March 31st, 1944 (FRIDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM: 279 civilians were killed and 633 injured in air raids this month.
Bomber Command is suffering losses which it cannot sustain. Germany is littered with the burnt-out carcasses of Lancasters shot down by German night fighters in the "Battle of Berlin", and there is no doubt that the Luftwaffe has won the battle. The last raid on Berlin was a week ago, when 72 out of 811 aircraft were lost, and no more are planned in the immediate future. Since 18 November last year, 1,117 bombers and their crews have been lost over Berlin and other targets. So terrible have the losses been that even the eager young men of the RAF's elite aircrews, many of them still under 20, have occasionally baulked. Many have been shot down on their first operation. The rest have just a 50-50 chance of completing a "tour" of 30 operations.
Slapton Sands, Devon: A full-scale investigation is to be launched next week in a bid to find out just what went wrong when the Amercan VII Corps, under Major-General J Lawton Collins, staged an invasion exercise - Operation Beaver - at Slapton Sands, near Dartmouth in Devon. The Sands, chosen because they are similar to a possible landing area in France, were to be captured by men coming ashore from landing craft after airborne troops had secured the flanks. Live ammunition was used, and a naval bombardment. But co-ordination between the units quickly broke down. "It was utter confusion," one man said.
GERMANY: British forces last night suffered a disaster similar to the Light Brigade's destruction at Balaklava, when 545 aircrew of Bomber Command died in a single raid. The target was Nuremburg, a round trip of 1,500 miles and eight hours for those who came back. The route was direct and predictably, in bright moonlight, onto the guns of the Luftwaffe night fighters all the way from Aachen to the target. Some defenders dropped flares above the 795-strong air convoy to illuminate the bombers even more.
In all, 95 planes were lost. 12 crashed as they landed, one a Halifax whose pilot, Cyril Barton, is to be recommended for a posthumous VC sacrificing his life to avoid miners' cottages.
Another 59 aircraft suffered heavy damage. The precentage loss was 20.8% of men and 11.9% of machines. The Germans lost 19 airmen (a favourable ratio of one to 28) plus 69 civilians and 59 slave workers. Although 256 buildings were hit and thousands of people have been made homeless, photo-reconnaissance suggests that Germany's war industry is unaffected.
Despite inflicting heavy losses on the RAF, the Germans are increasingly concerned about the effect of Allied raids on the civil population.
A secret report on the domestic situation by the SD (Security Service of the SS) says that in Berlin, for example, people are living "in fear", especially of daylight raids. Berlin has been that target of 16 heavy raids in recent months - 11 this year alone - which have killed 6,166 and made 1.5 million homeless. The Nazis are putting greater pressure on parents to send their children to rural child evacuation camps from areas at risk.
HUNGARY: All Jews are ordered to wear yellow stars for visual identification purposes.
ARCTIC OCEAN: Convoy JW-58 has triumphed in the face of one of the most powerful combined attacks of the war by German planes and submarines. The Allies were prepared for trouble and had provided the biggest-ever Arctic escort, comprising two aircraft carriers, five sloops, 20 destroyers, five corvettes and a cruiser. British aircraft shot down six German planes and sank another three U-boats, with the anti-submarine ace Captain F J "Johnnie" Walker leading the sloops from the bridge of HMS STARLING. Not a single merchant ship was lost.
PACIFIC: US Naval TF
58, the fast
carriers of the 5th Fleet, attack Palau.
Admiral Mineichi Koga, Commander in Chief of the Imperial Japanese Combined Fleet is killed
in an air crash. Due to political differences, his successor will not be named
immediately.
U.S.A.: During WW II, the Military Intelligence Service (MIS) produced numerous documents, most commonly known are the Intelligence Bulletins. The Military Intelligence Special Series continues with "Company Officer's Handbook of the German Army." (William L. Howard)
Patrol Escort Vessel USS CASPER is commissioned with Lieutenant Commander F. J. Scheiber, USCG, in command; and reported to the Western Sea Frontier. (Henry Sirotin)