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• USS Yorktown patrolled the Coral Sea. ww2dbase [Yorktown (Yorktown-class) | CPC]
• USS Lexington set sail for Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii after raiding New Guinea. ww2dbase [Lexington (Lexington-class) | CPC]
• German submarine U-71 sank US tanker Oakmar over 200 kilometers east of Hampton Roads, Virginia, United States at 2054 hours, killing 6 of 36 aboard. ww2dbase [Second Happy Time | CPC]
• South Dakota was commissioned into service. ww2dbase [South Dakota | CPC]
• The United States and New Zealand completed a discussion which concluded that the US would be responsible for defending the Samoan islands. ww2dbase [CPC]
• The United States Air Forces in the Philippines was established, replacing the Far East Air Force. ww2dbase [CPC]
• The keel of US submarine Scorpion was laid down. ww2dbase [Scorpion | CPC]
• J2M Raiden aircraft took its first flight. ww2dbase [J2M Raiden | CPC]
• Japanese 143rd Regiment and a cavalry formation of the Japanese 55th Division attacked troops the Cavalry Regiment of the Chinese 5th Army north of the Kan River in Burma. ww2dbase [Invasion of Burma | CPC]
• German submarine U-652 damaged destroyer HMS Heythrop 40 miles northeast of Bardia, Libya at 1054 hours, killing 15; Heythrop was sailing with 6 other destroyers on an anti-submarine sweep for Allied convoy MW10. At about 1600 hours, after 151 survivors had been taken off by destroyer HMS Eridge, Heythrop sank while under tow. ww2dbase [CPC]
• Major General Brian Horrocks assumed command of the British 9th Armoured Division in place of Major General Brocas Burrows who had been moved to command 11th Armoured Division. ww2dbase [AC]

• The 823-ton Norwegian freighter Risoy, en route from Southampton, England, United Kingdom to Swansea, Wales, United Kingdom with a cargo of 450 tons of scrap iron, was attacked by three German aircraft and sank off Trevose Head, Cornwall, England when hit by a bomb. One member of the crew was killed. ww2dbase [Second Happy Time | HM]

• Douglas MacArthur made the "I came through and I shall return" speech at Terowie, South Australia, Australia while transferring trains. ww2dbase [Douglas MacArthur | CPC]
• The US Navy set up a new radio intelligence station at Melbourne, Australia; many of the staff members of this new station were recently evacuated from station CAST at Corregidor, Philippine Islands. ww2dbase [CPC]

• Japanese bombers attacked Port Moresby in Australian Papua while four fighters strafed the nearby Seven Mile airfield. ww2dbase [CPC]

• German armed merchant cruiser Michel departed La Pallice, France for the South Atlantic. ww2dbase [Michel | CPC]

• Allies in Libya attacked Benghazi and Derna, diverting attention from an important convoy for Malta. ww2dbase [Malta Campaign | CPC]

• Jonathan Wainwright received the official US War Department order promoting him to the rank of lieutenant general and placing him charge of US troops in the Philippine Islands, replacing Douglas MacArthur, who had been ordered to go to Australia by Franklin Roosevelt. ww2dbase [Jonathan Wainwright | CPC]

• Gas chambers of Block I of Auschwitz II (Birkenau) Concentration Camp began extermination operations. ww2dbase [Discovery of Concentration Camps and the Holocaust | Auschwitz Concentration Camp | CPC]

• Soviet Army's Kerch offensive in Russia was defeated with heavy losses. To the west, German counter attack at Sevastopol failed, resulting in the loss of the 22nd Division. ww2dbase [Battle of Sevastopol | TH]

• USS Hornet arrived at San Francisco, California, United States. ww2dbase [Hornet (Yorktown-class) | CPC]

20 Mar 1942 Interactive Map