Air Operations, Asia

(3rd?)Japanese bombers hit Mandalay starting huge fires in the bazaar section of the city crowded with natives. A trainload of RAF bombs explodes in the attack. About 2,000 people are killed.

Air Operations, Australia

P-40s from the 49th Pursuit Group's 9th Pursuit Squadron shoot down 7 G3M 'Nell' bombers and 2 A6M Zeros over Darwin between 1330 and 1405 hours.

Air Operations, Europe

In Operation Eisstoss (Ice Strike), Stukas, Ju-88s and He-111s attack the Russian fleet at Leningrad. Among the vessels sustaining damage are the battleships Oktyabskaya Revolutsiya and Petropavlovsk and the cruisers Maksim Gorski and Kirov.

• 12 Bostons and 4 Wellingtons raid the railway yards at St Omer, but the bombs fall in fields near the town. There are no losses.
• 4 Wellingtons are sent to bomb Germany, but 3 return early. 1 plane drops its load over Essen because of cloud cover over the original target of Emden. 21 Hampdens attempt to lay mines in the Frisians, but only 2 are successful. There are no losses.

Air Operations, North Africa

There are RAF raids on Benghazi and Derna.

Battle of the Atlantic

• The US tanker Comol Rico (5034t) is torpedoed and sunk by U-154 about 225 miles north of Puerto Rico kllling 3 of the crew.
• The unarmed US tanker Byron D. Benson (7953t) is torpedoed and sunk by U-552 about 8 miles off Currituck Inlet, North Carolina killing 9 of the 37-man crew.

Diplomatic Relations

The British and Italians agree on an exchange of sick and wounded prisoners of war.

Indian Ocean

A marauding Japanese naval surface squadron and submarines led by the carrier Ryujo roam the Bay of Bengal sinking merchantmen almost at will. Fearing an attack, the British have cleared Calcutta harbor and the ships at sea are picked off at an alarming rate, 28 ships of 144,000 tons over the next 5 days.

The Ceylon Raid Gets Underway

Operation C - the Ceylon Raid, gets underway, 26 March 1942: Akagi leaves Staring Bay, to be followed by Soryu, Hiryu, the battleships Hiei, Kongo, Kirishima and Haruna, then carriers Shokaku and Zuikaku. Note that Akagi and Hiryu have portside bridge structures.

A Catalina seaplane from Ceylon sights the Japanese fleet of Adm Kondo and manages to give the alarm before being shot down by Zero fighters. As well as 4 battleships of the Kongo Class, the Japanese fleet includes their main carrier forces with Adm Nagumo leading Akagi, Soryu, Hiryu, Shokaku and Zuikaku.

Somerville's intelligence had predicted that the Japanese attack would be on 1st or 2nd and after being ready then, he has now retired to Addu Atoll to replenish. HMS Hermes, Cornwall and Dorsetshire have been sent on other missions. The Japanese attack cannot now be parried, so the order is given for shipping to disperse from Colombo.

Believing that the British will still be in port, the Japanese carriers launch 130 planes against Colombo. A small British air strike against the carriers is completely unsuccessful. Later Japanese scout planes sight the heavy cruisers HMS Dorsetshire and HMS Cornwall. New strikes are mounted by the Japanese which find and sink these ships. The Japanese squadron continues its hunt for the main British force without success.

On 4 April 1942 in another heavy German air attack on Grand Harbor, Malta the Greek submarine Glaukos received two direct hits and sank.

The Greek submarine Glaukos

Philippines

(3rd?)The Japanese renew the assault on the Bataan peninsula, preceded by machine-gun fire from the air and an intensive artillery barrage to break down the defenders' morale. At nightfall the Japanese re-group for another attack, with Mount Samat being the main objective.