10 March 1939

U.S.S.R.: After a series of economic negotiations between Germany and the Soviet Union, Premier Josef Stalin addresses the 18th Party Congress, conceding points to Germany over Britain and the rest of the west. Stalin says he wants to pursue economic relations with all countries and not be pushed into military action.

U.S. Undersecretary of State Sumner Welles, after a meeting with Adolf Hitler in Berlin, arrives in London to discuss a peacemaking proposal with Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain to prevent a widening of the European war. Welles briefs Chamberlain on Hitler's intransigence, arguing that the only hope for a lasting peace is the progressive disarmament of the belligerents, primarily Germany. Chamberlain's foreign ministers are less than impressed with the suggestion, believing that even a "disarmed" Germany could still invade a smaller, weaker nation. In short, Welles' trip accomplished nothing.

ITALY: The German foreign minister, Joachim von Ribbentrop, meets with the Italian dictator, Benito Mussolini, and invites him to meet with German Chancellor Adolf Hitler.

GIBRALTAR: U.S. freighters SS Explorer, SS Exchester, and SS West Cohas are detained at Gibraltar by British authorities; all are released, however, after only several hours.

U.S.A.: The National Broadcasting Company’s (NBC’s) experimental TV station W2XBS in New York City broadcasts extracts from “I Pagliacci,” performed by the Metropolitan Opera Company, the first US television presentation of opera.. The audio portion is carried over the NBC Blue Network radio station WJZ.

The government rejects a plan to feed the small democracies stating that “Nothing has since occurred to alter the view of His Majesty's Government that it is the responsibility of the German Government to see to the material welfare of the countries they have overrun, nor to weaken their conviction that no form of relief can be devised which would not directly or indirectly assist the enemy's war effort.”

FRANCE: RAF Bomber Command attacks Le Havre during the night of the 10th/11th and at the same time gives the new 4-engine Halifax bomber it debut. One of the six Halifax's involved is mistakenly shot down on its return flight by an RAF night fighter.

VICHY FRANCE: Darlan ratifies Murphy-Weygand agreement for provisioning of French North Africa.

ALBANIA: In what will be the only success of the entire offensive, the alpini of the Pusteria Division capture the fortified peak of Mali Spadarit, on the extreme left wing. However, this leaves them far in advance of any friendly troops, and heavy fire from adjacent Greek positions on their flanks and rear forces them to withdraw somewhat back down the slope. In Gambarra's sector, attempts to manoeuver against Monastery Hill get nowhere, and Gambarra already has to bring up troops from his reserve Bari Division to reinforce the Puglie and Cagliari. Meanwhile, it has begun to rain, negating the Italian advantage in the air, and increasing the footsoldiers' misery. (Mike Yalkich)

UNITED KINGDOM: War spending reaches £9,050 million, exceeding the cost of the entire First World War.

Westminster: Anthony Eden today gave details of alleged Japanese atrocities in Hong Kong to a stunned parliament. MPs and Peers heard the chilling facts about the fate of the garrison after its surrender.

Fifty British soldiers were bound hand and foot and then bayoneted to death. Women of all races were raped and abused for the pleasure of the Japanese. More than a week after the surrender, wounded were being brought down from the hills, but the Japanese refused to allow the dead to be buried.

Mr Eden described the Japanese claim that their soldiers are inspired by the chivalric code of the Samurai, warriors of feudal Japan, as "nauseating hypocrisy."

A group of Australian nurses and British soldiers which surrendered to the Japanese in Malaya last month is said to have been summarily executed. The men were bayoneted and shot and the nurses forced to walk into the sea and the machine-gunned down. Two soldiers and one nurse miraculously survived.

The Chinese too have been dealt with mercilessly. Some 5,000 civilians were rounded up in Singapore on 18 February. Two weeks later they were all dead. Many of their bodies were found decapitated with the hands tied behind the backs.

Prisoners who have been taken alive live in fear that every day is their last. Unconfirmed reports tell of the butchering of 120 Australian PoWs on Amboina Island on 20 February. They were executed by the bayonet or sword, kneeling with the eyes covered.

Prime Minister Winston Churchill bluntly warns that if the U.S. Navy can't stop German U-boat depredations in the Caribbean, he'll order British tankers to remain in port.

FRANCE: Two RAF Bomber Command aircraft bomb the Boulogne port area during the night of the 10th/11th.

