On this day during W.W. 2

Feb 27 1940 Churchill claimed ( erroneously ) that the Allies had sunk half of Germany’s U-boat fleet.    Sweden and Norway refused Finlands request for transit rights.

1941 British and German forces engaged each other for the first time in North Africa.

1942 Indian territory was attacked for the first time as the Japanese raided the Andaman Islands in the bay if Bengal, south of Burma.
      27-Mar.1  Allied ships suffered their worst naval defeat of the war in the battle of the Java Sea. The Japanese navy dominated the illcoordinated defense of the area by U.S.,British and Dutch men-of-war. Japanese ships were able to take control of the southwest Pacific in the first major surface-to-surface naval combat of the Pacific war. Using their superior oxygen torpedo (the type 91, with a range of 25 miles or five tomes that of American or British models), the Japanese on the night of the 27th quickly sank the Dutch cruisers De Ruyter and Java, the Dutch destroyer Kortenauer, and the British destroyer Electra. On the 28th, Japanese cruisers and destroyers outgunned another Allied force, sinking 2 cruisers and the American Houston and Australian Perth, and the Dutch destroyer Evertson. On the 1st, three British ships, the cruiser Exeter and destroyers Pope and Encounter, were sunk by Japanese gunfire. Only a handful of Allied vessals slipped through the Bali Strait, all that remained of what only three months before had been a formidable force. Now, the Japanese could move with virtual impunity throughout the southwest Pacific area.

1943 Stiff resistance by the British First Army halted the German advance near Beja   
    27th-28th Norwegian Commando’s destroyed the Norsk Hydro heavy-water facilities at Vermork. Nine men parachuted into Norway from Britian, demolishing the heavy-water tanks, and let 2,000 pounds of the material spill uselessly in the area. Piping and tubes used in its production were also destroyed. (Germanys heavy-water program was delayed for only four months, however, as German and Norwegian engineers returned the facility to full production in June)

1945 U.S. VII Corps forces advanced rapidly towards Cologne but ran into determined resistance outside the city.    Canadian divisions broke through to the Hochwald Forest and reached Grieth on the Rhine.    Stricter rationing was ordered for German civilians.    Russia established a pro Soviet government in Romania.    Lebanon declared war on Germany and Japan.

1933 The Reichstag building in Berlin was set afire, and the Nazis quickly blamed the communists.

1936 Italian troops opened the second battle of Tembien, leading to further devastation of the Ethiopian forces. Bombs and Mustard gas left only scattered survivors and the Emperor’s personal gaurd to resist the onrushing Italians

1937 A ministry of defense was created in France. Paris announced plans to extend the Maginot line.

Feb 28 1940  Finnish troopsbegan pulling back from their positions around Viipuri.    Germany warned Sweden not to aid Finland directly or indirectly.

1941 Bridges near Giurgiu were destroyed by the bulgarians to forestall any German any attack through Rumania.    The British civilian air raid casualties for the past 2 months were 2,289 killed and 3,080 injured.

1942 The Japanese Sixteenth Army was landed on the north coast of Java, with the main force striking for Batavia,(Djakarta) capital of the Dutch east Indies. the landings was met with Allied aerial attacks.      The U.S. military announced the army and navy commanders in Hawaii at the time of Pearl Harbor attack would be court-marshaled “when such time as the public intrerest and safty would permit.” In the meantime Lieutanant General Walter C Short and rear Admiral Husband E Kimmel were permitted to retire.      British civilian air raid casualties for the month were 22 killed and 21 injured.      Feb 28- Mar 1  A mixed Allied Naval force sank four invasion transports in the Sunda Strait

1943 German forces were contained in Tunisia. Their counteroffensive was costly to the inexperienced American troops of II Corps who suffered heavy casualties, 6,500. Total Allied casualties in the Kasserine fighting were 10,000 to 2,000 for the Axis troops.    Counterattacks by the Germans in the Donets area were accelerated as the tempurature began to climb above freezing. German planners feared an early thaw would bog down their offensive.

