March 1st

1941: Bulgaria joins the Tripartite Pact of Germany, Italy and Japan, following Slovakia, Rumania and Hungary.
1943: On the central front in the East, German troops begin the evacuation of the Rshev area.
1945: In the West, the US Ninth Army (Simpson) captures München-Gladbach and Rheydt west of the Rhine. In the East, units of Heeresgruppe Mitte (Schörner) recapture Lauban in Lower Silesia.
source: http://www.feldgrau.com/february.html

1901:Naval and military forces of the States transferred to Commonwealth control - With Federation state and federal authorities began planning for the establishment of federal military forces.1 March
1942:HMAS Perth sunk in Sunda Strait - Having survived the Battle of the Java Sea HMAS Perth and the United States Cruiser Houston were sunk in a battle against overwhelming Japanese forces off the western tip of Java. 353 of Perth's 680 crew were killed in the battle.
Source: http://www.awm.gov.au/atwar/thismonth/index.asp

1864: Grant nominated for lieutenant general - President Lincoln nominates Ulysses S. Grant for the newly revived rank of lieutenant general. At the time, George Washington was the only other man to have held that rank. Winfield Scott also attained the title but by brevet only; he did not actually command with it. The promotion carried Grant to the supreme command of Union forces and capped one of the most remarkable success stories of the war.
1917: Zimmermann Telegram published in United States - The text of the so-called Zimmermann Telegram, a message from the German foreign secretary, Arthur Zimmermann, to the German ambassador to Mexico proposing a Mexican-German alliance in the case of war between the United States and Germany, is published on the front pages of newspapers across America.
1941: Bulgaria joins the Axis - The southeastern European nation of Bulgaria joins the Axis powers by signing the Tripartite Pact, after the discovery of a planned pro-British coup. When the Second World War broke out, Bulgaria declared its neutrality. But Bulgaria's King Boris was eager to expand his country's borders, and Germany had already coerced Romania to restore south Dobruja--which had been lost in World War I--to Bulgaria.
1965: U.S. informs South Vietnam of intent to send Marines - Ambassador Maxwell Taylor informs South Vietnamese Premier Phan Huy Quat that the United States is preparing to send 3,500 U.S. Marines to Vietnam to protect the U.S. airbase at Da Nang.
1968: Clark Clifford replaces Robert McNamara as Secretary of Defense. McNamara, who had first taken office under President John F. Kennedy, left amid a debate over Vietnam policy precipitated by the Tet Offensive. In the summer of 1967, McNamara had become convinced that the United States should seek an end to the war through a negotiated settlement. In a memorandum submitted to President Johnson, he recommended that the U.S. freeze its troop levels, cease the bombing of North Vietnam, and turn over responsibility for the ground war to South Vietnam. Johnson rejected these proposals outright.
source: http://www.historychannel.com/tdih/

86 BC - Lucius Cornelius Sulla, at the head of a Roman Republic army, enters in Athens, removing the tyrantAristion who was supported by troops of Mithridates VI of Pontus.
1896 - Battle of Adowa, an Ethiopian army defeats an outnumbered Italian force, ending the First Italo-Abyssinian War.
1918 - German submarine Unterseeboot 19 (U-19) sinks HMS Calgarian off Rathlin Island.
2002 - U.S. invasion of Afghanistan: Operation Anaconda begins in eastern Afghanistan.
source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/March_1

1940: The Soviet Unions peace ultimatum to Finland expires.
1941: The 11th African Division begins a lightning pursuit of the retreating Italian forces north from Mogadishu, towards the Ogaden Plateau. Italian civilian rations are halved in order to allow food exports to Germany.
1942: The heavy cruiser USS Houston and light cruiser HMAS Perth, along with 1 British, 1 Dutch and 2 US destroyers, fleeing from the debacle at the Battle of Java Sea, surprise an IJN landing force at Bantam Bay near the Sundra Strait, and are sunk by torpedoes and gunfire. The Japanese force, comprising 2 heavy cruisers, one light cruiser, 9 destroyers, and various transports, manage to sink a minesweeper and a transport of their own, and seriously damage 3 more transports, through the unprecedented firing of 87 torpedoes. Both German and Russian forces in the Baltic region go on the defensive.
1943: The Russians announce that new offensive to the South of Leningrad and led by Timoshenko, 'has made considerable gains'. German troops begin the evacuation of the Rzhev area.
1944: The 'Chindits' cross the Chindwin in Burma. Wing Commander John Cunningham, now on 20 ‘kills’, gets the 2nd bar to his DSO, the first pilot to receive this triple honour.
1945: Units of Army Group Centre recapture Lauban in lower Silesia.
source: http://www.worldwar-2.net/

1942 - U-656 becomes the first German submarine of World War II to be sunk by Naval air (VP-82).
1954 - 1st of 6 detonations, Operation Castle nuclear test.
source: http://www.history.navy.mil/wars/datesmar.htm

1815: Quebec - Disbanding of Lower Canada militia after War of 1812.
1945: Hochwald Germany - Canadian Army Major Frederick Tilston wins VC for bravery in Hochwald Forest.
source: http://www1.sympatico.ca/cgi-bin/on_this_day?mth=Mar&day=01

