On this day in 1942 the Germans commenced the "Channel Dash" in an effort to run two battleships from the port of Brest to their home ports in Germany. The battleships were the Scharnhorst and Gneisenau, accompanied by the cruiser Prinz Eugen. They'd been enduring bombing by the RAF in Brest.
The German effort commenced under the cover of night on February 11 and with radio jamming which precluded British agents from radioing about the ship's departure. It was covered by the Luftwaffe, so the ensuing battle was an air and sea battle.
Both sides sustained damage and casualties in the effort, but the German objective was successful. Given that the Germans did in fact run the channel, albeit partially at night, it was a bit of an embarrassment to the British.
According to Sarah Sundin's blog, there were riots in Montreal over conscription plans on this date.
I'm not aware of the 1942 riots, although I am of 1944 riots. At any rate, conscription had been in place since 1940, but at that time conscripted troops could not be required to serve overseas unless they so volunteered, resulting in an enduring Canadian controversy. Troops who would not volunteer were termed "zombies" by those who resented it. Resistance to conscription was particularly strong in Quebec, where Quebec Premier Maurice Duplessis had called a snap election in 1939 to oppose the war only to lose his seat to Adelard Godbout, who had the support of the Federal government in the election.
French Canadian resistance to conscription has been an ongoing matter of controversy in Canada. Simply put, the Québécois were largely disinterested in the war, although 20% of those who volunteered to fight overseas were in fact Québécois. This makes for a complicated legacy in obvious ways.
US forces arrived to help defend the Dutch islands of Curacoa, Bonaire and Aruba with permission of the Dutch government in exile.
Also, according to Sundin, the US took over Dupont's supply of nylon, a critical war material used for a variety of things, including parachutes.
The documentary Our Russian Front was released on this date in 1942.
