Admiralty Islands

The US 7th and 8th Cav on Manus capture Lorengau airfield, their main objective. The airfield is considered too small for use by US aircraft and another will have to be built. The Americans are engaged with the Japanese defenders on Los Negros and take some of their positions.

Air Operations, Bismarcks

US Army ground forces occupy the Gasmata airfield on New Britain.

Air Operations, Carolines

VII Bomber Command B-24s attack Ponape Island.

Air Operations, CBI

• 24 7th Heavy Bomb Group B-24s and 12 459th Fighter Squadron P-38s attack supply dumps in the Chin Hills. More than 30 490th Medium Bomb Squadron B-25s and 10th Air Force P-51s and A-36s attack bridges at Shweli and others spanning the Irrawaddy River, and supply dumps and Japanese Army ground positions in the Kamaing area. 2 B-25s attack an oil facility at Chauk. 18 10th Air Force A-31s attack Japanese Army ground positions and occupied villages in the Chin Hills. 22 A-31s attack Japanese Army ground troops near Thaungdut. 37 P-40 fighter-bombers attack the airfield at Myitkyina. Other fighters conduct numerous sorties against a wide range of targets.

• 5 341st Medium Bomb Group B-25s attack boatyards at Vinh and sawmills at Ben Thuy.

Air Operations, East Indies

380th Heavy Bomb Group B-24s attack the naval base at Soerabaja, Java.

Air Operations, Europe

200 US 15th Air Force bombers raid industrial targets in Vienna.

• 28 Mosquitos are sent to Cologne and 2 to Aachen, and 1 Mosquito makes an RCM sortie without a loss.

Air Operations, New Guinea

• Nearly 100 V Bomber Command B-24s, B-25s, and A-20s attack targets in the Wewak area. B-25s attack targets in the Alexishafen-Madang area. V Fighter Command P-38s attack targets in the Hansa Bay area.
• US Army ground forces overrun the Lorengau airfield at Manus, but the facility is found to be inadequate for use as a USAAF base, and so a search for a new airfield location is begun.

Air Operations, Solomons

A Japanese night heckler drops bombs on Torokina Island. This first such attack in more than a month kills a member of Marine Air Group 24 and wounds 7 others.

Bougainville

The Japanese carry out more attacks on the defensive perimeter of the Cape Torokina beachhead in the area held by the US 129th Inf. They succeed in making a few small breaks in the American positions, but are then driven back.

Burma

There are heavy Japanese air attacks on the the Chindits' landing ground at Broadway. Several of the supporting Spitfires are destroyed on the ground.

Lord Mountbatten presses Churchill and Roosevelt to urge Chiang Kai-shek to send Chinese reinforcements into Burma.

Diplomatic Relations

The Finnish Government, which has recently been approached by Moscow about signing a separate peace, fails to get the guarantees from London that it asks for, and formally rejects the proposal.

Eastern Front

Troops of the 1st Ukraine Front advance to the southwest of Rovno, Poland, taking the important road and rail junction of Dubno.

The 60th Army of the 1st Ukrainian Front takes Dubno, while elements of the 2nd Tank Army reach the Dniestr at Yampol.

Italy

Units of the New Zealand Corps penetrate into the eastern part of Cassino and capture the railway station, but the resistance of the German paratroopers prevents them from advancing furthers.

Over the next couple of days the New Zealand and Indian troops mount unsuccessful attacks toward the southwest of the town and along Snake's Head Ridge to Point 593. The Germans similarly fail in efforts against Castle Hill and Hangman's Hill.

Mediterranean

U-371 sinks the US troopship Dempo off Algiers. 498 are killed.

Images from March 17, 1944

A View Looking towards Cassino, Italy, 17 March 1944

Men of the 2nd Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers read 'Ireland's Saturday Night', a Belfast newspaper, in their foxhole in the Anzio bridgehead, 17 March 1944

Reading a Newspaper in a Foxhole

B-24 Hit by Flak over Vienna, 17 March 1944

PFC Emil Raths, 2nd Battalion, Headquarters Company, 129th Infantry, 37th Division, looking into pillbox he has just attacked by flamethrower, Bougainville. 17 March 1944

Looking into a Pillbox

Shattered Town of Cassino, Italy, 17 March 1944

Smoke rises over Cassino, Italy, 17 March 1944

While a piper plays, a special rum ration is issued to men of the 2nd Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers to mark St Patrick's Day in the Anzio bridgehead, 17 March 1944

St Patricks's Day Celebration

Sinking of German Submarine U-801

Sinking of German submarine U-801, 16-17 March 1944. U-801 is on the surface (directly above the aircraft wingtip), being pursued and fired on by USS Corry (DD-463), at right, on 17 March 1944. Photographed from a TBM Avenger aircraft attached to squadron VC-6, which was based on the escort carrier USS Block Island (CVE-21)