March 2nd

1941: Great Britain breaks off diplomatic relations with Bulgaria.
1945: Armored spearheads of the US Ninth Army reach the Rhine near Neuss.
source: http://www.feldgrau.com/march.html

1943:Battle of Bismarck Sea begins -A Japanese convoy of 8 transport ships and 8 escorting destroyers was almost annihilated by Allied air attacks as they attempted to reinforce the garrison at Lae. Of the 6,000 Japanese troops bound for Lae only 2,890 survived. It was an utter disaster for the Japanese--the U.S. 5th Air Force and the Royal Australian Air Force dropped a total of 213 tons of bombs on the Japanese convoy.
1972: Last RAAF flight out of Vietnam - Australia's involvement in Vietnam was among the most divisive issues in Australia during the second half of the twentieth century, leaving a legacy of bitterness that continued long after the conclusion of the war.
source: http://www.awm.gov.au/atwar/thismonth/index.asp

1865 - Second Taranaki War: The Volkner Incident in New Zealand.
1896 - Ethiopia defeats Italy in the Battle of Adwa, marking the first
victory of an African nation over a colonial power.
1991 - Battle at Rumaila Oil Field brings end to the 1991 Gulf War.
2002 - U.S. invasion of Afghanistan: Operation Anaconda begins, (ending on March 19 after killing 500 Taliban and al Qaeda fighters, with 11 allied troop fatalities).
2004 - War in Iraq: Al Qaeda carries out the Ashoura Massacre in Iraq, killing 170 and wounding over 500. War in Iraq: A United Nations report from the weapons inspection teams states that Iraq had no weapons of mass destruction of any significance after 1994, despite PresidentBush's objection to the contrary before the invasion.
source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/March_2

1801: Spain - Spain attacks Portugal with the help of France; the War of the Oranges fought when Portugal refuses Napoleon's demand to cede much of the country.
1962: Myanmar - Burmese army led by Ne Win seizes power in a coup, ousting U Nu. (Who knew?)
source: http://www1.sympatico.ca/cgi-bin/on_this_day?mth=Mar&day=02

1776: The Siege of Boston - In advance of the Continental Army’s occupation of Dorchester Heights, Massachusetts, General George Washington orders American artillery forces to begin bombarding Boston from their positions at Lechmere Point, northwest of the city center.
1865: Battle of Waynesboro, Virginia - Union General George Custer's troops rout Confederate General Jubal Early's force, bringing an end to fighting in the Shenandoah Valley. The Shenandoah Valley was the scene of many battles and skirmishes during the Civil War. It was located directly in the path of armies invading from the south--as Confederate General Robert E. Lee did during the 1863 Gettysburg campaign-and the north.
1965: Operation Rolling Thunder begins with more than 100 United States Air Force jet bombers striking an ammunition depot at Xom Bang, 10 miles inside North Vietnam. Simultaneously, 60 South Vietnamese Air Force propeller planes bombed the Quang Khe naval base, 65 miles north of the 17th parallel. Six U.S. planes were downed, but only one U.S. pilot was lost. Capt. Hayden J. Lockhart, flying an F-100, was shot down and became the first Air Force pilot to be taken prisoner by the North Vietnamese.
1969: Soviet Union and Chinese armed forces clash - In a dramatic confirmation of the growing rift between the two most powerful communist nations in the world, troops from the Soviet Union and the People's Republic of China fire on each other at a border outpost on the Ussuri River in the eastern region of the USSR, north of Vladivostok. In the years following this incident, the United States used the Soviet-Chinese schism to its advantage in its Cold War diplomacy.
source: http://www.historychannel.com/tdih

1940: British India liner Domala bombed in English Channel, killing 100 people.
1941: The RAF launches a heavy raid against Cologne.
1942: General Wavell reassumes post as C-in-C India and Burma. Burma is now cut off from the Southwest Pacific. The Dutch take supreme command of all allied forces in Southwest Pacific. Churchill declares that the Tirpitz is 'the most important naval vessel in the situation today' and believes her destruction would 'profoundly affect the course of the war'. The German Twelfth Army moves into Bulgaria. Great Britain breaks off diplomatic relations with Bulgaria.
1943: The battle of the Bismarck Sea opens Northeast of New Guinea. A Japanese convoy is attacked by USAAF B25 bombers, which sink 12 ships.
1945: The RAF launches a heavy attack (300 bombers) against Mannheim, causing a devastating firestorm. Armoured spearheads of the US Ninth Army reach the Rhine near Neuss. The U.S. Third Army captures Trier on the Moselle.
source: http://www.worldwar-2.net/

1859 - Launch of Saginaw at Mare Island, first Navy ship built on West Coast of U.S.
1867 - Birthday of Civil Engineer Corps.
1899 - Act of Congress creates the rank Admiral of the Navy for George Dewey.
1973 - Women begin pilot training to U.S. Navy.
source: http://www.history.navy.mil/wars/datesmar.htm

