On This Day
1942 > WW2
On This Day - 1942
- March 26, 1942
The merchant ship LAKATOI arrived at Cairns, QLD, with 214 troops and civilians evacuated from Japanese-occupied New Britain.
- March 24, 1942
US Congress accepted an Australian proposal for dividing the Pacific into distinct naval operational zones. The two areas proposed were the Southwest Pacific and the Southern Pacific.
“Harris’s Navy”, an unusual flotilla of small vessels led by Burns Philp’s 300 ton steamer LAKATOI, commanded by Patrol Officer G. C. Harris, evacuated hundreds of troops and civilians from New Britain under the nose of the Japanese.
- March 20, 1942
HMAS MAROUBRA was commissioned as an auxiliary minesweeper. The vessel was sunk by enemy action in 1943.
HMAS NORMAN, (destroyer), located a torpedoed allied tanker in the Indian Ocean, and escorted the vessel into port.
Australian Coastwatcher PO W. L. Tupling, RANVR, was reported executed by the Japanese in New Britain.
- March 18, 1942
HMAS WESTRALIA, (armed merchant cruiser), landed a garrison and engineers on Efate Island, New Hebrides, to develop a base for operations against the Japanese through the Solomon and Bismarck Groups.
The merchant ship CHARON was requisitioned by the RAN and converted into a provisions ship for service in the Pacific. She was not commissioned and was returned to her owners in early May 1942.
President Roosevelt telegraphed the British Prime Minister, Mr. Churchill:- “There is no use giving a single further thought to Singapore or the Dutch East Indies. They are gone. Australia must be held and we are willing to undertake that. You must hold Egypt, the Canal, Syria, Iran and the route to the Caucasus”.
- March 17, 1942
General Douglas MacArthur arrived in Australia and was appointed Supreme Commander of all Allied Forces in the South-West Pacific.
HMS KINGSTON OLIVINE, (LEUT T. Lewis, RANVR), took in tow the mined freighter CRESSDINE in the English Channel. The tow was passed in darkness with German E-boats in the vicinity. Lewis towed the damaged ship to harbour where it sank before it could be secured alongside. Both Lewis and his First Lieutenant, SBLT P. McCormack, were commended for their coolness and determination.
- March 15, 1942
A boat from HMAS PERTH, (LEUT Thode), surrendered to the Japanese at Tjilatjap, 16 days after the sinking of the cruiser in the Battle of Sunda Strait. The party of 10 survivors had set sail for Australia, but contrary winds and a shortage of food and water caused them to turn back to Java.
- March 14, 1942
HMAS TAMWORTH, (minesweeper), was launched at Walkers Ltd., QLD. She was paid off in 1946 and transferred to the Royal Netherlands Navy, and renamed TIDORE.
- March 11, 1942
HMS NAIAD, (cruiser), was sunk while escorting a convoy to Malta. The cruiser’s First Lieutenant, LCDR A. S. Storey, RAN, was awarded the DSC for conspicuous bravery in the operation. A Bar to the DSC was awarded to this officer some months later “for gallantry, skill and seamanship in a brilliant action against strong enemy forces” when serving in his next ship, HMS CLEOPATRA, (cruiser).
- March 10, 1942
The flotilla of 7 corvettes, HMA Ships MARYBOROUGH, GOULBURN, BURNIE, BALLARAT, TOOWOOMBA, WOLLONGONG, and BENDIGO, reached Fremantle, WA, from Tjilatjap.
- March 9, 1942
Thirteen survivors from HMAS YARRA, (sloop), were picked up by the Dutch submarine K11 in the Indian Ocean.
Coastwatcher P. Good was executed by the Japanese at Kessa on Buka Island. Good was betrayed by an Australian news broadcast reporting enemy shipping movements.
HMS WARSPITE, (battleship), sailed from Spencer Gulf, SA, for Ceylon. The battleship had been dispatched from the USA, where she had been repaired to bolster Australian defence. Her presence in Australian waters was one of the best kept secrets of the war.