29 March 1939

Yesterday Tomorrow

1936: GERMANY: In a referendum concerning the German reoccupation of the Rhineland on 7 March, 99% of registered German voters vote and 98.9% of them approve of Chancellor Adolf Hitler's actions.

March 29th, 1939 (THURSDAY)

GERMANY: Blohm and Voss of Hamburg deliver the sail training ship Mircea (1,604 tons) to the Royal Romanian Navy. (Greg Kelley)

29 March 1940

March 29th, 1940 (FRIDAY)

GERMANY: The "Instructions for the Takeover of Aircraft Owned by the Reich from Industry for Ferrying to Luftwaffe Supply Bases by Pilots of the NS Flying Corps " are issued today. They regulate the organizational linkage as well as the duties and tasks of the retrained female pilots. The ferry pilots of the Flying Corps remained civilians flying in a paramilitary environment. They were allowed to fly only during "appropriate" weather conditions and only before dark. (271 & 272)

U.S.S.R.: Moscow: Molotov declares that the USSR will stay neutral in the war.

CANADA: Ottawa: In a record poll, Canadians have given Prime Minister William Mackenzie King and his Liberal Party the biggest electoral victory in Canadian history, 179 seats in the 245 seat federal legislature.

Bearing in mind that Mr Mackenzie King's strategy of limiting the number of Canadian troops sent to Europe while building war industries on the safe side of the Atlantic, is a resounding vote for war with moderation. The Conservatives retained most of their seats, with the Liberal party victory being gained at the expense of the radical parties.

Canada has major issues with Quebec supporting the war. While many Quebecois will serve with distinction they are less likely to volunteer than those in the rest of Canada, and the province as a whole is less supportive of Canada being involved in "Britain's War." One of the major means of keeping Quebec from rising up in outright opposition to the war is the promise not to institute conscription. (Kelvin Luther)

29 March 1941

March 29th, 1941 (SATURDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: London: The Royal Navy announced:

Significant operations took place in the eastern Mediterranean on Friday when our naval formation under the command of Admiral Sir Andrew Cunningham encountered strong Italian forces. The enemy vessels tried to escape but several of them were brought to battle. It is presumed that so far at least one battleship of the Littorio class has recieved a direct hit, and two enemy cruisers are believed to be badly damaged. The aircraft of the Royal Navy and the RAF carried out raids whose results are not yet known. Greek naval forces also took part in these operations.

MEDITERRANEAN SEA:The 'Pola' is found, partly abandoned. After taking off the remaining crew, destroyers HMS Jervis and HMS Nubian sink her with torpedoes.

The Royal Navy has lost one aircraft in the whole of the Battle of Cape Matapan.

ITALY: Rome: The Italian High Command announced:

In East Africa, the battle on the northern front continues to rage bitterly at the new positions east of Keren (Ethiopia). Our aerial formations have bombarded British motor truck columns. Our fighter planes shot down two enemy aircraft in aerial combat. In the earlu hours of Friday morning, British aircraft raided the airfield at Leece (southern Italy), opening machine-gun fire on the installations. There were a number of injuries.

FRANCE: VICHY FRANCE: Xavier Vallat is appointed to the new position of "commissioner for Jewish questions."

EGYPT: Cairo: The Middle East Air Force in Egypt announced:

Yesterday in Italian East Africa, British aircraft once again operated forcefully in the Asmara area. In Asmara itself, rail station buildings, railroad cars and motorised columns were hit be repeated bombs. Free French aircraft led an assault on an enemy base between Gondar (Ethiopia) and Asmara and destrpyed a large number of military installations with precision-aimed bomb hits.

ETHIOPIA: Diredawa is captured by South African troops of the British East Africa Command under General Cunningham. The local Italian population had appealed to the British for help because of atrocities committed by deserters from the native forces after the Italian part of the garrison withdrew.

SOUTH AFRICA: Heavy cruiser USS Vincennes (CA-44) arrives at Simonstown to pick up gold for deposit in the U.S.

U.S.A.: In an article in the New York Times the Governor of the French Province of Haute Garonne says :

"...we cannot count on the next harvest before mid-July. That leaves ahead of us three very bad months. ...any time after early June we may expect to be at the bottom of our larder. ...the peasants will be resentful. People in the cities will be worse. ...there is a real danger of riots in Toulouse..."

