29 Mar 1899
- Lavrentiy Beria was born.
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29 Mar 1912
- Hanna Reitsch was born in Hirschberg, Silesia, Germany.
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29 Mar 1919
- USS Arizona arrived at Guantánamo Bay Naval Base, Cuba.
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29 Mar 1929
- In Russia, a new law was passed which restored to factory managers complete authority to direct or punish the workforce without reference to Trade Unions.
- Mutsu was assigned to Japanese Navy Battleship Division 3.
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» Tabular Record of Movement
29 Mar 1930
- The Blackshirt combat legions in Italy were attached to army divisions.
29 Mar 1931
- USS Arizona arrived at Hampton Roads, Virginia, United States and disembarked US President Herbert Hoover. She departed for Rockland, Maine, United States later on the same day to perform post-modernization trials.
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29 Mar 1932
- Xi Qia's forces was defeated by General Li Haiching's Anti-Japanese Army For The Salvation Of the Country at Nong'an, 35 miles from Xinjing, the capital of the Japanese-sponsored puppet state of Manchukuo.
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29 Mar 1935
- The US House of Representatives passed the bill HR 4016 which provided the US Marine Corps the same system of promotion and retirement as that of the US Navy.
29 Mar 1936
- The Reichstag elections recorded a record turnout of 98.8%, although the rules had been changed in respect of spoilt papers-in that all ballot papers left blank were counted as a vote for the National Socialists candidate, and only where the voter had specifically written "No" against a candidate's name were they counted as a vote against.
29 Mar 1939
- British destroyer HMS Punjabi (F21) was commissioned into service with Commander J. T. Lean in command.
- All hostilities in Spain ceased.
» In-depth article - Photos dated 29 Mar 1939
29 Mar 1940
- To prepare for the planned mining of Norwegian waters, the British General Staff prepared Plan R4 to react against a possible German intervention by invading Norway. It called for the 1st Cruiser Squadron to deliver an infantry brigade to Narvik and a battalion to Trondheim and for transports to deliver a battalion to each of Stavanger and Bergen.
- British armed merchant cruiser HMS Transylvania intercepted German freighter Mimi Horn between Iceland and Greenland. Mimi Horn's crew of 41 scuttled the ship to prevent enemy capture. The crew were rescued by Transylvania.
- Soviet Foreign Minister Molotov declared the Soviet Union neutral in the on-going European War.
» In-depth article - Photos dated 29 Mar 1940
29 Mar 1941
- Vichy France established an office to deal with Jewish affairs, placing Xavier Vallat at its helm.
- British battleships HMS Barham, HMS Valiant, and HMS Warspite continued to shell the Italian fleet off Cape Matapan, Greece. Italian cruiser Fiume, cruiser Zara, destroyer Alfieri, and destroyer Carducci were sunk, while destroyer Oriani was heavily damaged. At 0400 hours, British destroyers HMS Jervis and HMS Nubian approached damaged Italian cruiser Pola, captured her crew, and sank her with torpedoes. British ships rescued 905 Italian sailors but hurriedly departed at daybreak, fearing Luftwaffe attack; the Royal Navy would provide coordinates of remaining survivors to Italian ship Gradisca to continue to rescue. The Battle of Cape Matapan would close with 5 Italian warships lost, killing 2,303 men; the British suffered only 3 killed, the air crew of a single torpedo bomber lost on 28 Mar 1941.
» In-depth article - After 3 days of inaction caused by sandstorms, German tanks and armored cars advanced at El Agheila, Libya, engaging British counterparts in the desert between El Agheila and Mersa Brega. Behind Allied lines, Luftwaffe aircraft destroyed an Allied train carrying gasoline.
» In-depth article - South African 1st Brigade relieved the Nigerian Brigade in the Allied assault into Italian-occupied Abyssinia, capturing railway town of Diredawa and its airfield.
» In-depth article - German submarine U-48 attacked Allied convoy HX-115 120 miles south of Iceland between 0619 and 0806 hours, sinking 3 freighters. Most survivors were picked up by British corvette HMS Dianella.
- German submarine U-46 sank Swedish ship Liguria 300 miles southwest of Iceland at 1750 hours; 19 were killed, 10 survived.
- Japanese Foreign Minister Yosuke Matsuoka again met with German Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop in Berlin, Germany. Ribbentrop offered Matsuoka that, should the Soviet Union attack Japan while Japan embarked on a military campaign against British possessions in Asia, Germany would lend military assistance. Matsuoka countered, noting that the Soviet Union seemed to be friendly toward Japan.
» In-depth article
29 Mar 1942
- The US 4th Marine Defense Battalion and US Marine Fighter Squadron 212 were diverted from their original destination of Tongatapu, Tonga for Port Vila, Efate, New Hebrides.
- Hukbalahaps, an armed Filipino communist resistance group, was formed.
- Between 2318 hours on the previous date until about 0300 hours on this date, 234 RAF bombers attacked Lübeck, Germany, killing 320, injuring 784, and destroying 30% of the city. The Lübeck Cathedral, among other buildings, were destroyed in the city's historical center.The new "Gee" navigation systems were used by the British bombers on this attack. 12 bombers were shot down by German anti-aircraft defenses.
» In-depth article - German submarine U-160 sank US ship City of New York 50 kilometers east of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, United States at 1936 hours; 24 of 157 aboard were lost during the sinking or subsequently aboard lifeboats. Further north at 2058 hours, German submarine U-571 sank British ship Hertford 350 miles east of Nantucket, Massachusetts, United States; 4 were killed, 58 survived. Also on this day, Italian submarine Calvi sank British ship Tredinnick in the Mid-Atlantic, killing all 46 aboard.
