Air Operations, Bismarcks

• Despite bad weather that causes numerous aborts, 2 of 5 ships evacuating irreplaceable Japanese aircraft-maintenance crews and other key aviation personnel from Rabaul are sunk with great loss of life off New Ireland by 16 38th and 345th Medium Bomb group B-25s. AirSols bombers later sink a rescue tug carrying most of the survivors of the earlier sinking.
• 15 XIII Bomber Command B-24s attack Rabaul's Lakunai airfield. 4 B-24s attack the Rapopo airfield at Rabaul. AirSols TBFs and SBDs attack antiaircraft batteries at Rabaul's Lakunai airfield.
• 50 V Bomber Command B-24s attack coastal targets at Talasea and Iboki plantations in western New Britain. Several B-24s attack shipping off New Hanover.V Fighter Command P-39s attack Japanese Army ground troops.

Air Operations, Carolines

VII Bomber Command B-24s attack Kusaie and Ponape islands.

Air Operations, CBI

• 490th Medium Bomb Squadron B-25s, escorted by RAF fighters, attack a road tunnel between Maungdaw and Buthidaung. Several B-25s and more than 50 10th Air Force P-51s and A-36s attack a Japanese Army headquarters, military camps, and dumps throughout Burma.

Air Operations, Europe

• 17 Mosquitos are sent to Duisburg, Stuttgart and 2 flying-bomb sites, there is 1 Serrate patrol, 41 aircraft lay mines in the Frisians and off French ports, and there are 10 OTU sorties.
• 1 mine-laying Stirling is lost.

• Although briefed for attacks against airdromes at Gutersloh, Lippstadt, and Werl, 285 of 336 1st Bomb Division B-17 are oblidged by bad weather to attack targets of opportunity including seven airdromes and a marshalling yard at Lingen.
• The 2nd Bomb Division is briefed to attack the Achmer and Handorf Airdromes, but bad weather disperses the B-24 formations. Achmer Airdrome is attacked by only 11 aircraft while 203 others attack targets of opportunity including three other airdromes and Lingen.
• 175 of the 281 3rd Bomb Division B-17s dispatched attacked their briefed primaries, the Diepholz Airdrome and the city of Brunswick, but bad weather forces the other 88 B-17s to divert to targets of opportunity which include two other airdomes and the city of Hannover.
• 13 B-17s and 3 B-24s are lost; 6 B-17s and 1 B-24 are written off; 163 crewmen are lost
• Escort and support is provided by 69 P-38s, 542 P-47s, and 68 P-51s. USAAF fighter pilots down 27 Luftwaffe fighters over Germany and the Netherlands between 1320 and 1545 hours.
• 2 P-47s and 3 P-51s are lost with their pilots

• Of more than 200 IX Bomber Command B-26s dispatched in the morning against the Coxyde/Furnes Airdrome, only 18 locate and attack the target. All the rest abort due to bad weather.

• XII Bomber Command B-25s attack the marshalling yards at Orte.
• XII Bomber Command B-26s and XII Air Support Command A-36s and P-40s attack troop concentrations, a fuel dump, and tanks and motor vehicles around Campoleone.
• XII Air Support Command fighter-bombers attack the Itri-Gaeta road.
• USAAF fighter pilots down 3 Bf-109s over Italy.

Air Operations, Marianas

During the night, an esimated 35 G4M 'Betty' torpedo bombers mount numerous individual attacks in a futile attempt to thwart the advance of Task Force 58 upon targets in the Marianas. Faulty direction equipment prevents US Navy night fighters from taking part in the action, but antiaircraft fire and skillful maneuvering prevent any torpedo hits.

Air Operations, Marshalls

• Task Group 58.4 and Task Group 53.6 carrier aircraft attack targets throughout the Eniwetok Atoll. VII Bomber Command B-24s attack the Jaluit Atoll. 41st Medium Bomb Group B-25s attack the Maloelap Atoll. 15th Fighter Group P-40 fighter-bombers attack the Mille Atoll. Fleet Carrier Air Group 10 light bombers and fighters attack the Jaluit Atoll.
• VF-39, in F6Fs, and the VMSB-231 flight echelon, in SBDs, are delivered to the Majuro Atoll by US escort carriers. Both units will participate in neutralizing bypassed Japanese bases.

Air Operations, New Guinea

Nearly 30 V Bomber Command A-20s attack targets in the Madang and Hansa Bay areas.

CBI

The Indian 5th Division clears the Japanese from commanding heights in the Arakan.

Diplomatic Relations

A US note to Eire requests the expulsion of Axis diplomats who were charged with engaging in espionage activities. An Irish rejection is published on March 10.

Eastern Front

The Soviets in the norther sector take Soltsy, southwest of Shimsk, and Kholm, 60 miles farther south. In the Ukraine the Soviet advances around Krivoy Rog proceed apace. The area is being defended, like Nikopol, to the bitter end by the Germans because of the vital manganese and iron deposits.

The 8th Guards and 37th Armies fight their way into Krivoi Rog. The Germans have been severely weakened by constant fighting and are close to collapse.

Italy

In the US 5th Army's area, the VI Corps decisively defeats the enemy in the center of the salient. This ends Axis efforts to achieve a breakthrough. The enemy is, however, maintaining pressure against the flanks of the salient while preparing to renew the offensive.

Gen Bernard Freyberg issues a new plan of attack against Cassino.

Japan, Politics

Prime Minister Gen Tojo takes on the office of Chief of the Army General Staff in place of Field Marshal Hajime Sugiyama. The navy minister, Adm Shigetaro Shimada also takes on an additional office, replacing Adm Osami Nagano as Chief of Staff.

Marshall Islands

Japanese resistance ceases on Eniwetok Island. US losses since the beginning of the attack on the Marshalls are about 1,750 killed and wounded. Japanese casualties are estimated at 8,500 dead. Artillery units are landed on Jajotan Island, which has been cleared of the enemy, and fire directed on to Parry Island from there. The pre-invasion bombardment of Parry Island begins. The 3rd Battalion, 22nd Marines, reembarks in preparation fo the attack on Parry.

New Britain

The 5th Marines is working eastward along the northern coast from Natamo toward the Iboki Plantation. The 3rd Battalion, in an overland and amphibious operation, seizes Karai-ai, a Japanese supply point near Capr Raoult.

New Guinea

The 5th Marine Regt advances along the north coast of the island from Natamo towards the Iboki Plantation. A battalion fo the same regiment carries out an amphibious operation to take Karaiai, near Cape Raoult, where there is a Japanese supply depot.

Pacific

The British submarine Tally Ho sinks the Japanese army cargo ship No. 6 Taigen Maru in the Strait of Malacca.

United States, Planning

President Roosevelt and the JCS agree that the British proposal to cancel ANVIL, the invasion of southern France, and divert the forces to landings in the Adriatic is not within US interests. The British propose that, instead of ANVIL, a landing at Trieste will allow Allied forces to advance through the Ljubljana Gap and reach Budapest and Vienna before the Soviets do. The US argues that suca a plan is logistically unsupportable and that the use of French or American forces in the Balkans would have little effect on the outcome of the war. The Americans also fear that the British plan will antagonize the Soviets and put US forces in the Balkans when the war ends.

Images from February 21, 1944

Maintenance on a Machine Gun

Luftwaffe Ace Major Heinrich

Italian Prince Umberto Speaks with Italian Soldiers

Troopers of The Ontario Regiment Moving Forward

US Artillerymen Protect Their Ears