Air Operations, Australia

A 49th Pursuit Group 9th Pursuit Squadron P-40 downs a A6M 'Zero' over Van Dieman Gulf between Australia and Timor at 1320 hours.

Air Operations, Europe

• 11 Hampdens and 6 Wellingtons are sent on cloud cover raids to Germany. 6 aircraft locate targets to bomb. No planes are lost.
• 4 Wellingtons with selected crews are sent to Essen, but only random targets are bombed by 2 of the planes. There are no losses.

Battle of the Atlantic

The unarmed US tanker T. C. McCobb (7452t) en route to Caripito, Venezuela from Buenos Aires, Argentina is torpedoed and sunk by the Italian submarine Pietro Calvi.

Burma

The Chinese 200th and 22nd Divs withdraw from the Toungoo area towards Pyinmana. With the loss of Toungoo the road to Mauchi lies open to the Japanese, and the small Chinese garrison there will be overrun by the Japanese a few days later.

Eastern Front

The Soviets punch a corridor through to the 2nd Shock Army but can not free the starving army. Farther south, the fighting on the road to Demyansk continues as the Germans slowly progress toward the II and X Corps.

During March the Ostheer commits 2 panzer and 4 infantry divisions to the front, bringing its field strength to 21 panzer, 15 motorized and 127 infantry divisions. Since June 1941 the Panzerwaffe in the East has lost 3,486 tanks but has replaced just 873. The German tank strength stands at 1,503 vehicles.

During March the Ostheer loses 44,000 men killed.

The Red Army and Navy lose 675,315 killed and missing in action and 1,179,457 wounded during the first quarter of 1942. Soviet tank strength stands at 4,690 vehicles.

Soviet command raises the ADD (Long-Range Aviation). This is the bomber arm of the Soviet air force and is independent of the combat fronts. It is commanded by Golovanov.

In the north, the Volkhov Front is downgraded to an Operational Group under command of Khozin's Leningrad Front. Meretskov is given command of the 33rd Army and is made deputy commander of the West Front.

The fighting in the east between January and March 1942 witnesses a remarkable turn around in the fortunes of the two combatants. It is apparent that the Stalin offensive has failed to bring about the destruction of the German forces in the east. The dispersal of the Soviet strength from the center dilutes the weight of the blow, which could have resulted in the destruction of Army Group Center. Combined with this, since the frontwide offensive began, the Red Army loses in excess of 330,000 killed, 1,000 tanks and 1,000 artillery pieces destroyed and more importantly, the chance to destroy Army Group Center.

Since the Soviet counteroffensive before Moscow had begun, the Germans have lost 900,000 men, including 110,000 killed and missing and 268,000 wounded but in return have received only 450,000 reinforcements.

As spring took its grip on Russia, the opposing armies took the opportunity to reflect and rebuild. The Ostheer, so sure of victory in 1941, had entered 1942 on the back foot, fighting for its very survival in the face of fanatical Soviet attacks. The Red Army meanwhile had begun the long road towards victory. Stalin and the Higher Command were in the very early stages of mastery of the operational art, while the lower units remained unsophisticated. In contrast the German army operated with spirit and élan at its base but was uncoordinated at its head, led by a dictator who increasingly ignored the ability of his commanders. Such trends were to develop on both sides of the combat line as the year and the war progressed, each dictator still tasting defeat and victory in equal measure in the immediate future.

India, Home Front

The Congress party demands immediate independence for India, rejecting a plan submitted by Sir Stafford Cripps form dominion status after the war.

Indian Ocean

Adm James Somerville's Eastern Fleet, consisting of the aircraft carriers Indomitable, Formidable and Hermes, 5 old battleships, 8 cruisers and 15 destroyers, sails from Ceylon to avoid the coming attack by the main Japanese carrier forces of which intelligence has been received. They seek to take refuge at a secret base in the Maldive Islands. Somerville is well aware that the aircraft from his 3 carriers are not a match for the Japanese in an open fight. However, they have been well trained in night operations (at this stage of the war neither Japanese nor Americans are similarly trained) and have radar mounted in planes to assist target acquisition. Somerville therefore plans to avoid action by day and search for the Japanese each night. Pursuing them the Japanese fleet has sailed from Kendari in the Celebes. It is under the command of Adm Nobutake Kondo, who had under him Adm C. Nagumo, the commander at Pearl Harbor. The Japanese fleet includes the battleships Kongo, Haruna, Hiei and Kirishima, the aircraft carriers Akagi, Soryu, Hiryu, Shokaku and Zuikaku, the cruisers Tone, Chikuma and Abukuma and 9 destroyers. It is decided to use these greatly superior forces to destroy the Allied fleet and so eliminate a potentially serious threat to the western flank of the extended Japanese line.

Mediterranean

The British submarine Proteus sinks the Italian steamer Bosforo (3648t).

Philippines

Filipino detachments make surprise raids on Japanese supply dumps on Mindanao Island and burn down 45 warehouses.