8 March 1939

March 8th, 1939 (WEDNESDAY)

GERMANY: Submarine U-48 is launched.

U.S.A.: Movie star Clark Gable divorces his wife Ria so that he can marry starlet Carole Lombard. More...

New Jersey: Camp Dix, a former training centre for the Army Reserve, National Guard and Citizen's Military Training Camp become a permanent installation and its renamed Fort Dix.

The Civilian Conservasion Corps (CCC) operated a reception, training, and discharge center from 1933 to 1942. The CCC at Camp Dix consisted of two forestry companies, a physical conditioning company, and a cook and baker's school. The CCC helped construct roads, dams, bridges, and forest fire towers. It also planted trees, and built the first runway for the new Army Air Base. (Greg Canellis)

8 March 1940

March 8th, 1940 (FRIDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: RAF Fighter Command: German aircraft attack the north coast of Scotland. One enemy aircraft is destroyed, no damage is done.

SS Counsellor, flagship of the convoy commodore in Convoy HX-22, struck a mine laid on 6 January by U-30 six miles 280° from Liverpool Bar Lightship and sank the next day. The master, the commodore (Rear Admiral H.G.C. Franklin RN), seven naval staff members and 69 crewmembers were picked up by HMS Walpole and landed at Liverpool.

HMS Tarpon is commissioned.

FINLAND: Russia rejects Finland's request for an immediate armistice.

Despite persisting Soviet propaganda to contrary, Viipuri never fell to the Red Army during the Winter War. When the firing ended on 13 March 1940, Soviet forces had reached city's eastern suburbs, and the fighting was still fierce. The failure to capture Viipuri was so galling that the official Soviet histories insisted ever since that the Soviet forces managed to capture Viipuri at the very last moment by assault. And remember, all this killing was totally unnecessary because the city has already been given to the Soviets in the treaty that was signed the day before.

Viipuri wasn't to be captured by the Red Army until 20 June 1944, more than four years later.

http://www.onwar.com/chrono/1940/mar40/08mar40.htm

One person claims, perhaps mistakenly, that the 34th Rifle Corps was engaged in the battle: "As far as I remember it [Viipuri] was only partly captured by the Soviet 34th Rifle Corps. Finns occupied Northern and Northern-western its part, if I'm correct." http://www.strategyzoneonline.com/fo...p/t-28042.html

But here are the only other related mentions of the corps:

http://www.battle-of-kursk.com/Perso...soviet&lang=en

http://www.generals.dk/general/Maksi...iet_Union.html

U.S.S.R.: The Finnish and Soviet delegations meet for the first time at Moscow. The Soviet delegation is composed of Molotov, the Leningrad party boss Andrey Zhdanov and kombrig A. M. Vasilevsky. The Soviet demands have increased, and the Finnish delegation receives the word that the British and French expect the Finns to ask for help on 12 March at the latest.

ATLANTIC OCEAN: Canadian destroyer HMCS Assiniboine stops German freighter SS Hanover in Mona Passage, off the coast of the Dominican Republic, at which point the merchantman's crew sets fire to the ship and abandons her. A boarding party from British light cruiser HMS Dunedin, however, saves Hanover from destruction. Conflicting representations by British and German diplomats as to Hanover's exact position prompt the Dominican government to drop the question of violation of territorial waters. Hanover will ultimately be converted into the escort carrier HMS Audacity. The effort expended to capture Hanover, however, allows German freighters SS Mimi Horn and SS Seattle to escape the Caribbean and make a break for Germany. SS Mimi Horn is scuttled to avoid capture in the Denmark Strait on 28 March; SS Seattle is lost during the early phases of the invasion of Norway on 8-9 April.

8 March 1941

March 8th, 1941 (SATURDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: Liverpool: Cpl James Patrick Scully (1909-74), Royal Pioneer Corps, worked solidly for seven hours to rescue people trapped under a bombed building. (GC)

In Luftwaffe air raids of renewed vigour, 34 people are killed and 80 injured tonight when London's Cafe de Paris night-spot is bombed. Buckingham Palace is also hit; after it was showered with incendiaries, a stick of high explosive fell across the front courtyard. A lodge disappeared and a policeman was killed, but most bombs fell in Green Park.

Plymouth is also heavily attacked and the dockyards damaged.

