21 March 1945

UNITED KINGDOM: There are currently 745 Avro Lancasters ready for operations on Bomber Commands books and 296 in Operational Conversion Units. (22)

Hohenlychen: Guderian fails to get Heinrich Himmler to go with him to Berlin to persuade Hitler to seek an armistice.

DENMARK: Copenhagen: Allied airmen broke open another Gestapo prison today, but at a terrible cost. In the basement of the Shell building, Danish resistance fighters were being tortured. On the top floor another 32 prisoners were being held. RAF bombs had to destroy the remaining floors. They did. Around 100 Nazis died for the loss of six prisoners. Others escaped and the Gestapo's planned arrests of the banned Danish Freedom Council were thwarted. But one of the six aircraft that crashed set fire to a school. Other pilots bombed this, believing it to be the target. A total of 112 Danish civilians were killed, including 86 children and 17 teachers. The aircraft were Mosquito VIs of No. 464 Squadron. (22)

EUROPE: Over 2,500 USAAF bombers hit targets in Germany and Austria from bases in England and Italy. The Eighth Air Force dispatches 890 B-17s and 610 B-24s to bomb ten jet fighter bases in northwestern Germany plus a tank factory at Plauen and a marshalling yard at Reichenbach. The Ninth Air Force dispatches 580-plus A-20s, A-26s and B-26s to bomb six communication centers and a marshalling yard east of the Rhine River in an interdiction campaign to obstruct enemy movement. The Fifteenth Air Force dispatches 660-plus B-17s and B-24s to bomb targets in Austria and Germany. The German targets is the Neuburg an der Donau Airfield: Austrian targets include marshalling yards at Villach, Klagenfurt, Graz, Bruck an der Mur, and Pragersko; three oil refineries; and a supply depot at Vienna.

BURMA: Lt. Claud Raymond (b.1923), Royal Engineers, led his patrol through Japanese defences under savage fire. He died next day, having insisted his wounds be treated last. (Victoria Cross)

CHINA: Japan launches a fresh offensive aimed at capturing the strategic US air bases at Laohokow and Ankong.

JAPAN: In the Kurile Islands, Task Force 92's attempt to bombard Suribachi on Paramushiru Island is thwarted due to heavy sea ice. TF 92 consists of the light cruisers USS Concord (CL-10), USS Richmond (CL-9) and USS Trenton (CL-11) plus accompanying destroyers.

The first operational use of the Yokosuka MXY7 rocket-powered suicide plane occurs today.

PACIFIC OCEAN: Task Force 58 has now withdrawn to an area between the Ryukyu and Bonin Islands. The Japanese mount numerous small attacks and carrier based Navy and Marine F6F and F4U fighter pilots shoot down 54 Japanese aircraft between 0336 and 1500 hours. Marine F4U pilots shoot down a Yokosuka P1Y, Navy Bomber Ginga (Milky Way) (Allied Code Name "Frances") and a Nakajima J1N, Navy Type 2 Reconnaissance Plane (Allied Code Name "Irving") between 1030 and 1045 hours and two Mitsubishi J2M, Navy Interceptor Fighter Raiden (Thunderbolt) (Allied Code Name "Jack") at 1420 hours.

USS Independence (CVL-22) with Light Carrier Air Group Forty Six (CVLG-46) joins TF 58. Also joining is Task Group 50.8, the At Sea Logistics Support Group, which includes:

Task Unit 50.8.13, the Covering Unit, with USS Shamrock Bay (CVE-84) and Composite Squadron Ninety Four (VC-94),

Task Unit 50.8.14, the Covering Unit, with USS Makassar Strait (CVE-91) and VC-97, and Task Unit 50.8.4, the Carrier Transport Unit, with USS Admiralty Islands (CVE-99), USS Attu (CVE-102), USS Bougainville (CVE-100) and USS Windham Bay (CVE-92).

U.S.A.: A Fourth Air Force Bell P-63 Kingcobra from Walla Walla AAFld, Washington, intercepts a Japanese balloon near Redmond, Oregon and shoots it down near Reno, Nevada.

Bureau of Aeronautics initiates rocket-powered surface-to-air guided missile development by awarding contract to Fairchild.

U-968 sank HMS Lapwing and SS Thomas Donaldson in Convoy JW-65.

U-995 torpedoed SS Horace Bushnell in Convoy JW-65. Total loss.

U-326 had to return to Bergen (Norway) due to severe technical difficulties.