March 3rd

1942: RAF Bomber Command, under its new C-i-C, Air Vice Marshal Harris (Bomber Harris), attacks the Renault plant in the Paris suburb of Bilancourt, causing serious damage to production facilities and killing many French workers.
1945: Units of the Canadian First Army (Crerar) capture Xanten on the lower Rhine in the battle of the Reichswald. The US First Army (Hodges) captures Krefeld.
source: http://www.feldgrau.com/march.html

1885: Sudan contingent departed Sydney - New South Wales' offer to send a contingent to the Sudan was a demonstration of the depth of imperial sentiment in colonial Australia.
1942: Broome and Wyndham bombed - The Japanese air raid on Broome came when the port was crowded with refugees fleeing the Japanese invasion of the Netherlands East Indies. About 70 people, including many civilians are thought to have been killed in the raid. Japanese Attacks on Wyndham focused on the town's aerodrome.
source: http://www.awm.gov.au/atwar/thismonth/index.asp

1857 - France and the United Kingdom declare war on China.
1918 - Germany, Austria and Russia sign the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk ending Russia's involvement in World War I, and leading to the independence of Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland.
1943 - World War II: In London, 173 people are killed in a crush while trying to enter an air-raid shelter at Bethnal Greentube station.
1945 - World War II: Previously neutral Finland declares war on the Axis powers.
source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/March_3

1886: Bucharest Romania - Bulgaria and Serbia sign Treaty of Bucharest, ending conflict between the two states.
1878: San Stefano Italy - Russians and Turks sign Treaty of San Stefano, ending Russo-Turkish War; Serbia gains independence.
source: http://www1.sympatico.ca/cgi-bin/on_this_day?mth=Mar&day=03

1971: The U.S. Army's 5th Special Forces Group (Airborne) departs South Vietnam. The Special Forces were formed to organize and train guerrilla bands behind enemy lines. The 5th Group was sent to Vietnam in October 1964 to assume control of all Special Forces operations in Vietnam. Prior to this time, Green Berets had been assigned to Vietnam only on temporary duty. The primary function of the Green Berets in Vietnam was to organize the Civilian Irregular Defense Groups (CIDG) among South Vietnam's Montagnard population.
source: http://www.historychannel.com/tdih

1940: The Russians launch a massive offensive and bring Viipuri under direct attack. This brings home to the Finns the fact that they cannot resist for must longer against the overwhelming force that the Russians are now deploying.
1942: General Chiang Kai-shek meets General Wavell in Burma. Vichy announces that 'official' German figures put the number of French arrested in 1941 at 5,390 and executions at more than 250.
1943: Russians take Rzhev, over 100 miles to the west of Moscow. Italy protests to Britain over proposed ban on Italian imports of German coal.
1944: Japanese counter-attacks on Los Negros fail. The allies announce that Russia is to get a third of Italian fleet, or equivalent in British and American warships. Under pressure from the Western Allies to withdraw all remaining Spanish troops from the Eastern front, the Franco government orders members of the so-called “Blue Legion,” attached to the German 121st Infantry Division, to return home and outlaws service by Spanish citizens with the Axis forces. Nevertheless, a handful of fanatically anti-Communist Spaniards defy orders and volunteer for service with the Waffen SS, some of them fighting suicidally to the end in the ruins of Berlin. German attacks cease at Anzio after loss of 3,500 men and 30 Panzer's in four days.
1945: Japanese resistance ends in Meiktila. 100 Luftwaffe night-fighters attack 27 RAF airfields, in what is the last night intrusion raid of the war. 22 RAF aircraft were destroyed for 6 German.
source: http://www.worldwar-2.net/

1776 - First amphibious landing operation. Continental naval squadron under Commodore Esek Hopkins lands Sailors and Marines, commanded by Captain Samuel Nicholas, on New Providence Island in the Bahamas, capturing urgently-needed ordnance and gunpowder.
1871 - U.S. Navy Medical Corps established
1883 - Congress authorizes 4 modern ships of steel, "A,B,C, D Ships"; three cruisers, Atlanta, Boston and Chicago, and dispatch boat Dolphin
1915 - Congress creates Federal Naval Reserve. Under it Naval Reserve Force built up.
source: http://www.history.navy.mil/wars/datesmar.htm

March 4th
1941: The British Eighth Army (Wavell) transfers some of its units from Egypt to Greece. On the northern Norwegian coast, British light naval units and commandos carry out a raid on the Lofoten islands near Narvik, destroying port and oil storage facilities.
1944: In the East, the Soviet 2nd Ukrainian Front (Konev) begins an offensive against Heeresgruppe Süd (von Manstein).
1945: Units of the Soviet 1st Belorussian Front (Zhukov) establish a new bridgehead across the Oder south of Frankfurt.
source: http://www.feldgrau.com/march.html

1461 - Wars of the Roses in England: LancastrianKingHenry VI is deposed by his Yorkist cousin, who then becomes KingEdward IV.
1665 - EnglishkingCharles II declares war on The Netherlands which marked the start of the Second Anglo-Dutch War.
1804 - The Battle of Vinegar Hill, colony of New South Wales (Australia).
1863 - American Civil War: The Battle of Thompson's Station in Tennessee.
1944 - First US bombing of Berlin and Anti-Germany strikes in northern Italy.
1945 - Lapland War: Finland declares war on nazi-Germany.
source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/March_4

