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Selected: March 12
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1933 — , March 12

  • Germany: First concentration camp opens at Oranienburg outside Berlin.
  • Germany: Jews in Gedern are assaulted by others of the town. One of them is severely injured and is forced to remain hospitalized for the following year.
  • Germany: A new ruling establishes two legal national flags: the reintroduced black-white-red imperial tricolor and the Nazi Party swastika flag, which will become the sole flag of Germany on 10 Sep 35.
  • CBI - China: Day 71 of 142 of the 1st Battle of Hebei.

1937 — , March 12

  • Spain: Day 239 of 985 of the Spanish Civil War.

1938 — , March 12

  • Austria: German troops cross into and occupy Austria without firing a shot. Hitler is triumphantly driven into Vienna amid cheers, flowers and Nazi salutes. But in spite of outward jubilation, it can be said that this is the day the terror of the Nazi regime "officially" begins.
    Spotlight...

    Adolf Hitler triumphantly rides in an open car through the streets of Vienna, Austria, in March of 1938. Photo may have been taken on the 14th of March, after any political opposition had been arrested.

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  • Spain: Day 604 of 985 of the Spanish Civil War.
  • CBI - China: Day 249 of 2,987 of the 2nd Sino-Japanese War.
    • Day 34 of 124 of the Battle of Henan.

1939 — , March 12

  • Spain: Day 969 of 985 of the Spanish Civil War.
  • CBI - China: Day 614 of 2,987 of the 2nd Sino-Japanese War.

1940 — , March 12

  • USA: Under-Secretary of State Sumner Welles returns to the US from a fact finding mission, during which he met with one Pope, two Kings, one Führer, one Duce and three Premieres.
  • ETO - Norway: The British are set for their invasion of Norway. Landings are to be made at Narvik and Trondheim in order to secure the rail line to Sweden and the large iron-ore fields.
  • Germany: Adolf Hitler meets with his top adviser on the US. Hitler is told that the US is run by Jews, is an imperialist nation, and that FDR is jealous of his (Hitler's) success.
  • Germany: A transport of 1,000 German Jews is forced to march through cold weather toward the Lublin Ghetto. 72 German Jews die of exposure.
  • Finland: Day 104 of 105 of the Russo-Finnish War. A peace treaty is concluded between Finland and Russia that will formally end the Winter War. The treaty forces Finland to cede about ten percent of their land, which has about 12 percent of their population. Meanwhile, Sweden offers Finland a defensive alliance, but it is too late to help Finland, as they just signed the peace treaty with the Soviet Union.
  • MTO - Italy: German Foreign Minister Ribbentrop continues his meeting with Mussolini in Italy, setting up a conference between Hitler and Mussolini to be held some time on or after 19 Mar 40.
  • CBI - China: Day 980 of 2,987 of the 2nd Sino-Japanese War.
    • Day 119 of 381 of the Battle of South Guangxi.
    • Day 45 of 67 of the Battle of Wuyuan.

1941 — , March 12

  • Atlantic: German sub U-37 sinks Icelandic trawler PETURSEY 300 miles south of Iceland. All 10 crew members are reported to have gotten into lifeboats, but they are never seen again.
  • ETO - UK: Day 188 of 258 of the Blitz. Merseyside (Liverpool) is attacked. 8 merchant ships are sunk and 174 people are killed in the town of Wallasey.
  • MTO - Albania: Benito Mussolini visits his Italian troops in Albania to in effort to build morale.
  • East Africa: Day 276 of 537 of Italy's East African campaign in the lands south of Egypt.
  • East Africa - Eritrea: Day 36 of 56 of the Battle of Keren.
  • CBI - China: Day 1,345 of 2,987 of the 2nd Sino-Japanese War.
  • CBI - Thailand: Day 163 of 221 of the Franco-Thai War (Vichy France vs Thailand).

1942 — , March 12

  • Atlantic: Day 58 of 169 of Germany's Second "Happy Time," during which U-boats sink 609 Allied ships with little risk.
    • Russia: An Allied convoy arrives unscathed at Murmansk, Russia, earning the distinction of being the last Russia-bound convoy to sail across the Atlantic without a loss.
    • USA: U-158 sinks US tanker JOHN D GILL off North Carolina, killing four.
    • Bahamas: U-126 sinks US freighter OLGA and damages US freighter COLABEE.
  • Russian Front - North: Day 186 of 872 of the Siege of Leningrad.
  • Russian Front - North: Day 33 of 102 of the Battle of the Demyansk Pocket, another failed attempt to break the siege at Leningrad.
  • Russian Front - North: Day 49 of 103 of the Battle of the Kholm Pocket. Another attempt to break the siege at Leningrad.
  • Russian Front - Center: Day 64 of 103 of the Battle of Vyazma, Russia.
  • Russian Front - Center: Day 64 of 103 of the Battle of Sychevsk, Russia.
  • Russian Front - Center: Day 10 of 49 of the Battle of Rzhev, Russia, a diversion to pull more German troops away from Moscow.
  • Russian Front - South: Day 134 of 248 of the Siege of Sevastopol, Crimean Peninsula. All German attacks against Sevastopol are shut down for the winter.
  • CBI: US Army Lieutenant General Joseph Stilwell is named the commander of all US troops in the CBI theater.
  • CBI - Burma: Day 89 of 164 of Japan's Invasion of Burma. The British evacuate their garrison from the Andaman Islands, just off the Burmese coast south of Rangoon.
  • CBI - China: Day 1,710 of 2,987 of the 2nd Sino-Japanese War.
    • Day 79 of 99 of the 3rd Battle of Changsha.
  • CBI - Java: Day 13 of 13 of the Battle of Java. The Japanese have secured Java.
  • PTO - Borneo: Day 87 of 107 of the Battle of Borneo.
  • PTO - Malaya: Day 22 of 357 of the Battle of Timor Island.
  • PTO - New Caledonia: US Army troops occupy the French colony of New Caledonia in the South Pacific (south of the Coral Sea).
  • PTO - New Guinea: Day 5 of 6 of the 1st Battle of Lae-Salamaua.
  • PTO - Philippines: Day 95 of 152 of the 1st Battle of the Philippines. 5th Air Force provides air support.