GERMANY: U-204 commissioned.
U-372 launched.
U-463 laid down.

U.S.S.R.: Soviet submarine K-54 launched.

GREECE: Telegram from the British Military Mission, Athens to Wavell:

General Papagos yesterday have impression of greater optimism. He states indications led him to hope Yugoslavia might yet fight. He therefore reverted to question of holding Nestos position if Yugoslav collaboration at last moment made this possible. From the point of view of morale he emphasised fact that troops in Eastern Macedonia were recruited locally, and that, if fighting in forward positions would be defending their own homes. He remains anxious about lorry situation in view new supply difficulty, and urges that every available lorry be sent as early as possible.

MALTA: Axis aircraft drop 76 tons (70 metric tonnes) of bombs on this 122 square mile (316 square kilometer) island today.

CANADA: Minesweeper HMCS Quinte launched from North Vancouver, British Columbia.

U.S.A.: The U.S. Senate passes the “Lend Lease” bill by a vote of 60 to 31. The House of Representatives had passed the bill by a vote of 260 to 165 on 8 February 1941 but there are differences in the two bills and it is sent to a joint committee to resolve the differences.
The National Television System Committee (NTSC), the organization responsible for setting TV and video standards in the U.S., formally recommends TV standards to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), calling for 525 lines and 30 frames per second.
In baseball, the Philadelphia Phillies’ pitcher Hugh Mulcahy becomes the first major leaguer drafted and is inducted in the Army today. Mulcahy, an All Star in 1940 while leading the National League in losses for the second time, serves in the Army including a year in New Guinea and the Philippines. He was known as the "Losing Pitcher", with a career total of 45 wins, 89 losses, and an ERA of 4.49. He returns on July 11th, 1945 but he will pitch only 96 innings in 23 games before ending his career in 1947. More than 100 major leaguers will be drafted within the next two years, and two—Elmer Gedeon who played five games for the Washington Senators in 1939 and Harry O'Neill who played one game for the Philadelphia Athletics in 1939—will be killed in action. (Michael Ballard and Jack McKillop)

ATLANTIC OCEAN: U-47 (Cdr Prien) is sunk by destroyer HMS Wolverine while attacking convoy OB293, 200 miles south-east of Iceland.

Current theory is that Guenther Prien wasn't actually sunk in this attack, but was lost to unknown causes. Apparently the belief among many is that the attack by Wolverine was on UA, which received damage but escaped the attacker. Wolverine then lost contact after following a school of porpoise. (Lawrence Paterson)

At 0109, SS Dunaff Head in Convoy OB-293 was torpedoed and sunk by UA south of Iceland. Five crewmembers were lost. The master, 34 crewmembers and four gunners were picked up by destroyer HMS Verity and landed at Loch Ewe.

Convoy SL-67 escapes attack from the German battleships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau because the battleship HMS Malaya is present. German Chancellor Adolf Hitler has ordered that no risk of damage to the ships is to be run if this can be avoided.

At 0341, SS Harmodius in Convoy SL-67 was torpedoed and sunk by U-105 NNE of the Cape Verde Islands. 13 crewmembers and one gunner were lost. The master, 59 crewmembers and one gunner were picked up by destroyer leader HMS Faulknor, transferred to HMS Forester and landed at Gibraltar on 16 March.

Between 0547 and 0608,U-124 fired six single torpedoes at Convoy SL-67 north of the Cape Verde Islands and observed four ships going down. Schulz reported five ships with about 33.000 tons sunk and another ship damaged. In fact four ships were sunk in the attack, the Nardana, Hindpool, Tielbank and Lahore. The master and 27 crewmembers from Hindpool were lost. Six crewmembers were picked up by destroyer leader HMS Faulknor and landed at Gibraltar on 16 March. The Guido rescued four crewmembers and two gunners. Lahore caught fire, was abandoned the next day and sank in 21°03N/20°38W. The master and 81 crewmembers were picked up by destroyer HMS Forester and landed at Gibraltar on 16 March. 19 crewmembers from Nardana were lost. The master, 104 crewmembers and two gunners were picked up by Faulknor and Forester and landed at Gibraltar on 16 March. No record of Tielbank survivors.

