Year 1945

Diary for Friday, March 23, 1945: Western Front MONTGOMERY’S 21st ARMY GROUP CROSSES THE RHINE AT WESEL (Operation Plunder): attack takes place in bright moonlight under cover of dense smoke […]

Diary for Thursday, March 22, 1945: Western Front US 3rd Army crosses the Rhine, west of Mainz. Russian Front In Silesia, Konev‘s forces break through west and south of Oppeln.

Diary for Wednesday, March 21, 1945: Air War Europe: Mosquito bombers destroy Gestapo HQ in Copenhagen; bombs acci­dentally dropped on nearby school kill 86 pupils and 17 teachers. 8th USAAF

Diary for Tuesday, March 20, 1945: Russian Front Russians eliminate German bridgehead on lower Oder at Altdamm. Burma BRITISH CAPTURE MAN­DALAY. Home Fronts Britain: Death of Lord Alfred Douglas, poet

Diary for Monday, March 19, 1945: Air War Pacific: Carriers Wasp and Franklin severely damaged by Japanese bombers (825 killed). Sea War U-boats withdrawn from Eastern Baltic. Home Fronts Germany:

Diary for Sunday, March 18, 1945: Western Front US tanks enter Bad Kreuznach and Bingen. Air War Germany: 1,221 US bombers (25 lost) and 700 escorts (5 lost) drop 4,000

Diary for Saturday, March 17, 1945: Western Front Ludendorff Bridge collapses following repeated raids by Ar 234 jet bombers; many US engineers killed. 3rd US Army enters Koblenz.

Diary for Friday, March 16, 1945: Russian Front Hungary: Tolbukhin‘s 3rd Ukrainian Front launches major counter-attack against 6th SS Panzer Army and 3rd Hungarian Army (latter collapses). Air War Germany:

Diary for Thursday, March 15, 1945: Burma Japanese counter-attack at Meiktila (they retreat March 28). Air War Germany: Wehrmacht GHQ at Zossen, south of Berlin, pounded by 576 bombers of

Diary for Wednesday, March 14, 1945: Air War Germany: Bielefeld Viaduct smashed by 22,000-lb bomb, (‘Grand Slam‘), thereby preventing movement from the Ruhr to Remagen. Russian Front Slovakia: Russians capture

Diary for Tuesday, March 13, 1945: Burma British capture Maymyo, cutting rail communications of Japanese garrison in Mandalay.

Diary for Monday, March 12, 1945: Russian Front Zhukov takes Küstrin on the river Oder. Rokossovsky captures Tczew and reaches Gulf of Danzig, south of Gdynia. Air War Germany: 1,107

Diary for Sunday, March 11, 1945: Air War Germany: 1,055 RAF bombers dropping 4,700 t. bombs on rail targets at Essen; all produc­tion stops at Krupp’s Works. 1,000 US bombers

Diary for Saturday, March 10, 1945: Politics Roosevelt informs Spain she can expect no US aid while Franco dictatorship continues. Western Front Canadians eliminate the Wesel Pocket opposite Xanten. Kesselring

Diary for Friday, March 9, 1945: Air War Pacific: ‘MARCH FIRE BLITZ’ ON TOKYO. 279 low-flying B-29 Superfortresses drop 1,667 t. napalm and oil bombs on Tokyo (night March 9-10);