1942: HMAS Yarra sunk south of Java - Yarra was escorting a convoy of three ships from the fighting in the Netherlands East Indies to Java to Fremantle when they were attacked by three Japanese heavy cruisers and two destroyers. All four ships were sunk and only 13 of Yarra's 151 crew survived.
source: http://www.awm.gov.au/atwar/thismonth/index.asp

1776: American forces occupy Dorchester Heights - Under the cover of constant bombing from American artillery, Brigadier General John Thomas slips 2,000 troops, cannons and artillery into position at Dorchester Heights, just south of Boston, on this day in 1776. Under orders from General George Washington, Thomas and his troops worked through the night digging trenches, positioning cannons and completing their occupation of Dorchester Heights.
1968: Task Force sends memo to the president - In a draft memorandum to the president, the Ad Hoc Task Force on Vietnam advises that the administration send 22,000 more troops to Vietnam, but make deployment of the additional 185,000 men previously requested by Gen. William Westmoreland (senior U.S. commander in Vietnam) contingent on future developments.
source: http://www.historychannel.com/tdih/

1941: The British start to transfer the first contingent of troops from Egypt to Greece. These are to be under the command of General Maitland Wilson. Hitler increases the pressure on Yugoslavia to join the Tripartite pact by inviting Prince Paul, the regent, to Berchtesgaden. Hitler demands that he allows German troops to pass through Yugoslavia for an attack on Greece. In return, the port of Salonika and part of Macedonia will be ceded to Yugoslavia.
1944: Merrill’s ‘Marauders’ fight their first major action in Burma. Convoy RA-57 (31 ships) sailing the Arctic route from the Kola Peninsula to Loch Ewe, is attacked off Norway. The steam merchant Empire Tourist is sunk by U-703 for 7,062 gross tons lost. However, the convoys escorts sink 3 U-boats en-route. The USAAF launch, but then cancel the first daylight heavy bomber raid on Berlin. However 29 aircraft fail to receive the counter-order and bomb the capital. Zhukov renews his attacks against the forces of Manstein's Army Group South in the Ukraine.
1945: The First Belorussian Front breaks through at Stargard and drives towards Stettin and also establishes a new bridgehead across the Oder to the South of Frankfurt.
source: http://www.worldwar-2.net/

1911 - Appropriation of first funds for experiments in naval aviation.
1925 - Congress authorizes restoration of USS Constitution.
1947 - Operation Highjump, air operations in Antarctica, ends.
1963 - Navy Hercules aircraft completes 12-day rescue operation of critically ill Danish seaman from Danish freighter off the coast of Antarctic.
source: http://www.history.navy.mil/wars/datesmar.htm

March 5th

1942: The RAF launches an attack against Essen in the Ruhr, but with disappointing results.
1945: The fortress city of Graudenz on the Vistula surrenders the 2nd Belorussian Front, while Königsberg, Breslau, Küstrin, Frankfurt/Oder and Kolberg are still holding out.
source: http://www.feldgrau.com/march.html

1970: HMAS Sydney arrives at Fremantle, en route to Sydney. On board was 5RAR which had completed a tour in Vietnam.
source: http://www.awm.gov.au/atwar/thismonth/index.asp

1793 - French troops are defeated by Austrian forces and Liège is recaptured.
1824 - First Burmese War: The British officially declare war on Burma.
1905 - Russian troops begin to retreat from Mukden, Manchuria after losing 100,000 troops in three days.
1915 - World War I: LZ 33, a zeppelin, is damaged by enemy fire and stranded south of Ostend. 1940 - Members of Sovietpolitbiuro sign an order for the execution of 25,700 Polishintelligentsia, known also as Katyn massacre.
1974 - Yom Kippur War: Israeli forces withdrew from the west bank of the Suez Canal.
1991 - Iraq releases all Gulf War prisoners.
source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/March_5

1943: Germany - British and Canadian bombers start Battle of the Ruhr.
1995: Pembroke Ontario - Canadian Airborne Regiment officially disbanded at laying-up of the colors ceremony at Canadian Forces Base Petawawa.
source: http://www1.sympatico.ca/cgi-bin/on_this_day?mth=Mar&day=05

1971: The U.S. 11th Armored Cavalry "Blackhorse" Regiment, less its 2nd Squadron, withdraws from Vietnam. During its combat service in Vietnam, Blackhorse suffered 635 troopers killed in action and 5,521 wounded in action. Three of its troopers won the Medal of Honor for bravery on the battlefield.
source: http://www.historychannel.com/tdih/tdih.jsp?

