5 March 1939

Yesterday Tomorrow

1933: GERMANY: The Nazi Party wins 44 percent of the vote in German parliamentary elections, enabling it to join with Nationalists to gain a slender majority in the Reichstag.

March 5th, 1939 (SUNDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: Battleship HMS Prince of Wales launched.

GERMANY: U-122 laid down.

SPAIN: The steamship "Castillo de Olite" is sunk by coastal battery fire at Cartegena. More...

5 March 1940

March 5th, 1940 (TUESDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: Dover: Six Italian ships carrying cargoes of German coal were arrested in mid-Channel today after a warning that Britain will seize all German coal found at sea. The ships are anchored off the Kent coast while the government decides whether their cargoes should be unloaded.

Four more Italian colliers sailed into Rotterdam today, and a further six are loading with Rhineland coal destined for Italian ports. All are likely to be seized following an announcement by the Ministry of Economic Warfare that German coal exported to any foreign port would be regarded as contraband.

Severe weather in Germany has reduced normal supplies of coal to Italy, where rationing is now in force. Many Italians believe that the seizure of the ships is a deliberate attempt to force them to buy British coal on British terms.

British sources are insisting that the blockade of German produce applies to all neutral ships, and deny discrimination against Italy.

The British government announces a GBP300 million 3 percent War Loan to aid Finland.

RAF Bomber Command:- Leaflet raids on Rhineland; Ruhr; and Poznan (Poland). Reconnaissance's of N-W German naval bases. (And during the two succeeding nights.)

Blackburn Botha L6129, on a test flight from Brough, crashes at Flixborough, Lincolnshire, with the loss of veteran test pilot B. R. Rolfe and his flight test observer.

Destroyer HMS Pathfinder laid down.

FRANCE: German troops capture a British outpost in the Maginot Line killing 2 and taking 16 prisoner. The outpost is later recaptured.

FINLAND: The Finnish Government decides to send a delegation to accept the Russian terms which include a truce and cession of border areas. Ryti and Paasikivi depart for Moscow. This decision is reached after reaching the conclusion that British and French promises of assistance are worthless.

The Soviet Foreign Minister Molotov suggests that the negotiations be held at Moscow. However, the Soviet government refuses the Finnish proposition that there be a cease-fire during the negotiations.

Soviet infantry fortified itself on the western banks of the Bay of Vyborg, going around the city fortress's defence. (Hal Smith) More...

U.S.S.R.: A politburo memorandum signed by Stalin and five other leaders recommends executing 14,700 Polish offices, soldiers, civil servants, landowners and others being held in Soviet camps and 11,000 more being held in captivity in Soviet-occupied eastern Poland. (Benjamin B. Fischer) (127)

CANADA: Toronto: Canada promises to send 1,000 volunteers to fight with the Finns.

Patrol vessel HMCS Sans Peur commissioned.

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

ATLANTIC OCEAN: At 2015, SS Grutto was spotted by U-17, heading ENE with all navigation lights burning. At 2040, a torpedo was fired, which missed. 18 minutes later, a second torpedo was fired and struck the ship amidships, breaking her in two. The stern section sank within one minute and the bow followed six minutes later. In the early morning of 6 March, a ship of the Dutch Batavier-line spotted wreckage and a raft marked Grutto 7.5 miles SW of Thornbank. The Belgian pilot-boat #8 also reported this raft and later picked up debris two miles west of the Belgian lightship Wandelaar. This wreckage was later identified as belonging to Grutto. The Belgian Pilot boat #5 salvaged the raft and delivered it to Oostende. On 29 March, the bodies of two crewmen washed ashore on the Dutch coast, the body of sailor B van der Spek near Callantsoog and the one of first steerman R. Teensma on Texel. Their families identified both.

5 March 1941

March 5th, 1941 (WEDNESDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: London: The Air Ministry announces: A new contingent of fliers trained in Canada has arrived in the London area. They are the strongest aerial detachment to land in Great Britain so far.

The British government and the Belgian and Polish governments in exile severs diplomatic relations with Bulgaria.

Corvette HMS Auricula commissioned.

GERMANY: Berchtesgaden: Hitler issues a directive calling for closer links with Japan, but insisting that Operation Barbarossa be kept a secret.

U-451 launched.

