Replies

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/andrew.etherington/frame.htm

March 23rd, 1942

UNITED KINGDOM:
Minesweeper HMS Brave laid down.

Minesweeper HMS Bootle commissioned.

Frigate HMS Gould laid down. (Dave Shirlaw)

FRANCE: During the night of the 23rd/24th, RAF Bomber Command dispatches 12 Hampdens, three Stirlings and two Manchesters on a minelaying mission off Lorient without loss. This was the first time that Stirlings of No. 3 Group participated in the minelaying campaign. (Jack McKillop)

GERMANY: Fearing a second front in western Europe, Hitler orders tighter defence of coastal areas.
U-237 laid down.

U-265 launched.

U-619 commissioned. (Dave Shirlaw)

U.S.S.R.: Soviet submarine SC-401 mined and sunk. (Dave Shirlaw)

MEDITERRANEAN SEA: The Second Battle of Sirte. The British convoy consisting of four merchant ships and Royal Navy warships that is en route from Alexandria, Egypt, to Malta, is approaching the island. The ships come under concentrated air attack and one freighter, MS Clan Campbell, is sunk 50 miles (80 kilometer) from the island and a second damaged. Two freighters make it safely in to the port of Valleta but air attacks against the docks at Valletta made it very difficult to unload. (Jack McKillop)

At 0255, U-565 fired a spread of two torpedoes at Convoy TA-36 about 35 miles east-northeast of Sidi Barrani and observed a hit in the stern of a freighter after 4 minutes 5 seconds. The ship developed a list and stopped. At 03.01 hours, another spread of two torpedoes was fired and a detonation was heard after 4 minutes 15 seconds, followed by a heavier explosion. U-565 reported two ships sunk, but only the Kirkland was hit and sunk. One crewmember was lost. The master, 15 crewmembers and six gunners were picked up by armed trawler HMS Falk and landed at Mersa Matruh.

U-565 was attacked in the Mediterranean by a British aircraft with three bombs. The boat suffered slight damage. (Dave Shirlaw)

SOUTH AFRICA: The Union of South Africa severed diplomatic relations with France. (Dave Shirlaw)

ANDAMAN ISLANDS: A Japanese landing force occupies the Andaman Islands in the Bay of Bengal without opposition. (Jack McKillop)

BURMA:
Magwe, Burma
The AVG evacuated the airfield this AM. Only 4 serviceable AVG P-40s remaining. 3 men wounded from strafing and bombs. Mechanic John Fauth died last night 2 others being sent to India for treatment of wounds and bomb blast. No air raid warning until Jap bombers over head. (Chuck Baisden, AVG Veteran)

COMMONWEALTH OF THE PHILIPPINES: On Bataan, American and Filipino troops dig in for the next round. The I Corps fields 32,000 men and 50 guns on the west, while II Corps has 28,000 men and about 100 guns on the east, including 31 naval guns up to 3-inch (7.62 centimeter). Troops have been trained in jungle warfare, trenches and dugouts built, mines laid, and a 12-foot (3,7 meter) palisade of bamboo erected across the front. The Japanese are having ration trouble, too, as the 14th Army has cut rations from 62 ounces to 23 (1,76 kilogram to 652 grams); about 13,000 Japanese troops are in the hospital. But General HOMMA Masaharu, commanding the Japanese 14th Army, enjoys an edge: two Army bomber regiments comprising 60 heavy bombers, plus naval air force units. Homma plans to seize the dominant Mount Samat, centerpiece of the American line, then drive southeast to Limay, ringing the mountains to turn west towards Mariveles, the peninsula’s base. The attack will be led by the newly-arrived 4th Division and the 65th Brigade. Meanwhile, Japanese aircraft drop beer cans tied with ribbons, asking Wainwright to surrender. The appeal is ignored. (Jack McKillop)

NEW BRITAIN: The Tol plantation is the scene of a massacre of 150 Australians at they attempt to flee Rabaul. (Daniel Ross)

TERRITORY OF ALASKA: ALEUTIAN ISLANDS: Army aviation engineers begin work on the secret Otter Point Airfield on the 675 square mile (1748 square kilometer) Umnak Island separated from Unalaska Island, site of Naval Operating Base Dutch Harbor and Fort Mears, by Unmak Pass. By the end of the month, a 100 by 5,000 foot (30 by 1524 meter) runway has been completed using Marston matting. (Jack McKillop)

CANADA: Trawler HMS Manitoulin launched Midland, Ontario.

U.S.A.: Charles Lindbergh meets with Henry Ford in Detroit. Ford was too old, too powerful and too rich to worry about the FDR Administration and offered Lindbergh a job in getting the gigantic Willow Run plant organized and running. The U.S. government had spent $200 million to build Willow Run to enable Ford to built B-24 Liberator bombers and Ford had to produce. (Jack McKillop)

In California, the first 1,000 Japanese-Americans arrive at the Manzanar Relocation Camp For Ethnic Japanese. The camp is located in the Owens Valley on the west side of U.S. Highway 395 about 50 miles (80 kilometres) south of Bishop and 12 miles (19 kilometres) north of Lone Pine. Today, this is a National Historic Site. (Jack McKillop)

ATLANTIC OCEAN: At 2053, the unescorted Lammot Du Pont was torpedoed by U-125, while proceeding on a nonevasive course at 9.5 knots about 500 miles SE of Bermuda. The torpedo struck on the port side between the #4 hatch and the engine room. The explosion blew the booms at the #4 and #5 hatches onto the deck and threw a large column of water and linseed in the air. The ship rapidly listed to port and within five minutes rolled completely on her side. The nine officers, 36 crewmen and nine armed guards (the ship was armed with one 4in and two .30cal guns) began to abandon ship in one lifeboat and three rafts. Four men went down with the ship and two left on a broken raft. The other survivors tried to reach these men in the heavy seas, but they drifted away and were never found. Eight crewmembers and seven armed guards on two rafts were picked up after two days by the Swedish MS Astri and were transferred on 8 May to light cruiser USS Omaha, which brought them to Recife on 11 May. The 31 crewmembers and two armed guards in the lifeboat drifted for 23 days before being rescued by destroyer USS Tarbell after being spotted by an aircraft about 40 miles from San Juan, but seven crewmembers and one armed guards already died of fever and three other crewmembers later died in a San Juan hospital.

At 1120, the unescorted Reinholt (Master Hans Nielsen) was attacked by U-752 with gunfire for about 20 minutes. The U-boat fired about 40 rounds of which 20-25 hit, but had then to break off the attack because two destroyers were spotted. Reinholt had returned fire with 14 rounds from the stern gun without success. One man was killed and two were injured, which were transferred after about seven hours to a destroyer and were brought to a hospital in Brooklyn. The Reinholt had caught fire, which was brought under control by the crew after 20 minutes and reached New York the next day. She was repaired and returned to service after 17 days. The master was awarded the Krigskorset, the highest Norwegian war medal. 15 other men received Krigsmedaljen.

Corvette HMCS Sorel joins escort for Convoy ON-88. (Dave Shirlaw)