Air Operations, CBI

• 7 10th Air Force B-25s attack road bridges at several locations.
• 7 B-25s attack troops, motor vehicles, and supplies at Kongleng and near Laihka.
• 41 10th Air Force P-47s and 459th Fighter Squadron P-38s attack troops and supplies at Loiwing, Nawnghkio, and Pawngleng.

• 5 308th Heavy Bomb Group B-24s attack Samah Bay, Hainan.
• 10 341st Medium Bomb Group B-25s attack Hsuchang.
• 9 B-25s attack Changanyi.
• 9 B-25s attack rail yards at Yanglowtung.
• 4 B-25s and 24 14th Air Force P-40s attack a bridge at Chungmow.
• 2 B-25s attack the airfield at Hankow.
• 2 B-25s attack Neihsiang.
• 1 B-25 attacks several towns.
• More than 100 fighter-bombers attack the airfields at Kanchou and Hangchow and nearby rail yards, and numerous other targets across southern and eastern China.

Air Operations, East Indies

XIII Bomber Command B-24s attack Oelin and Kuching.

Air Operations, Europe

In US attacks on the north German ports of Wilhelmshaven, Hamburg and Bremen, the cruiser Köln, 14 U-boats and 11 other vessels are sunk. Sunk at Wilhelmshaven are the U-boats U-96, U-429 and U-3508; at Hamburg, U-2340; at Bremen, U-72, U-329, U-430, U-870, U-884, and U-886.

Also sunk some time in March by US army aircraft at Hamburg are the U-boats U-348, U-350 and U-1167.

• 43 Mosquitos are sent to Berlin, 43 to Erfurt, 4 to Nordingen and 3 each to Hamburg and Kiel, 6 Mosquitos lay mines in Jade Bay and the Weser River, and there are 31 Mosquito patrols and 36 RCM sorties.
• 1 Mosquito is lost on the Berlin raid.

Air Operations, Formosa

• V Bomber Command B-25s attack industrial targets at Toyohara, a refinery and barracks at Taichu, sugar refineries at Kori and Tenshi, and rail lines along the way.
• 312th Light Bomb Group A-20s attack alcohol and sugar plants at Shinei.

Air Operations, Japan

• During the night 12 314th Very Heavy Bomb Wing B-29s mount a diversionary strike against an aircraft-engine plant in Nagoya while 85 of 94 313th Very Heavy Bomb Wing B-29s dispatched sow mines in Shimonoseki Strait.
• 1 B-29 is lost.

Air Operations, Philippines

• V Bomber Command B-24s attack Balete Pass and the Solvec Cove area of Luzon.
• FEAF B-24s and V Bomber Command A-20s support US 8th Army ground forces on Cebu and attack several targets on Luzon.
• P-38s attack artillery positions near Santa Fe, Luzon.
• Fighter-bombers mount ground-support strikes near Fort Stotsenburg and Laguna de Bay.
• XIII Bomber Command B-24s, B-25s, and XIII Fighter Command P-38s attack Bongao Island and Sanga Sanga in the Sulu Archipelago, but plans for XIII Bomber Command B-24s to attack pre-invasion targets in and around Legaspi, Luzon, are curtailed by bad weather.

Air Operations, Ryukyus

Despite bad weather that hampers flight operations, Task Force 58 and Task Group 52.1 carrier aircraft attack numerous pre-invasion targets on Okinawa. Task Group 52.1 aircraft attack targets in the Sakishima Islands. A VF-10 F6F downs a G4M 'Betty' bomber at sea at 0045 hours, and VBF-83 F4Us down 2 D3A 'Val' dive bombers at sea at 0805 hours.

Burma

In the north the British 36th Div, which has resumed its advance southeast of Mogok, reaches Kyaukme and links up with the Chinese forces. Operations in this sector come to a halt, since Chiang Kai-shek has obtained an undertaking from Adm Mountbatten not to employ Chinese forces beyond the line Lashio-Hsipaw-Kyaukme. In the British XXXIII Corps sector, the 20th Indian Div takes Kyaukse after savage fighting. In the British IV Corps sector the 17th Indian Div and the 225th Arm Bde consolidate the capture of Meiktila and advance south toward Pyawbwe.

