9 March 1939

March 9th, 1939 (THURSDAY)

CZECHOSLOVAKIA: President Hacha dismisses the Slovakian government.

SPAIN: Madrid: The commander of the Republican Army of the Centre, Colonel Casado, supplants the government in a coup designed to end the civil war.

GIBRALTAR: US freighter SS Exmoor is detained by British authorities.

9 March 1940

March 9th, 1940 (SATURDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: RAF Bomber Command: 4 Group. Leaflets and Reconnaissance - Vienna, Prague. 102 Sqn. Three aircraft from Villeneuve. No opposition.

Britain and France promise troops and planes to Finland to fight the Russians.

An Anglo-Italian compromise solution to the "Coal Ships Affair" of 7 March is achieved in London. The Italian colliers detained by the British are released and Italy agrees to find an alternative (overland) supply route from the German coalfields.

Minesweeping trawlers HMS Hazel and Juniper are commissioned.

NORTH SEA:

At 2330, SS Abbotsford was torpedoed by U-14 north of Zeebrugge. 15 minutes later, the U-boat torpedoed and sank SS Akeld NE of Zeebrugge, which was following the other ship. At 2355, Abbotsford was torpedoed again by U-14 7 sank immediately. The master and 17 crewmembers from the Abbotsford were lost. The master and eleven crewmembers from Akeld were lost

At 0542, the unescorted SS Borthwick was torpedoed and sunk by U-14 north of Zeebrugge. The master and 20 crewmembers were picked up by the Flushing Pilot Boat #9 and landed at Flushing on 10 March 1940

At 2113, steam trawler Leukos was attacked without warning by U-38 about 12 miles NW of Tory Island. At 2000, the U-boat had spotted six trawlers all with their light set near Tory Island and thought that they were forming a patrol line. He decided to give one of them a warning and fired one shot from its deckgun at the Leukos from a distance of 200 meters. The shot hit the trawler in the engine room and she disappeared in a cloud of steam and smoke. The U-boat waited until the trawler sank after one hour and then continued the patrol. Leukos was reported missing on 12 March, when she failed to arrive in Dublin. On 21 March, a lifeboat bearing the logo of the ship was washed ashore on Scarinish Tiree off the West Coast of Scotland.

NETHERLANDS: The government breaks diplomatic relations with Bulgaria.

GERMANY: Admiral Erich Raeder, Commander of the German Navy, tells Chancellor Adolf Hitler that the British and French might occupy Norway and Sweden under the pretext of aiding the Finns and he encourages an invasion of Norway at the earliest time.

U-109 is laid down.

U-124 is launched.

FINLAND: Helsinki: The Finns, in danger of being overwhelmed by a Russian offensive all along the front, have today sued for peace despite the harshness of the Russian terms.

Events took on a certain inevitability after the Russian ultimatum for the acceptance of the final peace terms ran out on 1 March. Two days later Marshal Timoshenko launched another crushing attack and the town of Viipuri came under direct attack. The Finns could not hold out for much longer.

On 6 March a delegation headed by the Prime Minister, Rysto Ryti, travelled to Moscow. Mr. Paasikivi, the minister in charge of the negotiations, hoped to force concessions from the Russians.

Coldly received by the foreign minister, Vyacheslav Molotov, and denigrated in scornful language by the Russian press, the delegation continued to negotiate until he shattering news came that Viipuri had fallen. The Finns asked for an armistice. Molotov said "niet" and Ryti was forced to capitulate.

There are still many details to be settled and Ryti is in constant touch with his government in Helsinki. Meanwhile the fighting continues on all fronts.

One legacy of Finland's war against the USSR is a simple but deadly projectile. It consists of a bottle - empty vodka bottles are preferred - filled with petrol, or paraffin, and tar. Strips of rag are used as stopper for the bottle. The rag is lit, causing the contents of the bottle to ignite on impact with the engine compartment of a tank, the usual target; the flaming tar seeps into the engine. In this way countless Soviet tanks were wrecked, and the Finns sardonically dubbed their new weapon the "Molotov cocktail".