Royal Navy Force H is ordered to the Canary Islands to search for the German battle cruisers Scharnhorst and Gneisenau and to cover convoys crossing from the United States.

8 March 1942

March 8th, 1942 (SUNDAY)

FRANCE: Paris: A dynamite charge is set off at anti-Bolshevik exhibition.

24 RAF Douglas Boston IIIs of No. 88 Squadron, based at Swanton Morley, make an attack on the Matford automobile works at Poissy, flying as low as possible to confuse German defences. They have much support from RAF Fighter Command. Twelve Bostons of No. 88 and 226 Squadrons make a low-level attack on the Ford truck factory at Poissy, near Paris, a target beyond the range of fighter cover. Two further formations, each of six Bostons, carry out Circus operations to the Abbeville railway yards and Comines power-station at times which would divert German fighter attention from the Poissy raid.
During the night of the 8th/9th, 13 Wellingtons and Stirlings bomb the port area at Le Havre, three Manchesters lay mines off Lorient, and a Hampden drops leaflets. . (22)

BELGIUM: RAF Bomber Command dispatches six Blenheims to attack the port area at Ostend during the night of the 8th/9th; four aircraft bomb the target.

NETHERLANDS: RAF Bomber Command dispatches six Blenheims to attack airfields during the night of the 8th/9th; two bomb Soesterberg Airfield.

GERMANY: RAF Bomber Command dispatches 211 aircraft, 115 Wellingtons, 37 Hampdens, 27 Stirlings, 22 Manchesters and 10 Halifaxes, the leading aircraft equipped with the Gee navigational aid, to attack the Krupps factories in Essen during the night of the 8th/9th. It was a fine night but industrial haze over Essen prevents accurate bombing with only 168 aircraft attacking the target and the raid was a disappointment. Gee could only enable the aircraft to reach the approximate area of the target. Photographic evidence showed that the main target, the Krupps factories, was not hit but some bombs fell in the southern part of Essen. Essen reports only a 'light' raid with a few houses and a church destroyed, ten people killed and 19 missing. Individual aircraft bomb Dortmund, Duisburg, Dusseldorf, Gelsenkirchen and Oberhausen.

U.S.S.R.: (Sergey Anisimov)(69)Polar Fleet and White Sea Flotilla: Shipping loss. SKR-26 "Mgla" (ex-RT-38 "Strelok") - at storm, close to Cape Zip-Navolok.

MIDDLE EAST: Lieutenant General Neil Ritchie, General Officer Commanding Eighth Army, is ordered by General Sir Claude Auchinleck, Commander in Chief Middle East Command, to provide a diversion in Libya for passage of convoy to Malta. The supply situation on Malta is very serious.

BURMA: Rangoon: Only the spire of the Shwe Dagon Pagoda rises above the smoke. The city is deserted as Colonel Harada Munaji's 215 Regiment picks its way through the ruined suburbs.

Rangoon has fallen to the Japanese, with much assistance from the Burmese nationalist supporters of the former prime minister, U Maung Saw (interned by the British), who are fighting a guerrilla war against the retreating British forces. For four days the British tried to defend Rangoon, even after most of the population had fled. But after the disaster at Sittang Bridge there was nothing to defend it with, and the British request for the 7th Australian Division was refused by the Australian government. The British were lucky to have got their army out in time. The new commander, General Alexander, and his staff were nearly captured on their way out.

The British 63d Brigade and elements of the 16th, with tank and artillery support, clear the Japanese block on the Rangoon-Prome road at Taukkyan.
During the period 8-13 March, the entire USAAF bomber force in India, two LB-30 and two B-24 Liberators and a B-17 Flying Fortress begin moving a British infantry battalion and supplies to the American Volunteer Group (AVG, aka, the “Flying Tigers”) base at Magwe. A total of 474 troops and 29 tons (26.3 metric tonnes) of supplies are transported and on the return flights, the crews evacuate 423 civilians.

