This day in the war in Europe 65 years ago

6 March 1942

ATLANTIC OCEAN: German submarine 'U-129' torpedoes and sinks an unarmed U.S. freighter about 130 miles northeast of Paramaribo, Dutch Guiana, and takes the sole survivor captive.

EASTERN FRONT: The Rumanian government breaks diplomatic relations with Brazil.

MEDITERRANEAN: British aircraft carrier HMS 'Eagle' brings 18 Spitfires to Malta. Seven Blenheim bombers are also sent to aid in the defense of the island and offensive actions against Axis convoys.

NORTHERN FRONT: The German battleship 'Tirpitz' sets sail from her base in Trondheim to intercept the ships of convoys QP-8 and PQ-12 sailing from Iceland to Archangel, U.S.S.R. Despite information sent to the British aircraft carrier HMS 'Victorious', no contact is made between the forces. The British Admiralty draws criticism because of its inaction.

7 March 1942

ATLANTIC OCEAN: Three Allied ships are torpedoed and sunk by German submarines in the Western Hemisphere today:
(1) 'U-126' sinks an unarmed U.S. freighter about 9 miles NNW of West Tortuga Island, Haiti.
(2) 'U-126' later sinks an unarmed U.S. freighter about 5 miles WNW of San Nicholas Mole, Haiti.
(3) 'U-155' sinks an unarmed Brazilian steamship about 110 miles east of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, U.S.A.

MEDITERRANEAN: Force H, consisting of the aircraft carriers HMS 'Argus' and 'Eagle' and supported by a number of destroyers, sets sail for Malta with a number of Spitfires on board. Fifteen Spitfires were flown off when Force H comes within range of the island.

NORTH AMERICA: The practicability of using a radio sonobuoy in aerial anti-submarine warfare was demonstrated in an exercise conducted off New London, Connecticut, by nonrigid airship (or blimp) K-5 and submarine USS S-20 (SS-125). The buoy could detect the sound of the submerged submarine's propellers at distances up to 3 miles, and radio reception aboard the blimp was satisfactory up to 5 miles.

The Tuskegee flying school graduates its first cadets. This US school was segregated for Black students. They joined the 99th Pursuit Squadron. Names: Capt. Ben Davis Jr.; 2LT Mac Ross, Charles DeBow, LR Curtis, and George Roberts.

WESTERN FRONT: During the night of the 7th/8th, RAF Bomber Command flies two missions:
(1) 15 aircraft bomb the submarine pens at St Nazaire and
(2) 11 Hampdens lay mines off Lorient; one Hampden is lost.

8 March 1942

GERMANY: RAF Bomber Command dispatches 211 aircraft, 115 Wellingtons, 37 Hampdens, 27 Stirlings, 22 Manchesters and 10 Halifaxes, the leading aircraft equipped with the Gee navigational aid, to attack the Krupps factories in Essen during the night of the 8th/9th. It was a fine night but industrial haze over Essen prevents accurate bombing with only 168 aircraft attacking the target and the raid was a disappointment. Gee could only enable the aircraft to reach the approximate area of the target. Photographic evidence showed that the main target, the Krupps factories, was not hit but some bombs fell in the southern part of Essen. Essen reports only a 'light' raid with a few houses and a church destroyed, ten people killed and 19 missing. Individual aircraft bomb Dortmund, Duisburg, Dusseldorf, Gelsenkirchen and Oberhausen.

NORTH AFRICA: Lieutenant General Neil Ritchie, General Officer Commanding Eighth Army, is ordered by General Sir Claude Auchinleck, Commander in Chief Middle East Command, to provide a diversion in Libya for passage of a convoy to Malta. The supply situation on Malta is very serious.

WESTERN FRONT: RAF Bomber Command dispatches six Blenheims to attack the port area at Ostend during the night of the 8th/9th; four aircraft bomb the target.

24 RAF Bomber Command Bostons, with much support from RAF Fighter Command, carry out a series of raids against targets in France. Twelve Bostons of No. 88 and 226 Squadrons make a low-level attack on the Ford truck factory at Poissy, near Paris, a target beyond the range of fighter cover. Two further formations, each of six Bostons, carry out Circus operations to the Abbeville railway yards and Comines power-station at times which would divert German fighter attention from the Poissy raid.

