26 March 1939

March 26th, 1939 (SUNDAY)

U.S.A.: First flight of the Cessna T-50 later named the Bobcat.

GERMANY: Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop tells the Polish Ambassador to Germany, Jozef Lipski, that “any violation of Danzig territory by Polish troops would be regarded as aggression against the Reich.”

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26 March 1940

Yesterday Tomorrow

March 26th, 1940 (TUESDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: RAF Bomber Command: Reconnaissance of northwest Germany (Ruhr); Nine aircraft detailed for trip, five took off, one returned early U/S, one shot down by Dutch fighters . One of 77 Squadron's Whitleys, N1357 flown by Flg. Off T.J. Geach, strayed over neutral Holland and Fokker G-1 twin engined fighters were scrambled to intercept. It was sighted by an aircraft of 3e JaVa and was shot down south of Rotterdam by Lt P. Noonan. Sgt J.E. Miller was killed, but the rest of the crew survived as internees. [Macmillan states that this took place on the 26/27 but Donnelly states 27/28 any confirmation of one or t'other]

FRANCE: Reynaud appeals to his people to carry on the total war against Germany.

U.S.S.R.: Moscow: Stalin refuses to meet Hitler for talks on the Polish border question.

NEW ZEALAND: Michael Savage, the Labour Prime Minister, dies of cancer aged 68. He is succeeded by Peter Fraser.

CANADA: A General Election for a new House of Commons is held. William Mackenzie King’s Liberals win a record 183 seats, the Conservatives (National Government Party) 40, CCF 8, Social Credit 9 and Independents 5 including Dorise Nielsen a secret member of the Communist Party who ran on the Unity Party ticket in the North Battleford district of Saskatchewan.

U.S.A.: St. Louis: The Curtiss CW-20T twin-engine transport makes its first flight at Lambert-St. Louis Airport, Missouri, piloted by Eddie Allen. The USAAC becomes interested in this aircraft and places an order for 46 C-46 Commandos on 13 September 1940. A total of 3,180 C-46s were built during the war by Curtiss and Higgins including 160 ordered for the USMC as R5C-1s.

26 March 1941

March 26th, 1941 (WEDNESDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: As a result of the call-up, there is a shortage of full-time firemen in the Auxiliary Fire Service, and of workers in the first-aid and rescue services. As a result of the National Service Bill introduced today, men called up will be able to state a preference to serve in Civil Defence instead of the armed forces. At present 90% of Civil Defence workers are volunteers.

Compulsory Civil Defence service will apply equally to those registered "conditionally" as Conscientious Objectors - those required to continue their present jobs or work on the land, in hospitals or with the ambulance service. They can now be directed into Civil Defence but not into the Police War Reserve, which sometimes carries arms.

Some have refused to take up the work imposed on them by the tribunals, Michael Tippett was sentenced to three months in jail for refusing to do full-time work for Civil Defence whereas Benjamin Britten, his fellow composer, was granted unconditional exemption from service. Since the call-up began, 31,000 men out of two million have registered as objectors.

London:

Churchill outlines the Import Programme for the next year, with an estimated 31 million tons of imports of which no less than 15 million tons shall be food.

The army plans to increase its number to 59.3 "equivalent divisions" with 12 armoured divisions and 9 Army tank brigades.

The Naval Programme retains the remaining King George V battleships, being completed at full speed, but with HMS Vanguard being the only ship that can be completed in 1943, and definitely in service by 1945.

London:

Churchill to Wavell:

We are naturally concerned at rapid German advances to Agheila. It is their habit to push on whenever they are not resisted. I presume you are only waiting for the tortoise to stick his head out far enough before chopping it off. It seems extremely important to give them an early taste of our quality. What is the state and location of 7th Armoured Division? Pray give me your appreciation.

GERMANY: The German war zone extended beyond Iceland.

Daily Keynote from the Reich Press Chief

Take care how you report world reaction to Yugoslavia joining the Tripartite Pact. Emphasize the opinions of the British and Americans who, on the one hand, do not hide their disappointment and on the other hand, are still desirous of stirring up trouble in Yugoslavia.

