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• Coronel was decommissioned from service. ww2dbase [Togo / Coronel | CPC]

• On USS Ranger’s return voyage from North Africa to Norfolk, one of her patrol planes observed two life boats adrift. One of Ranger’s escorts, destroyer USS Hobson, picked up 46 survivors from the British merchant ship St. Margaret, torpedoed by U-66 three days earlier on 27 Feb 1943. ww2dbase [Ranger | DS]
• Alpino Bagnolini sighted an aircraft in the Atlantic Ocean at 1140 hours; she submerged to avoid detection. ww2dbase [Alpino Bagnolini | CPC]
• Comandante Cappellini sighted a four-engined aircraft in the Atlantic Ocean at 1945 hours; she submerged to avoid detection. ww2dbase [Comandante Cappellini | CPC]

• After nightfall, USS Greenling unloaded supplies off Cape Orford, New Britain for newly deployed coast watchers. ww2dbase [Greenling | Cape Orford, New Britain | CPC]

• The Northern Group of the Chindits marched 20 miles along a road northeast of Pinlebu, Burma. ww2dbase [Operation Longcloth | Pinlebu, Sagaing | CPC]
• Satoru Anabuki, flying Ki-43 fighter "Fubuki", claimed a Hurricane fighter over Burma, but the downing was not confirmed. ww2dbase [Satoru Anabuki | CPC]

• Repair ship Akashi began repairing destroyer Isokaze at Truk, Caroline Islands. ww2dbase [Akashi | Truk | CPC]
• Yugure arrived at Truk, Caroline Islands at 1300 hours and unloaded support crews of carrier Zuiho. ww2dbase [Yugure | Zuiho | Truk | CPC]

• Submarine USS Thresher attacked the 7,000-ton tanker Toen Maru with four torpedoes in the Makassar Strait. The first torpedo solidly hit the ship but did not explode. Results of the second and third torpedoes were not observed but the fourth exploded against the stern of the tanker. Toen Maru immediately began settling by the stern and sank completely after 90 minutes. With all of her torpedoes expended, Thresher set a course for Fremantle, Australia. ww2dbase [Thresher | Makassar Strait | DS]

• Joseph Goebbels' diary entry on this date noted that "we are now definitely pushing the Jews out of Berlin" and expressing that many Jews were still in hiding in the city that needed to be found and deported. ww2dbase [Joseph Goebbels | Berlin | CPC]

• Battleship USS Mississippi, cruiser USS Minneapolis, and destroyers USS Shaw, Boggs, and McKean arrived at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. ww2dbase [Pearl Harbor Navy Base and Ford Island Naval Air Station | Mississippi | Minneapolis | Shaw | Pearl Harbor, Oahu | DS]

• Japanese hospital ship Hikawa Maru arrived at Yokosuka, Japan then sailed to Yokohama, Japan later on the same day. ww2dbase [Hikawa Maru | Yokosuka, Kanagawa | CPC]

• In Battle of the Bismarck Sea, US and Australian fighters and short range bombers attacked Lae, Australian Papua while US B-17 bombers located and attacked the Japanese convoy Operation 81 at 0930 hours. The first attack on the convoy sank Kyokusei Maru. In the afternoon, another wave of bombers attacked the convoy, damaging Teiyo Maru. After dark, a Catalina aircraft of Australian 11 Squadron maintained contact with the convoy. ww2dbase [Solomon Islands Campaign | Bismarck Sea | CPC]
• Destroyer Yukikaze rescued survivors of transport Kyokusei Maru in the Bismarck Sea. ww2dbase [Yukikaze | Bismarck Sea | CPC]
• USS Permit sank a Japanese transport off Iwate, Japan, hitting her with 3 of 4 torpedoes fired. ww2dbase [Permit | CPC]

• At 2140 hours, Auschwitz Concentration Camp commandant Rudolf Höss was informed that 15,000 Berlin Jews were being transported to the camp; he ordered that the prisoners must be kept in good health during the journey so that they could work at Auschwitz. ww2dbase [Rudolf Höss | Auschwitz Concentration Camp | Oswiecim | CPC]

• The Soviet 3rd Tank Army was destroyed near Kharkov, Ukraine which had only just been recaptured by the Soviets two weeks prior. ww2dbase [Third Battle of Kharkov | Kharkov | AC]

2 Mar 1943 Interactive Map