Feb 19 —Iwo Jima, an 8-sq. mile island of rock, 745 miles s. of Tokyo, invaded by U.S. 4th and 5th Marine divisions, 74,000 Marines part of an invading force of 100,000. Navajo code talkers using their native language provide key communication by radio on Japanese troop movements.  Click here for a repeat feed 2-19-2020 from the National WW II Museum on 75th Anniversary Iwo Jima Commemoration (at 7min music. Intro with Pete Crean at 11mins37. Advance to 16.44; Dr. Keith Huckson at 18.26; actual Iwo Jima veteran "Woody" Williams oral history at 26.22; Legacy w/Col. Torrens Garrett Miller at 31.29.  Poignant memorial service The Purest Democracy by Marine Chaplain Rabbi Roland Gittelsohn 46.19. Total duration is about 55mins.)  Excellent report from the Pasadena Star-News remembering Iwo Jima.  USS Missouri, the last battleship built by the United States, christened by Senator Harry Truman's daughter Mary Margaret Truman, bombards Iwo Jima.  U.S. troops covered by USMC aircraft are landed on the n.w. coast of Samar and on Capul Island P.I., to insure control of San Bernardino Strait. Large civilian massacres continue in Manila. Heinrich Himmler makes his first contact with Swedish Count Folke Bernadotte regarding a separate peace. 119 American B-29 bombers attack the port and urban areas of Tokyo, Japan.  1073 8th A.F bombers target oil, industrial and rail targets escorted by 521 fighters, central Germany; 17 Americans fail to return. 

Feb 21 —Off Iwo Jima, 50 kamikazes attack U.S. ships and sink escort carrier Bismarck Sea (218 officers and men killed), and damage carrier Saratoga (Saratoga is also hit by a bomb); escort carrier Lunga Point; net cargo ship Keokuk, tank landing ships LST-477, and LST-809. Motoyama Airfield No. 1 on Iwo Jima in American hands.  LCT-175 founders and sinks as weather worsens off Iwo Jima.  U.S. sub Gato sinks merchant cargo ship Tairiku Maru in Yellow Sea off w. coast of Korea. 

Feb 21-Mar 8 —Inter-American Conference on Problems of War and Peace in Chapultepec, near Mexico City; an "economic charter for the Americas" to promote an orderly reconversion from wartime to peacetime economies and to help raise living standards in the Americas was proposed; also called to help raise living standards in the Americas.  Iwo Jima 75th Anniversary from Reuters. 

Feb 22 —U.S. forces cross the German frontier at ten points.  U.S. Third Army crosses the Saar R.  In Operation Clarion (my gratitude to ZenosWarbirds) over 1300 heavy bombers with some 800 escorts target German transportation system for major disruption; a lone B-17 flew for over an hour smoothly after bombing Ansbach marshaling yard with no pilots when S/Sgt Charles Sibray discovers plane deserted, so he bales out landing in France, but the rest of the crew had bailed out over Germany to become POWs; the B-17 of the 486th BG had flown 150 miles on automatic pilot.   U.S. sub Becuna sinks Japanese tanker Nichiyoko Maru in the South China Sea.  Allied  aircraft sink cargo ship Ikuta Maru off Rabaul, New Britain.

