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• A lifeboat containing the survivors of Norwegian motor vessel Tarifa (sunk by German submarine U-510 on 7 Mar 1944), including Master Hans Bjønness, made landfall at the RAF base on Socotra island in the Arabian Sea in the evening. ww2dbase [HM]

• Egmont Prinz zur Lippe-Weißenfeld died near Saint-Hubert, Belgium where his Bf 110 aircraft crashed in poor weather. ww2dbase [Egmont | CPC]

• In the Arakan region of Burma, Corpporal Nand Singh won the Victoria Cross for capturing Japanese positions despite being seriously wounded. ww2dbase [AC]
• Orde Wingate sent Winston Churchill a message noting the initial successes of Operation Thursday in Burma. ww2dbase [Operation Thursday | Orde Wingate | CPC]

• The Czechoslovakian government-in-exile called civilians to rise up against German occupation. ww2dbase [CPC]

• PBY Catalina aircraft attacked a Japanese convoy en route to Hollandia, Dutch New Guinea and sunk the motor sailboat Hosho Maru. ww2dbase [HM]

• Adolf Hitler ordered the occupation of Hungary, Operation Margarethe. ww2dbase [CPC]

• The 9,925-ton German tanker Brake was shelled and sunk by British warships in the Indian Ocean. ww2dbase [HM]

• The government of Ireland banned international travel. ww2dbase [CPC]

• American Submarine USS Flying Fish (Lieutenant Commander Robert Dunlap Risser) torpedoed and sank the 1,942-ton Japanese merchant cargo ship Taijin Maru off Daito Jima, Okinawa, Japan, hitting her with both of the two torpedoes fired. ww2dbase [Flying Fish | CPC, HM]
• The keel of landing ship No. 105 was laid down by Osaka Zosen. ww2dbase [No. 101/103-class | CPC]

• The 3,723-ton French steamship Killisi, under German control, was bombed by Allied aircraft and sank off the River Ebro, Spain in the Mediterranean Sea. ww2dbase [HM]

• USS Gato (SS-212) sank the 871-ton Japanese army cargo ship Okinoyama Maru No. 3 by gunfire north of New Guinea. ww2dbase [Gato | HM]

• An errant V-1 flying bomb landed in Swedish territory. ww2dbase [V-Weapons Campaign | Vergeltungswaffe 1 | TH]

• German troops and Ukrainian nationalists burned the village of Plikorov near Lvov, killing 385 people as reprisal against partisan operations. ww2dbase [CPC]

• All travel between Great Britain and neutral Ireland were banned to prevent details of the invasion of France being leaked to the enemy. ww2dbase [Normandy Campaign, Phase 1 | AC]

• Submarine Blackfin was launched by the Electric Boat Company in Groton, Connecticut, United States, sponsored by the wife of US Navy Rear Admiral Charles A. Lockwood. ww2dbase [Blackfin | CPC]

12 Mar 1944 Interactive Map