CBI - China: Day 32 of 41 of the 1st Battle of Shanghai.
1933 — , February 28
CBI - China: Day 59 of 142 of the 1st Battle of Hebei.
CBI - China: Day 8 of 9 of the Battle of Rehe.
1936 — , February 28
Japan: Day 3 of 4 of an ambitious coup attempt in Japan. Socialist junior Army officers lead a failed coup to overthrow the Prime Minister and his cabinet, demanding reorganization of the government.
1937 — , February 28
Spain: Day 227 of 985 of the Spanish Civil War.
1938 — , February 28
Spain: Day 592 of 985 of the Spanish Civil War.
CBI - China: Day 237 of 2,987 of the 2nd Sino-Japanese War.
Day 22 of 124 of the Battle of Henan.
1939 — , February 28
Spain: Day 957 of 985 of the Spanish Civil War.
CBI - China: Day 602 of 2,987 of the 2nd Sino-Japanese War.
1940 — , February 28
Finland: Day 91 of 105 of the Russo-Finnish War. Soviet troops overrun the second line of Finnish defenses on the Karelian Isthmus.
CBI - China: Day 967 of 2,987 of the 2nd Sino-Japanese War.
Day 106 of 381 of the Battle of South Guangxi.
Day 32 of 67 of the Battle of Wuyuan.
1941 — , February 28
ETO - UK: Day 176 of 258 of the Blitz. Civilian casualty figures for February tally at 789 killed and 1,068 injured.
ETO - France: Vichy France reduces bread ration from 350 grams to 280 grams.
MTO - Greece: British Commandos, having been left to hold Castelorizzo without naval support or reinforcements, are forced to evacuate when the Italians land troops on the island.
East Africa: Day 264 of 537 of Italy's East African campaign in the lands south of Egypt.
East Africa - Eritrea: Day 24 of 56 of the Battle of Keren.
CBI - China: Day 1,333 of 2,987 of the 2nd Sino-Japanese War.
Day 30 of 31 of the Battle of South Henan.
CBI - Thailand: Day 151 of 221 of the Franco-Thai War (Vichy France vs Thailand).
1942 — , February 28
Atlantic: Day 46 of 169 of Germany's Second "Happy Time," during which U-boats sink 609 Allied ships with little risk.
ETO - France: An Allied parachute operation to destroy the radar station at Bruneval in northern France succeeds.
Russian Front - North: Day 174 of 872 of the Siege of Leningrad.
Russian Front - North: Day 21 of 102 of the Battle of the Demyansk Pocket, another failed attempt to break the siege at Leningrad.
Russian Front - North: Day 37 of 103 of the Battle of the Kholm Pocket. Another attempt to break the siege at Leningrad.
Russian Front - Center: Day 52 of 103 of the Battle of Vyazma, Russia.
Russian Front - Center: Day 52 of 103 of the Battle of Sychevsk, Russia.
Russian Front - South: Day 122 of 248 of the Siege of Sevastopol, Crimean Peninsula. All German attacks against Sevastopol are stopped for the winter.
CBI - Burma: Day 77 of 164 of Japan's Invasion of Burma. Japanese troops are only 50 miles north of Rangoon.
CBI: Day 2 of 3 of the Naval Battle of the Java Sea. Allied Navies make another attempt to stop the Japanese headed for Java in the Sunda Strait but are beaten.
CBI - China: Day 1,698 of 2,987 of the 2nd Sino-Japanese War.
Day 67 of 99 of the 3rd Battle of Changsha.
CBI - Java: Day 1 of 13 of the Battle of Java. US 5th Air Force evacuates from all bases in or near Java. Their ground units are picked up and taken out by the Navy.
PTO - Borneo: Day 75 of 107 of the Battle of Borneo.
PTO - Malaya: Day 10 of 357 of the Battle of Timor Island, a long guerrilla war ending in Japanese victory.
PTO - Philippines: Day 83 of 152 of the 1st Battle of the Philippines. 5th Air Force provides air support.
1943 — , February 28
ETO - Norway: Norwegian commandos, parachuted in on 16 Feb, successfully sabotage the German heavy water plant at Telemark, Norway. All nine commandos escape safely, without taking or inflicting any casualties. It is the most successful act of sabotage of the entire war.
Spotlight...
The Vemork Hydroelectric Plant in 1935. The heavy water was produced in the front building (the Hydrogen Production Plant).
