Air Operations, CBI

• 9 B-25s of the 341st Medium Bomb Group attack rail facilities at Pyinmana.

Short Sunderland Mark I, of No. 210 Squadron RAF, over the Atlantic while escorting a convoy in bound to Greenock on March 31, 1943.

Short Sunderland Mark I

Air Operations, Mediterranean

A large US bombing force consisting of about 100 B-17s attacks Cagliari, Sardinia, the relay post for Axis shipments to Tunisia and an important air base.

Air Operations, New Guinea

• 90th Heavy Bombardment Group B-24s attack Babo.
• 3rd Light Bomb Group A-20s attack Salamaua.
• B-24s mount individual attacks against the airfield at Lae, Finschhafen, and several other targets.

Air Operations, Solomons

XIII Fighter Command P-38s and P-40s attack targets on Santa Isabel.

Aleutian Islands

The American Pacific Command issues a directive for the invasion of the island of Attu. The operation is to take place on May 7 and will be directed by Adm Thomas Kinkaid, Commander of Task Force 16 of the Northern Pacific. Under him will be Rear-Adm Francis W. Rockwell, who will command the combined operations landing force, and Gen Albert E. Brown, heading the US 7th Div, an unexpected task for this division which has been trained for months in desert warfare.

Axis Diplomacy

King Boris of Bulgaria meets with Hitler.

China

The Americans open training centers for Chinese infantry and artillery officers.

Eastern Front

The Kalinin and West Fronts conlude their Rzhev-Vyazma Operation. Of 876,000 men whe began the operation, some 38,862 have been killed or reported missing and 99,715 wounded.[MORE]

Germany, Command

29-year-old Maj-Gen Dietrich Peltz, Stuka ace and tactician, is appointed Angriffsführer England ('Attack Leader England') in an attempt to revitalize the flagging Luftwaffe offensive against the UK.

Jews from Bulgarian-occupied Macedonia and Thrace interned in the 'Monopol' tobacco factory, which was used as a transit camp. They were ultimately deported to the Treblinka killing center. Skopje, Macedonia, March 11-31, 1943. (Central Zionist Archives)

Jews from Bulgarian-occupied Macedonia and Thrace

Iran

The American air force takes over responsibility for a big factory at Abadan that assembles the aircraft supplied by the USA to the USSR.

New Guinea

MacKechnie Force, consisting of the 1st Battalion of the US 162nd Inf and called after the name of the officer commanding the regiment Col Archibald MacKechnie, is taken by sea to the mouth of the Waria River to occupy that position and a neighboring airfield.

North Africa

Cap Serrat in Tunisia is occupied by the British.

In the US II Corps area, the 16th and 26th Regimental Combat Teams of the 1st Div attempt unsuccessfully to clear the southeastern tip of Djebel el Mcheltat. The 9th Div makes little progess against the bypassed Hill 772 on Djebel Berda and Hill 369 on Djebel el Kreroua. Task Force Benson, 1st Armored Div, attacks about noon, passing through a lane cleared in a mine field, and secures most of the region from the road to the foothills to the north, but loses 9 tanks. 4 more tanks are salvaged.

Combat Command A begins a diversionary attack against Djebel Djebs, a hill mass north of Maknassy, and evokes a sharp enemy reaction. As a diversion for the 34th Div's attack on Fondouk Gap, Company C of the 751st Tank Battalion, Company A of 813th Tank Battalion, and a motorized company of the 109th Combat Engineers attack on the northwestern slopes of Djebel Touila, about 5 miles south of the infantry. During the next two nights the 34th Div assault force pulls back out of range of the enemy fire and establishes defensive positions, concluding the Fondouk Gap battle.

In the British 8th Army area, Gen Montgomery decides to await reinforcements and regroup upon learning from the X Corps commander that an immediate assault across Wadi Akarit would be costly. The XXX Corps, which is reinforced by the New Zealand Div, is to be responsible for securing a bridgehead.

In the British 1st Army area, the V Corps' 46th Div gains all its objectives on the northern flank of the corps, recovering El Aouana. The enemy pulls back from Cap Serrat. Preparations are begun for the next phase of the attack: the clearing of the Bédja-Medjez road and relieving pressure on Medjez. The French XIX Corps makes contact with the US 34th Div at El Ala, west of Fondouk.

Two thousand Italian prisoners march back through Eighth Army lines, led by a Bren gun carrier, in the Tunisian desert, in March 1943. The prisoners were taken outside El-Hamma after their German counterparts pulled out of the town. (AP Photo)

Italian Prisoners Marching Back Through 8th Army Lines

Solomons

Japanese aircraft carry out several raids on the Russell Islands.