MALAYA

JAPANESE LAUNCH ATTACK ON MALAYA

On December 8 a fleet of Japanese transports, with strong naval support, approached the mouth of the Kelantan River, North-East Malaya, and landings were carried out north of Kota Bahru. On the same day a British Naval force which was steaming to intercept the enemy convoy was heavily attacked with bombs and torpedoes by a strong force of Japanese bomber. The Prince of Wales and the Repulse were hit several times and sunk. At the time of the attack the ships were without aerial protection owing to enemy attacks on the airfields from which their land-based aircraft operated. Casualties amounted to 595 officers and men, among whom was Admiral Sir Thomas (Tom Thumb) Phillips. The picture by the British artist, Frank Mason, shows the height of the attack.

jUNGLE WARFARE IN MALAYA

After carrying out landings in Northern Malaya early in December, the Japanese launched strong assaults on the British positions with light tanks and armored vehicles, support by masses of dive bombers. Further landings on the coast behind the British lines seriously threatened the defenders' flanks and forced them to carry out a series of tactical withdrawals in face of strong enemy pressure. By these tactics the Japanese gained control of the northern aerodromes and were able to concentrate overwhelming air superiority on all sectors of the front. By December 17, Penang, on the west coast, had been evacuated, and on the 29th the mining town of Ipoh was in Japanese hands. On January 7 the enemy launched a strong offensive in Lower Perak in which he used 12-ton tanks to crash his way through the British lines. As a result Kuala Lampur, capital of the Federated Malay States, was evacuated on the 11th. The pictures show: first, enemy tanks and motor vehicles on a jungle road on fire after being engaged by anti-tank guns; second, one of the crew lies dead beside his tank; third, British anti-tank gunners firing at enemy tanks, and fourth, a close-up of a knocked-out tank with its dead crew by its side.

On January 20, Japanese and Thai forces crossed the frontier into Burma and fighting occurred north of Myawaddi, sixty miles east of Moulmein. In face of a numerically superior enemy the British forces were obliged to fall slowly back towards Moulmein. The enemy used strong air forces to support his offensive, but fighters of the R.A.F. and the American Volunteer Group inflicted heavy losses on the raiders. Above, Japanese infantry, some of whom are equipped with cycles, are seen crossing a river by a temporary bridge, the main structure having been destroyed by the British before they retired.

AUSTRALIA THREATENED

After a Japanese landing on Sarawak on December 16, the British forces withdrew, on January 1, to Dutch Borneo, where they joined up with Netherlands troops. On the 10th, however, the enemy landed at Tarakan, Dutch Borneo, and also on North Celebes. The oil installations at Tarakan were destroyed by the Dutch before they were forced to surrender on the 13th. On January 22, after fresh enemy landings, the oil wells at Balikpapan, on the east coast, were destroyed to prevent them falling into enemy hands. On the same day landings were carried out on New Ireland and at Rabaul, capital of New Britain, in the Bismarck Archipelago, thereby threatening New Guinea and bringing the war dangerously close to Australia. On the 23rd, heavy Japanese air raids were made on Lae, New Guinea, which was evacuated after the attack. The pictures show: first, blazing hangars at the airfield at Salamaua, not far from Lae, after a heavy Japanese raid; and second, the Balikpapan oil wells blazing furiously after their voluntary destruction by the Dutch forces. The radioed pictures show: third, a Japanese landing party somewhere in the Pacific; and fourth, warships putting up a smoke screen to cover a landing by Japanese.


On February 1, a brilliant surprise attack was carried out on Japanese naval and air bases in the Marshall and Gilbert Islands by a U.S. force of aircraft carriers supported by cruisers and destroyers. Heavy damage was caused to enemy ships and harbor installations and many planes were destroyed on the ground. The Japanese losses amounted to one light cruiser, a destroyer, two submarines, a l7,000 ton liner, three 10,000 ton tankers, five 5,000 ton cargo ships, two fleet auxiliaries and two minesweepers, amounting in all to some 100,000 tons. In addition at least eight more ships, amounting to about 50,000 tons, were severely damaged. Thirty-eight enemy aircraft were destroyed in combat for a loss of eleven U.S. planes. The air bases at Taroa, Wotje, Roy and Enybor were wiped out. No U.S. vessel was lost. The pictures, taken during these operations, show: first, a U.S. naval plane over Wotje Atoll, the columns of smoke come from ammunition and fuel dumps that have been set on fire. Second, an American cruiser and aircraft carrier during the action; the latter has just been narrowly missed by a Japanese bomb. Third, the flight deck to one of the aircraft carriers with its aircraft lined up on the deck ready to take off

Pearl Harbor

Pearl Harbor: 
Japan declares war on the United States
December 7, 1941

At dawn on the morning of Sunday, December 7, 1941, a force of about 150 Japanese bombers and torpedo-carrying planes launched a surprise attack Pearl Harbor, the chief U.S. Naval base in the Pacific. Hits were scored on several naval craft lying anchor in the harbor and two battleships, the Oklahoma and the Arizona were sunk. Other military objectives on the island, including Hickam Field, U.S. Army air base, were attacked and considerable damage was done. The casualties amounted to 4,500, of which 2,300 were fatal. It was not until later in the day the formal declaration of war against America and Great Britain was made. The above picture, one of the best combat photographs of all time, shows the magazine of the U.S.S. Shaw exploding.

war in the Pacific

Progress of the war in the Pacific after three months
March, 1942




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BATTLE FOR LENINGRAD

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German infantry are here seen passing at the double through a blazing Russian village which has been "scorched" by the inhabitants. Scenes such as this were common on all parts of the Russian front during the German advance.