NETHERLANDS EAST INDIES: At 0900 hours on Java, the Commander-in-Chief of the Allied forces, Lieutenant General Hein Ter Poorten, broadcasts a proclamation to the effect that organized resistance by the Royal Netherlands East Indian Army in Java would end. The Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies and General Ter Poorten, together with the garrison commander of Bandoeng area, meet the Japanese Commander-in-Chief, Lieutenant General IMAMURA Hitoshi at Kalidjati that afternoon and agree to the capitulation of all the troops in the Netherlands East Indies. As a result, the Japanese occupy the naval base at Surabaja by 1800 hours.
On learning of the surrender, Australian Lieutenant-Colonel Arthur S. Blackburn, the leader of “Blackforce,” moves his troops to a position around Tjikadjang covering the roads leading to the south coast. That afternoon RAF Air Vice-Marshal Maltby and Major General Hervey Sitwell, General Officer Commanding British Troops Java, issues orders for all British units to comply and the Japanese wisely did not pursue the Allies into the rugged hills. Yet the Australians remain deployed and armed during the next three days with Blackburn contemplating the decision to fight on, with the rainy season approaching, and the health and medical facilities and survivability of his troops to consider plus untrained and inadequately equipped for jungle guerilla actions and mountain warfare, or surrender against all his soldiers desires to resist until defeated. He informed General Sitwell that he'd join the surrender and with that all weapons were thoroughly destroyed.
Over 100,000 Allied troops are taken prisoner on Java. More than 8,500 Dutch soldiers will die in captivity -- 25 percent -- and a further10,500 Dutch civilian internees will perish, out of 80,000 interned. Many soldiers and civilians will die while hiding on remote islands, hoping for rescue, or building boats to flee to Australia.

Minesweeper HNLMS Eland Dubois scuttled near Gili Genteng after suffering water leakage making escape to Australia hopeless. The crew was transferred to the sister ship Jan van Amstel, but she was sunk by Japanese destroyers with heavy loss of life the same day in the Madoera Strait.

COMMONWEALTH OF THE PHILIPPINES: General Douglas MacArthur, Commanding General U.S. Army Forces, Far East, issues a communiqué saying that his opponent, General HOMMA Masaharu, has committed suicide out of frustration. This story gets heavily embellished and just as heavily repeated. Homma reads the report with some amusement. He is less amused when inspecting officers from the Imperial General Staff in Tokyo arrive to find out why he hasn't taken the Philippines on time. They reprimand Homma for allowing his staff officers to live in plush hotels in Manila while their troops fight in the jungle. Some of Homma's staff are shipped off to Manchuria. However, the staff officers realize that Homma needs reinforcements, and ship in the 65th Brigade of 3,500 men and the 4th Infantry Division from Shanghai. Homma is not happy. The 4th's 11,000 men are the worst equipped division in the whole Japanese army. However, the siege guns from China are most welcome, and they hurl 240 mm shells at American islands in Manila Bay, including Fort Drum, the "concrete battleship."

NEW GUINEA: A Japanese convoy arrives in Huon Gulf during the night of the 7th/8th and under cover of a naval bombardment lands assault forces at Salamaua and Lae without opposition. The 2nd Maizuru Special Naval Landing Force and 400-men of a naval construction battalion land at Lae while a battalion group of the 144th Regiment lands at Salamaua. Members of the New Guinea Volunteer Rifles stationed in the two towns carried out demolition work and then withdrew westward.
During the day, the crew of an RAAF Hudson of No. 32 Squadron, based at Seven Mile Airstrip, Port Moresby, attacks the transports and scores a direct hit on an 8,000-ton ship which is later seen to be burning and listing.

AUSTRALIA: Minesweeper HMAS Wagga is laid down.

NEW ZEALAND: Japanese submarine HIJMS I-25 launches a Yokosuka E14Y1, Navy Type 0 Small Reconnaissance Seaplane (later assigned the Allied Code Name “Glen”) to reconnoiter Wellington.

TERRITORY OF ALASKA: Brigadier General William O. Butler assumes command of the USAAF 11th Air Force with HQ at Ft Richardson, Anchorage. The 11th Air Force is assigned to the Alaska defence Command (Major General Simon B. Buckner, Jr.) and the Alaska defence Command is in turn assigned to the Western defence Command (Lieutenant General John L. DeWitt), which was designated a theater of operations early in the war.

U.S.A.: HQ of the USAAF 10th Air Force begins a movement from Patterson Field, Fairfield, Ohio to India.

Destroyer USS Franks is laid down.

USCG plane locates lifeboats of SS Arubutan off the North Carolina coast and direct USCG Calypso to them.