AUSTRIA: Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring meets with Romanian dictator, Prime Minister General Ion Antonescu, in Vienna to secure the participation of Romanian Operation Barbarossa, the invasion of the Soviet Union.

HUNGARY: Budapest: The British Exchange News Agency reported:

A telephone report from a British correspondent in Belgrade said:

It Appears increasingly probable that Germany will issue an ultimatum to Greece demanding that the situation be decided immediately. Presumably this step will take place around March 15, when German forces in Bulgaria will have reached their full strength.

BULGARIA: Sofia: Britain has broken off diplomatic relations with Bulgaria. George Rendel, the British minister, today handed the Bulgarian government a strongly-worded note protesting against Bulgaria's active co-operation with Germany which, it declared, constituted a grave threat to Britain's ally, Greece, and was "incompatible with the maintenance of British diplomatic representation in Bulgaria.

Mr Rendel added a verbal note in even more scathing terms. Alluding to the disappearance of one Mr Grenovich, a Bulgarian official at the British legation, he said: "It has poisoned affairs and put Bulgaria's civilisation back 100 years. I tried for years to deal with the Bulgarians as a civilised western people. Now that appears to be impossible."

The USSR has also condemned the entry of German troops into Bulgaria. "It cannot be regarded", said the Kremlin, "as furthering peace possibilities in the Balkans."

ALBANIA: Italian prisoners, captured by Greek forces in Albania, report that 1500 Alpini troops were drowned in the sinking of the transport ship Liguria and that Allied bombing raids have caused heavy casualties and significant confusion behind Italian lines.

GREECE: Eden sends the British ambassador at Belgrade back with a confidential note for the Regent explaining British plans for Greece and saying that both Greece and Turkey planned to fight if attacked. If Yugoslavia joined the Allies she would have a British army to fight by her side.

Eden also reports on the darkening mood of the Greeks who are reluctant to evacuate their forces from Albania if Yugoslavia does not attack from the north, and who are only offering the British 23 battalions of troops to delay any German advance into Salonika until British reinforcements arrive.

EGYPT: Operation Lustre, the transporting of British and Commonwealth troops from Alexandria, Egypt, to Greece, begins. An advance party of I Australia Corps and the Australian 6th Division embarks for Greece in the light cruisers HMS Gloucester, Bonaventure and York.

CANARY ISLANDS: U-106 refuelled from the German supply ship Charlotte Schliemann at Las Palmas.

CANADA: Corvettes HMS Bittersweet and Fennel departed Halifax with 27 ship Convoy HX-113 for Liverpool. HX-113 arrived safely in Liverpool on 21 Mar 41 with all of its merchant ships intact, subsequently for completion Bittersweet to the Tyne, and Fennel to Greenock. Under normal circumstances, an early version of the Flower-class corvette did not have the endurance for an operational transit across the Atlantic, particularly in the stormy weather typically experienced during late winter. This indicates that Bittersweet and Fennel were attached for transit but likely did not actively engage in anti-submarine screening, especially in view of their uncompleted condition.

U.S.A.: A Gallup poll asked the question:

If American merchant ships with American crews are used to carry war materials to Britain, and some of them are sunk by German submarines on the way over, would you be in favour of going to war against Germany?

Would favour war 27 %

Would not favour war 61%

Qualified and undecided 12%

In baseball, Brooklyn Dodgers’ president Larry MacPhail issues instructions that all Dodger players must live in Brooklyn. MacPhail is also campaigning for visiting teams to stay in Brooklyn rather than Manhattan.

Destroyer USS Ludlow commissioned.

ATLANTIC OCEAN: At 0525, MS Murjek was hit by one torpedo from U-95 WNW of Rockall. The ship had been missed by a first torpedo at 0506 hours and sank only after four additional hits at 0533, 0551, 0625 (dud) and 0655.

5 March 1942

March 5th, 1942 (THURSDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: Conscription is to be extended to men aged up to 45 and women aged between 20 and 30.

Admiral of the Fleet Sir Dudley Pound is replaced by Field Marshall Sir Alan Brooke, Chief of the Imperial General Staff, as Chairman of the British Chiefs of Staff Committee. This appointment improves relations between Prime Minster Winston Churchill and the Committee as Admiral Pound was noted for a strictly maritime point of view.
Winston Churchill proposes to U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt that a U.S. division be sent to New Zealand on the condition that the New Zealand Expeditionary Force remains in the Middle East.
Civil servants' pencil sharpeners are withdrawn to conserve pencils.

