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Selected: March 6
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1932 — , March 6

  • CBI - China: Day 39 of 41 of the 1st Battle of Shanghai, Manchuria. China agrees to the League of Nations' demand to stop fighting in, near and around Shanghai, but Japanese troops continue to attack the Chinese positions.

1933 — , March 6

  • CBI - China: Day 65 of 142 of the 1st Battle of Hebei.

1937 — , March 6

  • Spain: Day 233 of 985 of the Spanish Civil War.

1938 — , March 6

  • Spain: Day 598 of 985 of the Spanish Civil War.
  • MTO: The Spanish Nationalist cruiser BALEARES is sunk off the Mediterranean coast by Spanish Republican destroyers during the Battle of Cape Palos.
  • CBI - China: Day 243 of 2,987 of the 2nd Sino-Japanese War.
    • Day 28 of 124 of the Battle of Henan. Japanese troops reach the Yellow River.

1939 — , March 6

  • Czechoslovakia: Czech President Emil Hácha dismisses the Ruthenian government in an attempt to quell nationalist sentiments that are breaking apart his country.
  • Spain: Day 963 of 985 of the Spanish Civil War.
  • CBI - China: Day 608 of 2,987 of the 2nd Sino-Japanese War.

1940 — , March 6

  • Atlantic: British cruiser HMS BERWICK intercepts German freighter URUGUAY northeast of Iceland, capturing the crew before sinking the ship.
  • Atlantic: Three Dutch submarines depart from Den Helder Naval Base. While leaving the harbor, one collides with an armored tug and 3 men are killed as the submarine sinks.
  • ETO: Hitler changes his plans for the invasion of the west and goes for the Ardennes option, code-named FALL SICHELSCHNITT.
  • Finland: Day 98 of 105 of the Russo-Finnish War. A Finnish delegation arrives in Moscow to discuss peace talks.
  • CBI - China: Day 974 of 2,987 of the 2nd Sino-Japanese War.
    • Day 113 of 381 of the Battle of South Guangxi.
    • Day 39 of 67 of the Battle of Wuyuan.

1941 — , March 6

  • Poland: After a year of small "nudges" in German controlled Poland, the Baden Ministry of Finance and Economics issues a series of humiliating and degrading directives regarding the treatment of Polish farm workers. They cannot visit any cultural event (theater, movies), attend a church (regardless of faith), are denied the right to complain (to any official agency) and are actually forbidden to socialize or have sexual intercourse (such incidents are to be reported) - a prelude to worse things to come under Lebensraum.
    Spotlight...

    Lebensraum (living space) propaganda card, showing the difference in population density between Germany, France and England

    Hitler's longstanding assessment of Germany's future during his rise to power was that Germany's potential was limited by its geographic boundaries. He proclaimed that Germany's limited supply of raw materials, it's densely packed population and its limited agricultural capacity would never allow for an economy that could rival those of other industrialized nations, or provide the general population with an American-style standard of living.

    To achieve anything like self-sufficiency, Germany would have to add an additional 17-20 million acres of empty farmland to their territory, thus, the invasion of Poland to take everything they had.

    Under Lebensraum, all Poles were to be removed and replaced with Germans who would be given their businesses and property. Polish Jews were to be put into ghettos to await transport to extermination camps and non-Jewish Poles were to be worked to death as slaves. All Poles were to be degraded and humiliated as much as possible in the process.

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  • Atlantic: British minesweeping trawler HMT KERYADO hits a mine and sinks in the English Channel, killing 9 men.
  • Atlantic: The great German battleship BISMARCK departs from Hamburg, Germany.
  • ETO - UK: Day 182 of 258 of the Blitz.
  • MTO: An empty British convoy returning from Greece to Egypt is attacked by Italian submarine ANFITRITE east of Crete. The ANFITRITE is forced to the surface and is scuttled by her own crew.
  • MTO - Egypt: German aircraft lay mines in the Suez canal, blocking it for 3 weeks.
  • East Africa: Day 270 of 537 of Italy's East African campaign in the lands south of Egypt.
  • East Africa - Eritrea: Day 30 of 56 of the Battle of Keren.
  • CBI - China: Day 1,339 of 2,987 of the 2nd Sino-Japanese War.
  • CBI - Thailand: Day 157 of 221 of the Franco-Thai War (Vichy France vs Thailand).