1945 Remnants of the Japanese force in Manilia were contained in two government buildings. U.S. army units went ashore at Puerto Princesa on the east coast of Palawan Island in the Philippines, with the Eight Army under Lieutenant General Robert L Eichelberger directed to take the area and cut off the Japanese in the East Indies.    Russian troops captured the transport centers of Neustettin(Szczecinek)  and Prechlau in Pomerania.    Elelments of the U.S. Ninth Army advanced to within 16 miles of Cologne.    British civilian air raid casualties for the  month were 483 killed and 1,152 wounded.

1939 Germany informed Britian and France it could not guarentee the frontiers of Czechoslovakia because of conditions within the country and unsatisfactory state of relations between Berlin and Prague.

Mar 1 1940 Hitler issued a formal directive to the German military for the invasion of Norway and Denmark.

1941 Chaing Kai-shek told the opening meeting of the peoples Political Council that China would never reach a compromise with Japan. He also also said any Japanese advance into the south Seas would further menace China.    Bulgaria joined the Axis, “upon the invitation of the German government”. King Borris III (who married the daughterof the king of Italy) could not withstand the internal and external pressures. Moscow had told Sofia not to expect Soviet aid if attacked by Germany.    The first U.S. force for the protection of convoys in the North Atlantic was established. It consisted of destroyers and patrol aircraft.

1942 Russian forces initiated another offensive in the Crimea. The Germans were still unable to extricate the trapped II Corps near Staraya Russa.    During two months of fighting on Luzon , the Japanese had lost 2,700 men killed in action and nearly 7,000 wounded.

more latter I have to step out for a bit

Mar 1 1943 Moscow told the Polish government-in exile it would claim eastern Poland, the lands seized in 1939 as Russian territory.

1944 Anzio defenders continued to beat back German attacks.    U.S, forces on Los Negros stopped Japanese assaults on the defensive perimeter.    Red Army forces drove across the Narva River.    German slave labor chief Fritz Sauckel said there were five million foreign workers in Germany, 200,000 of them voluntary.

1945 U.S. Ninth Army and First Canadian Army troops continued their swift pusuit through Germany and Holland, capturing 20 towns and villages. The Panzer Lehr Division was forced out of Monchengladbach. Thus far in three weeks of the offensove toward the Rhine, 66,000 Germans had been taken prisoner.    Orders were issued that no German staff officer could cross to the East bank of the Rhine.    A limited Allied offensive in Italy was postponed because of extremely bad weather.    The Ryukyu Islands were attacked by U.S. ships and planes.    Saudi Arabia declared war on Germany and Japan. Iran declared war on Japan.

Mar 2 1940 France and Britian formally requested Swedish and Norwegian approval to send Allied troops to Finland through the Scandinavian countries (units were to begin arriving by the 20th. Daladier was planning on a force of 50,000 French “volunteers” and 150 aircraft . Britian planned a force which would reach an eventual level of 100,000 men.)  The request was rejected. Pari and London were primarily interested in occupying the Swedish iron ore fields and denying their strategic output to Germany

1941 The German Twelfth Army crossed the Danube and marched into Bulgaria, effectively controlling the country through occupation. Remaining resistance to German domination henceforth was ruthlessly squelched. The move was explaned to the Russians, with whom the Bulgarians had a close affinity, as a "precautionary measure to prevent the British from gaining a foothold in Greece. The Russians protested anyway.    Eden confered with Greek officials in Athens to complete plans for the introduction of British troops in Greece. Thr Greek government had hesitated to permit the landing of Commonwealth forces until the Germans crossed the Danube. With German forces in Bulgaria, the British quickly issued orders for the rapid deployment of their forces.    Hitler met with Prince Paul, told the Yugoslav leader that Germany planned to attack Russia and called ffor Yugoslav friendship when war started. Hitler also hoped the Yugoslavs would cooperate in Greece and promised Paul Salonika in return. The British, meanwhile, were urging Yugoslavia  to attack the Italians in Albania.    Turkey imposed tighter controlls on trafic through the Dardanelles, allowing ship transits by permit only.

