This day in the war in Europe 65 years ago

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ATLANTIC: 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.

BRAZIL: The government confiscates Axis property in reprisal for sinking of Brazilian merchant ships.

MALTA: The 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.

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

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ATLANTIC: 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.

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

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.

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

U.S.: 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.

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ATLANTIC: 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.

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

FRANCE: Ten of 11 RAF Bomber Command Bostons attack the Hazebrouck
marshalling yard without loss during the day. During the night of the
13th/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.

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.

NETHERLANDS: During the night of the 13th/14th, one RAF Bomber Command
bomber attacks Schipol Airfield.

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

[Civettone]

Btw Syscom, thanks for the effort you're putting into this!

Will try to add something from time to time...

Kris

[syscom3]

ATLANTIC: 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.

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

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.

NETHERLANDS: 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.

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ATLANTIC: 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.

POLAND: About 1,600 Jews are deported from the Lublin area 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.

U.K.: 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.
London: The Soviet ambassador asks Churchill to open a second front on mainland Europe.

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

U.S.S.R.: 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.

[Civettone]

17 March:
- Germans open the Belzec destruction camp.
- General MacArthur assigned supreme commander SW Pacific forces.



Kris

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ATLANTIC: 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.

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

Italy: Off Sicily: The British submarine HMS UNBEATEN sinks the Italian submarine GUGLIELMOTTI.

U.K.: 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.
United States Naval Forces Europe is established to plan joint operations with the British; Vice Admiral Robert L. Ghormley is in command.

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ATLANTIC: 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.

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

U.S.: 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.

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

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

USSR: 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."

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

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ATLANTIC: 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.

EGYPT: 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.

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.

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

MALTA: 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.

U.K.: 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.

U.S.: 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.

U.S.S.R.: The Soviet offensive at Kerch in the Crimea is defeated by the Germans with heavy losses to the Soviets.

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ATLANTIC: 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.

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.

ITALY: 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.

LIBYA: 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.

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

U.S.: 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.)

U.S.S.R.: 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.

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FRANCE: 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.

MEDITERRANEAN: The Second Battle of Sirte. The British convoy
consisting of four merchant ships and Royal Navy warships that is en
route 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.

U.S.: 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.

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FRANCE: 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.

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FRANCE: 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.

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.

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

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

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

GULF OF MEXICO: 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.

ATLANTIC: 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.
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