GREECE: CRETE: Five Italian Navy M.T.M. (modified tourism motorboats) enter the harbor in Suda Bay to attack Royal Navy ships. These boats have an explosive charge in the bow and are crewed by one man who aims the boat at the target and then jumps overboard about 100 yards (91 meters) away before the boat hits the target. One of the M.T.M.s sinks a Norwegian freighter while a second severally damages the British heavy cruiser HMS York at 0516 hours. The damage causes both boiler rooms and the forward engine room to fit is hit by three bombs, including two 1102 pound (500 kilogram) bombs, causing her finally to be abandoned on 22 May 1941. The wreck was scrapped in 1952.

Two Italian supply ships sink on mines laid by HMS Rorqual.

MEDITERRANEAN: The Battle of Cape Matapan. Following the claims by the Luftwaffe to have sunk two of the British Mediterranean Fleet's battleships and with the promise of German air support and reconnaissance, Vice Admiral Angelo Iachino leads the Italian Fleet on a sortie into the Aegean Sea to disrupt the British convoys to Greece. He has the battleship Vittorio Veneto, the heavy cruisers Bolzano, Fiume, Pola, Trento, Trieste and Zara, the light cruiser Giuseppe Garibaldi and 17 destroyers. They were promised full aerial support by both the Regia Aeronautica and the Luftwaffe but neither Air Force provided these ships with air cover.

ETHIOPIA: Italian troops at Harrar surrender to the British. The Italian forces and their local allies begin an attack on Major Orde Wingate's Gideon force but they are beaten off despite their superior strength.

CANADA: An accidental explosion and fire destroy the armed yacht HMCS Otter off Halifax, Nova Scotia. Two officers and 17 men are lost.

U.S.A.: The New York Times reports on the racketeering during the construction of the new army camp at Fort George G. Meade in Maryland. (The figures in brackets are year 2000 US dollars provided by Jack McKillop)

"...the 'take' for two unions alone, carpenters and common laborers, was estimated at $400,000 ($4,705,882)... Meade is 91% completed. The original estimate of its cost totals $18,882,128 ($222,142,682). The final cost will be around $23 million ($270 million). Overtime to date totals $1,808,320 ($21,274,353).

At the peak of the building operation, 30% of the money spent for labor 'didn't drive a nail'. That is, it was a premium payment for overtime.

...great numbers of 'Sears Roebuck carpenters' got jobs. (They were called that because they get a Sears Roebuck outfit of tools for five dollars [$58.82] and instantly become carpenters.) ...labor efficiency is estimated between 50% and 65%." (38)

Marc Small adds: Camp Meade, as it was then, wasn't actually "new" -- it was a WW1 Camp; Brigadier General Douglas MacArthur was slated to raise a brigade of the 11th Division there in July 1918, though the vehement protests of Menoher kept him in France with the Rainbow Division. After the Armistice, it served as the US Army's "home of armor" -- Col. Patton had the First Tank Brigade there, with Lt-Col. Dwight Eisenhower as his XO, from 1919 to 1921.

26 March 1942

March 26th, 1942 (THURSDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: The St. Nazaire Raid. At 1500 hours, a small Royal Navy force consisting of three destroyers, a gunboat, and motorboats and motor torpedo boats carrying British Commandoes departs Falmouth Bay, Cornwall, England, for the French port of St. Nazaire located at the mouth of the Loire estuary.

FRANCE: During the day, 20 of 24 RAF Bomber Command Boston attack the port area at Le Havre with the loss of one aircraft. Hits were reported on ships in the harbor. During the night of the 26th/27th, eight aircraft attack the port area at Le Havre.

VICHY FRANCE: Pierre Laval warns Petain that there must be more collaboration if Hitler is not to appoint a Gauleiter to run the country.

NETHERLANDS: During the night of the 26th/27th, RAF Bomber Command dispatches 11 Blenheims on an intruder mission; five hit Schipol Airfield (with the loss of two) and individual aircraft hit the port area of Rotterdam and Leeuwarden and Soesterburg Airfields.