During the night of the 8th/9th, 13 Wellingtons and Stirlings bomb the port area at Le Havre, three Manchesters lay mines off Lorient, and a Hampden drops leaflets.

RAF Bomber Command dispatches six Blenheims to attack airfields during the night of the 8th/9th; two bomb Soesterberg Airfield.

9 March 1942

ATLANTIC OCEAN: A Brazilian steamship is torpedoed and sunk by German submarine 'U-94' about 130 miles east of Atlantic City, New Jersey, U.S.

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

Five RAF Bomber Command Hampdens lay mines in the Frisian Islands.

NORTH AMERICA: Admiral Harold Stark relieves Admiral Ghormley as Commander US Naval Forces in European Waters.

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

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

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

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

10 March 1942

ATLANTIC OCEAN: A U.S. tanker is torpedoed and sunk by German submarine 'U-588' about 2 miles east of Barnegat, New Jersey, U.S.

GERMANY: During the night of the 10th/11th, RAF Bomber Command dispatches 126 aircraft, 56Wellingtons, 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 Gelsenkiurchen.

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.

MIDDLE EAST: Iran is declared eligible for U.S. lend-Lease.

NORTH AMERICA: 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.)

UNITED KINGDOM: 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.

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

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

11 March 1942

ATLANTIC OCEAN: Two unarmed U.S. freighters are torpedoed and sunk by German submarines:
(1) 'U-126' sinks the first about 40 miles east of Nuevitas, Cuba, and
(2) 'U-158' sinks the second about 14 miles east of Cape Lookout, North Carolina, U.S.A.

MEDITERRANEAN: The Malta military garrison is placed under command of Commander in Chief Middle East Forces. Naval and RAF garrisons are under command of Commander in Chief Mediterranean and Air Officer Commanding in Chief, respectively. Lieutenant General Sir William Dobbie, Governor of Malta, remains commander in chief.

German submarine 'U-565' sinks the British light cruiser HMS 'Naiad', north of Sollum, Egypt.

SOUTH AMERICA: The government of Brazil confiscates Axis property in reprisal for sinking of Brazilian merchant ships.

12 March 1942

ATLANTIC OCEAN: A U.S. merchant vessels is sunk and two others damaged by German submarines:
(1) An armed tanker is torpedoed and irreparably damaged by 'U-158' about 85miles east of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, U.S.A.
(2) 'U-126' torpedoes two unarmed freighters off the coast of Cuba, sinking the first about 100 miles off Camaguey Province, and damaging the second about 10 miles off Cape Guajaba.

The first British armed trawlers sent to augment U.S. Navy patrol force efforts off the German submarine-plagued Eastern Seaboard, HMS 'Wastwater' and HMS 'Le Tigre', begin patrol operations in the Third Naval District waters. They are assigned duties off Atlantic City and Barnegat, New Jersey, U.S.A.

EASTERN FRONT: Ten Soviet parachutists land near Birza, Lithuaniai to commit sabotage. They are seen, chased and shot, and all their equipment, including a radio transmitter, seized by German forces.

GERMANY: During the night of the 12th/13th, RAF Bomber Command attacks Emden and Kiel. Twenty Wellingtons and 20 Whitleys are dispatched to Emden; 22 bomb with three Whitleys lost but bombing photographs indicate that the nearest bombs were 5 miles (8 kilometers) from the target. At Kiel, 68 Wellingtons are dispatched to attack the Deutsche Werke U-boat yard; 53 aircraft bomb and reports from Kiel indicate that the port area was successfully bombed, with damage in the Deutsche Werke and the Germania Werft yards, both building U-boats, and in the naval dockyard. Casualties are listed as 12 killed and 21 injured but it is not known whether service personnel were included. Five Wellingtons are lost over Kiel. In the final mission of the night, 16 aircraft lay mines off German ports.

NORTH AMERICA: President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs an executive order combining the duties of Commander in Chief U.S. Fleet and the Chief of Naval Operations (CNO). Admiral Ernest J King, Commander-in- Chief U.S. Fleet, is designated to replace Admiral Harold R Stark as Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) effective 26 March.

