Historical Events
- Mar 1 British 43rd Division under General Hubert Essame occupies Xanten
- Mar 1 Chinese 30th division occupies Hsenwi
Yalta Conference
Mar 1 US President Franklin D. Roosevelt announces success of Yalta Conference
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Meeting of Interest
Mar 3 Winston Churchill visits Field Marshal Montgomery's headquarters
Winston Churchill
Event of Interest
Mar 4 In the United Kingdom, Princess Elizabeth, later Queen Elizabeth II, joins the British Auxiliary Transport Service as a driver.
Elizabeth II
- Mar 5 Allies bombs The Hague, Netherlands
Meeting of Interest
Mar 5 Generals Dwight D. Eisenhower, George S. Patton and Alexander Patch meet in Lunéville, France
Dwight D. Eisenhower
George S. Patton
Alexander Patch
- Mar 5 US 7th Army Corps captures Cologne
- Mar 5 US Ladies Figure Skating championship won by Gretchen Merrill
- Mar 5 World War II: The Battle of the Ruhr begins.
- Mar 6 117 SD-prisoners executed at Savage Farm
- Mar 6 Chinese 38th division occupies Lashio
- Mar 6 Erich Honnecker & Erich Hanke flee nazis
- Mar 6 Federico Garcia Lorca's "La Casa" premieres in Buenos Aires
Historic Invention
Mar 6 George Nissen of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, receives a patent for the first modern trampoline
George Nissen
Josip Broz Tito
Firebombing of Tokyo
Mar 9 334 US B-29 Superfortresses attack Tokyo with 120,000 fire bombs
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- Mar 9 Japanese proclaim "independence" of Indo-China
Event of Interest
Mar 10 Fieldmarshal Albert Kesselring succeeds Gerd von Rundstedt as commander of German Army Command in the West
Albert Kesselring
Gerd von Rundstedt
George S. Patton
- Mar 10 Tokyo in fire after night time B-29 bombings, more than 100,000 people die, mostly civilians.
- Mar 10 US troops land in western Mindanao, Philippines in Operation VICTOR IV
- Mar 11 1,000 allied bombers harass Essen, 4,662 ton bombs
- Mar 11 Flemish nazi collaborator Maria Huygens sentenced to death
- Mar 12 30 Amsterdammers executed by nazi occupiers
- Mar 12 Italy's Communist Party (CPI) calls for armed uprising in Italy
- Mar 12 NY is 1st to prohibit discrimination by race & creed in employment
- Mar 12 USSR returns Transylvania to Romania
Event of Interest
Mar 13 Queen Wilhelmina returns to Netherlands
Wilhelmina of the Netherlands
Academy Awards
Mar 15 17th Academy Awards: "Going My Way", Bing Crosby & Ingrid Bergman win
Ingrid Bergman
Bing Crosby
- Mar 15 Bert Shepard (1 legged WW II vet) tries out as a pitcher for Senators
- Mar 15 Billboard publishes its 1st album chart (King Cole Trio is #1)
- Mar 15 Catholic University of Nijmegen reopens
- Mar 15 Dodgers open spring training at Bear Mountain NY
- Mar 16 Würzburg, Germany is 90% destroyed, with 5,000 dead, in only 20 minutes by British bombers
- Mar 17 Allied ships bomb North-Sumatra
- Mar 18 1,250 US bombers attacks Berlin
Event of Interest
Mar 18 Maurice "Rocket" Richard becomes the 1st NHLer to score 50 goals
Maurice Richard
Event of Interest
Mar 19 Adolf Hitler issues "Nero Decree" to destroy all German factories
Adolf Hitler
- Mar 19 British 36th division conquers Mogok (ruby mine)
- Mar 19 US Task Force 58 attacks ships near Kobe/Kure
- Mar 20 US 70th Infantry Division captures Saarbrucken, immediately prior the invasion of Germany by the western Allies
- Mar 21 1st Japanese flying bombs (ochas) attack Okinawa
- Mar 21 During WW II Allied bombers begin 4-day raid over Germany
- Mar 21 Dutch Resistance fighter Hannie Schaft arrested by Nazi police
- Mar 22 Arab League forms with adoption of a charter in Cairo Egypt
- Mar 22 US 3rd Army crosses Rhine at Nierstein
- Mar 23 British 7th Black Watch crosses the Rhine into Germany
Battle of Okinawa
Mar 23 Battle of Okinawa: US Navy ships bomb the Japanese island of Okinawa in preparation for the Allied invasion; it would become the largest battle of the Pacific War in World War II