"Amapola (Pretty Little Poppy)" by Jimmy Dorsey And His Orchestra with vocals by Bob Eberly and Helen O'Connell; reaches Number 1 on the Billboard Pop Singles chart in the U.S. The song had been featured in the motion picture "First Love" starring Deanna Durbin and Robert Stack. This song, which debuted on the charts on 22 March 1941, was charted for 14 weeks, was Number 1 for 10 weeks and was ranked Number 1 for the year 1941.

The U.S. Coast Guard receives a report that the crew of Italian merchantman SS Villarperosa, interned at Wilmington, North Carolina, is sabotaging the ship. The Coast Guard investigates reports that the crews of Italian and German vessels in American ports had received orders to "sabotage and disable" them.

OPOR (Office of Public Opinion Research) asked: "Should the United States take steps now to keep Japan from becoming more powerful, even if this means risking a war with Japan?" Yes - 59%, No - 26%, No opinion - 15%. (Will O'Neil)(135)

29 March 1942

March 29th, 1942 (SUNDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: The text of the "Draft Declaration of Discussion, with Indian Leaders," taken to India by Sir Stafford Cripps is published simultaneously in India and Great Britain. The British Government had decided to lay down in clear terms the steps to be taken for the earliest possible realization of self-government in India. "The object is the creation of a new Indian union which shall constitute a Dominion, associated with the United Kingdom and the other Dominions by a common allegiance to the Crown but equal to them in every respect, in no way subordinate in any aspect of its domestic or external affairs…”

FRANCE: The raid on St. Nazaire had started on yesterday, finishing in the early hours of today. On this day, an old destroyer which had been 'traded' to the British and became the HMS Campbeltown, exploded in an attempt to blow up the lock gates and destroy the drydock facilities at St. Nazaire. The Germans had had the time to investigate the Campbeltown after it crashed into the gates, but had failed to detect the explosives which packed the front of the boat. Up to 400 Germans were killed when the Campbeltown blew up. (Michael Ballard)

USS Buchanan (DD-131), was commissioned as HMS Campbeltown (I-42) on 9 Sep. 1940, part of the destroyers-for-bases deal. Campbeltown has been fitted with a large demolition charge, last night at 0134 hours she rammed the Normandie Lock in St. Nazaire, France to destroy the only drydock on the Atlantic coast capable of accepting the German battleship Tirpitz. The charge breachd the drydock and destroy Campbeltown. (Ron Babuka)

During the night of the 29th/30th, five RAF Bomber Command aircraft drop leaflets on Lille.

FRIESIAN ISLANDS: During the night of the 29th/30th, RAF Bomber Command dispatches 26 aircraft, 18 Hampdens and 8 Manchesters, to lay mines in the Friesians and off Denmark; two Manchesters are lost.

GERMANY: Hitler orders reprisal raids after a RAF air raid on Lübeck. These are known as "Baedeker Raids".

Guided towards their target by the new "Gee" navigation system, 234 Wellingtons, Hampdens, Stirlings and Manchesters, set it ablaze with over 400 tons of bombs, over half of which were incendiaries.

Lübeck's picturesque old town of close-built wooden houses was, in Air Marshal Harris's words, "built more like a firelighter than a human habitation". Nearly 320 people died in the raid, and 784 were injured. This is one of the heaviest death tolls ever in one raid over Germany. Photographs show that 30% of the town has been destroyed.

A number of factories were devastated and dock installations and the railway were heavily damaged. The raid was not, however, aimed at a military target. Its objective was to demonstrate what area bombing by a concentrated force could achieve.

The chiefs of staff have laid down that the aim of the bombing offensive is "the progressive destruction and dislocation of the enemy's war, industrial and economic system, and the undermining of his morale to a point where his capacity for armed resistance is fatally weakened." Lübeck was the first target of that policy. 12 British aircraft failed to return.

ARCTIC OCEAN: German surface naval forces unsuccessfully engage a Murmansk Convoy.
The British cruiser HMS Trinidad torpedoed itself in the Barents Sea. It was covering the convoy PQ12 when German destroyers attacked. It was trying to finish off the German destroyer Z-26 when it was hit by one of its own torpedoes, which had circled. (Michael Ballard and Alex Gordon)

LIBYA: Luftwaffe aircraft bomb Tobruk.

BURMA: Going on the offensive to relieve pressure on the Chinese at Toungoo and restore communications, a task force of the Burma I Corps attacks and clears Paungde, but its situation becomes precarious as the Japanese establish themselves a few miles north at Patigon and on the east back of the Irrawaddy River at Shwedaung.