WESTERN FRONT: During the night of the 12th/13th, an RAF Bomber Command Hampden flies a leaflet mission.

13 March 1942

ATLANTIC OCEAN: Two unarmed ships are torpedoed and sunk off the U.S. coast by German submarines:
(1) 'U-332' sinks a U.S. schooner about 510 miles east of Miami, Florida; there are no survivors;
(2) 'U-404' sinks a Chilean freighter about 28 miles ESE of Asbury Park, New Jersey; there is one survivor.

EASTERN FRONT: The Soviet Army launches an attack against German Heeresgruppe B (General Erich von Manstein) from the Kerch peninsula in the eastern Crimea. The Soviets lose 130 tanks in three days.

GERMANY: During the night of the 13th/14th, RAF Bomber Command dispatches 135 aircraft of 6 different types to attack Cologne; 112 aircraft bomb the target and a Manchester is lost. This can be considered the first successful Gee-led raid. Although there was no moon, the leading crews carrying flares and incendiary-bomb loads locate the target and much accurate bombing follows. It is later estimated that this raid was five times more effective than the average of recent raids on Cologne. There were 237 separate fires and casualties were 62 killed and 84 injured. One aircraft visually bombs Bonn while five Hampdens lay mines in the Frisian Islands.

WESTERN FRONT: During the night of the 13th/14th, two RAF Bomber Command aircraft bomb the port area at Ostend.

Ten of 11 RAF Bomber Command Bostons attack the Hazebrouck marshalling yard without loss during the day. During the night of the13th/14th, seven of the 20 aircraft dispatched bomb the port area at Boulogne (a Wellington is lost); one aircraft bombs the port area at Calais; 11 of 19 Wellingtons dispatched bomb the port area at Dunkirk (two aircraft are lost); and five of seven Hampdens dispatched drop leaflets. During the night of the 13th/14th, one RAF Bomber Command bomber attacks Schipol Airfield.

15 March 1942

ATLANTIC OCEAN: A PBO-1 Hudson assigned to Patrol Squadron 82 based at NAS Argentia, Newfoundland, which is providing coverage for convoy ON 74, sinks German submarine 'U-503' (Type IXC) about 250 miles southeast of St. John's, Newfoundland, position 45.50N, 48.50W. All 51 crewmen are lost. The Hudson PBO-1 was one of 20 Lend-Lease Hudson IIIA's used by the USN to equip one squadron.

Three U.S. vessels are sunk by German submarines in the Western Hemisphere:
(1) U.S. Coast Guard lighthouse tender USCGC 'Acacia' (WAGL-200) is shelled and sunk by 'U-161' south of Haiti
(2) an unarmed tanker is torpedoed, shelled, and sunk by 'U-158' about 89 miles east of Wilmington, North Carolina, U.S.A.;
(3) a tanker is torpedoed and sunk by 'U-158' about 95 miles east of Wilmington, North Carolina.

GERMANY: At a staff meeting in Berlin, Chancellor Adolf Hitler and his generals study the situation in the Soviet Union. Moscow has not fallen, and will not fall. German casualties from Soviet firepower and frostbite have been immense, but the Soviet counterattack at Moscow, Staraya Russa, and the Crimea is petering out as the Soviets run out of supplies. The initiative is going back to the Germans, and Hitler forecasts the annihilation of the Soviet Army in summer. That evening, at the Sportspalast Hitler announces that the Soviet Union will be "annihilatingly defeated" in the next summer offensive.

WESTERN FRONT: During the night of the 15th/16th, three RAF Bomber Command Blenheims are dispatched on Intruder flights to Dutch airfields. Schiphol Airfield is attacked by one aircraft.

Six RAF Bomber Command Bostons fly uneventful shipping sweeps off Brittany during the day.

16 March 1942

ATLANTIC OCEAN: Two unarmed merchant tankers are sunk by German submarines off the coast of the U.S.:
(1) The first is torpedoed, shelled, and irreparably damaged by 'U-332' about 20 miles southeast of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina; and (2) a British ship is torpedoed and sunk by 'U-404' about 150 miles east of Norfolk, Virginia.