1941: The Royal Navy begins escorting British and Commonwealth troop convoys from Egypt to Greece.
1942: General Sir Harold Alexander arrives at Rangoon to take over command of Burma Army from Lieutenant General Hutton. Wavell had given Alexander orders to hold Rangoon at all costs. Immediately, orders were issue for the 1st Burma Division to counter-attack the Japanese from the north and 17th Indian Division was to attack east of Pegu. Both attacks failed and Alexander realised that Rangoon could not be held. He ordered that Rangoon be evacuated and his troops withdraw north to the Irrawaddy Valley to regroup. German reconnaissance planes locate the British convoy PQ-12 bound for Murmansk.
1943: Bomber Command report the ‘first effective attack on Essen’ due primarily to the use of a new navigational aid ‘Oboe’.
1944: Gliders and air-transport-borne 'Chindits' set up ‘Broadway’ a stronghold behind Japanese lines, North East of Indaw. Koniev's 2nd Ukrainian Front launches an attack towards Uman.
1945: The German 2nd Army is cut off in Pomerania as the Russian 19th Army reaches the Baltic. Advance patrols of the U.S. First Army reach Cologne. Germany is now conscripting 15 and 16-year-olds into the regular army.
source: http://www.worldwar-2.net/

1942 - Name "Seabees" and insignia officially authorized
1943 - USS Bogue begins first anti-submarine operations by escort carrier.
1960 - USS Newport News (CA-14 and personnel from Port Lyautey complete emergency relief operatons at Agadir, Morocco after earthquake on 29 February.
source: http://www.history.navy.mil/wars/datesmar.htm

March 6th

1945: Beginning of a German counter offensive toward the Drau river in Hungary. The US 8th Air Force launches a heavy attack against Chemnitz in Saxony. The US First Army captures Cologne on the west bank of the Rhine.
source: http://www.feldgrau.com/march.html

1460: Portugal - Treaty of Alcacovas; Portugal gives Castile Canary Islands in exchange for West Africa.
1480: Toledo Spain - Spain and Portugal sign Treaty of Toledo; Spain recognizes Portugal's conquest of Morocco, Portugal cedes claims to Canary Islands.
1836: Texas - Mexican General Santa Anna and his large army slaughter Davy Crockett and rest of 189 Texas volunteers after 13 day siege. General Sam Houston and his Texans capture Santa Anna 46 days later, with battle cry, Remember the Alamo.
source: http://www1.sympatico.ca/cgi-bin/on_this_day?mth=Mar&day=06

1940 - Winter War: An armistice is signed by Finland and the Soviet Union.
1957 - Israel withdraws its troops from the Sinai Peninsula.
source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/March_6

1916: New German attacks at Verdun: Battle of the Flanks - During a punishing snowstorm, the German army launches a new attack against French forces on the high ground of Mort-Homme, on the left bank of the Meuse River, near the fortress city of Verdun, France. Though the Germans had advanced speedily since the start of their advance, capturing Verdun’s major protective fort, Fort Douaumont, on February 25, the French were by no means ready to give way, and the battle soon settled into a stalemate, with heavy casualties on both sides.
1945: Dutch Resistance ambushes SS officer--unwittingly - Members of the Dutch Resistance who were attempting to hijack a truck in Apeldoorn, Holland, ambush Lt. Gen. Hanns Rauter, an SS officer. During the following week, the German SS executed 263 Dutch in retaliation.
1965: U.S. is sending Marines to South Vietnam - The White House confirms reports that, at the request of South Vietnam, the United States is sending two battalions of U.S. Marines for security work at the Da Nang air base, which will hopefully free South Vietnamese troops for combat.
source: http://www.historychannel.com/tdih

1940: Hitler changes his plans for the invasion of the west. At a military conference in Berlin, he decides to adopt the plan put forward by Gerd von Rundstedt and his former chief of staff, Erich von Manstein, for the Ardennes option. Code-named ‘Fall Sichelschnitt’, it called for the attack against the Low Countries to go ahead, but with slightly fewer forces, in order to draw the allies forward, while the decisive thrust would be mounted through the Ardennes. Holding attacks would be made against the Maginot line.
1941: German aircraft mine the Suez canal, blocking it for 3 weeks.
1942: Japanese occupy Batavia in Java. Japanese cut all roads north of Rangoon, trapping the British at Pegu. Having received permission from Hitler, the Battleship Tirpitz and 3 destroyers set sail from Trondheim to intercept convoy PQ-12, but is spotted by a British submarine which relays the information onto the British Admiralty. However, bad weather means that the Tirpitz is unable to locate PQ-12 and so heads back to base. Enroute to Trondheim the Tirpitz is spotted and attacked by aircraft from HMS Victorious, but is not damaged.
1944: U.S. Marines land at Talasea in New Britain. Another 'Chindit' stronghold is established South of the Irrawaddy. Bomber Command begins a large-scale offensive over northern France in preparation for D-Day. The USAAF send 730 bombers and 796 fighters to Berlin, during which 69 bombers and 11 escorts are shot down.
1945: The new Chinese First Army takes Lashio in north-eastern Burma. The 2nd Panzer and 6th SS Panzer Armies launch a major counter-attack from Lake Balaton towards Budapest. The U.S. Third Army reaches the Rhine Northwest of Koblenz.
source: http://www.worldwar-2.net/

1822 - USS Enterprise captures four pirate ships in Gulf of Mexico
1862 - USS Monitor departed New York for Hampton Roads, VA
1942 - U.S. Cruisers and destroyers bombard Vila and Munda, Solomon Islands, sinking 2 Japanese destroyers.
source: http://www.history.navy.mil/wars/datesmar.htm

