This day in military history..

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

:m1:
 
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


:m16:
 
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

:brave:
 
today's date is a command to go forward!

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

:army:
 
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-148) 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


:rambo:
 
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: [URL="http://www1.sympatico.ca/cgi-bin/on_this_day?mth=Mar&day=06"]http://www1.sympatico.ca/cgi-bin/on_this_day?mth=Mar&day=06[/URL]

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

:rambo:
 
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
 
Last edited:
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.)

:rambo:
 
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: [URL="http://www1.sympatico.ca/cgi-bin/on_this_day?mth=Mar&day=09"]http://www1.sympatico.ca/cgi-bin/on_this_day?mth=Mar&day=09[/URL]

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

:salute:
 
Last edited:
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 assigned to operational squadron (VF-5A) on board a carrier (Boxer)
source: http://www.history.navy.mil/wars/datesmar.htm

:m16:
 
Last edited:
March 11th

1941: The US House of Representatives passes the Lend-Lease Act 317-71, the Senate having already passed it 60-31 on March 7; it is immediately signed by President Roosevelt.
1945: The US third Army captures Kochem on the lower Moselle river. In the East, the Red Army approaches Gotenhafen, closing a vital port of embarkation for tens of thousands of refugees from East Prussia who are now heading for the Hela peninsula.
source: http://www.feldgrau.com/march.html

1845: First Maori War - British troops based in Australia were sent to suppress an uprising by Maoris who were unhappy at the continuing expansion of European settlement in New Zealands North Island.
1917: Baghdad occupied - Members of the 1st ANZAC Wireless Signal Squadron attached to Lieutenant General Stanley Maude's force of two British Army Corps and one Indian Cavalry Division occupy Baghdad.source: http://www.awm.gov.au/atwar/thismonth/index.asp

1949: Brussels Belgium - Canada helps draft North Atlantic Security Treaty with Britain, USA, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and Norway; leads to creation of NATO.
source: http://www1.sympatico.ca/cgi-bin/on_this_day?mth=Mar&day=11

1845 - The Flagstaff War: In New Zealand, ChiefsHone Heke and Kawiti led 700 Māoris to chop down the British flagpole and drive settlers out of the Britishcolonial settlement of Kororareka because of breaches of the 1840Treaty of Waitangi.
1917 - World War I: Baghdadfalls to the Anglo-Indian forces commanded by GeneralStanley Maude.
1942 - World War II: GeneralDouglas MacArthur abandons Corregidor.
1945 - World War II: The Imperial Japanese Navy attempts a large-scale kamikaze attack on the U.S. Pacific fleet anchored at Ulithi atoll in Operation Tan No. 2.
source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/March_11

1942: As Japanese forces continued to advance in the Pacific during World War II, Gen. Douglas MacArthur left the Philippines for Australia, vowing: ''I shall return.''
source: http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/20070311.html

1941: The German 5th Light Division has now completely arrived in Libya and is ordered to prepare for an attack on El Agheila. Meanwhile, Rommel has flown back to Germany for further orders and has been told that when the 15th Panzer Division has arrived in Libya at the end of May he is to recapture Benghazi.
1943: The north Atlantic convoy ONS-169 is attacked by wolfpack 'Raubgraf' between the 11th and 12th March losing 2 ships for 10,531 gross tons. Atlantic convoys SC121 and HX228 are also attacked by other wolfpacks and lose 17 ships for the loss of just U-444 and U-432.
1944: Some 12,000 Chindits are now behind Japanese lines in Burma. British forces capture Buthiduang on the Arakan front. Zhukov is stopped on River Bug after a 60-mile advance.
1945: An RAF Bomber Command record for the largest tonnage dropped on a single target in single day is achieved at Essen when 4,661 tons are dropped. The Red Army advances towards Gotenhafen, a vital port of embarkation for tens of thousands of refugees from East Prussia. The US third Army captures Kochem on the lower Moselle river.
source: http://www.worldwar-2.net/timelines/timelines-index.htm