GERMANY: A decree orders that all Jewish homes in the Reich must be clearly marked.

During the night of the 26th/27th, RAF Bomber Command dispatches 104 Wellingtons and 11 Stirlings to attack Essen using Gee; 10 Wellingtons and a Stirling are lost. The bombing force encountered heavy Flak at the target and many night fighters on the routes. Hits on the Krupps works and fires in Essen were claimed but the raid was actually another failure on this difficult target. Only 22 high-explosive bombs were counted in Essen, with two houses destroyed, six people killed and 14 injured. The bombers had suffered nearly 10 per cent casualties. Additional targets hit include Oberhausen by two aircraft and individual aircraft attacks on Duisburg and Kempin.

POLAND: Auschwitz: The first deportees, 999 Slovakian Jewesses, arrive at the camp.

MALTA: The RAF has fought off five big Luftwaffe attacks in 48 hours.

Whilst escorting the oiler Slavol to Tobruk to refuel the 5^th. Destroyer flotilla, destroyer HMS Jaguar is torpedoed and sunk by U-652 off Sidi Barrani at 31 53N 26 18E.. There are 53 survivors who are rescued by the South African whaler Klo. Two hours later, U-652 sinks Slavol..

Destroyer HMS Legion which had been damaged in an air attack on convoy MW.10 on 23 March is bombed by aircraft whilst in the dock at Malta, and sinks alongside the jetty. Her crew had previously been evacuated from Malta.

U class submarine P.39 which was in the dockyard awaiting to have her damaged battery removed is bombed during an air raid and split into two halves with only the keel holding the ship in one piece. Regarded as too seriously damaged to be repaired, P.39 is towed up the harbour to Kalkara, beached and ostentatiously camouflaged (alongside the submarine base at Manoel Island ?) as a decoy. She then receives considerable attention from the Axis air forces which otherwise would have been directed elsewhere! (Alex Gordon)(108)

Two of the freighters from the recent relief convoy that arrived from Alexandria, Egypt, are sunk in port by the Luftwaffe. These two ships were still almost fully loaded as damage to the docks at Valletta has prevented their swift unloading. Of the 26,000 tons (23 587 metric tonnes) of supplies that had been sent from Egypt on this latest convoy, only 5,000 tons (4536 metric tonnes) are eventually unloaded.

BURMA: Continuing pressure against the Chinese in Toungoo, the Japanese seize the town as far as the railroad line. The Chinese 22d Division, which has previously been ordered to the Pyinmana-Yedashe area, north of Toungoo, to counterattack in support of the Chinese 200th Division, arrives in position but fails to take the offensive.

CHINA: Loiwing:

AVG personnel arriving here at odd hours, including 10 RAF enlisted ranks. Have nothing but the clothes on their backs;Included were:

James McGuiness, Harry Duckworth, Walter Carter, Corporal

Pete Hutton, Fred Creke, Richard Balis, Sgt. Ernest Hudson, Thomas Hadon and James McCarthy.

note*

These men were rationed and billeted by the AVG and they in turn worked with the AVG flight line P-40 mechanics and armorers from Lowing to Kunming until Gen Chennault arranged transportation for them to rejoin the RAF some time later. I have no records of them being paid by the AVG. (Chuck Baisden, AVG Veteran)

COMMONWEALTH OF THE PHILIPPINES: Three B-17s of the 40th Reconnaissance Squadron based at Townsville, Queensland, Australia evacuate Philippine President Manuel L. Quezon and his family to Australia.

NETHERLANDS EAST INDIES: A Japanese carrier force leaves the naval base at Kendari on Celebes Island for the Indian Ocean.

