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WWII On This Day: March 31

What happened on March 31 during World War II? This date brings together 3 events from 1944 and 1945, with period photographs and links to the full operations documented across WW2 Theatres.

1944
A German Messerschmitt Bf 110 attacks B-17F Flying Fortresses of the 91st Bomb Group over Europe in January 1944.
U.S. Army Air Forces / National Archives, NAID 204888701 · Public domain in the United States · Source
The Combined Bomber Offensive

The campaign changes character

The fourteen months had not destroyed German industry or ended the war through city bombing. Fighter production continued to rise despite damage and dispersal. The central pre-invasion result was different: long-range escort and aggressive fighter operations were imposing losses the Luftwaffe could not replace with equally experienced pilots. The bomber force could now penetrate Germany without repeating the strategic pause of October 1943.

Continue in The Combined Bomber Offensive →
1945
U.S. Fifteenth Air Force B-24 bombers flying over a smoking oil refinery at Ploiești, Romania, on 31 May 1944.
Richard R. Ganczak / USAAF · Library of Congress cph.3b43591 · Public domain (US)
The Oil Campaign

Aviation petrol production approaches zero

By March 1945 the German oil balance had deteriorated dramatically. The Strategic Bombing Survey reported that production at synthetic plants was only a small fraction of its pre-attack level, and that aviation petrol production from the hydrogenation system had been virtually eliminated. The weakening of the Luftwaffe now involved aircraft, pilots, airfields, fuel and transport together. German aircraft output was less useful when training and operational flying could not be supported with petrol. Armoured and motor-transport units also competed for fuel deliveries through damaged railway networks. Industrial losses, transport dislocation…

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Soldiers of the U.S. 95th Infantry Division patrol Soest after its capture during the reduction of the Ruhr Pocket, 7 April 1945.
Men of the 95th Infantry Division patrol Soest, 7 April 1945 · Photographer Pick · U.S. Army Signal Corps / NARA · Public domain
The Ruhr Pocket

The meeting point shifts to Lippstadt

Late on 31 March VII Corps commander J. Lawton Collins warned William Simpson that the fighting at Paderborn could delay closure of the encirclement. Collins proposed Lippstadt as an alternate meeting point west of the blocked southern axis. Simpson turned a combat command of the 2nd Armored Division south-east while Collins directed a 3rd Armored task force north. The objective remained the same; the junction would now close around the Paderborn obstacle through Lippstadt.

Continue in The Ruhr Pocket →