Minesweeping trawler HMS Ensay and Sir Argavaine launched.

Submarines HMS Trooper and P-311 launched.

Escort carrier HMS Stalker launched.

Destroyer HMS Melbreak launched.

Corvette HMCS Morden departed refit Clyde to escort Convoy ON-73.

Minesweeper HMS Hythe commissioned.

Corvette HMS Pennywort commissioned.

GERMANY:

U-167, U-168 launched.

U-462, U-612 commissioned.

U.S.S.R.: Kuibyshev: The premiere of the seventh symphony(Leningrad) by Dmitri Shostakovich, a bleak work written during the siege of Leningrad.

Moscow announces recapture by the Soviet Army of Yukhnov, northwest of Kaluga, on the central front.

YUGOSLAVIA: Chetnik guerrillas commanded by Chetnik leader Major General Draza-Dragoljub Mihajlovic, rout Italian forces in Montenegro.

INDIA: Major General Lewis H. Brereton takes command of the USAAF 10th Air Force with HQ at New Delhi. The 10th Air Force has eight tactical aircraft, all B-17 Flying Fortresses.

BURMA: Rangoon: The city's prisons and lunatic asylums are thrown open; large-scale arson and looting follow, and a wounded orang-utan escapes from the zoo.

British Lieutenant General Sir Harold Alexander arrives in Rangoon to become General Officer Commanding Burma Army. General Archibald Wavell, Commander in Chief India, has given Alexander orders to hold Rangoon at all costs. Alexander immediately orders the 1st Burma Division to counter-attack the Japanese from the north and the 17th Indian Division, which has be reinforced, to attack east of Pegu. Meanwhile, the Japanese capture Pegu, a railroad junction 50 miles (80 kilometres) north of Rangoon, and threaten to trap Alexander's forces.

JAPAN: Imperial General Headquarters issues Navy Directive No.62 ordering Commander-in-Chief, Combined Fleet, upon completion of the Java operation, to annihilate the remaining enemy force in Dutch New Guinea and to occupy strategic points of that territory. The objectives of the occupation are to survey the country for possible sites for air bases, anchorages and oilfields, as well to secure a good communication and supply line with British New Guinea.

NETHERLANDS EAST INDIES: The Dutch continue a losing battle for Java. At dusk, the Dutch troops in the vicinity of Batavia, the capital, surrender to the Japanese and, by 2130 hours that night, the city has been occupied. The Allies retreat toward Bandung in Java's central highland.
Carrier-based Japanese aircraft mount a damaging raid on the naval base at Tjilatjap, Java sinking 17 ships and completely destroying the harbour.

BISMARCK ARCHIPELAGO: The Japanese convoy bound for Huon Gulf, New Guinea, sails from Rabaul, New Britain Island, during the night of the 5th/6th.

COMMONWEALTH OF THE PHILIPPINES: Japanese transport Takao Maru, damaged and driven aground off Vigan, Luzon, on 10 December 1941, is destroyed by Filipino saboteurs.

NEWFOUNDLAND: Corvette HMCS Moose Jaw completed temporary repairs St John's.

U.S.A.: The Air Force Combat Command activates HQ XII Interceptor Command at Drew Field, Tampa, Florida.
The Civil Air Patrol (CAP) begins flying antisubmarine patrols off the east coast.
The weekly magazines “Liberty” and “Saturday Evening Post” announce price increases to begin in April: from 5 cents per copy to 10 cents. (In year 2002 dollars, that is an increase from 56 cents to $1.11.)

The motion picture "The Invaders" opens at the Capitol Theater in New York City. This British film was originally entitled "Forty_Ninth Parallel" when it was released in Britain in 1941. Directed by Michael Powell, this war drama about a U-boat crew stranded in northern Canada stars Eric Portman, Leslie Howard, Raymond Massey, Laurence Olivier and Glynis Johns.

ATLANTIC OCEAN: At 2244, the unescorted and unarmed SS Mariana was hit aft of the mast by one torpedo from U-126 47 miles (76 kilometres) north of Grand Turk Island in the Turks and Caicos Islands and sank within five minutes. The crew of eight officers and 28 crewmen all perished.