BATTLE FOR LENINGRAD

Throughout September the battle for Leningrad continued with undiminished violence, but despite the fact that the Germans, in accordance with Hitler's orders to take the city at all costs, threw masses of men into the line regardless of loss, they were unable to break through the strong Russian defenses. Early in October, Russian counter-attacks, south, east and west of the city forced the Nazis on the defensive, while in the Karelian Isthmus, where the Finns were threatening the city, severe casualties were inflicted. Above, a town on the Karelian Isthmus after an attack by Russian bombers



RUSSIANS LOSE TWO MORE TOWNS
After the fall of Mariupol on October 14, the German forces in the Ukraine, assisted by Slovak and Hungarian divisions, continued their advance, and on the 20th captured the important armaments centre of Stalino. Farther south, mechanized divisions pushing along the coast of the Sea of Azov, made progress towards the important port and communications centre of Rostov-on-Don, beyond which lay the valuable Caucasus oilfields. On the 22nd they captured Taganrog, between Mariupol and Rostov, after many days' fierce fighting which cost them 35,000 casualties, as well as large numbers of armored vehicles, stores, and military equipment. The picture shows German troops entering Stalino; the chimneys in the background are those of a steel factory rendered useless by the Russians



FALL OF KHARKOV
OCTOBER 25-29, 1941


.At dawn on November 18, Imperial forces under the command of Lieutenant General Sir Alan Cunningham, with strong air support, crossed the Egyptian frontier into Cyrenaica on a broad front from the coast east of Sollum to as far south as Jarabub. The object of this attack was to engage and destroy German and Italian forces who were massing on the frontier and constituting a threat to Egypt, and to regain if possible the territory which had been lost during General Rommel's advance of the previous spring. For some months before the attack was launched the British forces had been steadily reinforced with men, tanks and aircraft, many of the tanks being of American manufacture. These forces had been skillfully dispersed, and camouflage had been used to such good effect that when the advance began very little opposition was encountered either from the air or from ground forces. Pressure was rapidly exerted on Axis forces holding positions from Helafaya to Sidi Omar where British armored formations, with New Zealand, South African and Indian troops in support crossed the frontier and penetrated some fifty miles into enemy territory. The R.A.F., and the Australian and South African Air Forces, gave strong support to the troops on the ground, and during the day destroyed between them eighteen Axis aircraft besides bombing enemy transport on the Benina road, near Benghazi. The picture shows a line of British tanks moving out to attack the enemy.



The tank battle around Sidi Rezegh continued until November 28, when there was a pause. During this time General Rommel had been trying, without success, to break through the British ring and effect a junction with his troops to the west. Sidi Rezegh itself changed hands several times. Meanwhile New Zealand infantry pushing westwards along the coast occupied Bardia on the 22nd and Gambut on the 23rd, and on the 27th succeeded in linking up at El Duda with a force that had sallied out from Tobruk. During the next few days these troops gradually widened their corridor of contact, but on the 29th the Sidi Rezegh battle flared up once more. After several unsuccessful attempts to break through to the west, Rommel concentrated all his available tanks on a narrow front and on December 1 succeeded in hammering his way through the Tobruk corridor by sheer weight of armor. The R.A.F. and R.A.A.F. played a prominent part in these operations, bombing enemy communications and harassing his ground forces with machine gun and cannon fire. The fighter pilots in the above picture are members of an Australian Squadron using American-built planes. They are on their way to take the air



Although the Germans succeeded in encircling Leningrad, their efforts to take it by storm failed. Nevertheless, during October and November, they pushed slowly eastwards and on November 29 captured Tikhvin, 100 miles south-east of the city. On December 8, however, Russian forces under General Merezhkov re-entered the town after a battle in which more than 7,000 Germans were killed and much valuable war material was captured intact. The pictures show: above, German horse and mechanized units in retreat; below, Russian infantry following up a tank attack.

RUSSIANS RECAPTURE MOJAISK

Although the Russians had succeeded in driving the Germans out of Klin, Kalinin and Kaluga, thereby removing the pincer threat to Moscow from the north and south, the enemy forces in Mojaisk, in the centre, fought desperately to retain this important position which they had won at great cost on December 6. On January l5, the Russians launched their assault on the town and after bitter street fighting in which the Germans defended themselves house by house, the Nazis were forced to retreat and the town which Hitler had ordered his troops to hold at all costs was recaptured.


Russians encircle German 16th army at Staraya Russia
February 24, 1942 On February 23, the twenty-fourth anniversary of the creation of the Red Army, Russian forces launched an offensive on the Central Front and on the same day the High Command announced the capture of Dorogobuzh, fifty miles east of Smolensk. Farther north, where the Russians were striving desperately to break the German ring around Leningrad, Soviet troops, on the 24th, successfully accomplished the encirclement of the German 16th Army at Staraya Russa, ten miles south of Lake Ilmen. After the refusal of the German commander to surrender, the Russians began an attack in which two German infantry divisions and the crack S.S. "Death's Head" Division were smashed and 12,000 Germans were killed. Nevertheless, the enemy, heartened by promises of airborne reinforcements, clung desperately to their positions. The pictures show: first, German infantry waiting in the snow beside their guns in readiness for an attack; and second, Russian sappers clearing a passage through enemy wire. 

the wounded on the Normandy front

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.the wounded on the Normandy front
June 9, 1944

CASUALTIES ON THE SANDS OF FRANCE

soldiers of an American medical detachment administer first aid to a group of wounded soldiers who received their wounds during the initial attack on the Cherbourg Peninsula. In the second picture, members of a U. S. Navy beach battalion, moving "on the double" dive for the protection offered by a ditch as a Nazi plane which broke through the Allied umbrella, swoops down to strafe the shore "somewhere in Normandy." Few enemy planes got through, and those that did were not able to do much damage because of the opposition by Allied planes.