Feb 23 —U.S. Marines capture Mount Suribachi.  Actual interview of photographer Joe Rosenthal who recalls his Pulitzer Prize-winning image of WWII Marines when the American flag was hit by a stiff wind at just the right moment when it was raised and the photographer snapped his camera shutter on Iwo Jima.  The photograph became an enduring symbol of American resolve and is shown at the very top of this page. My gratitude to Smithsonian Channel and NBC News.  Another vivid source on the flag raising w/Dave Severance who was there--however, article has incorrect date of Feb 28 near bottom.  Joe Rosenthal's famous photograph was memorialized on a U.S. postage stamp and on infinite publications.  Bastion sector in Manila held by Japanese defenders, a walled city area called Intramuros protected by 2.5 miles of ancient towering stone, begins to fall to heavy artillery fire for an hour; over 185 tons of ordnance.  Earlier attempts to convince the Japanese holding civilians inside to be released were fruitless.  Survivor Benita Lahoz recalled, "We could not even see each other because of the smoke."  U.S. troops crossed the river and thus began the fighting in a wasteland.  During lulls in the battle for control of the city, Japanese troops, mainly fanatical Marines and seamen took out their anger and frustration on civilians.  Violent mutilations, rapes, and massacres occurred in schools, hospitals and convents, including San Juan de Dios Hospital, Santa Rosa College, Santo Domingo Church, Manila Cathedral, Paco Church, St. Paul’s Convent, and St. Vincent de Paul Church.  During battle, six of seven grand old churches in Intramuros fell to battle destruction.  At the German Club, five Germans and 400 refugees including the family of former Ambassador to Spain Juan Rocha were murdered.  Hundreds were slaughtered at Saint Paul’s College.  [Go to bottom of 1942, see PDF on website for more historical information.]  At San Marcelino Street, Vincentian priests were kept prisoners on the ground floor and finally marched out to the edge of the nearby estero and killed.  Scores of people at the Philippine National Red Cross were massacred in the Ermita district.  By mid-February, the Philippine General Hospital is liberated, but pitifully many women by then had been raped and bayoneted.  The outside world knew little of all the massacres in 1945.  Two books on the subject: Rampage: MacArthur, Yamashita, and the Battle of Manila (2018) by James Scott, and Battle of Manila: Nadir of Japanese Barbarism, 3 February – 3 March 1945 (2019) by Miguel Miranda.  A special combined force of U.S. paratroopers, Filipino guerrillas, and amphibious tanks rescue 2,147 American prisoners at Los Baños prison camp (1min46 now the University of the Philippines Los Baños), not in Manila but near Tagaytay, narrated by bestselling author Bruce Henderson.  A force of 511th U.S. paratroopers dropped from C-47s.  [When the Japanese discovered that the Los Baños prisoners had been rescued, the Japanese rounded up an estimated 1,400 Filipinos and Chinese, tied up villagers to the stilts holding up their houses, and set the structures on fire.]  25 miles north, in Manila a civilian show was held for the recently-liberated prisoners of Santo Tomas (silent, about 5mins) on this date.  American children and military nurses were among the living survivors.  Those liberated were in the university compound. There is a Santo Tomas not in Manila but near Tagaytay; entirely different. Here is a modern visit to the FILIPINO UNIVERSITY! University of Santo Tomas, the oldest university in all of Asia--which was liberated by American GIs on Feb 3--with our energetic Flying Kell showing you the area.  Eisenhower opens a large offensive in the Rhineland as U.S. Ninth Army attacks across Roer R. and by nightfall twenty-eight battalions had crossed the river.  Swift current of river presents greater obstacle than enemy.  U.S. 8th Inf Div enters Dueren, was a center of much bombing (silent 1min56) and begins to clear suburbs.   Liberty ship Henry Bacon is attacked by 23 German medium bombers off the Lofoten islands of Northern Norway, and goes down in a heavy gale; 28 Americans dead.  British destroyers HMS Opportune, HMS Zest, and HMS Zambesi rescue the survivors.  It was the last ship-sinking of the war by German aircraft.  Brief heroic story as reported in The Baltimore Sun, (2003). The SS Henry Bacon was named for the architect of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington.  The island of Corregidor is shaken by a tremendous ammunition detonation shaking the entire isle and felt along the whole of Manila Harbor.  Operation Clarion, 1211 bombers escorted by 667 aircraft; of the 3,750 U.S. aircraft sortied over the 2-day operation, 3 bombers and 17 P-51s MIA, none of the P-51s were lost in combat. Operation Clarion was one of the most successful operations of WW II.

Feb 24 —U.S. 6th Army battles last strongholds in Manila: strongpoints divided into Legislative, Finance, and Agriculture buildings.  Egypt Declaration of War against the Axis.  In Europe, U.S. 10th Arm Div expands Ockfen bridgehead toward Schoden and Beurig and moves 3 armored inf battalions into it by assault boats.  U.S. 301st and 302nd Regt of 94th Inf Div expands Serrig– Taben bridgehead under heavy fire.  U.S. 5th and 76th Inf divisions begin crossing the Pruem R. at night. Italian Front: U.S. 10th Mnt Div reaches summit of Mt. Torraccia.  Brazilian 1st Div clears La Serra, 3 days after the Expedicionária Brasileira had won Monte Castello which they had battled since last November.  Buffalo soldiers of the 92nd extends its zone to the ocean. 

Feb 25 —Some 600 aircraft from U.S. carriers attack Tokyo (first of a 2-day attack) clearing the area for the first incendiary raid on Tokyo by 174 B-29s in a high altitude daylight mission; 643 acres of city destroyed.  From now on, daylight precision attacks on industrial targets is thrown out the window, replaced by incendiary raids on urban areas.  U.S. 35th Inf Div begins to cross the Roer R. at Linnich.   Entire city of Dueren captured.    U.S. 5th Inf Div, 10th Arm Div, 76th Inf Div across Pruem R.   CCB  of 10th Arm Div crosses the Saar in Taben area of 94th Div zone.   Airfield 1 is ready for emergency use on Iwo Jima.  The 5th Marine Div is committed to Iwo Jima.  

Feb 26 —The British begin a fresh assault (continuation of stalled Veritable due to floods) to advance into northern Germany from Holland by 3 British and Canadian divisions called Operation BLOCKBUSTER.  Much of rest of Allied armies regroup and probe border into Germany.  Americal Div completes encirclement of enemy forces in n.w. coastal sector of Leyte.   Observation planes land on Airfield 1 and start spotting for artillery on Iwo Jima.  Light cruiser Pasadena and destroyer Porterfield are damaged by gunfire from Japanese guardboat that penetrates task group formation s. of Honshu.  Off Iwo Jima, storm damages heavy cruiser San Francisco, destroyers Colahan, Halsey Powell, Benham, John W. Weeks, Stephen Potter, and Preston; attack cargo ship Muliphen is damaged in collision with heavy cruiser Salt Lake City.  LST-760 and LST-884 are damaged by enemy battery fire from Iwo Jima.   

