March 8th, 1945 (THURSDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM: A V-2 kills 110 people and injures 123 when it hits Smithfield market, London.
Corvette HMCS Hespeller departs Londonderry as escort for Convoy ON-289.
Frigate HMCS Kirkland Lake departs Halifax, Nova Scotia, for Londonderry to join EG-16.
HMC MTB 486 paid off.
Minesweeper HMCS Stratford completes workups at Bermuda.
FRANCE: Normandy: German forces bypassed by D-Day landings 21 months ago made an impudent raid tonight from their Channel Islands base. They attacked Granville, 500 miles behind the front line, with a commando force representing elements of Germany's three armed forces.
Thirty small craft, ranging from minesweepers to cutters, carried the 200-strong raiding party 25 miles to the target. It should have been a disaster, since the raiders' plans were intercepted by British Enigma codebreakers while the fleet was spotted on radar. But the single US patrol craft, armed with a defective gun, sent to intercept was mauled.
The raiders landed unopposed at 1am and blew up port installations and four merchant ships. Fifteen American and eight British servicemen were killed, along with six French civilians. The raiders freed 79 German prisoners, nine of whom later arranged for their recapture. The raiders also took prisoner five American soldiers and eight Britons. The attackers lost three dead and one man captured. They left with some booty: a merchant ship and its cargo of coal.
At 1055, SS Lornaston in the combined Convoy OS-115/KMS-89 was torpedoed and sunk by U-275 NW of Fécamp. The master, 40 crewmembers and seven gunners were picked up by frigate HMS Holmes and tug HMS Palencia and landed at Newhaven.
NETHERLANDS: The Nazi authorities kill 117 Dutchmen in reprisal for the attempted murder of General Rauter.
GERMANY: German efforts to destroy the Ludendorff Bridge at Remagen begin with bombing. Even jet aircraft are rounded up for the effort.
During these attacks, the US forces over the
bridge continue.
The Eighth Air Force flew Mission 872 and one of the targets was
the benzol plants at Essen which was assigned to the B-17s of the 1st Air
Division. There were four primary oil industry targets assigned to the Division,
i.e., Essen Emil, Bottrop Mathies Stinnes, Buer Scholren and Huls August
Viktoria. I do not have a clue where these three are with respect to the city of
Essen but 337 of the 458 B-17s dispatched hit those targets with 1,002.2 tons of
bombs. Another 109 B-17s hit the marshalling yards at Essen, a target of
opportunity, dropping 321.5 tons of bombs.
Also dispatched that day were 526 B-17s of the 3d Air Division and 360 B-24s of the 2d Air Division. The primary targets for the B-24s were marshalling yards at Betzdorf, Siegen and Dillenburg while the primary targets for the B-17s were oil industry targets at Langendreer, Dortmund and Frankfurt.
U-3039 and U-3040 are commissioned.
VOLCANO ISLANDS: Iwo Jima: Volcano Islands: First Lieutenant Jack Lummus, U.S. Marine Corps Reserve attached to the 2d Battalion, 27th Marines, 5th Marine Division, resumes his assault tactics with bold decision after fighting without respite for 2 days and nights. 1st Lt. Lummus slowly advances his platoon against a deeply entrenched enemy. Suddenly halted by a terrific concentration of hostile fire, he unhesitatingly moved forward of his front lines in an effort to neutralize the Japanese position. Although knocked to the ground when an enemy grenade exploded close by, he immediately recovered himself and, again moving forward despite the intensified barrage, quickly located, attacked, and destroyed the occupied emplacement. Instantly taken under fire by the garrison of a supporting pillbox and further assailed by the slashing fury of hostile rifle fire, he fell under the impact of a second enemy grenade but, courageously disregarding painful shoulder wounds, staunchly continued his heroic 1-man assault and charged the second pillbox, annihilating all the occupants. Subsequently returning to his platoon position, he fearlessly traversed his lines under fire, encouraging his men to advance and directing the fire of supporting tanks against other stubbornly holding Japanese emplacements. Held up again by a devastating barrage, he again moved into the open, rushed a third heavily fortified installation and killed the defending troops. Determined to crush all resistance, he led his men indomitably, personally attacking foxholes and spider traps with his carbine and systematically reducing the fanatic opposition until, stepping on a land mine, he sustained fatal wounds. MOH
U.S.A.: The motion picture "Murder, My Sweet" opens at the RKO Palace in New York City. Directed by Edward Dmytryk, this murder mystery based on a Raymond Chandler novel stars Dick Powell, Claire Trevor, Anne Shirley, Otto Krugers and Mike Mazurki. This was comedy star Powell's successful attempt to change his screen image. .
Phyliss M. Daley became the first Black nurse sworn in as a US Navy Ensign. She was a graduate of Lincoln School for Nurses, New York, and was the first of 4 Black Navy nurses to serve on active duty in WW 2. (Michael Ballard)
Destroyer USS Strong is commissioned.