NETHERLANDS: One RAF Bomber Command aircraft bombs the Rotterdam port area during the night of the 10th/11th.

GERMANY: The RAF's new heavy bomber, the Avro Lancaster, makes its first night raid over Germany when two aircraft of No. 44 Squadron take part in a raid on Essen. (22)

During the night of the 10th/11th, RAF Bomber Command dispatches 126 aircraft, 56 Wellingtons, 43 Hampdens, 13 Manchesters, 12 Stirlings and two Lancasters to bomb Essen; this was the first participation by Lancasters in a raid on a German target. This was another disappointing raid with unexpected cloud being the main cause of poor bombing; only 85 crews claimed to have bombed Essen. The report from Essen shows that only two bombs fell on an industrial target - railway lines near the Krupps factory - and a house was destroyed and two damaged in residential areas. Five Germans were killed and 12 injured and a Polish worker was killed by a Flak shell which descended and exploded on the ground. Individual aircraft bomb Bochum, Duisburg and Gelsenkirchen.
In Berlin, a strange part of the propaganda war takes place when U.S. born Jane Anderson, a Georgia socialite makes one of her “Georgia Peach” broadcasts to the US on Deutsche Rundfunk shortwave. Anderson, married to a Spanish grandee, and a fanatical anti-Communist, has been broadcasting English-language propaganda aimed at the US, denouncing Jews and the U.S. media, and praising Adolf Hitler, in an increasingly hysterical and incoherent manner. Today, to embitter her American listeners with news concerning the delicacies to be found in Germany's fine restaurants, she reports on how Berlin nightclubs and teashops offer Turkish cakes laden with marzipan, chocolate, and champagne. “Sweets and cookies and champagne, not bad!” The U.S. Office of War Information rebroadcasts the descriptions of Berlin high life back into the Reich to anger the average German, who is eating ersatz chocolate and drinking ersatz coffee, and enduring “one-meal Sundays.” The counter-broadcasts in turn outrage the Rundfunk, and Anderson is bounced off the air.

ARCTIC OCEAN: Soviet submarine M-175 of the Polar fleet and White Sea Flotilla is sunk by a German U-boat north of the Ribachi Islands. (Sergey Anisimov) (69)

CHINA: Lieutenant General Joseph Stilwell, Commanding General American Army Forces, China, Burma and India, is appointed Chief of Staff of the Chinese Army, and spends most of the war arguing with Chinese Leader Generalissimo Chiang Kai-Shek.

COMMONWEALTH OF THE PHILIPPINES: Lieutenant General Jonathan M. Wainwright, Commanding General I Corps, visits General Douglas MacArthur"> MacArthur, Commanding General U.S. Army Forces, Far East (USAFFE), on Corregidor and learns that he (Wainwright) will head Luzon Force and that his I Corps will be turned over to Brigadier General Albert M. Jones, Commanding General Philippine 51st Division. General MacArthur"> MacArthur, after his withdrawal from the Philippines, plans to remain in control of Philippine operations from Australia through Colonel Lewis C. Beebe, who will be deputy chief of staff of USAFFE.
Rear Admiral Francis W. Rockwell, Commandant Sixteenth Naval District, gives Lieutenant John Bulkeley, Commander of Motor Torpedo Boat Squadron Three (MTBRon 3) based on Bataan, his orders regarding the evacuation of General MacArthur and his party from Corregidor Island to Mindanao Island. Bulkeley, with PT-41, is to pick up his passengers, including General and Mrs. MacArthur and their son, and Major General Richard K. Sutherland, MacArthur’s Chief of Staff, at North Dock at Corregidor at 1930 hours tomorrow. PT-34 and PT-35 are to remain at their base on Bataan so that the Japanese do not observe any unusual activity; these two boats will transport Admiral Rockwell and his Chief of Staff, Captain Ray, USN, who will be transported from Corregidor to Bataan by launch. The fourth PT boat, PT-32, will pick up passengers at Quarantine Dock at Mariveles at 1915 hours. The plan is for the four boats to rendezvous at the entrance to Manila Bay at 2000 hours tomorrow night.

NEW GUINEA The Japanese make a landing at Finschhafen on the Huon Peninsula. The Japanese needed to capture towns such as Finschhafen and Salamaua to protect their forward air base at Lae.