CARIBBEAN SEA: About 0900, the unescorted tanker Esso Bolivar was attacked by U-126 with gunfire about 30 miles SE of Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Shells struck the after house, wheelhouse and the midship house. The third shell exploded in the afterhouse starting a fire in the galley which soon spread and blazed upward like a flaming torch driving the gun crew from the after gun. Bulkheads caved from the intense heat. About one hour later the engines were stopped because the steering gear was shot away and the deck cargo was set on fire. At 1117 hours, a torpedo struck on the starboard side blowing part of the deck cargo several hundred feet into the air and making a hole 50 x 35 feet next to the pumproom. She took a heavy list to port but stayed afloat. Of the 44 crewmembers and six armed guards on board (the ship was armed with one stern gun and four .30cal guns), seven crew members, including the master and chief mate and one armed guard died and ten crewmen and four armed guards were injured. The survivors abandoned ship in four rafts and one lifeboat, which picked up the men swimming in the water. All were picked up by minesweeper USS Endurance and taken to Guantanamo Naval Base. The abandoned tanker was towed to Guantanamo Bay and left on 25 March under her own power with a Naval escort, arriving Mobile five days later. The permanent repairs were completed on 24 July and the ship returned to service on 6 August, when the tanker left Corpus Christi with a full cargo for New York. The chief mate Hawkings Fudske was awarded the Merchant Marine Distinguished Service Medal (MMDS) posthumously and a Liberty ship was named after him. The chief engineer William McTaggart, Fireman Arthur Lauman and AB Charles Richardson also awarded the MMDS for bravery in the attack on this ship.

ATLANTIC OCEAN: At 1917, the unescorted SS Hengist was torpedoed by U-569 NW of Cape Wrath and sunk by a coup de grâce at 2004 hours. Two crewmembers and one gunner were lost. The master, 24 crewmembers and four gunners were picked up by French trawler Groenland and landed at Loch Ewe.

ASW trawler HMS Northern Princess was torpedoed and sunk by U-587 off Newfoundland. The vessel was reported missing after she was seen for the last time at 2043 hours on 7 March in 45°22N/55°59W.

At 1241, the unescorted SS Baluchistan was torpedoed and damaged by U-68 30 miles SW of Grand Cess, Liberia. At 1328 and 1409, the vessel was hit by two coups de grâce and was finally sunk by gunfire between 1431 and 1440 with 21 high explosive and 14 incendiary shells. Three passengers were lost. The master, 61 crewmembers, four gunners and two passengers landed near Cape Palmas, Liberia.

ASW trawler HMS Notts County torpedoed and sunk by U-701 south of Iceland.

8 March 1943

March 8th, 1943 (MONDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: Boom defence vessel HMS Barnaby is launched. Frigate HMS Prince Salvor is launched. Destroyer HMS Urchin is launched. Minesweeping trawlers HMS Proof, Sir Lomorack commissioned.
Destroyer HMS Troubridge commissioned.
Submarine HMS Universal commissioned.

GERMANY: The Navy switches from the usual three wheeled Enigma cipher machine to a four-wheeled one, cutting off UK intelligence just as a U-boat "wolfpack" starts to attack Atlantic convoys.

U-1060 is launched. U-489 is commissioned.

U.S.S.R.: Admiral Standley, United States Ambassador to Russia, made statement in Moscow that news of important American aid was being kept from Russian people. "It is not fair to mislead Americans into giving millions from their pockets, thinking that they are aiding the Russian people, without the Russian people knowing about it".

CHINA: Japanese forces cross the Yangtze river.

U.S.A.: USS Sable (IX-81) had been launched in 1923 as SS Greater Buffalo and was commissioned today. The conversion consisted of removing the old superstructure and building a flight deck of 500 to 535 feet (152.4 to 163.1 meters) over the hull. A small island was build on the starboard side and smoke stacks were placed behind the island to vent the gases. USS Sable's flight deck was steel, the first US aircraft carrier to be constructed of that material. The Sable was one of two paddlewheelers used on the Great Lakes for training.

Destroyer escorts USS Amesbury and Joyce laid down.
Destroyer USS Knapp laid down.
Light cruiser USS Dayton laid down. Escort Carrier USS Block Island is commissioned.

