20 March 1939

March 20th, 1939 (MONDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: In the House of Lords, the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Lord Halifax, says that the German occupation of Czechoslovakia was "a complete repudiation of the Munich Agreement and a denial of the spirit in which the negotiators of that agreement bound themselves to co-operate for a peaceful settlement." More....

Naval Research Lab recommends financing research program to obtain power from uranium.

GERMANY: Hitler demands that the district of Memel in Lithuania be returned to Germany. Memel in former East Prussia, with 160,000 inhabitants, was given to Lithuania in the aftermath of the First World War after the Memel convention of 1924.

20 March 1940

March 20th, 1940 (WEDNESDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: RAF Coastal Command: German bombers attacking convoys driven off in consort with aircraft of Fleet Air Arm and warships.

The prototype Armstrong Whitworth Albermarle reconnaissance bomber (P1360) makes its maiden flight.(22)

FRANCE: Prime Minister Edouard Daladier is forced to resign; he has been criticized for failing to effectively help the Finns. In France this has been seen as a way for the Allies to seize the initiative in the war and take the fighting away from French soil and, by association, avoid all the horrors of World War I.

GERMANY: Berlin: An amiable civil engineer who built Germany's autobahns has been given the job of mobilising all available manpower, including the conquered Poles and Czechs, to work in the munitions factories of the Reich. Dr Fritz Todt, said by foreigners who have met him to be the most likeable of the leading Nazis, becomes Minister for Armaments and Munitions; he will be the biggest employer of labour in Germany, and will control the allocation of scarce raw materials.

Todt's labour battalions built the massive Siegfried Line opposite the Maginot Line and have recently been working on the construction of an Ostwall opposite the Stalin Line in the east.

U.S.S.R.: Moscow: Russia warns of its opposition to an alliance of Scandinavian countries in the belief that it would be hostile.

ITALY: President Roosevelt's envoy, Sumner Welles, sails from Genoa, ending his efforts on behalf of the US to end the war.

SYRIA: Aleppo: Allied air force staffs meet to agree on their plans for a bombing raid on the Soviet oil fields.

CANADA: Corvette HMCS Napanee laid down.

U.S.A.: The U.S. Ambassador to Brazil, Jefferson Caffery, reports to Secretary of State Cordell Hull that the Brazilian government's protesting HMS Dorsetshire's stopping SS Wakama on 12 February had not pleased the British. The British maintained that they were protecting Brazilian commerce. "Indeed you are not," the Brazilian Minister for Foreign Affairs Oswaldo Aranha retorts, "you are definitely not protecting our commerce by maintaining your warships off our coast. It is apparent to me that your blockade of Germany is plainly ineffective. If it were effective, you could stop the German boats [sic] on the other side before they entered German ports."

ATLANTIC OCEAN: Home Fleet battlecruisers to the north of the Shetlands cover a cruiser sweep into the Skagerrak. As they do, screening destroyer HMS Fortune sinks U-44.

20 March 1941

March 20th, 1941 (THURSDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM:

RAF Bomber Command: 2 Group: While attacking a convoy off France one aircraft of 82 Sqn. and its crew are lost.

Telegram from Admiralty to C-in-C Mediterranean:
A. Argus is embarking 2 Skuas and 12 Hurricanes for Malta.
B. These are to transferred to Ark Royal at Gibraltar.
C. A signal will follow giving ... flying-off plan from long. 6 degrees 30 minutes east.

Plymouth: The King and Queen spent the day in Plymouth as guests of Lord Mayor Waldorf Astor and his wife, Lady Nancy Astor, MP. They talked to citizens, visited headquarters of various services, inspected defenses, and made a tour of the city. After tea with the Astors at their home at 3 Elliot Terrace, the King and Queen left on a train at 6 p.m. As they were boarding, the alert sounded. Nobody paid much attention, because until then Plymouth had only seen occasional bomb damage.

At 8:30 p.m., the Astors and their remaining guests, including Robert Menzies, Australian Prime Minister, heard the guns start. After a bomb smashed the whole of one side of the street, an air raid warden ordered everybody into basements, where the party spent the rest of the night. An incendiary bomb fell on the roof, and everybody started going up and down the stairs to dump sandbags on it. Most of the central city was destroyed.

