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• Weather data for 24 Mar 1944

• In the Fosse Ardeantine caves outside of Rome, 355 Italians, 250 of them civilians, were shot by the SS under Standartenführer Herbert Kappler in reprisal for the killing of 35 Germans during a SS parade on the previous day by the members of the Italian resistance. ww2dbase [TH]
• Soviet tanks crossed the Dneiper River near the Czech border. ww2dbase [TH]
• British miners signed a 4-year contract for their wages. ww2dbase [CPC]
• The Great Escape: A large escape of prisoners of war from Stalag Luft III in Sagan, Germany (now Zagan, Poland) was attempted; 76 would succeed. 50 prisoners who had failed would be executed for their involvement. ww2dbase [CPC]
• Japanese troops mounted an unsuccessful suicide charge on Bougainville. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]
• The 15 American commandos who landed on the Italian coast aiming to sabotage the La Spezia-Genoa railway were captured. ww2dbase [CPC]
• The 3rd Battalion of the Japanese 58th Regiment arrived in the Sangshak, India region as reinforcements. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]

• The headquarters of USAAF 475th Fighter Group was transferred out of Dobodura Airfield, Australian Papua. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]

• USS Franklin arrived at Ulithi, Caroline Islands. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]

• 810 RAF aircraft attacked Berlin, Germany; 72 aircraft were lost. After sundown, Frankfurt was bombed by the RAF for the third time in four nights. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]

• Orde Wingate visited the Broadway and White City sites of Operation Thursday in Burma in an attempt to raise the morale of the British 77th Brigade. At 1823 hours, his returning plane arrived at Imphal, India, and then off again shortly before 2000 hours for Hailakandi, India. The aircraft crashed into the Naga hill west of Imphal about 30 minutes after taking off, killing the American pilot Lieutenant Brian Hodges, Wingate, and the other 8 passengers and crew aboard. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]

• The Anzio beachhead in Italy was subjected to heavy German artillery and guided bomb attacks. Out at sea, an Italian motor torpedo boat attack sank one cargo ship; one Italian boat was sunk in the attack. ww2dbase [Main Article | TH, CPC]
• The Allied attacks on the Gustav Line were persistently repulsed by German defenders. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]

• 200 prisoners deemed "invalid" were executed by gunfire at Majdanek Concentration Camp in occupied Poland. ww2dbase [Main Article | Facility | CPC]

• The control of Losey Field in Puerto Rico, now without any active air units, was turned over to US Army ground forces. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]

• Red Army units crossed the Bug River by the Black Sea on the Ukrainian coast. ww2dbase [TH]

• 90 German bombers attacked London, England, United Kingdom. ww2dbase [Main Article | TH]

• 417th Bombardment Squadron of 25th Bombardment Group of US Army Air Forces, operating B-18 Bolo bombers, was assigned to Alamogordo Army Air Field in New Mexico, United States. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]

24 Mar 1944 Interactive Map