AUSTRALIA: At a meeting with the Australian Advisory War Council, General Douglas MacArthur"> MacArthur gives his views on the situation in Southeast Asia and the southwest Pacific. He doubts that the Japanese are able to undertake an invasion of Australia, and believes that it would be a great blunder on their part if they attempted it. However, he believes that the Japanese “might try to overrun Australia in order to demonstrate their superiority over the white races.” He suggests that the main danger is from isolated raids and attempts to secure air bases in the country and therefore, the first step is to make Australia secure.
General Douglas MacArthur receives the citation for his Medal of Honor at a formal dinner in Melbourne, Victoria. He tells the audience, "I have come as a soldier in a great crusade of personal liberty as opposed to perpetual slavery. My faith in our ultimate victory is invincible, and I bring you tonight the unbreakable spirit of the free man's military code in support of our joint cause." The Australians are delighted. MacArthur continues, that the medal is not "intended so much for me personally as it is a recognition of the indomitable courage of the gallant army which it was my honor to command."
Three USAAF B-17s of the 40th Reconnaissance Squadron based at Townsville, Queensland, evacuate Philippine President Manual L Quezon and his family to Australia.

U.S.A.: The motion picture "Song of the Islands" is released in the U.S. This musical, directed by Walter Lang, stars Betty Grable, Victor Mature, Jack Oakie, Thomas Mitchell and Billy Gilbert. The plot concerns a man (Mature) who goes to a idyllic Pacific Island and falls in love with a beautiful woman (Grable).

Admiral Ernest J. King relieves Admiral Harold R. Stark as Chief of Naval Operations and thus becomes Commander in Chief U.S. Fleet and Chief of Naval Operations; Vice Admiral Frederick J. Horne (Vice Chief of Naval Operations) and Vice Admiral Russell Willson (COMINCH Chief of Staff) are his principal assistants.
     Rear Admiral John Wilcox commanding Task Force 39 with the battleship USS Washington (BB-56), the aircraft carrier USS Wasp (CV-7), the heavy cruisers USS Wichita (CA-45) and Tuscaloosa (CA-37) and six destroyers, sails from Portland, Maine, for Scapa Flow, the major British fleet base in the Orkney Islands. These ships will protect British home waters for the duration of Operation Ironclad -- the British invasion of Vichy French controlled Madagascar. This is a reflection of the heavy Allied losses in capital ships to Japanese action in the Pacific.
     Commander of the USN’s Eastern Sea Frontier is given operational control of certain USAAF units for antisubmarine patrol duty in the Atlantic. Unity of command over Navy and USAAF units operating over water to protect shipping and conduct antisubmarine warfare is thus vested in the Navy.
    The presidents of the American Federation of Labor (AFL) and Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) promise to do all they can to curb the rash of strikes that has slowed industrial production. They oppose strikes for the duration.

ATLANTIC OCEAN: Two ships are torpedoed and sunk by German submarines off the coast of the U.S.: (1) U-71 sinks an unarmed U.S. tanker about 45 miles south southwest of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina; the ship breaks in half and sinks; and (2) U-160 sinks a Panamanian freighter about 107 miles east southeast of Norfolk, Virginia.

26 March 1943

March 26th, 1943 (FRIDAY)

FRANCE: Pierre Laval reorganizes the Vichy cabinet.

Pierre Brossolette sets up a committee to co-ordinate the five Resistance movements in northern France.

The Nazis have arrested all the 3,000 remaining British and American men, women and children in the former unoccupied sector of France as part of growing precautions against an Allied invasion. The men are said to have been deported to Germany. All civilians are to be evacuated from Channel and Atlantic coastal areas by 30 March, and demolition has been carried out in ports such as Brest and La Rochelle for defensive purposes.

GERMANY: Hitler writes to Mussolini that Russia is so weakened by the defence of Stalingrad that it cannot possibly be a serious menace.

FINLAND: In the latter part of March there had been initial peace-feelers between Finland and Soviet Union with USA acting as the intermediary. In Finland there's interest in peace, but also concern of German reaction. Germany is still strong, and there's a considerable amount of German troops stationed in Finland. So the Finnish government decides to send the Foreign Minister Henrik Ramsay to Germany to see if the Germans would consent to Finland making peace.