1863: Landing party from U.S.S. Wabash, Commander C. R. P. Rodgers, occupied St. Augustine, Florida, which had been evacuated by Confederate troops in the face of the naval threat.
1864: U.S.S. Aroostook, Lieutenant Commander Chester Hatfield, captured blockade-running British schooner Mary P. Burton in the Gulf of Mexico south of Velasco, Texas, with cargo of iron and shot. Boats under Acting Ensign Henry B. Colby, from U.S.S. Beauregard, and Acting Master George Delap, from U.S.S. Norfolk Packet, seized British schooner Linda at Mosquito Inlet, Florida, with cargo including salt, liquor, and coffee. U.S.S. San Jacinto, Commander James F. Armstrong, captured schooner Lealtad, which had run the blockade at Mobile with cargo of cotton and turpentine. Schooner Julia Baker was boarded by Confederate guerrilla forces near Newport News, Virginia. After taking $2,500 in cash and capturing the master and five men, the boarders burned the schooner. U.S.S. Beauregard, Acting Master Francis Burgess, captured blockade running British sloop Hannah off Mosquito Inlet, Florida, with cargo of cotton cloth.
source: http://www.multied.com/Navy/cwnavalhistory/March1864.html

1779: Congress establishes the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to help plan, design and prepare environmental and structural facilities for the U.S. Army. Made up of civilian workers, members of the Continental Army and French officers, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers played an essential role in the critical Revolutionary War battles at Bunker Hill, Saratoga and Yorktown.
source:http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history.do?action=Article&id=307

1967: U.S. 1st Infantry Division troops engage in one of the heaviest battles of Operation Junction City, resulting in 210 reported North Vietnamese casualties. Junction City was an effort to smash the communist stronghold in Tay Ninh Province and surrounding areas along the Cambodian border northwest of Saigon. The purpose of the operation was to drive the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese troops away from populated areas and into the open, where superior American firepower could be more effectively used.
source:http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history.do?action=Article&id=1722

:salute:
 
Last edited:
March 12th

1940: Formalling ending the "Winter War", Finland and the USSR sign a peace treaty that compels the Finns to cede parts of Carelia as well as "lease" their Baltic ports of Hangö and Vipurii to the Soviets.
1943: German troops evacuate Vjasma on the central front.
source: http://www.feldgrau.com/march.html

1900: Australians arrive at Bloemfontein, South Africa - Members of the New South Wales Mounted Rifles, under Lord Roberts, reached Bloemfontein, the capital of the Orange Free State, under Roberts' strategy of taking the war into the Boer Republics.
source: http://www.awm.gov.au/atwar/thismonth/index.asp

538: Witiges, king of the Ostrogoths ends his siege of Rome and retreats to Ravenna, leaving the city in the hands of the victorious Romangeneral, Belisarius.
1938: Anschluss: German troops occupy Austria; annexation declared the following day.
source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/March_12

1940: A peace treaty is concluded between Finland and Russia, that formally ends the "Winter War". The terms of this treaty are harsh for Finland, who are forced to cede the entire Karelia Isthmus, and the city of Viipuri, which is renamed Vyborg. The also lose parts of eastern Karelia, Lake Ladoga, the Rybachiy Peninsula and the Petsamo area. The also have to grant the Russian a 30 year lease of the Hangö Peninsula. However, the ever 'generous' Russians drop their recognition of the Kuusinen puppet government in Moscow. The British finalise their plans for the invasion of Norway. Landings are to be made at Narvik and Trondheim in order to secure the rail line to Sweden and the large iron-ore fields.
1942: US troops occupy New Caledonia. The British evacuate their garrison from the Andaman Islands, just off the Burmese coast south of Rangoon. Convoy PQ-12 arrives unscathed at Murmansk, earning the distinction of being the last PQ convoy to sail without losses.
1943: German troops evacuate Vyazma.
1944: The Swedes announce an investigation of the ‘mysterious object which crashed out of the sky’ (a ‘flying torpedo’ V1) from a German research station, 40 miles away.
1945: RAF Bomber Command sets another new record for single target, when 4,851 tons are dropped on Dortmund.
source: http://www.worldwar-2.net/timelines/timelines-index.htm

1917 - All American merchant ships to be armed in war zones
1942 - President Franklin D. Roosevelt designates Admiral Ernest J. King to serve as the Chief of Naval Operations, as well as the Commander-in-Chief, United States Fleet to which he was appointed on 30 December 1941.
1956 - In first overseas deployment of Navy missile squadron, VA-83 left on USS Intrepid
source: http://www.history.navy.mil/wars/datesmar.htm