March 7th

1941: U-47, commanded by top ace Korvkpt. Günther Prien, hero of Scapa Flow, is reported missing in the North Atlantic.
1945: US First Army captures the Ludendorff railway bridge at Remagen, the last remaining bridge across the Rhine, allowing US troops to gain a first foothold on the east bank of the river.
source: http://www.feldgrau.com/march.html

1814 - Napoleon wins the Battle of Craonne.
1827 - Brazil marines sail up the Rio Negro (Argentina) and attack the temporary naval base of Carmen de Patagones, Argentina. They are defeated by the local citizens.
1862 - American Civil War: Battle of Pea Ridge - Union forces led by GeneralSamuel Curtis defeat Confederate troops under GeneralEarl Van Dorn at Pea Ridge in northwestern Arkansas.
1918 - World War I: Finland forms an alliance with Germany.
1951 - Korean War: Operation Ripper - In Korea, United Nations troops led by GeneralMatthew Ridgeway begin an assault against Chinese forces.
1968 - Vietnam War: The First Battle of Saigon begins.
source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/March_7

1940: The RAF spots units of the Kriegsmarine steaming North towards Narvik and Trondheim loaded with troops and equipment.
1941:U-47, commanded by top ace Günther Prien, hero of Scapa Flow, is sunk by the British Destroyer HMS Wolverine. British and Commonwealth troops begin to arrive in Greece.
1942: The Government of the Dutch East Indies flees Java for Australia. Force H, HMS Argus and HMS Eagle and supported by a number of destroyers, sets sail for Malta with Fifteen Spitfires on board which were flown off when Force H came within range of the Island.
1943: A new wolfpack, codenamed 'Raubgraf' (Robber Baron), is created in the central North Atlantic. It will operate between the 7th and 20th March 1943. Immediately the wolfpack attacks convoy ON-168 which is traveling between North America and the UK. One ship is damaged and abandoned, to be finally sunk on the 12th March for 6,537 gross tons.
1944: U.S. Marines secure Los Negros in the Pacific. The Japanese begin the Imphal-Kohima offensive from northern Burma into Assam, India.
source: http://www.worldwar-2.net/

1966: U.S. jets launch heaviest air raids of the war - In the heaviest air raids since the bombing began in February 1965, U.S. Air Force and Navy planes fly an estimated 200 sorties against North Vietnam. The objectives of the raids included an oil storage area 60 miles southeast of Dien Bien Phu and a staging area 60 miles northwest of Vinh.
1967: Republic of Korea forces operation launch the largest South Korean operation to date, forming a link-up of two Korean division areas of operations along the central coastal area of South Vietnam. South Korean forces had been in South Vietnam since August 1964, when Seoul sent a liaison unit to Saigon. By the close of 1969 there were over 47,800 Korean soldiers actively involved in combat operations in South Vietnam. Seoul began to withdraw its troops in February 1972, following the lead of the United States as it drastically reduced its troop commitment to South Vietnam.
1972: In the biggest air battle in Southeast Asia in three years, U.S. jets battle five North Vietnamese MiGs and shoot one down 170 miles north of the Demilitarized Zone. The 86 U.S. air raids over North Vietnam in the first two months of this year equaled the total for all of 1971.
source: http://www.historychannel.com/tdih

1942: Japanese occupation of Java complete - Allied forces offered little resistance to the Japanese invasion of Java, the former Dutch colony fell to the Japanese 16th Army on 12 March.
1965: 3rd Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment, deploys to Borneo The 3rd Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment and the 4th Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment along with two squadrons of the Special Air Service, several artillery batteries, parties of the Royal Australian Engineers and ships of the Royal Australian Navy constituted Australia's support for the new Federation of Malaysia against Indonesia during the 4 years of Confrontation.
source: http://www.awm.gov.au/atwar/thismonth/index.asp

March 8th

1944: The US 8th Air Force carries out another heavy attack against Berlin.
1945: Beginning of secret negotiations at Bern, Switzerland, between representatives of the American OSS (Allan Dulles) and the German High Command in Italy (General von Vietinghoff and SS General Wolff) for an early surrender of German forces in Italy. In the East, the Red Army penetrates into the southern suburbs of Breslau.
source: http://www.feldgrau.com/march.html

1942: Lae and Salamaua were occupied by the Japanese to provide defensive depth for their important air and sea base at Rabaul.
1942: 7th Division AIF arrives in Adelaide from the Middle East. Elements of the Division had been sent to Java where they soon became prisoners of the Japanese.source: http://www.awm.gov.au/atwar/thismonth/index.asp

1942: The Dutch surrender to Japanese forces on Java. Japan captures Rangoon, Burma.
1943: Japanese troops counter-attack American forces on Hill 700 in Bougainville in a battle that will last five days.
1965: 3,500 United States Marines arrive in South Vietnam, becoming the first American combat troops in Vietnam.
1966: Australia announces it is going to substantially increase its number of troops in Vietnam.
source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/March_8

1901: Halifax Nova Scotia - Samuel Benfield Steele 1849-1919 commanding Lord Strathcona's Horse, arrives back in Halifax with his regiment after fighting the Boers in South Africa.
1993: Somali Republic - Canadian Navy supply ship HMCS Preserver heads home after three-month tour of Somalia; her three Sea King helicopters airlifted 430 tonnes of supplies into Mogadishu.
source: http://www1.sympatico.ca/cgi-bin/on_this_day?mth=Mar&day=08

