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• American aircraft attacked a Japanese convoy near Wewak, New Guinea. ww2dbase [New Guinea-Papua Campaign, Phase 3 | CPC]
• Captain Yoshi Matsuura was named the commanding officer of light carrier Ryuho. ww2dbase [Ryuho | CPC]
• USS Flying Fish sank a Japanese transport and damaged a tanker off Okinawa, Japan, hitting them with 3 of 10 torpedoes fired. ww2dbase [Flying Fish | CPC]

• Allies troops captured Mawlu, a major rail link in central Burma. ww2dbase [Mawlu | CPC]

• German Type IXC submarine U-505 left Brest, France on the submarine's 12th patrol, with Oberleutnant-zur-See Harald Lange in command. ww2dbase [The Capture of the U-505 | U-505 | Brest, Bretagne | DS]

• USS Seahorse departed Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii for her fourth war patrol. ww2dbase [Pearl Harbor Navy Base and Ford Island Naval Air Station | Seahorse | Pearl Harbor, Oahu | CPC]
• USS Harder departed Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii for her fourth war patrol. ww2dbase [Pearl Harbor Navy Base and Ford Island Naval Air Station | Harder | Honolulu, Oahu | CPC]

• The Calcutta, India based Special Operations Executive mission in the Far East, known as GS I(k), adopted the title Force 136 with the purpose of providing long-range strategic and political intelligence throughout South-East Asia, and to organise local resistance groups against the Japanese. ww2dbase [Calcutta, Bengal | AC]

• Allied troops continued the attack on Monte Cassino, Italy. ww2dbase [Battle of Monte Cassino | Cassino, Lazio | CPC]

• Destroyer USS Hoel crossed the equator for the first time. Her log recorded, “The ship teemed with low marine life. Polywogs in particular were in abundance. These were brought before the royal court of Neptunus Rex and duly initiated.” ww2dbase [Line Crossing Ceremony | Hoel | DS]

• British civilian Oswald Job was hanged at Pentonville Prison in Islington, London, England, United Kingdom for spying. ww2dbase [London, England | CPC]

• USS Tang departed Midway, starting her second war patrol in the waters near Palau Islands, Caroline Islands, and south of the Philippine Islands. ww2dbase [Midway Bases | Tang | Midway | CPC]

16 Mar 1944 Interactive Map