1912: USA - Capt. Albert Berry performs first parachute jump from an airplane.
source: http://www1.sympatico.ca/cgi-bin/on_this_day?mth=Mar&day=12

:rambo:
 
March 13th

1941: The Luftwaffe carries out heavy raids against the British ports of Glasgow and Liverpool.
1942: The Red Army launches an attack against Heeresgruppe B (von Manstein) from the Kerch peninsula in the eastern Crimea.
1944: The Red Army recaptures Cherson at the mouth of the Dnestr river on the Black Sea.
1945: The Soviet 1st Belorussian Front (Zhukov) captures the Oder fortress of Küstrin, 70 miles east of Berlin, while the 2nd Belorussian Front (Rokossovsky) launches an offensive against the Braunsberg pocket south of Königsberg. Following a 600-bomber raid by the US 8th Air Force, the RAF (with 800 bombers) attacks Swinemünde north of Stettin, a major port of disembarkation for German escapees from the East, causing heavy damage to the docks and killing hundreds of refugees.
source: http://www.feldgrau.com/march.html

1943: Japanese reconnaissance flight over Darwin - In addition to the 64 air raids on Darwin the Japanese made numerous reconnaissance flights over northern Australia.
source: http://www.awm.gov.au/atwar/thismonth/index.asp

1895: Award of first submarine building contract to John P. Holland Torpedo Boat Co.
1917: Armed merchant ships authorized to take action against U-boats.
1959: Naval Research Laboratory takes first ultraviolet pictures of sun.
1963: USS Albany (CG-10) and aircraft from Navy Airborne Early Warning Squadron Four from Roosevelt Roads, Puerto Rico aid five ill crewmembers of Norwegian freighter Jotunfjell.
source: http://www.history.navy.mil/wars/datesmar.htm

1884 - The siege of Khartoum, Sudan begins (ends on January 26, 1885).
1900 - Boer War: British forces occupy Bloemfontein, Orange Free State.
1940 - Russo-Finnish Winter War ended.
1943 - World War II: In Bougainville, Japanese troops end their assault on American forces at Hill 700.
1954 - Battle of Điện Biên Phủ: Viet Minh forces attack the French.
source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/March_13

1915: British forces end their three-day assault on the German trenches near the village of Neuve Chapelle in northern France, the first offensive launched by the British in the spring of 1915.
source: http://www.historychannel.com/tdih

1940: Hostilities between the Soviet Union and Finland cease. The Finns have lost 25,000 killed and 45,000 wounded, while the Russians have lost an estimated 200,000 killed and an unknown number of wounded.
1941: The Luftwaffe carries out a heavy raid against Clydebank, near Glasgow. 35,000 of the towns population of 47,000 are made homeless.
1942: The Red Army launches an major attack against Army Group B from the Kerch peninsula in the eastern Crimea.
1943: A Chinese counter-attack throws the Japanese back across the Yangtze River.
1944: British troops take the ‘Golden Fortress’ (Razabil) in Arakan, Burma. U.S. submarine Sandlance sinks a Japanese troopship convoy en route to the Marianas. The Russians announce the capture of Kherson in the southern Ukraine.
1945: A surprise armoured thrust by the British in central Burma, cuts off 3,000 Japanese in Mandalay. Following a 600-bomber raid by the US 8th Air Force, the RAF with 800 bombers attacks Swinemünde North of Stettin, a major port of disembarkation for German refugees from eastern Germany, causing heavy damage to the docks and killing hundreds of civilians. The 2nd Belorussian Front launches an offensive against the Braunsberg pocket to the South of Königsberg.
source: http://www.worldwar-2.net/timelines/timelines-index.htm

1961: Aldershott England - Major-General Allard the first Canadian to command a British army division.
source: http://www1.sympatico.ca/cgi-bin/on_this_day?mth=Mar&day=13


:rambo:
 
March 14th

1945: The US Third Army crosses the Moselle river near Koblenz. In Hungary, the German counterattack to recapture the oilfields near Lake Balaton comes to an end. In East Prussia, the Red Army cuts all communications between Königsberg and the German forces fighting in the Braunsberg pocket. The US 15th Air Force, taking off from Italian airfields, launches a heavy raid (500 bombers) against Regensburg, while the RAF attacks Wuppertal with 400 aircraft.
source: http://www.feldgrau.com/march.html