In 1934, at Vemork, Norsk Hydro built the first commercial plant capable of producing deuterium oxide, or "heavy water," as a byproduct of fertilizer production. This heavy water could be used as a crucial ingredient in the production of an atomic bomb. The plant had a capacity of producing 12 tons per year.
The Allies decided it was important to remove the heavy water supply and destroy the heavy water plant in order to inhibit the Nazi development of nuclear weapons. Raids were aimed at the 60-MW Vemork power station at the Rjukan waterfall in Telemark, Norway.
On 19 Nov 42, the unsuccessful Operation FRESHMAN was mounted by British paratroopers. They were to rendezvous with Norwegians and proceed to Vemork. This attempt failed when the military gliders crashed short of their destination, as did one of the tugs, a Halifax bomber. The other Halifax returned to base, but all the other participants were killed in the crashes or captured, interrogated, and executed by the Gestapo.
On 28 Feb 43, a team of SOE-trained Norwegian commandos finally succeeded in destroying the production facility with Operation GUNNERSIDE, which was later evaluated by SOE as the most successful act of sabotage in all of WWII.
It took three months for the Germans to rebuild the plant and resume production, which was then followed by many Allied bombing raids. The Germans elected to cease operation and remove the remaining heavy water to Germany. Norwegian resistance forces sank the ferry, SF Hydro, on Lake Tinnsjo, sending the heavy water to the bottom of the lake and preventing it from continuing to Germany.
Dates related to Norway, heavy water and Quisling...
ETO - UK: US 8th Air Force: Flying Spitfires, the 4th Fighter Group fly patrols over the Channel.
Russian Front - North: Day 539 of 872 of the Siege of Leningrad.
Russian Front - North: Day 19 of 51 of the USSR's Operation POLAR STAR, a failed offensive north of Leningrad, hoping to take the southern shore of Lake Ladoga, Russia.
Russian Front - North: Day 300 of 658 of the Siege of the Kholm Pocket, USSR lays siege to the Kholm Pocket but the Germans hold out for a about a year and a half.
Russian Front - South: Day 10 of 25 of the 3rd Battle of Kharkov, Ukraine. The Soviets have taken Kharkov but will lose it again.
MTO - Tunisia: Day 104 of 178 of the Battle of Tunisia. RAF and US Air Forces provide Allied air support.
CBI - Burma: Day 70 of 104 of the 1st Battle of Arakan. US 10th Air Force provides air support.
CBI - Burma: Day 21 of 79 of the Allied Operation LONGCLOTH.
CBI - China: Day 2,063 of 2,987 of the 2nd Sino-Japanese War.
PTO - Alaska: Day 267 of 435 of the Battle of Kiska, Aleutian Islands. US 11th Air Force bombs the Main Camp area on Kiska Island.
1944 — , February 28
Germany: German Aviator, Captain Hanna Reitsch, the first female test pilot in the world, suggests the creation of the Nazi equivalent of a kamikaze squad of suicide bombers while visiting Adolf Hitler in Berchtesgaden. Hitler is less than enthusiastic about the idea.
Spotlight...
April, 1941: Captain Hanna Reitsch shakes hands with Adolf Hitler after being awarded the Iron Cross second class at the Reich Chancellery in Berlin, Germany, for her service in the development of airplane armament instruments during World War II. In back, center is Reichsmarshal Hermann Goering. At the extreme right is Lt Gen Karl Bodenschatz of the German air ministry.
Hanna Reitsch greets well-wishers with the Hitler Salute on a visit to her hometown of Hirschberg, Silesia, in April, 1941.
Hanna Reitsch was a civilian test pilot with the honorary rank of Captain. She was probably among the world's first feminists and always strove to beat men at any task in flying and daring.
Dates related to Women pilots in WWII...
28 Jun 39: Britain's Women's Auxiliary Air Force formed
11 Jan 40: Britain's Women's Section of ATA first delivery
USA: Arab nations protest to the US over recent Senate statements about the creation of a Jewish State in Palestine.
ETO - France: US 8th Air Force B-17s and B-24s attack V-weapon sites and airfields.
ETO - France: US 8th Air Force B-26s attack NOBALL (V-weapon) targets and Rosieres-en-Santerre.
Russian Front - North: Day 46 of 48 of the Battle toward the Narva River, Estonia. This drive helped lift the Leningrad siege and goes on to liberate Narva.
Russian Front - North: Day 27 of 191 of the Battle of the Narva Isthmus, Estonia.
