http://www.etherit.co.uk/month/2/02.htm
March 2nd, 1945 (FRIDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM: Bermondsey, London: Mr. Albert Edward Heming (b.1910), Civil Defence Rescue, dug a trapped priest from the ruins of a bombed Catholic Church. (George Cross)
Minesweeper HMS Laertes commissioned.
IRISH SEA: At 1812, U-1302 attacked Convoy SC-167 in the St. George’s Channel and sank King Edgar and Novasli. The U-boat could not report her attack, because she was lost five days later. King Edgar was taken in tow, but sank later. Two crewmembers and two gunners were lost. The master, 32 crewmembers and nine gunners were picked up by frigate HMS Nysaland and landed at Milford Haven. Novasli in station #31 was abandoned after being torpedoed, only the master and four men stayed on board when she was taken in tow. But the ship could not be saved and had to be scuttled by an escort vessel with gunfire and depth charges. ASW trawler HMS Helier II picked up the survivors.
GERMANY: In two raids, 858 RAF bombers raid Cologne, and the German army starts to retreat from the Rhine.
Trier: General Patton’s tanks capture the Roman Bridge across the Moselle. They move so quickly that it is not blown up. The empty charge chambers are still visible today from the up-river side of the bridge.
U-2365 commissioned.
BALTIC SEA: M.575 Germans Minesweeper. Capsized off Oeresund. (James Paterson)
At 1316, U-995 attacked a Soviet Task Force with a Gnat and reported one escort sunk at 69.21N, 33.38E. The ship sunk was BO-224 (ex-USS SC-1507).
ROMANIA: Bucharest: Andrei Vishinsky, the stony-faced Soviet deputy foreign commissar, is imposing Stalin’s rule on Romania with a ruthlessness reminiscent of his behaviour as prosecutor at the Moscow show trials. Spurning the Allies’ protests, he has today ordered King Michael to dismiss the coalition Radescu government and appoint what amounts to a communist puppet regime.
BURMA: Naik Fazal Din (b.1921), 10th Baluch Regt., stormed one bunker, then was fatally stabbed by a Japanese officer while charging another. He pushed on, rallying his men brilliantly before collapsing. (Victoria Cross)
Naik Gian Singh (b.1920), 15th Punjab Regt., alone knocked out foxholes and an anti-tank gun, the led his men in clearing a Japanese-held road. (Victoria Cross)
COMMONWEALTH OF THE PHILIPPINES: The American flag is raised again over Corregidor, with General Douglas MacArthur and members of his staff present. In a speech when he left Corregidor in 1942, MacArthur praised the gallant but futile defence of Corregidor as an inspiration to carry on the struggle until the Allies should fight their way back and vowed to return one day. On February 16, 1945, elements of the U.S. Sixth Army began the assault on Corregidor, and after furious fighting, MacArthur made good on his promise. (Michael Ballard)
BONIN ISLANDS: Iwo Jima: The second strip on South Field airfield had been graded to 4,000 feet for fighter operations.
U.S.A.: The motion picture “Dillinger” in released in the U.S. Directed by Max Nosseck and starring Edmund Lowe, Anne Jeffreys, Lawrence Tierney and Elisa Cook, Jr., this film depicts the life and times of gangster John Dillinger. It is one of the best B movies of its kind and is nominated for one Academy Award.
Submarine USS Sea Leopard launched.
Destroyer USS Dennis J Buckley commissioned.
ATLANTIC OCEAN: 75 men died when U-3519 was lost, 3 men survived.