What was left of the city centre was destroyed the next night. Heavy raids continued until October.

Some reporter asked Lady Astor on March 21 what was the strangest sight she saw during the raid. She said she saw very little because she was in the basement most of the time, but once on the stairs she looked out a window: "At the height of the raid I saw a man who walked along calmly exercising two dogs." (58)(Carter Jefferson)

Minesweeping trawler HMS Romeo launched.

Minesweeping trawler HMS Juliet commissioned.

GERMANY: Daily Keynote from the Reich Press Chief:

The remarks of Colonel Lindbergh stating that the United States has barely as many combat-ready aircraft as Germany produces in a single week, would (we are told) lend itself well to commentary by the German press and the translating and interpreting service.

Berlin:

Hitler appoints Alfred Rosenberg "Delegate for Central Planning for Questions of the Eastern European Area."

YUGOSLAVIA: In a meeting of the Royal Council it becomes clear that the regent, Prince Paul, is ready to agree to Hitler's demand that Yugoslavia join the Tripartite Pact and allow free passage of German troops across the country. Four ministers resign in protest.

U.S.S.R.: Moscow: General F I Golikov, chief of army intelligence, assures Stalin that while Britain remains undefeated, Hitler will never attack the USSR.

LIBYA: Australian troops begin an assault on Giarabub, 140 miles (225 kilometres) south of Bardia.

BRITISH SOMALILAND: The small British force that landed at Berbera on 16 March and elements of the 11th African Division meet at Hargeisa near the Ethiopian border.

AUSTRALIA: A US Naval squadron comprising two cruisers and five destroyers pays a visit to Australia and New Zealand. It is commanded by Admiral Newton who, at a dinner given by the Commonwealth government to himself and his officers, declared that the US was behind Britain and her dominions in their great fight for freedom. American sailors and marines who marched through Sydney followed by detachments of militia and the Royal Australian Air Force, receive a tremendous welcome from the people of the city.

This was Vice Admiral John H Newton, Jr, then Commander, Cruisers, Scouting Force, Pacific Fleet. Apparently, the voyage was quite hush-hush at the US end; I had no idea the Australians "blew the cover" by public festivities. The voyage was not covered by the American press. (Marc Small)

CANADA: Patrol vessels HMCS Leelo and Moolock ordered.

Minesweepers HMCS Truro and Digby laid down.

U.S.A.: A Gallup poll published today shows that 17% of the people would vote for war, and that 83% would vote to stay out.

Acting Secretary of State Sumner Welles meets with the Soviet Ambassador Oumansky. In a report on the meeting, Welles writes, “The Ambassador asked if I had any further information in confirmation of what I stated to him secretly in our last interview, namely, that this Government believed that Germany was planning to attack the Soviet Union. I said that I had additional information in confirmation of that report.”

Sabotage discovered on Italian vessel at Wilmington, North Carolina. Coast Guard investigated all Italian and German vessels in American ports and took 28 Italian (27 damaged). 2 German (1 damaged) and 35 undamaged Danish vessels into protective custody, 850 Italian and 63 German officers and crew were imprisoned. Two months later these vessels were requisitioned by order of Congress for the Latin American trade.

TERRITORY OF HAWAII: Admiral Bloch states in a letter that the depth of water at Pearl Harbor is 45 feet, and for that and other reasons, he does not recommend anti-torpedo baffles. CinCPac agrees, until such time as a light efficient net is developed. (Al Nofi from this website http://www.ibiblio.org/pha/pha/narrative/07.html.)

ATLANTIC OCEAN: HMS Malaya is now with convoy SL68 off the west coast of Africa. Torpedoed and damaged by U-106, she becomes the first British ship repaired in the United States under Lend-Lease arrangements. The convoy loses seven merchantmen to the U-boats.

Tug HMS Sir Bevois lost; cause unknown.