ATLANTIC OCEAN: U-156 (Type IXC) is sunk at 1315hrs east of Barbados, position 12.38N, 54.39W, by depth charges from a US Catalina aircraft (VP-53/P-1). 53 dead (all hands lost).

Previously on 12 September, 1942 U-156 sank the Allied liner Laconia west of Africa in what has become known as the Laconia incident. 16 Feb, 1942 U-156 began to shell the oil refinery at Aruba in the Caribbean, but the gun crew forgot to remove the water plug from the barrel, causing an explosion that killed one man [Matrosengefreiter Heinrich Bössinger]. The gunnery officer [II WO Leutnant zur See Dietrich von dem Borne, see right] lost his right leg in this incident, and so had to be put ashore into captivity at Martinique on 21 February. The commander decided to saw off the ruined portion of the gun barrel, and using this shorter barrel, on 27 February U-156 sank a 2,498-ton British steamer. (Alex Gordon)

At 2020, the unescorted Liberty Ship James B. Stephens was torpedoed by U-160 about 150 miles NE of Durban, while steaming a nonevasive course at 11.5 knots. A torpedo struck one the port side between the #2 and #3 hatches. The explosion set the fuel oil in the double bottoms on fire and the ship settled rapidly by the bow. At 2032, a coup de grâce was fired, which struck on the port side at the #4 hatch and broke the ship in two. Both sections remained afloat, but the ship burned until the following morning. An Allied warship sank the stern section by gunfire and a British warship tried to tow the fore section to Durban, but it sank under tow in heavy seas. The eight officers, 35 crewmen and 20 armed guards (the ship was armed with one 5in, one 3in and four 20mm guns) began abandon ship after the first hit in four lifeboats and three rafts. The explosion of the second torpedo overturned the motor lifeboat and also blew three men from another boat into the water. The other lifeboats picked up all men with exception of one armed guard who drowned because he did not have a life jacked and could not swim. On 11 March, an aircraft spotted one of the boats and directed armed trawler HMS Norwich City to it. 19 survivors were picked up by the trawler and taken to Durban. 30 survivors were picked up by cruiser HMS Nigeria the next day and taken to Durban. Six days after the attack, the remaining 13 survivors were rescued by a SAAF crash boat one mile off Durban, after they were spotted by an aircraft.

At 2155, SS Empire Lakeland, a straggler from Convoy SC-121, was sunk by two torpedoes from U-190 NW of Rockall. The master, 55 crewmembers and eight gunners were lost.

At 1823, SS Fort Lamy, a straggler from Convoy SC-121, was torpedoed and sunk by U-527 SE of Cape Farewell. The HMS LCT-2480 on board was lost with the vessel. The master, 39 crew members and six gunners died. Three crewmembers and two gunners were picked up after 12 days by the HMS Vervain and landed at St John's.

SS Vojvoda Putnik in Convoy SC-121 sunk by U-591 at 58.42N, 31.25W.

At 0855, SS Guido was torpedoed and sunk by U-633 about 450 miles ESE of Cape Farewell. The vessel was a romper 10 miles off the starboard bow of the convoy SC-121. Eight crew members and two gunners were lost. The master, 28 crewmembers and six gunners were picked up by USCGC Spencer and landed at Londonderry.

At 2303, SS Leadgate, a straggler from Convoy SC-121, was hit by one torpedo from U-642 and sank west of the Hebrides. The master and 25 crewmembers were lost.

8 March 1944

March 8th, 1944 (WEDNESDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: A major post-war building programme for up to 200,000 houses a year is promised by the government.

Miners in Wales and Durham strike in support of a wage claim.

A new mark of Spitfire, the XIV, is coming into RAF service. The Merlin engine of earlier marks has been replaced by a two-stage Griffon. This and the re-designed airframe enable the Mark XIV to reach speeds of almost 450mph, as well as markedly improving the rate of climb. For some time the Spitfire has been struggling against the Focke-Wulf Fw190. These improvements will enable it to match its rival on much better terms.

Boom defence vessel HMS Prefect is launched.

Submarine HMS Achates is laid down.

Destroyer HMS Zebra is launched.

Minesweepers HMCS Minas, Blairmore, Fort William, Milltown, Wasaga, Canso, Lempra and Guysborough join invasion Minesweeping Flotillas Devonport.