The intention is to deny a Japanese attempt to gain control of the 100-mile Torres Straits separating New Guinea and Queensland.

At the same time Japanese aircraft have bombed Port Moresby, the Papuan capital, and there are reports of an invasion fleet heading for the town.

USN Task Force Eleven (TF 11) (Vice Admiral Wilson Brown Jr.), which includes ships of TF 17 (Rear Admiral Frank Jack Fletcher), on the heels of initial nuisance raids by RAAF Hudsons, attacks the Japanese invasion fleet (Rear Admiral Kajioka Sadamichi) off Lae and Salamaua. Sixty one SBD Dauntlesses of Bombing Squadron Two (VB-2), Scouting Squadron Two (VS-2), VB-5 and VS-5, and TBD Dauntlesses of Torpedo Squadron Two (VT 2) and VT 5, supported by F4F Wildcats of Fighting Squadrons Three (VF 3) and VF 42 from the aircraft carriers USS Lexington (CV-2) and Yorktown (CV-5) fly over the 15,000-foot (4572 meter) Owen Stanley Mountains on the tip of New Guinea to hit Japanese shipping. They sink armed a merchant cruiser, an auxiliary minelayer, and a transport; and damage light cruiser HIJMS Yubari; destroyers HIJMS Yunagi, Asanagi, Oite, Asakaze, and Yakaze; a minelayer; seaplane carrier; a transport; and a minesweeper. One VS-2 SBD is lost to antiaircraft fire.
     Eight USAAF B-17E Flying Fortresses and RAAF Hudsons conduct follow up strikes but inflict no appreciable additional damage.
     Japanese Navy aircraft based at Rabaul, New Britain Island, Bismarck Archipelago, attack targets around Huon Gulf and in the Port Moresby area.
     In a message to British Prime Minister Churchill, President Franklin D. Roosevelt hails the raid as “the best day's work we've had.” The success of the U.S. carrier strike (the first time in which two carrier air groups attack a common objective) convinces Japanese war planners that continued operations in the New Guinea area will require carrier support, thus setting the stage for confrontation in the Coral Sea.

SOLOMON ISLANDS: Japanese troops land on Buka Island, the 190 square mile (492 square kilometer) island just north of Bougainville Island. The two islands are separated by Buka Passage.

MIDWAY ATOLL: A Kawanishi H6K4, Navy Type 97 Flying Boat (later assigned the Allied Code Name “Mavis”), is shot down southwest of Midway by a Marine Fighting Squadron Two Hundred Twenty One (VMF-221) F2A Buffalo fighter pilot. The flying boat, based at Wotje Atoll in the Marshall Islands, had been refueled at sea by a Japanese submarine.

U.S.A.: The House of Representatives votes to increase the U. S. national debt from US$65 billion to US$125 billion. (Considering inflation, that is from US$792 billion to US$1.524 trillion in 2002 dollars.)

ATLANTIC OCEAN: At 0632, the unescorted and unarmed U.S. steam tanker Gulftrade was torpedoed by U-588 three miles off Barnegat Light, New Jersey, U.S. The U-boat spotted the tanker, because the running lights and the masthead light had been turned on to avoid collision with several colliers in the vicinity. A torpedo struck the starboard side just forward of the mainmast and just aft of the bridgehouse. The explosion broke the ship in two, ripped up the decks and completely opened tanks #5, #6 and #7. Oil and debris was sprayed over the vessel from stem to stern and the ship caught fire immediately. Within one minute, the high seas washed over the tanker and extinguished the flames. The engines were stopped and the crew of eight officers and 26 crewmen abandoned the ship. The high seas and the fact that oil lay several inches deep all about the deck and had filled the boats complicated the abandonment. Seven survivors stayed on the stern and nine abandoned ship in a lifeboat. Two other boats with 18 men swamped, drowning the officer and 17 crewmen in them. USCGC Antietam arrived and picked up the men in the lifeboat. While manoeuvring to remove the men on the stern, her port propeller got fouled with a mooring line. Net tender USS Larch then rescued the men. The survivors reported that the U-boat surfaced 5 minutes after the attack, circled the stern and departed 45 minutes later on a southerly course. The master, Torger Olsen, died on 21 Oct, 1943, when his next ship the Gulfland collided with the Gulfbelle. (Jack McKillop and Dave Shirlaw)

At 0449, U-161 fired two torpedoes into Port Castries, St Lucia. The first torpedo hit SS Lady Nelson, which caught fire and sank by the stern in shallow waters. The second torpedo struck Umtata, which exploded and also sank. However, both vessels were later salvaged and repaired.