20 March 1942

March 20th, 1942 (FRIDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: A report submitted by Major General Ira C Eaker in compliance with Major General James E Chaney's instructions of 25 February indicates completion of studies of RAF Bomber Command operations and of airfields, training, tactical doctrine, equipment, and methods of conducting air offensive in cooperation with the RAF. The report also indicates much dependence upon the British for the present but emphasizes the apparent compatibility of the tactical doctrines of the US (daylight precision bombing) and RAF (night area bombing), and implies the principle of coordinating these attacks to complement each other.

FRANCE: Paris: Jean Dumaine is arrested as he climbs into the express to Monte Carlo with a Jew whom he was getting through into the free zone. A large sum of money was confiscated from him, as well as the stamps he used for faking forged passports for his friends. (1)

GERMANY: RAF Bomber Command dispatches 13 Manchesters and six Lancasters on daylight minelaying in the Frisian Islands; only 11 aircraft reached the correct area. Two Wellingtons on a mission to Essen returned because of lack of cloud. There are no losses.

U.S.S.R.: Sebastopol: A counter-attack by the German 22 Panzer Division fails when it marches into a Soviet assembly area and is destroyed. The Soviet offensive at Kerch in the Crimea is defeated by the Germans with heavy losses to the Soviets.

Russian Government announced one year extension of Soviet-Japanese fisheries agreement.

MEDITERRANEAN SEA: The Second Battle of Sirte. Four merchant ships carrying 26,000 tons of supplies sail from Alexandria at dawn for Malta, to supply food and munitions to the besieged island. Its escort, commanded by Rear Admiral Sir Phillip Vian, consisting of five light cruisers HMS Cleopatra, Dido, Euryalus and Penelope, the antiaircraft light cruiser HMS Carlisle and 18 destroyers faces opposition from the entire Italian Mediterranean Fleet. The sailing is reported to Axis forces by spies.

At 1054, whilst making an anti-submarine sweep ahead of convoy MW.10, destroyer HMS Heythrop is torpedoed and sunk by U-652. A tow is attempted but Heythrop sinks 5 hours later East of Tobruk at 32 22N 25 28E. There are 15 survivors. (Alex Gordon)(108)

MALTA: With its fighter defence force reduced to fewer than 30 Hurricanes, and anti-aircraft ammunition in desperately short supply, Malta is clearly being "softened up" for invasion.

Malta has been under continuous attack since 22 December, with "alerts" lasting as long as 13 hours and as many as 16 alarms in the course of 24 hours. Heavy rains have frequently made the two grass airstrips unserviceable.

The tiny island took the full brunt of the Luftwaffe today. Wave after wave of Ju88s with fighter escorts - a total of 143 aircraft - braved the fierce Malta barrage, attacking the three airfields and the harbour area.

LIBYA: Complying with the request of 8 March for offensive action to divert the enemy's attention from a Malta-bound convoy, the British Eighth Army raids landing grounds in the Derna and Benghazi areas after nightfall.

INDIA: Minesweeper INS Punjab commissioned.

BURMA: Japanese troops, reinforced by the 18th and 56th Division which had arrived by sea at Rangoon a few days earlier, attack the Chinese 6th Army near Toungoo.

JAPAN: Tokyo: The navy minister, Admiral Shimada, says that in view of the Allies' "retaliation and hatred", Japan will no longer follow the recognized rules of sea warfare.

COMMONWEALTH OF THE PHILIPPINES: Major General Jonathan Wainwright learns that he has been promoted to the rank of Lieutenant General and that Washington has placed him in command of all U.S. Forces in the Philippines (USFIP).

AUSTRALIA: Japanese Mitsubishi G4M, Navy Type 1 Attack Bombers (later assigned the Allied Code Name Betty), attack the Broome Airfield, Western Australia, at high altitude. There are a number of craters off the end of the strip and in the tidal flats; one aboriginal is killed by a bomb splinter but no other casualties or damage was caused.

CANADA: Corvette HMCS Vancouver commissioned.

U.S.A.: The "Plan for Initiation of U.S. Army Bombardment Operations in the British Isles" further elaborates previous USAAF plans outlining the intention of launching strategic bombardment from the U.K. against facilities supporting German national, economic, and industrial structure.