Feb 28 —The island of Corregidor is in American hands and declared secure; at a cost of 1,000 U.S. casualties; 19 Japanese survived to be taken.   Marines continue the trek north meeting line after line of defensive belts on Iwo Jima.  Artillery was useless and most often tanks faced horrible terrain, the tanks were useless, but at least Airfield 2 secured as of yesterday.  Pharmacist's Mate First Class John H. Willis is wounded while administering first aid to casualties.  Although evacuated to an aid station, he sneaks away, returns to the front lines, and administers aid before being killed.  Willis is awarded the Medal of Honor, posthumously; 24 Medals of Honor were given on Iwo Jima.   U.S. 41st Inf Div lands unopposed on Puerto Princesa, Palawan Island, a long thin island guarding the n.w. flank of the Sulu Sea.  U.S. troops on Palawan discovered the remains of 150 American prisoners of war, who had been forced inside 2 air raid shelters, doused with gasoline and burned alive by their captors.  On Samar, P.I. a battalion of the Americal Div and 1st Filipino Inf begin advance to clear Mauo area. Destroyer escort Fowler and French L'Indiscret sink German sub U-869 in Atlantic, off Morocco.  Iran declares war on Japan.  Saudi Arabia declares war on Germany and Japan. 

Mar 1 —President Roosevelt, back from the Yalta Conference, proclaimed the meeting a success when he addressed a joint session of Congress.  ETO operations are thus to encapsulate: the Canadian First and British Second armies advance from Netherlands in the northern sector w. of the Arnhem-Wesel region; the U.S. Ninth advances toward the Duisburg-Düsseldorf region; the U.S. First Army attacks the Cologne-Bonn region, first s.e. toward juncture of the Ahr and Rhine rivers then swing south to meet Patton; the U.S. Third Army attacks the wide central Rhine region, including the Saar Basin; the U.S. Seventh Army attacks the Saar Basin; the French First Army attacks the southern area from Strasbourg to near the Austrian border; the U.S. Fifth and British Eighth armies advance from the northern Italian mountains into Austria and Germany.   U.S. 29th Inf Div captures Mönchengladbach.  U.S. 3rd Arm Div captures Bergheim and Kenten.  U.S. 3rd Army continues between Pruem and Nims Rivers in the Moselle River Valley.   U.S. 94th Inf Div takes Trier, an important German communications center.  U.S. Ninth Army reaches the Rhine River at Neuss.  U.S. Fifth Army postpones limited offensive because of weather conditions.  The RAF conducts its last major raid on Cologne (Köln ), Germany with 858 aircraft.   U.S. Fifth Air Force sinks Japanese transport Hokuhi Maru off Mako, Pescadores.  U.S. 5th Cav clears Agriculture building leaving single strongpoint in Manila—the Finance building.   TF 58 planes sink supply ship Kinezaki and army cargo ship No.11 Hoshi Maru in Kuji Bay; torpedo boat Manazuru off Okinawa; minelayer Tsubame and damage destroyer Fukue and auxiliary minesweeper Nuwajima off Ishigaki Jima; gunboat Chohakusan Maru and merchant cargo ship Ryukyu Maru off Naha, transport Toyosaka Maru off Miyako-retto; cargo ships Kinzan Maru off Okinawa, merchant cargo ships Taiken Maru off Miyako Jima and Luzon Maru off Naze. U.S. destroyers Terry and Colhoun are damaged by enemy shore battery fire from Iwo Jima.  U.S. sub Sterlet sinks Japanese army cargo ship Tateyama Maru.   U.S. aircraft strike all over the southern islands of Philippines, targetting Panay, Negros, Zamboanga and Lubang. The strongest Japanese defenders were at Cebu City on Cebu, on the Zamboanga Peninsula in western Mindanao, and around Davao City in southern Mindanao.  U.S. 8th Army lands on Lubang Island, P.I.  Between the end of Feb. and the middle of April, troops of MacArthur made a total of 14 major amphibious landings and 24 little ones, an average of almost one per day. 

Mar 2 —U.S. sub Bowfin sinks transport Chokai Maru n.e. of Miyake Jima.  PB4Y-2 attacks Japanese convoy, sinks transport/ferry Nichirin Maru in East China Sea about 180 miles s.e. of Wenchow, China.  British sub HMS Terrapin attacks Japanese Penang-to-Singapore convoy in Malacca Straits, sinks small cargo vessel Sanko Maru.  Seatrain tank landing ship LST-32 is damaged when she strikes a submerged wreck at Reggio Calabria in Mediterranean on her first lift of 20 railroad cars from Bizerte.  Norwegian freighter Novasli is torpedoed and sunk by U-1302 off Milford Haven, UK.  The U.S. flag is raised over Corregidor, with General Douglas MacArthur present.  

