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• Haruki Isayama was born in Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan. ww2dbase [Haruki Isayama | Fukuoka | CPC]

• Thomas Hitchcock was born in Aiken, South Carolina, United States. ww2dbase [Thomas Hitchcock | CPC]

• Joseph Stilwell returned to the United States. ww2dbase [Joseph Stilwell | CPC]

• Kichisaburo Nomura was made the naval attaché to the United States. ww2dbase [Kichisaburo Nomura | CPC]

• The deposed Don Cossack leader, Russian General Alexi M. Kaledin, shot himself. ww2dbase [AC]

• Robert Greim claimed a kill in aerial combat over France but it was not confirmed. ww2dbase [Robert von Greim | CPC]

• Italy and Vatican City signed the Lateran Treaty. ww2dbase [CPC]

• HMS Acasta was completed at Clydebank, Scotland, United Kingdom. ww2dbase [Acasta | Clydebank, Scotland | CPC]

11 Feb 1930 Interactive Map

• The SA, in the Rhineland, Germany, were sworn in as police auxiliaries. ww2dbase [AC]

• Roger Backhouse was promoted to the rank of admiral. ww2dbase [Roger Backhouse | CPC]

• The order for the construction of Dithmarschen was issued. ww2dbase [Dithmarschen | CPC]
• The keel of U-1 was laid down at the Deutsche Werke shipyard in Kiel, Germany. ww2dbase [U-1 | Kiel, Schleswig-Holstein | CPC]

11 Feb 1935 Interactive Map

• General Luis Orgaz's Spanish Nationalist forces drove off General Sebastian Pozas' forces eastward across the River Jarama near Madrid, Spain. ww2dbase [The Spanish Civil War | AC]

11 Feb 1937 Interactive Map

• Austrian Chancellor Kurt Schuschnigg secretly went to Salzburg, Austria by car for a meeting with German leaders. ww2dbase [Annexation of Austria | CPC]

• Deng Xihou was recalled from the front lines for staff positions in Sichuan Province, China. ww2dbase [Deng Xihou | CPC]

• King Carol II announced the new 1938 Constitution of Romania, which concentrated powers in the throne. ww2dbase [Carol II | CPC]

• Japanese troops landed at Sanya on the southern coast of Hainan island in southern China. ww2dbase [Battle of Hainan | Sanya, Hainan | CPC]

• U-40 was commissioned into service with Kapitänleutnant Werner von Schmidt in command. She was assigned to the 6th Submarine Flotilla. ww2dbase [U-40 | CPC]

• A Lockheed XP-38 prototype aircraft from California to New York in the United States in 7 hours and 2 minutes. ww2dbase [P-38 Lightning | CPC]

• Finnish troops were forced to withdraw to secondary defensive positions as the Red Army pierced the Mannerheim Line. ww2dbase [The Winter War | TH]
• A comprehensive trade agreement was signed between Germany and the USSR in which Soviet raw materials and food would be exchanged for German machinery and military equipment. ww2dbase [AC]

• The 1,854-ton neutral Swedish merchant steamer Orania was carrying maize and bran from Brazil to Malmö, Sweden when she was struck by a single torpedo from German submarine U-50 (Kapitänleutnant Max-Hermann Bauer) in the Norwegian Sea at 2354 hours. The ship sank within three minutes of the explosion 65 miles north-northeast of the Flugga Lightship, Shetland Islands. U-50 had spotted the ship and although she was lit up, Bauer reported that he could not confirm that the ship was Swedish. All the crew got away in two lifeboats but one with 14 men was never seen again. The others were picked up by the destroyer HMS Faulknor, transferred to HMS Foxhound, another destroyer that took them to Lerwick, Shetland. ww2dbase [Start of the Battle of the Atlantic | Norwegian Sea | HM]