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- Mar 23 Premier Churchill visits Montgomery's headquarter in Straelen
Event of Interest
Mar 23 The Swallow Sidecar Company headed by William Lyons agrees to change its name to Jaguar
William Lyons
Event of Interest
Mar 23 Lt. Gen. Miles Dempsey becomes the first British commander to cross the Rhine during the Allied invasion of Germany
Miles Dempsey
Event of Interest
Mar 24 Allied generals Dwight D. Eisenhower, Bernard Montgomery and Omar Bradley discuss advance in Germany
Omar Bradley
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Bernard Montgomery
- Mar 24 Operation Varsity: In the largest one-day airborne operation of all time, British, US & Canadian paratroopers land east of the Rhine in Northern Germany
- Mar 24 US minesweepers reach Kerama Retto, South coast of Okinawa
- Mar 25 US 1st army breaks out bridgehead near Remagen
- Mar 25 US 4th Armored div arrives at Hanau & Aschaffenburg
- Mar 25 US Northern Tractor Flotilla departs Ulithi to Okinawa
Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima
Mar 26 Allies led by US Marine Corps secure island of Iwo Jima from Imperial Japanese Army, after 18,000 Japanese & 6,000 Americans killed
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- Mar 26 British premier Winston Churchill looks over at the Rhine (near Ginsberg)
Event of Interest
Mar 26 De Paul wins NIT basketball championship, George Mikan scores 34
George Mikan
- Mar 26 Allied generals Dwight D. Eisenhower, Omar Bradley and George S. Patton launch attack at Remagen on the Rhine
- Mar 26 Kamikaze attack on US battle fleet near Kerama Retto
- Mar 26 US 7th Army crosses Rhine at Worms
- Mar 26 Venray soccer team forms
- Mar 27 7th NCAA Men's Basketball Championship: Oklahoma State beats NYU, 49-44; Cowboys' center Bob Kurland is named tournament Most Outstanding Player
- Mar 27 British premier Winston Churchill sails to eastern banks of Rhine
- Mar 27 DePaul beats Bowling Green for NIT title
Music Recording
Mar 27 Ella Fitzgerald and Delta Rhythm Boys record the song "It's Only a Paper Moon"
Ella Fitzgerald
- Mar 27 General Eisenhower declares German defenses on Western Front broken
- Mar 27 US 20th Army corps captures Wiesbaden
- Mar 27 World War II: Operation Starvation, the aerial mining of Japan's ports and waterways begins.
- Mar 28 Last German V-1 (buzz bomb) attack on London
- Mar 29 World War II: Last day of V-1 flying bomb attacks on England
Event of Interest
Mar 29 Movie star Jimmy Stewart is promoted to full colonel, one of the few Americans to rise from private to colonel in four years
James Stewart
Famous Birthdays
- Mar 1 Dirk Benedict, American actor (A-Team, Battlestar Galactica), born in Helena, Montana
- Mar 2 Gordon Thompson, Canadian actor (Adam Carrington in Dynasty), born in Ottawa
- Mar 2 Joy Garrett, American actress (Jo Johnson-Days of Our Lives), born in Fort Worth, Texas (d. 1993)
- Mar 2 Derek Watkins, British trumpet player and composer ("The Spy Who Loved Me"; "Skyfall"), born in Reading, England (d. 2013)
- Mar 3 Farooq Hamid, cricketer (1-107 in Test, Pakistan v Australia 1964)
- Mar 3 Hattie Winston, actress (Nurse, Electric Company), born in Greenville, Mississippi
- Mar 4 Dieter Meier, Swiss singer/children book writer (Yello)
- Mar 4 Jaime Tirelli, American actor (Orlando Lopez-Ball Four), born in NYC, New York
- Mar 4 Tara Browne, British socialite (d. 1966)
- Mar 4 Frank Novak, American actor
- Mar 4 Tommy Svensson, Swedish soccer midfielder (40 caps; Östers IF, Standard Liège) and manager (Östers IF, Sweden), born in Växjö, Sweden
- Mar 5 Randy Matson, American field athlete (Olympic gold shot putt 1968), born in Pampa, Texas
- Mar 6 Anna Maria Horsford, American actress (Thelma Frye-Amen), born in NYC, New York
- Mar 6 Hugh Grundy, Winchester England, drummer (Zombies-She's Not There)
- Mar 7 Arthur Lee, American rock singer-songwriter (Love - Forever Changes; Vindicator), born in Memphis, Tennessee (d. 2006)
