31 Mar 1892
- Stanislaw Maczek was born.
» In-depth article
31 Mar 1917
- Yamashiro was commissioned into service.
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» Tabular Record of Movement - Destroyer Kashi was completed and entered Japanese naval service.
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31 Mar 1925
- S-45 was commissioned into service.
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31 Mar 1926
- Furutaka was commissioned into service.
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» Tabular Record of Movement
31 Mar 1933
- Franklin Roosevelt established the Civilian Conservation Corps.
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31 Mar 1934
- Submarine tender Taigei was commissioned into service.
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» Tabular Record of Movement
31 Mar 1936
- Light carrier Hosho completed her repairs.
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» Tabular Record of Movement - Photos dated 31 Mar 1936
31 Mar 1937
- Bombers of the German Condor Legion in Spain, under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Freiherr von Richthofen, bombed the mountain strongholds of the Republicans, not easily reached by artillery, and battered the key village of Ochandiano before it was quickly taken by the Army of Navarre. In the same region, the Spanish Nationalist forces, commanded by General Emilio Mola y Vidal, began an offensive against Basque forces in Vizcaya with the intention of capturing the Basque stronghold of Bilbao.
» In-depth article
31 Mar 1938
- Asagumo was commissioned into service.
» In-depth article - HMS Edinburgh was launched.
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31 Mar 1939
- The fighting between Slovakia and Hungary largely ceased.
» In-depth article - British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain noted that the United Kingdom and France would guarantee Polish borders, with military force if necessary.
» In-depth article - Historical document written: No. 17: Statement by the Prime Minister in the House of Commons
» In-depth article
31 Mar 1940
- British Prime Minister Chamberlain called off the mining of the Norwegian coast in protest of the French resistance to the mining of the Rhine River.
» In-depth article - German WWI-era battleship Hessen (serving as ice breaker) and armed merchant cruisers Atlantis, Orion, and Widder departed from Kiel, Germany for their various anti-Allied shipping missions.
» In-depth article - Mussolini informed King Vittorio Emanuele III of Italy that Italy would soon enter the European War.
» In-depth article - Japanese troops completed the evacuation of Wuyuan, Suiyuan Province, China.
» In-depth article
31 Mar 1941
- British Army Dental Corps Private Coe arrived in Switzerland after escaping from a German prisoner of war camp. He was the first to successfully do so.
- German 5th Light Division attacked British 2nd Armoured Division at Mersa Brega, Libya starting at 0745 hours, supported by dive bombers. After holding off the offensive for most of the day, German tanks broke through at 1730 hours, capturing the town by 1900 hours. As the sun slowly set, British commanders decided not to counterattack with their tanks, but instead withdraw 30 miles northeast toward Agedabia. The day's engagement cost the British 60 men killed, 8 armored carriers destroyed, and 1 anti-aircraft gun destroyed.
» In-depth article - British and Indian troops broke through the roadblocks on the road between Keren and Asmara in Eritrea, Italian East Africa, capturing 560 Italian troops; continuing the push south, Indian 5th Infantry Division engaged Italian troops near Adi Tekelezan, which was less than 50 kilometers from Asmara and was the last town before Asmara. To the east, Italian destroyers Leone, Pantera, and Tigre departed Massawa, Eritrea to attack British port facilities at Port Sudan, British Sudan; Leone struck underwater rocks en route, and Pantera and Tigre were forced to sink Leone by gunfire, and the attack was called off with two surviving ships heading back to Massawa.
» In-depth article - Italian submarine Ambra sank British cruiser HMS Bonaventure 125 miles south of Crete, Greece at 0244 hours. Bonaventure was escorting Allied convoy GA8 from Greece to Alexandria, Egypt at the time. 138 were killed, 310 survived.
- German submarine U-46 sank Swedish tanker Castor 300 miles east of the southern tip of Greenland at 1033 hours, killing the entire crew of 15.
- British submarine HMS Rorqual sank Italian submarine Pier Capponi by torpedo 28 miles northwest of Messina, Sicily, Italy, killing the entire crew of 49.
- Before dawn, 109 RAF bombers attacked German warships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau in Brest, France, scoring no hits.
» In-depth article - Prince of Wales was commissioned into service.
» In-depth article
31 Mar 1942
- Japanese troops occupied Bougainville in the Solomon Islands.
» In-depth article - The Indian Congress Party demanded immediate independence from the United Kingdom.
- Surviving ships of Allied convoy PQ-13 began to arrive at Murmansk, Russia after several attacks by German destroyers, submarines, and aircraft.
- Unhappy with the progress of the interior ministry, Hitler reassigned the task of providing housing to those displaced by Allied bombing to propaganda chief Goebbels.
» In-depth article - German submarine U-754 sank US tug Menominee, barge Allegheny, and barge Barnegat 10 kilometers northeast of Hog Island Lighthouse, Virginia, United States at 0800 hours; 16 were killed, 9 survived. At 2222 hours, 480 miles east of Virginia, U-71 sank British tanker San Gerardo; 51 were killed, 6 survived.
» In-depth article - Italian submarine Tazzoli arrived at Bordeaux, France.
- Japanese troops occupied Ceram Island, Dutch East Indies.