• At 2230 hours the 8,022-ton tanker Imperial Transport was struck on her port side at the empty #6 tank by a torpedo from U-53 (Korvettenkapitän Harald Grosse). The ship started to break in two 200 miles northwest of the Butt of Lewis. Members of the crew got into two lifeboats but lost two men in the dark night. Later the ship was reboarded after it appeared that the stern section was not going to sink. They were unable to radio for help but managed to sail the stern 130 miles at 4 knots before meeting 4 British destroyers. Attempts were made to tow the half over the next two days with tugs but the weather got worse and the crew had to be taken off again. The section was beached on the Isle of Bute in Kilchatten Bay. The stern section of Imperial Transport was later salvaged and docked in Elderslie Dockyard, Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom. The battered bulkhead and all distorted material cut away and fitted with a new fore part that was built to the original plans by William Hamilton & Co Ltd, and was launched bow first with deckhouse, mast, derricks and auxiliary equipment complete. The ship returned to service in June 1941. ww2dbase [Start of the Battle of the Atlantic | HM]
• French sloop Elan captured 2,542-ton German merchant ship Rostock in the Atlantic Ocean. Rostock had sailed out of Vigo, Spain on 9 Feb in an attempt to break the Allied blockade. ww2dbase [Start of the Battle of the Atlantic | HM]

• Lord Tweedsmuir, Governor-General of Canada, died in Montreal. ww2dbase [Montreal, Quebec | AC]

• The second Vultee Model 48 Vanguard prototype aircraft took its first flight. ww2dbase [P-66 Vanguard | Downey, California | CPC]

11 Feb 1940 Interactive Map

• Indian 3rd Battalion captured Sanchil hill in the Dongolaas Gorge near Keren, Eritrea, Italian East Africa, but the Italian Savoia Grenadiers conterattack recaptured the hill as well as Brig's Peak by the end of the day. To the South, British troops from Kenya captured the road junction at Afmadow at the north end of the Juba River. ww2dbase [Invasion of Italian East Africa | CPC]
• British monitor HMS Erebus bombarded Ostend, Belgium between 0100 and 0140 hours. ww2dbase [CPC]
• The first German troops arrived at Tripoli, Libya. ww2dbase [Operation Sonnenblume | CPC]
• British submarine HMS Snapper, en route from the River Clyde in Scotland, United Kingdom to the Bay of Biscay off France. The crew of 41 was never seen again. She probably ran into a minefield or was sunk by German minesweepers M-2, M-13, and M-25. ww2dbase [CPC]
• German cruiser Admiral Hipper sank British ship Iceland of Allied convoy HX53 800 miles west of Gibraltar; the entire crew of 23 survived and were picked up by Admiral Hipper. Admiral Hipper would soon detect the rest of the convoy on radar at the distance of 15 kilometers. ww2dbase [Admiral Hipper | CPC]

• British RAF bombed Hannover, Germany. ww2dbase [Bombing of Hamburg, Dresden, and Other Cities | Hannover | TH]

• At 0030 hours, British paratroopers blew up the Tragino aqueduct in southern Italy. All but one were captured during their escape, remaining prisoners of war until 1943. The aqueduct they destroyed would soon be repaired and returned to service. ww2dbase [Operation Colossus | Calitri, Campania | CPC]

• British submarine HMS Triumph (Lieutenant Commander W. J. W. Woods, RN) departed from Valetta, Malta for her 11th war patrol. She was to proceed to the Gulf of Salerno to pick up a group of airborne commando troops participating in Operation Colossus, near the mouth of the River Sele. The pick up was cancelled when it was feared that the Italians might intercept the submarine. ww2dbase [Operation Colossus | HM]