1942: Horn Island bombed - Japanese bomb Horn Island, Torres Strait. Horn Island, in the Torres Strait, was the main tactical base for Allied air operations in the Torres Strait. The island was subject to nine Japanese air raids during the Second World War.
source: http://www.awm.gov.au/atwar/thismonth/index.asp

1863 - RADM Farragut's squadron of 7 ships forces way up Mississippi River to support Union troops at Vicksburg and Baton Rouge
1929 - NAS Pensacola aircraft make 113 flights for flood rescue and relief
source: http://www.history.navy.mil/wars/datesmar.htm

1590 - Battle of Ivry: Henry of Navarre and the Huguenots defeat the forces of the Catholic League under the Duc de Mayenne during the French Wars of Religion.
1915 - World War I: Cornered off the coast of Chile by the Royal Navy after fleeing the Battle of the Falkland Islands, the German light cruiser SMS Dresden is abandoned and scuttled by her crew.
1939 - German troops fully occupy the Czechoslovak provinces of Bohemia and Moravia.
1945 - World War II - The R.A.F. first operational use of the Grand Slam bomb, Bielefeld, Germany.
1951 - Korean War: For the second time, United Nations troops recapture Seoul.
source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/March_14

1862: Battle of New Bern, North Carolina Union General Ambrose Burnside captures North Carolina's second largest city and closes another port through which the Confederates could slip supplies.
1943: Germans recapture Kharkov German troops re-enter Kharkov, the second largest city in the Ukraine, which had changed hands several times in the battle between the USSR and the invading German forces.
1965: Allies launch second wave of Rolling Thunder Twenty-four South Vietnamese Air Force planes, led by Vice-Marshal Nguyen Cao Ky and supported by U.S. jets, bomb the barracks and depots on Con Co ("Tiger") Island, 20 miles off the coast of North Vietnam. The next day, 100 U.S. Air Force jets and carrier-based bombers struck the ammunition depot at Phu Qui, 100 miles south of Hanoi. This was the second set of raids in Operation Rolling Thunder and the first in which U.S. planes used napalm.
1969: Nixon discusses the possibility of U.S. troop withdrawals At a news conference, President Richard Nixon says there is no prospect for a U.S. troop reduction in the foreseeable future because of the ongoing enemy offensive. Nixon stated that the prospects for withdrawal would hinge on the level of enemy activity, progress in the Paris peace talks, and the ability of the South Vietnamese to defend themselves. Despite these public comments, Nixon and his advisers were secretly discussing U.S. troop withdrawals. On June 8, at a conference on Midway Island with South Vietnamese President Nguyen Van Thieu, Nixon formally announced a new policy that included intensified efforts to increase the combat capability of the South Vietnamese armed forces so that U.S. forces could be gradually withdrawn. This program became known as "Vietnamization." The first U.S. troop withdrawals occurred in the fall of 1969 with the departure of the headquarters and a brigade from the 9th Infantry Division.
source: http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history.do?

:rambo:
 
Last edited:
March 15th

1944: The Soviet 1st Ukrainian Front breaks through German defenses and reaches the Bug river, a 1941 German starting line for Operation Barbarossa.
1945: The Soviet 1st Ukrainian Front begins an offensive in the Ratibor area of Upper Silesia. In the West, attacks by troops of the US First Army to expand the Remagen bridgehead meet with little success.
source: http://www.feldgrau.com/march.html

1943 - Numbered fleet system established
1947 - Ensign John W. Lee becomes first African American officer commissioned in regular Navy. He was assigned to USS Kearsage.
1957 - Airship ZPG-2 lands NAS Key West after 11 day non-stop flight across the Atlantic
1966 - Establishment of River Squadron Five in Vietnam
source: http://www.history.navy.mil/wars/datesmar.htm

1940:First two women from the Voluntary Aid Detachments organisation enlist in the AIF - Most Voluntary Aids transferred after August 1942 into the new Australian Army Women's Medical Service. Over 200 Voluntary Aids served in the Middle East and Ceylon during the Second World War.
source: http://www.awm.gov.au/atwar/thismonth/index.asp