The Finnish cabinet gathers to discuss the Soviet terms, which are: ceding all the Karelian Isthmus, including the historic city of Viipuri (then the second largest city of Finland), northern Karelia, and territory around Salla in northern Finland, plus the western half of the Kalastajansaarento (Rybachi) peninsula in the far north. (In many non-Finnish histories Petsamo, the Finnish outlet to the Arctic Ocean, is also included to the territories Finland lost in 1940, but that didn't happen until 1944.) Also the Soviets demand leasing the peninsula of Hanko in the northern shore of the Gulf of Finland for 40 years. Only in one respect has the Soviets lessened their demands: there's no more talk of a Soviet-Finnish-Estonian defence pact.

The harshness of the terms delays the decision, and some think war to the bitter end with Allied help preferable to the Soviet terms. They point out that in Karelia the Red Army hasn't been able to conquer all the territory the Soviets now demand (nor were they able before the war ended; nowhere had the Red Army reached the new border in Karelia when the fighting ended), not to mention the fact that 400 000 Finns live in the land to be ceded. The new border is also far harder to defend, and many are afraid that after a pause, the Soviet Union will start another war to finish the job of conquering Finland. It's better to fight now when the Allies are ready to help. But the majority is ready to face the harsh reality. It's better to end the war when the Finnish Army is still intact and able to fight back, the collapse could only be days away. Mannerheim, after consulting with his generals, states that peace has to be made as soon as possible. After hearing Mannerheim's statement, the President of the Republic Kyösti Kallio reluctantly agrees.

On this day the Red Army has consolidated its foothold on the western shore of the Bay of Viipuri, and the fighting there reaches new intensity, as the Red Army tries to break through the Finnish defences to threaten the back of the Army of the Isthmus (Kannaksen Armeija) fighting in the Karelian Isthmus. The Soviet operation crossing the frozen Bay has been a strategic surprise to the Finns, who originally thought such operation impossible. Now the Finnish defences consists of battalions hastily transferred to the area. There are coastal-defence battalions composed of older reservists and infantry battalions transferred from the northern Finland after the Swedish volunteers manned the front there. However, the going is not easy for the Red Army. The Finns fight desperately back, and the lines of supply across the ice are endangered by the coming spring. Already in the battles for the islands on the Bay of Viipuri the Red Army has lost several tanks when the ice cracks under them.

On these last desperate days the local Finnish commanders in the Karelian Isthmus and Bay of Viipuri often ask for permission to retreat to better positions, but are refused. The GHQ, aware that negotiations are going on at Moscow, is playing a desperate gamble. The Finns has to fight firmly as long as the war lasts, so as to put the Finnish negotiators at least in a slightly better position. But the high command is aware that the troops are reaching the end of their endurance. Which comes first, the collapse of the Finnish Army, spring that makes the terrain harder for the Red Army to advance, or peace?

350 Finnish-American volunteers form the Amerikansuomalaisten Legioona (American Finnish Legion). They have trained with Danish volunteers at Oulu, in north-west Finland. Today its No. 1 Company is sent to the front by train.

GIBRALTAR: U.S. freighter SS Exmoor is detained at Gibraltar by British authorities.

MEDITERRANEAN SEA: The ex-mercantile sailing ship MURAD is wrecked off the coast of Lebanon. She was armed with one 75mm gun and a 37mm cannon. [prior information courtesy of Henri Le Masson's The French Navy, Volume 2, Macdonald and Co., 1969](Greg Kelley)

U.S.A.: Destroyers USS Kearny and Plunkett are launched.

9 March 1941

March 9th, 1941 (SUNDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: Portsmouth is heavily bombed by the Luftwaffe tonight.

In a joint report on the role of Coastal Command and the Royal Navy it is decided that "the predominance of the naval element in the existing operational partnership for the production of a sea-borne trade, but preserving the right of direct command of Coastal Groups to their own officers and the C-in-C."

An officer who took part in the fighting from Sidi Barrani to Benghazi stressed the fact that the Italians fought well and chivalrously ... "The regulars often held out unexpectedly until they knew it was hopeless. Then amazing scenes occurred as our cavalrymen stepped out of their tanks. Fraternisation between the two forces was instantaneous, cigarettes were exchanged, and the greatest good humour prevailed."

Instances of Italian chivalry were many. On one occasion when a British colonel was captured he as allowed to write a letter which was at once taken back to our line and dropped by an Italian aeroplane.

Another instance occurred when a British airman crashed and got killed behind the Italian lines. They sent over another aeroplane with a message that he had been buried with full military honours, stating place.

