March 27

On March 27, 1945 the Germans launched what was left of their V-2 rockets from the only remaining launch sight in the Netherlands. This attack added about 200 English and Belgian citizens to the death toll brought about by the V-2s.

March 26

On March 26, 1941 Italy uses the first detacable manned warhead torpedoes to sink a British cruiser in the Suda Bay, Crete. This added a new weapon to the navies' arsenal. It was called the "Chariot." The torpedo was unique because two men would steer the warhead until it was lined up with the target then launch it.

March 25

On March 25, 1941 Yugoslavia, even though they signed a declaration of nuetrality, signed the Tripartite Pact to join the Axis powers of Germany, Italy, and Japan.

March 24

On March 24, 1944 Maj. Gen. Orde Wingate, leader of the 77th Indian Brigade, or the Chindits, dies at 41 years old.

March 23

On March 23, 1944 300 Italian citizens were slaughtered by the Germans as a reprisal for an Italian partisan attack on and SS unit.

March 22

On March 22, 1942 Sir Stanford Cripps travels toIndia to visit Ghandi and discuss Indian independence. this would be known as the Cripps Mission.

March 21

Major General Henning von Tresckow.

On March 21, 1943 the second military conspiracy in a week, lead by Maj. Gen. Henning von Tresckow, to kill Hitler failed. Tresckow planned to arrest the Fuhrer at the Army Group's headquarters at Barisov, Soviet Union. Hitler arrived but Tresckow had not considered Hitler's bodygaurds the SS and could not get cloe enough to do the job. 

March 20

On March 20, 1945 British troops liberated Mandalay, Burma. The British 14th Armywas under the command of Gen. William J. Slim and helped with the liberation of all of Burma from the Japanese.

March 19

On March 19, 1945 commander of the German Home Army, Gen. Friedrich Fromm was shot by a firing squad for his participation in the July assasination attempt on Hitler. Even though Fromm said it was a half-hearted participation, he was killed.

March 18

Public announcement of Japanese relocation.

Children at the Heart Mountain Internment Camp in Wyoming.

On March 18, 1942 the War Relocation Authority is created to "Take all people of Japanese descent into custody, surround them with troops, prevent them from buying land, and return them to their homes at the close of the war." The relocation of thousands of Japanese Americans was very hard for many people and considered an embarressment to our country. It may have been an act to protect our country but it may have gone too far to be accepted easily.

March 17

On March 17, 1940 Dr. Fritz Todt, a German engineer, was named the Reich's Minister of munitions because of his innovations in industry and forced labor.

March 16

On March 16, 1945 the U.S. declares the volcanic island Iwo Jima secure. The island was won after months of extremely deadly and fierce fighting.

March 15

German troops with a Czechoslovakian citizen.

On March 15, 1939 Hitler's forces invade Czechoslovakia, which was a nation sacrificed by the Munich Pact to prevent Germany from fulfilling it's imperial aims.

March 14

German troops moving into Kharkov.

On March 14, 1943 the Germans recapture the second largest city in the Ukraine, Kharkov.

March 13

On March 13, 1944 London stopped travel from Ireland to Britain. The suspension was because the Irish government did not expel Axis-power diplomats from it's borders.

March 12

Austrain Chancellor Clancy Dimetri and Hitler.

On March 12, 1938 Hitler announces and Anschluss(union) with Austria. The unuion was actually annexing Austria into a growing Germany.

March 11

On March 11, 1942 Gen. Douglas MacArthur leaves the Phillipines as the islands defense are weakend by the Japanese. MacArthur was ordered to leave by President Franklin.

March 10

On March 10, 1940  U.S. Undersecretary Sumner Welles goes to London after visiting Adolf Hitler to talk to British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain to try to keep the European War in Europe.

March 9

On March 9, 1945 the U.S. dropped 2,000 tons of recently invented napalm on Tokyo. The bombing raid killed between 80,000 and 130,000 Japanese civilians. Almost 16 square miles of the city was burned.

March 8

On March 8, 1942 the Dutch surrendered the island Java to the Japanese.

March 7

On March 7, 1941 the British army landed in Greece. Greece had been under Italian control since October of 1940.

March 6

A group of Dutch Resistance fighters.

Lt. Gen. Hanns A. Rauter.

On March 6, 1945 Dutch Resistance fighters attempt to hijack a truck in Apeldoorn, Holland, mistakenly ambush SS officer Lt. Gen. Hanns Rauter. In the following week the SS execute 263 Dutch in retaliation. The Dutch Resistance had been giving the Germans more and more problems as the war went on. This was the last straw. Rauter lived but hundreds of Dutch and Dutch Jews suffered the consequences. Rauter would later be tried in Nuremburg in 1949 and was executed for war crimes.

March 5

On March 5, 1953 Joseph Stalin dies. Stalin had ruled Russia with an iron fist all through the second world war. He was born in Georgia with the name Isoeb Dzhugashvili,  to a drunk that beat him and a pious washerwoman. Stalin began studying Karl Marx and extreme left wing politics secretly while in seminary school. He was eventually expelled for his political beliefs.

March 4

On March 4, 1941 the British launch Operation Claymore which was the attempt to capture the Enigma decoding machine. the Operation in Norway proved to be very destructive, yet it was a failure.The Enigma was never retrieved.

A British ship off the coast of Norway during Operation Claymore.

The U.S. Eighth Air Force bombing Berlin.

Berlin after the Eighth Air Force's bombing raid.

Also in 1944 the U.S. Eighth Air Force launches a the first American bombing raid on the German capital, Berlin.

March 3

On March 3, 1945 Finland declares war on  Germany and joins the Allies. Finland was under increasing pressure from the United States and the Soviet Union to join them. Also Germany had attacked Finland several times but was fought off by the famous skiing soldiers.

March 2

On March 2,1943 Australian land based planes launched an offensive against the Japanese on the Bismark Sea, in the Western Pacific.

March 1

On March 1, 1941 Bulgaria joins the Axis powers by signing the Tripartite Pact.This alliance with Germany caused the Soviet Union to target Bulgaria, which after the war agreed to be pro-Soviet.