933: After a ten-year truce, German King Henry I defeats a Hungarian army at the Battle of Riade near the river Unstrut.
1311: Battle of Halmyros: The Catalan Company defeats Walter V of Brienne to take control of the Duchy of Athens, a Crusader state in Greece.
1781: American Revolutionary War: Battle of Guilford Courthouse - Near present-day Greensboro, North Carolina, 1,900 British troops under General Charles Cornwallis defeat an American force numbering 4,400.
1939: World War II: Nazi troops occupy the remaining part of Bohemia and Moravia; Czechoslovakia ceases to exist.
1943: World War II: Third Battle of Kharkov - the Germans retake the city of Kharkov from the Soviet armies in bitter street fighting.
1944: World War II: Battle of Monte Cassino - Allied aircraft bomb the Nazi-held monastery and stage an assault.
source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/March_15

1744: France declares war on Britain, in War of the Austrian Succession; called King William's War in North America; to Oct. 14, 1748.
1943: Freetown, Sierra Leone - Canadian Pacific steamer, Empress of Canada, torpedoed by German U-Boat and sunk off the coast of West Africa, with the loss of 400 lives.
source: http://www1.sympatico.ca/cgi-bin/on_...mth=Mar&day=15

1941: The British 'Northern Force' having concentrated the 4th and 5th Indian Divisions begin their offensive for Italian fortress of Keren in Eritrea.
1942: U-503 is sunk near the Grand Banks, off Newfoundland, by another aircraft from the US squadron, VP-82.
1944: The Japanese begin crossing the Chindwin for an advance against Kohima. The U.S. 1st Cavalry Division lands on Manus in the Admiralty Islands. The heaviest RAF raid of war is made against Stuttgart, with 3,000 tons dropped from 863 bombers, for the loss of only 36 planes. The allies pound Cassino, dropping 1,250 tons of bombs and firing 195,969 shells in 7 and a half hours, but the troops make slow headway.
1945: U.S. troops report slow progress on Luzon in the Philippines.

Gen. Harold K. Johnson, Army Chief of Staff, reports on his recent visit to Vietnam to President Lyndon B. Johnson and Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara. He admitted that the recent air raids ordered by President Johnson had not affected the course of the war and said he would like to assign an American division to hold coastal enclaves and defend the Central Highlands. General Johnson also advocated creating a four-division force of Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO) and U.S. troops to patrol the Demilitarized Zone along the border separating North and South Vietnam and Laos. Nothing ever came of General Johnson's recommendation on the SEATO troops, but President Johnson ordered the 173rd Airborne Brigade to Vietnam in May 1965 and followed it with the 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile) in September of the same year. These forces, along with the first contingent of U.S. Marines--which had arrived in March--were only the first of a massive American build up. By 1969, there were more than 540,000 U.S. troops in South Vietnam.
source: http://www.history.com/tdih.do?actio...yId=vietnamwar

:salute:
 
March 16th

1941: The Kriegsmarine loses two of its most successful U-boat commanders, Kretschmer (U-99) and Schepke (U-100) to British convoy escorts.
1943: Armored Waffen-SS units of Heeresgruppe Süd (von Manstein) recapture Charkov.
1944: On the Italian front, repeated attempts by the British 8th Army (Alexander) to break through the Gustav Line at Cassino fail. In the North Atlantic, two U-boat wolf packs, code-named Raubgraf and Stürmer, attack Convoys HX229 and SC122, and over a period of four days and nights sink 21 ships (141,000 tons total), for the loss of one U-boat, U-384 (Oblt. von Rosenberg-Gruszinski).
1945: In Hungary, the Soviet 2nd Ukrainian Front (Tolbukhin) begins an offensive toward Lake Balaton. In the East, the German heavy vessels Schlesien and Prinz Eugen support the forces of Heeresgruppe Kurland in their defense against heavy Soviet attacks to break up the Kessel. The US 8th Air Force launches a massive attack (675 bombers) against the HQ complex of the OKH at Zossen 20 miles south of Berlin, but with minimal effect.
source: http://www.feldgrau.com/march.html

1911 - Hulk of USS Maine sunk at sea in deep water with full military honors.
1945 - Iwo Jima declared secure.
1966 - Launch of Gemini 8. Former naval aviator Neil Armstrong flew on this mission which completed 7 orbits in 10 hours and 41 minutes at an altitude of 161.3 nautical miles. Recovery was by USS Leonard F. Mason (DD-852).
source: http://www.history.navy.mil/wars/datesmar.htm

