World War II calendar
What happened on February 8 during World War II? This date brings together 7 events from 1941, 1942, 1943 and 1945, with period photographs and links to the full operations documented across WW2 Theatres.
After Beda Fomm, British patrols continued through Agedabia to El Agheila. The force had now crossed most of Cyrenaica and reached the geographical hinge between the eastern and western halves of Libya. The advance stopped for strategic as well as logistical reasons. Forces and shipping were being diverted toward Greece, while the formations that had driven across the desert needed repair, replacement and rest.
Continue in Operation Compass →
On the night of 8 February, Japanese assault troops crossed the Johor Strait against the north-western shore of Singapore, where Australian units held the principal landing sector. The first waves established bridgeheads and began moving inland before the defenders could restore a continuous line along the coast. Yamashita’s problem was to get enough men, ammunition and heavier weapons across the strait before the lodgement could be contained. Percival’s was to identify the main effort and commit reserves while communications were deteriorating and other sectors still appeared threatened. Once the bridgehead…
Continue in The Fall of the Southern Empires →
The 77th Indian Infantry Brigade began Operation Longcloth from Imphal on 8 February 1943. About 3,000 men were organised into seven columns with mules, wireless detachments and RAF liaison parties. Wingate intended the force to cross the Chindwin, disrupt roads and railways, and test whether columns could live behind Japanese lines while relying on air-dropped supplies. The operation went ahead after the larger offensive for which it had been planned was cancelled. Longcloth was an experiment as well as a raid. Its results would be judged against the damage caused,…
Continue in The Arakan and the Chindits →
More than a thousand Allied guns opened the preparation for Operation Veritable at 05:00, firing into the German positions between the Maas and the Rhine before the infantry assault. U.S. Army and Canadian official accounts describe more than half a million shells fired in the opening preparation. The fire plan was intended to suppress forward positions, headquarters, communications and known artillery sites before XXX Corps moved. The preparation opened the attack; roads, mines and field positions still had to be cleared at close range once the infantry entered the defensive…
Continue in The Rhineland Battles →
British formations of XXX Corps crossed the start line at 10:30 and entered the Reichswald and its approaches. Woods, anti-tank obstacles, mines and a small number of usable tracks forced the corps to deploy in depth on a narrow frontage. German units of First Parachute Army defended through successive belts. As the forward positions were cleared, reserves occupied the next villages, road junctions and prepared works. The result was a battle measured as much in road capacity and engineer work as in map distance.
Continue in The Rhineland Battles →
V Corps redirected the veteran 9th Infantry Division toward the Schwammenauel Dam after the 78th Division's advance toward Schmidt and the reservoirs fell behind the timetable demanded by higher headquarters. The new assignment added experienced infantry to the approach, while terrain, mines and German positions continued to restrict movement along the road toward Hasenfeld and the reservoir.
Continue in Aachen and the Hürtgen Forest →
On the northern flank, the 3rd Canadian Infantry Division moved through low ground that German dyke demolitions had flooded. Buffalo tracked amphibians carried infantry between roads, dykes and villages that had become islands; ordinary wheeled vehicles and tanks remained confined to the limited firm routes. The division already carried the nickname 'Water Rats' from its amphibious fighting in the flooded Scheldt country in 1944. Veritable applied that experience again on a larger flooded battlefield.
Continue in The Rhineland Battles →
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