Air Operations, Bismarcks

29 V Fighter Command P-40s attack Talasea and nearby Japanese Army bivouacs.

Air Operations, Carolines

41st Medium Bomb Group B-25s attack Ponape Island.

Air Operations, CBI

• 12 7th Heavy Bomb Group B-24s attack port and facilities Moulmein and the rail line at two bridges between Moulmein and Bangkok (Thailand). 12 B-24s and 10 459th Fighter Squadron P-38 fighter-bombers attack Kalewa. 9 490th Medium Bomb Squadron B-25s attack Kaing and Shwebo. 9 B-25s and 12 10th Air Force P-51 fighter-bombers attack fuel and ammunition dumps at Indaw. 12 A-31s attack Japanese Army ground positions in the Chin Hills. 12 P-51s attack Naba. 4 P-40s attack supply dumps at Kamaing. 30 10th Air Force fighters and fighter-bombers sweep the Mogaung Valley.

• 341st Medium Bomb Group B-25s attack rail facilities at Vinh and Van Trai, and 3 bridges between Vinh and Thanh Hoa.

Air Operations, Central Pacific

VII Bomber Command B-24s attack Wake Island.

Air Operations, Europe

8th Air Force attacks the Hamm marshalling yards.

• 143 aircraft are sent to Laon. In this total are 83 Halifaxes, 48 Stirlings and 12 Mosquitos of Nos. 3, 4, 6 and 8 Groups.
• The weather in the target area is clear, but the Master Bomber orders the attack stopped after 72 aircraft have bombed. Reports from the ground say that half the bombs hit the railway yards and the rest are scattered in an area up to over 2 miles from the target. The bombing does cut through lines but these are repaired the following day. 83 houses around the station are hit but only 7 civilians are killed and 9 injured because most of the people who lived near the station move to other parts of Laon at night.
• 2 Halifaxes are lost.
• 20 Lancasters of No. 5 Group, including some from 617 Squadron, bomb an aircraft engine factory near Lyons without a loss.

• Mosquitos are sent to Dortmund and 2 to Oberhausen, 2 Stirlings lay mines off Brittany, there are 5 RCM sorties, 4 Serrate patrols and 6 OTU sorties.
• There are no losses.

Air Operations, Marshalls

In the first shuttle-bombing mission of its kind in the region, 41st Medium Bomb Group B-25s based in the Gilbert Islands attack the Jaluit and Maloelap atolls, then fly on to the US Navy’s new airfield in the Majuro Atoll. After re-arming at Majuro, the B-25s attack targets in the Marshalls on their way back to the Gilberts. Hereafter, all of the 41st Group’s missions against bypassed Japanese bases will be shuttle missions.

Air Operations, New Guinea

• Nearly 100 V Bomber Command B-24s, B-25s, and A-20s, and V Fighter Command P-47 fighter-bombers attack the Aitape, Alexishafen, Hansa Bay areas. B-24s attack Babo.
• During the night, V Bomber Command B-24s attack shipping in the Bismarck Sea.

Bougainville

The Japanese make a general attack against the Cape Torokina beachhead, but make only minimal progress in the face of heavy barrages laid down by the American artillery.

Burma

The 14th LRP Brigade lands at 'Aberdeen' landing zone near Manhton in support of Chindit operations.

Eastern Front

In a new series of attacks 1st Ukraine Front drives south from between Proskurov and Tarnopol, the Wehrmacht's stronghold and operational base, threatening to divide 1st and 4th Pzr Armies from each other. Kapychintsy is taken.

The 1st Guards Army renews its attack around Tarnopol and encircles the town for a second time. The main German combat line is pushed back more than 15 miles to the west, leaving Group Neinhoff isolated. Gen Neinhoff, commandant of the Tarnopol fortress, has just 4,600 men.

To prevent the isolation of the 1st Panzer Army on the Dniestr and its retreat into Rumanian, Manstein warns Hube of possible Soviet intentions and orders him to pull his forces back to the west if threatened with encirclement, However, under intense attack, Hube continues to fall back to the south.

Italy

Gen Alexander decides to call off frontal attacks on the 'Gustav' Line. A new lull follows on the Cassino front while the combatants wait for better weather. Meanwhile Operation STRANGLE is launched, the air action on a huge scale to disrupt the lines of communication between central northern Italy and the front.

Pacific

• Allied headquarters details the US I Corps, under Gen Robert L. Eichelberger, to carry out the land operations against Hollandia, in New Guinea.
• The Japanese submarine I-42 is sunk by the US submarine Tunny (SS-282) off the Palau Islands.

St Matthias Islands

US destroyers shell the Japanese seaplane base on Elouae, an islet southwest of Mussau Island, where an American patrol from Emira has discovered that the Japanese have a small seaplane base.

Solomons

The Japanese try another attack on the American positions on Bougainville but can still make no progress and again lose heavily.

Images from March 23, 1944

B-17 Bombers over Freckenhorst, Germany, 23 March 1944

Bomb Group Receives New Crews

According to the 392nd BG history, on the afternoon of 23 March 1944, 19 new crews had come in. Throughout the ensuing week these officers and men were instructed in their various functions, and, in general, made ready for operational duty.

Bomb Group Receives New Crews

Ash is swept off the wings of an American B-25 Mitchell medium bomber of the 340th Bombardment Group on March 23, 1944 after the eruption of Mount Vesuvius.

Sweeping Off the Wings of a Bomber

Churchill Inspecting Airborne Troops with Eisenhower behind, RAF Greenham Common, 23 March 1944

A B-25 bomber of 340th Bomb Squadron buried by the ashes of Vesuvius March 23, 1944 at the airfield near Terzigno. (NARA photo)

B-25 Buried by Ashes of Vesuvius

American soldiers clearing volcanic ash from the streets of an Italian town after the 18-23 March 1944 eruption of Mount Vesuvius. (US National Archives)

American Soldiers Clearing Volcanic Ash

US Army Air Force 340th Bomb Group in front of an Eruption of Mount Vesuvius, 23 March, 1944

23 March 44, After the Mount Vesuvius Eruption B-25's Covered in Ash

Truck Tows a B-25 of the 340th BG After Eruption of Mt Vesuvius, 23 March 1944