- Mar 7 John Heard, American actor (Home Alone, Cat People, Big), born in Washington, D.C. (d. 2017)
- Mar 8 Graeme Watson, Australian cricket all-rounder (5 Tests, 6 wickets; 2 ODIs), born in Kew, Victoria, Australia (d. 2020)
- Mar 8 Jim Chapman, American politician (Rep-D-TX, 1985-1997), born in Washington, District of Columbia
- Mar 8 Micky Dolenz, American singer and actor (Circus Boy, The Monkees), born in Los Angeles, California
- Mar 8 Bruce Broughton, American composer
- Mar 8 Anselm Kiefer, German painter
- Mar 9 Laura Lee, American soul and gospel singer (Dirty Man, Women's Love Rights), born in Chicago, Illinois
- Mar 9 Robin Trower, English guitarist (Procol Harum-Whiter Shade of Pale), born in London, England
- Mar 9 Dennis Rader, American serial killer who murdered ten people in Sedgwick County, Kansas, born in Pittsburg, Kansas
- Mar 9 Robert Calvert, South African-British writer and musician (Hawkwind), born in Pretoria (d. 1988)
- Mar 10 Katharine Houghton, actress (Guess Who's Coming to Dinner), born in Hartford, Connecticut
- Mar 10 Birgitta Sellén, Swedish politician
- Mar 10 Elizabeth Brumfiel [Elizabeth Stern], American feminist archaeologist, former president of the American Anthropological Association
- Mar 11 Harvey Mandel, rock guitarist (Drei Amerikanische LP's)
- Mar 11 Timothy Mason, consultant (British Arts Council)
- Mar 11 Tricia O'Neal, actress (Piranha Part II), born in Shreveport, Louisiana
- Mar 11 Dock Ellis, American baseball player
- Mar 12 Sammy "The Bull" Gravano, American mobster who testified against John Gotti, born in Brooklyn, New York
- Mar 12 Hans van Emden, Dutch guitarist (Les Baroques)
- Mar 13 Anatoly Timofeevich Fomenko, Russian mathematician, born in Stalino, USSR
- Mar 14 Herman[us J] van Veen, Neth, cabaretier/singer/composer/writer
- Mar 14 Michael Martin Murphey, country singer (Wildfire), born in Dallas, Texas
- Mar 14 Walt Parazaider, rock saxophonist (Chicago), born in Chicago, Illinois
- Mar 15 Jorgen Sundelin, Swedish yachtsmen (Olympic gold 1968)
- Mar 15 Mark J Green, American lawyer/author (Closed Enterprise System), born in Brooklyn, New York
- Mar 15 Tracy Smith, long-distance runner, born in Altadena, California)
- Mar 15 A. K. Faezul Huq, Bengali lawyer and politician (d. 2007)
- Mar 17 Elis Regina, Brazilian singer (d. 1982)
- Mar 17 Michael Hayden, General USAF, Director of the Central Intelligence Agency
- Mar 18 Aleksey Vakhonin, USSR, bantam weight (Olympic gold 1964)
- Mar 18 Joy Fielding, Canadian novelist and actress, born in Toronto, Ontario
- Mar 18 Hiroh Kikai, Japanese photographer
- Mar 18 Eric Woolfson, Scottish singer and producer (The Alan Parsons Project), born in Glasgow (d. 2009)
- Mar 18 John Jacobs, American golfer (PGA Senior C’ship 2003), born in Los Angeles, California
- Mar 19 Lisa Nicole Baker, American Playboy playmate (Nov 1966, Playmate of the Year 1967), born in Detroit, Texas
- Mar 19 Stefanos Kiriakidis, Greek actor
- Mar 20 Pat Riley, American NBA coach (Lakers, Knicks, Heat), born in Schenectady, New York
- Mar 20 Tim Yeo, British MP/under-sect (State of Environment)
- Mar 20 Henry Bartholomay, American fighter pilot
- Mar 20 Jay Ingram, Canadian television host and author
- Mar 21 Rosemary Stone, vocalist/pianist (Sly & Family Stone-Everyday People)
- Mar 21 Vernon Guy, US gospel singer (Cool Sounds, Sharpees)
- Mar 22 Alan Opie, baritone (Boughton Bethlehem, Britten 5 Canticles)
- Mar 22 Chuck Jackson, American singer (Playboy, Independents), born in Greenville, South Carolina
- Mar 23 Franco Battiato, Italian singer, songwriter and filmmaker
- Mar 23 Krasnodar Rora, Croatian soccer midfielder (5 caps Yugoslavia; Dinamo Zagreb, Standard Liège) and manager (Šibenik), born in Vis, Croatia (d. 2020)
- Mar 24 Robert T. Bakker, American paleontologist
- Mar 24 Curtis Hanson, American film director and screenwriter (LA Confidential, 8 Mile), born in Reno, Nevada (d. 2016)