1943 — , March 12

  • ETO - France: US 8th Air Force B-17s attack the Rouen-Sotteville marshalling yard. The US 4th Fighter Group is still flying borrowed Spitfires.
  • ETO - Netherlands: German occupation authorities in the Netherlands order Jews residing in eight of the country's eleven provinces to be deported to the Vught (Hertogenbosch) Concentration Camp.
  • ETO - Germany: The RAF bombs the Krupp steel plants in Essen causing heavy damage.
  • Germany: The company Ostindustrie GmbH is established by the German SS as a holding company for Jewish businesses in Lublin, Poland, taken over by the SS.
  • Russian Front - North: Day 551 of 872 of the Siege of Leningrad.
  • Russian Front - North: Day 31 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 312 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 11 of 30 of the 3rd Battle of Rzhev-Sychevka, Russia.
  • Russian Front - South: Day 22 of 25 of the 3rd Battle of Kharkov, Ukraine. The USSR briefly retook Kharkov, lost it again, and are now trying to get it back. The fighting really heats up strong.
  • MTO - Italy: Italian workers go on strike.
  • MTO - Tunisia: Day 116 of 178 of the Battle of Tunisia. RAF and US Air Forces provide Allied air support. George Patton is promoted to the rank of Lieutenant General (three stars).
  • CBI - Burma: Day 82 of 104 of the 1st Battle of Arakan. US 10th Air Force provides air support.
  • CBI - Burma: Day 33 of 79 of the Allied Operation LONGCLOTH.
  • CBI - China: Day 2,075 of 2,987 of the 2nd Sino-Japanese War.
  • PTO - Alaska: Day 279 of 435 of the Battle of Kiska, Aleutian Islands.

1944 — , March 12

  • Ireland: The government of neutral Ireland bans international travel.
  • ETO - Sweden: The Swedes announce an investigation of the "mysterious object which crashed out of the sky" (a V-1 rocket) from a German research station, 40 miles away.
  • ETO - France: US 8th Air Force B-24s attack a V-weapon site at St Pol/Siracourt.
  • Russian Front - North: Day 40 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 80 of 113 of the USSR's Dnieper-Carpathian Offensive in southwestern Ukraine.
  • Russian Front - South: Day 9 of 45 of the Battle of Chernovtsy, Ukraine.
  • Russian Front - South: Day 7 of 44 of the Battle of Snigirevka, Ukraine. German troops and Ukrainian nationalists burn the village of Plikorov near Lvov, killing 385 people as reprisal against partisan operations.
  • Hungary: Adolf Hitler orders Operation MARGARETHE, the occupation of Hungary.
  • Czechoslovakia: The Czechoslovakian government-in-exile calls civilians to rise up against German occupation.
  • MTO - Italy: Day 56 of 123 of the Battle of Monte Cassino. RAF and US Air Forces provides air support for the Allied ground troops.
  • MTO - Italy: Day 51 of 136 of the Battle of Anzio. RAF and US Air Forces provides air support for the Allied ground troops.
  • CBI - Burma: Day 74 of 99 of the 2nd Battle of Arakan.
  • CBI - Burma: Day 8 of 166 of the UK's Operation THURSDAY. In the Arakan region, Corporal Nand Singh wins the Victoria Cross for capturing Japanese positions despite being seriously wounded.
  • CBI - Burma: Day 3 of 147 of the Battle of Myitkyina. US 10th Air Force provides air support.
  • CBI - China: Day 2,441 of 2,987 of the 2nd Sino-Japanese War.
  • CBI - India: Day 5 of 118 of the Battle of Imphal-Kohima. Japanese troops invade India from northern Burma.
  • PTO: US 7th Air Force attacks targets on Wake Island and in the Marshall and Gilbert Islands.
  • PTO - New Guinea: Day 13 of 80 of the Battle of the Admiralty Islands. 5th Air Force provides air support.
  • PTO - New Guinea: Day 176 of 219 of the Battle of Shaggy Ridge. US 13th Air Force provides air support. The Battle of Hill 700 goes into its fifth day.
  • PTO - New Guinea: Day 89 of 597 of the Battle of New Britain. 5th Air Force provides air support.
  • PTO - Solomon Islands: Day 133 of 295 of the Battle of the Bougainville Islands. US 13th Air Force provides air support.

