Admiralty Islands

A final elaborate US attack by US Cavalry units supported by aircraft, artillery, tanks, bazookas and flame-throwers on Manus crushes most of the remaining Japanese forces. On Los Negros too, only scattered groups and individuals fight on.

Air Operations, Bismarcks

V Fighter Command P-40s attack a Japanese Army headquarters in the Cape Hoskins area.

Air Operations, CBI

• 8 7th Heavy Bomb Group B-24s attack supply dumps at Mogaung. More than 50 10th Air Force A-31s attack artillery batteries and occupied villages around Homalin and Kalewa. 12 P-40 fighter-bombers attack the Kamaing area.
• 5 Japanese bombers and 30 fighters attack Allied airfields at Anisakan, Chittagong (India), and Cox�s Bazaar (India).
• 459th Fighter Squadron P-38s down 7 Japanese fighters over the airfield at Anisakan at 1000 hours.

• 6 308th Heavy Bomb Group B-24s attack a motor pool and fuel dump at Mangshih.

Air Operations, Europe

• 192 aircraft including 92 Halifaxes, 47 Lancasters, 37 Stirlings and 16 Mosquitos attack the railway yards at Aulnoye, France.
• There are no losses.

• 22 Lancasters of No. 5 Group are sent to the aircraft engine factory at Lyons, 10 Mosquitos are sent to Berlin and 2 to Hamm, 14 Stirlings lay mines from Brittany to the Frisians, and there are 7 Serrate patrols and 5 OTU sorties.
• There are no losses.

• More than 140 IX Bomber Command B-26s attack a marshalling yard at Hirson.

• The entire 15th Air Force and most of the 12th Air Force are grounded by bad weather, 12th Air Force B-26s are able to attack a town and ort facilities at Leghorn.
• XII Air Support Command P-40s attack gun emplacements near the Anzio beachhead.

Air Operations, Japan

2 28th Composite Bomb Group B-25s attack targets on Onnekotan Island.

Air Operations, New Guinea

• V Bomber Command B-24s attack targets in the Babo-Urarom area. More than 100 B-25s and A-20s attack numerous targets in the Wewak area. A-20s attack Bunabun. Also, 5th Air Force reconnaissance aircraft complete photographic coverage of Hollandia-area airfields.
• The 417th Light Bomb Group, in A-20s, makes its combat debut.

Battle of the Atlantic

U-976 is sunk by Mosquitos 'I' and 'L' of No 618 Squadron RAF. The aircraft made several attack with the Tsetse gun. The 57-mm shells penetrated the hull causing flooding and chlorine gas leaks causing the crew to abandon her.

U-976

Burma

US and Chinese forces capture Shaduzup in the Mogaung Valley.

Eastern Front

Forces of 1st Ukraine Front take Proskurov, now Khmelnitski, on the southern Bug, northwest of Vinnitsa. The Red Army has already penetrated into Galicia. Gen Hans Hube, connanding 1st Pzr Army is not obeying von Manstein's orders to attack west to prevent encirclement resulting from the Soviet gains at Proskurov and to the southwest.

Heavy fighting rages at Tarnopol. The 1st Guards Army overruns the Zagrobela suburb west of the Seret River.

Manstein and Kleist fly to Berlin for a meeting with Hitler. Talks are cordial, but privately Hitler is angered by the fact that Army Groups South and A have retreated before the Russian offensive.

Mediterranean

The British destroyer Inglefield is sunk by a German glider bomb off Anzio with the loss of 35 of her crew. 157 are rescued.

New Guinea

Japanese air force headquarters in New Guinea are transferred from Wewak to Hollandia.

Pacific

• The Japanese submarine chaser No. 54 is sunk by the US submarine Pollack (SS-180) north of the Bonin Islands.
• The US destroyer escort Manlove (DE-35) and submarine chaser PC-1135 sink the Japanese submarine I-32 50 miles south of Wotje.

United States, Planning

JCS approces the reassignment of all SOPAC forces to MacArthur's Southwest Pacific Area command and to Adm Nimitz's Pacific Oceans Area command. Gen MacArthur will take operational control of XIV Corps headquarters and the 37th, 25th, 43rd, 93rd, and 40th Infantry Divisions, as well as the 13th Air Force and all navy and marine units. Nimitz will take operational control of the I Marine Amphibious Corps and the 1st and 3rd Marine Divisions.

Images from March 25, 1944

USS Oyster Bay Tending PT Boats

First Panther Examined by the Western Allies

25-pdr from 5th New Zealand Field Regiment

Covering Movement of Panzergrenadiers