EASTERN FRONT: About 1,600 Jews are deported from the Lublin area in Poland to Belzec, the second camp after Chelmno - designed purely for the killing of Jews; it opened on 13 March, when 6,000 Jews from Mielec were murdered.

In response to the problem of partisans in the occupied Soviet Union, the Germans set up a special air detachment in Bobruisk, with orders to bomb partisan camps and seek partisan units from the air. This unit will take part in Operation Munich, a three-week anti- partisan sweep to begin in the third week of March.

NORTH AMERICA: The Maritime Commission places orders for another 234 "Liberty" ships -- slow-moving 10,500-ton merchant vessels.

UNITED KINGDOM: British Lord Privy Seal Sir Stafford Cripps leaves London to negotiate with Indian leaders who want independence. Cripps will offer freedom after the war. Hindu leaders Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharal Nehru demand immediate independence for a unified India while Moslem League President Mohammed Ali Hinnah wants a separate Pakistan.

The Soviet ambassador asks Churchill to open a second front on mainland Europe.

17 March 1942

ATLANTIC OCEAN: Three unarmed merchant ships are attacked by German submarines off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, U.S.A.: (1) 'U-124' torpedoes and damages a U.S. tanker about 20 miles southeast of the cape and later torpedoes and sinks a Greek freighter in the same area; and (2) 'U-124' torpedoes and sinks a Honduran freighter about 116 miles east northeast of the cape. (syscom)

EASTERN FRONT: Germans open the Belzec destruction camp.

GERMANY: An RAF Bomber Command Wellington on a cloud-cover raid to Essen drops its bombs somewhere in the Ruhr. (Syscom)

MEDITTERANEAN: Off Sicily: The British submarine HMS 'UNBEATEN' sinks the Italian submarine 'GUGLIELMOTTI'. (Syscom)

UNITED KINGDOM: Rationing of coal, gas and electricity for home heating and lighting was announced in parliament today. Sir William Beveridge, who helped to devise rationing plans in the last war, is now working out details of this new scheme. Hugh Dalton, the president of the board of trade, told MPs that the situation is now so serious that domestic fuel rationing must be imposed as soon as possible. A cut of at least 25% is likely. When the scheme starts, everyone will have to watch gas and electricity meters in the knowledge that persistent over-consumption will lead to prosecution and the cutting off of the supply. Meanwhile, in the next three weeks, coal deliveries to households will be limited six hundredweight at a time. Cuts in the civilian clothing ration also announced today will release 50,000 more textile workers for war service, and to save petrol all pleasure motor boating is top stop this summer. That includes round-the-bay trips at the seaside. (Syscom)

United States Naval Forces Europe is established to plan joint operations with the British; Vice Admiral Robert L. Ghormley is in command. (Syscom)

18 March 1942

ATLANTIC OCEAN: Near convoy SL.119 a Liberator aircraft (Sqdn 120/F) attacked 'U-653'. During the crash diving one man was lost. (There was a report that the man was saved by a British destroyer.) The boat was seriously damaged and had to limp back to base, reaching Brest, France on 30 April.

German submarines are still active off the coast of North and South Carolina, U.S.A. (1) 'U-124' torpedoes two unarmed U.S. tankers: the first is torpedoed and sunk 7 miles off the coast of North Carolina north of Cape Hatteras and the second is torpedoed about 40 miles south southeast of Beaufort, South Carolina; this ship is irreparably damaged and sinks on 20 March; (2) 'U-332' sinks an unarmed tanker about 48 miles south southeast of Beaufort, South Carolina.

GERMANY: During the day, RAF Bomber Command dispatches five Wellingtons to bomb Essen but they return due to lack of cloud cover.

NORTH AMERICA: The government creates the War Relocation Authority to "Take all people of Japanese descent into custody, surround them with troops, prevent them from buying land, and return them to their former homes at the close of the war." As a result, 120,000 men, women, and children were rounded up on the West Coast. Three categories of internees were created: Nisei (native U.S. citizens of Japanese immigrant parents), Issei (Japanese immigrants), and Kibei (native U.S. citizens educated largely in Japan). The internees were transported to one of ten relocation centers in California, Utah, Arkansas, Arizona, Idaho, Colorado, and Wyoming. One Japanese American, Gordon Hirabayashi, fought internment all the way to the Supreme Court. He argued that the Army, responsible for effecting the relocations, had violated his rights as a U.S. citizen. The court ruled against him, citing the nation's right to protect itself against sabotage and invasion as sufficient justification for curtailing his and other Japanese Americans' constitutional rights.

