

Japanese carrier and land-based aircraft struck Darwin on 19 February, attacking the harbour, shipping and airfields supporting the reinforcement route between Australia and the East Indies. The Australian War Memorial campaign entry records 252 Allied service personnel and civilians killed, while other counts differ slightly according to category. Darwin belonged directly to the Java campaign. Aircraft, crews and shipping moving north needed the base, and the Allies were trying to sustain the East Indies from Australia at the same time that Japan was extending air power toward those routes. After…

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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

The Fight in Badoeng Strait

Doorman’s force attacked Japanese shipping in Badoeng Strait on the night of 19–20 February in an attempt to disrupt the Bali operation. The fighting was confused and divided into separate encounters, and Allied ships failed to undo the Japanese lodgement on the island. The action foreshadowed the larger problem Doorman would face a week later. A multinational force was being assembled from ships with different communications and recent battle experience, often without secure air reconnaissance, and ordered to strike invasion forces before the landings became irreversible. Each unsuccessful interception left…

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1943
American infantry aboard a landing craft approaching Oran, Algeria, in November 1942 during Operation Torch.
Lt F. A. Hudson / Royal Navy / Imperial War Museums A 12661 · UK Government public domain
Operation Torch and the Tunisian Campaign

Axis forces push through Kasserine Pass

Rommel’s formations and supporting units attacked the Kasserine approach on 19 February, exploiting the American retreat from Sidi Bou Zid and Sbeitla. The Axis troops forced the pass and moved towards Thala and Tébessa along diverging mountain roads. British and American units concentrated on those roads while their artillery occupied blocking positions. The Axis advance began to lose momentum as the attackers dispersed, fuel and ammunition supplies tightened, and stronger defensive groups arrived.

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1944
Flying Officer T. Blackham and members of his No. 50 Squadron Lancaster crew at RAF Skellingthorpe on 19 February 1944, before that night's Bomber Command operation.
Flying Officer T. Blackham and members of his No. 50 Squadron Lancaster crew at RAF Skellingthorpe on 19 February 1944, before that night's Bomber Command operation. Bellamy W (F/O), Royal Air Force official photographer / Imperial War Museums, CH 12209 · Public domain Source
Big Week and Air Superiority

Bomber Command attacks Leipzig on the eve of Big Week

On the night of 19–20 February Bomber Command sent a major force to Leipzig. The raid preceded the formal opening of Operation Argument by hours and belongs on the page as a prelude rather than as the first day of Big Week. The night offensive and the American daylight campaign were not identical operations. Bomber Command had its own targeting, navigation and loss problems, while the Eighth and Fifteenth Air Forces were preparing a concentrated attack on the aircraft-production system by day. Their proximity nevertheless mattered to German defence. Aircraft,…

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1945
Initial assault waves of LVT amphibious tractors approach Iwo Jima at approximately 09:00 on 19 February 1945, photographed from an aircraft of USS Makin Island.
Initial assault waves of LVT amphibious tractors approach Iwo Jima at approximately 09:00 on 19 February 1945, photographed from an aircraft of USS Makin Island. U.S. Navy / NHHC 80-G-310951 · public domain Source
Iwo Jima

The 4th and 5th Marine Divisions land on the southeast beaches

Naval gunfire resumed at 06:40 on 19 February 1945, with the 16-inch guns of the battleships Washington and North Carolina added, and 120 carrier aircraft struck between 08:05 and 08:25. A rolling barrage kept a margin of 400 yards ahead of the troops. The first wave of 68 LVT(A) tractors crossed the line of departure at 08:30, the first tracks touched the beach at 09:02 and the troop-carrying second wave landed at 09:05. The 5th Marine Division landed on the left, on Green and Red beaches, and the 4th Marine…

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Marines of the 5th Division advance up Red Beach No. 1 toward Mount Suribachi on 19 February 1945; the original caption does not place them at the west coast.
Marines of the 5th Division advance up Red Beach No. 1 toward Mount Suribachi on 19 February 1945; the original caption does not place them at the west coast. Dreyfuss / U.S. Marine Corps / NARA 127-N-110249, HD-SN-99-02876 · public domain Source
Iwo Jima

The Marines reach the west coast and cut off Mount Suribachi

On the left a small group from Company B, 28th Marines, reached the west coast at 10:35, so that the regiment crossed the island's narrow waist and isolated Mount Suribachi; by 17:44 the 28th faced south across it. In the 27th Marines' zone, Company A was infiltrating across the southern end of Airfield No. 1 by 11:30. On the right, 1/23 was 500 yards inland by noon and reached the airfield at 14:05, and 3/23 held its near edges by 17:00. The 25th Marines attacked the Quarry, the high ground…

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