• Just before 0730 hours, the British submarine HMS Rover, commanded by Lieutenant Commander H. A. L. Marsham, RN heard a loud explosion and observed a destroyer at 8,000 yards moving slowly. The explosion was most probably a bomb dropped by a CANT seaplane of 142nd Squadriglia (Sottotenente di Vascello Tenti). Closing on the submarine was a German convoy: Arta (2,452-ton), Maritza (2,910-ton), and Heraklea (1,927-ton), escorted by the destroyer Baleno which had sailed from Taranto for Naples, Italy. Following the attack on the submarine Salpa, Italian naval headquarters Supermarina had ordered the destroyers Alfredo Oriani and Giosuè Carducci to reinforce the escort and they had joined up after midnight. Oriani had taken over as escort leader and ordered Baleno to zigzag ahead and the latter was probably the destroyer observed by Rover. The submarine dived to 90 feet and heard two destroyers passing over her but was not attacked. The convoy continued undisturbed and the destroyers observed nothing. The submarine chaser Albatros coming from Messina, Sicily, Italy was guided to the scene by the seaplane but failed to find the British submarine. ww2dbase [HM]
• In operations by the 10th SM Flotilla east of the Tunisian coast, the British submarine HMS Unique commanded by Lieutenant A. F. Collet, RN attacked a large transport east of Kerkenah in Tunisia. The ship was the Arcturus (2,576-ton), she was in company with Alicante (2,140-ton) and the Ankara (4,768-ton) being escorted by the Italian destroyer Turbine and Torpedo Boat Orsa heading for Tripoli, Libya. The Arcturus reported three deep explosions which were the torpedoes hitting the ocean floor. ww2dbase [HM]

• Wall Street lawyer and Republican Party candidate Wendell Wilkie, who Franklin Roosevelt had soundly defeated in the November 1940 US presidential election, having returned that morning from a fact-finding mission to London at his own expense, addressed a packed meeting of the House Foreign Affairs Committee at the US Senate's Caucus room. He warned the Committee that should Britain fall the United States would find itself at war in a month and advocated that every American bomber save training planes should be sent to Britain post-haste together with five or ten destroyers a month. ww2dbase [Washington | AC]

11 Feb 1941 Interactive Map

• Prinz Eugen departed Brest, France as a part of Operation Cerberus. ww2dbase [Prinz Eugen | CPC]
• Georg von Bismarck became the deputy commander of the 21st Panzer Division. ww2dbase [Georg von Bismarck | CPC]
• German submarine U-136 attacked Allied convoy SC-67 south of Iceland at 0133 hours, sinking Norwegian ship Heina (all 30 aboard survived) and Canadian corvette HMCS Spikenard (57 were killed, 8 survived). ww2dbase [Second Happy Time | CPC]
• Having crossed the Salween River at Kuzeik, Burma during the night the Japanese II/215th Infantry regiment engaged the raw and inexperienced 7/10th Baluch who were deployed in a semi-circle with their backs to the river without barbed wire or artillery support. After dark the Japanese launched their attack on the Indian positions and after four hours of bitter hand to hand fighting began to get the upper hand. By dawn organized resistance had effectively ceased. The heroic 7/10th Buluch had suffered 289 killed; with the few survivors making off in small parties. ww2dbase [Invasion of Burma | AC]
• The US submarine Shark was reported lost, probably sunk by the Japanese destroyer Yamakaze, on patrol east of Manado, Celebes, Sunda Islands, Dutch East Indies. ww2dbase [Shark (Porpoise-class) | AC]
• Archibald Wavell fell over a barb-wired seawall at Singapore and was rushed to a hospital. His back was injured and he was incommunicado for four days. ww2dbase [Archibald Wavell | CPC]
• US forces arrived at the Dutch islands of Curaçao, Bonaire, and Aruba in the Caribbean Sea. ww2dbase [Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico Campaigns | CPC]
• Dixie Kiefer was transferred to USS Yorktown as executive officer. ww2dbase [Dixie Kiefer | DS]

• Leonardo da Vinci sighted a freighter in the Atlantic Ocean at 1620 hours; she pursued until 2350 when contact was lost. ww2dbase [Second Happy Time | Leonardo da Vinci | CPC]

