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• US Third Army crossed Moselle River near Koblenz, Germany. ww2dbase [Advance to the Rhine | TH]
• Heinrich Himmler signed orders to surrender concentration camps to the Allies, which contradicted Adolf Hitler's prior order. ww2dbase [Heinrich Himmler | CPC]
• 1,108 RAF bombers attacked Dortmund, Germany, dropping 4,851 tons of bombs. ww2dbase [Bombing of Hamburg, Dresden, and Other Cities | CPC]
• German Jew Anne Frank died in Belsen Concentration Camp. ww2dbase [Discovery of Concentration Camps and the Holocaust | CPC]
• Soviet troops captured Küstrin, Germany. ww2dbase [CPC]
• USS Croaker departed Fremantle, Australia for her fourth war patrol. ww2dbase [Croaker | CPC]
• German troops cut off elements of Soviet 5th Guards Army in Silesia, Germany (now Poland) before dawn. ww2dbase [Silesian Offensive and the Siege of Breslau | CPC]
• USS Nicholas departed Zamboanga bound for Mangarin Bay, Mindoro. ww2dbase [Nicholas | DS]

• Air Vice-Marshal Harold Lydford was made the commanding officer of British Forces Aden, succeeding Frank McNamara. ww2dbase [CPC]

• German submarine U-296 (Kapitänleutnant Karl-Heinz Rasch) sent no messages after leaving Bergen, Norway to operate in the Firth of Clyde area in Scotland, United Kingdom and was posted as missing after she failed to return from patrol. The U-296 was possibly lost in the British deep anti-submarine minefields T1 and T2 laid on its route to the operational area. All 42 aboard were lost. ww2dbase [Conclusion of the Battle of the Atlantic | HM]
• German Type VII-C submarine U-260 was scuttled by her crew at 2230 hours after being mined at 80 metres depth, off the coast of County Cork, southern Ireland. The entire crew were interned in Ireland. The Irish recovered papers and code books from the commanding officer Oberleutnant zur See Klaus Becker together with his personal logbook. ww2dbase [Conclusion of the Battle of the Atlantic | HM]
• The 1,743-ton steam passenger ship Paris, seized by the Germans and used as troop transport for the Kriegsmarine since 21 Aug 1940 and then a minesweeper mother ship since 3 Jun 1941, was hit by two torpedoes from the Shetland-based motor torpedo boat MTB-711 (with Norwegian crew) and sank in seconds off KvaløytÃ¥ light, Haugesund, Norway. 86 were killed, some of whom were Norwegian, 70 were rescued. ww2dbase [Conclusion of the Battle of the Atlantic | North Sea | HM]

• The 1,845-ton German steamship Rolandseck, used as a troop transport, was bombed by British aircraft and sank near Skagen on the east coast of the Skagen Odde peninsula in the far north of Denmark. ww2dbase [Conclusion of the Battle of the Atlantic | Kattegat | HM]
• The 1,761-ton German steamship Gerrit Fritzen (formerly the Swedish Bohus, captured in 1940 by German destroyer Paul Jacobi and renamed) was bombed by Russian aircraft and sank off Schlopin, Fehmarn Island in the Baltic Sea. ww2dbase [HM]

• Japanese troops launched a counteroffensive aimed at recapturing Meiktila, Burma. ww2dbase [Battle of Meiktila-Mandalay | Meiktila | CPC]

• Parts of a Japanese Fu-Go balloon bomb including the paper envelope, shroud lines, and ballast dropping equipment were found near Oxford House, Manitoba, Canada. This was the farthest east any signs of the Fu-Go campaign were found in Canada. ww2dbase [Fu-Go | Oxford House, Manitoba | DS]
• RCAF No. 6 Squadron Flight Lieutenant Moodie and his crew flying in a Vickers PBV-1A Casno (Canadian built version of the PBY Catalina) observed a low flying Japanese paper Fu-Go balloon at about 500 feet near Rupert Inlet, Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada. By making passes over the balloon, F/Lt Moodie forced the balloon downward until it was caught in some trees on the south side of the inlet. The balloon was later recovered and examined. F/Lt Moodie’s crew also saw a second balloon but it escaped. ww2dbase [Fu-Go | Vancouver Island, British Columbia | DS]

• German patrol boat V-315 sank in collision with cargo steam ship Henrik Fisser in the Gulf of Danzig. ww2dbase [HM]

• The 540-ton La Pérouse, the largest vessel of the French Indochina hydrographic group, became the was the last ship to be scuttled in Can Tho, Cochinchina, French Indochina (now Vietnam) during the Japanese invasion. ww2dbase [Can Tho, Cochinchina | HM]

• Soviet and Polish troops launched a renewed assault on Kolberg, Germany (now Kolobrzeg, Poland). ww2dbase [East Pomeranian Offensive | Kolberg | CPC]
• SS General Ernst Kaltenbrunner agreed to allow Red Cross delegates to visit concentration camps. ww2dbase [Ernst Kaltenbrunner | AC]
• German steam merchant ships Hilde (384-ton) and Adross (2,995-ton) were sunk in an air raid on Swinemünde, Germany. 570 people were killed by the fires or went down with the ships. ww2dbase [Swinemünde, Pommern | HM]
• The USAAF 306th Bomb Group flying from RAF Thurleigh launched a bombing raid against dock facilities at Swinemunde, Germany (now ÅšwinoujÅ›cie, Poland). ww2dbase [RAF Thurleigh | Bombing of Hamburg, Dresden, and Other Cities | Swinemunde | DS]

• Japanese guard boats Hinode Maru No. 1 and Shosei Maru, were sunk by US aircraft east of the Ryukyu Islands. ww2dbase [HM]
• The paper envelope of a Japanese Fu-Go balloon bomb was recovered by from the Pacific Ocean 950 miles WSW San Diego, California, United States, about one-third of the way from San Diego to Hawaii. ww2dbase [Fu-Go | DS]

• USS Steamer Bay, USS Anzio, and USS Tabberer arrived at San Pedro Bay, Leyte, Philippines. ww2dbase [Steamer Bay | Tabberer | Anzio | Henry Plage | San Pedro Bay, Leyte | DS]

• HMS Colossus departed Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom. ww2dbase [Colossus | Glasgow, Scotland | CPC]

• Jack Heyn arrived at Omaha, Nebraska, United States. ww2dbase [Jack Heyn | Omaha, Nebraska | CPC]
• Escort carriers USS Card and Bogue arrived at Norfolk, Virginia. ww2dbase [Card | Bogue | Norfolk Navy Yard | Norfolk, Virginia | DS]

12 Mar 1945 Interactive Map