25th March 1942
In one of the greatest "trading with the enemy" scandals of the war, U.S. Assistant Attorney General Thurman Arnold announces that William Stamps Farish Sr. has pled "no contest" to charges of criminal conspiracy with the Nazis. Arnold discloses that Standard Oil of New Jersey (later Exxon) of which Farish is president and CEO has agreed to stop hiding patents from the U.S. for synthetic rubber, which the company has in its possession. Missouri Sen. Harry Truman later roasts Farish in front of his committee investigating home front wrongdoing, an event that raises Truman's profile and makes him a plausible running mate for FDR in 1944. The exposure of the scandal is widely believed to have contributed to Farish's sudden death from a heart attack in November of 1942. US troops occupy the Society Islands.
26th March 1942
Churchill tells the conservatives, ‘It now seems very likely that we and our allies cannot lose this war, except through our own fault’. Two of the freighters from the recent relief convoy are sunk in port by the Luftwaffe. These two ships were still almost fully loaded as damage to the docks at Valletta has prevented their swift unloading. Of the 26,000 tons of supply that had been sent from Egypt on this latest convoy, only 5,000 tons were eventually unloaded. General Blamey becomes the Commander-in-Chief of Australian Military Forces.
27th March 1942
The start of deportation of French Jews to Auschwitz. The Filipino Government arrives in Australia.
28th March 1942
Naval and Commando raid against St. Nazaire. Under the new tactical doctrine of area saturation bombing, introduced by Air Vice Marshal Harris, the RAF launches a heavy incendiary attack (234 bombers) against Lübeck on the Baltic that devastates 265 acres of the old city. The RAF lost 13 aircraft and from one of these the Germans were able to obtain their first specimen of the GEE equipment. In retaliation for the raid on Lübeck, Hitler orders the Luftwaffe to bomb historic British towns and cities. Fritz Sauckel named Chief of Manpower to expedite recruitment of slave labour. In response to General Stilwell's request for a British counter-attack to relieve the pressure on Chinese forces around Toungoo, Alexander orders the 1st Burma Corps to attack at Paungde and Prome in the Irrawaddy valley.
29th March 1942
Another sixteen Spitfires are delivered to Malta by Force H. Escorts of the Arctic convoy PQ13, beat off a German destroyer attack, sinking Z26. The Australian War Cabinet implements a 'Total Denial' policy in northern Australia should the Japanese invade. This would involve the conduct of a fighting withdrawal, with the evacuation or destruction of anything left behind. Already underway was a vast migration of sheep and cattle southwards, with those taking part being nicknamed 'Overlanders'.
30th March 1942
The RAF make a second unsuccessful attempt to sink the Tirpitz while in port at Trondheim. First trainloads of Jews from Paris arrive at Auschwitz. The Pacific War Council is set up in Washington, with representatives from Britain, Australia, Canada, China, New Zealand, Netherlands, Philippines and the the US. The Allies formally divide the Pacific theatre into two commands. General MacArthur takes control of the South-West Pacific Command based in Australia and covering the Philippines, new Guinea, the Bismarck Archipelago and the Dutch East Indies. The second command covered the remainder of the Pacific and came under the control of Admiral Nimitz, who was based at Pearl Harbor. His Pacific Ocean Command was then sub divided in to three, which were the North, Central and South Pacific Areas. The 6th Chinese Army abandons Toungoo, and fails to destroy the bridge over the river Sittang as well. This leaves the way to the Chinese border wide open for the Japanese Army. The abandonment of Toungoo also exposed 1st Burma Corps left flank, whose attacks in the Prome area had been turned back by the Japanese. It was therefore forced to withdraw towards the Yenangyuang oilfields.
31st March 1942
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