» In-depth article - Ten Norwegian freighters and tankers, interned by the Swedish at Gothenburg, attempted to break out for Britain. Two of them, transport Lind and tanker B. P. Newton, would make the escape. Six of the remaining eight ships were sunk by mines, German aircraft, and German warships, while the final two were forced to return to Gothenburg.
- USS Colorado completed the overhaul that began in Jun 1941.
» In-depth article - USS S-31 completed her first war patrol off the Panama Canal Zone.
» In-depth article - Laffey (Benson-class) was commissioned into service.
» In-depth article - Light cruiser Fargo, previously ordered but not yet laid down, was reordered by the US Navy as a carrier to be named Crown Point.
» In-depth article
31 Mar 1943
- Crematorium 2 began operation at Auschwitz Concentration Camp.
» In-depth article - British troops occupied Cap Serrat on the Tunisian coast. Operation Supercharge II was concluded with success in Tunisia, forcing the Axis defenses to move north to Wadi Akarit.
» In-depth article - USAAF bombers attacked the Italian airfield at Cagliari, Sardinia in the Mediterranean Sea.
- German Luftwaffe Major General Peltz was placed in charge of bombing raids against Britain.
- Soviet troops defeated the German 17th Army in the Kuban Peninsula and captured Anastasyevsk north of Novorossiysk, near the coast of the Black Sea in southern Russia.
» In-depth article - American troops under Colonel Archibald MacKechnie landed at the mouth of Waria River in New Guinea.
» In-depth article - Hitler met Bulgarian King Boris III at his headquarters at Rastenburg, East Prussia, Germany.
» In-depth article - US leadership gave the order to invade Attu in the Aleutian Islands on 7 May 1943.
» In-depth article - Japanese aircraft conducted a raid against the Russell Islands in the Solomon Islands.
» In-depth article - US 1st and 9th Infantry Divisions again attacked Italian positions at Hill 369 near El Guettar, Tunisia to little success.
» In-depth article - The US 2nd Marine Brigade was disbanded in Pago Pago, American Samoa.
- USS Tunny reached the Caroline Islands region.
» In-depth article - Belleau Wood was commissioned into service.
» In-depth article - British corvette HMS Milfoil was recommissioned into the United States Navy as USS Intensity.
» In-depth article - Photos dated 31 Mar 1943
31 Mar 1944
- Mineichi Koga passed away when the flying boat that carried him from Palau Islands to Philippine Islands crashed into the sea in bad weather.
» In-depth article - Aircraft from ships Beagle and Tracker in Allied convoy JW 58 sank German submarine U-355 in the Arctic Sea.
- Destroyer USS De Haven (DD-727) was commissioned with Commander J. B. Dimmick in command.
- US Navy canceled its contracts signed prior to the Pacific War with civilian construction firms for projects across the Pacific Ocean. Those signed after the start of the war would continue.
- The newly-formed German Jagdverband 44, flying Me 262 jet fighters, flew its first mission out of München (Munich), Germany.
» In-depth article - Shokaku arrived off Singapore naval yard.
» In-depth article
» Tabular Record of Movement - Smalley was commissioned into service.
» In-depth article - USS Pintado set sail for the Panama Canal.
» In-depth article - Destroyer Yukikaze was assigned to Destroyer Division 17, Destroyer Squadron 10, 3rd Fleet.
» In-depth article - USS Flying Fish was attacked by a Japanese submarine; she was able to evade the torpedoes fired at her.
» In-depth article
31 Mar 1945
- German forces began withdrawing from the Netherlands.
- As the troops of the French First Army crossed the Rhine River near Speyer, Germany, they became the first French troops to attack across the river since Napoleon Bonaparte. Meanwhile, US Third Army reached Siegen, Germany.
» In-depth article - Soviet forces crossed into the Germany border from Sopron, Hungary.
- Allied commander Eisenhower demanded German surrender over radio.
» In-depth article - Otto Skorzeny was ordered to go to the "Alpine Fortress".
» In-depth article - USS Tirante sank a Japanese sail with gunfire.
» In-depth article - 50 Japanese Army Renraku-tei special attack boats sank American landing ship LSM-12 at Okinawa, Japan.
» In-depth article - Light carrier Ryuho's anti-aircraft weapons fired on attacking US aircraft at Kure, Japan.
» In-depth article
» Tabular Record of Movement
31 Mar 1946
- Lord Gort passed away.
» In-depth article - Allied repatriation ship Hikawa Maru arrived at Uraga, Japan and disembarked personnel. She entered drydock for repairs.
» In-depth article
» Tabular Record of Movement - Young was decommissioned from service.
» In-depth article
31 Mar 1948
- The United States Congress voted for the funding for the Marshall Plan.
31 Mar 1949
- Newfoundland became a province of Canada.
31 Mar 1952
- Walther Schellenberg passed away.
» In-depth article
31 Mar 1966
- Japanese submarine Kuroshio was decommissioned from service and returned to the United States.
» In-depth article
31 Mar 1970
- Semyon Timoshenko passed away.
» In-depth article
31 Mar 1992
- USS Missouri was decommissioned at Long Beach, California, United States.
» 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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