When U-155 headed back from the US-East coast it lost I WO Oberleutnant zur See Gert Rentrop overboard.

UNITED KINGDOM: This morning a RAF Beaufighter takes off for a patrol of the Bay of Biscay. It is piloted by the Free French pilot Max Guedj, DFC, who had adopted the nom de guerre of Lieutenant Maurice to safeguard his Jewish family remaining in France. His navigator is Flight Lieutenant Charles Corder. They are on their 71st operation together.

Over the Bay they sight, attack and kill a JU-88 long range fighter. However, return fire from the Junker's gunner severely damages the Beaufighter. Guedj is wounded during the attack and the intercommunication in the aircraft is disabled. With the situation appearing hopeless, Corder crawls forward to assist the pilot before returning to his seat, where he obtains radio bearings and gives Guedj a course to steer for their base in Cornwall, 180 miles away. One of the two engines fails, and Guedj has difficulty keeping control, forcing him to fly a few feet above the sea.

Corder once more crawled forward to assist him having managed to repair the intercom.

Just before they reach the English coast, the second engines catches fire, which spreads to the cockpit. Corder transmits an SOS, a fire distress cartridges to attract the attention of those ashore. As they approach Cornwall, it is clear that the aircraft has either to ditch in the heavy seas or clear the cliffs. As Corder guides Guedj to the cliffs' lowest point, observers on the ground are convinced that the aircraft will crash; but Guedj manages to clear the cliffs by a few feet before making an emergency landing as the second engine finally fails. Corder's navigation has been so accurate that they manage to crash-land on their own airfield at Predannack.

The incident attracted a great deal of press interest. Guedj told one reporter: "It would have been impossible without my navigator; he was really the key man on board the most hair-raising adventure we have lived through."

For their actions in recovering the aircraft, Guedj will be the first French airman to receive the DSO.

The long citation for Corder's CGM remarked on how he had "calmly continued his duties, showing great navigational skill and teamwork and doing everything within his power to assist his pilot". It concluded: "In the face of an appalling situation, this airman displayed courage in keeping with the highest traditions of the RAF." Both men were also awarded the Croix de Guerre avec Palme. (Bernard de Neumann)

USAAF 4th Fighter Group flies its first mission equipped with the P-47C Thunderbolt fighter.

BULGARIA: Sofia: A popular outcry, backed by the church and King Boris, has saved 50,000 Jews from certain death. Three weeks ago the Jewish affairs commissioner, Alexander Belev, and SS Lieutenant Theodor Dannecker agreed to deport Jews from inside Bulgaria's pre-war borders "to the east." A delegation of parliamentarians and other leading citizens visited the interior minister, Peter Gabrovski, and demanded that the orders be rescinded. Like Italy, Hungary and Finland, Bulgaria has tried to resist German demand for deportations.

The British submarine HMS TIGRIS is sunk by a mine west of the Sicilian Channel.

U.S.S.R.: Ukraine: Hitler has accused his once-favourite soldier, Field Marshal Erwin Rommel, of "pessimism", and ordered him on sick leave until he is ready to lead a hypothetical attack on Casablanca.

Rommel arrived here today from Rome, and was summoned to take tea with the Führer when he did his best to convey the gravity of the situation in Tunisia. He begged Hitler to allow the evacuation of the Axis troops to Italy where they could be re-equipped for the defence of Europe. Hitler refused to listen; Rommel had a similar response from Mussolini yesterday.

Il Duce was worried about the effect on Italian opinion should Tunisia fall, and offered Rommel another division. The offer was refused. Rommel has confided to his diary a "great regard" for the Italian leader, "probably a great actor like most Italians," but the conversation ended on an acrimonious note. "Perhaps I should have spoken to him differently at the end, but I was so heartily sick of all this everlasting false optimism that I just could not do it.

INDIA: Goa: Special Operations Executive (SOE) agents, with volunteers from the Calcutta Light Horse and the Calcutta Scottish, last night raided four Axis merchant ships which had taken refuge in neutral Portugese Goa when war was declared.