1975: South Vietnamese President Nguyen Van Thieu orders the withdrawal of South Vietnamese forces from the Central Highlands. In late January 1975, just two years after the cease-fire had been established by the Paris Peace Accords, the North Vietnamese launched Campaign 275. The objective of this campaign was the capture of Ban Me Thuot in the Central Highlands. The battle began on March 4 and the North Vietnamese quickly encircled the city. As it became clear that the communists would take the city and probably the entire Darlac province, Thieu decided to withdraw his forces in order to protect the more critical populous areas. Accordingly, he ordered his forces in the Central Highlands to pull back from their positions. Abandoning Pleiku and Kontum, the South Vietnamese forces began to move toward the sea, but what began as an orderly withdrawal soon turned into panic. The South Vietnamese forces rapidly fell apart. The North Vietnamese were successful in both the Central Highlands and further north at Quang Tri, Hue, and Da Nang. The South Vietnamese soon collapsed as a cogent fighting force and the North Vietnamese continued the attack all the way to Saigon. South Vietnam surrendered unconditionally on April 30.
source: http://www.historychannel.com/tdih

1940: Heavy fighting is reported at the outskirts to Viipuri, as the Red Army continues its attempt to capture the city. This prompts the Finns to seek an immediate armistice, which the Russians refuse. Therefore the Finnish delegation in Moscow is instructed to sue for peace.
1942: Rangoon falls to the Japanese as the British forces escape to the north. The 17th Indian Division was now holding the Irrawaddy area and the 1st Burma Division the upper Sittang valley. The Chinese Expeditionary Force were farther north, with the Fifth Chinese Army defending Mandalay and the 6th Chinese Army was at Toungoo and defending the Burmese province of Shan.
1943: The RAF use GEE for the first time for target marking during a raid on Essen. The technique was known as 'Shaker' and consisted of aircraft marking the target with flares, allowing aircraft further behind to see the target more clearly. However the results of the raid were disappointing.
1944: The US 8th Air Force carries out another heavy attack against Berlin.
1945: The Red Army penetrates into the southern suburbs of Breslau. Beginning of secret negotiations at Bern, Switzerland, between representatives of the American OSS (Allan Dulles) and the German High Command in Italy (General von Vietinghoff and SS General Wolff) for an early surrender of German forces in Italy. British and Canadian troops involved in Operation 'Blockbuster' enter Xanten on the Rhine after several days of heavy fighting, further to the South, U.S. troops enter Bonn.
source: http://www.worldwar-2.net/timelines/timelines-index.htm

1862 - Ironclad ram CSS Virginia destroys USS Cumberland and Congress
1945 - Phyllis Daley becomes first African-American Ensign, Navy Nurse Corps
1958 - Battleship USS Wisconsin (BB-64) is decommissioned, leaving the Navy without an active battleship for the first time since 1895.
source: http://www.history.navy.mil/wars/datesmar.htm

March 7 - April 4
Operation RIPPER. Drives the Communists back to the 38th Parallel and retakes Seoul. Seven U.S. divisions participate (U.S. Army's 1st Cavalry Division, 2nd, 3rd, 7th, 24th, and 25th Infantry Divisions, and the 1st Marine Division.)

March 9th
1941: Beginning of an ill-fated Italian offensive in Albania.
1943: Generaloberst von Arnim replaces FM Rommel as C-i-C of German forces in Tunisia.
1945: German light naval vessels from the still German-ocupied British Channel Islands enter the Allied supply port of Granville in Bretagne, sinking five ships. Units of the US Third Army capture Andernach on the Rhine. on the Oder front in the East, troops of the Soviet 1st Belorussian Front are fighting inside the fortress of Küstrin.
source: http://www.feldgrau.com/march.html

1847 - Mexican-American War: United States forces under GeneralWinfield Scott invade Mexico near Vera Cruz.
1862 - American Civil War: The first battle between two ironclad warships - In a five-hour battle near Hampton Roads, Virginia the USS Monitor fights the CSS Virginia to a draw.
1945 - World War II: Bombing of Tokyo - American B-29 bombers attack Tokyo, Japan with incendiary bombs. The resulting fire storm kills over 100,000 people.
source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/March_9

1916: Berlin Germany - Germany declares war on Portugal; accuses Portugal of seizing German shipping in Lisbon harbor.
source: http://www1.sympatico.ca/cgi-bin/on_this_day?mth=Mar&day=09

1781: Spanish siege of Pensacola begins - After successfully capturing British positions in Louisiana and Mississippi, Spanish General Bernardo de Galvez, commander of the Spanish forces in North America, turns his attention to the British-occupied city of Pensacola, Florida. General Galvez and a Spanish naval force of more than 40 ships and 3,500 men landed at Santa Rosa Island and begin a two-month siege of British occupying forces that becomes known as the Battle of Pensacola.
1970: Marines hand over control of I Corps region - The U.S. Marines turn over control of the five northernmost provinces in South Vietnam to the U.S. Army. The Marines had been responsible for this area since they first arrived in South Vietnam in 1965. The change in responsibility for this area was part of President Richard Nixon's initiative to reduce U.S. troop levels as the South Vietnamese accepted more responsibility for the fighting. After the departure of the 3rd Marine Division from Vietnam in late 1969, the 1st Marine Division was the only marine division left operating in South Vietnam.
source: http://www.historychannel.com/tdih