COMMONWEALTH OF THE PHILIPPINES: Local guerilla fighters form themselves into the Hukbalahaps, the Anti-Japanese People's Army.

AUSTRALIA: General Sir Thomas Blamey, Commander-in-Chief of Australian Military Forces, meets General Douglas MacArthur"> MacArthur, Commanding General U.S. Army Forces, Far East, for the first time in MacArthur’s rooms in the Menzies Hotel in Melbourne, Victoria.

NEW HEBRIDES: The Marines 4th defence Battalion (reinforced) and the forward echelon of Marine Fighting Squadron Two Hundred Twelve (VMF-212) arrive at Vila on Efate Island. The troops of VMF-212 are to construct an air strip from which the squadron initiates operations in the New Hebrides on 27 May.

ATLANTIC OCEAN: German submarine U-160 torpedoes a U.S. steamship about 40 miles (64 kilometres) east of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, U.S.A. Before the ship is torpedoed a second time, the Armed Guard, who man their gun stations promptly, manages to get 12 rounds off at the U-boat's periscope. A second torpedo sinks the ship, with the Armed Guard leaving only when the bridge is awash.

29 March 1943

March 29th, 1943 (MONDAY)

GERMANY: Rastenburg: Hitler orders the construction of an enormous missile-launch site on the French side of the Channel, to bombard Britain.

NORTH AFRICA: New Zealand troops of the Eighth Army enter Babes.
The last Axis troops reach Wadi Akarit.

TUNISIA: Ninth Air Force B-25s and P-40s attack an airfield and support British ground forces.

BURMA: Tenth Air Force B-24s, B-25s and P-40s bomb shipping, railroad yards and Japanese ground troops and Fourteenth Air Force P-40s strafe trucks at Bhamo.

CHINA: Fourteenth Air Force P-40s attack a fuel drums at Chefang.

SOLOMON ISLANDS: Thirteenth Air Force B-17s and B-24s bomb Buin and Kahili Airfields on Bougainville Island while P-38s and a Marine F4U attack a seaplane anchorage.

Submarine USS Gato [Lt-Cmdr Mike Foley] arrives at Japanese occupied Bougainville to bring in a replacement coastwatcher and 12 commandos to replace 12 of Australian Coast Watcher's Jack Read's 25 AIF commandos (Lt. Mackie), plus 39 Chinese, European and Fijian civilians. Jack Read and Paul Mason refuse to be evacuated. (Michael Alexander)

U.S.A. Meat, butter and cheese are rationed with a rationed amount of 784 grams/week/person. GI's were allowed 2 kilograms / week. (Michael Ballard)

Tests of forward firing rocket projectiles from naval aircraft are completed at the Naval Proving Ground, Dahlgren, Virginia, using a Brewster SB2A-4 Buccaneer. At Naval Air Station (NAS) Norfolk, Virginia, the Naval Air Transport Service (NATS) commissions Air Transport Squadrons, Atlantic, to supervise and direct operations of NATS squadrons based on the U.S. East Coast.

29 March 1944

UNITED KINGDOM: Westminster: Churchill forced MPs to eat humble pie today. Against government advice they had voted 117 to 116 last night for equal pay for women schoolteachers.

The prime minister immediately demanded and got a vote of confidence in his conduct of the war and, with it, the reversal of the equal pay decision. "We had to show the government is in control. The German wireless was scoffing at us," he explained.

FRANCE: 30 Eighth Air Force B-24s, escorted by 37 P-47s, bomb V-1 sites at Watten.

GERMANY: 233 Eighth Air Force B-17s, escorted by 428 P-38s, P-47s and P-51s, industrial targets at Brunswick, Unterluss and Stedorf.

ITALY: Twelfth Air Force A-36s, B-25s, B-26s, P-40s and P-47s attack airfields, harbours and port facilities, supply dumps, tank repair shops and railway lines in addition to supporting the Anzio beachhead while 405 Fifteenth Air Force B-17s and B-24s attack marshalling yards and factories at Bolzano, Milan and Turin.

INDIA: Over 70 Tenth Air Force A-31s attack Japanese ground troops near Imphal. The 1st Air Commando Group is formally activated at Hailakandi, India. Commanded by Colonel Philip G. Cochran, the group consists of Bomber, Fighter, Transport, Glider, Light Transport and Liaison Sections rather than squadrons.

