March 23rd, 1944 (SUNDAY)
EASTERN FRONT: The 1st Ukranian Front drives between Proskurov and Tarnapol threatening to split the 1st and 4th Panzer Armies, and surrounding the Red Army headquarters at Tarnopol.
GREECE: The Germans begin deporting Greek Jews to Auschwitz-Birkenau.
ITALY: Monte Cassino: The unsuccessful Allied assault, spearheaded by the New Zealand Corps, is called off.
Italian partisans kill 28 SS-Polizei men with a bomb on Via Rasella in Rome. Subsequently an order is received from Hitler to kill 10 Italians for each German soldier. Chief of the Rome SIPO, SS-Obstbf., Herbert Kappler, together with Pietro Caruso, the chief of the Italian police, is responsible for selecting the victims. People arrested on the spot, political prisoners and Jews are sent to the Ardeatine Caves near Rome, shot in the neck in small groups, and buried under the sand; the entrances are then sealed by exploding charges. Altogether 335 Italians are murdered, among them 78 Jews. (Russell Folsom)
ROMANIA: Bucharest: In the wake of their occupation if Hungary, the Germans today strengthened their position in Romania, which was occupied in October 1940. The dictator, Marshal Ion Antonescu, a longtime admirer of Hitler, was told that 500,000 German troops were being sent in to safeguard communications and protect the oil-wells for Germany.
With the Red Army on his borders, Antonescu was less than enthusiastic. Hitler was unmoved. Four Panzer and several infantry divisions have already moved in. Romania's foreign policy has been largely determined by resentment at the territorial depredations of her neighbours. In June 1940 Romania was forced to hand over Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina to Stalin. Romanian troops retook them a year later, after they had joined Hitler in the German attack on the USSR.
In August 1940 the "Vienna Award" gave North Transylvania to Hungary. This week, when Germany occupied Hungary, two Romanian divisions joined in. As Sovet troops advance into Bessarabia, the BBC today broadcast a warning to Romanians: abandon the Nazis or face retribution from the Allies.
GERMANY: Every minute for 24 hours to noon today more than four tons of explosive were dropped by Allied airmen on Germany and occupied Europe. This new intensive onslaught dropped 3,000 tons of bombs on Frankfurt, in the most concentrated attack of the war, after diverting from Schweinfurt. Mines were laid off Kiel, leaflets were dropped over France and minor diversionary raids made all over Germany. The variety of targets reflects a change of tactics, dispersing attacks to make defence more difficult. In daytime raids today the USAAF hit Brunswick and targets in France.
BURMA: Over 100 A-31s, B-24s, B-25s, P-38s, P-40s and P-51s at Japanese positions in Burma.
Air Commando Combat Mission N0.36 3:15 Flight Time Hailakandi, Assam to Indaw, Burma. Bombed Japanese supply dumps. Bad weather forced us to land at Broadway. Had to roll 55 gallon gasoline drums through dens elephant grass and refuel using a hand pump. Spent the night on the plane.
Note: As our missions were low level we had not been carrying any oxygen (none of my crew even had oxygen masks) and could not get over the weather front between Burma and Assam. It was a bit spooky as us fly boys were down and parked some 150 miles behind enemy lines and the night (noises )?. I think the Chindit grunts got a big kick out of our concerns. (Chuck Baisden)
EUROPE: Almost 1,000 USAAF bombers based in England bomb targets in Germany and France. Airfields in Germany are bombed by 767 B-17s and B-24s of the Eighth Air Force while over 200 B-26s of the Ninth Air Force bomb marshalling yards and airfields in France in morning and afternoon missions.
NEW GUINEA: Nearly 100 A-20s, B-24s, B-25s and P-47s hit numerous targets in the Aitape, Wewak, Alexishafen and Hansa Bay areas.
WAKE ISLAND: Seventh Air Force B-24s operating from Kwajalein Island in the Marshall Islands, bomb Wake Island.
PACIFIC: Japanese submarine I-42 is sunk by USS Tunny (282) east of the Philippines. (Mike Yared)(144 and 145)
U.S.A.: US Navy Motor Torpedo Squadron 2 is re-commissioned and assigned to the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) landing personnel and supplied in occupied Europe.