Air Operations, CBI

• 8 341st Medium Bomb Group B-25s attack a bridge at Myitnge. Also, a single 51st Fighter Group P-40 is used in a test of its type in the dropping of a 1,000-pound bomb. The target is a bridge at Mogaung that is only lightly damaged, but the drop itself is deemed successful.

• 12 341st Medium Bomb Group B-25s based in India and 12 11th Medium Bomb Squadron B-25s based in China escorted by P-40s based in both countries, attack the rail and river-port terminal and power plant at Lao Kay. 10 P-40s also strafe numerous ground targets in the area and along the Red River.

Air Operations, Mediterranean

German aircraft employ 'circling torpedoes' against Allied shipping in Tripoli harbor.

Air Operations, New Guinea

• B-17s from the 43rd Heavy Bomb Group attack a cargo ship at Manus Island in the Admiralty Islands.
• V Bomber Command B-25s attack a Japanese submarine and barges at Lae.
• 3d Light Bomb Group A-20s attack Mubo.

Air Operations, Solomons

• XIII Bomber Command B-17s and B-24s on armed-reconnaissance missions attack the airfield on Ballale and the Kahili airfield on Bougainville.
• During the night, in the first operation of its type conducted in the region, 42 USMC and USN TBFs each lay one 1,600-pound antishipping mine in the Buin–Tonolei area of southern Bougainville. The mines are dropped by parachute from altitudes between 800 and 1,300 feet. Meanwhile, 18 XIII Bomber Command B-17s and B-24s mount a diversionary attack against the Kahili airfield on Bougainville. An RNZAF light bomber on station near Vella Lavella drops flares to serve as navigational aids for the returning bombers.

Baltic Sea

U-5 sinks while diving during exercises.

U-5

Battle of the Atlantic

• Sailing independently after departing from Convoy HX-229, the US freighter Mathew Luckenbach (5848t) is torpedoed by U-527. The US Coast Guard cutter Ingram (WPG-35) rescues the freighter's entire complement of 43 crewmen and 26 Armed Guard sailors.
• The Greek freighter Carras (5234t), in Convoy SC-122, is torpedoed by U-533.

Eastern Front

After recapturing Kharkov the Raus Corps of the German Army Group South also re-takes Belgorod. Army Group South is now practically back to the winter positions of 1941. Immediately north of Belgorod the Russians have opened up a wide salient in the German front west of Kursk. The elimination of this salient, Operation CITADEL, is to be for several months the object of one of the most epic battles in history.

North Africa

The New Zealand Corps begins to move off toward Ksar Rhilane and the Tebaga Gap.

A lull occurs on the US II Corps front as road conditions force the postponement of the attack on Sened Station. The Southeast Algerian Command, protecting the southern flank of the II Corps, is moving forward and has elements south of Gafsa.

The British 8th Army completes preparations for an attack on the Mareth Line on the 20th. The New Zealand Corps, consisting of the New Zealand 2nd Div, the British 8th Armored Bde, Leclerc's force and a regiment each of armored cars and medium artillery, is formed temporarily for an outflanking drive around the enemy's western flank. This corps starts a wide circling movement to the south from concealed positions in the Foum Tatahouine area during the night.

Army Nurses of the 10th Field Hospital

Group of Army Nurses of the 10th Field Hospital (400-bed capacity) posing in front of a 1/4-Ton Truck. The 10th Fld Hosp arrived in the MTO March 19, 1943, spending more than a year in Tunisia, Sicily, and Italy, finally being transferred to the ETO on November 1, 1944, where it saw action at the French Riviera and in the Moselle area.

Occupied France

The Pro-Vichy Governor of French Guiana resigns.

Pacific

• The US submarine Kingfish (SS-234) sinks the Japanese army hospital ship Takachiko Maru (8154t) in Formosa Strait.
• The US submarine Wahoo, operating in the Yellow Sea, sinks the Japanese merchant cargo ship Zogen Maru (1428t) and damages the Japanese merchant cargo ship Kowa Maru (3217t).

United States, Home Front

Frank Nitti, a notorious gangster and close associate of Al Capone, commits suicide.

Death of Mobster Frank Nitti

The scene March 19, 1943, as police gathered around Frank 'The Enforcer' Nitti’s body along a railroad embankment in North Riverside. The death of Nitti, the one-time Al Capone associate, was ruled a suicide by the Cook County coroner. The FBI suspected the gang boss may have have received a warning about a New York federal grand jury’s pending indictment of Nitti and 7 other Chicagoans. A passing freight train conductor testified that he and a train crew saw the gangster pull the trigger of his pistol as he sat slumped against a fence beside the right of way near Harlem Avenue and Cermak Road. (Photo - Ray Gora)