Air Operations, CBI

• 9 10th Air Force B-25s attack lines of communication.
• 16 10th Air Force P-47s attack targets of opportunity in the Kunlong, Mong Nawng, and Wan Sing areas.
• 15 P-47s support Chinese Army ground forces at Nakang and Nampongpang.
• 11 P-47s attack barracks at Monglawng.
• 3 P-47s attack supply dumps at Laihka.

• 28 308th Heavy Bomb Group B-24s, escorted by 16 14th Air Force P-51s, attack the rail yard at Tsinan and a bridge spanning the Yellow River.
• 5 341st Medium Bomb Group B-25s attack occupied towns, stores and targets of opportunity at Hsiangcheng, Sinsiang, and Wuyang.
• More than 50 fighter-bombers attack troops, horses and transportation targets in southern and eastern China and northern French Indochina.

Air Operations, Europe

6,000 Allied planes participate in operations connected with the Rhine crossings.

• 128 Lancasters of Nos. 1 and 5 Groups attack bridges at Bremen (117 aircraft) and Bad Oeynhausen (11 aircraft). Both bridges are hit.
• 2 Lancasters are lost on the Bremen raid.
• 80 Lancasters of No. 3 Group attack Wesel, which is an important troop center behind the Rhine front in an area about to be attacked by British troops. The raid is accurate and there are no losses.

• 195 Lancasters and 23 Mosquitos of Nos. 5 and 8 Groups carry out the last raid on the unfortunate town of Wesel. Wesel claims to have been the most intensively bombed town, for its size, in Germany. 97 per cent of the buildings in the main town area are destroyed. The population, which had numbered nearly 25,000 on the outbreak of war, is only 1,900 in May 1945.
• There are no losses.

• Support and 78 training aircraft make a sweep across France and as far as Mannheim, 65 Mosquitos are sent to Berlin and 23 to Aschaffenburg, and there are 39 Mosquito patrols and 41 RCM sorties.
• 2 Mosquitos are lost on the Berlin raid.

Air Operations, Formosa

• 23 22nd Heavy Bomb Group B-24s and 14 43rd Heavy Bomb Group B-24s attack 2 power plants, respectively, in central Formosa and cause such damage as to shut down 60 percent of the island's electrical power for the rest of the war.
• V Fighter Command fighter-bombers attack Takao.

Air Operations, Philippines

• FEAF B-24s, B-25s and A-20s attack targets on Cebu and throughout the Visayan Islands, and targets on Luzon.
• XIII Bomber Command B-24s attack targets on Mindanao.

Air Operations, Ryukyu Islands

• Task Force 58 carrier aircraft attack numerous pre-invasion targets on Okinawa and Kyushu. Numerous photographs of Japanese defensive systems taken by carrier aircraft will help in the final planning for the upcoming Allied invasion of Okinawa and other islands in the Ryukyus.
• A VMF-123 F4U downs a B6N 'Jill' torpedo bomber at sea at 1005 hours.
• 3 VBF-6 F4Us down a C6N 'Myrt' reconnaissance plane at sea at 1252 hours.
• A VF-17 F6F downs a 'Myrt' reconnaissance plane 23 miles from Task Force 58 at 1610 hours.

Britain, Home Front

Jockey 'Steve' Donoghue, winner of the Derby 6 times, dies at the age of 61.

Burma

In the British XXXIII Corps sector Wundwin is occupied and a column from the 20th Indian Div moves north toward Kume. In the VI Corps sector the 7th Indian Div, with reinforcements from the 5th Indian Div, occupies Myingan. Fighting continues at Meiktila, which the Japanese are now trying to recapture from the 17th Indian Div.

Eastern Front

In the sector of the German Army Group North, northwest of Zoppot (Sopot), between Gdynia and Danzig, the 2nd Belorussian Front occupies further stretches of the coast and threatens to cut off the retreat of the German forces. The German navy supports operations along the Baltic coast, bombarding enemy positions and evacuating refugees and troops.

Severe fighting erupts on the outer defenses around Danzig as the 49th Army presses in from the north, the 65th from the west and 2nd Shock from the south.