Newcastle: In a speech today, Ernest Bevin asked for 100,000 women to sign up for munitions work within the next fortnight. He said the women were needed desperately - primarily in shellfilling factories - and he asked them not to wait for instructions or registrations but simply to come forward. "I cannot offer them a delightful life," he said. "I want them to come forward in the spirit that they are going to suffer some inconvenience, but with a determination to help us through."

"We are anxious that the children shall be looked after properly and to assist them we are subsidising the cost of minding. We have left the woman to pay only what she would have paid before the war, which is about sixpence a day, and we are paying the additional sixpence."
Instructions for management in companies which are not used to employing women are to be issued, and new terms of employment and wages for women employed in war work will also be announced soon.

Both the British and German war economies are both becoming more reliant on women workers. In Germany, the Nazis have been forced by circumstances to relax their ideological standpoint that women are good only for housework and maternity.

Minesweeping trawler HMS Gulfoss is mined and sunk in the English Channel.

NETHERLANDS: The government breaks diplomatic relations with Bulgaria.

ALBANIA: Greek forces hold firm against a strong Italian offensive, led by Mussolini himself, around Bubesh on the Albanian front, between the Devoli and Vijose rivers.
Mike Yaklich adds: The Italian spring offensive in Albania begins. The goal is to gain a victory against the Greeks before the Germans intervene, and Mussolini has personally come to Albania to watch. The Italians will employ nine divisions (including one armoured and two alpini), plus many smaller units of up to regimental size, against about 20 miles of front straddling the Vojussa river. The Greeks defend with the 1st and 15th Divisions in the line, and the 6th Div and half the 17th Div in reserve. The Italian preparations have long been detected, and the Greeks are established in well-hidden hilltop positions with interlocking fields of fire for their machineguns, mortars, and highly effective mountain artillery. The Italian attack is preceded by a two-hour barrage in which 300 guns fire off 100,000 shells, but these are mostly light field pieces (100mm or smaller) and their effect on the deeply dug-in Greeks is minimal. There are also air attacks by Italian Stukas. The main push will be north of the Vojussa in the 6.5-mile sector of Gastone Gambarra's 8th Corps.

On Gambarra's left wing the Cagliari Division is to break through the pass over Mt. Trebessina at Bubesi. But with its commander General Gianni sick in bed the Cagliari makes no progress. On the 8th Corps right De Stefanis with the Pinerolo Division twice reaches his objective, the Qafa Lusit pass, but is driven back both times by Greek counterattacks. In Gambarra's centre, the Puglie Division advances half a mile over uncontested ground, but then meets a bloody repulse at Monastery Hill, which will become a focal point of the battle.

Cavallero tells Mussolini"> Mussolini, "Our troops are not suitable for making a break in the front of the enemy, who has used the time that we used in forming the front to build up a very effective defense system. Facing a well consolidated defense system with centres of fire, troops are necessary who are capable of using infiltration tactics, and are well-supplied with officers. We do not have those conditions, and therefore, instead of using infiltration tactics, we apply weight and wear the enemy down... If success is not in sight, we must not continue to feed the struggle, but break it off..." (Mike Yaklich)

LIBYA: General Erwin Rommel, commanding the Afrika Korps, sends a message to the German High Command suggesting that it might be possible to go on the offensive before the hot weather begins. He suggests three objective, (1) the re-occupation of Cyrenaica, (2) the occupation of northern Egypt, and (3) the capture of the Suez Canal. He proposes 8 May to begin the campaign.

ATLANTIC OCEAN: The British destroyers HMS Southdown and HMS Worcester repel a German attack on convoy FS-429A.

Scharnhorst sinks the Greek merchantman Marathon (6,350 tons) (Navy News)

9 March 1942

March 9th, 1942 (MONDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: Bomber Command aircraft fitted with a revolutionary navigational device code-named "Gee" bombed Essen last night in the first large-scale use of the new system.

"Gee" works by sending out pulse signals from three different ground stations. These signals are picked up by the bombers and enable their navigators to calculate their positions by observing the time taken for the signals to reach them.

Aircraft equipped with "Gee" illuminated last night's target and were followed by other "Gee" bombers which dropped incendiaries. It is hoped the system will improve night navigation.

Frigate HMS Exe is launched.

Submarines USS R-17 and R-19 transferred to RN under Lend Lease and renamed HMS P-512 and P-552 respectively.

P-512 assigned to Halifax and P-552 to Argentia/St John's for ASW training.