UNITED KINGDOM: Vice Admiral Lord Louis Mountbatten, Queen Victoria's grandson, is named Chief of Combined Operations.

19 March 1942

ATLANTIC OCEAN: German submarine 'U-332' torpedoes and sinks an armed U.S. freighter about 17 miles SE of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, U.S.A.

EASTERN FRONT: An offensive by Army Group North cuts off the Soviet 2nd Shock Army, commanded by Lieutenant General Andrei Vlasov, in a salient between Novgorod and Gruzino. The Soviet Army maintains pressure on the Germans on the central and southern fronts.

The Germans launch Operation Munich, joined by a new air detachment. German troops attack partisan bases around Yelnya and Dorogubuzh.

Operation Bamberg kicks off near Bobruisk, with SS Police troops attacking Soviet villages. The Nazis burn the villages and kill 3,500 people, which only infuriates the survivors more, and make them join the partisans, making the whole exercise very counter-productive. From the Third Panzer Army diaries:

"There are indications that the partisan movement in the region of Velikye Luki, Vitebsk, Rudnya, Velizh, is now beiing organized on a large scale. The fighting strength of the partisans hitherto active is being bolstered by individual units of regular troops."

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In Serbia and Croatia, the Germans face Yugoslav partisans. The Germans issue a directive ordering houses and villages supporting partisans to be leveled.

"Removal of the population to concentration camps can also be useful," the directive notes. "If it is not possible to apprehend or seize partisans, themselves, reprisal measures of a general nature may be in order, for example, the shooting of male inhabitants in nearby localities."

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The directive sets a ratio, 100 Serbs shot for one German killed, 50 Serbs shot for one wounded.

GERMANY: During the day, RAF Bomber Command dispatches a Wellington to Essen but the aircraft returns early due to lack of cloud cover.

20 March 1942

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

EASTERN FRONT: The Soviet offensive at Kerch in the Crimea is defeated by the Germans with heavy losses to the Soviets.

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.

MEDITTERANEAN: 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.

Heavy air attacks on Malta begin as Axis forces hope to eliminate the island as useful British base of operations in the central Mediterranean Sea.

NORTH AFRICA: 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.

NORTH AMERICA: 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.

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.

21 March 1942

ATLANTIC OCEAN: German submarine 'U-124' torpedoes two U.S. merchant tankers off the coast of North Carolina, U.S.A.: (1) The first is an unarmed tanker about 70 miles off Wilmington. The ship breaks in two and the aft end is towed to Morehead City. (2) The second is an armed tanker off the Beaufort Lightship, but little damage is inflicted and the ship reaches Beaufort without further incident.

EASTERN FRONT: In the northern sector south of Lake Ilmen, four divisions of the German 16th Army entrapped at Demyansk begin attempts to break out. The winter thaw holds them up and it is not until 21 April that the four divisions make contact with German troops.

GERMANY: Former merchant ship sailor and early Nazi street fighter Fritz Sauckel gets a new job from Chancellor Adolf Hitler, Reich Plenipotentiary General for Labor Mobilization. His job is to obtain, by whatever force necessary, the labor force required to push the German war economy (which is lagging behind its enemies, despite Teutonic efficiency) to its highest possible productive capacity. Sauckel is empowered to bring labor from all of occupied Europe, even off the streets. Sauckel will round up slave labor very efficiently and for that, he draws a death sentence at Nuremberg, in 1946.

The RAF Bomber Command dispatches a Wellington to Essen during the day but it returns due to lack of cloud cover.

MEDITTERANEAN: The Second Battle of Sirte. The Axis, now aware of the British supply convoy sailing from Alexandria, Egypt, to Malta, dispatch Vice Admiral Angelo Iachino from Taranto with the battleship 'Littorio' and four destroyers; Rear-Admiral Angelo Parona also sets sail from Messina with the heavy cruisers 'Gorizia' and 'Trento', the light cruiser 'Bande Nere' and four destroyers.

