2 March 1939

March 2nd, 1939 (THURSDAY)

VATICAN CITY: Eugene Pacelli is elected Pope and takes the name Pius XII.

U.S.A.: The Massachusetts legislature voted to ratify the Bill of Rights, 147 years after the first 10 amendments to the U.S. Constitution had gone into effect.

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2 March 1940

Yesterday Tomorrow

March 2nd, 1940 (SATURDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: Henley: Cambridge wins the unofficial wartime boat race.

RAF Bomber Command: Leaflet raid on Berlin.

RAF Fighter Command: Luftwaffe attacks on North Sea and Channel shipping. The British India liner SS Domala is bombed by Luftwaffe aircraft off the Isle of Wight, fired and beached; There are heavy casualties with 100 killed on the ship.

A formal request is forwarded to Sweden and Norway to allow Allied troops to be sent to Finland through the Scandinavian countries. The British force is planned to reach a level of 100,000 men eventually.

Rescue tug HMS Fairplay II wrecked on Yorkshire coast.

BELGIUM: A Dornier 17, flying over the Ardennes opens fire upon three Belgian fighters which go up to order it out of Belgian airspace, and all three fighters are hit; one catches fire and the pilot is killed. A German statement says that the fighters were Hurricanes and that the German crew mistook them for British aircraft.

FRANCE: Army intelligence reveals German preparations for an attack on Scandinavia.

A formal request is forwarded to Sweden and Norway to allow Allied troops to be sent to Finland through the Scandinavian countries. Units are intended to begin arriving by 20 March. Premier Edouard Daladier has plans for a force of 50,000 French "volunteers" and 150 aircraft.

GERMANY: A high-flying RAF Spitfire photographs the entire Ruhr industrial region in one sortie.

U-123 launched.

GIBRALTAR: U.S. passenger liner SS Manhattan is detained at Gibraltar by British authorities, but is released the same day. Some 80 of 200 items of cargo, however, are detained subject to guarantees as to their destinations.

COMMONWEALTH OF THE PHILIPPINES: Naval members on the Joint Army-Navy Board recommended a strong increase in both Army and Navy air strength in the Philippines. Strong then directed his War Plans Division to conduct a study, which found that a proper defence of the islands would require a 12-fold increase in air power (from 37 aircraft to 441), a doubling of the US and Philippine Scout forces assigned, and $22 million in new construction, mainly for airfields. (Marc Small)

U.S.A.: The National Broadcasting Company’s experimental TV station in New York City, W2XBS, televises the first intercollegiate track meeting live from Madison Square Garden. New York University wins the meeting.

Destroyer USS O'Brien commissioned.

CARIBBEAN SEA: The cruiser HMS Dunedin intercepts the 'Heidelberg'. The German ship is scuttled.

ATLANTIC OCEAN: The cruiser HMS Berwick intercepts the German SS Wolfsburg in the Denmark Strait. The German ship is scuttled.

At 2159, U-17 fired a torpedo at a ship reported as a fully loaded tanker of estimated 9000 tons from a distance of 1200 meters. The ship was hit in the bow and sank within five minutes. This must have been MS Rijnstroom, which had been reported missing. Only a capsized lifeboat, some lifebuoys, deckplanks and part of the cargo were later found adrift. A Dutch ship also picked up an empty raft.

At 0810, SS Lagaholm was ordered to stop by U-32 and was shelled with 40 rounds, after the crew had abandoned ship in the lifeboats. The ship caught fire and sank later in 59°42N/05°35W.

2 March 1941

March 2nd, 1941 (SUNDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM:

London: Civilian pilots of the British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) in a slow, unarmed aircraft are running the gauntlet of German fighters and antiaircraft guns to maintain communications with Sweden.

They take in news of Britain and important passengers and bring back ball-bearings vital to the defence industry. Their only aircraft so far is a Lockheed flown out of Poland by its crews when the Germans overran their country. With the identification letters of BG, it is known as "Bashful Gertie, the Terror of the Skagerrak."
The Polish airline LOT - Polskie Linie Lotnicze, purchased ten Lockheed Model 14-H Super Electras, msn 1421, before the war; they were registered SP-BNE to SP-BNH, SP-BNJ and SP-BNK, SP-BPK to SP-BPN. This aircraft was one of the ten. It had been registered SP-BNF in Polish service but was re-registered G-AGBG when it began service with British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC). BOAC had acquired eight Model 14s for use, three former LOT Model 14-Hs and five former British Airways Model 14-WF62s.

