Air Operations, CBI

• 12 10th Air Force B-25s attack troops, artillery positions, and supplies in and around the Japanese Army battle lines.
• 26 10th Air Force P-47s sweep roads across central Burma.
• 16 P-47s support Chinese Army ground forces in the Namhsan area.
• 4 P-47s support British Army troops while several other P-47s attack bridges.

• 7 308th Heavy Bomb Group B-24s attack shipping in the Gulf of Tonkin and South China Sea.
• 13 14th Air Force fighter-bombers attack stores at Chingchenchiang and a bridge at Lang Son, French Indochina.
• 22 38th and 42nd Medium Bomb group B-25s sink a cargo ship, a Japanese Navy frigate, and sampans while sweeping the sea lanes between Swatow and Hainan Island.
• V Fighter Command P-51s attack the Samah airfield at Hainan.
• 348th Fighter Group P-51s down 2 Ki-84 'Frank' fighters over the Hainan's Samah airfield at 1110 hours.

Air Operations, Europe

• 354 aircraft including 319 Halifaxes, 24 Lancasters and 20 Mosquitos of Nos. 4, 6 and 8 Groups are sent to Wuppertal and Barmen. This attack also tales place over a cloud-covered target and the bombs fall slightly east of the area intended, covering the eastern half of the Barmen district and extending into Schwelm.
• There are no losses.
• Bomber Command had now dispatched 2,541 sorties by daylight to Ruhr targets in a 3-day period. Approximately 10,650 tons of bombs had been dropped through cloud with sufficient accuracy to cripple 2 cities and 1 town. The bomber losses were only 5 aircraft, a casualty rate of 0.2 per cent. These results show the great power now wielded by Bomber Command, its technical efficiency and the weakness of the German defenses.
• 38 Lancasters of No. 5 Group that are sent to bomb the Arnsberg and Bielefeld viaducts encounter bad weather. 1 aircraft bombs at Arnsberg and 2 further aircraft bomb alternative targets.
• There are no losses.

• 195 Lancasters and 32 Mosquitos of Nos. 1 and 8 Groups attack benzol plants at Herne and Gelsenkirchen. The Gelsenkirchen attack is successful, but not the Herne raid.
• 1 Lancaster is lost on the Gelsenkirchen raid.

• 50 Mosquitos are sent to Berlin and 6 to Erfurt, and there are 37 Mosquito patrols and 58 RCM sorties.
• 1 Mosquito from the Berlin raid crashes in Belgium and 1 RCM Halifax crashes in France.

• More than 450 9th Air Division bombers attack two airdromes, rail sidings, three marshalling yards, and targets of opportunity.
• 9th Air Force fighter pilots down 15 Luftwaffe fighters over Germany between 1245 and 1725 hours.

• 12th Air Force B-25s attack rail bridges and fills at five locations.
• XXII TAC P-47s attack flak emplacements, ammo dumps, supply dumps, and rail lines throughout northern Italy.
• During the night, XXII TAC A-20s and A-26s attack crossing points in the Po River valley.

• 569 15th Air Force B-17s and B-24s attack marshalling yard at Regensburg.

Air Operations, Formosa

Despite bad weather that causes most V Bomber Command B-24s assigned to divert from two power plants and attack secondary targets and targets of opportunity, 16 90th Heavy Bomb Group B-24s are able to attack one of the power plants through cloud cover owing to the use of radar. Other V Bomber Command B-24s assigned to attack the naval base and fuel stores at Mako harbor in the Pescadore Islands are able to do so with good results.

Air Operations, Japan

• During the night, 274 of 301 XXI Bomber Command B-29s dispatched attack Osaka with incendiary bombs from 5,000 to 9,600 feet. 5 of the B-29s attack other targets.
• 2 B-29s are lost.

Air Operations, Philippines

• XIII Bomber Command B-24s attack Lago and Sarangani Bay.
• 494th Heavy Bomb Group B-24s based at Angaur attack stores at Sarangani Bay.
• B-25s support US 8th Army ground forces near Zamboanga.
• B-25s and A-20s support US 6th Army ground forces in the Cagayan Valley.
• Late in the day, 2 Japanese aircraft strafe Moret Field on Mindanao and drop one bomb, but this is the only air attack the base will endure.

Allied Planning

Gen Eisenhower orders Gen Omar N. Bradley to limit his 12th Army Group's bridgehead over the Rhine to no more than 10 miles deep and 25 miles wide. He does this in order that Field Marshal Bernard L. Montgomery's 21st Army Group will remain the main effort as it prepares to cross the Rhine. Eisenhower's offensive plans, which have all centered on the assumption that Montgomery's 21st Army Group will make the Rhine crossing first, were thrown askew when an intact bridge was found over the Rhine. With 12th Army Group now in the lead, he decides to adhere to the broad-front approach. Rather than fully exploit the opportunity presented, he limits Bradley in order for Montgomery to catch up. Bradley controls the bridgehead with two divisions of VII Corps and three divisions of III Corps.

Burma

The British capture Maymyo, cutting the rail communications of the Japanese garrison in Mandalay.

Eastern Front

EAST PRUSSIA

The 3rd Belorussian Front launches an offensive against the German 4th Army holed up in Heiligenbeil, Königsberg ans Samland.

The Polish 1st Army begins the destruction of the garrison of Kolberg.

The 3rd Belorussian begins a new offensive aimed at destroying the remnants of the 4th Army holed up around Heiligenbeil, Konigsberg and Samland. Marshal Vasilevsky has massed 7 armies to defeat the Germans and opens his attack with overwhelming arty and air strikes. The initial attack hits the Konigsberg corridor and the Heiligenbeil pocket.

In Pomerania heavy fighting breaks out at Kolberg as the 1st Polish Army begins to reduce the garrison.

Iwo Jima

The Americans go ahead with the liquidation of the Japanese positions on their left flank. Flamethrowers, bulldozers and tanks are continually in action, as well as field artillery. US troops seal up 115 caves with the Japanese defenders still inside. Naval guns and aircraft cannot intervene because the two sides are at such close quarters.

Pacific

The Japanese coast defense vessel No. 66 is sunk by US Army aircraft in the South China Sea.

Philippines

On Luzon the US XIV Corps drives off further Japanese counterattacks in the area east of Manila.

In the 8th Army area the 162nd and 163rd Infantry Regiments of the 41st Infantry Division meet strong Japanese resistance outside of Zamboanga City. The enemy is dug in along a rugged line of hills overlooking the city.

United States, Politics

Congress votes 354 to 28 to extend the Lend-Lease act for one more year, but with the restriction it not be used for 'postwar relief, rehabilitation or reconstruction.'

Western Front

On the north flank of the Remagen bridgehead the 78th Div is unable to advance against the firm opposition of the German 7th Army. In the center the 9th Div, having taken Hargarten, moves on in the region between Kalenborn, Notscheid and Hargarten, while on the southern flank the 99th Div reinforces its positions and succeeds in repulsing a number of counterattacks. The divisions of the XII Corps, US 3rd Army, complete their preparations for their attack against the Moselle.

Images from March 13, 1945

Commanding Generals in Manila

Destruction of the Propaganda Ministry

Rocket Launcher on a Sherman

Crossing the Saar River

Crossing the Rhine River at Worms

Guiding in a F6F Hellcat Fighter Aboard

Standing Guard along the Rhine at Erpel

Carving a New Road near Baguio