Air Operations, Aleutians

4 XI Fighter Command P-40 fighter-bombers attack Kiska.

Air Operations, CBI

• Despite severe cloud cover, 6 11th Medium Bomb Squadron B-25s attack Japanese Army barracks and warehouses.
• 13 7th Heavy Bomb Group B-24s attack the dock area at Rangoon and the marshalling yard at Mahlwagon.
• 9 7th Heavy Bomb Group B-24s attack a rail bridge at Pazundaung.
• 6 341st Medium Bomb Group B-25s attack rail facilities at Maymyo.

Air Operations, Europe

117 German night raiders are sent to London. Only 126 bombs are on target. 6 planes are lost.

• 10 Mosquitos of No. 139 Squadron carry out a long-range raid on the molybdenum mine at Knaben, Norway, vital to the German steel industry. The target is successfully bombed, but a German FW-190 shoots down one of the Mosquitos.

• 417 aircraft are sent to Hamburg. Included in the total are 149 Lancasters, 123 Wellingtons, 83 Halifaxes and 62 Stirlings.
• Visibility is clear over the target but the Pathfinders make a mistake possibly thinking that the H² indications of mudbanks in the Elbe which have been uncovered by low tides are sections of the Hamburg docks. As a result, most of the bombing falls 13 miles downstream from the center of the city. Some bombs do hit Hamburg, however, causing 27 deaths and 95 injuries. 100 fires have to be put out before attention is turned to the town of Wedel which suffers extensive damage including several industrial concerns being destroyed.
• 4 Lancasters, 2 Wellingtons, 2 Halifaxes and 2 Stirlings are lost.

• 5 Mosquitos are sent to the Ruhr with more direct hits on the Krupps works being recorde, 14 aircraft lay mines in the Frisians and there are 5 OTU sorties.
• 1 mine-laying Stirling is lost.

Air Operations, New Guinea

• The Battle of the Bismarck Sea continues off Huon Gulf. A dawn attack by RAAF Beauforts is unsuccessul. Next, at 1000 hours, USAAF and RAAF attack aircraft assembled over Cape Ward Hunt begin attacking the convoy in waves. First up are 13 RAAF Beaufighters, each fitted with four nose-mounted cannon and six wing-mounted machine guns, which attack from 500 feet down to surface level in line-abreast formation. Immediately, 13 43rd Heavy Bomb Group B-17s attack with bombs and claim 5 direct hits. Minutes later, they are followed 13 3d Light and 38th Medium Bomb Group B-25 level bombers. Next up, and most effective, are 12 90th Light Bomb Squadron B-25 strafers, which fire their .50-caliber nose guns at the ships and then drop their 500-pound bombs on them. For the 37 bombs dropped by all the B-25s, 17 direct hits are claimed. The last wave of this attack consists of 12 3rd Light Bomb Group A-20s and 6 3rd Group B-25s, which claim 4 hits altogether. In all, the attacking aircraft claim 4 transports and 3 destroyers sunk.
• The Japanese A6M Zeros and Ki-43 'Oscar' figheters covering the convoy are held at bay by 28 35th and 49th Fighter Group P-38s. One B-17 and 3 P-38s are lost, but the P-38s claim 15 Zeros.
• 43rd Heavy Bomb Group B-17s return to the convoy at 1512 hours and claim 2 direct hits on a destroyer, following which 8 90th Light Bomb Squadron B-25 low-level strafers claim 2 destroyers in sinking condition from 4 direct hits apiece and 2 merchant ships severely damaged from strafing. A few minutes later, 15 38th Medium Bomb Group and 3d Light Bomb Group B-25 level bombers attacking from between several thousand feet to only 200 feet claim 10 direct hits. At almost the same moment, 5 RAAF Bostons attack a destroyer, and several B-17s attack a number of ships from medium altitude. In all, 2 destroyers and 2 transports are claimed, and USN PT-boats claim another transport during the night.
• By the end of the day, the bombers and PT-boats claim the destruction of the entire convoy. In actuality, however, all 6 of the Japanese transports, 1 service vessel, and 4 of 9 Japanese destroyers are sunk. An esimated 3,000 Japanese Army soldiers die in the action along with an unknown number of sailors.