The raiding party, on board a hopper barge which had sailed all the way round India from Calcutta, had hoped to board the German freighter Ehrenfels without a fight because her skipper, Captain Rofels, had agreed to be bribed. But when the barge arrived, Rofels opened fire and scuttled his ship. He died along with four of his crew. There were no British casualties. and the German Braunfels and Drachenfels and the Italian Anfora, were also scuttled.

INDIAN OCEAN: At 1720, the unescorted SS Richard D. Spaight was hit on the starboard side by two torpedoes from U-182 about 350 miles NE of Durban in the Mozambique Channel. The first torpedo struck at the #1 hold and the second between holds #2 and #3. The explosions extensively damaged the ship and showered the deck with debris. One man sitting on #1 hatch was blown overboard and drowned, while another lying on a mattress on the same hatch survived. He was blew higher than the mast, but stayed on the mattress and landed right side up to be rescued. The bow immediately submerged and the stern lifted the turning propeller and rudder out of the water. The surviving eight officers, 34 crewmen and 24 armed guards (the ship was armed with one 5in, one 3in and eight 20mm guns) abandoned ship in four lifeboats. The men in one of the boats had to jump overboard because it drifted towards the propeller and was swamped. The U-boat surfaced about 2000 yards away and fired about 35 rounds from the deck gun, hitting 25 times and causing the ship to sink after two hours. The Germans questioned the survivors offered medical supplies, food and water and then left the area. Two boats made landfall after three days in Richards Bay, South Africa. Another boat reached Cape St. Lucia, while the fourth landed five days after the attack at Cuanalonbi Beach, South Africa.

CHINA: General Chennault is promoted and his command is designated the US 14th Air Force. The establishment of the Fourteenth Air Force was opposed by both General George C. Marshall, Chief of Stafff, U.S. Army, and General Henry H. "Hap" Arnold, Commanding General, USAAF. Chennault disliked his subordination to the Tenth Air Force and there was friction between General Bissell, CG of the Tenth Air Force and Chennault. The one thing going for Chennault was that he enjoyed the special confidence of Chiang Kai-shek and the Chinese people. The Generalissimo had been disappointed by failure of the Americans to place a larger air force in China, and he was suspicious of British influence over the India-based Tenth Air Force. Chiang Kai-shek also wanted to resurrect the Chinese Air Force which had few if any aircraft.

So Chiang Kai-skek wrote a "Dear Franklin" letter to President Roosevelt and FDR talked to Marshall and the Generalissimo and Chennault got their own air force. The problem was that until the Burma Road was reopened, the Air Transport Command, and any other aircraft that could be obtained or detailed, had to fly all of the fuel, parts, etc. into China over "The Hump" which was one of the most dangerous routes in the world.

Washington: The House of Representatives votes to continue the Lend-Lease scheme.

Submarine USS Apogon launched.

Submarine USS Tilefish laid down.

Destroyer USS Stoddard laid down.

Frigate USS Tacoma laid down.

Destroyer escorts USS Dionne and Cabana launched.

Destroyer USS Daly commissioned.

CARIBBEAN SEA: At 0909, U-185 attacked Convoy KG-123 for a second time SE of Guantanamo Bay and torpedoed the James Sprunt on her maiden voyage in station #42. The ship had shifted out of position between the third and fourth columns. One torpedo struck the vessel and caused her cargo to explode, the ship completely disappeared in 30 seconds. The blast went straight up and sent debris over the entire convoy and was so large that a ship 40 miles away witnessed it. None of the eight officers, 36 crewmen and 25 armed guards (the ship was armed with one 5in and nine 20mm guns) survived. Previously U-185 had sunk steam tanker Virginia Sinclair, which suffered 7 deaths.

HMC ML 072 and 081 damaged when ammunition ship SS James Sprunt blew up when torpedoed by U-185 off Cape Maysi, Cuba, The explosion was approximately twice the magnitude of the 6 Dec 1917 at Halifax.