1942  Japanese forces landed on Mindanao in the Philippines.    Batavia was ordered to be evacuated. The Dutch government moved to Bandung.    The U.S. recognized Free French authority over all French possessions and said it would cooperate in their defense. " In its relations with the local French authorities in French territories the United States has and will continue to be governed  by the manifest effectiveness with wich those authorities endeavor to protect their territories from domination and control by the common enemy."    All persons of Japanese ancestry (including U.S. citizens) were barred from Pacific coastal areas by the U.S. government.    Australia declared war on Thailand.

1943 Rzhev, the strongly fortified German base, was evacuated by German Army Group Center.    R.A.F bombers delivered their most devastating raid of the war to date on Berlin.    German tank units forced Allied groups to fall back to Sedjenane in Tunisia.

1944  With transportation in turmiol in Italy, Hundreds of Italians jumped aboard a freight train in the mountains near Salerno. When it stalled, most of the crowded flatcars were in a tunnel. Toxic fumes from the engine’s low grade fuel blew into the tunnel and at least 426 people died of carbon monoxide poisoning.    More than 350 sorties were flown by U.S.bombers in support of the Anzio forces. The pounding of the German positions disrupted a planned counteroffensive.    U.S. Army troops seized the Momote airstrip on Los Negros.

1945 U.S. 10th Armored Division forces occupied Trier. Allied units had now reached the Rhine north and south of Dusseldorf.    Soviet forces cut the road between Stettin andDanzig, isolating East Pomerania and West Prussia.    MacAuthur returned to Corregidor shortly after all Japanese resistance ended. The Japanese lost about 5,200 men defending the island. Total U.S.casualties were more than 1,000.    Two thirds of Iwo Jima was now in Marine hands. The first of the islands airfields was opened to U.S. transports

Sorry for the absence ,but my Mom passed away today I’ll post on Sunday

Mar 4 1941  British Commandos raided the Lofton Islands off the extreme northern coast of Norway. The first raid of its kind during the war, it yealded considerable successes. Many German prisoners were captured, hundreds of Norwegian were evacuated for future military operations, all targets ashore were destroyed and a 10,000 ton German fish factory was sunk.    The first of the British Commonwealth forces for Greece, including the 6th Australian Division, the 2nd New Zealand Division, and aPolish brigade, set sail from Egypt. (a total of 56,657 men would be sent to Greece as a counter to German moves and take up position west of the Vardar River)

1942 Marcus Island in the central Pacific was attacked by American carrier based aircraft in a pre dawn raid causing extensive damage.    Japanes Zeros destroyed 23 Allied planes in an attack on Broome, Austalia, the refueling station on flights from Perth to Java.

1943 R.A.F. bombers used the OBOE navigational aid for the first time, in a raid on Essen. The attack marked the begging of the air battle of the Ruhr to destroy German industry in the area.

1944 U.S. Eighth Air Force planes attacked Berlin for the first time.    A lull developed at Anzio. German troops were told to hold their positions and prepare for defensive action    Under the command of General Stilwel, the first Chinese Army and Merrill’s Marauders (special U.S. infiltration units names after Major General Frank Merrill) began the battle of Walawbum in northern Burma. It was the first phase of a combined offensive with the British Chindits aimed at cutting the communications of the Japanese 18th “Chrysanthemum” Division taking the rail center of Myitkyina, and reopening the Burma road to China.    U.S. ships began bombarding the Admiralty Islands.

1945 The Ninth U.S. and Canadian First Armies hooked up in the area of Geldern in Germany.    U.S. First Army troops advanced toward Cologne after crossing the Erft River.    The 2nd and 3rd Canadian divisions cleared the Hochwald and Balberger forests.    The U.S. 10th Mountain Division made broad advances in Italy.    The 17th Indian Division captured Meiktila in Burma, cutting the communications of the Japanese in central Burma and opening a large scale battle.    German bombers, for the first time in seven months attacked Britian.    Synthetic oil facilities in Hamburg and Gelsenkirchen were pounded by 2,000 Allied bombers.