Ramsay meets today with Ribbentrop, who is already well informed of the situation. The German intelligence has closely followed the Finnish moves lately. Ribbentrop's reaction is predictable. If Finland accepts the US offer to mediate peace, Germany would consider it betrayal. Finland has immediately to quit all handlings with the USA and refuse the offer. Finland also has to make a pact with Germany stipulating that no separate peace would be made by either country. In a second meeting later in the day, Ribbentrop tells Ramsay that he has informed Hitler of their earlier discussion. Hitler fully agrees with Ribbentrop. Finland has to state immediately and definitely her position in the war. Ramsay answers that in democracy 'immediately' is a very relative term.

Amplifying the above: A Finnish historian recently established that von Ribbentrop was almost certainly bluffing here: there's no record that he contacted Hitler or even could have done so in so short a time. By this time von Ribbentrop and his Foreign Ministry had lost whatever position they had had in the handling of really important matters in German foreign affairs. It seems that bullying Finland into a formal alliance was a rather desperate attempt by von Ribbentrop to restore his fortunes, and he wasn't backed by Hitler.

As far as Hitler was concerned, it made no difference whether Finland was (officially) allied or not as long as Finns were fighting the USSR. Gen. Jodl -- whom Finns considered the man in the highest German leadership who had most understanding for Finland's role in the war -- reasoned that the USSR was not going to give terms Finns were ready accept, so Finland will stay in the war on German side, and applying any pressure on them would only sour the Fenno-German relations. For the time being, this assessment was true. It seems that even Hitler himself was ready to acknowledge that Finland was something of a special case: on 4 September 1944, the day the Fenno-Soviet armistice started, Hitler said to Japanese ambassador Oshima that 'because Finland gave up the battle only after exhausting all her powers, she is not guilty of betrayal'. Of course, Der Führer could just have been making the best of a bad situation because -- unlike for example in Hungary -- Germany was not in a position to intervene in Finland.

U.S.S.R.: Black Sea Fleet and Azov Flotilla: MS "T-511" (ex-"Chervonii Kazak") - mined in Zemesskaya bay, close to Novorossiisk (Sergey Anisimov)(69)

TUNISIA: Ninth Air Force B-25s and P-40s mount attacks on the Mareth Line and damage an estimated 50 trucks, tanks and other vehicles. Twelfth Air Force A-20s, B-25s and P-39s hit fuel dumps, roads, railway and airfield targets.

2nd Lt. Moana-Nui-a-Kiwa Ngarimu, 2nd New Zealand Expeditionary Force, led his platoon in taking and holding a hill, but was killed soon after help arrived. (Victoria Cross)

BURMA: Tenth Air Force B-24s mine the Rangoon River during the night of 26/27 March while six others attack Mingaladon Airfield.

Hehtin Chaung: The Chindits are withdrawing from Burma. of the 3,000 Gurkha, Burmese and British troops who went in, only 2,200 are left.

After five fruitful weeks destroying bridges and proving that British-Indian troops can fight in the jungle as skilfully as the Japanese, the brigade crossed the Irrawaddy and found itself trapped between three rivers, with three Japanese divisions closing in on it. Only two escape routes were open to the commander, Brigadier Orde Wingate - north to India or east to the Keren Hills, where the Chindits would be with a sympathetic population, but beyond the reach of air supply. Two days ago General Geoffrey Scoones, commanding the British IV Corps, ordered Wingate to head north towards India.

Despite the withdrawal, some politicians are the proponents of irregular warfare are hailing the Chindits, comparing Wingate to Lawrence of Arabia. Regular soldiers are less enthusiastic about their strategic value.

PACIFIC:
GILBERT ISLANDS: Thirteenth Air Force B-24s bomb the airfield on Nauru Island.

NEW GUINEA: Fifth Air Force A-20s and B-17s attack targets on the north coast.

North PACIFIC: A naval duel fought at long range between US and Japanese forces off the Komandorski Islands (the correct spelling of these islands today is Komandorskiye Islands which is Commander Islands in English) today ended in the US force winning against a Japanese force twice as large. The Japanese were escorting two transports and a freighter bringing reinforcements to the lonely garrison on Kiska, in the Aleutians. The Americans were there to prevent this, and, since the transports turned back, victory was theirs. The battle - unusual in the Pacific war for being fought in daylight - lasted for nearly four hours, but neither side suffered great damage, two U.S. cruisers and four destroyers engage four Japanese cruisers and five destroyers. The American cruiser USS SALT LAKE CITY was hit and a Japanese cruiser suffered severe damage.