The US Navy also operated the Model 14 as the XR4O-1 and in the ASW role as the PBO-1. For further information about the USNs use of these aircraft, see my article at Tim Lanzendoerfer's excellent web site:

http://www.microworks.net/pacific/aviation/PBO_Hudson.htm

The British government breaks off diplomatic relations with Bulgaria.

GREECE: Athens: The British ambassador at Belgrade meets with Mr Eden. He says that the Yugoslavs are frightened of Germany and unsettled by internal politics. They may be willing to help if they knew of the British plans to help Greece. Mr Eden and the Greeks feared lest Germany should find out.

Eden also finds out from General Heywood that the Greek government had failed to carry out the agreement reached on 22nd February at Tatoi and that no order for the withdrawal of troops from Macedonia and Thrace had been given.

ALBANIA: Mussolini flies in, hoping his presence will raise the morale of his troops.

TURKEY: The authorities close the Dardanelles to shipping without a permit.

BULGARIA: Sofia: Germany officially admitted today that its troops (of the XII Army) had entered Bulgaria. According to a High Command communique: "The German army, in agreement with the Royal Bulgarian government, has been marching into Bulgaria since Saturday." In the Bulgarian parliament the Prime Minister, Professor Filov, said that Germany had asked permission to send in the troops on a temporary basis in order to "safeguard peace in the Balkans."

All day today the Germans have been pouring into Bulgaria by way of pontoon bridges across the Danube. Meanwhile there are reports that the vanguard of the German forces is already approaching the Greek frontier at four points. With the Luftwaffe present in strength, the German attack on Greece seems imminent.

Sofia: The American United Press News Agency reported:

We are reliably informed that the moment when Bulgaria joined the Tripartite Pact, Germany prepared to march into Bulgaria and informed the Greeks via diplomatic channels that within two weeks they had to either make peace or "bear the consequences."

EAST AFRICA: General Cunningham pushes light forces on to Ferfer [about 200 miles north of Mogadishu and Dolo.] which will complete the occupation of Italian Somaliland.

NORTH AFRICA: Wavell gives the War Cabinet an optimistic assessment of the situation. "...the enemy are short of transport. The distance from their base in Tripoli to Benghazi is 646 miles with only one road and inadequate water for 400 miles." Wavell was satisfied that the Axis would not try to recapture Benghazi.

Tripoli, LIBYA:

The Italian Stefani News Agency reports:

The fresh troops who have just arrived in Libya held a parade before high-ranking military men and civilian officials, to the applause of the people. Among those present were the C-in-C of the Italian North Africa troop, the Chief of the General Staff and the commander of the German armoured corps in North Africa.

LIBYA: The Australian 2/13th Battalion reaches Mersa Matruh.

U.S.A.: Washington: The Senate approves a bill to increase the national debt limit from $49 billion to $65 billion. The national debt is already $46 billion and the next year's budget calls for $17.5 billion. The defence program, excluding the requirements of the lease-lend bill, amounts to $28.5 billion.

The US Senate approves Resolution 71. This establishes the Senate Special Committee to Investigate the National defence Program.

Known as the Truman Committee, it now has seven members, Tom Connally of Texas, Carl hatch of New Mexico, Monrad C. Wallgren of Washington and James Mead of New York are the Democrats. Joseph H. Ball of Minnesota and Owen Brewster of Maine are the Republicans.

ATLANTIC OCEAN: At 0046, SS Pacific in Convoy HX-109 was hit by one torpedo from U-95 and sank rapidly by the stern about 180 miles WSW of Syderöy, Faroe Islands. A first torpedo had missed the ship at 0044. The master and 33 crewmembers were lost. One crewmember was picked up by the Icelandic trawler Dora and landed at Fleetwood on 5 March.

At 2212, SS Augvald, which had lost sight of Convoy HX-109 in bad weather the day before, was hit by a torpedo from U-147 and sank. 29 men died, among them two young English boys age 14 and 16. Able seaman Rasmus Kolstø survived 11 days alone on the sea and was picked up by the British corvette HMS Pimpernel about 150 miles NW of Loch Ewe.

2 March 1942

March 2nd, 1942 (MONDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: The second U.S. Army increment (8,555 personnel) of the MAGNET Force, the movement of the first U.S. forces to Northern Ireland, arrives in Belfast in a 21-ship convoy plus escorts which sailed from Brooklyn, New York on 19 February. Among the arriving troops is the 34th Infantry Division headquarters and parts of the 133d and 168th Infantry. American strength in Northern Ireland on this date is reported as 10,433 (including 534 officers, 70 nurses, and 2 warrant officers).