GERMANY: U-955 and U-1232 are commissioned.

ITALY: Milan: More than a million Italian workers have marched out of the factories to strike against "German pillaging" in occupied northern Italy. German tanks and SS infantrymen are being used in an attempt to force the workers back. The Germans have also threatened to impose a quisling Gauleiter and martial law, with the death penalty for strike leaders.

AZORES: Lagens airfield. No. 269 ASR squadron RAF takes up station.

BURMA: "Merrill's Maruaders" have killed 800 Japanese in north Burma. The 3,000-strong unit is the US counter-part of the British Chindits, and was formed after the war department had appealed for recruits "for particularly hazardous and self-sacrificing operations". Commanded by Colonel Frank Merrill, it arrived in India last October.

Mountbatten assigned the unit to General Stilwell's Northern Combat Area Command. Stilwell was advancing towards Hukawng Valley with Kamaing, Mogaung and Myitkyina as objectives. By early February he was in the valley, and was reinforced by the Marauders and a Chinese tank unit. His aim was to encircle two Japanese regiments in Maingkwan. The Marauders were to make a wide eastward flanking movement, cutting in on the enemy rear at Walawbaum, while the Chinese 22nd Division attacked at Maingkwan.

The Japanese, anticipating Stilwell's tactics, concentrated for five days on the outnumbered Maraduders who beat off repeated bayonet charges. One unit fought for 36 hours without food or water. By 7 March the Japanese were forced out of Walawbaum. Eight Marauders died and 37 were wounded.

Air Commando Combat Missions 21& 22 No flight time on 21, 3:30 on 22. Hailakandi, Assam to Katha, Burma. Bombed and strafed railroad and rolling stock, warehouse, dumps and destroyed radio station. Hailakandi, Assam to Shewbo, Burma. Night mission on Shewbo Air Field. Twelve B-25s dropped incendiaries and fragmentation bombs flying from a 3 ship line abreast formation. Destroyed 12 Japanese aircraft and started huge fires. Encountered flak from heavy guns in the town of Shewbo. The Japanese did not disclose their positions until we had bombed the field. No search lights observed.

Could see the flak explode above us from my turret (think they could not fuse their shells for our low altitude), also could see the winking flashes of machine gun fire but saw no tracers. On this raid Lt. Weber, our navigator, won himself a spot in our hearts. Though it was a moonless night and there was the usual haze from countless forest fires, Lt. Weber brought us directly to the Shewbo Air Base and then back to our own base.

Notes: Our crew flew with another pilot on the morning mission and my flight time was never logged. Or regular pilot Lt/Col. Smith was on a fighter sweep into the Shwebo area. His flight of 21 P-51s accounted for 27 fighters, seven bombers and a transport plus one shot down in the air. Less than an hour after landing back at Hailakandi pilots who had just participated in the fighter sweep were now flying B-25s back to the enemy air fields. The B-25H model did not have dual controls, just a jump seat next to the pilot where the navigator usually rode. He was also the designated cannon loader. (Chuck Baisden)

BOUGAINVILLE: The Japanese begin a counter-offensive. (Gordon Rottman)

CANADA: Frigate HMCS Monnow commissioned.

Minesweepers HMCS Minas, Blairmore, Fort William, Milltown, Wasaga, Canso, Lempra and Guysborough join invasion Minesweeping Flotillas Devonport.

U.S.A.: Submarine USS Sea Lion is commissioned.

Submarine USS Sennet is laid down.

Destroyer escort USS Douglas A. Munro is launched.

8 March 1945

March 8th, 1945 (THURSDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: A V-2 kills 110 people and injures 123 when it hits Smithfield market, London.

Corvette HMCS Hespeller departs Londonderry as escort for Convoy ON-289.

Frigate HMCS Kirkland Lake departs Halifax, Nova Scotia, for Londonderry to join EG-16.

HMC MTB 486 paid off.

Minesweeper HMCS Stratford completes workups at Bermuda.

FRANCE: Normandy: German forces bypassed by D-Day landings 21 months ago made an impudent raid tonight from their Channel Islands base. They attacked Granville, 500 miles behind the front line, with a commando force representing elements of Germany's three armed forces.

