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5 Feb 1942
  • The US Army Far East Air Force was redesignated 5th Air Force; the personnel and aircraft continued to move south to the Dutch East Indies and Australia. ww2dbase [CPC]
  • Japanese hospital ship Hikawa Maru arrived at Roi, Marshall Islands. ww2dbase [Hikawa Maru | CPC]
  • German submarine U-103 sank US tankers India Arrow at 0153 hours (26 were killed, 12 survived) and China Arrow at 1808 hours (all 37 aboard survived) 20 kilometers southeast of Cape May, New Jersey, United States. German submarine U-136 sank British corvette HMS Arbutus (Lieutenant A. L. W. Warren) in the North Atlantic 330 miles west of Ireland at 2236 hours; 43 were killed, 47 survived. ww2dbase [Second Happy Time | AC]
  • USS Lexington crossed the Equator. ww2dbase [Lexington (Lexington-class) | CPC]
Australia Australian New Guinea
  • Kamoi arrived at Rabaul, New Britain to provide support for the occupation of this new conquest. ww2dbase [Kamoi | Rabaul, New Britain | CPC]
Dutch East Indies France
  • 60 British RAF Bomber Command aircraft attacked German battlecruisers Scharnhorst and Gneisenau at Brest, France, causing little damage. ww2dbase [Gneisenau | CPC]
Hawaii Korea Libya Norway
  • Soviet submarine Shch-421 sank German ship Konsul Schulte in the Porsanger Fjord off Honningsvaag, Norway. ww2dbase [CPC]
Philippines Singapore
  • Japanese troops attacked the Pulau Ubin island to the northeast of Singapore, drawing British troops to move to that region; the actual attack would come from the northwest three days later. Out at sea, passenger liner Empress of Asia, with reinforcement for Singapore aboard and fallen behind from fellow BM12 convoy members, was attacked and sunk by 9 Japanese aircraft; although the loss of life was small (16 killed), all the weapons and equipment aboard her were lost; 1,804 survivors were rescued by Australian sloop HMAS Yarra. ww2dbase [Invasion of Malaya and Singapore | Singapore | CPC]
  • Japanese troops attacked the Pulau Ubin island to the northeast of Singapore, drawing British troops to move to that region; the actual attack would come from the northwest three days later. Out at sea, passenger liner Empress of Asia, with reinforcement for Singapore aboard and fallen behind from fellow BM12 convoy members, was attacked and sunk by 9 Japanese aircraft; although the loss of life was small (16 killed), all the weapons and equipment aboard her were lost; 1,804 survivors were rescued by Australian sloop HMAS Yarra. ww2dbase [Invasion of Malaya and Singapore | Singapore | CPC]
United Kingdom
  • Australian high commissioner in London Stanley Bruce sent a cable to Prime Minister John Curtin, recommending Peter Drummond to succeed Air Chief Marshal Charles Burnett as the Chief of the Air Staff of the RAAF. ww2dbase [London, England | CPC]
Photo(s) dated 5 Feb 1942
Flag officers aboard USS Enterprise being welcomed back to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii 5 Feb 1942 after the Marshalls-Gilberts Raids. VAdm William Halsey (center) with RAdm’s Aubrey Fitch and Raymond Spruance at each end.

5 Feb 1942 Interactive Map

Timeline Section Founder: Thomas Houlihan
Contributors: Alan Chanter, C. Peter Chen, Thomas Houlihan, Hugh Martyr, David Stubblebine
Special Thanks: Rory Curtis




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