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• US Eighth Air Force commander James Doolittle was promoted to the rank of lieutenant general. ww2dbase [James Doolittle | AC]

• U-575, a German Type VII-C submarine, was sunk in the north Atlantic north of the Azores by depth charges and gunfire from the Canadian frigate HMCS Prince Rupert, the US destroyer USS Hobson, the US destroyer escort USS Haverfield, a British Wellington aircraft of No. 172 Squadron RAF, and two Fortress aircraft of Squadron 206 RAF and Squadron 220 RAF, and an Avenger aircraft of VC-95 squadron aboard the US escort carrier USS Bogue. 18 crew lost their lives; 37 were rescued. ww2dbase [Conclusion of the Battle of the Atlantic | Bogue | CPC, HM]
• The 4,695-ton unescorted Greek steam merchant ship Peleus was hit by two torpedoes from German submarine U-852 (Kapitänleutnant Heinz-Wilhelm Eck) and sank rapidly about 500 miles north of Ascension Island. The submarine tried to destroy all evidences of the sinking by shooting at debris and rafts from the ship. During this action some survivors were killed and only four men were alive when the submarine left the area. One of them later died, but the three remaining would survive. On November 1945. Eck and two of his officers were later executed in Hamburg, Germany for their role in the killing of the Greek seamen. ww2dbase [Conclusion of the Battle of the Atlantic | HM]

• USS Cod arrived at Fremantle, Australia, ending her second war patrol. ww2dbase [Cod | Fremantle, Western Australia | CPC]

• Australian troops captured Bogodjim, New Guinea. ww2dbase [New Guinea-Papua Campaign, Phase 3 | Bogodjim, Madang | CPC]

• Lieutenant General Geoffrey Scoones realized the Japanese attack on Tiddim, Burma was a part of a major offensive, and retracted his previous order, allowing troops at Tiddim to fall back. ww2dbase [Battle of Imphal-Kohima | Tiddim | CPC]
• Troops of US 5307th Composite Unit (Provisional) marched 15 miles toward Inkangahtawng, Burma. ww2dbase [CPC]

• British aircraft from the RAF base on Socotra island in the Arabian Sea located additional survivors of Norwegian motor vessel Tarifa, which was sunk by German submarine U-510 on 7 Mar 1944. HMS Avon (K 97) was dispatched to pick up the survivors. ww2dbase [Arabian Sea | HM]

• Italy and the Soviet Union resumed diplomatic relations. ww2dbase [CPC]

• US submarine Tautog (SS-199) fired seven torpedoes at a Japanese convoy some 20 miles west of Rashuwa (Rasshua) Island, Kurile Islands, Japan, two of which hit. Combined with the use of her deck gun, she sank army cargo ship Ryua Maru and transport Shojin Maru. ww2dbase [Tautog | Hokkaido | HM]

• USS Yorktown (Essex-class) reached Espiritu Santo in the New Hebrides and remained there for 10 days before getting underway for another series of raids on the Japanese middle defense line. ww2dbase [Yorktown (Essex-class) | Espiritu Santo | DS]

• US submarine USS Sand Lance (SS-381) attacked a Japanese convoy in the Pacific Ocean off Hachijojima, 150 miles south-south-west of Yokosuka, Japan, sinking the 4,350-ton light cruiser Tatsuta and the troop transport Kokuyo Maru, which had been carrying 1,029 men. A total of six torpedoes were expended, and San Lance claimed five hits. Following the attack, Japanese escort vessels drop 105 depth charges and keep Sand Lance at deep submergence for 18.5 hours. ww2dbase [Tatsuta | HM]

• The Jewish ghetto of Kraków, Poland was closed down; as its residents were deported to the newly built Plaszów labor camp, 2,000 died en route. ww2dbase [Discovery of Concentration Camps and the Holocaust | Kraków | CPC]

• Soviet troops captured Kherson, Ukraine. ww2dbase [Kherson | TH]

• The governments of the United States and the United Kingdom demanded Sweden to stop selling ball bearings to Germany. ww2dbase [CPC]

• USS Whale arrived at Midway Atoll. ww2dbase [Midway Bases | Whale | Midway | CPC]

13 Mar 1944 Interactive Map