A counterattack by 2 divisions of the 9th Army toward Kustrin is repulsed by the 8th Guards Army. A second attack later in the day also fails.

Komarno and its oilfields fall to the 7th Guards Army as did Esztergom to the 46th Army as the 3rd Hungarian Army is destroyed south of the Danube and the 8th Army thrown back to its north.

The 6th SS Panzer Army narrowly escapes from the Balaton area as the 26th Army to the south links up with the 4th and 9th Guards pushing in from the northeast. German defenses around Veszprem disintegrates as the 6th SS Panzer and 6th Armies begin a headlong retreat into Austria.

France, Politics

De Gaulle announces that Indochina will be given a limited form of self-government after the war. He adds, however, that Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos will remain within the French Union.

Italy

Gen Heinrich von Vietinghoff takes over command of German forces in Italy replacing Field Marshal Kesselring who has been withdrawn to the Western Front. Throughout March there have been small attacks by both II and IV US Corps of 5th Army in the area around the Pistoia-bologna road and to the west.

Pacific

The US destroyer Haggard (DD-555) is damaged after being rammed by the Japanese submarine I-371 in the Philippine Sea before sinking the submarine.

Philippines

On Luzon the US 5th Air Force begins a series of raids in the Legaspi area in preparation for a vast amphibious operation. San Fernando is taken by I Corps with help from Filipino guerrillas.

Ryukyu Islands

• The squadron of fast US aircraft carriers under Vice-Adm Mitscher, Task Force 58, launches a series of daily raids on Okinawa in preparation for the invasion. There are now 14 carriers organized in 3 groups.
• The US submarine Seahorse (SS-304) is damaged by a Japanese bomber in the Ryukyu Islands area.

Western Front

The 21st Army Group begins Operation PLUNDER, the offensive across the Rhine north of the Ruhr. Montgomery issues an Order of the Day: '21st Army Group will now cross the Rhine. The enemy possibly thinks he is safe behind this great river obstacle . . . we will show him he is far from safe behind it.' Monty also issues a 'no fraternization' order to his troops.

At 9p.m. following a heavy continued artillery and air bombardment, the Canadian 1st Army sends in its divisions north of Emmerich, while the British 2nd Army crosses the Rhine near Rees, the British XXX Corps, and Wesel, XII Corps. Two airborne divs are also to be dropped to aid the crossing. The 2 towns are attacked by 2 British infantry divisions, the 51st and 15th.

In the US 1st Army sector, the 9th and 90th Divs widen their bridgehead east of the Wied River, through which the units of the V Corps have also passed. The US 3rd Army advances in the Koblenz-Boppard sector, VIII Corps, and in the area of Wallerstädten-Erfelden and Oppenheim-Worms, XII Corps. Units of the 94th Div enter Ludwigshafen, while the 10th Arm Div, pushing on toward Lauterbourg, makes contact with units of the American 7th Arm Div.

Images from March 23, 1945

Paratroopers of the British 6th Airborne Division dropping on the east bank of the Rhine, 23 March, 1945

British 6th Airborne Division Dropping East of the Rhine

A de Havilland Mosquito of RAF Coastal Command pulling up after firing its rockets at a merchant ship in Dalsfjord, 23 March 1945

A Mosquito Attack in Dalsfjord

'Puritanical Witch' after crashing on take off at Shipdham on what would have been its 79th mission, 23 March 1945.

B-24 Crash on Take Off

Pioneers lay a smoke screen during preparations for the Rhine crossing, 23 March 1945.

Laying a Smoke Screen

A soldier of the 94th Infantry Division searching two young anti-aircraft gunners who surrendered in Frankenthal, 23 March 1945

POW Search

A truck crossing the Rhine River in Germany, 23 March 1945. This was the second bridge built by US 150th Combat Engineer Battalion.

Crossing the Rhine on a Combat Engineer Bridge

British Diamond T Model 980 tractor towing a trailer loaded with a Churchill tank during preparations for crossing the Rhine River into Germany, 23 March 1945

Preparing to Cross the Rhine

British Commandos in the outskirts of Wesel

British Commandos near Wesel