1942 — , March 6

  • Atlantic: Day 52 of 169 of Germany's Second "Happy Time," during which U-boats sink 609 Allied ships with little risk.
    • German battleship TIRPITZ sets sail to intercept a convoy but is spotted by a British submarine. She is attacked by aircraft from HMS VICTORIOUS, but is not damaged.
  • Germany: The first conference on the plan to sterilize persons of mixed blood in Germany is held.
  • Russian Front - North: Day 180 of 872 of the Siege of Leningrad.
  • Russian Front - North: Day 27 of 102 of the Battle of the Demyansk Pocket, another failed attempt to break the siege at Leningrad.
  • Russian Front - North: Day 43 of 103 of the Battle of the Kholm Pocket. Another attempt to break the siege at Leningrad.
  • Russian Front - Center: Day 58 of 103 of the Battle of Vyazma, Russia.
  • Russian Front - Center: Day 58 of 103 of the Battle of Sychevsk, Russia.
  • Russian Front - Center: Day 4 of 49 of the Battle of Rzhev, Russia, a diversion to pull more German troops away from Moscow.
  • Russian Front - South: Day 128 of 248 of the Siege of Sevastopol, Crimean Peninsula. All German attacks against Sevastopol are shut down for the winter.
  • CBI - Burma: Day 83 of 164 of Japan's Invasion of Burma.
  • CBI - Burma: Day 4 of 5 of the Battle of Pegu. The Japanese cut all roads north of Rangoon, trapping the British at Pegu.
  • CBI - China: Day 1,704 of 2,987 of the 2nd Sino-Japanese War.
    • Day 73 of 99 of the 3rd Battle of Changsha.
  • CBI - Java: Day 7 of 13 of the Battle of Java.
  • PTO - Borneo: Day 81 of 107 of the Battle of Borneo.
  • PTO - Malaya: Day 16 of 357 of the Battle of Timor Island.
  • PTO - New Guinea: The USS LEXINGTON rendezvous with the USS YORKTOWN and they sail for a raid on Rabaul, New Britain.
  • PTO - Philippines: Day 89 of 152 of the 1st Battle of the Philippines. 5th Air Force provides air support.

1943 — , March 6

  • USA: Saturday Evening Post magazine features Norman Rockwell's "Freedom from Want" painting, the third of four depictions of FDR's 06 Jan 41 "Four Freedoms" speech.
    Spotlight...
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  • ETO - France: US 8th Air Force B-17s attack targets at Lorient while B-24s bomb at Brest.
  • Germany: Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels releases the 1,800 "privileged" Jews that had been rounded up to be shipped off, giving in to the public protests staged by their wives (the Rosenstrasse Protest that began 27 Feb 43). He calls off the deportation of the remaining 8,200 Berlin Jews that were being held, but will discreetly resume them over the next few weeks.
    Spotlight...

    The Jewish Welfare Office on Rosenstrasse in Berlin,
    circa 1943, where wives of the 1,800 "privileged"
    Jews staged a week-long protest

    Scene from the 2003 film Rosenstrasse which recounts the dramatic protest. The men were eventually released on the orders of Goebbels, who was regional director of Berlin at the time. This was shortly after the final defeat of the German army at Stalingrad, at a time when Goebbels, as minister of propaganda, was working hard to keep the support of the ordinary German people, not to mention he didn't want the notion of protesting to spread any further.

    Another scene from the 2003 film Rosenstrasse. The protest was only a tiny wobble in the inexorable progress of the Holocaust, but a triumph nonetheless. The event went virtually unnoticed until the early 90's when a few documentaries were made about it.

    The other 8,200 Jews rounded up on 27 Feb 43 were sent straight to Auschwitz, the most notorious of all Nazi concentration camps, for extermination. Many had been working in armament factories in Berlin.

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  • Russian Front - North: Day 545 of 872 of the Siege of Leningrad.
  • Russian Front - North: Day 25 of 51 of the USSR's Operation POLAR STAR, a failed offensive north of Leningrad, hoping to take the southern shore of Lake Ladoga, Russia.
  • Russian Front - North: Day 306 of 658 of the Siege of the Kholm Pocket, USSR lays siege to the Kholm Pocket but the Germans hold out for a about a year and a half.
  • Russian Front - Center: Day 5 of 30 of the 3rd Battle of Rzhev-Sychevka, Russia.
  • Russian Front - South: Day 16 of 25 of the 3rd Battle of Kharkov, Ukraine.
  • MTO - Yugoslavia: Croatian Catholic Archbishop Stepinac protests the killing of Jews married to Christians, but he has little effect.
  • MTO - Tunisia: Day 110 of 178 of the Battle of Tunisia. RAF and US Air Forces provide Allied air support. Axis troops launch Operation CAPRI in southeastern Tunisia near Medenine. Later that evening, Rommel concludes that his troops don't have the initiative of battle so he cancels it. Among Rommel's forces is Lt Col Count Claus von Stauffenberg, who is wounded in this battle. He later becomes famous for his role in a 1944 bomb plot to kill Hitler.
  • MTO - Tunisia: General George Patton is named the commanding officer of the US II Corps.
  • CBI - Burma: Day 76 of 104 of the 1st Battle of Arakan. US 10th Air Force provides air support. British Chindits reach the Wuntho-Indaw railway near Nankan and Pinlebu and destroy the rail line.
  • CBI - Burma: Day 27 of 79 of the Allied Operation LONGCLOTH.
  • CBI - China: Day 2,069 of 2,987 of the 2nd Sino-Japanese War.
  • PTO - Alaska: Day 273 of 435 of the Battle of Kiska, Aleutian Islands.
  • PTO: US 5th Air Force attacks targets in New Guinea and the Dutch East Indies.
  • PTO - Solomon Islands: The US gets the upper hand in the Naval Battle of Blackett Strait.
  • PTO - Solomon Islands: Japanese planes attack US Marine positions on the Russell Islands for the first time. Meanwhile, a US warship bombards the Vila-Munda area on New Georgia Island.