Thirty small craft, ranging from minesweepers to cutters, carried the 200-strong raiding party 25 miles to the target. It should have been a disaster, since the raiders' plans were intercepted by British Enigma codebreakers while the fleet was spotted on radar. But the single US patrol craft, armed with a defective gun, sent to intercept was mauled.

The raiders landed unopposed at 1am and blew up port installations and four merchant ships. Fifteen American and eight British servicemen were killed, along with six French civilians. The raiders freed 79 German prisoners, nine of whom later arranged for their recapture. The raiders also took prisoner five American soldiers and eight Britons. The attackers lost three dead and one man captured. They left with some booty: a merchant ship and its cargo of coal.

At 1055, SS Lornaston in the combined Convoy OS-115/KMS-89 was torpedoed and sunk by U-275 NW of Fécamp. The master, 40 crewmembers and seven gunners were picked up by frigate HMS Holmes and tug HMS Palencia and landed at Newhaven.

NETHERLANDS: The Nazi authorities kill 117 Dutchmen in reprisal for the attempted murder of General Rauter.

GERMANY: German efforts to destroy the Ludendorff Bridge at Remagen begin with bombing. Even jet aircraft are rounded up for the effort.

During these attacks, the US forces over the bridge continue.
The Eighth Air Force flew Mission 872 and one of the targets was the benzol plants at Essen which was assigned to the B-17s of the 1st Air Division. There were four primary oil industry targets assigned to the Division, i.e., Essen Emil, Bottrop Mathies Stinnes, Buer Scholren and Huls August Viktoria. I do not have a clue where these three are with respect to the city of Essen but 337 of the 458 B-17s dispatched hit those targets with 1,002.2 tons of bombs. Another 109 B-17s hit the marshalling yards at Essen, a target of opportunity, dropping 321.5 tons of bombs.

Also dispatched that day were 526 B-17s of the 3d Air Division and 360 B-24s of the 2d Air Division. The primary targets for the B-24s were marshalling yards at Betzdorf, Siegen and Dillenburg while the primary targets for the B-17s were oil industry targets at Langendreer, Dortmund and Frankfurt.

U-3039 and U-3040 are commissioned.

VOLCANO ISLANDS: Iwo Jima: Volcano Islands: First Lieutenant Jack Lummus, U.S. Marine Corps Reserve attached to the 2d Battalion, 27th Marines, 5th Marine Division, resumes his assault tactics with bold decision after fighting without respite for 2 days and nights. 1st Lt. Lummus slowly advances his platoon against a deeply entrenched enemy. Suddenly halted by a terrific concentration of hostile fire, he unhesitatingly moved forward of his front lines in an effort to neutralize the Japanese position. Although knocked to the ground when an enemy grenade exploded close by, he immediately recovered himself and, again moving forward despite the intensified barrage, quickly located, attacked, and destroyed the occupied emplacement. Instantly taken under fire by the garrison of a supporting pillbox and further assailed by the slashing fury of hostile rifle fire, he fell under the impact of a second enemy grenade but, courageously disregarding painful shoulder wounds, staunchly continued his heroic 1-man assault and charged the second pillbox, annihilating all the occupants. Subsequently returning to his platoon position, he fearlessly traversed his lines under fire, encouraging his men to advance and directing the fire of supporting tanks against other stubbornly holding Japanese emplacements. Held up again by a devastating barrage, he again moved into the open, rushed a third heavily fortified installation and killed the defending troops. Determined to crush all resistance, he led his men indomitably, personally attacking foxholes and spider traps with his carbine and systematically reducing the fanatic opposition until, stepping on a land mine, he sustained fatal wounds. MOH

U.S.A.: The motion picture "Murder, My Sweet" opens at the RKO Palace in New York City. Directed by Edward Dmytryk, this murder mystery based on a Raymond Chandler novel stars Dick Powell, Claire Trevor, Anne Shirley, Otto Krugers and Mike Mazurki. This was comedy star Powell's successful attempt to change his screen image. .

Phyliss M. Daley became the first Black nurse sworn in as a US Navy Ensign. She was a graduate of Lincoln School for Nurses, New York, and was the first of 4 Black Navy nurses to serve on active duty in WW 2. (Michael Ballard)

Destroyer USS Strong is commissioned.

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