Part 8 1942

1942 

January 7th The RW-1 rocket-propelled grenade launcher based on the Soviet RPG-2 is introduced to regular service whit the Netherlands East Indies army, royal Netherlands army and royal Netherlands marine corps.

Soviet forces launch counteroffensives along the whole German/Russian front.

January 13th By order of Adolf Hitler, German submarines begin attacking coastal shipping on the east coast of the United States in order to prevent US flag ships from transporting goods to Great Britain despite the risk of creating a situation in which the United States will declare war against Germany.

January 21st German forces under the command of Rommel in North Africa strike back at British forces.

January 23rd HNLMS Sumatra the world first helicopter cruiser leaves dry dock after spending 7 months of being worked on, the cruiser which carriers three KH-1 Kolibrie helicopters belonging to the GHC 1* is scheduled to head to the Netherlands West Indies where she will be based out of the naval base Pareira near Willemstad on Curaçao and begin training in using here helicopters wile also patrolling the Netherlands Caribbean holdings.

February 7th The royal Netherlands military intelligence service inform prime minister Smit that the can not guarantee that a plan in which the Germans ore the United States are to declare war whit each other whiteout drawing the Japanese empire into it ore the Netherlands can be plausible ,and that the advise is to wait as the believe Germany will do something that will drive the United States to declare war on them.

February 11th The German battle cruisers KMS Scharnhorst, KMS Gneisenau and KMS Prinz Eugen rush out of Brest through the English channel towards the German port of Wilhelmshaven , using information provided by the royal Netherlands military intelligence service more then 417 fighters and 276 bombers belonging to the RAF and six destroyer escorts and 32 motor torpedo boats belonging to the royal navy are waiting for them , in the attack the battle cruisers KMS Scharnhorst is sunk whit the lose of 1,768 men wile KMS Prinz Eugen sinks whit 1,000 of its men , KMS Gneisenau is severely damaged and forced to return to Brest for repairs , the RAF and royal navy lose only 1 destroyer and 42 aircraft.

February 13th German admiral Erich Raeder proposes to Adolf Hitler that Germany's primary military tasks is to capture of Egypt and drive through to the Middle East, and for the army in the Soviet Union to capture Murmansk and seize oil wells in the Caucasus, he also suggest that war production should shift to submarines and planes in order to keep the pressure on Great Britain.

February 19th The royal Netherlands East Indies army air force becomes independent from the royal Netherlands East Indies army and is renamed the royal Netherlands East Indies air force.

March 1st Cruiser USS Houston arrives in the Netherlands naval base Soerabaja for a port visit.

March 4th Royal Netherlands engineering corps begins work on a small moon base on the moon named moon base Eisinga**.

March 6th Adolf Hitler denies orders for battleship KMS Tirpitz to leave the Norwegian fjord it is in in order for here to intercept a British convoy heading to the Soviet Union as he fears that the Tirpitz will end op the same fate as KMS Scharnhorst and KMS Prinz Eugen who where sunk in the battle of English channel.

May 17th The first test flight of the D-23 Fokker meteoor M.1 jet fighter from RNLAF air force base Gilze-Rijen happens in the presences of Fokker research and development head Antony Fokker.

May 21st True various methods a picture lands on the desk of Adolf Hitler, on the picture which is a little bit fuzzy a flying aircraft is pictured which the Abwehr note attached to the picture describes as a Netherlands jet fighter , after seeing this Hitler demands that the German jet fighter program is given more resources as he dos not want a small neighbor country to have a jet fighter before Germany has one in service.

April 16th A United States flag ship leaves a harbor on the east coast carrying several hundred female nurses and doctors who have volunteer for service in British hospitals.

April 24th A German wolf pack attack the convoy in which the passenger ship carrying the nurses and doctors are in, despite knowing that the ship is part of the convoy a torpedo fired by one of the German submarines part of the wolf pack hits the ship and more then 300 passengers are killed ,the ships which is put ablaze by the hit sinks a half hour latter but not before US destroyers mange to pick up passengers from the ship.

April 25th American president Roosevelt makes a speech in congress declaring that Germany attacked a ship of mercy, and that as of April 25th the United States is now in war whit the German third Reich.

April 26th Having not decided what to do about the United States declaration of war, Adolf Hitler issues orders for the German kriegsmarine to attack American ships anywhere whit out limitations.

Netherlands prime minister Smit receives word from the royal Netherlands military intelligence service, that the Netherlands where not behind that sinking of the American passenger ship , nor had any knowledge that this might happen.