1942: Darwin bombed - Darwin was subject to 64 Japanese air raids during the Second World War.
1943: Flight Lieutenant W.E. Newton, VC - Flight Lieutenant W.E. Newton, originally from St Kilda, Victoria, was awarded Victoria Cross for action at Salamua Isthmus, New Guinea. It was a posthumous award.
source: http://www.awm.gov.au/atwar/thismonth/index.asp

1855: Kingston Ontario - George-Etienne Cartier passes his Militia Act, constitutes all males between the ages of 18 and 60 as military forces of Canada; all men under 40 to be mustered once a year; Governor-General to be the Commander in Chief of the militia.
1900: Halifax Nova Scotia - Samuel Benfield Steele 1849-1919 commanding Lord Strathcona's Horse, embarks troops for South Africa; the regiment consists of 537 mounted troops recruited in Manitoba, BC and the NWT.
1915: Southampton England - Second Canadian Division begins to arrive in England for service in World War I.
source: http://www1.sympatico.ca/cgi-bin/on_this_day?mth=Mar&day=16

1322 - The Battle of Boroughbridge takes place in the First War of Scottish Independence.
1689 - The 23rd Regiment of Foot or Royal Welch Fusiliers is founded.
1802 - The United States Military Academy at West Point is established.
1812 - Battle of Badajoz (March 16 - April 6) - British and Portuguese forces besiege and defeat French garrison during Peninsular War.
1916 - The 7th and 10th US cavalry regiments under John J. Pershing cross the US-Mexico border to join the hunt of Pancho Villa.
source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/March_16

1865: Battle of Averasboro, North Carolina - The mighty army of Union General William T. Sherman encounters its most significant resistance as it tears through the Carolinas on its way to join General Ulysses Grant's army at Petersburg, Virginia. Confederate General William Hardee tried to block one wing of Sherman's force, commanded by Henry Slocum, but the motley Rebel force was swept aside at Averasboro, North Carolina.
1968: U.S. troops massacre South Vietnamese - In what would become the most publicized war atrocity committed by U.S. troops in Vietnam, a platoon slaughters between 200 and 500 unarmed villagers at My Lai 4, a cluster of hamlets in the coastal lowlands of the northernmost region of South Vietnam.
source: http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history.do?

:salute:
 
March 17th - Happy Saint Patrick's Day to all!
1945: The US Third Army (Patton) captures Koblenz on the Rhine. The Ludendorff bridge at Remagen, seized by US troops on March 7, suddenly collapses, killing dozens of US Army engineers working to reenforce it.
source: http://www.feldgrau.com/march.html

1917: Australians occupy Bapaume, Western Front - Originally the objective for the first day of the Somme campaign, Bapaume was occupied by the 5th Division after fighting rearguards from the German retreat of early 1917.
1942: General MacArthur flies to Darwin - Having left the Philippines after the Japanese invasion, General MacArthur was appointed to command the newly created South West Pacific Area. Australia became the base from which he would launch offensive action against the Japanese in the Pacific.
source: http://www.awm.gov.au/atwar/thismonth/index.asp

1898 - USS Holland, first practical submarine, launched
1942 - United States Naval Forces Europe established to plan joint operations with British
1959 - USS Skate ( SSN-578 ) surfaces at North Pole
source: http://www.history.navy.mil/wars/datesmar.htm

45 BC - In his last victory, Julius Caesar defeats the Pompeian forces of Titus Labienus and Pompey the Younger in the Battle of Munda.
624 - Muhammad wins a key victory over his Meccan adversaries in the Battle of Badr.
1776 - American Revolution: British forces evacuate Boston, Massachusetts after George Washington and Henry Knox place artillery overlooking the city.
1913 - The Uruguayan Air Force is founded.
1939 - Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945): The Battle of Nanchang between the Kuomintang and the Japanese breaks out.
source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/March_17

1765: Quebec City - First Canadian St. Patrick's Day celebrated by Irish troops serving in the British Army at Quebec.
source: http://www1.sympatico.ca/cgi-bin/on_...mth=Mar&day=17

1863: Battle of Kelly's Ford, Virginia - Union cavalry attack Confederate cavalry at Kelly's Ford, Virginia. Although the Yankees were pushed back and failed to take any ground, the engagement proved that the Federal troopers could hold their own against their Rebel counterparts.
source: http://www.history.com/tdih.do