If I miss a day here or there, it doesnt mean I gave up on this post, I may have some real busy days as the Executor of the will

Mar 6 1940 France and Italy concluded a trade agreement providing for an increase in the volume of trade between the two countries.

1941 Churchill issued his " Battle of the Atlantic Directive," giving highest priority to measures for knocking out German U-Boats and bombers blocking shipments to Britian.    German aircraft began dropping acoustic magnetic mines in the Suez canal, furtger impeading the flow of British supplies to Greece and North Africa. The initial mine-laying operation had the immidiate effect of blocking the vital waterway for three weeks while the waters were cleared.

1942 All installations in Rangoon which might be useful to the Japanese were ordered destroyed.      Batavia fell to the Japanese

1943 Rommel fought his last battle in Africa, directing an offensive against British positions at Medenine. The Germans were routed, losing 50 tanks before retiring.  Coincidenttally, General George S Patton at the very same time took command of the U.S.II Army Corps.    Allied convoy SC 121 in the north Atlantic came under U-Boat attack. ( 13 of the 56 ships were eventually lost)        Japan again told Berlin it could not enter the war against the Russians

1944 Round the clock bombing operations against Germany began with a U.S. 800-plane daylight raid against Berlin in which 2,000 tons of bombs were dropped.    About 400 Japanese were killed in an unsuccessful bid to cross the Tanai River in Burma.    Red Army troops advanced along a 100 mile front in Ukraine.    U.S. Marines landed near Talasea on new Britian and established a 2,000 yard deep bridgehead

1945 U.S. Ninth Army forces completed clearing the area from the Rhor to the Rhine Rivers.    Colonge was largly cleared of German troops.    German forces counterattacked around Lake Balaton in Hungary.    U.S.Air Force fighters began operating out if Iwo Jima.    Allied units crossed the Irrawaddy 30 miles from Mandalay.

1938 Japanese forces reached the Yellow river in China.

March of 42 Allied Merchant shipping losses were the heaviest of the war. In all 273 ships were lost, a total of 834,164 tons. Ninety five were sunk in the North Aylantic, 98 in the Far East. The safestof the convoy routes  was Murmansk where only one of 110 ships hauling material to Russia had been lost in 1942 and through March 1942. It was at this juncture, however, that the Germans began shifting their Naval and Air strenth to Norway and began scoring dramatic successes on the Nothern convoys.

Mar 7 1941 British troops began disembarking at Geek ports

1942 Japanese forces landed unopposed at Lae and Salamaua on New Guinea.    Britsh troops began moving out of Rangoon, but their withdrawl to Prome in the north was obstructed by the Japanese who blocked the road at Taukkyan.    Communication was lost with the last defenders in Java as the Japanese completed their occupation of the island.

1944 Moscow said it considered thr Curzon line unacceptable as the post war border between Russia and Poland, holding that the frontier shuld be further west.    The 33rd Division of Lieutenant General Renya Mutaguchi’s fifteenth Army launched Operation U-GO, a major Japanese offensive aimed at capturing the Imphal plain and smashing the British IV Corps.

1945 The Rhine River was crossed at Remagen by the U.S. 9th Armored Division. The historic crossing of the natural barrier to the German heartland came when the Ludendorff rail bridge was found intact. The 9th and 78th divisions were quickly moved into position to exploit the major breakthrough. German artillary failed to destroy the bridge as U.S. troops and equipment poured over the Rhine.    All German resistance north of Moselle River began collapsing.    The Jewish Brigade entered Italy, crossing the Montone River in  its first encounter.    Japanese 7th Division troops counterattacked in an effort to recapture Meiktila in Burma. The 17th Indian Division was trapped as the Japanese captured Taungtha. Lashio fell to the Chinese 37th Division.    The Allies declared Goebbels and Ribbentrop to be war criminals.

March 3 1942 Two Japanese “Emiily” bombers from the Marshals (refueled by submarines) attacked Hawaii. The nightime attack was unsuccessful, hampered in part by cloud conditions. Pearl Harbor was again the target, but one plane missed the Naval base by 6 miles and dropped its four bombs on Mount Tantalus. The other plane’s four bombs fell harmlessly in the Pacific.