In a repeat of Force H's mission on 7 March 1942, 16 more Spitfires are delivered to Malta.

NORTH AFRICA: The British Eighth Army continues raids on forward landing grounds of Axis forces as a diversion for a convoy to Malta. The raids are partially successful drawing off part of the enemy's aircraft.

NORTH AMERICA: The United States agrees to provide US$500 million in aid to China. (With inflation, US$500 million in 1942 is equal to US$5.5 trillion in year 2002 dollars.)

23 March 1942

MEDITERRANEAN: The Second Battle of Sirte. The British convoy consisting of four merchant ships and Royal Navy warships that is enroute from Alexandria, Egypt, to Malta, is approaching the island. The ships come under concentrated air attack and one freighter, MS 'Clan Campbell', is sunk 50 miles (80 kilometer) from the island and a second damaged. Two freighters make it safely in to the port of Valleta but air attacks against the docks at Valletta made it very difficult to unload.

NORTH AMERICA: In California, the first 1,000 Japanese-Americans arrive at the Manzanar Relocation Camp For Ethnic Japanese. The camp is located in the Owens Valley on the west side of U.S. Highway 395 about 50 miles (80 kilometers) south of Bishop and 12 miles (19 kilometers) north of Lone Pine. Today, this is a National Historic Site.

WESTERN FRONT: During the night of the 23rd/24th, RAF Bomber Command dispatches 12 Hampdens, three Stirlings and two Manchesters on a minelaying mission off Lorient without loss. This was the first time that Stirlings of No. 3 Group participated in the minelaying campaign.

24 March 1942
WESTERN FRONT: During the day, 18 RAF Bomber Command Bostons are dispatched on two escorted raids: 12 aircraft hit the Comines power-station and six bomb the marshaling yard at Abbeville. Bombing results were not observed; no aircraft are lost. During the night of the 24th/25th, 35 aircraft of RAF Bomber Command lay mines off Lorient; a Hampden and a Lancaster are lost. These were the first Bomber Command losses for 11 days and nights and the Lancaster lost, from 44 (Rhodesia) Squadron, was the first of its type to be lost on operations.

25 March 1942

ATLANTIC OCEAN: The destroyer USS 'Blakely' (DD-150) is torpedoed by German submarine 'U-156' off Martinique, French West Indies. The explosion carries away 60 feet (18 meters) of her bow. Six men are killed and 21 wounded, but the ship makes it to Port de France, Martinique, for emergency repairs.

An unarmed U.S. freighter is torpedoed and shelled by German submarine 'U-103' about 75 miles WNW of Jamaica, and abandoned. 'U-103' surfaces and her commanding officer asks the Americans for the name and speed of their ship, and if all of her men have been accounted for, before he provides them with cigarettes. The freighter sinks early the following morning, after which time the U-boat departs.

German planes attack convoy PQ 16 as it proceeds toward Murmansk, USSR, from Reykjavik, Iceland; an armed U.S. freighter is damaged by near-misses and she leaves the convoy under tow of British trawler HMS 'Northern Spray'

GERMANY: During the night, RAF Bomber Command dispatches 254 aircraft, 192 Wellingtons, 26 Stirlings, 20 Manchesters, 9 Hampdens, 7 Lancasters, to attack Essen, the largest force sent to one target so far; 190 aircrew claim they hit the target many claiming hits on the Krupps works, but bombing photographs showed that much of the effort was drawn off by the decoy fire site at Rheinberg, 18 miles west of Essen. Essen's report says that only nine high-explosive bombs, 700 incendiaries and 1,627 leaflets were dropped there. One house was destroyed and two seriously damaged. Five people were killed and 11 injured. Nine aircraft, five Manchesters (out of the 20 dispatched), three Wellingtons, and a Hampden, are lost. Other targets bombed include Duisburg (by seven aircraft), Oberhausen (by two aircraft) while individual aircraft bomb Gladbeck and Hamborn.

NORTH AMERICA: The 77th Infantry Division of the United States Army is activated at Fort Jackson, South Carolina.

UNITED KINGDOM: Grantham: The government has its first by-election defeat since September 1939.