ATLANTIC OCEAN: U-633 (Type VIIC) Left Kiel, Germany on 20 Feb, 1943. Last radio message received on 3 March, 1943. Sunk today in the North Atlantic, position 58.51N, 19.55W, by ramming from the British merchant SS Scorton. 43 dead (all hands lost). (Alex Gordon)

At 2126, the lead ship of the Andrea F. Luckenbach's column in the HX-228, the Tucurinca was torpedoed and sunk by U-221. Five minutes later, immediately after lookouts spotted the periscope two FAT torpedoes from the same U-boat hit the ship. The first struck on the port side about 90 feet forward of the stern post and caused the after magazine to explode. The after end of the ship was blown off, destroying the after gun platform and killing the ten armed guards on station. The second torpedo hit just forward of the first and the majority of the nine officers, 46 men, 28 armed guards (the ship was armed with one 4in, one 3in and eight 20mm guns) and one passenger (US Army officer) immediately abandoned ship in two lifeboats. Others jumped overboard and swam to the boats, the rafts and wreckage. The Armed guard officer gave his life jacket to a seaman who did not have one, but the officer could not swim and was unable to reach a lifeboat after he jumped overboard and drowned. The Andrea F. Luckenbach sank within seven minutes. In just over an hour RFA Orangeleaf rescued 17 armed guards, nine officers, 37 men and the passenger and landed them at Clyde, Scotland.

At 2131, SS Lawton B. Evans in Convoy HX-228 was probably slightly damaged by dud torpedo from U-221 and reached the Clyde safely. SS

At 0104, U-229 fired a torpedo at Convoy SC-121 south of Reykjavik, followed by a spread of two torpedoes at 0105 and reported two ships sunk and another damaged. In fact, the Nailsea Court was sunk and Coulmore, which was damaged and managed to reach port safely. At 1115 the same day, the U-boat attacked the convoy a second time in grid AL 2622, heard detonations after 2 minutes 45 seconds and 4 minutes 15 seconds and reported one ship damaged and another probably damaged. No ship was hit at this time, but the British steam merchant Scorton in station #52 saw one torpedo that missed. The master, 33 crewmembers, nine gunners and two passengers from the Nailsea Court were lost. One crewmember was picked up by the British rescue ship Melrose Abbey and landed at Gourock on 13 March. Three crewmembers were rescued by HMCS Dauphin and landed at Londonderry on 13 March.

At 0926, U-255 fired a spread of three torpedoes at Convoy RA-53 in grid AB 5939 (72°44N/11°27E) and heard two detonations. The Executive was sunk and Richard Bland was damaged, but five days later finished off by the same U-boat. The Richard Bland was struck on the starboard side by the third torpedo at the #1 hold. The torpedo did not explode, passed through the ship and went out the port side, creating holes of eight foot on either side. It cracked the deck and ruptured the collision bulkhead and flooded the forepeak tank, causing a starboard list. The ship remained with the convoy with only a slightly reduced speed but on the night of 6 March straggled from the convoy due gale force winds and rough seas and proceeded towards Iceland. At 1636, U-255 found the Richard Bland about 35 miles off Langanes, Iceland and fired a spread of three torpedoes, but only one torpedo struck on the port side at the #4 hatch. At 1647, a second torpedo hit on the port side at the fireroom, bending the propeller shaft, flooding the #4 and #5 holds. Soon after the torpedo hit, the ship broke in two just forward of the bridge. A coup de grâce at 16.56 hours missed, but another at 2107 apparently hit the stern section, which sank at 2203. The forward section was towed to Akureyri, Iceland where the ship was declared a total loss. After the first hit, the master ordered two weather boats launched, each carrying four men, and they rode at their painters until time to abandon ship. In attempting to pass these boats around the ship, the painters were lost and the boats drifted astern. The remaining men of the nine officers, 32 crewmen and 26 armed guards (the ship was armed with one 4in, one 12lb, eight 20mm, two .50cal and two .30cal guns) had to abandon ship in two lifeboats after the second hit in rough seas. One overcrowded boat got away with only inches of freeboard, many clung to the side until they lost strength and drowned. The boat of the master is thought to have swamped and was never seen again. 27 survivors in the overcrowded boat were picked up after 13 hours by HMS Impulsive and landed at Seydisfjord, Iceland on 13 March. The two boats launched with four men in each were picked up the same morning; four of them landed at Reykjavik on 16 March and the others were taken to Scapa Flow. The master, five officers, 13 crewmen and 17 armed guards were lost.

UNITED KINGDOM: Scotland: Convoy RA-57, returning from Russia, arrives safely in Loch Ewe having lost one ship, sunk three U-boats and damaged two others.

EIRE: Dublin: Diplomatic "spies" in Eire endanger the lives of US troops awaiting orders to liberate Europe, the US told Dublin on 21 February; it urged the expulsion of Axis diplomats. Today Eire formally rejected the request, saying it would be "the first step to war". But the Irish say a radio transmitter at the German legation has been silenced.

