Eighth Air Force. More than 1,000 United States Army Air Force
(USAAF) heavy bombers are dispatched to bomb targets in South
West Germany. Bad weather causes over 300 aborts. 656 heavy
bombers bomb marshalling yards at Ulm, Ingolstadt, Oflfenburg,
military vehicle plants and ordnance depot at Ulm, jet aircraft
plant at Schwabmunchen, and 6 city areas. 13 fighters groups
fly 467 uneventful supporting sorties.
Ninth Air Force. Approximately 180 United States Army Air
Force (USAAF) B-26 Marauder medium bombers, A-20 Havoc light
bombers, and A-26 Invader light bombers strike marshalling
yards and rail junction at Recklinghausen, Lenkerbeck, and
Herne, command centres at Bruhl, Sechtem, and Rheinbach, and
several other targets including rail bridge and towns. Weather
limits fighters operations. A few fighters fly armed reconnaissance
East of the Rhine and others fly cover for XX Corps.
Twelfth Air Force. Good flying weather permits full-scale
effort by Twelfth Air Force. Medium bombers hit 7 railroad
bridges on Brenner line and in Northeast Italy. Salorno railroad
fill receives a particularly good concentration of bombs.
XXII Tactical Air Command P-47 Thunderbolt fighters concentrate
on command targets in Po Valley, knocking out a span of the
Cittadella railway bridge. Brazilian P-47 Thunderbolt fighters
blast ammunition dump at Villafranca di Verona. A-20 Havoc
light bombers during
3-4
March 1945, bomb bridge and bridge approaches at Casarsa della
Delizia, Ostiglia, and Nervesa della Battaglia, radar station
at Vignola, and lights, motor transport, roads, and other
targets at over 30 places in the Central Po Valley.
Fifteenth Air Force. 630 United States Army Air Force (USAAF)
B-24 Liberator heavy bombers and B-17 Flying Fortress heavy
bombers, with fighters escort, bomb marshalling yards at Sopron
(2), Szombathely, Knittelfeld, Zelfweg, Graz, Sankt Veit an
der Glan, Wiener Neustadt, Zagreb (2) and Ljubljana, and several
scattered targets. Other B-24 Liberator heavy bombers, with
P-51 Mustang fighter-bombers escort, drop supplies in Yugoslavia.
P-38 Lightning fighters and P-51 Mustang fighter-bombers fly
reconnaissance and reconnaissance escort operations.
Tenth Air Force. 100 United States Army Air Force (USAAF)
fighter-bombers attack troop concentrations, villages, roads,
tanks, trucks, animal transport, and supplies along and immediately
behind the battle lines running from South West to Northeast
across Central Burma. Meiktila is largely occupied by forces
of Indian 17th Division.
Fourteenth Air Force. 4 United States Army Air Force (USAAF)
B-24 Liberator heavy bombers on sea sweep damage a destroyer
escort in South China Sea.
Far East Air Force (FEAF). United States Army Air Force (USAAF)
B-24 Liberator heavy bombers bomb Sasa and Likanan airfields
and town of Zamboanga and pound gun positions, ammunition
storage, and target South at Antipolo and Wawa, supply dumps
and town area at Bamban, targets in Cagayan Valley, fortifications
on Caballo Island, and airfields at Aparri and Tuguegarao.
Twentieth Air Force. General Giles becomes Deputy Commander
of Twentieth Air Force and Commending General Of Army Air
Forces, Pacific Ocean Areas (AAFPOA). A B-29 Superfortress
heavy bomber makes an emergency landing on Iwo Jima. This
begins a series of over 2,400 such emergency landings on the
island during Second World War. 192 Marinanas based B-29 Superfortress
heavy bomber's are airborne against Musashino (Musashi) but
heavy clouds prevent bombing the primary. 159 of the very
heavy bombers bomb secondary target, the urban areas of Tokyo,
and almost 20 others hit alternate targets. This aborted try
at Musashino marks end of XXI Bomber Command's effort to knock
out Japanese aircraft industry by high-altitude, daylight
precision bombing. The indirect effect of causing Japanese
industrialists to lose confidence in their supposed immunity
from air attacks exceeds the effect of actual bomb damage
to the aircraft industry. During 4-
5
March 1945, 11 B-29 Superfortress heavy bomber's, staging
from Luliang, mine the confluence of the Hwangpoo and Yangtze
Rivers and the Tai-hsing Narrows. 1 very heavy bomber drops
mines at Tungting Lake.
Seventh Air Force. 10 United States Army Air Force (USAAF)
B-24 Liberator heavy bombers from Guam bomb Susaki airfield.
During 4-
5
March 1945, 3 heavy bombers make separate harassment raids
on the airfield.
V-2 rocket
launched against England, hit Havering atte Bower.
V-2 rocket
launched against England, hit Penshurst.
V-2 rocket
launched against England, hit Bermondsey.
V-2 rocket
launched against England, hit Chingford.
V-2 rocket
launched against England, hit Mouth of the Thames.
Go To: 5th
March
Articles:
The Second Great War.
Edited by Sir John Hamilton
The War Illustrated.
Edited by Sir John Hamilton
2194 Days Of War.
ISBN-10: 086136614X
For a complete list of
sources