Mar 3 —U.S. First and Ninth armies maintain pressure on the drive to Cologne.  11th Airborne concludes operations to clear Manila Bay.  U.S. 8th Army lands on Burias, Masbate and Ticao Islands, P.I.  On Iwo Jima, Pharmacist's Mate Second Class George E. Wahlen, USNR, wounded in the back the day before and having already performed heroic acts treating casualties on 26 and 28 February, is wounded a third time as he treats fallen shipmates.  Unable to walk, he crawls 50 yards to render aid to a wounded marine.  For this and previous acts of valor, Wahlen is awarded the Medal of Honor.  Also on this date, elsewhere on Iwo, Pharmacist's Mate Third Class Jack Williams, USNR, while serving as an aid man with a marine rifle company, is thrice wounded as he goes to treat a casualty. Although in a partial state of shock from his wounds, the corpsman shields the Marine with his own body as he administers medical care first to the wounded man and then to himself.  Instead of going to the rear, Williams remains at the front and tends a second wounded Marine.  As he finally stuggles to the rear to have his own hurts treated, the corpsman is hit a fourth time, and killed.  For his unwavering determination to carry out his mission, Williams is awarded the Medal of Honor, posthumously.  Finland declares war against Germany.   The war drums in the metropolis of Manila beat no more. Liberation of Manila is declared, with the finest natural harbor in the orient.  Battle is over, but with a high cost, over 1,000 U.S. troops died, 100,000 civilians died, much of which was attributed to massacres by Japanese forces.  Some historians, cite a higher civilian casualty rate for the entire battle, suggest that up to more than 500,000 died as a result of the Manila massacre.  Some 16,000 Japanese troops died.  My gratitude to British Pathé for the educational video.  U.S. sub Sea Robin sinks transport Suiten Maru off Malang, Java.  Intense fire met by 186th Reg of 41st Inf Div on Palawan as they enter the hills that lay about ten miles n. of Puerta Princessa Harbor.  (Five days of savage combat follows.)

Mar 4 —Task Force 58 returns to base at Ulithi Atoll.  During it's two-week missions to the Tokyo area and Okinawa, its pilots have claimed 393 Japanese aircraft shot down and 250 destroyed on the ground, at a loss of 84 planes, 60 pilots, and 21 aircrewmen in combat and 59 planes, eight pilots, and six aircrewmen in non-combat incidents.  First B-29 lands on Iwo Jima, the first of some 2,400 B-29s to do so before World War II ends.   192 B–29s in precision attack on Musashino aircraft factory at Tokyo.  This raid ends precision bombardment phase of XXI BC operations against Japanese aircraft industry.  U.S. sub Baya attacks Japanese convoy HI-98, sinks merchant tanker Palembang Maru off Cape Varella, French Indochina.   U.S. sub Tilefish sinks Japanese fishing vessel Shiko Maru off Setsuko Saki.  British sub HMS Clyde sinks auxiliary submarine chaser Kiku Maru off western Sumatra.  British sub HMS Trenchant and HMS Terrapin sink submarine chaser Ch 8 in central Malacca Strait.  RAAF Venturas attack Japanese convoy off Soembawa Island sinking small cargo vessels No.3 Kiri Maru and No.4 Matsu Maru.  U.S. 14th Air Force planes lay mines in Yangtze River; Japanese ship Wan Shih Maru is sunk n. of Shanghai.  U.S. 43rd Inf Div begins westward push into Zambales Mtns w. of Clark Field.  U.S. First Army speeds northeast along the Erft on a broad front, overrunning more than 30 towns and villages and halting a little short of the Erft–Rhine junction.   U.S. Ninth Army presses slowly n.e. toward the Rhine R, the great barrier to the heartland of the Reich.  U.S. Third Army advances e. of the Nims.   U.S. 10th Mtn Div makes substantial progress, captures M. Acidola, Madonna di Brasa, M. della Croce, and M. Grande d’Aiano, Italy.   Brazilians of 1st Div take over 10th Mtn Div positions e. of Pietra Colora.  61 U.S. 8th A.F. bombers, out of 671 which bomb German targets, bomb Stuttgart.   Soviet troops break through to Baltic coast.

Mar 5 —U.S. 3rd Arm Div and 104th Inf Div begin assault on metropolitan Cologne, and enter the city during the morning; overrun a number of suburban communities. Enemy falls back to the Rhine R. on many fronts.  Various divisions of U.S. 1st, 3rd and 9th armies extend like fingers toward Rhine.  U.S. 9th Army had driven 50 miles from Düsseldorf to Moers and killing or capturing some 36,000 Germans, all at a cost of less than 7,300 U.S. casualties since Feb 23.  U.S. 7th Army snagged in forests of Hahnbusch and Forbach.  U.S. Fifth Army completes 2nd phase of limited offensive while staving off night counterattacks at M. della Spe.  In P.I. U.S.11th Airborne begins operations to open Balayan and Batangas Bays, southern Luzon.  U.S. 33rd Inf Div continues northward toward Baguio and San Fernando.  U.S. sub Bashaw sinks oiler Ryoei Maru and army tanker Seishin Maru off Tourane, French Indochina.  U.S. sub Sea Robin sinks gunboat Man-yo Maru and merchant cargo ship Shoyu Maru in the Java Sea.  U.S. 5th Air Force B-25s sink submarine chasers Kasuga Maru and Ujina Maru and merchantship Shoto Maru off coast of French Indochina.  Germany begins the conscription of 15 to 16-year-old males for service.  U.S. 13th A.F. B-24s hit convoy and sink Japanese auxiliary submarine chaser Cha 110 in Sape Strait, s.e. of the Celebes. [The Liberator B-24s had a longer range than the B-17s and were in the Pacific as the Atlantic.  By 1945, enemy convoys still existed in the Pacific; in the Atlantic—no more; note the year however '46 as shown—they should not have used that year.  But, look at what can be done with computers; cool 16 mins thanks to Fishyyy.]  USS Missouri arrives at Ulithi, Caroline Islands.