• Three Australian Hudson bombers attacked Surumi airfield near the village of Gasmata, New Britain; Flight Petty Officer 1st Class Satoshi Yoshino shot down the bombers flown by John Lerew and Graham Gibson. Lerew would parachute to safety and return to New Guinea on 21 Feb 1942. Transports Kinryu Maru and Kizui Maru were damaged by the Hudson bombers, killing several men. ww2dbase [Gasmata, New Britain | CPC]

• Tatsuta Maru arrived at Truk, Caroline Islands. ww2dbase [Tatsuta Maru | Truk | CPC]

• German warships Scharnhorst, Gneisenau, and Prinz Eugen, accompanied by 6 destroyers, departed Brest, France at 2330 hours and began their dash through the English Channel. ww2dbase [Operation Cerberus | Brest, Bretagne | CPC]
• German Type IXC U-Boat U-505 departed Lorient, France on her second patrol. ww2dbase [U-505 | Loirent, Bretagne | DS]
• Morosini departed Bordeaux, France at 1525 hours, resuming her nineth war patrol. ww2dbase [Morosini | Bordeaux, Aquitaine | CPC]

• The Japanese invasion fleet for Sumatra, Dutch East Indies departed Cam Ranh Bay, French Indo-China. ww2dbase [Dutch East Indies Campaign, Sumatra | Cam Ranh Bay | CPC]

• Battle of Bukit Timah: Japanese 5th Division attacked British, Commonwealth, and Chinese (Dalforce irregulars) troops along the Choa Chu Kang Road at Bukit Timah Hill in Singapore. Supported by 50 tanks, Japanese troops halted the Allied counterattacks and took the hill. After the battle, to avenge their casualties, the Japanese troops massacred Chinese civilians living in a nearby village. ww2dbase [Invasion of Malaya and Singapore | Singapore | CPC]

• In Washington DC, United States, US Congress approved the construction of the Alaska-Canadian Highway; US President Roosevelt immediately signed it. Canada agreed to this construction under the condition that the United States would bear the entire cost of construction, and that portions of the highway in Canadian territory would turn over to Canadian control after the war. ww2dbase [Franklin Roosevelt | Washington | CPC]

11 Feb 1942 Interactive Map

• Admiral Yamamoto transferred his flag from Yamato to Musashi at Truk. ww2dbase [Yamato | CPC]
• Amon Göth was assigned to oversee the construction of the Plaszów labor camp in Poland. ww2dbase [Amon Göth | CPC]
• General Dwight Eisenhower was selected to command the Allied forces in Europe. ww2dbase [Dwight Eisenhower | CPC]
• US Liberty ship Starr King, while in tow by Australian destroyer HMAS Warramunga after receiving damage from an attack by Japanese submarine I-21 on the previous day, sank at 0230 hours. ww2dbase [AC]
• Lydia Litvyak shot down the German Ju 87 Stuka dive bomber piloted by Gerhard Weber and shared the credit for downing a Fw 190 fighter while flying a Yak-1 fighter. ww2dbase [Lydia Litvyak | CPC]
• Clifton Cates stepped down as the commanding officer of 1st Marine Regiment. ww2dbase [Clifton Cates | CPC]

• USS Grampus departed Brisbane, Australia for her sixth war patrol. ww2dbase [Grampus | Brisbane, Queensland | CPC]

• Admiral Yamamoto broke his flag aboard Musashi at Truk, Caroline Islands. ww2dbase [Musashi | Truk | CPC]
• Japanese hospital ship Hikawa Maru arrived at Truk, Caroline Islands. ww2dbase [Hikawa Maru | Truk | CPC]

• USS New Mexico arrived at Nandi, Fiji. ww2dbase [New Mexico | Nandi | CPC]

• Alpino Bagnolini departed La Pallice, La Rochelle, France at 0814 for exercises, returning at 1134 hours. ww2dbase [Alpino Bagnolini | La Rochelle, Poitou-Charentes | CPC]