1941: The 11th African Division captures Jijiga in central Abyssinia, having advanced 744 miles up the Italian built Strada Imperiale in just seventeen days.
1943: The Japanese attack British positions in Arakan, western Burma.
1944: The British blow up the Manipur bridge South of Imphal. New Zealand troops take Cassino railway station.
source: http://www.worldwar-2.net/timelines/timelines-index.htm

:bravo:
 
March 18th

1940: Hitler and Mussolini meet at the Brenner Pass in northern Italy, Mussolini agreeing to Italy's entry into the war "at an opportune moment".
1945: In the East, the Soviet 2nd Belorussian Front (Rokossovsky) captures the fortress city of Kolberg after 68,000 civilian refugees have been evacuated by sea. The US Third Army captures Boppard on the Rhine.
source: http://www.feldgrau.com/march.html

1915: Allied fleet attempts to force the Dardanelles - This was the second allied attempt to force a naval break through of the Turkish defences in the Dardanelles.
1943: Admiral Yamamoto, Imperial Japanese Navy, killed - American Intelligence decoded signals that provided the timetable for Yamamoto's flight. His aircraft was intercepted and shot down near Bougainville by American Lightnings from Guadalcanal. Yamamoto, Commander of the Japanese Combined Fleet, was the architect of the attack on Pearl Harbour.
source: http://www.awm.gov.au/atwar/thismonth/index.asp

1945 - Carriers begin 3 month Okinawa Campaign by destroying aircraft on Kyushu, Japan
source: http://www.history.navy.mil/wars/datesmar.htm

1915 - World War I: Massive naval attack in Battle of Gallipoli. Three battleships are sunk during a failed British & French naval attack on the Dardanelles.
2003 - US enters war in Iraq. About $1 billion was taken from Iraq's Central Bank by Saddam Hussein and his family, just hours before the United States began bombing Iraq, biggest bank robbery in history.
source: [URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/March_18"]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/March_18[/URL]

1942: Canadian forces establish unified military commands in Atlantic, Newfoundland, Pacific areas. Dawson Creek, BC - US Army Engineers start building Alcan (Alaska) Highway to supply the North West in case of Japanese invasion.
source: http://www1.sympatico.ca/cgi-bin/on_...mth=Mar&day=18

1942: US forces occupy the New Hebrides in order to help protect Australia's west coast from direct Japanese invasion.
1943: Chindit forces cross the Irrawaddy in Burma.
1944: A New Zealand tank attack on Monte Cassino is repulsed, with the loss of all 17 tanks. The Germans conduct their heaviest night raid on London since 1941 as the Luftwaffe intensifies the ‘Little Blitz’.
1945: The US Navy hits Kure naval base in the Inland Sea, Southwest of Tokyo. Kolberg falls to the Polish 1st Army, of the 2nd Belorussian Front, although the Germans manage to evacuate 80,000 refugees and wounded first.
source: http://www.worldwar-2.net/timelines/timelines-index.htm
 
March 19th

1943: In Tunisia, the British 8th Army (Montgomery) begins an offensive against Italian defenses of the Mareth Line.
1945: The US Seventh Army (Patch) captures Worms on the Rhine. In the East, heavy fighting in Hungary and East Prussia. The US 8th Air Force carries out another heavy attack (200 bombers and 700 fighters) against Berlin. Hitler orders the demolition of all German industrial, utility and transport facilities in danger of falling into enemy hands; this order (Verbrannte Erde Scorched Earth) is sabotaged by armaments minister Speer and most local commanders.
source: http://www.feldgrau.com/march.html

1916: Sir John Maxwell withdrawn from Egypt, leaving Sir Archibald Murray in command - Murray ultimately led Allied forces, including the Australian Light Horse, in the war against Turkey in the Sinai and Palestine.
source: http://www.awm.gov.au/atwar/thismonth/index.asp

1898 - USS Oregon departs San Francisco for 14,000 mile trip around South America to join U.S. Squadron off Cuba
1917 - Navy Department authorizes enrollment of women in Naval Reserve with ratings of yeoman, radio electrician, or other essential ratings.
1942 - SecNav gave Civil Engineering Corps command of Seabees
2003 - Operation Iraqi Freedom begins with Tomahawk strikes from Navy ships and submarines.
source: http://www.history.navy.mil/wars/datesmar.htm

