Air Operations, CBI

• 12 10th Air Force B-25s and 46 P-47s attack troops, road traffic, supplies, and targets of opportunity in and around the Japanese Army battle lines.
• More than 50 P-47s support British 14th Army ground forces around Mogok and Chinese Army ground forces in the Mansam area.

• More than 40 14th Air Force P-40s and P-51s attack road, river, and rail traffic, occupied towns, and targets of opportunity from the Yangtze River to northern French Indochina.
• V Bomber Command B-25s sink 1 ship and damage several others while sweeping the South China Sea.

• 36 341st Medium Bomb Group B-25s attack bridges at 8 locations.

Air Operations, East Indies

XIII Bomber Command B-24s attack airfields in northern Borneo.

Air Operations, Europe

• 170 Lancasters of No. 3 Group carryd out a G-H attack on the Consolidation benzol plant at Gelsenkirchen. No results are seen.
• 1 Lancaster is lost.

• 760 aircraft including 498 Lancasters, 256 Halifaxes and 6 Mosquitos are sent to Chemnits to continue Operation THUNDERCLAP. The operation starts badly when 9 aircraft of No. 6 Group crash near their bases soon after taking off in icy conditions. No. 426 Squadron, at Linton-on-Ouse, loses 3 out of their 14 Halifaxes taking part in the raid in this way, with only 1 man surviving. 1 of the Halifaxes crashedsin York, killing some civilians.
• 14 Lancasters and 8 Halifaxes are lost in the main operation.

An area of the town of Chemnitz in Eastern Germany in ruins after 760 aircraft of Bomber Command attacked as part of Operation Thunderclap.

Operation Thunderclap: Chemnitz

• 248 Lancasters and 10 Mosquitos of No. 5 Group attack the synthetic oil refinery at Böhlen. The target area is covered by cloud, but some damage is caused to the refinery.
• 4 Lancasters are lost.

• 75 Mosquitos are sent to Berlin, 15 to Gelsenkirchen, and 36 in small numbers to 6 other targets, and there are 27 Mosquito patrols and 52 RCM sorties.
• 2 Mosquitos are lost on the Berlin raid, 1 Mosquito is lost on the small raid to Hallendorf and 2 RCM aircraft 1 Halifax and 1 Sterling, are believed to have been shot down over France by an American artillery unit.
• East Anglia in England is bombed by 12 Luftwaffe planes.

Air Operations, Formosa

• V Bomber Command B-24s and V Fighter Command fighter-bombers sweep the island.
• A 475th Fighter Group P-38 downs a Ki-21 'Sally' bomber over Takao.

Air Operations, Philippines

• V Bomber Command B-24s support US Army ground forces in the Antipolo area.
• 42nd Medium Bomb Group B-25s attack the San Roque airfield on Mindanao and the Zettlefield airfield on Jolo.
• V Fighter Command fighter-bombers attack Fort Drum and San Pablo, and support Filipino guerrilla forces near Lingayan Gulf.
• In one coordinated attack against Japanese Army ground forces on Luzon’s Mount Pinatubo, 12 348th Fighter Group P-47s and supporting artillery are credited with killing 574 Japanese soldiers.

Air Operations, Ryukyus

FEAF B-24s and fighter-bombers mount sweeps over the Ryukyus.

Air Operations, Volcano Islands

Task Group 52.2 TBMs and FMs provide support for US V Marine Amphibious Corps ground forces on Iwo Jima.

Burma

In the British XV Corps sector, the 25th Indian Div advances along the coast from Arakan and takes Tamandu. In the XXXIII Corps sector, the 19th Indian Div advances at a fair pace toward Mandalay. Japanese conterattacks against IV Corps begin. The small town of Taungtha in retaken by the Japanese and 17th Indian Div is almost cut off in Meiktila. Air supply continues, however.

Eastern Front

Troops of the 1st Belorussian Dront capture Stargard (Stargard Szczecinski) and Naugard, the southeast bulwarks of the defense of Stettin. The Vistula Army Group announces that it has destroyed 1,800 Russian tanks to date, but has to admit that it has no more news of the German 2nd Army.

Fierce battles continue in East Prussia and in the northern tips of Latvia.