• Barbers Point Naval Air Station: The 243rd and 244th Marine Scouting/Bombing Squadrons (VMSB-243 & VMSB-244) arrived on board, aircraft based at Ewa. The officers and men departed for Ewa on the 26th of February. ww2dbase [Barbers Point Naval Air Station | Ewa, Oahu | DS]

• Japanese 6th Field Kempeitai departed Hiroshima, Japan aboard transport Aden Maru for Rabaul, New Britain. ww2dbase [Hiroshima | CPC]

• USS Tunny set sail for Midway Atoll. ww2dbase [Tunny | CPC]

• A transport from the Westerbork Concentration Camp in the Netherlands arrived at Auschwitz Concentration Camp in Poland with 476 men and 708 women; 113 men and 66 women were registered, and the remaining 1,005 were killed in the gas chambers. ww2dbase [Discovery of Concentration Camps and the Holocaust | Auschwitz Concentration Camp | Oswiecim | CPC]

• Ryan Aeronautical received a US Navy contract to build three piston-jet mix-powered prototype fighters. ww2dbase [FR Fireball | CPC]

11 Feb 1943 Interactive Map

• German forces sent to relieve the Korsun pocket in Ukraine were now only 10 miles away. ww2dbase [TH]
• Ommaney Bay was commissioned into service. ww2dbase [Ommaney Bay | CPC]
• 6 B-25 bombers escorted by 20 P-40 and P-51 fighters the US 14th Air Force and the Chinese 32nd Fighter Squadron attacked the Kai Tek Airfield, Hong Kong. Fighters of the Japanese 85th Sentai rose to intercept, shooting down one B-25 bomber, 4 P-40 fighters, and 2 P-51 fighters. ww2dbase [CPC]
• Cruiser USS Indianapolis and escort USS Bailey arrived at Kwajalein. ww2dbase [Bailey | DS]

• USS Honolulu and USS St. Louis arrived at Tulagi, Solomon Islands. ww2dbase [Honolulu | St. Louis | Tulagi, Solomon Islands | DS]

• The USAAF 306th Bomb Group flying from RAF Thurleigh launched a bombing raid against Frankfurt, Germany but diverted due to weather and bombed Saarbrücken, Germany. ww2dbase [Bombing of Hamburg, Dresden, and Other Cities | RAF Thurleigh | Saarbrücken | DS]

• USS Finback arrived at Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii, ending her seventh war patrol. ww2dbase [Pearl Harbor Navy Base and Ford Island Naval Air Station | Finback | Honolulu, Oahu | CPC]

• In the Indian Ocean the German supply ship, Charlotte Schliemann, was sighted by a Catalina aircraft while refuelling submarine U-532. The submarine dived but on resurfacing was unable to find her supply ship. ww2dbase [AC]

• Major General John Lucas ordered a counterattack from the Anzio beachhead in Italy, which was repulsed by the Germans which had intercepted Allied radio communications and had prepared for this attack. ww2dbase [Battle of Anzio | Anzio, Lazio | CPC]
• The US II Corps attack toward Monte Cassino, Italy was halted by German troops. Major General Harry Dimoline of Indian 4th Division requested the aerial bombing of the abbey atop Monte Cassino. ww2dbase [Battle of Monte Cassino | Harry Dimoline | Cassino, Lazio | CPC]

• Japanese hospital ship Hikawa Maru arrived at Kure, Japan. ww2dbase [Hikawa Maru | Kure, Hiroshima | CPC]

• USS Permit fired 4 torpedoes at a Japanese carrier in the Pacific Ocean; all torpedoes missed. ww2dbase [Permit | CPC]
• As the Submarine USS Spearfish withdrew from the convoy she had attacked the day before, she ran into a different Japanese convoy of eleven ships. Spearfish fired four torpedoes at one of the merchant ships with one hit. The extent of damage was not observed. ww2dbase [Spearfish | South China Sea | DS]