Mar 8 1941 The U.S. senate voted to approve lend-lease by a margine of 60 to31.

1942 Ragoon fell to the Japanese.Loss of the Bumese capital was particulary serious to the Allied cause because it cut off the last port through which supplies could be funneled over the Burma Road to China… British forces cleared the roadblock at Taukkyan to permit the retreat northward.    The Naval base at Surbaya in Java was occupied by the Japanese.

1943 Japanese forces crossed the Yangtze River between Ichang and Yoyang.    British First Army forces fell back near Tamera in Tunisia.    The U.S. ambassador in Moscow-Admiral William Standly-said the Soviet government was suppressing news of American aid: “It is not fair to mislead Americans into giving millions from their pockets, thinking that they are aiding the Russian people, without the Russian people knowing it”.

1944 Japanes forces in Burma openedna strong drive toward Imphal.    Allied positions on Bougainville came under the Japanese Artillery fire.Four aircraft were lost, and the undamaged planes were withdrawn to New Georgia.    Russian forces were within 60 miles of Rumania.    U.S. bombers resumed heavy raids on German targets. Accompanied by longer range fighters which provided protection to and over targets,590 Eighth Air Force planes atytacked the Erkner ball-bearing factory in Berlin, inflicting damage which caused production slowdowns. Thirty seven of the American planes were lost.

1945 U.S. trops pushed into Bonn.    British and Canadian units reached the Rhine at Xanthen.    Remnants of twoGerman army corps retreated across the Rhine, giving the Allies full control of the area west of the river.    Thirty thousand Germans surrendered in the former Polish corridor.    Secret talks began between Allen DULLES, oss commander in nothern Italy,on ending the war in Italy. Field Marshal Kesselring was willing to stop the fighting if the forces under his command could be repatriated and fight with the Allies against  Russia. Stalin when he learned of the talks, accused Britian and the U.S. of duplicity.    Hitler decreed:" anyone captured without being wounded or without having fought to the limit of his powers has forfeited his honor. He is expellrd from the fellowship of decent and brave soldiers. His dependents will be held responsible".

Mar 9 1940 Britian and France told the finns, troops and planes would be sent to fight the Russians if Helsinki would request such aid.    admiral Raeder told Hitler the British and French might occupy Norway and Sweden under the pretext of aiding the Finns and encouraged an invasion of Norway at the earliest time.

1942 The Dutch formally surrendered Java to the Japanese.

1943 Arnim succeeded Rommel as commander of Axis forces in Africa. Rommel left Africa for the last time.    The Russian people were told for the first time, in a radio broadcast, that the Soviet Union was receiving supplies from Britian and the U.S.      SS Panzer corps units reached the western outskirts of Kharkov.    British Chindits in Burma began operations east of the Irrawaddy River.    A German submarine, U-510 sank nine ships off the coast of Brazil.

1944 Red Army troops advanced to Tarnopol where house to house fighting developed.    The Talasea airstrip on New Britian was taken by U.S. Marines without opposition.    The first Chinese Army and Merrill’s Marauders captured Walawbum in Burma, giving them full control of the Hukawng Valley.

1945  The main body of the U.S. Third Army reached the Rhine.    Japanese troops began attacking French garrisons in Indochina and removing all vestages of Vichy rule.    Units of the 19th Indian Division broke into Mandalay which was bitterly defended by the Japanese.    The 3rd Marine Division reached the northern coast of Iwo Jima, splitting the Japanese defenders.    B-29’s firebombed Japanese cities hitting Tokyo the hardest. More than 83,000 were killed and 40,000 wounded in the Japanese capital. Itr was one of the most destructive air attacks in history. About 16 square miles of Tokyo were obliterated. A total of 279 Superforts hit the city from an altitude of 7,000 feet.

1936  Poland secretly proposed to France that they jointly attack Germany. Paris declined. Warsaw concluded that regional alliances were useless

Mar 12 1940 The Russo-Finnish war ended with an agreement signed in Moscow. Russia got an area of about 16,000 square miles, including the Karelian Isthmus, the naval base at Hango, and the city of Viipuri. Two hundred thousand Finns in the ceded area were to be sent to Finland. The campaign cost Russia a dear price. More than 68,000 men were killed in action, and 1,600 tanks and 700 aircraft were lost. Finland suffered 24,923 military dead.

