March 4, 1945
Today in World War II Pacific History
Day by day chronology

SUNDAY, 4 MARCH 1945

CHINA THEATER (Fourteenth Air Force): Four B-24s on a sea sweep damage a destroyer escort in the South China Sea. USAAF planes lay mines in Yangtze River; Japanese ship Wan Shih Maru is sunk north of Shanghai.

Burma: In Br Fourteenth Army's 4 Corps area, Ind 17th Div has now largely completed capture of Meiktila.

HQ AAF (Twentieth Air Force): Mission 42: During the night of 4/5 Mar, 11 of 12 B-29s, staging from Luliang, mine the confluence of the Hwangpoo and Yangtze Rivers and the Tai-hsing Narrows at Shanghai and 1 B-29s drops mines at Tungting Lake without loss.

INDIA-BURMA THEATER (Tenth Air Force): In Burma, 100 fighter-bombers attack troop concentrations, villages, roads, tanks, trucks, animal transport, and supplies along and immediately behind the battlelines running from the SW to NE across C Burma; Meiktila is largely occupied by forces of the Indian 17th Division.

AAFPOA (Seventh Air Force): 10 B-24s from Guam bomb Susaki Airfield; during the night of 4/5 Mar, 3 B-24s make separate harassment raids on the airfield. Lieutenant General Barney Mc Giles becomes Commanding General of AAFPOA and Deputy Commander of the Twentieth AF.

HQ AAF (Twentieth Air Force): XXI BC employs 192 B-29's in precision attack on Musashino aircraft factory at Tokyo. This raid ends precision bombardment phase of XXI BC operations against Japanese aircraft industry. Mission 39: 192 Marianas based B-29s are airborne against Musashino aircraft factory (Musashi) near Tokyo, but heavy clouds prevent bombing the primary; 159 B-29s bomb the secondary target, the urban areas of Tokyo, and 18 others hit alternate targets; 1 B-29 is lost. This aborted try at Musashino marks the end of XXI Bomber Command's effort to knock out the Japanese aircraft industry by high-altitude, daylight precision bombing. The indirect effect of causing Japanese industrialists to lose confidence in their supposed immunity from air attacks exceeds the effect of actual bomb damage to the aircraft industry. B-29 "Dinah Might" 42-65286 makes an emergency landing at Motoyama No. 1 Airfield (South Field), the first of over 2,400 emergency landings on Iwo Jima.

SOUTHWEST PACIFIC AREA [SWPA, Far East Air Force (FEAF)]: B-24s bomb Sasa and Likanan and Zamboanga Town. On Luzon, B-24s bomb targets of opportunity in the Cagayan Valley, gun positions, ammunition storage, and targets of opportunity at Antipolo and Wawa, supply dumps and the town area at Bamban, fortifications on Caballo in Manila Bay, and Aparri Airfield and Tuguegarao Airfield. The detachments of the 431st Fighter Squadron and 433d Fighter Squadron, 475th Fighter Group operating from San Jose with P-38s return to base at Clark Field.

USMC: VAC continues attack with 3 divs, each employing 2 RCT's abreast, but is unable to advance appreciably. B-29 makes emergency landing on Iwo Jima. Air Warning Squadron 4 arrives at Leyte Gulf from Los Negros.

USMC: Lost is FG-1A Corsiar 14257 1st Lt William F. Brown (survived).

U.S. Army: In U.S. Sixth Army area, XIV Corps orders continuation of drive to E against Shimbu line on 8 March; gives 11th A/B Div, reinf by RCT 158, task of clearing Balayan and Batangas Bays on S Luzon. In XI Corps area, elements of 43d and 38th Divs make contact at Tiaong; 43d then begins westward push into Zambales Mtns west of Clark Field.

In U.S. Eighth Army area, Co B of 186th Inf, with flame-thrower assistance, secures Hill 1125 on Palawan. On Samar, the Mauo region is searched carefully for enemy.

U.S. Navy: Destroyers Yarnall (DD-541) and Ringgold (DD-500) are damaged in collision while simulating night torpedo attack, 12°15'N, 138°08'E.

Submarine Baya (SS-318) attacks Japanese convoy HI-98, sinking merchant tanker Palembang Maru off Cape Varella, French Indochina, 12°50'N, 109°30'E (see 5 March).

Submarine Tilefish (SS-307) sinks Japanese fishing vessel Shiko Maru off Setsuko Saki, 28°15'N, 129°08'E. British submarine HMS Clyde sinks Japanese auxiliary submarine chaser Kiku Maru off western Sumatra.

Royal Navy: HMS Trenchant and HMS Terrapin sink Japanese submarine chaser Ch 8 in central Malacca Strait, 04°04'N, 110°35'E.

RAAF: Venturas attack Japanese convoy off Soembawa Island sinking small cargo vessels No.3 Kiri Maru and No.4 Matsu Maru, 08°17'S, 118°56'E.