World War II calendar
What happened on February 8 during World War II? This date brings together 6 events from 1941, 1942 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 →
Around 1,050 guns opened at five in the morning: 576 field, 280 medium, 122 heavy and super-heavy, and 72 heavy anti-aircraft guns firing in the ground role, on a frontage of about six miles. It was the heaviest concentration the British and Canadians had assembled since Normandy. Men who were there described being deafened for hours afterwards. The infantry crossed the start line at 10:30, five and a half hours later.
Continue in The Rhineland Battles →
Five divisions attacked side by side, around 50,000 men with 500 tanks, into dense conifer forest with the Siegfried Line running through it. There were no roads, only firebreaks, and the frontage was so narrow that XXX Corps went in with a fraction of its strength deployed. The first line was anti-tank ditches and fortified farms a mile deep. Behind that came open ground, then the Siegfried Line itself, and six miles further back the Hochwald position that Montgomery had named the lay-back.
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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 →
The 3rd Canadian Division attacked across ground that was under several feet of water, in Buffalo amphibians, clearing villages that had become islands. The division adopted the nickname the Water Rats and kept it. It is one of very few divisional attacks of the war conducted almost entirely afloat, and it is why the northern flank did not stall when the centre did.
Continue in The Rhineland Battles →
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