March 10, 1943
Today in World War II Pacific History
Day by day chronology

WEDNESDAY, 10 MARCH 1943

(Eleventh Air Force) A reconnaissance airplane in the Aleutians is attacked by 5 enemy aircraft. Kiska is attacked by 10 B-25s, 6 B-24s, 12 P-38s (4 of them flying top cover), and 1 F-5A. Eight of the P-38s strafe ground installations; the B-25s bomb a radar site and pound North Head, silencing AA fire; the B-24s hit the Main Camp area. Four Amchitka based P-40s bomb the submarine base.

BURMA AND INDIA (Tenth Air Force) Heavy bombers strike the Rangoon area at two points. Five B-24s hit the Pazundaung bridge; 4 others pound runways, buildings. and revetments at Mingaladon Airfield. After the attack, several fighters attack the flight. The heavy bombers claim 3 shot down. The China Air Task Force (CATF) is is absorbed by the Fourteenth Air Force (see below).

CHINA (Fourteenth Air Force) The Fourteenth Air Force is activated at Kunming assigned to U.S. Army Forces, China-Burma-India Theater under the command of Major General Claire L. Chennault. This new Air Force is responsible for all USAAF units in China. P-40s from Kunming fly armed reconnaissance into Burma, crossing the Salween River and covering areas SW of Lashio.

SOUTHWEST PACIFIC THEATER OF OPERATIONS (Fifth Air Force) B-17s bomb Wewak Airfield and shipping off Wewak. Single heavy bombers attack shipping off New Guinea. B-24s damage Japanese fleet tanker Kaijo Maru south of Buton Passage, Celebes at 04°45'S, 123°10'E and is run aground on Landaila Reef, where she is abandoned.

IJN: A Japanese convoy including Kimikawa Maru unloads 185 troops, ammunition, airfield materials and sepalanes at Kiska Harbor. At 9:00pm the convoy depart because of the threat of air raids, with much of their cargo still aboard and proceeds to Attu.

USN: Laid down USS PGM-7 at Mathis Yacht Building Company in Camden, New Jersey. Laid down USS Serpens (AK-97) at California Shipbuilding Corporation in Wilmington, California. Launched is USS Apogon (SS-308) at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery, Maine. PT-114 acting on intelligence that eighteen Japanese in a lifeboat after their ship sank in the Battle of the Bismarck Sea drifted ashore on Kiriwina and are captured and transported to Milne Bay arriving the next day.