Skip to content
WW2 Theatres Theatres of the Second World War
Home

World War II calendar

WWII On This Day: March 3

What happened on March 3 during World War II? This date brings together 2 events from 1942 and 1945, with period photographs and links to the full operations documented across WW2 Theatres.

1942
Searchlights and anti-aircraft tracer over Cologne during Operation Millennium, 30–31 May 1942.
Royal Air Force official photographer · Imperial War Museums C 2615 · Public domain
Area Bombing Begins

Billancourt shows what precision can do under favourable conditions

Bomber Command sent 235 aircraft against the Renault works at Billancourt outside Paris. The target was close, the weather was good, the moon was bright and German night defences were much lighter than over the Ruhr. The force attacked in waves using flares to keep the factory illuminated, and all but twelve of the bombers reached the target area. The raid caused substantial damage. A postwar United States Strategic Bombing Survey assessment found 721 machine tools destroyed and 2,387 damaged, together with serious damage to buildings, records and vehicles. The…

Continue in Area Bombing Begins →
1945
Churchill tanks of 107th Regiment Royal Armoured Corps moving through mud during the Reichswald battle, 9 February 1945.
Churchill tanks of 107th Regiment RAC in the Reichswald, 9 February 1945 · Sgt John Silverside, No. 5 Army Film & Photographic Unit · IWM B 14422 · public domain UK Government work · Source
The Rhineland Battles

Canadian and U.S. forces make contact

Canadian and U.S. Ninth Army formations made contact in the Geldern-Walbeck sector during 3-4 March, closing the gap between Veritable, Blockbuster and Grenade. The junction ended the possibility of an organized German position between the two Allied armies on the west bank. The remaining German problem in the north was withdrawal toward the Wesel crossings and the Xanten bridgehead. Farther south, First U.S. Army was simultaneously pushing into Cologne under Operation Lumberjack, extending the west-bank clearance beyond the original Canadian-Ninth Army pincer.

Continue in The Rhineland Battles →