Admiral Bull Halsey on USS NEW JERSEY (BB-62), December 1944

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Adm. William F. "Bull" Halsey was the most aggressive U.S. Navy commander of World War II, the Patton of the Pacific. He was at sea with his Task Force, on the the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise (CV-6), when Pearl Harbor was attacked 7 December 1941. He returned on 8 December to see the incredible aftermath. He was heard to mutter, "Before we are through with them, the Japanese language will only be spoken in hell."

Halsey was a proponent of the aircraft carrier as the primary naval offensive weapon system and made that belief the key to victory at sea. At the Battle of Leyte Gulf in October 1944, he led the U.S. Third Fleet of 16 carriers and 6 battleships, the greatest naval force ever assembled, to a smashing victory. He was tough and controversial, and a great motivator of his men. Halsey became Fleet Admiral (5 stars) at the end of 1945.

Today in WW II: 8 Feb 1940 Germans establish the first large Jewish ghetto in Poland in the city of Lodz. More ↓

8 Feb 1941 US House of Representatives passes the Lend-Lease Act [265 to 165].
8 Feb 1942 Battle of Sarimbun Beach begins, the first stage of the Japanese assault on Singapore.
8 Feb 1942 Japanese Offensive in Burma begins [8 Feb-2 May].
8 Feb 1945 Battle of the Reichswald: British and Canadian forces under Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery begin Operation Veritable [8 Feb-11 Mar].
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