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• Admiral Chester Nimitz was appointed the Commander in Chief of the US Pacific Theater. ww2dbase [Chester Nimitz | TH]
• Deportation of Slovakian Jews to Auschwitz Concentration Camp began. ww2dbase [Discovery of Concentration Camps and the Holocaust | CPC]
• Japanese Navy aircraft began daily bombings of Corregidor in the Philippine Islands. ww2dbase [Invasion of the Philippine Islands | CPC]
• The British House of Commons began a two-day debate on the conduct of the war in Germany; bombing of German cities was to be a focal point. ww2dbase [Bombing of Hamburg, Dresden, and Other Cities | CPC]
• HMS Indomitable joined the British Eastern Fleet. ww2dbase [Indomitable | CPC]
• British minesweeper HMS Sharpshooter spotted German submarine U-655 on the surface in the Barents Sea and proceeded to ram and sink her; the entire crew of U-655, 45 men, were killed. ww2dbase [CPC]
• German submarine U-585 was damaged by depth charges from 3 Allied warships in the Barents Sea, but was able to escape. ww2dbase [CPC]
• British minesweeping whaler HMS Sulla was lost to heavy seas in the Norwegian Sea. ww2dbase [CPC]
• German submarine U-123 sank British tanker Empire Steel with torpedoes and the deck gun 365 miles north of Bermuda at 0300 hours; 39 were killed, 8 survived. ww2dbase [Second Happy Time | CPC]
• Minesweeper HMS Sharpshooter, escorting Allied convoy QP-9, spotted German submarine U-655 in a distance; she forced the submarine to surface by depth charges, rammed, and sank her; all 47 aboard U-655 were killed. ww2dbase [Arctic Convoys | CPC]

• The 53 survivors of British tanker Peder Bogen, hit by Italian submarine Morosini in the Atlantic Ocean on the previous date, noted that the tanker seemed to be remaining afloat three hours after being hit, and began to return. Also observing the same, Morosini opened fire with her deck gun between 0154 and 0203 hours, missing the tanker, but driving the lifeboats away. Between 0215 and 0228 hours, she fired her deck guns again, this time scoring hits and sinking the tanker. ww2dbase [Morosini | Second Happy Time | CPC]

• Japanese 112th Regiment attacked Taungoo, Burma, overcoming the disorganized Chinese outer defenses. Meanwhile, Japanese 143rd Regiment flanked the Chinese defenses and captured the airfield and rail station 6 miles north of the city. Taungoo would be surrounded on three sides by the end of the day. ww2dbase [Invasion of Burma | Taungoo | CPC]

• Shokaku and Zuikaku arrived at Staring Bay at Celebes, Dutch East Indies. ww2dbase [Zuikaku | Shokaku | Staring Bay, Celebes | CPC]

• 18 RAF Boston light bombers attacked targets in northern France, targeting power stations, rail marshaling yards, and other targets of military importance. ww2dbase [Bombing of Cities in France and Low Countries | CPC]

• German bombers attacked Malta, damaging British destroyer HMS Legion with near misses. ww2dbase [Malta Campaign | CPC]

• Submarine USS Narwhal made a quick dive at dawn because of an aircraft closing quickly from dead ahead. Upon surfacing a short time later, it was discovered what was thought to have been an airplane was, in fact, the planet Venus. ww2dbase [Narwhal | DS]

• USS Marblehead arrived at Simon's Town, South Africa to repair damages sustained during the Battle of Makassar Strait. ww2dbase [Marblehead | Simon's Town | CPC]

• USS St. Louis and convoy arrived at San Francisco, California. ww2dbase [St. Louis | San Francisco, California | DS]

24 Mar 1942 Interactive Map