Admiralty Islands

The US occupies Pityilu Island to the north of Manus.

Air Operations, Carolines

• Based at the Munda Point airfield on New Georgia, armed at the Piva Uncle Airfield on Bougainville, and refueled at the Nissan Airfield, 20 of 24 unescorted 307th Heavy Bomb Group B-24s sent execute the 13th Air Force’s first daylight mission to the Caroline Islands at 1300 hours, an attack against the airfield on Eten Island in the Truk Atoll. 2 B-24s are lost to intercepting fighters, including 1 that is set on fire by a new phosphorous bomb lobbed at it by a Japanese Navy fighter. Photographs indicate that 49 Japanese Navy aircraft are destroyed in the attack, for which the 307th Group is awarded the Presidential Unit Citation.
• VII Bomber Command B-24s attack Ponape Island.
• As Task Force 58 continues to close on the Palau Islands, small numbers of G4M 'Betty' torpedo bombers are sent to attack the carriers. 4 VF-10 F6Fs down 1 G4M 'Betty' 30 miles from the carriers at 1242 hours. A VF-32 F6F downs a 'Betty' at sea at 1715 hours. A VF-2 F6F downs a 'Betty' at sea at 2000 hours.
• During the night, Task Force 58 is attacked by 12 G4M 'Betty' torpedo bombers, based at Tinian and staging through Palau, but all are downed or driven away by antiaircraft fire.
• During the night, 2 SB-24s of the XIII Bomber Command’s 868th Heavy Bomb Squadron mount a reconnaissance strike against Moen Island in the Truk Atoll. 2 squadrons of 307th Heavy Bomb Group B-24s attack a fuel depot, an airfield, and a seaplane base in the Truk Atoll.

Air Operations, CBI

• 12 7th Heavy Bomb Group B-24s attack the Victoria Lake area near Mandalay. More than 20 490th Medium Bomb Squadron B-25s and 10th Air Force P-51 fighter-bombers attack Katha, support Allied ground forces near Indaw, and attack rail facilities and warehouses at Indaw. 10th Air Force A-31s attack Japanese Army ground positions and targets of opportunity at Tamu and Homalin. 12 459th Fighter Squadron P-38s and RAF aircraft attack airfields, rail facilities, and boat traffic near Mandalay. More than 80 10th Air Force fighter-bombers attack ground targets in the Mogaung Valley and artillery batteries near Kamaing. More than 80 10th Air Force fighters maintain an aerial umbrella over the Sumprabum area.

• 12 14th Air Force P-40s and 3 P-51s attack rail facilities, the airfield, and a bridge at Nanchang. A 76th Fighter Squadron P-51 downs an A6M Zero near Nanchang during a morning mission.

• 10th Air Force A-31s attack Japanese Army ground troops at Imphal, Jessami, Tonzang, and Ukhrul.

Air Operations, Europe

• 76 Halifaxes and 8 Mosquitos of Nos. 4, 6 and 8 Groups attack the railway yards at Vaires near Paris in bright moonlight. The bombing is accurate and 2 ammo trains which are present blow up.
• 1 Halifax is lost.
• 19 Lancasters of No. 5 Group accurately bomb the aircraft engine factory at Lyons without a loss.

• 32 Mosquitos are sent to Kiel, where 47 people are killed and 134 are injured, 11 to Krefeld, 5 to Aachen and 4 to Cologne.
• There are no losses.

Air Operations, New Guinea

V Bomber Command B-24s attack Hollandia. B-25s and A-20s attack the Wewak area. A-20s attack targets in the Bogia-Bunabun area. V Fighter Command P-39s attack antiaircraft emplacements at Erima.

Burma

At Gen Stilwell's request Chiang Kai-shek promises to send a division to reinforce the Chinese and Americans fighting in northeast Burma.

Having crossed the Burma-India border, Japanese troops cut the road between Imphal and Kohima and the Japanese 15th Army encircles 155,000 British-Indian troops on the Imphal Plain and despite Allied air superiority, holds its positions until June 22. Chinese troops occupy Shaduzup as part of an effort in northeast Burma to divert the Japanese forces from their main goal of moving into India.

Eastern Front

Troops of the 1st Ukraine Front have crossed the Prut and taken Kolomya in Rumania in the foothills of the Carpathians.

Kolomna falls to the 1st Tank Army, while at Tarnopol Group Neinhoff is again heavily attacked.

India

In the area defended by the British IV Corps, troops of Gen Kotoku Sato's 31st Div at Maram cut the Imphal-Kohima road near Kohima. Slim sticks to his plan to supply the garrison of Imphal by air. Reinforcements are sent to the Kohima garrison.

Italy

In the Garigliano River sector Gen Sir Richard McCreery's British X Corps is relieved by the French Expeditionary Corps under Gen Alphonse Juin and the US II Corps, which takes up positions at the extreme left of the Allied line on the Tyrrhenian coast.

Pacific

The super-battleship Musashi is torpedoed in the bows by the US submarine Tunny (SS-282) and has to return to Japan for repairs.

Switzerland

Dr Gina Lombroso Ferrero, Italian sociologist and anti-Fascist, dies at the age of 73.

Images from March 29, 1944

Flying from one of the carriers in the huge US Navy Task Force which struck Japanese installations in the Palau islands in 29-30 March 1944

Strking the Japanese in Palau

A member of Women's Army Corps at work. 8th Air Force, England, 29 March 1944

Bf 109 G-6 W.Nr. 162 764 'RU+OZ', Ofh. Lothar Hirtes, 4./JG 5, Samedan, 29 March 1944

Mar. 29, 1944: US expands North Atlantic medical air evacuation to move 200 patients/day, clearing hospitals in England for D-Day. Flight nurse based in Prestwick, Scotland, preparing patients for transatlantic flight. (USAF photo)

Medical Evacuations from England