At 1533, the unescorted OA Knudsen was hit on the port side in tank #6 by one torpedo from U-128 east of Abaco Island, Bahamas. The ship started listing and the engines were stopped. The crew abandoned ship in the starboard lifeboat and a motorboat, but eight men remained on board, managed to restart the engines and head for land. A first coup de grâce at 15.42 hours missed, but a second fired at 16.42 hours hit on the port side in tank #9, killing a British deckboy. The remaining men abandoned ship in the port lifeboat and the master ordered the starboard lifeboat containing 24 men to head for nearest land while the motorboat and the port lifeboat stayed near the ship. The master and four crewmembers then reboarded the tanker, rigged up a new antenna and managed to establish a radio contact with a land station. They also transferred some petrol to the motorboat and abandoned the vessel. At 0230 on 6 March, the master and six crewmen again reboarded the OA Knudsen in order to save the vessel. 15 minutes later, U-128 began shelling the tanker, which caught fire and eventually sank. Shrapnel had injured the master and five men during the shelling before they were able to leave the ship with the motorboat. In the evening, they spotted the starboard lifeboat and took it in tow. Land was reached in the night, but they gave up trying to find a suitable landing place. On 7 March, the boats were taken in tow by a schooner, which landed them at Cornwall, Abaco Island. On 10 March, an able seaman died of wounds in a hospital and was buried on Abaco Island.

The unarmed U.S. freighter Collamer had lost Convoy HX-178 in heavy seas, unable to maintain convoy speed and with damage to her deck cargo, the master decided to return to Halifax. At 1135 hours on 5 Mar 1942, the Collamer was hit by one torpedo from U-404 43 miles (69 kilometres) southeast of Halifax, off the coast of Nova Scotia, while proceeding on a nonevasive course in rough seas at 9 knots. The torpedo struck the starboard side amidships, causing the boilers to explode and killed the engine room crew of three officers and four men. The ship began to sink fast by the stern and the crew of seven officers and 31 men abandoned ship in two lifeboats. But before they could get away, a second torpedo struck the ship underneath the bridge just aft of the #2 hatch on the port side. A terrific explosion caused the ship to sink immediately by the stern. The radio operator had managed to send a SOS to Halifax. After several hours, two aircraft appeared and signalled the British SS Empire Woodcock, which picked up the survivors.

At 2307, the unescorted Benmohr was torpedoed and sunk by U-505 about 210 miles SSW of Freetown. The master, 51 crewmembers and four gunners were rescued by an RAF 95 Sqn Sunderland and landed at Freetown.

(Jack McKillop and Dave Shirlaw)

5 March 1943

March 5th, 1943 (FRIDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: Today has witnessed the first flight of Britain's first jet fighter, the Gloster Meteor. It is very different from the first British jet aircraft, the Gloster Pioneer, which made its maiden flight in May 1941, being much larger and powered by two turbojet engines. Surprisingly, there are not designed by the jet engine pioneer, Wing-Commander Frank Whittle. He and his company, Power Jets Ltd, have been experiencing problems with their own engine, the W2. Meanwhile, both Rolls-Royce and de Havilland had begun to develop jet engines, but with much direct help from Whittle. The Meteor is powered by the de Havilland Halford H.1, named after the company's chief engineer, Major F B Halford, Rolls-Royce Derwent jet engines will also be tried.

The Meteor was to have been named the Thunderbolt, but the US Republican P-47 piston-engined fighter, now in frontline service as a bomber escort, had already taken the name.

This is the fifth prototype of the Meteor, the earlier models having engines with lower power, were only used for taxiing trials. The Halford H.1 turbojets can each generate 1,500-lb. thrust.

FRANCE: Paris: Fritz Sauckel, the Reich Plenipotentiary for the allocation of labour, demands 100,000 forced workers from the Vichy regime.

GERMANY: U-391 is launched.

FINLAND: When the re-elected Finnish President Risto Ryti officially started his second term in office on 1 March, the cabinet tendered its resignation. Today, the new cabinet is nominated. Prof. Edwin Linkomies is the new Prime Minister, and the known Anglophile Henrik Ramsay replaces Rolf Witting (who is thought to be too pro-German) as the Foreign Minister. Nobody says it aloud, but the most important mission of the new cabinet is to find a way to peace.

