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• Weather data for 29 Mar 1943

• USS S-31 completed her patrol in the Kwajalein area in the Marshall Islands. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]
• New Zealand troops captured Gabès, Tunisia while Axis troops were evacuated out of El Hamma. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]
• Hitler ordered the construction of large missile launch sites on French coast. ww2dbase [CPC]

• The 5,575-ton British merchant steamer Celtic Star was torpedoed and sunk by the Italian submarine Giuseppe Finzi, south west of Freetown, Sierra Leone, British West Africa whilst on a voyage from Manchester, England, United Kingdom; Greenock, Scotland, United Kingdom; and Freetown to Montevideo, Uruguay; and Buenos Aires, Argentina. She was carrying 4,410 tons of general cargo including mail. Two crew members were lost. ww2dbase [HM]
• German submarine U-610 torpedoed the American Liberty ship William Pierce Frye, straggling from convoy HX-230, in the North Atlantic at 2340 hours. Heavy seas had previously damaged most of her lifeboats, and the only serviceable one was swamped. Life rafts and floats drifted away from the ship and a tank landing craft being carried as deck cargo broke free as the ship sank but only seven men managed to reach it. Thirty-five seamen perished, as did 22 of the 24-man armed guard. Seven survivors floated in the water and awaited rescue. ww2dbase [HM]
• The German patrol boat V-2018 (Vogtland), damaged from a mine on the previous day off Terschelling, the Netherlands, was placed under tow. While being towed, she struck another mine and was destroyed. Four men on board were killed. ww2dbase [HM]
• As she crossed the Bay of Biscay the 6,852-ton British cargo ship Umaria that was carrying 2,500 tons of manganese ore and 1,000 tons of rubber was struck by a torpedo from German submarine U-662 at 2250 hours and was most likely hit again by another torpedo from the same submarine. ww2dbase [HM]

• Satoru Anabuki, flying Ki-43 fighter "Fubuki", claimed a Hurricane fighter over Mindon, Burma, but the downing was not confirmed. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]

• Repair ship Akashi performed repair work for seaplane tender Kamikawa Maru at Truk, Caroline Islands. ww2dbase [Main Article | Tabular Record of Movement | CPC]

• USS Wahoo sank freighter Yamabato Maru in the East China Sea, hitting her with 1 of 2 torpedoes. She then transited the Collnett Strait (Tokara Kaiky) between Yakushima island and Kuchinoshima island in southern Japan, eastward into the Pacific Ocean. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]

• Guy Gibson was summoned to Group Headquarters where he was given a more detailed briefing by Ralph Cochrane, including details of the proposed targets of the Möhne and Sorpe Dams in Germany. ww2dbase [Main Article | AC]

29 Mar 1943 Interactive Map