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WWII On This Day: March 20

What happened on March 20 during World War II? This date brings together 3 events from 1940, 1941 and 1943, with period photographs and links to the full operations documented across WW2 Theatres.

1940
A young survivor of Athenia being passed ashore from the Norwegian rescue vessel Knute Nelson at Galway following the liner’s sinking on 3 September 1939.
Press Agency photographer · Imperial War Museums HU 51014 · IWM Non-Commercial Licence
The Opening Convoy War

U-boats are pulled away from the Western Approaches

German U-boats begin withdrawing from the Western Approaches so that they can support the planned invasion of Norway. The decision interrupts the Atlantic merchant-shipping offensive. The winter campaign has shown that Britain can keep convoy traffic moving. It has also shown that Germany is struggling to replace submarine losses quickly enough to build a larger force. The redeployment reflects the Kriegsmarine's competing priorities. Norway matters because it protects the route for Swedish iron ore, threatens the northern approaches to Britain and offers bases for future naval operations. U-boats are therefore…

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1941
London, 7th September 1940 · London's dock area. Tower Bridge stands out against a background of smoke and fires. New York Times Paris Bureau Collection.
U.S. National Archives and Records Administration (NARA 541917) · Public domain
The Blitz

The Plymouth Blitz intensifies

The Plymouth Blitz intensified during March and April against a city whose naval dockyard at Devonport made it a major military and industrial target. Seven particularly heavy nights devastated large areas of the commercial centre and housing. Plymouth City Council records 293 people killed on the night of 21 March alone. Across the city's wartime bombing from 1940 to 1944, 1,174 civilians were killed; that larger total should not be assigned only to the spring 1941 Blitz. Repeated raids produced widespread 'trekking', with civilians leaving vulnerable districts at dusk for…

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1943
American infantry aboard a landing craft approaching Oran, Algeria, in November 1942 during Operation Torch.
Lt F. A. Hudson / Royal Navy / Imperial War Museums A 12661 · UK Government public domain
Operation Torch and the Tunisian Campaign

Eighth Army attacks the Mareth defences

Montgomery’s Eighth Army attacked the Mareth Line in March with infantry and artillery on the coastal front. The old French fortifications and flooded ground limited a direct armoured advance. British formations developed a flank attack through the Tebaga Gap as the defenders concentrated around their prepared line. Axis commanders had to move scarce reserves between the coast and the exposed inland approach.

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