U.S.S.R.: Black Sea Fleet and Azov Flotilla: ML "Zarya" - mined close to cape Doob (Sergey Anisimov)(69)

German troops advance to Kharkov and Bielgorod; near Izyum, floating iceblocks prevent German attempts to bridge the Donets river.

Kiev: Erich Koch, the Nazi commissioner for the Ukraine, says: "We are a master race ... the lowliest German worker is racially and biologically a thousand times more valuable than any one of the population here."

NEW GUINEA: Port Moresby: In the Battle of the Bismark Sea fought on 3-4 March a joint Allied air attack by 335 planes has disastrously damaged Japanese prospects in New Guinea and the Solomons. The enemy suffered prohibitive losses. Eight troop-laden Japanese military transports and four escorting destroyers were sunk, with the loss of 2,890 Japanese army and navy men killed or wounded. The Japanese tried to send reinforcements to Lae, in New Guinea, despite the danger from growing Allied air power. On the eight transports was the main body of the 51st Division.

Once the convoy had left Rabaul, the US Fifth Air Force quickly mustered maximum air strength for a decisive blow. As the convoy entered Huon Gulf on 3 March, the Allies pounced. B-17 bombers struck first. They were immediately attacked by Japanese Zero fighters which, in turn, were intercepted by American Lightnings. Fifteen Zeros were shot down. Quickly following the B-17 strike, Australian Beaufighters swept at deck level to blast the convoy with cannon and machine-gun fire. Then Mitchell and Boston bombers followed, using a new technique developed at Port Moresby, dropping their 500-pound bombs to "skip" into their targets.

SOLOMON ISLANDS: The US submarine Grampus (SS-207), commanded by John R. Craig, is sunk by Japanese destroyers in Blackett Strait-Solomon Islands All hands are lost. (Joe Sauder)

CANADA: Minesweeper HMCS Goderich arrived Liverpool, Nova Scotia, for refit.

U.S.A.: The motion picture "Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man" is released in the U.S. Directed by Roy William Neill and starring Lon Chaney, Jr., Ilona Massey and Bela Lugosi, this horror film has the Wolf Man being awakened by graverobbers and then seeking Frankenstein who he hopes will kill him.

ATLANTIC OCEAN:

USS Bogue begins first US anti-submarine operations by escort carrier.

At 1745, U-130 attacked Convoy XK-2 NW of Lisbon and sank four ships, SS Fidra, Empire Tower, Trefusis and Ger-y-Bryn. Empire Tower sank within 60 seconds. The master, 35 crewmembers and six gunners were lost. Three crewmembers were picked up by armed trawler HMS Loch Oskaig and landed at Londonderry. The master, 13 crewmembers and three gunners from Fidra were lost. Nine crewmembers and three gunners were picked up by corvette HMS Coreopsis, transferred to armed trawler HMS Loch Oskaig and landed at Londonderry. The master, the crew of 37 and nine gunners from Ger-y-Bryn were rescued by corvette HMS Coreopsis, transferred to armed trawler HMS Loch Oskaig and landed at Londonderry.

At 0926, U-255 fired a spread of three torpedoes at Convoy RA-53 and heard two detonations. Hog Islander SS Executive was sunk and Richard Bland was damaged, but five days later finished off by the same U-boat. Lookouts on the Executive in station #52 (originally in #51) spotted the first torpedo, which crossed the bow of the ship. But the second torpedo struck on the starboard side between the #4 hatch and the engine room. The explosion blew the hatch covers off the #4 hatch and demolished the booms, the engine, the dynamos and all the equipment in the immediate area. The #4 hold was rapidly flooded and the ship began to settle slowly by the stern. The eight officers, 30 men and 24 armed guards (the ship was armed with one 4in, two .50cal and two .30cal guns) abandoned ship without orders in three lifeboats and one raft. One armed guard, three officers and five crewmen died. The survivors were picked up immediately by armed trawlers HMS St Elstan and Northern Pride (42 men) and landed in Iceland five days later. The drifting ship was scuttled by gunfire from a destroyer about one hour after the attack.