The Soviet 19th Army captures Koslin as the X SS Corps tries to break out to the west. The XXIV Panzer Corps recaptures Lauban and forces the 3rd Guards Tank Army back. Col von Luck (25th Panzer Div) is witness to Red Army atrocities around Lauban: 'For all of us, a terribly depressing experience was to stay forever in our minds. In the villages we recovered, we ourselves saw for the first time how the Russians had rampaged in the past weeks. Never in my life shall I forget the sight of the maltreated, violated women who came to meet us, screaming or completely apathetic. Neither old women nor girls, who were still children, were spared; the houses were plundered, old men were shot.'[MORE]

Germany, Home Front

(3rd?) Fifteen- and sixteen-year-old boys from the class of 1929 are called up to serve in the German army.

Italy

The limited offensive of the IV Corps, US 5th Army, is concluded.

Pacific

• The Japanese submarine chaser No. 110 is sunk US Army aircraft in the Netherlands East Indies area.
• The Japanese minesweeper No. 15 is sunk by the submarine Tilefish (SS-307) north of the Ryukyu Islands.

Philippines

On Luzon in the US XIV Corps sector, the 11th Div, reinforced by 1 regiment, begins operations for the occupation of Balayan and Batangas Bays, in the south of the island. The Japanese halt the advance near Langanan. In the I Corps sector to the north, Filipino guerillas now control the north coast west of the mouth of the Cagayan River, and the west coast, except for Vigan, as far as the San Fernando area. The 33rd Div is advancing on San Fernando from the south and the Japanese garrisons in the area are in danger of being encircled. The 25th Div is advancing toward the Cagayan Valley.

Western Front

In the US 9th Army sector, the 5th Arm Div, XIII Corps, reaches the Rhine at Orsoy, which is taken, together with Rheinkamp. The XIX Corps reaches Rheinhausen and eliminates the pocket near the Adolf Hitler bridge south of Ürdinger, so carrying out the last of the tasks given it in Operation GRENADE. German demolition teams begin destroying those bridges left standing over the Rhine. The 3rd Arm Div, VII Corps, opens the attack on Cologne from the south in the early hours of the morning, and enters the city during the day. Some units of the 104th Div, continuing their advance eastward toward Cologne, take Junkersdorf. There is considerable activity in the US 3rd Army sector, where the 3 corps, VIII, XII and XX, from north to south, cross the Kyll at several points.

Images from March 5, 1945

Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders of Canada examining a German bazooka anti-tank weapon found in an abandoned trench in Hochwald, Germany, 5 March 1945

German Anti-tank Weapon

Prime Minister Winston Churchill chalks the message 'A Present for Hitler' onto a shell which he then fired from a 9.2mm gun at the eastern edge of Goch, Germany, 5 March 1945

'A Present for Hitler'

H Company passes by troops of the 80th Chem Bn as they set up their 4.2 inch mortars in Weilerwist to support the 2nd Battalion attack on Metternich, 5 March 1945

Support for the Attack on Metternich

Column of Soviet IS-2 tanks on the road in East Prussia, 1st Belorussian Front. On the left side of the road – abandoned German Panzerfaust.

Soviet IS-2 Tanks

A US Army M-25 Tank retriever hauls a LCM landing craft through Masstricht, Holland, en route overland to the banks of the Rhine River in Germany, March 5, 1945. The landing craft were used to ferry Army equipment across the river after the retreating German Army destroyed all the bridges. Note dented condition of the LCM. (US Army photograph, SC 206720)

A US Army M-25 Tank Retriever

Japanese Light cruiser Kiso sunk at Manila, 5 March 1945.

Light Cruiser Kiso Sunk at Manila

Infantrymen of the Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders of Canada in their dugout in the Hochwald, Germany. March 5, 1945

Canadian Soldiers in the Hochwald

United States Signal Corps cameraman Robert Hagelstein films German troop movements in the Rhine Valley with a handheld Eyemo 16mm camera, March 5, 1945

Filming German Troop Movements in the Rhine Valley

Marines start the drive to the interior of Iwo Jima, Japan on March 5, 1945. Running at a crouch, they dart across the table-land in the shadow of Mount Suribachi, taking advantage of the scant protection offered by small rises in the volcanic sand

Moving to the Interior of Iwo Jima