1941 Mar 10 Japan resolved a number of outstanding disputes in south east Asia by winning a French cession of Cambodian territory to Thailand and recieving a monopoly on the production of all rice produced in Indochina. French authorities in Indochina also granted Japan full use of the Saigon airport. Previously, Japanhad sought military rights only in the Northern section of Vietnam.
Mar 12 Roosevelt requested $ 7 billion in military credit to Britian under the new lend-lease law. Churchill expressed British thanks for the measure, hailing it as a “Magna Charta”.      Italian forces in Albania launched another offensive along a 130 mile long front in an effort to throw Greek forces back to their own territory.

1942 Mar 10 All Allied forces in the Dutch East Indies surrendered unconditionally.    The Port of Finschhhafen in Northeast New Guinea was taken by the Japanese.    More thana hundred U.S. carrier based planes attacked Japanese shipping and troop concentrations on New Guinea
11th General MacArthur, his wife and amall child left Correigidor on a P.T. boat for Mindanao……"I shall return"MacArthur " told the Filipinos in a final message. 
12th A U.S. Army force of 17,500 men landed at Noumea in New Caledonia.    The Japanese Imperial Gaurds Division was landed without opposition in Northern Sumatra.      The British garrison on the Andaman Islands in the Bay of Bengal was evacuated because the sea plane base could no longer be defended  with the loss of Southern Burma.    Under Japanese auspices king Norodom Sihanouk proclaimed Cambodia’s independence.
Mar 11th The ChannelDash, A German straegic error,  I’ll fil in a time line tomorrow.

1943 Mar 9th A German submarine, U-510, sank nine ships off the coast of Brazil.

1944 The Czech government in London called for an armed civilian uprising in Czechoslovakia.    British troops made advances on the Arakan front in Burma, taking Razabil.    London ordered a halt to alltravel between the Irish Republic and Great Britian because the Irish refused to order German and Japanese diplomats out of the country.

1945 Mar 9-10 On the night of 9-10 1945 ,waves of U.S. B-29’s (279) delivered unequaled destruction of a population center-Tokyo. The Superforts dropped 1,665 tons of delay-fuzed napalm filled bombs which on impact spewed adhering fire as far as 100 feet. In only 30 minutes the incendiaries created an inferno which killed 83,793 Japanese. The actual causes of death were direct incineration, suffocation, or scalding, primarily of those forced into boiling canals and rivers. Another 41,000 victims were injured. More than a million people lost their lives in the 1944-1945 Allied air attacks as 15.8 square miles of central Tokyo were completly destroyed. It was the deadliest air raid in the war against Japan.
12th Russian troops captured Kustrin, a German strong point on the eastern approaches to Berlin. The U.S.VIII Corps completed mopping up operations west of the Rhine.    The R.A.F. “earthquake” bomb was dropped for the first time. The 10 ton weapon was used to knock out the Bielefeld viaduct.

Yes it was more deadly than the bombs at either Hiroshima or Nagasaki.

Mar 13 1941 Germany repeated its demand that Yugoslavia join the Axis. It became increasingly appearent to Berlin that German troops would be needed in Greece and access through Yugoslavia was essential.

