21 Mar 1945
  • Soviet forces captured Braunsberg near Königsberg in East Prussia, Germany. ww2dbase [East Prussian Offensive | TH]
  • US First Army advanced toward Siegburg, Germany. ww2dbase [Advance to the Rhine | TH]
  • The Japanese made the first operational sortie with the Yokosuka Ohka (Cherry Blossom) suicide aircraft. The sixteen Mitsubishi G4M2e bombers of 321st Squadron launched aircraft were intercepted short of their target and were forced to jettison their piloted weapons. ww2dbase [MXY7 Ohka | AC]
  • USS Preston departed for Ryukyu Islands. ww2dbase [Preston (Fletcher-class) | CPC]
Alaska
  • An intact Japanese Fu-Go balloon bomb was located near Dillingham, Alaska. ww2dbase [Fu-Go | Dillingham | DS]
Caroline Islands
  • USS Wake Island departed Ulithi, Caroline Islands. ww2dbase [Wake Island | Ulithi | CPC]
  • Casablanca-class escort carrier USS Sargent Bay departed Ulithi, Caroline Islands bound for operations in the Okinawa area. ww2dbase [Sargent Bay | Ulithi | DS]
Germany Hawaii Hungary Netherlands
  • In a Disney operation, three B-17 Fortresses attacked the E-boat pens at IJmuiden, Netherlands with rocket-assisted bombs. ww2dbase [Schnellboot-class | Disney | IJmuiden | DS]
Pacific Ocean
  • USS Baya fired three torpedoes at a Japanese transport in the South China Sea; all torpedoes missed. ww2dbase [Baya | South China Sea | CPC]
  • USS Corregidor began an anti-submarine patrol in the vicinity of Wotje and Maloelap, Marshall Islands. ww2dbase [Corregidor | CPC]
Philippines Russia
  • Allied convoy JW-65 arrived at the Kola Inlet near Murmansk, Russia. ww2dbase [Arctic Convoys | Murmansk | CPC]
United Kingdom
  • German V-2 rocket hit the Packard factory in London, England, United Kingdom at 0939 hours, destroying it and damaging 13 factories and 662 houses; it killed 32, seriously injured 100, and lightly injured 460. Another rocket hit Primrose Hill in St Pancras (though officially listed as in Hampstead), London, damaging the reservoir and injuring 14 people. ww2dbase [Vergeltungswaffe 2 | V-Weapons Campaign | London, England | CPC]
United States
  • USS Carbonero departed New London, Connecticut, United States. ww2dbase [Carbonero | New London, Connecticut | CPC]
  • Captain Atherton Macondray, Jr. relieved Commander John T. Corwin as the commanding officer of the cruiser USS Nashville and would remain in command for the rest of Nashville’s time in the United States Navy. ww2dbase [Nashville | Bremerton, Washington | DS]
  • Escort carrier USS Card arrived at Quonset Point, Rhode Island where she would spend the next 9 weeks conducting carrier landing qualifications in Narragansett Bay involving 4,742 aircraft landings with only one fatal mishap ww2dbase [Card | Quonset Point, Rhode Island | DS]
Photo(s) dated 21 Mar 1945
Buffalo tracked landing vehicles of UK 4th Royal Tank Regiment being transported forward in preparation for crossing the Rhine River into Germany, 21 Mar 1945Map depicting the Allied advance to the Rhine River in West-Central Germany, Eastern France, and the Low Countries, 8 Feb-21 Mar 194540mm Bofors gunnery drills aboard USS Makin Island, 21 Mar 1945, prior to the Okinawa CampaignLouis Mountbatten addressing men of British Royal Armoured Corps atop a captured Japanese 75mm gun, Mandalay, Burma, 21 Mar 1945
See all photos dated 21 Mar 1945

21 Mar 1945 Interactive Map

Timeline Section Founder: Thomas Houlihan
Contributors: Alan Chanter, C. Peter Chen, Thomas Houlihan, Hugh Martyr, David Stubblebine
Special Thanks: Rory Curtis




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