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• Cargo ship Havre Maru and her escort Patrol Boat No. 102 detached from convoy O-502, after which the convoy was consisted of tanker Nasusan Maru and Patrol Boat No. 36. ww2dbase [Stewart | CPC]

• HMCS Fennel and HMCS Chilliwack shared in the sinking of the German submarine U-744 in the Atlantic Ocean. ww2dbase [AC]

• Major General Masatake Kimihira noted in his diary that "more than half of the city has been reduced to ashes", referring to Rabaul, New Britain. ww2dbase [New Guinea-Papua Campaign, Phase 3 | Rabaul, New Britain | CPC]

• Further glider operations brought in more men to join Operation Thursday at the Chowringhee site in Burma. ww2dbase [Operation Thursday | CPC]
• Louis Mountbatten arrived at Taihpa, Burma by transport aircraft escorted by 16 fighters to inspect Joseph Stilwell's headquarters; Stilwell privately complained that Mountbatten had used enough fuel on this trip for Stilwell to mount an offensive. Mountbatten would also visit the Walawbum battlefield 25 kilometers to the south. On the front lines, the 2nd Battalion of US 5307th Composite Unit (Provisional) arrived at Wesu Ga early in the morning. Colonel Charles Hunter, liaison officer Colonel Chun Lee, and a small group traveled north to make contact with was meeting with Colonel Rothwell Brown of the joint American-Chinese 1st Provisional Tank Group to possibly coordinate an attack on Japanese positions near Walawbum, but they could not locate the Chinese unit. On the same day, the Japanese launched several frontal attacks across the Numpyek River near Walawbum. 5307th Composite Unit (Provisional)'s Orange Combat Team halted the attacks, inflicting heavy casualties while suffering only a small amount itself. At about 2230 hours, as the Japanese halted the attacks and quietly sent litter bearers to carry away the wounded, Frank Merrill ordered Lieutenant Colonel Charles Beach to withdraw the Orange Combat Team, intending for the Chinese 38th Division to eliminate the remaining Japanese. ww2dbase [Charles Beach | Battle of Myitkyina | Joseph Stilwell | Louis Mountbatten | Charles Hunter | Taihpa | CPC]

• Aircraft of US Navy Task Force 38 conducted a reconnaissance mission over Kagi Airfield in Kagi (now Chiayi), Taiwan. ww2dbase [Kagi Airfield | Kagi, Tainan | CPC]

• The RAF Bomber Command began a major offensive over France to prepare for the Normandy invasion. ww2dbase [Normandy Campaign, Phase 1 | TH]

• The US 8th Army Air Force journeyed all the way to Berlin, Germany for the first time. In all 474 bombers, including those with 306th Bomb Group flying from RAF Thurleigh, and their Mustang escort fighters flew to the German capital, facing a barrage of heavy flak and many Luftwaffe fighters. A total of 53 B-17 bombers and 16 fighters were lost. ww2dbase [Bombing of Hamburg, Dresden, and Other Cities | RAF Thurleigh | Berlin | TH, AC]
• Robert Johnson shot down a German Bf 110 aircraft over Dümmer Lake, Germany. ww2dbase [Robert Johnson | Lembruch, Weser-Ems | CPC]

• USS Snook arrived at Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii, ending her fifth war patrol. ww2dbase [Snook | Pearl Harbor Navy Base and Ford Island Naval Air Station | Honolulu, Oahu | CPC]
• USS Finback completed refitting at Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii and departed for her eighth war patrol. ww2dbase [Finback | Honolulu, Oahu | CPC]

• Norwegian motor vessel Tarifa (Master Hans Bjønness) detached from Allied convoy AB-33 in the Arabian Sea and began a zigzag course independently. ww2dbase [Arabian Sea | HM]

• USS Dragonet was commissioned into service with Commander Jack Hayden Lewis in command. ww2dbase [Dragonet | CPC]

6 Mar 1944 Interactive Map