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March 26th, 1943 (FRIDAY)

Pierre Brossolette sets up a committee to co-ordinate the five Resistance movements in northern France.

The Nazis have arrested all the 3,000 remaining British and American men, women and children in the former unoccupied sector of France as part of growing precautions against an Allied invasion. The men are said to have been deported to Germany. All civilians are to be evacuated from Channel and Atlantic coastal areas by 30 March, and demolition has been carried out in ports such as Brest and La Rochelle for defensive purposes.

GERMANY: Hitler writes to Mussolini that Russia is so weakened by the defence of Stalingrad that it cannot possibly be a serious menace.

FINLAND: In the latter part of March there had been initial peace-feelers between Finland and Soviet Union with USA acting as the intermediary. In Finland there's interest in peace, but also concern of German reaction. Germany is still strong, and there's a considerable amount of German troops stationed in Finland. So the Finnish government decides to send the Foreign Minister Henrik Ramsay to Germany to see if the Germans would consent to Finland making peace.

Ramsay meets today with Ribbentrop, who is already well informed of the situation. The German intelligence has closely followed the Finnish moves lately. Ribbentrop's reaction is predictable. If Finland accepts the US offer to mediate peace, Germany would consider it betrayal. Finland has immediately to quit all handlings with the USA and refuse the offer. Finland also has to make a pact with Germany stipulating that no separate peace would be made by either country. In a second meeting later in the day, Ribbentrop tells Ramsay that he has informed Hitler of their earlier discussion. Hitler fully agrees with Ribbentrop. Finland has to state immediately and definitely her position in the war. Ramsay answers that in democracy 'immediately' is a very relative term.

Amplifying the above: A Finnish historian recently established that von Ribbentrop was almost certainly bluffing here: there's no record that he contacted Hitler or even could have done so in so short a time. By this time von Ribbentrop and his Foreign Ministry had lost whatever position they had had in the handling of really important matters in German foreign affairs. It seems that bullying Finland into a formal alliance was a rather desperate attempt by von Ribbentrop to restore his fortunes, and he wasn't backed by Hitler.

As far as Hitler was concerned, it made no difference whether Finland was (officially) allied or not as long as Finns were fighting the USSR. Gen. Jodl -- whom Finns considered the man in the highest German leadership who had most understanding for Finland's role in the war -- reasoned that the USSR was not going to give terms Finns were ready accept, so Finland will stay in the war on German side, and applying any pressure on them would only sour the Fenno-German relations. For the time being, this assessment was true. It seems that even Hitler himself was ready to acknowledge that Finland was something of a special case: on 4 September 1944, the day the Fenno-Soviet armistice started, Hitler said to Japanese ambassador Oshima that 'because Finland gave up the battle only after exhausting all her powers, she is not guilty of betrayal'. Of course, Der Führer could just have been making the best of a bad situation because -- unlike for example in Hungary -- Germany was not in a position to intervene in Finland.

U.S.S.R.: Black Sea Fleet and Azov Flotilla: MS "T-511" (ex-"Chervonii Kazak") - mined in Zemesskaya bay, close to Novorossiisk    (Sergey Anisimov)(69)

TUNISIA: Ninth Air Force B-25s and P-40s mount attacks on the Mareth Line and damage an estimated 50 trucks, tanks and other vehicles. Twelfth Air Force A-20s, B-25s and P-39s hit fuel dumps, roads, railway and airfield targets.

2nd Lt. Moana-Nui-a-Kiwa Ngarimu, 2nd New Zealand Expeditionary Force, led his platoon in taking and holding a hill, but was killed soon after help arrived. (Victoria Cross)

BURMA: Tenth Air Force B-24s mine the Rangoon River during the night of 26/27 March while six others attack Mingaladon Airfield.

Hehtin Chaung: The Chindits are withdrawing from Burma. of the 3,000 Gurkha, Burmese and British troops who went in, only 2,200 are left.

After five fruitful weeks destroying bridges and proving that British-Indian troops can fight in the jungle as skilfully as the Japanese, the brigade crossed the Irrawaddy and found itself trapped between three rivers, with three Japanese divisions closing in on it. Only two escape routes were open to the commander, Brigadier Orde Wingate - north to India or east to the Keren Hills, where the Chindits would be with a sympathetic population, but beyond the reach of air supply. Two days ago General Geoffrey Scoones, commanding the British IV Corps, ordered Wingate to head north towards India.