• Allied convoy RA-56 arrived at Loch Ewe, Scotland, United Kingdom. ww2dbase [Arctic Convoys | Loch Ewe, Scotland | CPC]

11 Feb 1944 Interactive Map

• Aircraft of Air Group 80 flew training missions while Hancock sailed toward Japan. ww2dbase [Albert O. Vorse, Jr. | Hancock | DS]
• The Yalta Agreement was signed by Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin, with Stalin pledging to declare war on Japan three months after the German surrender. ww2dbase [Yalta Conference | CPC]
• USS Wake Island participated in an exercise in the Mariana Islands. ww2dbase [Wake Island | CPC]
• USS Puffer departed Guam, Mariana Islands for her seventh war patrol. ww2dbase [Puffer | CPC]

• Togo arrived at Pillau, Germany (now Baltiysk, Russia). ww2dbase [East Prussian Offensive | Togo / Coronel | Pillau, Ostpreußen | CPC]

• Barbers Point Naval Air Station: Catapult and Arresting Gear facilities first used (VF-100 with FM-2 and F6F-5 aircraft). ww2dbase [Barbers Point Naval Air Station | Ewa, Oahu | DS]

• Kirill Meretskov was awarded his fourth Order of Lenin. ww2dbase [Kirill Meretskov | CPC]

• Kamikaze departed Mako, Hoko Prefecture, Taiwan. ww2dbase [Kamikaze | Mako, Hoko | CPC]

• German V-2 rocket hit the Glyco Works in West Ham, London, England, United Kingdom. ww2dbase [V-Weapons Campaign | Vergeltungswaffe 2 | London, England | CPC]

• On or around this date, German submarine U-869 was sunk off New Jersey, United States. ww2dbase [U-869 | New Jersey | CPC]
• Loaded with 47 US Army P-47 Thunderbolts and 175 US Army and Navy personnel as passengers, escort carrier USS Card and the similarly loaded USS Bogue departed New York as part of Convoy CU-58 bound for Liverpool, England, United Kingdom. ww2dbase [P-47 Thunderbolt | Card | Bogue | New York | DS]

• USS Pompon arrived at Midway Atoll, ending her seventh war patrol. ww2dbase [Midway Bases | Pompon | Midway | CPC]

11 Feb 1945 Interactive Map

• USS Ling departed Naval Submarine Base New London, Connecticut, United States. ww2dbase [Ling | New London, Connecticut | CPC]

11 Feb 1946 Interactive Map

• Bataan (Independence-class) was decommissioned from service. ww2dbase [Bataan (Independence-class) | CPC]
• Cabot was decommissioned from service. ww2dbase [Cabot | CPC]

• USS Langley was decommissioned from service at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. ww2dbase [Langley (Independence-class) | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania | CPC]

• Prince Takahito's son Prince Yoshihito was born. ww2dbase [Takahito | CPC]

• Vasily Chuikov was awarded the Order of Lenin for the fourth time. ww2dbase [Vasily Chuikov | CPC]

• USS Menhaden departed the Far East for the United States. ww2dbase [Menhaden | CPC]

• Vasily Chuikov was awarded the Order of Lenin for the fifth time. ww2dbase [Vasily Chuikov | CPC]

• François Flohic was named the commanding officer of a naval squadron. ww2dbase [François Flohic | CPC]

• François Flohic stepped down as the commanding officer of a naval squadron. ww2dbase [François Flohic | CPC]

• USS Wasp arrived at Pensacola, Florida, United States. ww2dbase [Wasp (Essex-class) | Pensacola, Florida | CPC]

• Vasily Chuikov was awarded the Order of Lenin for the seventh time. ww2dbase [Vasily Chuikov | CPC]

• Vasily Chuikov was awarded the Order of Lenin for the ninth time. ww2dbase [Vasily Chuikov | CPC]

• USS Missouri bombarded Iraqi positions in Kuwait. ww2dbase [Missouri | CPC]

11 Feb 2000 Interactive Map