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• Greek Jews from Salonika and Thrace were deported to concentration camps. ww2dbase [Discovery of Concentration Camps and the Holocaust | CPC]
• The British Royal Navy launched the first of the X-class midget submarines. ww2dbase [CPC]
• Chindits under British Major Calvert and Major Fergusson crossed the Irrawaddy River in Burma. ww2dbase [Operation Longcloth | CPC]
• Germany and Finland signed a trade agreement. ww2dbase [CPC]
• The US submarine Triton was sunk by Japanese destroyers whilst on patrol off the Admiralty Islands. ww2dbase [Triton | AC]
• The US 1st Marine Raider Regiment was organized for operations on Dragons Peninsula, New Georgia, Solomon Islands. ww2dbase [CPC]
• The US Marine Corps 10th Defense Battalion began to arrive in the Russell Islands, Solomon Islands to relieve the 11th Defense Battalion. ww2dbase [CPC]
• 36 P-40L fighters of USAAF 33rd Fighter Group, while escorting a flight of B-25 bombers en route to Mezzouna, Tunisia, shot down 3 of a group of German fighters attempting to intercept. ww2dbase [CPC]
• USS New Mexico departed Samoa. ww2dbase [New Mexico | CPC]

• Leonardo da Vinci sighted British troop ship RMS Empress of Canada, en route from Cape Town, South Africa to Freetown, Sierra Leone Colony and Protectorate, in the Atlantic Ocean and fired two stern torpedoes at 2356 hours, scoring one hit. ww2dbase [Leonardo da Vinci | CPC]
• Alpino Bagnolini sighted an aircraft in the Atlantic Ocean at 1022 hours; she submerged to avoid detection. The aircraft, a Pan American Airways Clipper, sighted the submarine and reported the position. At 1430 hours, a Catalina aircraft which responded to the sighting spotted the Italian submarine, but could not attack before losing contact. At 2305 hours, the Italian submarine sighted an aircraft which was operating a search light; she submerged to avoid detection. The aircraft, an American Catalina aircraft piloted by Lieutenant Commander B. J. Prueher of VP-83 squadron, dropped four depth charges on Alpino Bagnolini's position, disabling the submarine's hydrophones. ww2dbase [Alpino Bagnolini | CPC]

• USS S-28 began conducting sound tests and anti-submarine warfare exercises with the Canadian Navy and Air Force at Esquimalt, British Columbia, Canada. ww2dbase [S-28 | Esquimalt, British Columbia | CPC]

• Traute Lafrenz was arrested by the Gestapo in Hamburg, Germany for her involvement with the White Rose resistance group. ww2dbase [Traute Lafrenz | Hamburg | CPC]

• Naval Air Station Kahului on Maui, US Territory of Hawaii was commissioned into service with Commander Phil Haynes in command. ww2dbase [Kahului Naval Air Station | Kahului, Maui | DS]

• The Japanese Imperial General Headquarters in Tokyo, Japan issued the Joint Army-Navy Central Agreement on Southeast Asia Operation order, which was largely a defensive plan with the only offensive element being the re-establishment of air superiority over Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands. ww2dbase [Guadalcanal Campaign | Tokyo | CPC]
• Captain Keizaburo Okano was named the commanding officer of Irako. ww2dbase [Irako | CPC]
• Yugure departed Yokosuka, Japan at 1600 hours. ww2dbase [Yugure | Yokosuka, Kanagawa | CPC]

• The keel of Shamrock Bay was laid down by the firm Kaiser Shipyards in Vancouver, Washington, United States. ww2dbase [Shamrock Bay | Vancouver, Washington | CPC]
• George Kenney had dinner with Arde Bulova, chairman of the watch making firm bearing his family name, in Washington DC, United States. Kenney convinced Bulova to donate 100 gold watches to award outstanding aircraft crew chiefs, who did not qualify for medals. Bulova would also give Kenney a watch of his own, with inscription "To Buccaneer, as a token of my admiration and respect, Arde Bulova". ww2dbase [George Kenney | Washington | CPC]

15 Mar 1943 Interactive Map