The USN force was Task Group 16.6 consisting of:

Heavy cruiser USS Salt Lake City (CA-25, Light cruiser USS Richmond (CL-9), and Destroyers USS Bailey (DD-492), Coghlan (DD-606), Dale (DD-353) and Monaghan (DD-354).

The Japanese force, which was escorting ships with reinforcements and supplies for the garrison on Attu Island, was comprised of three different elements, i.e., the Main Force, Escort Force and 2nd Escort Force .

The Main Force consisted of:

Heavy cruiser HIJMS Maya and Nachi

Light cruiser HIJMS Tama

Destroyers HIJMS Hatsushimo and Wakaba

The US Navy force consisted of Task Group 16.6:

Heavy cruiser USS Salt Lake City (CA-25),

Light cruiser USS Richmond (CL-9), and

Destroyer Squadron Fourteen (DesRon 14) consisting of:

USS Bailey (DD-492)

USS Coghlan (DD-606)

USS Dale (DD-353)

USS Monaghan (DD-354)

The Japanese force consisted of:

Cruiser Division One

Heavy cruisers HIJMS Nachi (flagship) and HIJMS Maya

Light cruiser HIJMS Tama

Destroyer Division Twenty One consisting of:

HIJMS Hatsushimo and HIJMS Wakaba

The Convoy consisted of:

Light cruiser HIJMS Abukuma

Destroyers Division Six

HIJMS Ikazuchi and Inazuma

Transports Asaka Maru and Sakito Maru

The Second Escort Force consisted of the destroyer HIJMS Usugumo and transport Sanko Maru.

The battle is a tactical victory for the US Navy because it prevents the Japanese from reinforcing Attu Island in the Aleutian Islands.

The highlights of the battle are described below. SLC is the USS Salt Lake City.

0820 hours: USS Richmond sights nine vessels.

0840 hours: HIJMS Nachi opens fire

0907 hours: HIJMS Nachi begins to smoke

1002 hours: SLC suffers a steering casualty

1010 hours: A shell penetrates the main deck forward

1059 hours: SLC is hit by an 8-inch shell and one of the ship's aircraft catches fire. The aircraft is pushed overboard.

1103 hours: SLC is hit again but the shell does not penetrate the hull.

1150 hours: Somebody goofs and allows sea water into the fuel flow extinguishing all boilers and SLC stops dead in the water.

1155 hours: Trying to protect SLC, the destroyers USS Coghlan and USS Bailey begin a suicidal torpedo attack on the heavy cruiser HIJMS Nachi. Every gun on the Japanese ships begins firing at the destroyers.

1200 hours: USS Bailey is holed on the starboard side. She fires five torpedoes at 9,500 yards (8.7 km)

1202 hours: SLC swings hard left and begins firing high capacity rounds since there is a shortage of armor piercing rounds. The Japanese believe they are under air attack and begin firing AA guns.

1203 hours: The Japanese break off the action.

1204 hours: SLC is underway making 15 knots and fires here last salvo.

1208 hours: The Japanese fire their last rounds.

1212 hours: The Battle of Komandorski Islands is over. A total of 3,465 rounds were fired by both sides; no ships are sunk and the casualties are seven sailors killed and thirteen wounded.

Land-based air (13 B-24s, 11 B-25s and 8 P-38s) had been alerted for possible strikes but USAAF crews were grounded by weather. B-25s had to have bomb bay fuel tanks installed and the armor piercing bombs were frozen to the ground. They finally take off at approximately 1400 hours but there is no trace of the Japanese fleet so several bomb the Main Camp and radar station on Kiska. Navy PBYs tracked the Japanese force but they were carrying depth charges instead of bombs.