Russian Front - South: Day 67 of 113 of the USSR's Dnieper-Carpathian Offensive in southwestern Ukraine.
Russian Front - South: Day 30 of 31 of the Battle of Nikopol, Ukraine.
MTO - Italy: Day 43 of 123 of the Battle of Monte Cassino. RAF and US Air Forces provides air support for the Allied ground troops.
MTO - Italy: Day 38 of 136 of the Battle of Anzio. RAF and US Air Forces provides air support for the Allied ground troops.
CBI - Burma: Day 61 of 99 of the 2nd Battle of Arakan.
CBI - Burma: US 14th Air Force provides air support.
CBI - China: Day 2,428 of 2,987 of the 2nd Sino-Japanese War.
PTO - Marshall Islands: US 7th Air Force attack targets in the Marshalls.
PTO - New Guinea: US 5th Air Force B-25s and B-24s bomb targets in the Admiralty Islands in preparation for tomorrow's invasion.
PTO - New Guinea: Day 163 of 219 of the Battle of Shaggy Ridge. 5th Air Force provides air support.
PTO - New Guinea: Day 160 of 162 of the Battle of the Huon Peninsula. 5th Air Force provides air support.
PTO - New Guinea: Day 76 of 597 of the Battle of New Britain. US 10th Air Force provides air support.
PTO - Solomon Islands: Day 120 of 295 of the Battle of the Bougainville Islands. US 13th Air Force provides air support.
1945 — , February 28
ETO - France: Day 212 of 284 of the Battle of Brittany.
ETO - France: Day 167 of 236 of the Siege of Dunkirk.
ETO: Day 40 of 66 of the Battle to the Rhine. The US 9th Army achieves a breakthrough near Erkelenz 30 miles to the west of Cologne, but loses 100 tanks in the process. US 9th Air Force provides air support.
ETO - Germany: Day 9 of 36 consecutive RAF night raids on Berlin.
ETO - Germany: US 8th Air Force B-17s and B-24s bomb various types of targets inside Germany.
Russian Front - Finland: Day 167 of 223 of the Lapland War. Finland and Russia have joined forces to kick the Germans out of Finland's most northern province.
Russian Front - Center: Day 137 of 206 of the Battle of the Courland Pocket in Latvia. The Soviets capture Neustettin.
Russian Front - Center: Day 35 of 75 of the Battle of Königsberg, East Prussia (now Kaliningrad, Russia).
Russian Front - Center: Day 34 of 63 of the Battle of the Heiligenbeil Pocket in East Prussia.
Russian Front - Center: Day 19 of 54 of the Battle of East Pomerania, Germany.
Russian Front - Center: Day 16 of 83 of the German Siege of Breslau (today Wroclaw, Poland).
Russian Front - Center: Day 28 of 31 of the Battle of Schwedt, Germany.
MTO: US 15th Air Force B-17s and B-24s bomb at Lienz in Austria and targets in over a dozen cities in Italy.
MTO - Italy: RAF and US Air Forces provide air support for the Allied ground units.
CBI - Burma: Day 41 of 61 of the Battles of Meiktila and Mandalay. The US 10th Air Force provides air support. British Indian 4th Corps take the airfield at Meiktila.
CBI - Burma: Day 39 of 39 of the Battle of Ramree Island. The US 10th Air Force provides air support. All enemy resistance ends.
CBI - Burma: Day 25 of 99 of the Battle of Pakokku and Irrawaddy River operations in central Burma. The US 10th Air Force provides air support.
CBI - China: Day 2,794 of 2,987 of the 2nd Sino-Japanese War.
US 14th Air Force attacks targets in China and in the South China Sea.
PTO: Day 10 of 36 of the Battle of Iwo Jima. US 7th Air Force provides air support.
PTO - New Guinea: Day 429 of 597 of the Battle of New Britain.
PTO - New Guinea: Day 313 of 481 of the Battle of Western New Guinea.
PTO - Philippines: Day 132 of 299 of the 2nd Battle of the Philippines, aka the Liberation of the Philippines or the Philippines Campaign.
PTO - Philippines: Day 76 of 244 of the Battle of Luzon. 5th Air Force provides air support. Corregidor is reported to be clear of Japanese troops.
PTO - Philippines: Day 26 of 29 of the Battle of Manila.
Day-By-Day listings for February 28 were last modified on Friday, February 23, 2018
Spotlight...