NETHERLANDS: Individual RAF Bomber Command aircraft bomb Schipol and Soesterburg Airfields during the night of the 9th/10th.

FRANCE: Six RAF Bomber Command Bostons on a Circus raid bomb the Mazingarbe fuel depot during the day; there are no losses.

During the night of the 9th/10th, nine RAF Bomber Command Wellingtons and Stirlings are dispatched to bomb the port area of Boulogne; only two aircraft bomb the target.

GERMANY: During the night of the 9th/10th, RAF Bomber Command dispatches 187 aircraft, 136 Wellingtons, 21 Stirlings, 15 Hampdens, ten Manchesters and five Halifaxes, to continue the series of heavy Gee-guided raids on Essen. One hundred forty three aircraft bomb but thick ground haze leads to scattered bombing and only two buildings are destroyed in Essen but 72 are damaged. Four other aircraft attack Duisburg and individual aircraft bomb Emmerich and Oberhausen. Two Welingtons and a Halifax are lost.
Five RAF Bomber Command Hampdens lay mines in the Frisian Islands.

U-619 and U-620 are launched.

NORWAY: Twelve Albacore aircraft from HMS Victorious make an unsuccessful torpedo attack on the TIRPITZ. They scored no hits and two aircraft are shot down.

INDIA: New Delhi: Java, the greatest prize in the triumphant Japanese campaign of conquest in South-east Asia, has fallen. After bloody engagements in the jungle, the Dutch, British, Australian and US contingents have surrendered.

The Dutch East Indies government has flown out to Australia. Java appeared doomed after Singapore fell three weeks ago. Resistance crumbled rapidly once the three Japanese invasion forces, meeting little resistance on the beaches, came ashore and moved inland. A Japanese column attacked Kalidjati airfield where the defenders, mostly British anti-aircraft gunners turned infantrymen fought bravely until they had been practically wiped out. In the west the Japanese 2nd Division advanced towards Batavia by the coast road and on Buitenzorg by the southern road.

The destruction of the Allied naval forces in the Java Sea last month, the weakness of Allied air power, and the blockade imposed by overwhelming Japanese naval dominance made capitulation in Java inevitable. At 9am today Lieutenant-General H ter Poorten, the Allied commander, broadcast that all were to lay down their arms.

BURMA: Burma Army forces at Taukkyan continue a withdrawal northward without serious difficulty.

NEW CALEDONIA: American troops, Task Force 6814 consisting of the HQ of the 51st Infantry Brigade and the 132d and 182 Infantry under the command of Major General Alexander M. Patch, land at Noumea on New Caledonia Island. A brief diplomatic scuffle ensues after Patch takes a dissident group of local militiamen under his command but the matter is quickly resolved in favor of the French and a new governor is appointed for the island.

COMMONWEALTH OF THE PHILIPPINES: General Douglas MacArthur, Commanding General U.S. Army Forces, Far East, announces that General YAMASHITA Tomoyoki has replaced Lieutenant General HOMMA Masaharu as Commander of the Japanese 14th Army in the Philippines.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt again radios MacArthur to leave the Philippines and MacArthur agrees he will leave Corregidor by 15 March. The question is how. The original plan was for MacArthur and party to leave in the submarine USS Permit (SS-178) on 14 March. However, the radio press in the U.S. began broadcasting demands that MacArthur be placed in command of all Allied Forces in Australia and the Japanese, realizing that he will flee, increase the size and frequency of naval patrols in Subic Bay and off Corregidor. A destroyer division is sighted in the southern Philippines heading north at high speed. Tokyo Rose is broadcasting that MacArthur will be captured within a month, and U.S. Navy officers give MacArthur a one-in-five chance. Therefore, It is decided not to wait for the submarine but to leave by motor torpedo (PT) boat as soon as preparations can be completed. The PT boats will take him to Mindanao Island and the party will then board three USAAF B-17 Flying Fortresses at Del Monte Field for a flight to Australia.

NETHERLANDS EAST INDIES: At 1430 hours on Java, in compliance with the demands of Lieutenant General IMAMURA Hitoshi, Commander of the Japanese 16th Army, Dutch Lieutenant General Hein Ter Poorten makes a second radio broadcast in which all British, Australian and American units are ordered to lay down their arms.