Mar 7 —U.S. Ninth Army front, except for limited offensive near Wesel, is quiet.  U.S. 9th Arm Div drives to the Ahr at Bad Neuenahr and Heimersheim, taking the two towns and bridges there intact.  U.S. 9th Arm Div, in momentous drive, reaches junction of Rhine and Ahr Rivers and establishes bridgeheads across both.  One spearhead headed toward Remagen, danke Michael Appert  The rapid advances completely surprised the German troops, and in this surprise they had failed to destroy the Ludendorff Bridge as the other German units had done to the 22 other road and RR bridges over the Rhine.  The 9th Armored crosses the bridge over the Rhine.   A small charge exploded beneath the bridge, damaging some of its understructure, but the bridge remained intact.  Such an important bridge in 1945, and how it looks today, danke Schiffs Kanal.  U.S. 1st Inf Div reaches edge of metropolis of Bonn and prepares to attack.  U.S. 2nd Inf Div reaches Munstereiffel.  In Canadian 1st Army sector, efforts of Canadian 4th Arm Div to take Veen are quiet fruitless.  The fourth largest city in Germany, Cologne, falls to U.S. 3rd Arm and 104th Inf divisions, U.S. First Army; city declared secure by 4pm.  The war drums in the metropolis of Cologne beat no more.  U.S. 28th Inf Div drives to the Rhine at Rodenkirchen and Godorf.    U.S. Third Army thrusts rapidly n.e. toward Ahr R. captures Dockweiler, Dreis, Boxberg, and Kelberg.  Enemy makes firm stand at Kelberg, a vital road center, but 11th Arm Div busts through.  U.S. 4th Arm Div leapfrogs infantry, advances to high ground overlooking the Rhine s. of Andernach. U.S. 94th Inf Div continues to clear infiltrators from Saarburg bridgehead. Japanese conduct determined efforts to recover Meiktila, Burma and succeed, by capturing Taungtha, in cutting off Indian 17th Div troops at Meiktila.  11th Airborne advances through undefended Lake Taal region and gains several miles.  U.S. 32nd Inf Div meets rough resistance on Villa Verde Trail.  U.S. Marines advance slowly capture Hill 362 e. of Motoyama but to its right, troops pinned down after limited advance.  Terrain on Iwo Jima is a greater handicap than Japanese.  V-2 rocket hits Trundleys Road at Folkestone Gardens, London, England, killing 52 and seriously injuring 32. 

Mar 8 —U.S. First Army drives on Bonn and continues build-up of Remagen bridgehead.  By end of day, bridgehead extends in 1 1/2- mile arc about Erpel, with Linz.  Germans make strong attempts to knock out the bridge by air and with artillery. U.S. Third Army crosses Kyll R. at Lissingen and meets strong opposition near Mannebach.  U.S. 94th Div drives enemy remnants from Saarburg.  Phyllis Mae Dailey is the first African American sworn into the Navy Nurse Corps.  She became the first African American to serve duty in World War II.  Kiss Me Kate opens in Britain. 

Mar 9 —Enemy resistance w. of the Rhine ends as First Army’s 1st Inf Div captures Bonn.   U.S. 2nd Inf Div advances to the Rhine along axis Bruck–Sinzig.  U.S. Third Army captures city of Andernach on Rhine.  The war drums in the city of  Andernach beat no more. U.S. 10th Mtn Div improves positions n. of Castelnuovo with unopposed capture of M. Valbura and M. Belvedere in Italy.  279 B-29s bomb Tokyo night of Mar 9-10, destroy 41 sq kilometers of city, 88,000-97,000 killed; over 41,000 injured and 1,000,000 displaced.  1021 8th A.F. bombers and 421 escorts attack German marshaling yards and industrial plants.

Mar 11 —U.S. 78th Inf Div makes slow progress toward Cologne–Frankfurt Autobahn against determined resistance.  U.S. Navy helps erect and maintain open Remagen bridgehead with pontoon bridge, one of several built across Rhine.  Navy support of the army's crossing the Rhine River proves invaluable.  99th Inf Div completes move of its RCT’s across the Rhine over Remagen, clearing Leubsdorf and Ariendorf.  U.S. Third Army continues mop up w. of the Rhine and prepares assault across the Moselle.  In 11th A/B Div sector of southern Luzon, 158th Inf clears Batangas.  32nd Inf Div, is still held up by strong enemy defense of Salacsac Pass positions on Villa Verde Trail.  35th Inf Div seizes Salazar, an Old Spanish Trail, n. Luzon.  Airfield is secured by U.S. Eighth Army on Zamboanga City on Mindanao.  5th Marine Div still encountering fierce enemy on Iwo Jima.  285 B-29s hit Nagoya, Japan with incendiaries. U.S. sub Segundo sinks Japanese merchant ship Shori Maru off Shori Island s. Korea. Japanese merchant trawler Koko Maru sinks in Yangtze R. due to mines.  U.S. 8th A.F. bombers sink German subs U-2515 and U-2530 during raid on Hamburg, Germany; 10 Americans MIA. Japanese medium planes sneak into U.S. fleet anchorage at Ulithi flying from Kanoya, Japan, attack and damage U.S. carrier Randolph, and hit Sorlen Island.  New York Herald Tribune reports best-selling books are Ernie Pyle's Brave Men and John Steinbeck's Cannery Row. 