1861 - The First Taranaki War ends in New Zealand.
1865 - American Civil War: The Battle of Bentonville begins. By the end of the battle two days later, Confederate forces had retreated from Four Oaks, North Carolina.
1916 - Eight American planes take off in pursuit of Pancho Villa, the first United States air-combat mission in history.
1941 - World War II: The 99th Pursuit Squadron also known as the Tuskegee Airmen, the first all-black unit of the Army Air Corp, is activated.
1945 - World War II: Off the coast of Japan, a dive bomber hits the aircraft carrierUSS Franklin, killing 724 of her crew. Badly damaged, the ship is able to return to the U.S. under her own power.
2002 - U.S. invasion of Afghanistan: Operation Anaconda ends (started on March 2) after killing 500 Taliban and al Qaeda fighters with 11 allied troop fatalities.
source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/March_19

1966: The South Korean Assembly votes to send 20,000 additional troops to Vietnam to join the 21,000 Republic of Korea (ROK) forces already serving in the war zone. South Korean forces had been in South Vietnam since August 1964, when Seoul sent a liaison unit to Saigon. The first contingent was followed in February 1965 by engineer units and a mobile hospital. Although initially assigned to non-combat duties, they came under fire on April 3. In September 1965, in response to additional pleas from Johnson, the South Korean government greatly expanded its troop commitment to Vietnam and agreed to send combat troops. By the close of 1969, over 47,800 Korean soldiers were 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 in South Vietnam.
source: http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history.do?action=Article&id=1737

:salute:
 
Last edited:
March 20th

1942: The Soiet offensive at Kerch in the Crimea is defeated with heavy losses to the Soviets.
1944: The Red Army recaptures Vinnitsa in the Ukraine, Hitler's HQ in 1943.
1945: German troops of Heeresgruppe Weichsel evacuate their bridgehead across the Oder at Stettin. In East Prussia, the Red Army captures Braunsberg, 40 miles south of Königsberg
source: http://www.feldgrau.com/march.html

1916: ANZAC Corps land in France - With Gallipoli behind them the bulk of Australia's forces were now sent to France where the terrible fighting on the Western Front awaited.
1917: Lieutenant McNamara, originally from Rushworth, Victoria, becomes the first Australian airman to win a Victoria Cross for rescuing a downed comrade in Palestine.
source: http://www.awm.gov.au/atwar/thismonth/index.asp

1915: Britain and Russia divide future spoils of war - Just two days after its navy suffered a demoralizing defeat against Turkish forces at the Dardanelles, the British government signs a secret agreement with Russia regarding the hypothetical post-World War I division of the former Ottoman Empire. By the terms of the agreement, signed on March 20, 1915, Russia would annex the Turkish stronghold of Constantinople, the Bosporus Strait (a waterway connecting the Black Sea with the Sea of Marmara and marking the boundary between the Asian and European halves of Turkey), and more than half of the European section of Turkey. Britain also promised Russia future control of the Dardanelles (the crucially important strait connecting the Black Sea with the Mediterranean)—which the British navy had unsuccessfully attacked two days earlier—and the Gallipoli peninsula, the target of a major Allied military invasion (which would also result in failure) launched late the following month. In return, Russia would agree to British claims on other areas of the former Ottoman Empire and central Persia, including the oil-rich region of Mesopotamia.
source: http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history.do?action=Article&id=347

1833 - CDR Geisinger of Peacock negotiates first commercial treaty with King of Siam
1922 -USS Jupiter recommissioned as Langley, Navy's first aircraft carrier
1939 - Naval Research Lab recommends financing research program to obtain power from uranium.
2003 - U.S. began Operation Iraqi Freedom by launching cruise missiles from Navy ships in the Red Sea and Persian Gulf.
source: http://www.history.navy.mil/wars/datesmar.htm

1944: Aldershott England - Lt. Gen. Henry Duncan Graham Crerar 1888-1965 appointed to command of 1st Canadian Army; largest field formation ever formed by Canada; includes British, Dutch, Belgian, and Polish units.
source: http://www1.sympatico.ca/cgi-bin/on_this_day?mth=Mar&day=20

:army:
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top