GERMANY: Mauthausen: Adolf Eichmann">Eichmann and his team meet to organize the deportation of Hungary's Jews to Auschwitz-Birkenau.

U.S.S.R.: Polar Fleet and White Sea Flotilla: (Sergey Anisimov)(69)Submarine loss. "S-54" - unknown case, at Berlevog Harbor area.

Kiev: The Red Army has made another breakthrough, the third in a week, in the Ukraine. On the whole 500-mile front, from the approaches to the Dnieper estuary north to Tarnopol, von Manstein's Army Group South is in flight, desperately trying to avoid being encircled. The Wehrmacht, bogged down in the black Ukrainian mud, is abandoning arms and equipment in its flight. The Russians claim to have captured 200 Tiger and Panther tanks among the booty.

The new breakthrough was made by Konev's Second Ukrainian Front, which as torn a hole 110 miles wide and 40 miles deep in German lines. A Pravda report says that "it seems incredible that the army could advance one step in this flooded terrain, but it has reached that superlative point at which all obstacles are powerless to halt it."

U-343 sunk in the Mediterranean south of Sardinia, in position 38.07N, 09.41E, by depth charges from ASW trawler HMS Mull. 51 dead (all hands lost).

U-450 sunk in the western Mediterranean south of Ostia, in position 41.11N, 12.27E, by depth charges from escort destroyers HMS Blankney, Blencathra, Brecon and Exmoor and destroyer USS Madison. 42 survivors (No casualties).

BURMA:Air Commando I flew no missions from March 9th to 11th 1944 Finally got a couple of days off. No notes of what we did, but when we got any kind of a break at all, it was time to wash clothes, try to scrounge some 10-in one rations to get away from the constant diet of Spam and Vienna sausages. One time a crew chief and I got one of our aircraft life rafts and took it to a nearby lake in an attempt to grenade some fish. The grenades had been left behind by our Chindits when they loaded into the gliders taking off from Hailakandi on the 5th. We did get a few fish but found the lake had its share of leeches which put an end to our fishing expedition. (Chuck Baisden)

U.S.A.: The motion picture "The Fighting Seabees" is released in the U.S. The war drama, supposedly about the U.S. Navy's Construction Battalions (Seabees), is directed by Edward Ludwig and stars John Wayne, Susan Hayward, Dennis O'Keefe and William Frawley. The film was nominated for one Academy Award.

Escort carrier USS Takanis Bay launched.

Escort carrier USS Matankikau laid down.

Minesweeper USS Magnet commissioned.

Destroyer USS Ingraham commissioned.

ATLANTIC OCEAN: U-845 (type IXC/40) is sunk, in position 48.20N, 20.33W, by depth charges from the British destroyer HMS Forester, the Canadian destroyer HMCS St Laurent, the corvette HMCS Owensound and the frigate HMCS Swansea. 10 dead and 45 survivors. KKpt Weber was among those lost in the action. The attacking ships were part of Escort Groups C-1 and EG-9, which had been sent to support Convoy SC-154. U-845, who had conducted one unsuccessful attack, surfaced astern of the convoy to recharge batteries and to reposition for further attacks. St Laurent sighted her at 1647, who closed at high speed and forced the U-boat to submerge. U-845’s batteries had been depleted to 60-percent, which placed her at a major disadvantage. A prolonged series of attacks lasted until 22 -34 when the submarine re-surfaced and attempted to disengage. Weber made many innovative attempts to evade but was thwarted by ideal acoustic conditions and bright moonlight. A running gun battle ensued that resulted in the sinking of the submarine at 23 -38. St Laurent expended 119 rounds of 4.7-inch and 1,440 rounds of 20-mm ammunition. KKpt Weber was killed by gunfire.

U-625 (type VIIC) is sunk west of Ireland, in position 52.35N, 20.19W, by depth charges from a Canadian 422 Sqn Sunderland aircraft (RCAF Sqdn. 422/U). 53 dead (all hands lost). U-625 was engaged in operations against the 30-ship Halifax to Liverpool convoy SC-154 when she was attacked on the surface in the late afternoon. The submarine dove as she was attacked but resurfaced three minutes later and the crew abandoned the boat. A signal was sent by lamp to the aircraft from the survivors in their life raft that read "Nice bombing." SC-154 arrived in Liverpool on 15 Mar 44 with all of its ships intact.