Destroyer ORP Orkan (ex-HMS Myrmidion) launched.

Escort carrier HMS Avenger commissioned.

NETHERLANDS: Four RAF Bomber Command Bostons attacked ships off Den Helder without loss.

GERMANY: U-185, U-520 launched.

HUNGARY: The government breaks diplomatic relations with Brazil.

U.S.S.R.: Minsk: The Germans shoot dead 5,000 Jews.

TURKEY: The government closes the Dardanelles to all ships without Turkish captains.

BURMA: The Japanese continue to infiltrate westward between the Burmese 1st and Indian 17th Divisions and are swinging southwest on Rangoon, bypassing Pegu.

NETHERLANDS EAST INDIES: The Japanese gain further ground in Java, where the Dutch are continuing to resist; the Japanese claim the capture of Batavia, from which Dutch Government has been forced to move to Bandoeng. Actually, a hastily organized Australian-Dutch-American-British infantry unit commanded by Australian Brigadier Arthur Blackburn, General Officer Commanding Australian Imperial Force Java, stops the Japanese 16th Army's advance on Batavia, the island's capital.
     Many ships are scuttled off Java to prevent them from failing into enemy hands but the Japanese Main Body, Southern Force overtakes fleeing Allied ships southwest of Java; heavy cruiser HIJMS Maya and destroyers HIJMS Arashi and Nowaki sink British destroyer HMS Stronghold; heavy cruisers HIJMS Atago and Takao attack what they initially identify as a "Marblehead-class" cruiser and sink her with gunfire; their quarry is actually destroyer USS Pillsbury (DD-227), which is lost with all hands in the Indian Ocean about 270 miles (435 kilometres) south-southeast of Christmas Island.
     In Surabaja, three ships are scuttled in drydock, the damaged Dutch destroyers HNMS Witte de With and Banckert and the American destroyer USS Stewart (DD-224). Stewart had entered the floating drydock on 22 February, however, she was inadequately supported in the dock, and, as the dock rose, the ship fell off the keel blocks onto her side in 12 feet (3,7 meters) of water bending her propeller shafts and causing further hull damage. With the port under enemy air attack and in danger of falling to the enemy, the ship could not be repaired and
demolition charges were set off within the ship, a Japanese bomb hit amidships further damaging her; and, before the port was evacuated on 2 March, the drydock containing her was scuttled. Her name was struck from the Navy list on 25 March 1942 and her name was soon assigned to a new destroyer escort, DE-238. Later in the war, U.S. pilots began reporting an American warship operating far within enemy waters. The ship had a Japanese bunked funnel but the lines for her four-piper hull were unmistakable. After almost a year under water, Stewart had been raised by the Japanese in February 1943 and commissioned by them on 20 September 1943 as Patrol Boat No. 102. She was armed with two 3-inch (7,62 centimeter) guns and operated with the Japanese Southwest Area Fleet on escort duty until arriving at Kure, Japan, for repairs in November 1944. There her antiaircraft battery was augmented and she was given a light tripod foremast. She then sailed for the Southwest Pacific, but the American reconquest of the Philippines blocked her way. On 28 April 1945, still under control of the Southwest Area Fleet, she was bombed and damaged by USAAF aircraft at Mokpo, Korea. She was transferred on 30 April to the control of the Kure Navy District; and, in August 1945, was found by American occupation forces laid up in Hiro Bay near Kure. In an emotional ceremony on 29 October 1945, the old ship was recommissioned as simply DD-224 in theUSNat Kure. On the trip home, her engines gave out near Guam, and she arrived at San Francisco in early March 1946 at the end of a tow line. DD-224 was struck from the Navy list on 17 April 1946, decommissioned on 23 May 1946, and sunk a day later off San Francisco, California, as a target for aircraft.
     At Jogjakarta Airdrome, the last airbase on Java still occupied by the Allies, 260 officers and enlisted men are crammed aboard five USAAF B-17 Flying Fortresses and three LB-30 Liberators for the final flight to Broome, Western Australia. (James Paterson and Jack McKillop)

LOMBOK STRAIT: Submarine USS Sailfish (SS-192) torpedoes and sinks Japanese aircraft transport HIJMS Kamogawa Maru about 10 miles (16 kilometres) off the northeast coast of Bali.

