March 7th, 1944 (TUESDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM: Westminster: Female crooners on the BBC were attacked today in the House of Commons when Lord Winterton (Con) claimed: "They remind one of the caterwauling of an inebriated cockatoo. I cannot believe that all this wailing about lost babies can possibly have a good effect on troops who are about to endanger their lives." The parliamentary secretary to the minister of information, Mr Thurtle, said that the government would not interfere with the BBC. "I do not think a certain amount of crooning is likely to have a serious effect on the British Army," he said.
HMCS Bayfield arrived Devonport and joined 31st Minesweeping Flotilla.
HMCS Thunder arrived Devonport and joined 32nd Minesweeping Flotilla.
Escort carrier HMS Campania commissioned.
GERMANY: A major propaganda campaign aimed primarily at women has been launched in an attempt to bolster Germany's depleted labour force. Though some three million women between the ages of 17 and 45 were registered for war work last year on the orders of Fritz Sauckel, the Reich plenipotentiary for the allocation of labour, more than two million have used family responsibilities and health grounds to avoid their allocated jobs. Members of the Nazi organization for women are going from house to house appealing to the women to work "in the service of the community."
POLAND: Auschwitz-Birkenau: In a routine gassing, 3,823 Czech Jews from the ghetto at Theresienstadt are killed.
FINLAND: Finnish government informs the Soviet government (via Kollontay in Sweden) that it is interested in continuing the peace probes. On the 10th of March Soviet answer is received. The Finnish proposition is deemed inadequate. The Soviet terms set out earlier to Paasikivi are the minimum, and there's no way to alter that. The Soviet government expects the Finns to accept these minimum terms by 18 March if they want to negotiate.
BURMA: Tonight Lt-Gen Renya Mutaguchi launches Operation U-Go to capture the Imphal Plain.
Air Commando Combat Mission N0. 20 3:40 Flight Time Hailakandi, Assam to Bhamo, Burma. Twelve B-25s dropped one hundred and five hundred pound bombs on the Bhamo Air Field. We used six to 12 hour chemical delay fusing in some of the bombs. The runways and taxi strips were thoroughly plastered and the field was definitely of no use to the Japanese to attack "BROADWAY," the code name for the landing site in Burma.
Notes: Source for the following: Air Force History and Museum Program 1944 Operation Thursday was code name for the operation. The task orders: (for the Chindits and Air Commandos)
(1) Assist advance of General Stillwell's forces to take Myitkyina by cutting communication of the Japanese 18th Division, harassing its rear and preventing reinforcement.
(2) Create a favorable situation for the Chinese forces crossing the Salween River into Burma.
(3) Inflict damage and confusion on the enemy in northern Burma.
(Chuck Baisden)
CANADA: Corvette HMCS Petrolia (ex-HMS Sherborne Castle) commissioned.
U.S.A.: Destroyer escort USS Jack W Wilke commissioned.
Destroyer escort USS Woodson laid down.
Destroyer escorts USS William Seiverling, Ulvert M Moore and Kenneth M Willett launched.
ATLANTIC OCEAN: