February 19, 1942
Today in World War II Pacific History
Day by day chronology

THURSDAY, 19 FEBRUARY 1942

USA: U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs Executive Order 9066 with the intention of preventing espionage on American shores. Military zones were created in California, Washington and Oregon all three with large population of Japanese Americans and the executive order began the relocation of roughly 117,000 Americans of Japanese ancestry, the majority of whom were U.S. citizens.

IJN: Japanese carrier aircraft from Hiryu and Soryu and Akagi attack Darwin and Darwin Harbor bombing vessels loaded with troops and supplies and sink twelve vessels including USS Peary (DD-226), MV Neptuna, Kelat, British Motorist, Zealandia, Meigs and Mauna Loa. Ten P-40E Warhawks sent to Darwin to escort the convoy are almost entirely wiped out during the air raid. Lost is A6M2 Zero 5349 (pilot POW, first prisoner captured in Australia). Lost are P-40E pilot Rice (survived) and P-40E pilot Pell (KIA).

USN: PBY Catalina 2306 is shot down near Bathurst Island. Sunk is USS Peary (DD-226) in Darwin Harbor.

PACIFIC OCEAN AREA (POA, 7th Air Force): VII Air Force Base Cmmand (AFBC) is activated.

SOUTHWEST PACIFIC AREA (SWPA, 5th Air Force): In the NEI, A-24s, with P-40 escort, and B-17s operating out of Malang, Madioen, and Jogjakarta, attack vessels landing troops on southern Bali; the attacks, carried out during the aftenoon and until the morning of February 20, 1942, cause considerable damage to vessels but fail to halt the landings; P-40's shoot down or turn back seversl bombers sweeping west over Java. Destroyed by a Japanese air raid at Bandoeng Airfield was B-17E 41-2493, B-17E 41-2503, B-17E 41-2466 and LB-30 Liberator.

ABDA: At 10:00pm at the start of the Battle of Badung Strait (Bali Sea Battle) part of the first group of Allied warships spotted the Japanese in Badung Strait. At 10:25pm they open fire at but cause no damage and the two Dutch cruisers continued through Badung Strait to the northeast, to allow the destroyers to engage with torpedoes. At 10:40pm, the Allied destroyers came into range. Meanwhile, Asashio fired a torpedo that hit and sank Hr Ms Piet Hein. Next, Asashio and Oshio then exchanged gunfire with USS Pope and USS John D. Ford, forcing them to retire to the southeast instead of northeast in further pursuit. Accidentally, Asashio and Oshio mistook each other for enemy ships and fired on each other for several minutes, but failed to cause any damage.

Canada: In British Columbia a 100 mile security zone is declared and all men of Japanese ancestry between the ages of 18-45 are ordered to vacate. A total of 23,000 Canadian-Japanese men, women and children will be sent to labor camps in the interior of the province.