5 March 1944

March 5th, 1944 (SUNDAY)

GERMANY: The first American bombers and fighters appear over Berlin. The raid had been cancelled because of weather. One group proceeded to the target with fighter escort. Göring later said, "When I saw the American fighters over Berlin I knew the jig was up." (Hal Turrell)

219 B-24's are dispatched to hit French airfields; 62 hit Bergerac Airfield, 60 hit the Chateau-Bernard Airfield at Cognac; 41 hit Landes de Bussac Airfield and 1 hits La Roche Airfield. The group participating were the 44th, 93d, 389th, 392d, 445th, 446th 448th, 453d and 458th Bombardment Groups (Heavy). Fighter support consisted of 34 P-38's, 185 P-47's and 88 P-51's.

ARCTIC OCEAN: U-366 sunk NW of Hammerfest, in position 72.10N, 14.44E, by rockets from an RN 816 Sqn Swordfish off escort carrier HMS Chaser. 50 dead (all hands lost).

U.S.S.R.: In a new Ukrainian offensive Soviet troops advance 31 miles and retake Izyaslav, Ostropol and Yampol.

BURMA: Chinese forces capture Maingkwan as three Chindit brigades land behind enemy lines at Indaw.

Air Commando Combat Mission N0.18 3:05 Flight Time Hailakandi to Okkyi, Burma. Photo mission of landing strip. This field not covered with logs. Our gliders went in during the night and established a fairly good runway for the transports that followed. The landing area was called "Broadway"

Note: Not from my journal but USAF sources. Colonel John Alison and his assault force landed successfully around 2200 hours and set up a lighting landing system to assist the main force. There was no enemy opposition. The glider landings were not exactly a piece of cake as the field was covered in dense elephant grass that hid logs, ruts and crevices from the camera. The gliders were heavily loaded and came in very fast. Some missed the field and crashed into the jungle, some hit obstructions and others landed and piled into the ones ahead. twenty four men were killed in the jungle crashes and four killed in Broadway crashes. Some 500 soldiers, 18 tons of supplies plus 3 mules and a smuggled horse were all brought in by the gliders. Only 3 of the 37 CG-4 gliders were flyable after the landings. These "faraway places with the strange sounding names" can be easily found on the maps in my book. (Chuck Baisden)

PACIFIC OCEAN: While submarine USS Tullibee was attacking a merchantman in the Palaus area, one of her own torpedoes circled back and hit the boat, sinking it. There was one survivor who became a POW and was freed after the Japanese surrender to tell the story.

U.S.A.: Destroyer USS Willard Keith laid down.

Destroyer minelayer USS Lindsey launched.

Minesweeper USS Instill launched.

Destroyer USS Collett launched.

ATLANTIC OCEAN: The unescorted SS John Holt was torpedoed and sunk by U-66 60 miles south of the Opobo River in the Gulf of Guinea. The master and one passenger were taken prisoner and were later lost with the U-boat. 41 crewmembers, nine gunners, three passengers and 40 Krooboys were picked up by the British tanker Empire Ruby and landed at Port Harcourt.

5 March 1945

March 5th, 1945 (MONDAY)

GERMANY: Hohenlychen: Felix Kersten, Himmler's masseur, tries to persuade his patient to free all Jews held in concentration camps.

Boys of 16 years old are now to be sent to the front to fight for Hitler's Germany. All male children born in 1929 are to be conscripted for military service and sent into battle against the advancing Allies.

Boys of 16 have been serving in the Volkssturm [people's front] since it was set up last September. Now they are to be sent to areas of combat across Europe. The Nazi propaganda machine is already busy showing newsreel of "Hitler's Boys" decorated with the Iron Cross for knocking out enemy tanks. Such pictures cannot disguise the fact that recruitment of boy soldiers is the last resort of a desperate nation.

U-2542 commissioned.

BURMA: Rfn Bhanbhagta Gurung (b.1921, D. 2008), 2nd Gurkha Rifles, shot a sniper and later cleared four foxholes and a machine-gun, before helping to repel a counter-attack (Victoria Cross)

Havildar Bhanubhakta Gurung was serving as a rifleman in the 3rd Battalion of the 2nd Gurkha Rifles. At that time the Fourteenth Army was making a drive toward Mandalay in central Burma, and the task of the 25th Division (of which the 2nd Gurkhas were part) was to engage in diversionary action along the coastal sector of Arakan.

