March 26th, 1945 (MONDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM: David Lloyd George, the British prime minister between 1916 and 1922, dies at Ty-newydd, Caernarvonshire, Wales at age 82.
ENGLISH CHANNEL: U-399 (German type VIIC) sunk in the English Channel near Land's End, an unknown depth, in position 49.56N, 05.22W, by depth charges from the British frigate HMS Duckworth. 46 dead and 1 survivor self escaped with Drager gear, PoW. (Mark Horan and Alex Gordon)
Whilst
patrolling off the Dutch coast in company with MTB’s 764 and 758, corvette HMS
Puffin finds herself in very close proximity to what turned out to be a Biber
miniature submarine which she rams aft of the conning tower. This causes the two
G7E torpedoes to detonate and Puffin is lifted out of the water by the
explosion. Although Puffin was able to make it to port under her own power, she
is paid off and not repaired. The only casualty was the operator of the Biber.
(Alex Gordon)(108)
GERMANY: British PM Churchill
looks over the Rhine near Ginsberg. (Michael Ballard)
330 Eighth B-17s escorted by 450 P-51s attack an oil refinery and tank
factories; and about 300 Ninth Air Force A-20s, A-26s and B-26s hit three
marshalling yards.
The war weary citizens of the Third Reich were today called upon by Martin Bormann, Hitler's deputy, to become "Werewolf" guerrillas in a last-ditch resistance against the Allies as they invade Germany. Bormann said: "The Werewolf has been born of National Socialism. It makes no allowances and knows no considerations as imposed on regular troops .... Hatred shall be our prayer and revenge our battle-cry ..."
AUSTRIA, CZECHOSLOVAKIA AND HUNGARY: Over 500 Fifteenth Air Force B-17s and B-24s with P-38 and P-51 escorts, attack four marshalling yards in Austria and one each in Czechoslovakia and Hungary.
BURMA: Tenth Air Force B-25s and P-47s attack Japanese positions in Central Burma.
CHINA: 15 Fourteenth Air Force B-25s and 80+ fighters attack Japanese targets in southern and eastern China.
FORMOSA: Fifth Air Force B-24s TKO Airfield.
IWO JIMA: A final suicide attack by the Japanese on Iwo Jima is reported by the 5th MarDiv. During the night of 26/27 March, several hundred Japanese soldiers mount a banzai attack against North Field; 44 fighter pilots and ground crew are killed and 88 are wounded.RYUKYU ISLANDS: Carrier aircraft of the British Pacific Fleet carried out attacks today on airfields on the Sakaishima Islands, between Okinawa and Formosa, to prevent their use by Japanese aircraft. The role of the Royal Navy is to support the American invasion of Okinawa, the final step before the planned invasion of the Japanese home islands. A huge armada of 1,400 naval and merchant ships of many types carrying 182,000 assault troops is en-route to Okinawa. The Japanese are expected to employ the full strength of their air forces against the armada; hence the "softening up" of their airfields.
US forces land on the Kraal Islands. US aircraft from Task Force 58 and Task Group 52.1 and Royal Navy aircraft of Task Force 57 support the landings. Fifth Fleet destroyers establish a radar picket line north of Okinawa. Each ship has a fighter-director team that can guide US fighters against the Japanese aircraft while they are some distance away.
KURILE ISLANDS: Four Eleventh Air Force B-24s bomb the Asaka naval base.
COMMONWEALTH OF THE PHILIPPINES: Fifth Air Force A-20s, B-24s, B-25s and fighters hit numerous targets in northern Luzon. Ground forces of the Eighth Army invade Zebu supported by Marine Air Group Fourteen (MAG-14) and Thirteenth Air Force B-24s and Fifth Air Force A-20s.
NEW GUINEA: Lt Lieutenant Albert Chowne wins Victoria Cross in action on the track between Dagua and Wonginara New Guinea (posthumous) (Daniel Ross)