CHINA: Fourteenth Air Force P-40s and P-51s attack rail facilities and strafe the airfield and bridges at Nanchang.

BURMA: IJA 31st Division cuts the road between Imphal and Kohima at Maran.

Chinese troops capture Shaduzup, at the entrance to the Mogaung valley.

Over 200 Tenth Air Force B-24s, B-25s, P-38s and P-51s attack railroads, warehouses, airfields and troop concentrations throughout the country.

CAROLINE ISLANDS: 24 Thirteenth Air Force B-24s fly the first daylight mission against Truk where they bomb an airfield while Seventh Air Force B-25s bomb Ponape.

MARSHALL ISLANDS: Seventh Air Force B-25s bomb Jaluit and Rongelap.

NEW GUINEA: Fifth Air Force A-20s, B-24s, B-25s, P-40s and P-47s attack Hollandia, Wewak and various other targets on the north coast.

PACIFIC OCEAN: US naval aircraft bomb Japanese ships anchored off Palau Island.

U.S.A.: Washington: Congress authorises $1,350 million to found the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Agency, to help the growing refugee problem in Europe.

ATLANTIC OCEAN: U-961 (type VIIC) is sunk east of Iceland, in position 64.31N, 03.19W, by depth charges from the British frigate HMS Starling. 49 dead (all hands lost). (Alex Gordon)

29 March 1945

March 29th, 1945 (THURSDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: Sittingbourne, Kent: AA gunners shoot down what is thought to be the last V1 launched against Britain.

Frigate HMS Teme takes a hit from a Zaunkönig fired by U-246 (Kapitanleutnant Ernst Raabe) and loses her stern. She was towed to Falmouth but laid up and not repaired. Location: 6 miles N of Lands End at 50 07N 05 45W. There are 4 casualties. (Alex Gordon)(108)

GERMANY: US forces marching almost unchecked into the centre of Germany, capture Frankfurt.

HUNGARY: The Red Army enters the former Czech province of Ruthenia.

ITALY: Twelfth Air Force A-20s bomb rail targets, roads and bridges while fighter-bombers attack supply dumps in the Po Valley.

BURMA: 14 Tenth Air Force B-25s hit troop concentration and bridges near the front lines.

FRENCH INDOCHINA: 31 Fourteenth Air Force B-25s attack a convoy off the coast claiming four destroyers or frigates, four cargo ships and a patrol craft sunk.

MALAYA: During the night of 29/30 March, XX Bomber Command B-29s fly their last mission from bases in India when 24 bomb oil storage facilities in Singapore. The B-29 units begin transferring to bases in the Mariana Islands.

CHINA: Fourteenth Air Force B-25s attack rail yards while fighters hit airfields and troop concentrations.

FORMOSA: Fifth Air Force A-20s, B-24s and B-25s bomb port facilities, a power plant and oil refinery.

JAPAN: Aircraft of Task Force 58 attack airfields on Kyushu.

KURILE ISLANDS: Six Eleventh Air Force B-24s bomb the Kataoka Naval Base.

BONIN ISLANDS: Seventh Air Force P-51s, based on Iwo Jima, continue their attacks against airfields on Haha Jima and Chichi Jima.

CAROLINE ISLANDS: Seventh Air Force B-24s bomb Dublon Island in Truk Atoll.

MARIANAS ISLANDS: USAAF 58th Bombardment Wing (Very Heavy) arrives on the islands.

COMMONWEALTH OF THE PHILIPPINES: Fifth and Thirteenth Air Force A-20s, B-24s, B-25s and P-51s attack various targets on Luzon and Cebu and support the landings on Negros Island.
US troops land on Negros.

U.S.A.: The motion picture "The Corn Is Green" is released in the U.S. This drama, directed by Irving Rapper, stars Bette Davis, Nigel Bruce and Rhys Williams. The story is about a schoolteacher in a Welsh town who wants to teach fundamental education to the villagers but is hindered by everyone in the village. The film was nominated for two Academy Awards.

ATLANTIC OCEAN: U-1106 (type VIIC/41) is sunk north-east of the Faeroes, in position 61.46N, 02.16W, by depth charges from a British Liberator aircraft (Sqdn 224/O). 46 dead (all hands lost).

U-1169 is sunk in the English Channel south of Lizard Point in position 49.58N 05.25W by depth charges dropped by frigate HMS Duckworth. All 49 of the U-Boat crew are lost. (Alex Gordon)

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