March 18th, 1944 (SATURDAY)
FRANCE: Paris: Picasso's play Le Désir attrapé par la queue is read in the Leirises' drawing room. Maria Casares, the actress, along with Sartre, Camus and de Beauvoir reads parts of the play.GERMANY:
AUSTRIA: Salzburg: Hitler detains Hungary's regent, Admiral Horthy, in Salzburg and orders the German army to occupy Hungary.
INDIA: Imphal: As General Mutaguchi's men press forward towards the vital military base at Imphal on a massive front. General Slim is belatedly rushing troops north from the Arakan to try to repel them. The Japanese have caught them on the hop with their attack which came a week earlier than he had predicted.
To add to Slim's woes, Operation Thursday, the attack by glider-borne Chindits behind enemy lines near Indaw, has failed to make much impact. The plan was to cut off Japanese forces in northern Burma, re-opening the route between Ledo and Kunming. Despite cutting the Mandalay to Myitkyina railway, Wingate's crack troops find themselves sidelines temporarily by the Imphal battle.
Slim's tactic is to pull his troops back to the Imphal plain and entice the Japanese to follow, thus lengthening the enemy's supply lines through difficult territory and shortening his own. The 20th Indian Division, hard pressed by the Japanese 33rd Division, has withdrawn from Tamu to the hills and is now virtually blocking the Imphal road. To the north, Mutaguchi is poised to attack Sangsak, the gateway to his second main target: Kohima, a rail and supplies centre almost as important as Imphal.
Air Commando Combat Mission N0. 32 2:45 Flight time Repeated same mission as yesterday.
Notes: When I returned to the states, my journal was taken from me prior to departing from Casablanca, Morocco. We were told to make sure our name and address was on our stuff being taken. I remember there was a pile of notes, diaries, journals, etc., about a foot high.
We had been issued the baggy pants and jackets that were really paratroopers gear. A very officious, 2nd Lt of course, told me that my jacket was not Air Force issue and I would have to dispose of it or would not be allowed on the plane. We always had words for these type of people (C.S.) but spoken only to those who are at your pecking level. You can bet I got rid of the jacket.
What the Lt did not know was my traveling companion had a folding stock carbine hung over his shoulder and covered with his rain coat. The last time I saw the guy was walking out of the airport at La Gaurdia field in New York with raincoat and carbine still intact.
A couple years after the war the journal was returned by the Air Force. (Chuck Baisden)
CANADA:
Submarine HMS Seawolf ASW training Halifax , Nova Scotia.
RCN dive tender DT 6 ordered Shelburne Shipbuilding Co.
RCN boom attendant vessels HC 284, 285, 286, 287, 290 ordered.
U.S.A.:
Destroyer escort USS Jaccard launched.
Destroyer escort USS Earl V Johnson commissioned.
Frigate USS Grand Forks commissioned.
ATLANTIC OCEAN: Destroyer HS Kanaris collided with cruiser HMS Hawkins. No casualties.