- Mar 26 Mikhail Voronin, Russian and Soviet gymnast (1968 Olympics: 7 medals including 2 gold, 1972 Olympics: 2 silver medals), born in Moscow (d. 2004)
- Mar 27 Briton Selby, Canadian NHL player, born in Kingston, Ontario
- Mar 28 Chuck Portz, bassist (Turtles-Happy Together), born in Santa Monica, California
- Mar 28 Hans Brunhart, Leader of Liechtenstein (1978-93), born in Balzers, Liechtenstein
- Mar 28 Count Björn Hamilton, Swedish politician, count and engineer, born in Gothenburg, Sweden
Rodrigo Duterte
Mar 28 Rodrigo Duterte, Philippines politician, President of the Philippines (2016-), born in Maasin, Leyte, Philippines
Rodrigo Duterte
- Mar 28 Johnny Famechon, Australian boxer (WBC featherweight champion), born in Paris, France
Walt Frazier
Mar 29 Walt "Clyde" Frazier, NBA guard (NY Knicks), born in Atlanta, Georgia
Walt Frazier
- Mar 29 Willem Ruis, Dutch TV host (Willem Ruis Show), born in Haarlem, Netherlands (d. 1986)
- Mar 29 John "Speedy" Keen, British musician, songwriter, producer (Thunderclap Newman - "Something in the Air"), born in Ealing, London (d. 2002)
- Mar 29 Hardy Fox, American member of avant-garde band The Residents, born in Longview, Texas (d. 2018)
Eric Clapton
Mar 30 Eric Clapton, English singer and guitarist (Tears in Heaven), born in Ripley, Surrey, England
Eric Clapton
Famous Weddings
Wedding of Interest
Mar 21 Actor Humphrey Bogart (44) marries actress Lauren Bacall (20)
Humphrey Bogart
Famous Deaths
- Mar 2 Emily Carr, Canadian painter, dies at 73
- Mar 3 Arthur Vanderpoorten, Flemish Internal minister (1940), dies at 61
- Mar 3 Jacobus H "Koos" Speenhoff, Dutch cabaret singer, killed in bombing raid at 75
- Mar 4 Lucille La Verne, American actress (b. 1872)
- Mar 4 Mark Sandrich, American film director, writer and producer (b. 1900)
- Mar 5 Lena Baker, American murderer, convicted of capital murder of her employer, Ernest Knight, dies at 44
- Mar 6 Jan Thijssen, Dutch resistance fighter, executed at Savage Farm
- Mar 6 Rudolf Karel, Czech composer (Three Hairs of the Wise Old Man), dies of dysentery and pneumonia while in Theresienstadt concentration camp at 64
- Mar 7 Adolf Bartels, German journalist and poet, dies at 82
- Mar 8 H J Jamin, Dutch resistance fighter, dies in Buchenwald
- Mar 8 Jan Beekes, resistance fighter, executed at 26
Anne Frank
Mar 12 Anne Frank, Dutch Diarist and Jewish victim of the Nazi Holocaust (Diary of Anne Frank), dies of typhus in the Belsen concentration camp at 15
Anne Frank
- Mar 13 Herbert Bedford, English author and composer, dies at 78
- Mar 15 Herman Bernard Wiardi Beckman, Dutch resistance fighter and politician (SDAP), dies at 41
- Mar 16 Pierre Drieu la Rochelle, French writer/poet, commits suicide at 52
- Mar 16 Börries von Münchhausen, German poet (b. 1874)
- Mar 18 William Grover-Williams, British racing driver
- Mar 19 Fritz Fromm, German supreme commander of Reserve army, executed
- Mar 21 J Woortman, Dutch resistance fighter, dies in Bergen-Belsen at 39
- Mar 21 Arthur Nebe, German SS officer, dies at 50
- Mar 22 J Postuma, Dutch resistance fighter, dies
- Mar 24 J S Nicklin, Lt-Col/Canada's 1st parachutist, dies
- Mar 24 Thomas Rennie, Gen-Maj (Dutch command 51st Highland Division), dies
David Lloyd George
Mar 26 David Lloyd George, British Prime Minister (Liberal: 1916-22), dies of cancer at 82
David Lloyd George
- Mar 26 Isaack Stouten, resistance fighter, shot to death at 29
- Mar 26 Boris Shaposhnikov, Russian military commander, dies at 62
- Mar 27 Jorgen Nielsen, Danish writer (romance), dies at 42
- Mar 29 Karl T Sapper, German geographer/geologist (Vulkankunde), dies at 79
- Mar 29 Ferenc Csik, Hungarian swimmer (Olympics gold medal 100m freestyle 1936), dies of war wounds at 31
- Mar 30 Karel Moor, Czech composer and conductor, dies at 71
Hans Fischer
Mar 31 Hans Fischer, German organic chemist (Nobel Prize for Chemistry 1930), commits suicide at 63
Hans Fischer