NEW GUINEA: Land-based aircraft attack a Japanese convoy in Huon Gulf with unobserved results. Japanese aircraft continue the neutralization of points in New Guinea.

AUSTRALIA: A leading brigade of the 7th Division Australian Imperial Force arrives in Adelaide, South Australia, from the Middle East. Elements of the division had been sent to Java where they soon became prisoners of the Japanese.
Submarine USS Swordfish (SS-193) disembarks U.S. High Commissioner to the Philippine Islands Francis B. Sayre and his party at Fremantle, Western Australia.

SOLOMON ISLANDS: Australian coastwatcher P. Good is executed by the Japanese on Buka Island, north of Bougainville. He had been betrayed by an Australian news broadcast reporting enemy shipping movements.

CANADA: An advance construction team of U.S. Army engineers arrives at Dawson Creek, British Columbia, to begin work on the 1,522 mile (2449 kilometre) Alcan Highway between Dawson Creek and Fairbanks, Territory of Alaska, U.S.A.

U.S.A.: Admiral Harold Stark relieves Admiral Ghormley as Commander US Naval Forces in European Waters.

A major U.S. Army reorganization, implementing an Executive Order of 28 February, becomes effective today. General Headquarters is abolished and three autonomous commands, Army Ground Forces under Lieutenant General Lesley J. McNair, Army Air Forces under Lieutenant General Henry H. “Hap” Arnold, and Services of Supply (later designated as Army Service Forces) under Major General Brehon B. Somervell, are given responsibility for Zone of Interior (ZI) functions under General George C. Marshall as Chief of Staff. The field forces remain under control of the War Department General Staff. The Air Corps and the US Army Air Force Combat Command, which previously had made up the Army Air Forces (AAF), are discontinued.

The Anglo-American Caribbean Commission is founded.

ATLANTIC OCEAN: A Brazilian steamship, the unescorted Hog Islander SS Cayru, is torpedoed by German submarine U-94, breaks in two and sinks about 130 miles (209 kilometres) east of Atlantic City, New Jersey, U.S. All hands on board abandoned ship, but only the lifeboat with the master and 26 other men was found. The other lifeboats with 47 crewmembers and six passengers disappeared. (Jack McKillop and Dave Shirlaw)

SS Lily sunk by U-587 at 43.32N, 54.14W.

MS Tyr sunk by U-96 at 43.40N, 61.10W.

CARIBBEAN SEA: At 1317, the unescorted and unarmed motor tanker Hanseat was hit by two torpedoes from U-126 10 miles NNE of Cape Maysi, Cuba. The first torpedo struck on the starboard side in the bow and tore holes in both sides, the second hit simultaneously in the stern, just ahead of the propeller near the engine room. The tanker immediately settled by the stern, due to the flooding of the engine room. The engines were stopped and distress signals were sent, before the Danish crew abandoned ship in all four lifeboats. A short time later, the U-boat surfaced and started to shell the Hanseat for about two hours. About 200 rounds were fired into the port side, setting the tanker ablaze. One lifeboat had an outboard motor and reached the village of Maysi about seven hours after the attack. The men in the boat immediately left aboard the Cuban motor launch Corsario to rescue the other survivors. In the meantime, the men in the remaining lifeboats sighted the Panamanian motor tanker Pheobus enroute from New York to Caripito, bearing directly toward the burning Hanseat. Brandt hoisted a yellow flag to warn her, because they were only 7 miles away from the wreck and they thought that the U-boat was still in the vicinity. The other tanker came near and Groth spoke to Brandt, inquiring him about the condition of the survivors and offering assistance. Brandt told him to keep on going in order not to endanger his ship by stopping. Groth promised to send help and proceeded on his course. By this time the last sign of smoke from the Hanseat had disappeared, apparently the ship was completely sunk. Two hours after leaving Maysi, the motor launch arrived at the scene and took the three lifeboats in tow to Maysi. The survivors were then transported on the Corsario to Baracoa, Cuba and later by bus to Havana. They were flown to Miami and were then sent by train back to New York, arriving on 24 March.

9 March 1943

March 9th, 1943 (TUESDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: Submarine HMS Taciturn is laid down.

GERMANY: U-365 is launched.

U.S.S.R.: The SS troops of General Paul Hausser counter-attack to the north and west of Kharkov.

NORTH AFRICA: Field Marshall Erwin Rommel departs from Tunisia, for Germany. He meets with Mussolini in Rome and then with Hitler.