U.S.A.: Elsie S. Ott, US Army nurse became the first woman to receive the US Air Force Medal for meritorious achievement. 2nd Lt. Ott was a nurse for five patients on a flight from india to Washington DC (11,000 miles). It was the first aerial evacuation flight in nursing history. (Michael Ballard)

26 March 1944

March 26th, 1944 (SUNDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: Churchill broadcasts on the war situation, praising the efforts of Tito's partisans and solemnly declaring that "the hour of our greatest effort is approaching."

FRANCE: 500 Eighth Air Force B-17s and B-24s escorted by 266 P-47s hit 16 V-1 sites; nearly 140 Ninth Air Force P-47s and P-51s attack a marshalling yard at Creil and V-1 site.

NETHERLANDS: 373 Ninth Air Force A-20s and B-26s attack the torpedo-boat pens at Impudent but a miss by the lead aircraft results in very little damage.

GERMANY: Hauptmann Herward Braunegg, an Austrian from Graz is awarded the Ritterkreuz for his close recon work on the Eastern Front with Nahaufklaerungsgruppe 9. (Russ Folsom)

ITALY: A major re-organization occurs of the Allied forces facing Cassino in Italy.

The US 100th Infantry Battalion lands at Anzio. It is assigned a section in the Anzio beachhead later. (Gene Hanson)

Despite bad weather, Twelfth Air Force A-20s, B-25s, B-26s, P-40s and P-47s hit viaducts, railway bridges, troop concentrations and guns in support of the Anzio beachhead. Bad weather forces Fifteenth Air Force B-24s en-route to Steyr, Austria to turn back but they bomb airfields and marshalling yards at Riming while B-17s attack port facilities at Fume.

FINLAND: After the initial Fenno-Soviet peace feelers in the preceding months had established that there's basis for a negotiated peace, Finnish delegation travels today to Moscow. The former ambassador at Moscow Juho Paasikivi (who was also in the Finnish peace delegation in 1940) and the former Foreign Minister Carl Enckell fly via Stockholm.

During the last days of March the Finns are involved in lengthy negotiations with the Soviets, whose head is FM Molotov. Soviet demands are: Finnish Army has during April to withdraw to the border of 1940 and the Army has to be cut to half by mid-May and fully demobilized to peace-time size by the end of June. Finland has also to pay $600 million as reparations. The Finns, unsurprisingly, consider the terms harsh, but Molotov retorts: "I don't understand why we should make any concessions to you. Germany has already lost this war and you had been Germany's allies, so you must accept the position of a defeated country.".

U.S.S.R.: The Red Army breaks through to the river Prut on a 53-mile front.

BURMA: Tenth Air Force A-31s hit Japanese positions in the Tonzang-Kalewa area; B-24s and B-25s attack roads; 70+ fighters and a B-25 attack airfields, bridges, roads and railroads; and 8 P-51s and 3 B-25s hit a bivouac and warehouses.

CHINA: Fourteenth Air Force B-25s sink 2 merchant vessels.

FRENCH INDOCHINA: Four Fourteenth Air Force P-40s attack barges and ships in the Gulf of Tonkin.

PACIFIC: US Marines of the 1st Provisional Brigade land on Kili Island and Namorik Atoll, Marshall Islands.

The US submarine Tullibee (SS-284), commanded by Charles F. Brindupke, is sunk by circular run of own torpedo off Peleliu Island. 79 men are lost, and 1 survivor taken prisoner. (Joe Sauder)

NEW BRITAIN ISLAND: 23 Thirteenth Air Force B-25s hit USAAF Airfield while 37 fighters attack supply areas.

NEW IRELAND ISLAND: Thirteenth Air Force B-25s heckle Rafael during the night.

NEW GUINEA: Over 200 Fifth Air Force A-20s, B-24s, B-25s and fighters attack various targets along the north coast and on Manus Island.

PALAU ISLANDS: Two Fifth Air Force B-24s, with US Marine Corps observers aboard, attempt to photograph possible targets for an upcoming carrier attack on the islands but due to poor weather and bad timing, the mission is futile.

TRUK ISLAND: 24 Thirteenth Air Force B-24s fly their first mission against Truck but they fail to locate the target due to poor navigation and bomb another island.

