Air Operations, Bismarcks

In support of a US Marine Corps ground offensive, V Fighter Command P-39s and P-40s attack the Cape Hoskins area and Japanese Army ground troops around Talasea.

Air Operations, Carolines

• In the first challenge by Japanese Navy fighters to an attack against a bypassed target in the region, 4 B-25s from the 41st Medium Bomb Group’s 48th Medium Bomb Squadron, based in the Eniwetok Atoll, are intercepted by 12 A6M Zeros while bombing Ponape Island. Engaging the Zeros are 6 VMF-113 F4U escorts, who down 8 Zeros and probably down 3 others. Another Zero is destroyed on the ground, and B-25 gunners claim 4 Zeros shot down.
• Though this is the first time US Marine Corps fighters esort USAAF bombers on a mission of this type in the region, it is the last time in 1944 that Marine Corps fighter pilots will engage Japanese fighters in the air over the Central Pacific region.
• During the night, in their first mission against Truk Atoll, B-24s of the XIII Bomber Command’s 307th Heavy Bomb Group fail to locate the target due to poor navigation.

Air Operations, CBI

• 3 7th Heavy Bomb Group B-24s and 3 490th Medium Bomb Squadron B-25s attack Japanese Army ground troops near Chindwin. More than 40 10th Air Force A-31s attack Japanese ground positions and motor vehicles near Kalemyo. 3 B-25s and 10th Air Force P-51 fighter-bombers attack warehouses, and a Japanese Army bivouac at Bhamo and warehouses at Nankan. 1 B-25 and more than 70 10th Air Force fighter-bombers attack numerous targets in the Mogaung Valley, including the airfields at Manywet and Myitkyina.

• 4 341st Medium Bomb Group B-25s attack 2 ships in Bakli Bay, Hainan.

• 4 14th Air Force P-40s attack barges and a ship in the Gulf of Tonkin.

Air Operations, Europe

300 Marauders bomb the E-boat pens at Ijmuiden, Holland.

• 705 aircraft are sent to Essen. In this total are 476 Lancasters, 207 Halifaxes and 22 Mosquitos.
• The sudden switch by Bomber Command to a Ruhr target catches the German controllers off guard. As a result, there are fewer air combats. Essen is covered by cloud but the Oboe Mosquitos mark the target are well and the bombing is classified as successful.
• 6 Lancasters and 3 Halifaxes are lost.
• 70 Halifaxes, 32 Stirlings and 7 Mosquitos of Nos. 3, 4, 6 and 8 Groups attack railway targets at Courtrai without a loss.

• 22 Mosquitos are sent to Hannover, 3 to Aachen and 3 to Julianadorp, 20 Stirlings lay mines off French ports, 4 aircraft are involved in Resistance operations, and there are 13 Serrate patrols and 12 OTU sorties.
• There are no losses.
• 705 aircraft are sent to Essen where a successful Oboe marked raid takes place.
• Only 9 planes are lost due to the relatively short distance there and back.

Air Operations, New Guinea

More than 220 V Bomber Command B-24s, B-25s, and A-20s attack Muschu Island and the Aitape, Boram, Cape Wom, and Hansa Bay areas. A-20s attack the harbor at Bunabun and Japanese Army ground positions on Manus Island. V Fighter Command P-39s attack Madang.

Eastern Front

A large part of 1st Pzr Army has been cut off in the area of Tarnopol and Kamenets-Podolski, on the northern frontier of Rumania, by the advances to the Prut River by 1st and 2nd Ukraine Fronts. Other units of 2nd Ukraine Front take Balta.

The 1st Tank Army secures its positions on the Dniestr River, while the 40th Army of the 2nd Ukrainian Front crosses the Prut near Lipkany and the 27th Army crosses near Jassy. The 52nd Army approaches Jassy from the east. Balta falls.

Kleist informs Hitler that if the positions on the Bug are not abandoned and the 6th Army withdrawn to the Rumanian border there is the very real possibility that it will be destroyed. Despite this it takes hours of argument before Hitler agrees to even a limited withdrawal. Another result of these conversations is the detachment of the 8th Army from Army Group South to Army Group A. The southerly withdrawal of the 8th has effectively separated it from the remainder of Army Group South.

Italy

There is a major re-grouping of the Allied forces. In the intense fighting against Monte Cassino the 2nd New Zealand Div has lost over 800 men, the 4th Indian Div 1,065 men. The New Zealand Corps is taken out of the line and broken up. Units of 8th Army, namely the British V Corps which will now man the sector between Palena and the Adriatic coast, are brought from the east side to replace it and the French Corps which has also taken heavy losses. The next Allied offensive will be in May when this re-grouping and other preparations are complete.

Occupied France

The Resistance blows up the Philips radio factory at Brive-la-Gaillarde.

Occupied Greece

The EAM (Greek Communist Party) establishes a provisional government in the mountains of northern Greece. The resignation of the official Greek Prime Minister, Emmanouil Tsouderos, follows on April 6.

Pacific

The US submarine Tullibee (SS-284) is sunk by one of her own faulty torpedoes near the Palau Islands. Operating north of Palau in the Carolines, the surfaces sub fired 2 torpedoes at a Japanese transport. Shortly thereafter the Tullibee (SS-284) exploded and sank. The only survivor, a gunner's mate on the bridge, said one of the torpedoes, equipped with a contact exploder made a circular run and hit the sub.

Images from March 26, 1944

A New Zealander Poses with his Sniper Rifle in the Ruins of Cassino, 26 March 1944

Men of the Royal West Kent Regiment in a Dugout on Monastery Hill at Cassino, 26 March 1944

Russian Infantry Fighting in the Ukraine