The South Dakota Class battleship, USS South Dakota (BB-57), is commissioned at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Submarine USS Scorpion laid down.

Light cruiser USS Birmingham launched.

Destroyers USS McCalla and Lardner launched.

Submarine USS Growler commissioned.

ATLANTIC OCEAN: An unarmed U.S. tanker is shelled by German submarine U-71 about 430 miles (692 kilometres) east of Norfolk, Virginia, U.S.A. and abandoned; U-71 then torpedoes the tanker and shells her until she sinks.

20 March 1943

March 20th, 1943 (SATURDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: Despite the successes achieved by U-boats in battles now raging in the Atlantic a new radio-location system has raised Allied hopes of improving their ability to attack enemy submarines. The new system, known as ASV III, operates outside the Metox radio-location detectors which enabled U-boats to avoid aircraft fitted with earlier ASV II systems. ASV III has been fitted to bombers of 172 Squadron, based at Chivenor, Devon, and is being used over the Bay of Biscay.

Minesweeper HMS Rinaldo launched.

GERMANY: Berlin: A second attempt by army officers to assassinate Hitler fails. Colonel Rudolf von Gersdorff's plan to blow himself up with the Führer at a show of weapons captured from the Russians is foiled when Hitler leaves the exhibition before the bomb can be detonated.

TUNISIA: The New Zealand Division reaches the Tebaga Gap in Tunisa. Bombardment begins in the attack on the Mareth Line.

True to form, General Montgomery made no attempt to follow up his success at Medenine. The Mareth Line was his objective, and no one doubted that this was going to be a tough nut to crack. The line was built by the French - against the Italians in Libya - and consists of minefields, anti-tank ditches, barbed wire and carefully concealed artillery positions stretching from the sea to the Matmata Hills in the south.

As the American II Corps, now led by the attack minded Lieutenant-General George Patton Jr, attacks in the north to draw off Axis reserves and 27,000 New Zealanders and 200 tanks make a lengthy outflanking move, Montgomery began his frontal assault today. He is taking a leaf from Alamein, using infantry - three divisions of Lieutenant-General Sir Oliver Leese's XXX Corps - to create a gap for X Corps under Lieutenant-General Brian Horrocks.

Although the infantry has succeeded in getting a foothold in the enemy lines, the tanks have been baulked by mines and the soft going of the Wadi Zigzaou. The infantry, concentrated in a relatively small area, is coming under heavy fire from German artillery. As dusk falls over Mareth, Montgomery is preparing a fresh attack.

Lt-Col. Derek Anthony Seagrim (b.1903), Green Howards, led his battalion with great valour in combat which led to the capture of a key objective. (Victoria Cross)

PACIFIC OCEAN: During the night of 20/21 March, 40 US Marine Corps and Navy Grumman TBF Avengers drop forty 1,600-pound (730 kg) antishipping mines in the southern Bougainville area of Buin-Tonolei. The Thirteenth Air Force dispatches 18 B-17s and B-24s to hit Kahili Airfield on Bougainville in a diversionary strike.

CANADA: HMCS Griffin renamed HMCS Ottawa.

U.S.A.: The United States offers to act as an agent between Soviet Union and Finland in preparing the peace. (Gene Hanson)

New Haven, Connecticut: The Big Band leader and Captain in the United States Army Air Force, Alton G. "Glenn" Miller, creates a special 50-member band, the 418th Army Air Force Band. Their post duties include reveille, taps, march, retreat and entertainment.

Destroyer escort USS Breeman laid down.

Destroyer escorts USS Marchand and Fogg launched.

Destroyers USS Ammen and Dashiell commissioned.

Submarine USS Billfish commissioned.

Destroyer escort USS Edgar G Chase commissioned.

20 March 1944

March 20th, 1944 (MONDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: The Ninth Air Force's 67th Tactical Reconnaissance Group completes a series of 83 missions begun on 23 February during which photographs were made of 160 miles (260 km) of the French coastline and two inshore strips, all in preparation for the Normandy invasion. A total over 9,500 prints are produced; no aircraft were lost during this operation.

Rescue tug HMS Freedom commissioned.