NEW GUINEA: Japanese aircraft attack the Allied stronghold at Wau.

CANADA: Corvette HMCS Wetaskiwin completes a refit in Liverpool, Nova Scotia.

U.S.A.: Destroyer escorts USS Foreman, Harveson, Slater and Earl K Olsen laid down.

Destroyer USS Hailey launched.

Destroyer escorts USS Fessenden and Hopping launched.

Escort carrier HMS Nabob launched Tacoma, Washington.

ATLANTIC OCEAN: A man is lost overboard from U-653. [Bootsmaat Walter Mayer]

Submarine U-83 is sunk south-east of Cartegena, by a British Hudson aircraft which drops three depth charges. All 50 of the U-Boat crew are lost. (Alex Gordon)

At 2235, U-405 attacked Convoy SC-121 and observed two hits from starboard on a ship that sank. The ship hit was the Bonneville, which was the ship of the convoy commodore R.C. Birnie in station #81. Among the 36 dead were the master, the commodore and his staff of seven men, several of them froze to death on rafts or in lifeboats. Four of the seven survivors were picked up from a capsized lifeboat by the rescue ship Melrose Abbey and one other man was picked up from a raft by the same vessel. The landing craft HMS LCT-2341 was also lost as the ship sank.

At 2226, SS Malantic in station #102 of convoy SC-121 was torpedoed by U-409. One torpedo struck on the starboard side at the #1 hatch. A violent detonation occurred 15 seconds later, blowing out the wheelhouse windows. The engines were secured and the eight officers, 25 crewmen, 13 armed guards (the ship was armed with one 4in, four 20mm and two .30cal guns) and one passenger abandoned ship in rough seas immediately in the two port lifeboats because the starboard boats were destroyed. The vessel gradually settled by the head and sank during the night. At 0230, British rescue ship Melrose Abbey picked up one man in the water and found the lifeboat of the master with eleven survivors, but one man fell overboard and drowned. He had been keeping the lifeboat secured to the rescue ship. When it was his turn to board, he was so exhausted he lost his balance and fell overboard. One of the ship’s officers went after him and almost lost his own life doing so. When the other lifeboat was found it capsized when it came alongside, drowning several men. In all, three officers, 16 crewmen, five armed guards and the passenger were lost. The survivors were landed at Gourock the next day.

At 2241, U-409 fired torpedoes at Convoy SC-121 south of Iceland and observed a hit on a tanker and assumed a hit on a second ship after a second detonation was heard but not observed. However, only motor tanker Rosewood was hit, caught fire and broke in two. Both sections were scuttled by gunfire by USCGC Bibb on 11 March in 58°30N/20°31W. The master, 32 crewmembers and nine gunners were lost.

SS Tabor sunk by U-506 at 37.30S, 23.15E.

At 0306, 0307 and 0310, U-510 fired torpedoes at Convoy BT-6 about 200 miles NE of Paramaribo, Dutch Guyana and reported four ships sunk. In fact, Kelvinbank was sunk and George G. Meade, Tabitha Brown and Joseph Rodman Drake were damaged. George G. Meade in station #34, which was designated as rescue ship for this convoy, was hit by one torpedo and was slightly damaged. All eight officers, 33 men and 25 armed guards (the ship was armed with one 3in and five 20mm guns) on board survived. During the next two and one-half hours she picked up 32 survivors from the Kelvinbank. The Liberty ship was later towed to Paramaribo, arriving on 10 March. After some repairs she went to New York, arriving on 2 April, via Trinidad and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. After permanent repairs were made, she returned to service. On 9 Jan 1943, the George G. Meade left Bombay for Capetown. On 9 February, she left for Bahia, arriving on 25 February. It was planned to load bauxite at Paramaribo. The only slightly damaged Joseph Rodman Drake arrived at Paramaribo on 10 March.