COMMONWEALTH OF THE PHILIPPINES: Four P-40s based on Bataan attack Japanese ships in Subic Bay, Luzon, with 500-pound (227 kilogram) bombs sinking an auxiliary submarine chaser. One P-40 is shot down and the other three are destroyed in crash landings.
The rations of the U. S.-Filipino army on Bataan are reduced again, this time to one-quarter of the normal daily food allowance. The trapped troops supplement their diet with horse and water buffalo meat and even lizards. Disease is taking a heavy toll on the 95,000 men on Bataan and Corregidor -- especially malaria, malnutrition and diarrhea. Many men are so weak they can hardly crawl to their foxholes and lift their rifles.
Elsewhere in the Philippines, Japanese warships bombard Cebu and Negros Islands in the central archipelago and Japanese troops land at Zamboanga on Mindanao Island.

NEW GUINEA: The Japanese Navy begins heavy air strikes against Allied bases in preparation for invasion of the Huon Gulf area.

AUSTRALIA: The government declares war on Thailand.

Minesweeper HMAS Glenelg laid down.

U.S.A.: Admiral Ernest J. King, Commander in Chief United States Fleet, proposes that 353 square mile (914 square kilometer) Efate Island in the central New Hebrides Islands be established as a place “from which a step-by-step advance could be made through the New Hebrides, Solomons, and Bismarcks.”
Regularly scheduled operations by the U.S. Naval Air Transport Service are inaugurated with an R4D Skytrain flight from NAS Norfolk, Virginia, to NRAB Squantum, Massachusetts.

The Western defence Command issues a proclamation which designates the western halves of California, Oregon, and Washington, and the southern third of Arizona as a military area and states that all persons of Japanese descent are to be removed from this area. Through the month of March 1942, people affected by this proclamation are allowed to move to new homes of their own choosing outside the military area, and about 8,000 people in fact move outside the military area during the month. (Scott Peterson) More...

Destroyer USS Aulick launched.

Destroyer USS McKee laid down.

Submarine USS Kingfish launched.

ATLANTIC OCEAN:

At 2047, the unescorted Gunny was torpedoed by U-126 about 400 miles south of Bermuda and sank within one minute. The ship had been missed at 1215 by a first torpedo. 13 survivors climbed on a raft, but had no food and water. The injured chief engineer died on the fourth day. On 9 March, Swedish MS Temnaren picked up the remaining survivors.

2 March 1943

March 2nd, 1943 (TUESDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: Frigate HMS Deveron commissioned.

ASW trawler HMS Bream commissioned.

GERMANY: Berlin: In the heaviest raid so far of the war against Berlin, RAF heavy bombers dropped 8,000-pound high-explosive bombs and thousands of incendiaries in an attack last night on the city centre. Much damage is concentrated around the Unter den Linden, the Opera and cathedral of St Hedwig. One pilot said later: "It was a fearsome sight, but no regrets ... remember what the Nazis did to London." The Germans later said that 191 people were killed and 268 injured. A total of 17 aircraft did not come back. Berlin threatens reprisal raids against New York and Washington, without suggesting how these might be achieved.

U-1167, U-1229 laid down.

U-859 launched.

ITALY: Rome: Mussolini withdraws his troops from the eastern front.

PACIFIC OCEAN: The Battle of the Bismark Sea begins. A Japanese convoy of 8 transports enroute from Rabaul to Lae, New Guinea, and escorted by 8 destroyers is sighted and attacks begin. These attacks will continue through March 4. 3,500 soldiers of the 51st Division are lost. This is the last major troop movement to a combat zone by surface ships by the Japanese where they do not have control of the air.

U.S.A.: Destroyer USS Fullam commissioned.

Destroyer USS Dortch laid down.

ATLANTIC OCEAN: At 0643, U-634 fired a spread of four torpedoes at SS Meriwether Lewis, a straggler from Convoy HX-227, and hit her with one torpedo after eight minutes. The ship sank bow first following two coups de grâce at 0752 and 0905after a heavy detonation in the forward part of the ship when the cargo of ammunition blew up. Earlier the ship had been attacked and missed by U-759, which then had troubles with the diesel engines and led the other U-boat to her target. USCGC Ingham searched the area for two days and only located a trail of automobile tires that stretched for 30 miles. All eight officers, 36 crewmen and 25 armed guards (the ship was armed with one 4in, one 3in and eight 20mm guns) were lost.