BOUGAINVILLE ISLAND: Thirteenth Air Force B-24s and fighters attack Japanese positions along Empress Augusta Bay.

26 March 1945

March 26th, 1945 (MONDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: David Lloyd George, the British prime minister between 1916 and 1922, dies at Ty-newydd, Caernarvonshire, Wales at age 82.

ENGLISH CHANNEL: U-399 (German type VIIC) sunk in the English Channel near Land's End, an unknown depth, in position 49.56N, 05.22W, by depth charges from the British frigate HMS Duckworth. 46 dead and 1 survivor self escaped with Drager gear, PoW. (Mark Horan and Alex Gordon)

Whilst patrolling off the Dutch coast in company with MTB’s 764 and 758, corvette HMS Puffin finds herself in very close proximity to what turned out to be a Biber miniature submarine which she rams aft of the conning tower. This causes the two G7E torpedoes to detonate and Puffin is lifted out of the water by the explosion. Although Puffin was able to make it to port under her own power, she is paid off and not repaired. The only casualty was the operator of the Biber. (Alex Gordon)(108)

GERMANY: British PM Churchill looks over the Rhine near Ginsberg. (Michael Ballard)
330 Eighth B-17s escorted by 450 P-51s attack an oil refinery and tank factories; and about 300 Ninth Air Force A-20s, A-26s and B-26s hit three marshalling yards.

The war weary citizens of the Third Reich were today called upon by Martin Bormann, Hitler's deputy, to become "Werewolf" guerrillas in a last-ditch resistance against the Allies as they invade Germany. Bormann said: "The Werewolf has been born of National Socialism. It makes no allowances and knows no considerations as imposed on regular troops .... Hatred shall be our prayer and revenge our battle-cry ..."

AUSTRIA, CZECHOSLOVAKIA AND HUNGARY: Over 500 Fifteenth Air Force B-17s and B-24s with P-38 and P-51 escorts, attack four marshalling yards in Austria and one each in Czechoslovakia and Hungary.

BURMA: Tenth Air Force B-25s and P-47s attack Japanese positions in Central Burma.

CHINA: 15 Fourteenth Air Force B-25s and 80+ fighters attack Japanese targets in southern and eastern China.

FORMOSA: Fifth Air Force B-24s TKO Airfield.

IWO JIMA: A final suicide attack by the Japanese on Iwo Jima is reported by the 5th MarDiv. During the night of 26/27 March, several hundred Japanese soldiers mount a banzai attack against North Field; 44 fighter pilots and ground crew are killed and 88 are wounded.
200 of the Japanese Garrison of 20,700 are left as prisoners.
USAAF Major General James I. Chantey becomes island commander.

RYUKYU ISLANDS: Carrier aircraft of the British Pacific Fleet carried out attacks today on airfields on the Sakaishima Islands, between Okinawa and Formosa, to prevent their use by Japanese aircraft. The role of the Royal Navy is to support the American invasion of Okinawa, the final step before the planned invasion of the Japanese home islands. A huge armada of 1,400 naval and merchant ships of many types carrying 182,000 assault troops is en-route to Okinawa. The Japanese are expected to employ the full strength of their air forces against the armada; hence the "softening up" of their airfields.

US forces land on the Kraal Islands. US aircraft from Task Force 58 and Task Group 52.1 and Royal Navy aircraft of Task Force 57 support the landings. Fifth Fleet destroyers establish a radar picket line north of Okinawa. Each ship has a fighter-director team that can guide US fighters against the Japanese aircraft while they are some distance away.

KURILE ISLANDS: Four Eleventh Air Force B-24s bomb the Asaka naval base.

COMMONWEALTH OF THE PHILIPPINES: Fifth Air Force A-20s, B-24s, B-25s and fighters hit numerous targets in northern Luzon. Ground forces of the Eighth Army invade Zebu supported by Marine Air Group Fourteen (MAG-14) and Thirteenth Air Force B-24s and Fifth Air Force A-20s.

NEW GUINEA: Lt Lieutenant Albert Chowne wins Victoria Cross in action on the track between Dagua and Wonginara New Guinea (posthumous) (Daniel Ross)

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