Despite the withdrawal, some politicians are the proponents of irregular warfare are hailing the Chindits, comparing Wingate to Lawrence of Arabia. Regular soldiers are less enthusiastic about their strategic value.

PACIFIC: 
GILBERT ISLANDS: Thirteenth Air Force B-24s bomb the airfield on Nauru Island.

NEW GUINEA: Fifth Air Force A-20s and B-17s attack targets on the north coast.

North PACIFIC: A naval duel fought at long range between US and Japanese forces off the Komandorski Islands (the correct spelling of these islands today is Komandorskiye Islands which is Commander Islands in English) today ended in the US force winning against a Japanese force twice as large. The Japanese were escorting two transports and a freighter bringing reinforcements to the lonely garrison on Kiska, in the Aleutians. The Americans were there to prevent this, and, since the transports turned back, victory was theirs. The battle - unusual in the Pacific war for being fought in daylight - lasted for nearly four hours, but neither side suffered great damage, two U.S. cruisers and four destroyers engage four Japanese cruisers and five destroyers. The American cruiser USS SALT LAKE CITY was hit and a Japanese cruiser suffered severe damage.

The US Navy force consisted of Task Group 16.6:

Heavy cruiser USS Salt Lake City (CA-25),

Light cruiser USS Richmond (CL-9), and

Destroyer Squadron Fourteen (DesRon 14) consisting of:

USS Bailey (DD-492)

USS Coghlan (DD-606)

USS Dale (DD-353)

USS Monaghan (DD-354)

The Japanese force consisted of:

Cruiser Division One

Heavy cruisers HIJMS Nachi (flagship) and HIJMS Maya

Light cruiser HIJMS Tama

Destroyer Division Twenty One consisting of:

HIJMS Hatsushimo and HIJMS Wakaba

The Convoy consisted of:

Light cruiser HIJMS Abukuma

Destroyers Division Six

HIJMS Ikazuchi and Inazuma

Transports Asaka Maru and Sakito Maru

The Second Escort Force consisted of the destroyer HIJMS Usugumo and transport Sanko Maru.

The battle is a tactical victory for the US Navy because it prevents the Japanese from reinforcing Attu Island in the Aleutian Islands.

The highlights of the battle are described below. SLC is the USS Salt Lake City.

0820 hours: USS Richmond sights nine vessels.

0840 hours: HIJMS Nachi opens fire

0907 hours: HIJMS Nachi begins to smoke

1002 hours: SLC suffers a steering casualty

1010 hours: A shell penetrates the main deck forward

1059 hours: SLC is hit by an 8-inch shell and one of the ship's aircraft catches fire. The aircraft is pushed overboard.

1103 hours: SLC is hit again but the shell does not penetrate the hull.

1150 hours: Somebody goofs and allows sea water into the fuel flow extinguishing all boilers and SLC stops dead in the water.

1155 hours: Trying to protect SLC, the destroyers USS Coghlan and USS Bailey begin a suicidal torpedo attack on the heavy cruiser HIJMS Nachi. Every gun on the Japanese ships begins firing at the destroyers.

1200 hours: USS Bailey is holed on the starboard side. She fires five torpedoes at 9,500 yards (8.7 km)

1202 hours: SLC swings hard left and begins firing high capacity rounds since there is a shortage of armor piercing rounds. The Japanese believe they are under air attack and begin firing AA guns. 

1203 hours: The Japanese break off the action.

1204 hours: SLC is underway making 15 knots and fires here last salvo.

1208 hours: The Japanese fire their last rounds.

1212 hours: The Battle of Komandorski Islands is over. A total of 3,465 rounds were fired by both sides; no ships are sunk and the casualties are seven sailors killed and thirteen wounded.

Land-based air (13 B-24s, 11 B-25s and 8 P-38s) had been alerted for possible strikes but USAAF crews were grounded by weather. B-25s had to have bomb bay fuel tanks installed and the armor piercing bombs were frozen to the ground. They finally take off at approximately 1400 hours but there is no trace of the Japanese fleet so several bomb the Main Camp and radar station on Kiska. Navy PBYs tracked the Japanese force but they were carrying depth charges instead of bombs.

U.S.A.: Elsie S. Ott, US Army nurse became the first woman to receive the US Air Force Medal for meritorious achievement. 2nd Lt. Ott was a nurse for five patients on a flight from india to Washington DC (11,000 miles). It was the first aerial evacuation flight in nursing history. (Michael Ballard)

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