1944 — , March 6

  • ETO - USA: After fleeing Nazi Germany in 1939, William Patrick Hitler, nephew of Adolf Hitler, is sworn into the US Navy. He will serve as a Hospital Corpsman and will be awarded the Purple Heart
    Spotlight...

    William Patrick Hitler is sworn into the US Navy
    at a recruiting station in New York City

    William Patrick Hitler fled Nazi Germany to England in 1939 and immediately tried to enlist in the British armed forces, but was rejected because of his direct relation to Adolf Hitler. His uncle Adolf referred to him as "my loathsome nephew."

    In February 1939, he embarked for the United States with his mother, eager to share what he had learned about his uncle Adolf and the Nazi regime. He did so during a lecture tour sponsored by newspaperman William Randolph Hearst. When the outbreak of war in Europe prevented William and his mother from returning to England, William began lobbying for admission to the US armed forces. Once again, his family ties blocked the way.

    William Patrick Hitler

    Finally, in 1942, William wrote directly to President Franklin D Roosevelt, begging to be allowed to serve in the US military. "I am one of many, but can render service to this great cause," he wrote. FDR passed the letter on to FBI Director J Edgar Hoover, who looked into William's background and finally cleared him for military service.

    William Patrick Hitler served in the US Navy for three years as a Pharmacist's Mate (a designation later changed to Hospital Corpsman) until he was discharged in 1947. He had been wounded in action during the war and was awarded the Purple Heart. After leaving the Navy, Hitler changed his surname to Stuart-Houston, married, moved to Long Island and used his medical training to establish a business that analyzed blood samples for hospitals.

    Although William Patrick Hitler Stuart-Houston had sought to parlay his family tree into opportunities in his young years, he did his utmost to disappear into anonymity after the war. He never again commented publicly on Adolf Hitler or the Hitler family.

  • ETO - Germany: 504 B-17s and 226 B-24s are dispatched to hit industrial areas in the suburbs of Berlin. Fierce fighter opposition claims 69 bombers, the highest number lost by the US 8th Air Force in a single day, and 11 fighters. The Luftwaffe loses 160 aircraft. The Allies will replace their losses, but the Luftwaffe cannot.
    Spotlight...

    Contrails across the skies of western Europe, 06 Mar 44

    The contrails produced by the heat of the bombers' engines were a beacon for marauding Luftwaffe fighters, some of whom flew as many as five defensive sorties on this day.

    The RAF had been bombing Berlin rather frequently since 25 Aug 40 (following the accidental bombing of London by the Luftwaffe) and had picked up the pace during the past months as Germany increased raids on London. The US 8th Air Force launched its first "all-American" daylight bombing raid on Germany on 27 Jan 44 and for the first time targeted Berlin itself on this day.

    It was hoped that around the clock bombing of Berlin would bring the Nazi regime to its knees. But Berlin was very heavily defended. Not only was the cost of each raid quite high to Allied bombers, it would become even more so after the invasion of Normandy. As German forces were pushed further and further back home, their anti-aircraft batteries became more and more concentrated, especial around Berlin.