1945 — , March 12

  • Germany: German-born Jew Anne Frank dies at the age of 15 of typhus in the Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camp. She and her family were betrayed in Amsterdam on 03 Aug 44 after 2 years of hiding. Her diary survives and makes her perhaps the most renowned and discussed Jewish victim of the holocaust.
    Spotlight...

    Anne Frank

    This young girl was perhaps the most renowned and discussed Jewish victim of the holocaust, thanks to the diary she kept during the two years she and her family lived in hiding in Amsterdam.

    Her thoughts and feelings showed her to be typical of any teenage girl, but the circumstances under which she lived and died can never be fully comprehended.

    Anne Frank

    Whether she knew it or not, she used her diary as self-therapy to try to find some solace and reason in the midst of a world full of irreconcilable contradictions. She used writing to define her personal moral and ethical questions, and to articulate the best answers and definitions she could find.

    Her thoughts and feelings showed her to be typical of any teenage girl, but the circumstances under which she lived and died can never be fully comprehended.

    Anne Frank related dates...

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  • ETO - France: Day 225 of 284 of the Battle of Brittany.
  • ETO - France: Day 179 of 236 of the Siege of Dunkirk.
  • ETO: Day 53 of 66 of the Battle to the Rhine. Day 7 of 20 of the Battle of Ramagen. US 3rd Army crossed Moselle River near Koblenz, Germany. US 9th Air Force provides air support.
  • ETO - Germany: Day 6 of 46 of the Battle of the Ruhr Pocket. The British and Canadian troops have now established a strong foothold inside Germany.
  • ETO - Germany: Day 21 of 36 consecutive RAF night raids on Berlin. The RAF sets another new record for bombs dropped on a single target as they bomb Dortmund.
  • ETO - Germany: US 8th Air Force B-17s and B-24s bomb marshalling yards in Germany.
  • Germany: Heinrich Himmler signs orders to surrender concentration camps to the Allies, which contradicts Adolf Hitler's prior order.
  • Russian Front - Finland: Day 179 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 149 of 206 of the Battle of the Courland Pocket in Latvia.
  • Russian Front - Center: Day 47 of 75 of the Battle of Königsberg, East Prussia (now Kaliningrad, Russia).
  • Russian Front - Center: Day 46 of 63 of the Battle of the Heiligenbeil Pocket in East Prussia.
  • Russian Front - Center: Day 31 of 54 of the Battle of East Pomerania, Germany.
  • Russian Front - Center: Day 28 of 83 of the German Siege of Breslau (today Wroclaw, Poland).
  • Russian Front - Center: Day 9 of 15 of the Battle of Kolberg, Germany (today Kolobrzeg, Poland).
  • Russian Front - South: Day 7 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 7 of 16 of the Battle of Drava (a river in Bulgaria). Germans attack the Bulgarians, hoping to distract the Soviet advance on Berlin.
  • MTO: US 15th Air Force bombs targets in Austria.
  • MTO - Italy: RAF and US Air Forces provide air support for the Allied ground units.
  • CBI: US 14th Air Force attacks targets in French Indochina and China.
  • CBI: US 20th Air Force hits targets in Malaya.
  • CBI - Burma: Day 53 of 61 of the Battles of Meiktila and Mandalay. The US 10th Air Force provides air support.
  • CBI - Burma: Day 37 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 2,806 of 2,987 of the 2nd Sino-Japanese War.
  • PTO - Caroline Islands: The Japanese Navy conducts a large-scale special aircraft attack on US warships at Ulithi Atoll.
  • PTO - Japan: US 7th Air Force attacks Okimura on Haha Jima Island and against the Susaki Airfield on Chichi Jima Island. During the night they hit both targets again.
  • PTO - Japan: Day 22 of 36 of the Battle of Iwo Jima. US 7th Air Force provides air support.
  • PTO - New Guinea: Day 441 of 597 of the Battle of New Britain. US 10th Air Force provides air support.
  • PTO - New Guinea: Day 325 of 481 of the Battle of Western New Guinea. US 10th Air Force provides air support.
  • PTO - Philippines: Day 144 of 299 of the 2nd Battle of the Philippines, aka the Liberation of the Philippines or the Philippines Campaign.
  • PTO - Philippines: Day 88 of 244 of the Battle of Luzon. 5th Air Force provides air support.
  • PTO - Philippines: Day 3 of 159 of the Battle of Mindanao Island. 5th Air Force provides air support.

1946 — , March 12

  • UK: Regarding the high number of German civilian deaths, the House of Commons is asked to give the public a categorical assurance that the work that the RAF did was militarily and strategically "justified."
Day-By-Day listings for March 12 were last modified on Friday, February 23, 2018
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