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• » 2 Mar 1944

• Walter Krupinski received Oak Leaves to his Knight's Cross medal. ww2dbase [Walter Krupinski | CPC]
• James Johnson was named the commanding officer of the No. 144 (RCAF) Wing. ww2dbase [James Johnson | CPC]
• Wilhelm Kratzer was named the acting civilian administrator of the Channel Islands. ww2dbase [CPC]

• USS Cero arrived at Brisbane, Australia, ending her third war patrol. ww2dbase [Cero | Brisbane, Queensland | CPC]

• US 1st Cavalry Division captured Hayne Airfield at Los Negros Island, Admiralty Islands. ww2dbase [New Guinea-Papua Campaign, Phase 3 | Los Negros, Admiralty Islands | CPC]
• US aircraft carpet-bombed the center of Rabaul, New Britain. The Chinatown district received the most damage. ww2dbase [New Guinea-Papua Campaign, Phase 3 | Rabaul, New Britain | CPC]

• Joseph Stilwell gave orders to the three battalion commanding officers of the US 5307th Composite Unit (Provisional) in Burma. The 1st Battalion was to split in two, one force to block trails at Sana Ga and Nchet Ga, and the other to be held in reserve at West Ga. The 2nd Battalion was to go through Wesu Ga to set up a roadblock on the Kamaing Road just east of the Numpyek River 2.5 miles west of Malawbum. The 3rd Battalion was to pass through Sabaw Ga and Lagang Ga and secure high positions along the Numpyek River. All three battalions were to hold those positions until Chinese troops would capture Malawbum. As the Americans advanced according to these orders, they engaged Japanese troops later on the same day. ww2dbase [Joseph Stilwell | Battle of Myitkyina | CPC]

• German Luftwaffe ace Egon Mayer (102 victories) was shot down and killed when his Fw 190 aircraft was bounced by a pair of US 9th Air Force P-47 Thunderbolt aircraft whilst attacking a formation of B-17 bombers near Sedan, France. In a cruel twist of fate his award of Swords had been announced on that same day. ww2dbase [Sedan, Champagne-Ardenne | AC]
• SOE agents Denise Bloch and Robert Benoist were dropped into central France. ww2dbase [Denise Bloch | CPC]

• 421 Czech prisoners were transferred from Auschwitz Concentration Camp in Poland to Buchenwald Concentration Camp in Germany. ww2dbase [Buchenwald Concentration Camp | Discovery of Concentration Camps and the Holocaust | Ettersberg, Weimar | CPC]
• Heinrich Himmler signed Aktion K into effect, which decreed that captured escapees of prisoners of war camps would be sent to the Mauthausen Concentration Camp in occupied Austria, where they would face execution immediately upon arrival and their remains would be destroyed in the camp crematorium. ww2dbase [Heinrich Himmler | CPC]
• The USAAF 306th Bomb Group flying from RAF Thurleigh launched a bombing raid against dock facilities at Frankfurt, Germany. ww2dbase [RAF Thurleigh | Bombing of Hamburg, Dresden, and Other Cities | Frankfurt | DS]

• Norwegian motor vessel Tarifa (Master Hans Bjønness) joined an Allied convoy AB-33 off Aden Protectorate. ww2dbase [Arabian Sea | HM]

• On Mount Trocchio near Cassino, Italy, walking down a path that was supposed to have been cleared, Major-General Howard Kippenberger, the admirable commander of the 2nd New Zealand Division, stepped on one of the vicious little wooden "Schu" mines. One of his feet was blown off and the other had to be amputated. ww2dbase [Battle of Monte Cassino | Cassino, Lazio | AC]

• USS Ray began pursuing a nine-ship Japanese convoy in the South China Sea. ww2dbase [Ray | South China Sea | CPC]

• Allied convoy RA-57 departed the Kola Inlet near Murmansk, Russia. ww2dbase [Arctic Convoys | Murmansk | CPC]

• Escort carrier USS Saginaw Bay (CVE-82) was commissioned with Captain Frank C. Sutton in command. ww2dbase [Saginaw Bay | AC]
• Leutze was commissioned into service at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, Bremerton, Washington, United States. ww2dbase [Puget Sound Navy Yard | Leutze | Bremerton, Washington | CPC]
• USS Proteus entered Mare Island Navy Yard, Vallejo, California, United States for repairs. ww2dbase [Mare Island Navy Yard | Proteus | Vallejo, California | CPC]

• USS Tunny arrived at Midway Atoll. ww2dbase [Tunny | Midway Bases | Midway | CPC]

2 Mar 1944 Interactive Map