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  • Atlantic: HMCS FENNEL and HMCS CHILLIWACK share in the sinking of the German submarine U-744.
  • ETO - France: The RAF Bomber Command begins a major offensive over France to prepare for the Normandy invasion.
  • ETO - France: US 9th Air Force B-26s and A-20s attack V-weapon targets, Hirson marshalling yard and Beauvais/Tille, Airfield.
  • Russian Front - North: Day 34 of 191 of the Battle of the Narva Isthmus, Estonia. Both German and Soviet troops in the Baltic region go on the defensive.
  • Russian Front - South: Day 74 of 113 of the USSR's Dnieper-Carpathian Offensive in southwestern Ukraine.
  • Russian Front - South: Day 3 of 45 of the Battle of Chernovtsy, Ukraine.
  • Russian Front - South: Day 1 of 44 of the Battle of Snigirevka, Ukraine.
  • MTO - Italy: Day 50 of 123 of the Battle of Monte Cassino. RAF and US Air Forces provides air support for the Allied ground troops.
  • MTO - Italy: Day 45 of 136 of the Battle of Anzio. RAF and US Air Forces provides air support for the Allied ground troops.
  • CBI - Burma: Day 68 of 99 of the 2nd Battle of Arakan.
  • CBI - Burma: Day 2 of 166 of the UK's Operation THURSDAY. Another British Chindits stronghold is established south of the Irrawaddy River. Further glider operations bring in more men to Chowringhee.
  • CBI - China: Day 2,435 of 2,987 of the 2nd Sino-Japanese War.
  • PTO - Marshall Islands: US 7th Air Force attack targets in the Marshalls.
  • PTO - New Guinea: Day 7 of 80 of the Battle of the Admiralty Islands. 5th Air Force provides air support.
  • PTO - New Guinea: Day 170 of 219 of the Battle of Shaggy Ridge. US 13th Air Force provides air support.
  • PTO - New Guinea: Day 83 of 597 of the Battle of New Britain. 5th Air Force provides air support. US Marines land at Talasea.
  • PTO - Solomon Islands: Day 127 of 295 of the Battle of the Bougainville Islands. US 13th Air Force provides air support.

1945 — , March 6

  • ETO - UK: A German V-2 rocket hits Raveningham 13 miles southeast of Norwich causing little harm. This will be the last rocket to hit in the Norwich area during the war.
  • ETO - France: Day 218 of 284 of the Battle of Brittany.
  • ETO - France: Day 173 of 236 of the Siege of Dunkirk.
  • ETO: Day 46 of 66 of the Battle to the Rhine. US 3rd Army reaches the Rhine northwest of Koblenz, as Cologne falls to US 1st Army. US 9th Air Force provides air support.
  • ETO - Germany: Day 15 of 36 consecutive RAF night raids on Berlin.
  • Russian Front - Finland: Day 173 of 223 of the Lapland War. Finland and Russia have joined forces to kick the Germans out of Finland's most northern province.
  • Russian Front - Center: Day 143 of 206 of the Battle of the Courland Pocket in Latvia.
  • Russian Front - Center: Day 41 of 75 of the Battle of Königsberg, East Prussia (now Kaliningrad, Russia).
  • Russian Front - Center: Day 40 of 63 of the Battle of the Heiligenbeil Pocket in East Prussia.
  • Russian Front - Center: Day 25 of 54 of the Battle of East Pomerania, Germany. Soviet 19th Army reaches the Baltic coast, cutting off the Germans.
  • Russian Front - Center: Day 22 of 83 of the German Siege of Breslau (today Wroclaw, Poland).
  • Russian Front - Center: Day 3 of 15 of the Battle of Kolberg, Germany (today Kolobrzeg, Poland).
  • Russian Front - South: Day 1 of 11 of the failed German Operation FRÜHLINGSERWACHEN (Spring Awakening) at Lake Balaton, Hungary. The idea was to destroy their oil fields.
  • Russian Front - South: Day 1 of 16 of the Battle of Drava (a river in Bulgaria). Germans attack the Bulgarians, hoping to distract the Soviet advance on Berlin.
  • Romania: Communist-dominated government under Petru Groza assumes power in Romania.
  • MTO - Italy: RAF and US Air Forces provide air support for the Allied ground units.
  • CBI - Burma: The new Chinese 1st Army captures Lashio in northeastern Burma.
  • CBI - Burma: Day 47 of 61 of the Battles of Meiktila and Mandalay. The US 10th Air Force provides air support.
  • CBI - Burma: Day 31 of 99 of the Battle of Pakokku and Irrawaddy River operations in central Burma. The US 10th Air Force provides air support.
  • CBI - China: Day 2,800 of 2,987 of the 2nd Sino-Japanese War.
    • US 14th Air Force attacks targets in China.
  • PTO - Japan: Day 16 of 36 of the Battle of Iwo Jima. US 7th Air Force moves some of their P-51 Mustangs and P-61 Black Widows to their new base on Iwo Jima.
  • PTO - New Guinea: Day 435 of 597 of the Battle of New Britain. US 10th Air Force provides air support.
  • PTO - New Guinea: Day 319 of 481 of the Battle of Western New Guinea. US 10th Air Force provides air support.
  • PTO - Philippines: Day 138 of 299 of the 2nd Battle of the Philippines, aka the Liberation of the Philippines or the Philippines Campaign.
  • PTO - Philippines: Day 82 of 244 of the Battle of Luzon. 5th Air Force provides air support.

1946 — , March 6

  • CBI: Ho Chi Minh signs an agreement with France, who recognizes Vietnam as an autonomous state in the Indochinese Federation and the French Union.
Day-By-Day listings for March 6 were last modified on Thursday, March 8, 2018
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