Between 0604 and 0611, U-510 fired torpedoes during a second attack at Convoy BT-6 about 175 miles north of Cayenne, French Guyana and again reported four ships sunk. The convoy became unorganized after the first attack because all ships performed evasive maneuvers. In fact, the Mark Hanna and James Smith were damaged with Thomas Ruffin and James K. Polk were damaged and later declared a total loss. James K. Polk in station #23 was struck by one torpedo on the port side amidships. The explosion knocked out all six sides of the #3 deep tank, extensively damaged the #5 double bottom tank, damaged the engine room, wrecked pumps and piping, carried away the radio antenna and sprung the carriages of the two large guns. One of the armed guards was crushed to death by a lifeboat, which was blown from its davits by the explosion. Two crewmembers were injured. The ship began to settle by the stern until only three feet of freeboard remained. The seven officers, 37 crewmen, 18 armed guards (the ship was armed with one 5in, one 3in and four 20mm guns) and three passengers remained on board, until they were taken off by USS PC-592 and taken to Port of Spain. Only the master and seven volunteers stayed and rigged tarpaulins on the foremast and mizzenmast. They sailed the vessel 360 miles until a British tug towed her to Trinidad, arriving on 17 March. The badly damaged vessel was towed to Mobile in December 1945 and declared a total loss. Six deaths reported on Thomas Ruffin. Mark Hanna in station #33 was struck by one torpedo on the port side at the #5 hold. The explosion opened a hole of 40 to 30 foot in the port and several smaller holes in the starboard side. Booms fell, the deck buckled, the hatch cover flew off, the rudder jammed and the shaft broke, but there were no casualties among the 41 crew members and 25 armed guards (the ship was armed with one 5in, five 20mm and two .30cal guns). The ship steered towards the also disabled James Smith and the master ordered the men in the two port lifeboats to abandon ship and to return after the collision, but the ships did not collide and the boats drifted away. The 33 men in them were later picked up by the American submarine chaser USS PC-592 and landed at Trinidad on 13 March. The remaining crew helped to get the vessel under tow and arrived in Trinidad on 17 March. On 23 May, the Mark Hanna left Trinidad in tow after temporary repairs, arriving in New Orleans on 12 June for permanent repairs. She returned to service on 29 September. James Smith in station #73 was struck by one torpedo on the port side at the #5 hold. The explosion blew a large section out of the side and bottom of the ship and disabled the steering gear, knocked down the radio antenna and damaged the propeller shaft. Five armed guards and six crewmen sleeping on the tarpaulin cover of the #5 hatch died. The survivors among the eight officers, 34 crewmen and 16 armed guards (the ship was armed with one 5in, one 3in, four .50cal and two .30cal guns) calmly abandoned ship in four lifeboats after the engines were secured. After daybreak two of the boats returned to the vessel and reboarded her, while the occupants in the other boats were picked up by USS PC-592, which later came to the ship, whose bow lay out of the water. On 12 March, the remaining survivors on board were ordered by the commander of the submarine chaser to abandon ship, but the James Smith did not sink and the master, three crewmen and the armed guard officer again reboarded her. They stayed with the ship as rescue tug HMS Zwarte Zee towed her to Trinidad. The men on the submarine chaser were landed at Trinidad on 16 March. The vessel was later towed to New Orleans, where she was repaired and returned to service on 10 Aug 1943 1943 - At 2136, U-530 sank a lone vessel with a torpedo and two coups de grâce. The ship was probably SS Milos, which was reported missing after straggling from Convoy SC-121.

At 2206, SS Puerto Rican was hit by one torpedo from U-586 about 100 miles NE of Iceland. The ship was straggling from Convoy RA-53 since two days due to heavy weather and was at the time of the attack about 25 miles behind the convoy. The torpedo struck on the starboard side aft of the #5 hatch and caused the ship to sink on even keel in 15 minutes. The eight officers, 32 crewmen and 25 armed guards (the ship was armed with one 5in, one 3in, four 20mm, four .50cal and two .30cal guns) tried to abandon ship in the four lifeboats and the rafts in rough seas and 30° below zero weather. They only managed to launch one boat because the others were frozen in their chocks. This boat capsized when the after fall failed to release and all occupants fell into the sea, where most of them quickly froze to death in the 21° water. Eight men eventually swam to a doughnut raft and six later transferred to a large provisioned raft. In the following two days all these men except one froze to death or washed off the raft. The sole survivor, a fireman wearing a lifesaving suit, was picked up on 12 March by HMS St Elstan and landed in Seydisfjordur, Iceland. From there he was taken to a hospital in Reykjavik aboard troop transport USS Gemini, arriving on 16 March. He eventually lost both feet and most of the fingers of both hands.