Britain, Home Front

During the night raid on London AA rockets supplement the regular barrage but cause panic at Bethnal Green tube station. 173 people are killed and 62 are injured when entering after an alert had sounded. Deaths are caused by suffocation as hundreds stumble on the steep steps. No bombs fall in the vicinity.

The Battle of the Bismarck Sea, 3 March 1943: A bomb explodes off the port bow of a Japanese destroyer during the Bismarck Sea Battle.

Bomb Explodes Near Japanese Destroyer

Burma

After a setback on March 2, the southern Chindit group succeeds in cutting the Mandalay-Myitkyina railroad just north of Kyaikthin. Wingate's column crosses the Mu River and, skirting the village of Tongmauw, tackles the Mingin Mountains, east of which the railway runs and the Irrawaddy River flows.

Eastern Front

The Red Army enters Rzhev as the Germans pull out after several days of fierce fighting. The Russians now control long stretches of the Moscow-Riga railway. They also capture Lgov on the Seim River west of Kursk and Dmitriev-Logovskiy on the Kharkov-Bryansk railway. The 1st Panzer Army of von Manstein's Army Group South manages to reach the Donets and re-takes Slavyansk and Lisichansk. The first phase of von Manstein's counteroffensive is over in the south. The Russians have been pushed back behind the Donets everywhere south of Zmiyev, and have lost heavily. Their casualties include approximately 20,000 dead so far, but only 9,000 prisoners. From this a deeper truth becomes evident - the Germans are now too short of manpower to hold the ring strongly when they do manage to encircle large Soviet units. Von Manstein still has the initiative, but there is little time before the spring thaw halts movement all along the front.

Red Army soldiers in camouflage gear on a snow-covered battlefield, somewhere along the German-Russian war front, as they advance against German positions on March 3, 1943. (AP Photo)

Red Army Soldiers Advancing Against German Positions

Rzhev falls to the Kalinin Front. Army Group Center has begun its withdrawal from the salient where no fewer than 30 divisions are tied down (comprising the XLI Panzer, XXIII, XXVII, XXXIX Panzer, IX, XX and XII Corps). Many of these units will make an appearance later in the year at Kursk, this maneuver generating a substantial theater reserve for the Ostheer. On the southern wing of Army Group Center the 2nd Army gives up Lgov and Dimitrov Lgovsky.

The SS Panzer Corps virtually destroys 3rd Tank Army in a day of ferocious fighting. Minor elements of the amry cross the Donets west of Izyum. Slavyansk falls to III Panzer Corps.

In the fighting since January 13 the Voronezh Front has lost 33,300 killed and missing and 62,000 wounded. The Soviet 6th Army suffers 8,000 killed and 12,000 wounded. Soviet forces have also lost 1,000 tanks, 2,100 arty pieces and 300 aircraft.

The hard to defend front angle around Rzhev and Vyazma is evacuated by the Wehrmacht with Operation 'Buffalo'. This Panzer III is moving with the help of sprinkle in a new defense line near Smolensk.

Germans Moving to New Defense Line

North Africa

There is a small skirmish between 15th Pzr and the British forces at Medenine as both sides try to scout the opposing lines.

The German Africa Corps issues plans for an attack from the Mareth Line.

In the British 1st Army's V Corps area, fighting around Bédja subsides, but the enemy seizes Sedjenane, about 12 west of Jefna. The US II Corps continues to patrol actively without making any contact with the enemy. Sidi Bou Zid and Hadjeb el Aïoun are free of the enemy.

In the British 8th Army's XXX Corps area, the enemy makes a local probing attack against 51st Div positions near Mareth and is driven off with heavy casualties.