» In-depth article - Japanese penetrated the Chinese defenses at Taungoo, Burma and threatened to trap the Chinese 200th Division in the city. General Dai Anlan issued the order to retreat from the city after sundown, falling back northward. During the withdraw, the Chinese failed to destroy the bridge over the Sittang River. To the west, Japanese captured a main road near Shwedaung, disrupting the Allied withdraw; an Anglo-Indian attack from the south failed to break the roadblock.
» In-depth article - German destroyer Z-26 sank Panamanian ship Bateau of Allied convoy PQ-13 in the Barents Sea before dawn. At 0943 hours, British cruiser HMS Trinidad spotted Z-26 along with Z-24 and Z-25, hitting Z-26 with gunfire; at 1024 hours, HMS Trinidad was hit by a torpedo that she fired and circled around, killing 31. At 1032 hours, British destroyer HMS Eclipse continued the attack, hitting Z-26 with 6 more shells; at 1120 hours, Z-24 and Z-25 coordinated an attack on HMS Eclipse, hitting her with two shells, killing 23. Shortly after, Z-26 sank from the heavy damage; 240 were killed, 96 survived.
- Japanese hospital ship Hikawa Maru departed Guam.
» In-depth article
» Tabular Record of Movement - Tatsuta Maru arrived at Yokohama, Japan.
» In-depth article
» Tabular Record of Movement - Destroyer Yukikaze departed Ambon, Dutch East Indies escorted the Japanese invasion force for western New Guinea, Dutch East Indies.
» In-depth article
29 Mar 1943
- New Zealand troops captured Gabès, Tunisia while Axis troops were evacuated out of El Hamma.
» In-depth article - Hitler ordered the construction of large missile launch sites on French coast.
- USS S-31 completed her patrol in the Kwajalein area in the Marshall Islands.
» In-depth article - Repair ship Akashi performed repair work for seaplane tender Kamikawa Maru at Truk, Caroline Islands.
» In-depth article
» Tabular Record of Movement - Photos dated 29 Mar 1943
29 Mar 1944
- Kiichi Hasegawa passed away.
» In-depth article - US naval aircraft bombed Japanese ships in the Palau Islands.
- Japanese troops cut the road between Imphal and Kohima, India. Meanwhile, the Anglo-American Combined Chiefs of Staff retracted a decision made earlier and diverted additional transport aircraft from the Mediterranean Sea theater of war to the Burma-India theater of war. Louis Mountbatten had requested them to help the defense of the Imphal region in India; incidentally, the initial aircraft embarked on transporting the Indian 5th Division to Imphal and Dimapur completed the task on this date after 758 sorties.
» In-depth article - Chinese troops captured Shaduzup, Burma.
- US Congress approved US$1,350,000,000 to fund the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Agency for assisting refugees in Europe.
- 12 P-40 and 3 P-51 fighters of the US 14th Air Force attacked the railroad station area in Nanchang, Jiangxi, China.
- The US No. 1 Air Commando Group was redesignated as 1st Air Commando Group (nicknamed Cochrane's Flying Circus).
- USS Tunny observed a large number of small vessels leaving Malakal Island in the Palau Islands in the morning but did not attack. In the afternoon, she observed the arrival of battleship Musashi and other warships; Tunny fired six bow torpedoes at Musashi but failed to hit her. She endured a 38-depth charge counterattack. Later that night, she caught up with the force and damaged Musashi with another torpedo attack.
» In-depth article - USS Wake Island arrived at Karachi, India.
» In-depth article - Destroyer Yukikaze departed Yokosuka, Japan to escort carrier Zuiho to Guam, Mariana Islands.
» In-depth article
29 Mar 1945
- British anti-aircraft gunners shot down a V-1 flying bomb at Suffolk, England, United Kingdom.
- Soviet troops entered former Czechoslovakian province of Ruthenia.
- Soviet 1st Byelorussian Front captured Fortress Küstrin in Germany.
- In Germany, US Third Army captured Frankfurt and Wiesbaden and US Seventh Army captured Mannheim.
» In-depth article - Germany lost its last major source of oil when Soviet units captured the Komorn oil fields in Hungary.
- Omar Bradley was promoted to the temporary rank of general.
» In-depth article - Franklin Roosevelt visited Hyde Park, New York, United States and the Franklin D. Roosevelt Library for what would be the last time.
» In-depth article - The Japanese called off the attempt to recapture Meiktila, Burma.
» In-depth article - USS Macabi was commissioned into service with Commander Anthony H. Dropp in command.
» In-depth article - Japanese Navy Shinyo special attack boats launched an attack at Okinawa, Japan to no effect.
» In-depth article - USS Chub spotted a Japanese convoy in the Java Sea and began pursuing the ships, attacked by patrolling aircraft in the process.
» In-depth article - Photos dated 29 Mar 1945
See all photos dated 29 Mar 1945
29 Mar 1946
- Submarine Marlin was sold to Boston Metal Company, Baltimore, Maryland, United States for scrap.
» In-depth article
29 Mar 1947
- The trial against Rudolf Höss at the Supreme National Tribunal of Poland ended.
» In-depth article
29 Mar 1965
- USS Charr recovered downed airman Commander J. H. Harris in the Gulf of Tonkin off Vietnam.
» In-depth article
Timeline Section Founder: Thomas Houlihan
Contributors: Alan Chanter, C. Peter Chen, Thomas Houlihan, David Stubblebine
Special Thanks: Rory Curtis
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"I have returned. By the grace of Almighty God, our forces stand again on Philippine soil."General Douglas MacArthur at Leyte, 17 Oct 1944
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