Japanese ambassador to Germany Oshima informs minister of foreign affair Joachim von Ribbentrop that the empire of Japan will remain neutral in the German conflict whit the United States and will not declare war against the them.

April 27th Adolf Hitler decides to declare war on the United States of America.

April 28th In the Reichstag in Germany, Adolf Hitler announces his declaration of war on the United States of America.

Italy declares war on the United States of America, the same day the US Congress also declares war on Italy.

April 30th Bulgaria and Hungary declare war on the United States of America.

May 10th British prime minister Winston Churchill meets with American Chiefs of Staff in Washington to discuses the strategy against Germany and the possibility that the empire of Japan will side whit Germany.

June 27th Jungle operations training center in Netherlands Suriname begins first training course for soldiers belonging to the Netherlands East Indies army and royal Netherlands marine corps.

June 13th German submarines begin an assault on coastal shipping on the east coast of the United States.

July 5th United States declares war on Bulgaria, Hungary, and Romania.

After some persuasion Adolf Hitler allows German battleship KMS Tirpitz and accompanying ships to attack a British convoy heading towards the Soviet port of Murmansk, only after some time it is learned that the convoy's escort ships left, so KMS Tirpitz heads back , leaving the convoy's destruction for the submarines and the Luftwaffe , this shows Hitler again that the future in naval warfare lies not whit the surface ships but whit the submarine.

July 18th The Germans test fly the Messerschmitt Me-262 using jet engines for the first time.

July 19th President Roosevelt signs executive order 9066 allowing the secretary of war to exclude any persons from areas to provide security against sabotage and espionage, these zones affect the Germans and Italians living on the east coast and on the west coast.

July 22nd Mexico declares war on against Germany and Italy.

July 26th Dutch bishops issue a public protest of mass deportation of Jews in Belgium and Germany.

Augustus 4th Second D-23 Fokker meteoor M.1 jet fighter rolls of the production line.

Augustus 5th The Yamato class battleship Musashi is commissioned at Nagasaki, she and here sister-ship Yamato are the last of their class to be commission as the Japanese imperial navy after the mysterious destruction of their Pearl harbor attack fleet is focusing their attention on rebuilding their carrier fleet and having lost prestige to the Japanese imperial army are not receiving the funds to build new battleships ore cruisers.

Augustus 18th General Montgomery takes command of the British 8th army in Egypt.

Augustus 22nd Brazil declares war on Germany and Italy, partly in response to numerous riots by a populace angry at the sinking of Brazilian ships.

September 6th In the Caribbean sea, north-west of Netherlands Antilles a German submarine torpedoes and sinks a Canadian merchant ship, the survivors are found using one of the KH-1 Kolibrie helicopters and are pick up by helicopter cruiser HNLMS Sumatra.

October 3rd First successful launch of A4-rocket at Peenemünde, Germany, the rocket flies 147 kilometers wide and reaches a height of 84.5 kilometers , the entire fight of the A4-rocket is monitored by KNRS Amsterdam.

October 5th 257 British bombers attack Aachen in Germany but due to bad weather, many bombs are dropped on nearby Lutterade in the Netherlands province of Limburg killing 83 people, this is the largest bombing by mistake either by the British ore Germans over neutral Netherlands sins the start of the war in 1939.

October 20th Vice-admiral Janssen retires as chief of naval staff and minister of navy, his position is taken over by admiral J.Th. Furstner who will become the new head of the royal Netherlands navy wile vice-admiral Janssen who is now a civilian will remain the chairman of the oversight commission.

November 4th Whit work begun on a small moon base, two large shipbuilding company’s receive permission from both the oversight commission and the royal Netherlands space force to construct a small space yard which will be called New Fijenoord-Rotterdamsche space yard *** , and will be build around the orbit of the moon , the space yard construction is slated to begin in 1943.

November 8th Operation Torch begins as American and British forces land in Northern Africa.

December 7th Port visit of Tromp class cruisers HNLMS Jacob van Heemskerck and HNLMS De Ruyter to Pearl Harbor happens.

December 30th Royal Netherlands military intelligence service decided not to inform their British counterpart of a incoming attack against a British convoy by German cruiser KMS Admiral Hipper and six destroyers in order to prevent the British from asking to many questions in how the Netherlands is able to get this information.


 * GHC is short for Groep helicopters which is equivalent to a squadron, GHC 1 is based out of naval air base De Kooy south of the city of Den Helder.


 * the moon base is named after Netherlands astronomer Eise Jeltes Eisinga.


 * the two large shipbuilding company’s are Wilton-Fijenoord and the Rotterdamsche Droogdok Maatschappij.