ITALY: Cassino: The new commander of the Canadian 1 Corps, Lt-Gen Eedson Burns - better known to his troops as "Smiling Sunray" because of his dour, unchanging manner - is a formidable intellectual and the complete antithesis of his predecessor, Lt-Gen Henry Crerar. The outgoing, dynamic Crerar has left for Britain where he will join General Montgomery in D-Day planning. Burns, who is inexperienced in tank warfare, commanded the 5th Canadian Armoured Division, part of Canadian I Corps.

U.S.S.R.: Another Russian advance in the Ukraine gives the Germans little chance for concentrating for a defence.

The Red Army captures Mogilev-Podolski and Vinnitsa, key bases in the Ukraine.

ALGERIA: Algiers: Pierre Pucheu, the former Vichy interior minister found guilty of treason, is shot.

BURMA: Air Commando Combat Mission N0.33 2:55 Flight time Hailakandi to Indaw Lake, Burma. Reached objective around 1600 hours. Caught fifteen Japanese trucks loaded with troops on a road just west of town. Road was in a narrow defile. Blocked first and last trucks in convoy with .75mm shell fire and went into our gunnery/bombing pattern. Completely destroyed convoy with machine gun, cannon and frag bombs. Also located five locomotives, damaging 2 and blowing the boilers out of 3.

Notes: Our primary objective was the locomotives on the Burma railway and we just happened to catch the convoy by accident. A target of opportunity causing some 300 casualties and a 36 hour lull in Japanese resistance. Expended the entire ready rack of .75 mm shells (21) plus several I had stashed away on our cockpit floor. (Chuck Baisden)

SOLOMON ISLANDS: On Bougainville Island the Japanese ground forces mount their last major thrust to break into the American perimeter. The ground attack is broken by by artillery fire from U.S. Army units.

BISMARK ARCHIPELAGO: A US Marine Corps infantry regiment lands on Emirau Island in the St. Mathias Islands without opposition. Supporting the invasion are aircraft of Task Force 36 from:

Task Unit 36.1.5, the Air Support Force Carrier Unit, consisting of:
USS Enterprise (CV-6) with Carrier Air Group Ten (CVG-10), and
USS Belleau Wood (CVL-24) with Light Carrier Air Group Twenty Four (CVLG-24).

Task Unit 36.3.1, the Air Support Force Escort Carrier Support Unit, consisting of:
USS Coral Sea (CVE-57) with Composite Squadron Thirty Three (VC-33), and
USS Corregidor (CVE-58) with VC-41.

Aircraft from Task Group 36.3, the Air Support Force Air Support Group, support the landing by attacking Kavieng on New Ireland Island. The carriers of TG 36.3 are:
USS Manila Bay (CVE-61) with VC-7, and
USS Natoma Bay (CVE-62) with VC-63).

CANADA: Frigate HMCS Strathadam launched.

U.S.A.:

Corvette HMCS Hepatica arrived New York City for refit.

Destroyer escort USS Rolf laid down.

Destroyer minelayer USS Adams laid down.

Destroyer escort USS Haas launched.

Destroyers USS Preston and Blue commissioned.

Destroyer escorts USS Mason and Dennis commissioned.

20 March 1945

March 20th, 1945 (TUESDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: Peace in Europe will signal a two-year period of national housing emergency in Britain. The coalition government announced today that the first aim is a seperate home for every family wanting one. This will mean that 750,000 new dwellings will be needed. Pre-war slum clearance schemes will be revived and accelerated with plans for another 500,000 homes. The government is to give hundreds of thousands of building workers priority release from the forces after the war.

FRANCE: Paris: FRANCE signs an economic pact with the Benelux countries.

GERMANY: The German bridgehead over the Oder River at Altdawn is eliminated by the Russians.

Brandenberg, East Prussia falls to the Russians.

General Heinrici is appointed to command the Army Group Vistula succeeding Himmler. Guderian had made the suggestion to Hitler.

Saarbrücken and Zweibrücken fall to General Patch's forces.

AUSTRIA: 760+ Fifteenth Air Force B-17s and B-24s hit targets including Korneuburg and Kagran oil refineries; marshalling yards at Wels, Sankt Polten, Amstetten, Wierner-Neustadt and Klagenfurt; and tank works at Steyr.