HMCS Assiniboine, a River-class destroyer leader, (ex-HMS Kempenfelf) Cdr. Kenneth Frederick Adams, RCN, CO, was damaged during an attack on U-119, Kptlt. Alois ZECH, CO, from the detonation of her own depth charges, which had inadvertently been set too shallow. The submarine avoided the attack and there was no further contact. Assiniboine had recently returned to service in December 41 as a member of Escort Group C-3, after a refit to repair damage done when she rammed and sank U-210, on 06 Aug 42. She made one round-trip, escorting convoys HX-221 (36 ships, none lost) and ONS-163 (38 ships, none lost) during the last of which she also suffered damage (cause unknown). She was on passage back to the UK to rejoin the C-3 group, which was preparing to take convoy ON-172 back to North America, when she was damaged again. She encountered U-119 on the surface by chance 660 miles west of Ireland as the U-boat was returning after laying a minefield off Iceland. Assiniboine closed to attack and opened fire when in gun range. The U-boat dove and Assiniboine attempted to ram, but only struck a glancing blow. Despite the fact that U-119 had lost three meters of her bow casing and her conning tower had been holed by 20-mm Oerlikon rounds, she remained at sea and refuelled ten attack U-boats north of the Azores before proceeding to Bordeaux for repairs. Assiniboine, having had plating in both boiler rooms pushed in and with one of her two screws out of action, proceeded to Liverpool for repairs which took 16 weeks. In the 22 months between Oct 41 and Jul 43, the critical period in the Battle of the Atlantic, Assiniboine was out of action for damage repair for a total of 12 months.

2 March 1944

March 2nd, 1944 (THURSDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: London: The British government called the Home Guard to defend its parliamentary majority tonight. MPs rostered for duty in uniform as the city's last line of defence was summoned to bolster the vote on the touchy issue of service pay. During a debate promoted by the Independent MP for Grantham, Mr Kendall, a call for pay increases was defeated by only 23 votes, a dramatic fall from the usual majority of 580 enjoyed by a national coalition government. The war cabinet is to review service pay despite inflation.

FRANCE: Paris: Rameau's opera buffa Platée is performed in the Salle du Conservatoire. Paris's artistic establishment is there in force: Jean Paulhan, Professor Mondor, Jean Marais and Jean Cocteau "in the first row of the circle, posing without intending to pose," and Marcel Arland, with whom he could walk home discussing the bad influence of American fiction on Sartre. This soirée happened to be at the moment when convoy number 69 was being prepared at Drancy, consisting of 1,501 people, of whom 178 were under 18; all but 20 of the total were to be exterminated at Auschwitz.

GERMANY: U-234, U-323, U-1013, U-1205 commissioned.

U.S.S.R.: Soviet submarine Shch-216 of the Black Sea Fleet is sunk off Cape Tarkhankutskiy by a German submarine. (Mike Yared)(146 and 147)

ITALY: Salerno: Over 400 people who boarded a freight train in the absence of any other transport die of carbon monoxide poisoning when the train stops in a tunnel.

Anzio: The rain stopped today, and bombers roamed the blue skies blasting the Germans who have attacked the Anzio garrison day and night since 28 February. Yesterday the Germans, hampered by driving rain, gave up the ground that they had won, and today the US 509th Parachute Infantry Battalion was relieved by the 30th Infantry Regiment of the 3rd Infantry Division. Despite Hitler's fury, Kesselring has called off the offensive.

TURKEY: Lend Lease Aid is cut off, due to their reluctance to join the Allies.

BURMA: Air Commando Combat Mission N0.14 3:35 Flight time. From Hailakandi to Pintha, Burma. We destroyed several engines with .75 mm and .50 machine gun fire. Severe damage done to rolling stock but because the Japanese always move their supplies at night, the cars are empty. Colonel Smith placed a .75 mm armor piercing shell into the boiler of one engine and the steam squirted up to to a height of 200 feet. I managed to get some nice bursts from the upper turret and had the satisfaction of seeing my incendiary bullets explode on an engine. Note: It is easy to fire from the top turret when the pilot makes a climbing turn. (Chuck Baisden)

BORNEO: Capt. Lionel Colin Matthews (b.1912), Australian Military Forces, was executed. The Japanese had interrogated and tortured him for two years in an utterly vain attempt to discover signals secrets. (George Cross)

U.S.A.: The 1943 Academy Awards are presented at Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Los Angeles, California. "Casablanca" wins three Oscars including Best Picture and Best Director (Michael Curtiz); "The Song of Bernadette" takes four awards including Best Actress (Jennifer Jones); Best Actor is Paul Lukas for "Watch on the Rhine;" Best Supporting Actor is Charles Coburn for "The More the Merrier;" and Best Supporting Actress is Greek actress Katina Paxinou in "For Whom the Bell Tolls."