Mar 12 —All along Western Front Allies meeting stiff resistance and counterattacks. U.S. Seventh Army is regrouping extensively for assault on West Wall.   1,108 RAF bombers hit Dortmund.  Efforts along Old Spanish Trail a little n. of Salazar abandoned.  Japanese guardboats No.1 Hinode Maru and Shosei Maru are hit and sunk by U.S. aircraft e. of the Ryukyus.  Anne Frank is killed at Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. N.Y. is the first state to prohibit discrimination by race and creed in employment.

Mar 13 —Patton’s XX Corps launches a big attack 4 divisions abreast in Germany.  A key capture was the city of Ludwigshafen, in the south, separating Patton’s Third Army and Patch’s Seventh Army; heavy casualties were expected; in fact, when the so-called Saar-Palatinate ended, the Third Army sustained 5,220 casualties and the 7th some 12,000 casualties, but the Third Army netted 68,000 German prisoners overall; the 7th: 22,000 pow’s.

Mar 13-24 —U.S. 94th Inf Div alone captures 13,434 prisoners, over 200 German towns, and had advanced more than 100 miles toward the Rhine R. at Ludwigshafen, this great industrial city was the home of the largest chemical plant in Germany (I.G. Farben Industrien.) 

Mar 15 —A stream of 1,310 B-17s and B-24s flew into Germany, with 29 on a special mission to strike at Zossen, a secret Headquarters of the German Army High Command, s. of Berlin. 767 "Little Friends" provided escort and fighter sweeps. The air war in Europe was still deadly as these accounts from the 392nd participants were found.   Mission successful and High Command was forced to relocate.  Multi-force units of U.S. Third Army stream across Moselle sector. Pockets of enemy resistance on Iwo Jima still being cleared by U.S. 3rd and 4th Mar Divs. The 17th Academy Awards are held. Best Picture Going My Way. Best Actor: Bing Crosby in Going My Way. Best Actress: Ingrid Bergman in Gaslight.   Directing: Leo McCarey in Going My Way. Best Writing (Original Screenplay): Lamar Trotti for Wilson.  Best Writing (Screenplay): Frank Butler, Frank Cavett for Going My Way. Best Original Song: Swinging On A Star, composed by Jimmy Van Heusen and lyrics by Johnny Burk from Going My Way.  Best Documentary Feature: The Fighting Lady.  Best Visual Effects: Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo.  Best Short Documentary: With the Marines at Tarawa.  Best Original Music Score: Max Steiner from Since You Went Away.  All nominees.  Incidentally, here are the best movies of 1945 Academy Awards; presented in '46. The Inrin Prisoners of War Camp in central Taiwan is closed; one of 14 POW camps on the island since 1942.

Mar 16 —The island of Iwo Jima is declared secured by Admiral Chester Nimitz.  

Mar 17 —Ludendorff RR bridge collapses while under repair but other bridges have been constructed. Twenty-eight U.S. engineers trying to strengthen the structure are swept away to their deaths.  LCVPs ferry 2,500 army troops across the Rhine River. U.S. 9th Inf Div cuts autobahn near Windhagen, overruns Vettelschoss.  A third of the city of Koblenz is cleared in fierce house-to-house fighting.  Eisenhower changes plans for U.S. Third and 7th armies, they are to converge with Patton partially swinging south and the 7th to bring more effort on the Siegfried Line.   80th Inf Div establishes a bridgehead across the Prims in Krettnich-Nunkirchen area.  94th Inf Div drives about 10,000 yards e. as resistance slackens: 302d Inf takes Hill 708 and Reinsfeld; 301st clears Schillingen, Kell, and Gusenburg.  12th Armor Div is transferred to XX corps to exploit 94th Div breakthrough and starts to forward assembly areas.  The sneaky phase of transferring Canadian troops out of Italy into Belgium and northern France was practically over without the Germans knowing; some 3,700 troops, 40 tanks, 650 wheeled vehicles, were moved through the port of Marseilles daily since Feb 22.  36th Inf Div, pursues enemy to Bieberbach R. near Gunstett. 1,281 Allied heavy bombers hit oil, industrial and rail targets including 2 synthetic oil plants in Germany while 650 medium bombers attack the rail systems. Over 700 Mustangs provide escorts and sweeps.  5th Mar Div traps enemy forces, including their commander, Lt Gen Tadamichi Kuribayashi, in area 700 yards long and 200-500 yards wide.  331 B-29 bombers bomb Kobe, destroy 7 square kilometers; 8,841 killed and 650,000 displaced. U.S. sub Sealion sinks Bangkok-bound Thai oiler Samui off Trengganu coast.   U.S. sub Spot attacks Japanese Keelung-to-Shimonoseki convoy TAMO-49 and sinks cargo vessel Nanking Maru and damages I komasan Maru off Yushiyama Island. Mansei Maru is sunk by mine in the Yangtze, near Shanghai. A V-2 rocket hits near Borough Central Library in Hampstead, London, damaging 1000 homes, the telephone exchange, the lighting station, Council's Work Depot, Warden's Post No. 16, Women's Vountary Service offices plus the library. 