BURMA: Mandalay: The town has fallen. Churchill says "Thank God we have got a place whose name we can pronounce."

The city was taken by the 19th Indian Division under Major-General Peter Rees, the five-foot "Pocket Napoleon". Three weeks ago the division, which had deliberately drawn the 15th and 33rd Japanese divisions on itself at its Irrawaddy bridgehead to facilitate the 17th Indian Division's attack on Meiktila, began its southward march down the road to Mandalay.

"Act boldly and go fast while the going is good," Rees briefed his commanders, "and take risks". By 7 March they had reached Powa Taung, within sight of Mandalay Hill and its wreath of temples.

The division reached the suburbs on 9 March, the 4/4 Gurkhas and the Royal Berkshires taking the top of Mandalay Hill after ferocious fighting with swords, kukris, bayonets and grenades in the subterranean vaults of the Buddhist temples. In the ten days that followed every inch of street and historic wall was fought over. Finally, after crushing air attacks, the garrison slipped out yesterday.

JAPAN: Japanese Imperial General Headquarters has determined that troops of the Soviet Union are being transferred to the Far East. Headquarters notifies subordinate commands that there is a new plan for the defence of the Homeland, i.e., KETSU-GO or Operation Decision.

After attacking targets in Japan for two days, Task Force 58 begins withdrawing. Japanese aircraft attack all day. At 1454 hours, a kamikaze just misses the aircraft carrier USS Hancock (CV-19) and hits an accompanying destroyer. At 1626 hours, the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise (CV-6) is hit by friendly AA fire during an attack by 18 Navy Type 1 Attack Bombers (Allied Code Name "Betty") plus another 30 aircraft. Some of the "Bettys" are carrying Yokosuka MXY7 Navy Suicide Attacker Ohka (Cherry Blossom) (Allied Code Name "Baka"). This is the first time the "Bakas" have been seen byUSNcarrier pilots.

BONIN ISLANDS: Iwo Jima: The USAAF 549th Night Fighter Squadron arrives on the island.

PACIFIC OCEAN: The US submarine Kete (SS-369), commanded by Edward Ackerman, is listed as missing between Okinawa and Midway. The probable cause of loss is by Japanese submarine. All hands are lost. (Joe Sauder)

CANADA: Tug HMCS Glendyne launched Owen Sound, Ontario.

U.S.A.:

Escort carrier USS Tinian laid down.

Aircraft carrier USS Midway launched.

Destroyer USS Myles C Fox commissioned.

ATLANTIC OCEAN: U-683 listed as missing in the North Atlantic after today south-west of Ireland or in the English Channel. 49 dead (all hands lost). Probably sunk 12 March, 1945 in the English Channel near Land's End, in position 49.52N, 05.52W, by depth charges from the British frigate MS Loch Ruthwen and the sloop Wild Goose. (Alex Gordon)

Whilst escorting convoy JW.65 on its approach to Kola Inlet, sloop HMS Lapwing takes a hit from a Zaunkönig fired by U-968 (Oberleutnant Otto Westphalen) which causes her to break into halves and sink 20 minutes later. (Alex Gordon)(108)

Frigates HMCS Beacon Hill, Sussexvale, New Glasgow and Ribble sailed from Londonderry for training at Loch Alsh. After the group passed the Foyle buoy it, formed up, a mile apart and zigzagging independently, making about fourteen knots with CAT gear streamed. A periscope and schnorkel were visible on New Glasgow's port bow, action stations were sounded and a shallow depth-charge pattern was ordered however, it was too late. The U-boat struck New Glasgow just below the bridge. Subsequent searches by EG 26, C-4 and EG 25 failed to reveal U-1003.

In the afternoon, U-968 attacked Convoy JW-65 and reported a destroyer and a Liberty sunk and another Liberty ship torpedoed. In fact, sloop HMS Lapwing of the 7th Escort Group and Liberty ship Thomas Donaldson were sunk. HMS Lapwing was hit amidships at 1325 and sank 20 minutes later.

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