The documentary "With the Marines at Tarawa" is released. Directed by Louis Hayward, this 18-minute short shows the battle for Tarawa Atoll.

Submarine USS Chopper laid down.

Escort carrier USS Saginaw Bay commissioned.

ATLANTIC OCEAN: At 0259, U-744 attacked the combined Convoy MKS-40/SL-149 and reported three LSTs sunk. In fact, HMS LST-362 was sunk and HMS LST-324 was damaged.

The frigates of the Royal Navy's First Escort Group brought the longest continuous U-boat hunt to a successful conclusion, destroying U-358, but losing HMS Gould. The hunt started on 29 February, and HM Ships Affleck, Gould, Gore and Garlies dropped some 104 depth charges over the following two days. Gore and Garlies had to withdraw to Gibraltar for fuel, but Affleck and Gould continued the attack. U-358 succeeded in torpedoing Gould, but was then forced to the surface and finished off by Affleck's gunfire.

2 March 1945

March 2nd, 1945 (FRIDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: Bermondsey, London: Mr. Albert Edward Heming (b.1910), Civil Defence Rescue, dug a trapped priest from the ruins of a bombed Catholic Church. (George Cross)

Minesweeper HMS Laertes commissioned.

IRISH SEA: At 1812, U-1302 attacked Convoy SC-167 in the St. George’s Channel and sank King Edgar and Novasli. The U-boat could not report her attack, because she was lost five days later. King Edgar was taken in tow, but sank later. Two crewmembers and two gunners were lost. The master, 32 crewmembers and nine gunners were picked up by frigate HMS Nysaland and landed at Milford Haven. Novasli in station #31 was abandoned after being torpedoed, only the master and four men stayed on board when she was taken in tow. But the ship could not be saved and had to be scuttled by an escort vessel with gunfire and depth charges. ASW trawler HMS Helier II picked up the survivors.

GERMANY: In two raids, 858 RAF bombers raid Cologne, and the German army starts to retreat from the Rhine.

Trier: General Patton's tanks capture the Roman Bridge across the Moselle. They move so quickly that it is not blown up. The empty charge chambers are still visible today from the up-river side of the bridge.

U-2365 commissioned.

BALTIC SEA: M.575 Germans Minesweeper. Capsized off Oeresund. (James Paterson)

At 1316, U-995 attacked a Soviet Task Force with a Gnat and reported one escort sunk at 69.21N, 33.38E. The ship sunk was BO-224 (ex-USS SC-1507).

ROMANIA: Bucharest: Andrei Vishinsky, the stony-faced Soviet deputy foreign commissar, is imposing Stalin's rule on Romania with a ruthlessness reminiscent of his behaviour as prosecutor at the Moscow show trials. Spurning the Allies' protests, he has today ordered King Michael to dismiss the coalition Radescu government and appoint what amounts to a communist puppet regime.

BURMA: Naik Fazal Din (b.1921), 10th Baluch Regt., stormed one bunker, then was fatally stabbed by a Japanese officer while charging another. He pushed on, rallying his men brilliantly before collapsing. (Victoria Cross)

Naik Gian Singh (b.1920), 15th Punjab Regt., alone knocked out foxholes and an anti-tank gun, the led his men in clearing a Japanese-held road. (Victoria Cross)

COMMONWEALTH OF THE PHILIPPINES: The American flag is raised again over Corregidor, with General Douglas MacArthur and members of his staff present. In a speech when he left Corregidor in 1942, MacArthur praised the gallant but futile defence of Corregidor as an inspiration to carry on the struggle until the Allies should fight their way back and vowed to return one day. On February 16, 1945, elements of the U.S. Sixth Army began the assault on Corregidor, and after furious fighting, MacArthur made good on his promise. (Michael Ballard)

BONIN ISLANDS: Iwo Jima: The second strip on South Field airfield had been graded to 4,000 feet for fighter operations.

U.S.A.: The motion picture "Dillinger" in released in the U.S. Directed by Max Nosseck and starring Edmund Lowe, Anne Jeffreys, Lawrence Tierney and Elisa Cook, Jr., this film depicts the life and times of gangster John Dillinger. It is one of the best B movies of its kind and is nominated for one Academy Award.

Submarine USS Sea Leopard launched.

Destroyer USS Dennis J Buckley commissioned.

ATLANTIC OCEAN: 75 men died when U-3519 was lost, 3 men survived.

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