WESTERN FRONT: Major Cecil P Lessig becomes the first USAAF pilot to fly a mission over France in World War II. Flying a Spitfire Mk. VB with RAF No. 64 Squadron from Hornchurch, Essex, England, Lessig participates in a 36-aircraft fighter sweep that is recalled when 50 Luftwaffe fighters challenge them.

During the day, nine RAF Bomber Command Bostons, with fighter escort, carry out accurate bombing at Le Trait shipyard. No Bostons are lost. During the night of the 25th/26th, 26 of 27 aircraft dispatched bomb the port area at St. Nazaire, 38 aircraft dispatched lay mines off Lorient, 30 aircraft drop leaflets over France, and one bomber hits Lannion Airfield.

One RAF Bomber Command aircraft dispatched on the night raid on Essen, Germany, bombs Haamstede Airfield.

26 March 1942

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.

EASTERN FRONT: The shipment of Jews to the Auschwitz extermination camp begin. The first Jews come from Slovakia and France.

GERMANY: 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.

MEDITTERANEAN: Two of the freighters from the recent relief convoy that arrived from Alexandria, Egypt, are sunk in port of Malta 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 tons) are eventually unloaded.

NORTH AMERICA: 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.

WESTERN FRONT: 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.

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.

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.

27 March 1942

ATLANTIC OCEAN: Aboard the battleship USS 'Washington' (BB-56) en route from Portland, Maine, U.S.A., to Scapa Flow in the Orkney Islands,Commander Task Force Thirty Nine (TF 39), Rear Admiral John W. Wilcox, taking an unaccompanied walk on deck of his flagship is washed overboard and disappears in a heavy sea. Rear Admiral Robert C. Giffen becomes task force commander upon Wilcox's death.

The USN "Q-ship" USS 'Atik" (ex SS Carolyn) is torpedoed and sunk with all 141 crewmen by German submarine 'U-123' about 350 miles east of Norfolk, Virginia, U.S.A., after the "Q-ship's" gunfire damages the U-boat in a spirited encounter. 'Atik' is the only U.S. Navy warship disguised as a merchantman that is lost to enemy action during World War II.

While covering convoy WS17 in the UK approaches, HMS 'Leamington' sinks 'U-587'. USS 'Twiggs' (DD-127), was commissioned as HMS 'Leamington' (G-19) on 23 Oct. 1940, part of the destroyers-for-bases deal. 'U-587' (Type VIIC) was sunk in the North Atlantic, in position 47.21N, 21.39W. Also involved are British escort destroyers HMS 'Grove' and 'Aldenham', and the destroyer HMS 'Volunteer'. 42 dead (all hands lost).

GERMANY: During the night of the 27th/28th, 13 of 15 RAF Bomber Command Hampdens lay mines off the northwest German coast; three aircraft are lost.

NORTH AMERICA: The U.S. Army's War Plans Division Issues "Plan for Operations in Northwest Europe," in which a tentative timetable for an invasion of France is offered. The plan calls for (1) a limited cross-Channel attack in the autumn of 1942 (Operation SLEDGEHAMMER) as an emergency measure if Soviet forces show signs of collapsing or (2) the main Anglo-American invasion (Operation ROUNDUP) in the spring of 1943 if SLEDGEHAMMER is not required. The build-up of U.S. forces and supplies in the U.K. for the major cross-Channel attack is coded Operation BOLERO.

WESTERN FRONT: RAF Bomber Command dispatches 12 Bostons during the day to attack the Ostend power station; there are no losses but their bombs fell into fields short of the target.

The St. Nazaire Raid. RAF Bomber Command dispatches 35 Whitleys and 27 Wellingtons to bomb German positions around St Nazaire in support of the naval and Commando raid to destroy the dry-dock gates in the port. The aircraft were ordered to bomb only if the target had clear visibility. Conditions were bad, however, with 10/10ths cloud and icing, and only 4 aircraft bomb at 2330 hours. One aircraft bombs Lannion Airfield.

During the night of the 27th/28th, RAF Bomber Command dispatches eight Blenheims to attack airfields; two attack Schipol and two attack Soesterburg; one Blenheim attacking the latter target is lost.