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• Commanding officer Captain William Rassieur of USS Sargent Bay was relieved by Captain Richard Oliver. ww2dbase [Sargent Bay | CPC]
• American bombers dropped 300 bombs on Vienna, Austria, many of which landed in the Tiergarten Schönbrunn, which was the world's oldest zoo. 2,000 animals out of 3,500 in the zoo were killed. ww2dbase [CPC]
• 307 US B-29 bombers devastated a 3-square mile area in Kobe, Japan and caused 15,000 in casualties. ww2dbase [Bombing of Tokyo and Other Cities | CPC]
• 12 Lancaster bombers and 12 Halifax bombers conducted minelaying operations off Helgoland, Germany and in the Kattegat. ww2dbase [CPC]
• Heinrich Himmler, having abandoned his command with Army Group Vistula three days prior, checked himself into a sanatorium at Hohenlychen, Germany so that doctors there could treat his influenza. When Heinz Guderian came to visit him, he would request Guderian to carry his letter of resignation as commanding officer of Army Group Vistula to Adolf Hitler. ww2dbase [Heinrich Himmler | CPC]
• US troops in landed on Basilan in the Philippine Islands. ww2dbase [Philippines Campaign, Phase 2 | CPC]
• Rudolf Heß noted that 2 million Jews were gassed between Jun 1941 and late 1943. ww2dbase [Rudolf Heß | CPC]
• Vasily Kuznetsov was made the commanding officer of 3rd Shock Army. ww2dbase [Vasily Kuznetsov | CPC]

• Anglo-Indian troops assaulted Fort Dufferin in Mandalay, Burma in failure, suffering heavy casualties. ww2dbase [Battle of Meiktila-Mandalay | Mandalay | CPC]

• 32 B-24 bombers of the US 14th Air Force escorted by 10 P-51 fighters attacked railyards at Shijiazhuang, Hebei, China. ww2dbase [Shijiazhuang, Hebei | CPC]

• German forces began falling back from the front lines at Kolberg, Germany (now Kolobrzeg, Poland). ww2dbase [East Pomeranian Offensive | Kolberg | CPC]

• Soviet 3rd Ukrainian Front threw two fresh armies against the German attack towards Budapest, Hungary. ww2dbase [Budapest Strategic Offensive Operation | Budapest | TH]

• Americans declared Iwo Jima, Japan secure, but fighting continued. ww2dbase [Battle of Iwo Jima | Iwo Jima | CPC]
• I-14 departed Kobe, Japan. ww2dbase [I-14 | Kobe, Hyogo | CPC]

• USS Spot sank a Japanese cargo ship in the East China Sea, hitting her with 1 of 8 torpedoes fired. ww2dbase [Spot | East China Sea | CPC]

• German V-2 rocket hit at Albert Road in Leyton, London, England, United Kingdom at 0638 hours, killing 23 and seriously injuring 18. Another rocket hit Willesden near Hampstead, London at 0230 hours, damaging 200 houses. ww2dbase [V-Weapons Campaign | Vergeltungswaffe 2 | London, England | CPC]

• USS Saratoga arrived at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard for repairs of extensive damage following being bombed off Iwo Jima. ww2dbase [Puget Sound Navy Yard | Saratoga | Bremerton, Washington | DS]

16 Mar 1945 Interactive Map