1942  March 11 10:45 P.M. Accompanied by a protective force of 6 destroyers and an array of smaller ships the German ships departed Brest.      12th 6:00 A.M. The column was still underected as it passed Cap de la Hague at the northern tip of the Cherbourg peninusla.    10:30 A.M. R.A.F. Spitfires identified the German armada but maintained radio silence and thus did not report their findings until landing,wasting precious time.      12:28 P.M. R.A.F.Swordfish torpedo bombers took off to attack.    12:30P.M. Five Royal Navy torpedo boats failed to penetrate the destroyer escort screen protecting the larger German ships and did not even engage the ships.    1:00 P.M. All of the attacking Swordfish aircraft were shot down and none of the torpedos hit.    2:31 P.M. The Scharnhorst hit a mine and suffered minor damage.    3:30 P.M. Six Royal Navy destroyers from Harwich attacked the Germans but inflicted no damage.      4:00P.M. About 25 of the 240 R.A.F bombers sent aloft were able to locate the Germans and started their attacks in poor visibility. They scored no significant hits, nor did they impaair the progress of the German ships      7:55 P.M. The Gneisenau struck a mine off the Dutch Island of Terschelling but no major damage resulted.    9:25 P.M. The Scharnhorst hit a second mine but suffered only minor damage.    Early on the 13th the Scharnhorst reached Wilhelmshaven and the Gneisenau and the Prinz Eugen put into Brunsbuttel

1943 The first of two attempts to kill Hitler within the span of a few days failed. General Henning vonTresckow, who was Field Marshal Hans Gunther von Kluge’s chief of staff, and an aid planted a bomb aboard Hitlers private plane. The device, made of plastic explosives was contained in a package supposedly containing two bottles of Brandy for delivery to a member of Hitlers staff at Wolfsschanze Hitlers military head quarters in East Prussia. The detonator failed as the conspirators discovered  when they recovered the bomb      Chinese troops hurled the Japanese backacross the Yangtzee River

1944 Kherson was recaptured by the Russians who crossed thr lower Dnieper.    The Japanese 33rd and 15th divisions advanced toward the Imphal plain in Operation U-GO  took the British by surprise and treatened to cut off the retrating 17th and 20th Indian divisions.      In an outflanking amphibious operation,British west African troops landed on the Arakan coast.

1945 A Japanese force was sealed inside Mandalay.      Congress voted 354 to 28 to extend the Lend-Lease act for one more year, but with the restictians it not be used for "post war relief,rehabilitation or reconstuction.

Mar 14 1940 Only three of 30 Chinese fighters escaped destruction when they engaged a flight of 12 Japanese Zero’s over Chengtu. The Japanese suffered no losses.

1942 The U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff decided to continue a defensive policy in the Pacific while building up American strenth in Britian for the offensive operations against Germany.    The first U.S. troops arrived in Australia.      MacArthur reached Mindanao.      Petain renamed Laval as premier of Vichy France.

1943 Two German SS divisions recaptured Kharkov. Russian resistance west of the Donets River collapsed.

1944 Russian troops closed the trap around the Germans at Nikolayev.      Indian forces attempting to pull back from the Imphal front found their path had been blocked by the Japanese.

1945 U.S. 11th Armored and 90th Infantry Divisions units crossed the Moselle River southwest of Koblenz. First Army troops advanced to within two miles of the Autobahn linking Frankfurt and the Ruhr.      A total of 372 Luftwaffe planes attacked the Rhine River bridges during the past week. Allied antiaircraft shot down 80.      Adolf Eichmann declared he would go to his grave happy knowing he had helped kill six million Jews.    Only Fort Dufferin in Mandalay remained in Japanese hands.      A few Japanese pockets remained on Iwo Jima as U.S. Marines began mop-uo operations

Mar 10 1933 Einstein declared he would not be returning to Germany: “as long as I have a choice in the matter, I shall live only in a country where civil liberty, tolerance, and equality of all citizens before the law prevail……These conditions do not exist in Germany at the present time”

Mar 12 1938 German army troops crossed into Austria at dawn. They met no resistance and were even embraced by the bulk of the civilianpopulation who displayed pride at the reunification of the Germanic peoples.

Mar 14 1939 Under the threat of German invasion, Slovakia and ruthenia declared their independence, disolving the Czechoslovak state. Military action by the Czechs was beyond question since the mountainous boundry regions, offering natural defensive barriers, were now lost . Czech resistance was deemed suicidal. German troops occupied Ostrava and concentrated other units around Bohemia and Moravia

Sorry for the no post the last two days……lots of funeral arrangements and early bed time and rise time, I’ll catch up tomorrow,it could be a long post.      I think Norway was invaded,I’ll check to make sure