March 19th, 1944 (SUNDAY)
HUNGARY: The Germans occupy the country for tactical reasons and to safeguard their continued access to oil resources.
Budapest: With Stalin's armies now thrusting towards Germany's flank in south-eastern Europe. Hitler has sent in troops to occupy Hungary and seize vital communications for the defence of the Danube plain - the highway into the Reich.
All civilian traffic has been ordered off the roads. Admiral Horthy, the regent of Hungary, was summoned to Klessheim Castle, Salzburg, where Hitler ordered him to appoint a pro-Nazi as premier, allow the Germany army to take over the Hungarians transport system, and give the SS a free hand in deporting Hungarian Jews. Horthy returned to Budapest to find a German guard of honour lined up to greet him. He retreated to his palace and has not been seen since.
Edmund Veesenmayer, the German ambassador plenipotentiary with "special powers" in Hungary, is mobilizing "all resources for final victory", and Hungary's 767,000 Jews, hitherto unharmed through four years of war, are to be sent on their way to Auschwitz.
NEW GUINEA: The US shells the Japanese at Wewak for a second time.
CANADA: Tug HMCS Glenholme ordered McKenzie Barge and Derrick.
U.S.A.:
Light cruiser USS Dayton launched.
Minesweeper USS Gayety launched.
Destroyer USS Maddox launched.
ATLANTIC OCEAN: U-1059
The boat was sunk in this attack but it brought down one of the attackers even
as the boat was slipping beneath the waves. The boat left Bordeaux during March
of 1944 with a load of torpedoes destined for the "Monsun"
group operating in the Indian Ocean, and from Japanese occupied harbours.