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WWII On This Day: February 23

What happened on February 23 during World War II? This date brings together 6 events from 1942, 1944 and 1945, with period photographs and links to the full operations documented across WW2 Theatres.

1942
RAF aerial reconnaissance photograph of the damaged Sittang railway bridge, destroyed on 23 February 1942; the archive does not provide the exact date of the aerial exposure.
RAF aerial reconnaissance photograph of the damaged Sittang railway bridge, destroyed on 23 February 1942; the archive does not provide the exact date of the aerial exposure. Royal Air Force official photographer / Imperial War Museums, CB(OPS) 5008 · Public domain (UK Government) Source
The Fall of Burma

The Sittang Bridge is blown with most of the 17th Indian Division on the east bank

At about 05:30 on 23 February 1942 Major General John 'Jackie' Smyth VC, commanding the 17th Indian Division, ordered the Sittang railway bridge blown. Japanese troops had been fighting for it since 22 February, and Smyth judged that it might be captured within the hour. Sappers had prepared the bridge for demolition on 22 February, and the 16th and 46th Indian Infantry Brigades, with the divisional troops, were still on the east bank. The demolition was partial: span 5 fell into the river, and spans 4 and 6 were damaged…

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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 Sittang Bridge Is Blown with Troops Still East of the River

During the retreat toward the Sittang, the bridge was demolished on 23 February while a large part of the 17th Indian Division was still on the eastern bank. The demolition denied the crossing intact to the Japanese, but thousands of Allied soldiers had to get across the river without most of their vehicles, artillery and heavy equipment. The decision was made under the fear that Japanese troops would seize the bridge and cut the withdrawal entirely. It preserved a route west of the river at the price of much of…

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1944
Tanks and infantry fight around the encircled 7th Indian Division during the Battle of the Admin Box, February 1944.
Tanks and infantry fight around the encircled 7th Indian Division during the Battle of the Admin Box, February 1944. Imperial War Museums, MWY 20 · UK Government public domain Source
The Arakan and the Chindits

The Japanese counterstroke in the Arakan is broken

By the second half of February the Japanese attempt to destroy the 7th Indian Division had failed. The road through the Ngakyedauk sector was reopened and the 5th and 7th Indian Divisions resumed contact as the attacking Japanese formations withdrew. Royal Armouries gives approximate losses of 2,000 on the Allied side and 5,000 Japanese for the battle. The figures are estimates, but the operational outcome is clear: the Japanese had failed to force a withdrawal and had expended troops before the larger offensive toward India. Slim later treated the battle…

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A P-51B Mustang of the U.S. Army Air Forces in flight in early 1944.
U.S. Army Air Forces, 342-FH-3A16458-53135AC / NARA, NAID 204889474 · Public domain in the United States
Big Week and Air Superiority

The Eighth pauses; the Fifteenth keeps the offensive moving

Stormy weather grounded the Eighth Air Force's heavy bombers on 23 February. After three maximum-effort days, English-based crews and maintenance organisations had an enforced pause. The Fifteenth Air Force continued from Italy against aircraft-industry targets in Austria and southern Germany, including Steyr. Operation Argument therefore did not disappear simply because one launching area was closed by weather. The day exposes an important feature of Allied strength in 1944: Germany had to defend an industrial system that could be approached from more than one strategic direction, while its fighter units and…

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1945
The first, smaller American flag flying atop Mount Suribachi on 23 February 1945, in Louis R. Lowery’s photograph; this is not Joe Rosenthal’s second flag-raising image.
The first, smaller American flag flying atop Mount Suribachi on 23 February 1945, in Louis R. Lowery’s photograph; this is not Joe Rosenthal’s second flag-raising image. Staff Sergeant Louis R. Lowery / U.S. Marine Corps, Leatherneck magazine · public domain Source
Iwo Jima

Flags are raised on Mount Suribachi

Patrols from Companies D and F started up Suribachi at 09:00 on 23 February, met no fire and reached the crater's edge at 09:40. A 40-man group from Company E under First Lieutenant Harold Schrier reached the rim at about 10:15, a short fight followed, and the first flag, 54 by 28 inches, was raised at 10:20. A larger flag, 8 feet by 4 feet 8 inches, replaced it in the early afternoon, when Secretary of the Navy Forrestal's party was ashore. Joe Rosenthal of the Associated Press photographed that…

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Men of the U.S. 30th Infantry Division crossing the Roer on a footbridge during Operation Grenade, February 1945.
Men of the U.S. 30th Infantry Division crossing the Roer on a footbridge during Operation Grenade, February 1945. U.S. Army · public domain Source
The Rhineland Battles

Ninth Army crosses the Roer

The first Ninth Army assault troops crossed the still-swollen Roer at 02:30 behind a massive artillery preparation, beginning Operation Grenade almost two weeks after its original target date. By the end of the day twenty-eight battalions had crossed and a substantial bridgehead was established. German reserves had been drawn north against Veritable during the delay. Ninth Army therefore faced a thinner reserve system, and Simpson was able to build up the bridgehead for an armoured breakout after the initial crossings.

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