Mar 18 —Allies continue pressing across the Rhine except all other units not at Remagen, which are mainly everybody else who are waiting for more bridging and other engineer equipment plus assault boats.  916 B-17s, 305 B-24s of U.S. 8th A.F. bomb Berlin.  Troops of First White Russian Front complete capture of town and port of Kolberg (Pomerania), last enemy pocket on Baltic coast between Polish corridor and Stettin Bay.   Italian Legnano Gp is attached to U.S. Fifth Army.  U.S. sub Balao sinks Japanese merchant trawler No.2 Daito Maru.  U.S. sub Springer sinks fast transport T.18 near Mutsure Jima.  U.S. sub Trigger sinks army cargo ship No.3 Tsukushi Maru n.w. of Okinawa.  U.S. carrier planes sink submarine chaser No.43 Yusen Maru 45 miles s.w. of Satamisaki Light; planes from carrier Hornet sink merchant vessel No.1 Nansei Maru and damage Tokuho Maru and Asahi Maru in Yamakawa harbor.  Destroyer escorts Menges, Mosley, Pride, and Lowe sink German submarine U-866 in Atlantic.  Iwo Jima operations, 11 minute silent film.

Mar 19 —A massive kamikaze attack on U.S. carriers, Essex, Wasp, Franklin hit, 724 killed, 265 wounded; the ship is rocked by a succession of explosions, on board the damaged Franklin, Lieutenant Commander Joseph T. O'Callaghan, ChC, the carrier's Roman Catholic chaplain, ministers to wounded and dying men irregardless of faith or creed, organizes and leads fire-fighting parties, and mans a hose to cool hot, armed bombs rolling on the listing deck.  O'Callaghan's courage and fortitude inspires his shipmates.  Lieutenant (j.g.) Donald A. Gary calms anxious shipmates trapped in a smoke-filled compartment and after repeated tries through dark, debris-filled passageways manages to find a way to escape.  Both awarded Medals of Honor.  U.S. sub Balao attacks Japanese convoy and sinks troopship Hakozaki Maru and merchant fishing vessels No.1 Katsura Maru and 1 Eiho Maru and No.2 Eiho Maru and damages transport Tatsuharu Maru near the Yangtze estuary.  U.S. 7th Army captures Worms. Food supplies, water works, railroads, and all other facilities are ordered destroyed under Hitler's "Nero Decree"--a scorched Earth policy to prevent their use by the advancing Allies.   Albert Speer tries to undermined efforts to carry out this decree.

Mar 21 —A massive Allied ground force is poised along the Rhine from Arnhem to Switzerland.  Eisenhower's awesome armies, with over 4.5 million personnel, include ninety divisions that anxiously await the final drive into the heart of Nazi Germany. A long line of boats depart Toul, France, 160 miles from the Rhine and head to the Rhine. U.S. 8th A.F. dispatches 1408 bombers with 751 P-51s to Germany, primary targets are jet fighter bases; 74 Americans MIA. Japanese make first known operational use of rocket-powered human-guided kamikaze attack aircraft [Baka or Cherry Blossom] in unsuccessful air attack against ships of U.S. naval task force 58.  A V-2 hits the Packard factory in London, damages 13 other factories besides the Packard Plant and kills 32, seriously injuring 100.  On Iwo Jima, Japanese told repeatedly by loudspeaker to surrender; some 400 Japanese refuse.

Mar 21-23 —Allied aircraft flew over 42,000 sorties over Nazi Germany. 

Mar 22 —Nightfall crossing of the Rhine under a bright moon by U.S. 5th Inf Div in a surprise move (without preliminary bombardment), veteran div of 22 river crossings since landing at Normandy, 3rd Army crosses the Rhine s. of Mainz near Oppenheim and Nierstein.  A look at contemporary Oppenheim, where 75 years ago Patton tricked the Germans he was going to cross elsewhere.  Using searchlights on tanks, engineers hurriedly began building a bridge, and within 24 hrs the entire 5th Div had crossed the river.  The Germans were expecting a crossing n. of Mainz, which was actually falling under attack by the U.S. 90th Inf Div.  The German ground forces opposite Patton were mainly remnants of regulars, staffs, students, convalescents and some volksgrenadiers, however enemy air attacks were something else including jets which were frequent.  [By the end of March, over 60,000 vehicles had crossed over Third Army bridges.]  U-boats attack allied convoy bound for Belgium and sink James Eagan Lane.  Another convoy bound for Wales is attacked and Liberty ship John R. Park is sunk.  Assisted by flame-throwing tanks, Marines of 5th Div continue tortuous advance n.w.on Iwo Jima toward the sea.  U.S. sub Perch sinks Japanese Communication Vessel No. 463 en route to Balikpapan oil fields.

