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• USS Pompon was commissioned into service with Lieutenant Commander E. C. Hawk in command. ww2dbase [Pompon | CPC]

• Alpino Bagnolini sighted an aircraft in the Atlantic Ocean at 2245 hours; she submerged to avoid detection. ww2dbase [Alpino Bagnolini | CPC]

• The US Marine Corps 10th Defense Battalion completed taking over the duties of the 11th Defense Battalion in the Russell Islands, Solomon Islands. ww2dbase [Russell Islands | CPC]

• Bulgaria stated its opposition to the deportation of Bulgarian Jews. ww2dbase [Discovery of Concentration Camps and the Holocaust | CPC]

• Indian troops fell back from Japanese attacks along the Arakan front in Burma. ww2dbase [First Battle of Arakan | Arakan | CPC]
• The main body of the Northern Group of the Chindits arrived at the confluence of the Irrawaddy and Shweli Rivers in Burma; they began to cross at nightfall. ww2dbase [Operation Longcloth | Inn | CPC]

• The USAAF 306th Bomb Group flying from RAF Thurleigh launched a bombing raid against the German submarine facilities at Lorient, France. ww2dbase [RAF Thurleigh | Bombing of Cities in France and Low Countries | Lorient | DS]

• Graffiti along the lines of "we are obliged to the Führer for this" was found among ruins of bombed German cities. ww2dbase [CPC]
• Franken was commissioned into service. ww2dbase [Franken | CPC]

• US Marine Scout-Bomber Squadron 243 arrived at Johnston Island from Ewa, US Territory of Hawaii. ww2dbase [Kapolei, Oahu | CPC]
• Barbers Point Naval Air Station: Part of Marine Fighting Squadron 215 (VMF-215) and Marine Fighting Squadron 222 (VMF-222) departed. ww2dbase [Barbers Point Naval Air Station | Ewa, Oahu | DS]

• Nachi refueled from oiler Teiyo Maru at Paramushiro (Paramushir), Kurile Islands. ww2dbase [Nachi | Paramushiro, Hokkaido | CPC]
• Yugure arrived at Sasebo, Japan at 0745 hours. ww2dbase [Yugure | Sasebo, Nagasaki | CPC]

• US troops captured Gafsa, Tunisia. ww2dbase [Battle of El Guettar | Gafsa | CPC]

• 90 Luftwaffe bombers attacked Cardiff, Wales, United Kingdom. ww2dbase [Battle of Britain | Cardiff, Wales | TH]

• George Kenney and Richard Sutherland met with Franklin Roosevelt at the White House in Washington DC, United States. Later on the same day, Roosevelt called in Kenney for a second meeting, during which Kenney successfully lobbied for additional aircraft to be assigned to the USAAF in Australia. ww2dbase [White House | Franklin Roosevelt | George Kenney | Washington | CPC]
• Captain Gordon Rowe relieved Captain Durgin as commanding officer of USS Ranger. ww2dbase [Ranger | Narragansett Bay, Rhode Island | DS]

17 Mar 1943 Interactive Map