Kyaukse is taken by 20th Indian Div. The British forces now hold most of the important positions on the road between Mandalay and Meiktila. The Japanese forces in central Burma have been brought to battle and defeated exactly as Gen William Slim has hoped. The Japanese have not been able to slip away largely intact as they intended, and instead have been compelled to fight the main action with improvised forces against the carefully organized British defense around Meiktila.

Eastern Front

Marshal Konstantin Rokossovsky's 2nd Belorussian Front completes the capture of Danzig, while in Silesia the 1st Front, under Zhukov, continues the liquidation of the German forces surrounded at Glogau and Breslau. The 2nd Ukraine Front, advancing along the frontier between Czechoslovakia and Hungary, crosses the Hron and Nitra Rivers and heads for Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia. Other units of the same Front clear the south bank of the Danube, in Hungary, where the 3rd Ukraine Front, in the west, continues to advance into Austria, having launched its attack from the Hungarian town of Köszeg, and in the southwest is advancing rapidly toward the Drava beyond Lake Balaton. More than 150,000 men of the German Army Group E, still in Yugoslavia, face a highly critical situation.

The 2nd Shock Army mops up in Danzig, capturing 10,000 prisoners.

After a bloody battle Danzig falls to the 2nd Shock Army, the German garrison having been entirely destroyed. The Soviets claim 10,000 prisoners during the battle and capture or destroy 140 panzers and assault guns and 45 U-boatds. Elements of von Saucken's 2nd Army fight on to the bitter end in the Vistula delta. In the center the 60th Army and 4th Tank Army of the 1st Ukrainian Front takes Ratibor.

The 9th Guards Army pushes forward from Koszeg and enters Austria. A little to the north the 7th Guards Army (2nd Ukrainian Front) approaches Bratislava.

Ryukyu Islands

American air and naval bombardment in preparation for the invasion of Okinawa continues.

A Japanese suicide aircraft damages the US heavy cruiser Indianapolis (CA-35).

Western Front

Elements from the Canadian II Corps, British 2nd Army, complete the capture of Emmerich. The British 6th Airborne and 11th Arm Divs reach the Ems River.

In the US 1st Army sector, the III and V Corps reach the Eder River and prepare to cross it. The advance of the units of the VIII Corps, US 3rd Army, continue toward Usingen, Butzbach, Neuhof and Eltville, and the XX Corps pushes on north of Frankfurt in the direction of Kassel, reaching the Eder River in the Zenner-Wader area. The XII Corps advances in the Hersfeld sector, near Hanau, toward Fulda and Michelan-Leisenwald.

Patton issues an Order of the Day to the US 3rd Army. In it he claims that in 7 weeks, 3rd Army has occupied 14,484 sq km of Germany, taken 3,072 inhabited places, killed or wounded 99,000, taken 140,000 prisoners and eliminated 2 German armies.

Fighting goes around Mannheim between the XV Corps, US 7th Army, and the German 1st Army.

Images from March 30, 1945

A Humber scout car and Comet tank of 11th Armored Division in a devastated German town, 30 March 1945

In a Devastated German Town

US Navy Seabees build and maintain B-29 base on Tinian. 30 March 1945

Seabees-built B-29 Base on Tinian

Two young German soldiers armed with panzerfausts and rifles on the move. Lauban (Luban) Niederschlesien (Lower Silesia) Germany (now Poland). 30 March 1945

Young German Soldiers on the Move

Jagdtiger of s.Pz.Jg.Abt.653, Germany, 30 March 1945.

Jagdtiger

Churchill tanks of 6th Guards Tank Brigade in Dulmen, Germany, 30 March 1945

Churchill Tanks in Dulmen

US Army Privates George Cofield and Howard Davis manning an anti-aircraft weapon near a bridge under construction over the Rhine River, March 30, 1945

Anti-aircraft Gun on the Rhine

M4A1 76w with extra plate armor added to the front hull, it’s from the 3rd Armored Division on the outskirts of Korbach, 30 March 1945. Also note the Commanders and loaders hatches have been swapped.

M4A1 with Extra Plate Armor

DShK M1938 heavy machine being used as a tank-mounted weapon by a Soviet soldier in Danzig, late Mar 1945

Soviet Tank-mounted Weapon