Mar 23 —The next night, under a three-quarter moon and cover of darkness, the British Second Army and Canadian First Army cross the Rhine R. n. of the Ruhr British Pathé.   The main focus was around Wesel due to its roadnet.  [editor note: For some strange reason, links from this point on in mobile cannot link. It is the most queer thing. Historical links are used in conjunction to form a better educational chronology but, all links still work when viewed on your desktop.]  U.S. Third Army has 5 ferries operating across the Rhine and by 6 pm, a 975-ft treadway bridge is completed. The U.S. Navy is credited with transporting approximately 1,000 vehicles and 15,000 troops of U.S. Third Army in the first 24 hours over the Rhine.  Just before midnight, 201 RAF bombers plaster Wesel, and British Commandos move in, but resistance was fierce and did not give in; the last defenders got it Mar 25.  As clearing the suburbs of Ludwigshafen becomes more difficult, the 301st Inf battalion of 94th Inf Div enters the battle.  The 36th and 103rd Inf divisions continue mopping up w. of the Rhine.  U-boat U-532 sinks U.S. tanker Oklahoma in mid-Atlantic heading for Dakar.  General Heinrich von Vietinghoff replaces Field Marshal Kesselring as supreme commander of enemy forces in Italy. Kesselring becomes supreme commander in Army Command West.  U.S. Fifth A.F. begins attacks on Legaspi area in preparation for amphibious assault there.  U.S. 43rd Inf Div drives n. toward New Bosoboso, Luzon.  TF 58 begins aerial attacks on Japanese shipping and installations in the Okinawa area.  U.S. sub Spadefish attacks Japanese convoy in the East China Sea and sinks transport Doryu Maru 120 miles n.n.w. of Amami O Shima.  U.S. 5th AF. B-24 hits and sinks cargo ship Hokka Go Maru 110 miles n.e. of Wenchow, China.

Mar 24 — U.S. and British forces institute the largest scale crossings of the Rhine in history called “Operation Varsity,” behind an intense artillery barrage, about 150 miles n. of Patton’s crossings, on a straight line.  The U.S. 9th Army, supported by 22,000 American engineers, crosses the Rhine before dawn, with the U.S. 30th and 79th Inf divisions leading. It involves an incredible number of aircraft, 1,696 transport aircraft, 1,348 gliders of the U.S. 17th Airborne Div and British 6th Airborne Div; protection included 676 9th Air Force aircraft.  Airborne suffered significant casualties; thank you History in Five.  Forty-four transports, 50 gliders, and 22 C-46s go down in flames.  It was the last jump of WW II.  Out of 21,680  men, 200 killed and some 522 wounded were the early reports.  Some 2,150 fighter aircraft supported the ground operations, of which 1,297 were from the 8th A.F.  1,714 bombers of the 8th consisted of bombing and re-supply drops.  17th Airborne Div captures Diersfordt.  U.S. First Army, consolidates, expands and fights off continuous counterattacks for preparation of big breakout push.  U.S. 4th Arm Div and then 6th Arm Div start across Rhine toward the Main.    After fierce night-long fighting, the U.S. 94th Inf Div captures city of Ludwigshafen.  The war drums in the metropolis of Ludwigshafen beat no more.  U.S. 12th Arm Div captures Speyer.  The 6th SS Mtn Div transferred from Boppard and St. Goar to Wiesbaden.  U.S. 9th Army commences to seal off the industrial region known as the Ruhr.  B-17 bombers attack the Daimler-Benz tank factory in Berlin, Germany; escorted by P-51 fighters flown by African-American pilots of 332nd Fighter Group from Ramitelli Airfield in Italy.  About 30 Me 262 jet fighters of German Jagdgeschwader 7 rose to attack.  The U.S. fighter and bomber airmen together claimed 16 jets shot down, but actual German records showed that only 8 were downed in this action. 1st Cav Div and 11th A/B Div begin converging drives on Lipa in areas to n. and s. of Lake Taal.  1st Cav Div takes Santo Tomas. 11th A/B Div encounters strong opposition on Mt. Macolod.  On Mindanao, 41st Inf Div secures Mt. Capisan.  12 carrier aircraft of Task Force 58 sink an entire convoy of eight Japanese ships 150 nautical miles (278 km) northwest of Okinawa.  USS Missouri bombards Okinawa, Japan.   Remnants of the past: leaders at Yalta; WAVE apprentice Frances Bates inspects a Grumman aircraft engine at a Naval Training school in the Bronx; Nazi Germany cleaned-up in rare color as prisoners taken increases; view from tunnel at Remagen; on board the cruiser Alaska off Iwo Jima March 1945, the anti-aircraft mount being loaded with clips into the left pair of the machine gun; MPs on inspection line in the Mediterranean 1945, segregation was not abolished, yet; Winston Churchill and American generals on a balcony watching Allied vehicles cross the Rhine R; not pristine on Iwo Jima; Naval TBM Avengers, 1,900 hp torpedo bomber; a new group of trainees; as night descends, activity at a control tower does not end; a rare photograph from the author's collection of Privates George Cofield and Howard Davis at their artillery outpost at the Rhine in color (not colorized) 1945; reproduction in color was no easy task in the war years, and the behind-the-scenes work was time-consuming compared to the modern technology of today; new inductees being sworn into the Navy Nurse Corps, second from r. is Officer Ensign Phyllis Mae Dailey; a world apart from the Home Front, a Captain Felix Baker is pointing the damage a P1Y Ginga attack bomber did to his ship, the aircraft carrier USS Randolf, Mar 11, 1945, on his right is Admiral Raymond Spruance; the Axis were unable to comprehend the ability of America to provide tens of thousands of well-trained pilots for all spheres of world war. 

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