Admiralty Islands

On Los Negros Island the US 5th and 12 Cav try to join up their 2 beachheads so that they can mop up the Japanese forces still holding out.

Air Operations, Carolines

VII Bomber Command B-24s attack Ponape Island.

Air Operations, CBI

• More than 25 490th Medium Bomb Squadron B-25s and 459th Fighter Squadron P-38 fighter-bombers attack two bridges near Meza and several other targets. More than 30 10th Air Force A-31s attack Japanese Army ground positions in the Chin Hills and Arakan coastal region. 6 P-38s attack oil dumps at Monywa. 2 B-25s and more than 80 P-51s, P-40s, and A-36s attack Kamaing, Manywet, Myitkyina, and a bridge at Hopet.

Air Operations, New Guinea

More than 140 5th Air Force bombers, fighter-bombers, and fighters attack targets at Hansa Bay, Tadji, Wewak, and the Scouten Islands. V Fighter Command P-39s and RAAF fighter-bombers attack Japanese Army ground positions in the Madang area.

Burma

The 20th Indian Div has completed its withdrawal most successfully. It now holds positions on the Shanan Hills and between Palel and Wangjing. The 17th Div is still fighting its way back north through the Japanese roadblocks inflicting heavy casualties on the 33rd Div as it does so.

Eastern Front

The XLVIII Panzer Corps, having relieved Tarnopol, is brought under intense attack by the 1st Guards Army and has to fall back. The 1st Tank Army struggles to break through the German positions at Cherny Ostrov, being bogged down by both the mud and severe German resistance.

Italy

Gen Alexander, Commander-in-Chief of the XV Army Group, calls a conference of the commanders engaged on the 'Gustav' Line to consider the possibility of suspending operations immediately. Gen Freyberg opposes the suggestion, still convinced that his troops can break through the front at Cassino.

The US 34th Div arrives at Anzio as reinforcements.

New Guinea

The US forces of the 32nd Div moving west from Yalau Plantation make contact with the units of the Australian 7th Div advancing north from inland on the Huon Peninsula about 8 miles form the plantation.

Images from March 21, 1944

Dummy Bofors Gun and Crew in the Anzio bridgehead, 21 March 1944

German Soldiers on a Train with a Railroad Destroyer, Italy, 21 March 1944

Soldiers Evacuating People from the Path of Mt Vesuvius Eruption in San Sebastiano, Italy, 21 March 1944

Looking Across the Wingspan of a Messerschmitt Me 323 Gigant, Germany 21, March 1944

Italian Residents Fleeing San Sebastiano, Italy from Mount Vesuvius, 21 March 1944

Air Marshal Sir Roderick Hill inspects the wreckage of a Junkers Ju 188E-1 belonging to 2 Staffel Kampfgeschwader 6 (Bomber Wing 6) which crashed in Essex, 21 March 1944

Air Marshal Sir Roderick Hill Inspects the Wreckage of a Junkers Ju-188E-1

Italian Children Watch as Mount Vesuvius Erupts near thier Home in Italy, 21 March 1944

Strachwitz (Tank commander Hyacinth Graf Strachwitz von Groß-Zauche und Camminetz) with fellow soldiers prior to the offensive on the Narva Bridgehead, 21 March 1944

Before the Offensive on the Narva Bridgehead

German Soldier with a Panzer-Büchse (Anti-tank Rocket Launcher) Ukraine, 21 March 1944

Home Destroyed by Volcanic Eruption in San Sebastiano, Italy, 21 March 1944

German Soldier with an 'Ofenrohr' / 'Panzerschreck' (Anti-tank Rocket Laucher), Ukraine, 21 March 1944

Hitler Youth Visit the 12th SS Panzer Division in Belgium, 21 March 1944