At 1843 and 1844, U-596 fired torpedoes at Convoy KMS-10 and observed one hit after 1 minute 59 seconds and then heard another detonation after 2 minutes 55 seconds, probably on a more distant ship. A third torpedo detonation and a boiler explosion were also heard. In fact, the first torpedo damaged the Fort Norman and the third the Empire Standard.

9 March 1944

March 9th, 1944 (THURSDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: Submarine HMS Visigoth commissioned.

GERMANY: U-826, U-827, U-1055 launched.

INDIAN OCEAN: At 0800, U-183 torpedoed storage tanker British Loyalty, which was anchored off the southwest entrance to Addu Atoll. She caught fire and sank to the bottom. The ship was later salved and again used as hulk until she was scuttled on 15 Jan 1946 in position 00.38´12S/73.07´24E.

BURMA: Indaw: Operation Thursday, one of the most spectacular operations of the war in Burma, was launched when Brigadier Wingate's Chindits struck again some 200 miles behind the Japanese front lines. At dusk on 5 March, 9,000 members of two brigades began flying into an area known as "Broadway" in gliders. A third brigade is marching into enemy territory, but stores, mules and equipment have been flown in.

"Broadway" is 50 miles northeast of Indaw, and Wingate's task is to sever the arteries of supply to the enemy forces opposing General Stilwell's march towards Myitkyina from the north and the advance of the Chinese troops from Yunnan.

The expedition was nearly cancelled when aerial photographs showed logs laid by the Japanese obstructing the ground at "Piccadilly" - 20 miles south of "Broadway" - where gliders crashed on landing, killing 31 crewmen. But landings at "Broadway" went ahead, and in 12 hours engineers had prepared an airstrip. The next night 55 DC-3 Dakota transports landed. The operation is to be supplied by air, and casualties are to be flown out by No. 1 Air Commando of the USAAF.

ADMIRALTY ISLANDS: US aircraft begin operations from Momote Airfield.

CANADA: Frigate HMCS New Waterford arrived Halifax from Esquimalt, British Columbia.

U.S.A.: Light cruiser USS Springfield launched.

Minesweeper USS Ptarmigan laid down.

Destroyer escort USS Dufilho launched.

Minesweeper USS Palisade commissioned.

Escort carrier USS Sargent Bay commissioned.

Submarine USS Spadefish commissioned.

Destroyer USS Wedderburn commissioned.

Destroyer escort USS Richard M Rowell commissioned.

ATLANTIC OCEAN: Flower class corvette HMS Asphodel is torpedoed and sunk by U-575 (Oberleutnant zur See Rudolf Boehme) WNW of Cape Finisterre at 45 24N 18 09W. There are 92 casualties, but only 5 survivors. (Alex Gordon)(108)

USCG-manned destroyer escort USS Leopold, on her second voyage and escorting Convoy CU-16, when she got an acoustic contact about 400 miles south of Iceland and turned to investigate it. But before the destroyer escort reached the U-boat, she was hit at 2200 by a Gnat from U-255 and abandoned. The vessel remained afloat but sank early the next morning. Only 28 survivors were picked up by sister ship USS Joyce.

9 March 1945

March 9th, 1945 (FRIDAY)

GERMANY: US forces capture Bonn.

U-2548 is launched.

JAPAN: US B-29s raid Tokyo with 1650 tons of incendiary bombs. This is the first of many fire bombing raids on various Japanese Cities.

This was the XXI Bomber Command's Mission Number 40 flown by the 73d, 313th and 314th Bombardment Wings (Very Heavy). During the night of 9/10 March, 325 B-29s are dispatched from the Mariana Islands to hit the Tokyo urban area; the bombers flew in a stream rather than in bomber formation. The bombers carry neither bomb bay fuel tanks nor guns and ammunition except for the tail turret guns. The bombers departed at sunset and attacked Japan between 0100 and 0300 hours on 10 March; 279 bombers hit the primary target with 1,665 tons of incendiary bombs from an altitude between 4,900 and 9,200 feet (1,494 and 2,804 meters). Twenty B-29s hit secondary targets and targets of opportunity. Fourteen B-29s are lost, one to AA, five ditched, one made it back but was scrapped and seven were missing. This is the first of the night fire bomb raids on Japanese cities and results in 15.8 square miles (40.9 square km) of Tokyo being burned out and an estimated 83,000 Japanese killed.

REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA: Frigate SAS Natal commissioned.

U.S.A.: Destroyer USS Furse launched.

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