The 3rd Battalion landed at Ru-Ywa and advanced to the high ground east of Tamandu. Capturing the area would assist British progress to the Irawaddy through the An pass, but the enemy here was the formidable Japanese 54 Division and a machine-gun battalion.

The dominant feature was .582, nicknamed Snowdon, to the east of which was another high hill known as Snowdon East. No enemy was encountered on either hill and by the evening of March 4 "A" Company was in position at both points.

However, during the night the Japanese attacked Snowdon East in overwhelming strength, killing half the Gurkhas on it; the remainder, completely out of ammunition, managed to cut their way through to their comrades on Snowdon.

The following day "B" Company, with which Bhanubhakta was serving, was ordered to retake Snowdon East "regardless of cost".

Bhanubhakta's citation (in which his name was spelled Bhanbhagta) recorded

that: "On approaching the objective, one of the sections of the company was forced to the ground by a very heavy light-machine-gun, grenade and mortar fire, and owing to the severity of this fire was unable to move in any direction.

"While thus pinned down, the section also came under accurate fire from a sniper in a tree some 75 yards to the south. As this sniper was inflicting casualties on the section, Rifleman Bhanbhagta Gurung stood up and, while fully exposed to heavy fire, calmly killed the enemy sniper with his rifle, thus saving his section from suffering further casualties."

Bhanubhakta then began to run for the top of the hill, yelling for his comrades to follow him. Though the casualties were heavy, the section ploughed forward until within 20 yards of their objective, when the Gurkhas were again halted by exceptionally heavy fire.

Without waiting for any orders, Bhanubhakta dashed forward alone and attacked the first enemy foxhole. Throwing two grenades, which killed the two occupants of the trench, he immediately rushed on to the next enemy foxhole and killed the two Japanese in it with his bayonet.

All this time he was under continuous light-machine-gun fire from a bunker on the north tip of the objective, and two further fox-holes were still bringing fire to bear upon the section. Bhanubhakta dashed forward and cleared these trenches with bayonet and grenades.

He then turned his attention to the machine-gun bunker, and realising, as the citation put it, that it "would hold up not only his own platoon which was not behind him, but also another platoon which was advancing from the west", he pushed forward a fifth time to knock out the position.

"He ran forward and leapt on to the roof of the bunker from where, his hand grenades being finished, he flung two No 72 smoke grenades into the bunker's slit." Two Japanese rushed out of the bunker, partially blinded by the smoke and with their clothes aflame with phosphorous; Bhanubhakta promptly killed them both with his kukri.

One Japanese soldier remained inside, holding up 4 Platoon's advance with the machine gun. Bhanubhakta crawled in and, prevented by the cramped space from using his bayonet or kukri, beat the gunner's brains out with a rock.

Most of the objectives had now been cleared by the men behind, but the enemy which had been driven off were collecting for a counter-attack beneath the north end of the objective.

Bhanubhakta ordered the nearest Bren gunner and two riflemen to take up positions in the captured bunker with him, from where they repelled the enemy counter-attack.

Bhanubhakta, the citation concluded, "showed outstanding bravery and a complete disregard for his own safety. His courageous clearing of five enemy positions single-handed was in itself decisive in capturing the objective and his inspiring example to the rest of the Company contributed to the speedy consolidation of the success."

As a result of this engagement, his regiment gained the Battle Honour "Tamandu."

(Daily Telegraph Obit)

PACIFIC OCEAN: W.15 IJN Japanese Minesweeper, Torpedoed off Akuseki Jima, south of Kyushu (29-30N 129-33E) by US Submarine Tilefish; Beached and abandoned. (James Paterson)

U.S.A.: Florida:

Army deserter turned over to MPs in Tampa

CLEARWATER - While searching for suspects in the recent theft of a purse from an elderly tourist, city police early Saturday night picked up an army deserter in the downtown business section. The soldier, wearing the uniform, had been absent without leave from a Texas camp since last November. He was turned over to military police from the Tampa area. (William L. Howard)

Submarine USS Remora laid down.

Escort carrier USS Cape Gloucester commissioned.

Minesweepers USS Quail and Scoter commissioned.

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