UNITED KINGDOM: London: Unease appears to be growing in Britain and America about the air raids which devastated Dresden last month. Concern has been expressed in the House of Commons, while some US newspapers have echoed the German accusation that it was "terror bombing". In order to counter this criticism, the authorities here are arguing that the city was an important rail junction and as such was a key centre for organizing German resistance to the Red Army. Nevertheless there is a strong feeling, particularly among British church leaders, that at this stage of the war such destruction and the death of so many civilians cannot be justified.

ENGLISH CHANNEL: U-275 (type ) is sunk south of Newhaven, in position 50.36N, 00.04E, by a mine. 48 dead (all hands lost).

U-681 (type VIIC) is sunk at 0930hrs west of Isles of Scilly, in position 49.52.433N, 06.38.633W, by depth charges from a US Liberator aircraft (VPB-103). 11 dead and 38 survivors. The boat struck a rock while submerged near the Bishop Rock and was forced to surface and was then attacked by the Liberator aircraft. It sank roughly 4 miles to the north-east of the Isles of Scilly.

NORTH SEA: Minesweeping trawler KNM Nordhav II torpedoed and sunk by U-714 off Dundee, Scotland. 6 of the crew went down with the ship with 17 survivors.

GERMANY: The Allied Line is on the West bank of the Rhine from Koblenz north.

The Germans destroy the Wessel Bridge on the River Rhine . (Michael Ballard)

Berlin: Hitler retires von Rundstedt, who alienated him by correctly predicting disaster in the Ardennes, from his post of C-in-C West.

German Field Marshal Albert Kesselring arrives from Italy to take command of the Western Front.

JAPAN: Tokyo: In an awesome firebombing attack, US B-29 Superfortresses last night gutted 15 square miles of closely-packed industrial areas in Tokyo, killing 83,793 people and wounding 40,918. The death toll could even be as many as 130,000; certainly around one million are homeless, and 267,171 buildings have been destroyed in the most destructive and lethal air raid of the war so far, anywhere in the world. 279 of 325 bombers attacked, led in over Tokyo by B-29 Pathfinders at 300mph, dropping a total of 1,665 tons of fire bombs. Bright flashes lit up the sky as the incendiaries fell. Fanned by a stiffening breeze the fires which blossomed in the flimsy wood-and-plaster buildings spread quickly into a giant inferno.

In order to ensure bombing accuracy the B-29s had to fly at low altitudes between 4,900ft and 9,200ft where they were vulnerable to Japanese AA guns and night fighters. However, surprise and the inadequacy of Japan's defences resulted in only 14 B-29s being lost. The catastrophic raid has had a profound affect on Japanese morale. The dead are piled high on bridges and roads, and in canals.

Air forces leaders see, in the enormous destruction thus wreaked, evidence that the Japanese could be forced to surrender without the need for a ground invasion and the resulting carnage. It has confirmed the views of backers of strategic bombing.

Japan declares Vietnam to be independent. This increases the anti-colonial feeling that would leave the region war-torn for the next quarter century... A legacy of WWII. (Michael Ballard)

MALAYA - (Mission 43) Twenty-four of 29 40th BG B-29's attack marshalling yards at Kuala Lumpur with 100 tons of bombs; one of the B-29's drops over half of its bombs at Alor Star Airfield and another attacks a freighter in the channel leading to Port Swettenham; and three B-29's attack Khao Huakhang Thailand.

On the Villa Verde Trail, Luzon, Pfc Thomas E. Atkins, US Army, Company A, 127th Infantry, 32d Infantry Division, fights with such gallantry repelling an attack by two companies of Japanese infantry that he is later awarded the Medal of Honor. (Drew Philip Halévy)

Navy and civilian nurses interned at Los Banos, Philippines flown back to US. Navy nurses awarded Bronze Star.

ATLANTIC OCEAN: The unescorted SS Baron Jedburgh was torpedoed and sunk by U-532 NE of Bahia. One gunner was lost. The master, 52 crewmembers and five gunners were rescued - On 22 March, the master and 32 survivors landed at Cabedello, Brazil. The remaining 25 survivors were picked up on 16 March by the British SS Sandown Castle and landed at Montevideo ten days later.