Air Operations, BismarcksIn 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
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![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Air Operations, Europe300 Marauders bomb the E-boat pens at Ijmuiden, Holland. RAF BOMBER COMMANDEvening Ops:
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![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Air Operations, New GuineaMore 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. [![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() CBIBURMAThe Japanese moving north from Kamaing are harassed by aircraft. The 2nd and elements of the 3rd Battalion, US 5307th Unit, start from Manpin toward Nhpum Ga in and effort to block the enemy force moving northward. The I and R Platoon delays the Japanese at points between Manpin and Nhpum Ga. The 2nd Battalion of the Marauders moves to Nhpum Ga where it receives resupply by airdrop. The Marauders are supported by the 1st and 2nd Troop Carrier Squadrons and the 27th and 315th Troop Carrier Squadrons. Th C-47s drop 376 tons of supplies to the Marauders during March. L-4 and L-5 light aircraft of the 71st Liaison Squadron provide rapid medical evacuation of casualties from small jungle clearings. The 3rd Battalion arrives and the Marauders establish a hasty defense awaiting an expected flank attack against Shaduzup. The 65th Regiment, Chinese 22nd Division, having moved forward from reserve positions and been reinforced by elements of the 66th and 64th Regiments, continue their drive on Shaduzup. [![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Eastern FrontA 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. SOUTHERN SECTORThe 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. GERMAN COMMANDKleist informs Hitler that if the positions on the Bug are not abandoned and the 6th Army withdrawn to the Rumanian border there is the very real possibility that it will be destroyed.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. [![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ItalyThere is a major re-grouping of the Allied forces. In the intense fighting against Monte Cassino the New Zealand 2nd Division has lost over 800 men, the Indian 4th Division 1,065 men. The New Zealand Corps is taken out of the line and broken up. Its components pass into the command of the XIII Corps, which now consists of the New Zealand 2nd, Indian 4th, 3rd Algerian, British 78th, and British 4th Divisions. The Polish II Corps takes responsibility for the sector of the 2nd Moroccan Division. 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 FranceThe Resistance blows up the Philips radio factory at Brive-la-Gaillarde. [![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Occupied GreeceThe 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. [![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() PacificThe 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
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[March 25th - March 27th] |