1941: The Italians launch another offensive against the Greek 1st Army in Albania, but it makes very little progress.
1942: The Government of the Dutch East Indies reaches Adelaide in Australia as all resistance on Java ceases and the island surrenders to the Japanese. US General Stilwell becomes Chiang Kai-shek’s Chief of Staff. The RAF returns to bomb Essen once more, but again are unable to inflict much damage due to the constant industrial haze over the city and the lack of landmarks, which made the city notoriously difficult to find.
1943: U-510 torpedoes eight ships in three hours off the coast of Brazil, in what is the most successful single U-boat action of the war.
1945: The U.S. First Army widens the Remagen bridgehead.
source: http://www.worldwar-2.net/

1798 - Appointment of first surgeon U.S. Navy, George Balfour
1847 - Commodore David Connor leads successful amphibious assault near Vera Cruz, Mexico
1862 - First battle between ironclads, USS Monitor and CSS Virginia
1914 - Test of wind tunnel at Washington Navy Yard
source: http://www.history.navy.mil/wars/datesmar.htm

1942: 7th Division AIF arrives in Adelaide - Leading brigade of the 7th Division AIF arrives in Adelaide from the Middle East. Elements of the Division had been sent to Java where they soon became prisoners of the Japanese.
source: http://www.awm.gov.au/atwar/thismonth/index.asp

March 10th

1944: The Red Army recaptures Uman in the Ukraine.
1945: FM Kesselring replaces FM von Rundstedt as C-i-C of German forces in the West. German troops evacuate Wesel on the lower Rhine. The US Third Army captures Bonn. In the East, the Kriegsmarine evacuates 25,000 civilian refugees from the besieged Baltic fortress of Kolberg in Pommerania. In the battle for Danzig, the Soviet 2nd Belorussian Front captures Zoppot.
source: http://www.feldgrau.com/march.html

1942: Japanese land at Finschhafen - The Japanese needed to capture towns such as Finschhafen and Salamaua to protect the their forward air base at Lae.
source: http://www.awm.gov.au/atwar/thismonth/index.asp

241 BC: Mediterranean - Roman fleet sinks 50 Carthaginian ships at the Battle of Aegusa.
1940: Netherlands - Germany invades the Benelux countries.
1945: Wesel Germany - First Canadian Army forces Germans across Rhine opposite Wesel, ending month-long campaign west of the Rhine; lose 5,304 dead in Rhine campaign.
1966: Vietnam - North Vietnamese capture US Green Beret Camp at Ashau Valley.
source: http://www1.sympatico.ca/cgi-bin/on_this_day?mth=Mar&day=10

1814 - Napoleon I of France is defeated at the Battle of Laon in France.
1831 - The French Foreign Legion is established by KingLouis-Philippe to support his war in Algeria.
1848 - The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo is ratified by the United States Senate, ending the Mexican-American War.
1864 - American Civil War: The Red River Campaign begins as Union troops reach Alexandria, Louisiana.
1970 - Vietnam War: Capt. Ernest Medina is charged with My Lai war crimes.
1975 - Vietnam War: North Vietnamese troops attack Ban Me Thout, South Vietnam, on their way to capturing Saigon.
1991 - Gulf War: Operation Phase Echo - 540,000 American troops begin to leave the Persian Gulf.

1917: Turkish troops begin evacuation of Baghdad - Less than two weeks after their victorious recapture of the strategically placed city of Kut-al-Amara on the Tigris River in Mesopotamia, British troops under the regional command of Sir Frederick Stanley Maude bear down on Baghdad, causing their Turkish opponents to begin a full-scale evacuation of the city on the evening of March 10, 1917.
source: http://www.historychannel.com/tdih

1941: The RAF attacks Le Havre and at the same time gives the new 4-engine Halifax bomber it debut, although one of the six Halifax's involved is shot down on its return flight by an RAF night fighter.
1942: Aircraft from the American Aircraft Carriers Lexington and Yorktown make attacks against the Japanese at Lae and Salamaua. Japanese also occupy Buka in the Solomon Islands. Japanese aircraft attack Port Moresby in Papua.
1944: Uman is taken as the Russians drive towards the Bug and Dnieper rivers.
1945: The 2nd Belorussian Front captures Zoppot, during its attack towards Danzig. The Kriegsmarine evacuates 25,000 civilian refugees from the besieged Baltic fortress of Kolberg in Pomerania.
source: http://www.worldwar-2.net/

1783 - USS Alliance (CAPT John Barry) defeats HMS Sybil in final naval action of Revolution in West Indies waters
1933 - Pacific Fleet provides assistance after earthquake at Long Beach, CA
1945 - Navy and civilian nurses interned at Los Banos, Philippines flown back to U.S. Navy nurses awarded Bronze Star.
1948 - First use of jets a