March 18
Pacific, Philippines
In the island-hopping campaign in the theater, the US 40th Division lands on Panay, secures it, and then moves on to clear nearby Guimaras Island.

March 20
Eastern Front, Germany
Units of the 1st Belorussian Front storm Altdamm. There are now no German positions on the east bank of the northern Oder River.

Paratroopers of the British 6th Airborne Division
dropping on the east bank of the Rhine
on 23 March, 1945

March 22-31
Western Front, Germany
The Allied crossings of the Rhine River begin. The 5th Division of the US Third Army crosses the Rhine near Nierstein and Oppenheim and establishes bridgeheads on the east bank. By the end of the 23rd, the whole of the division is over the river. German resistance is negligible. Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery's 21st Army Group (1.25 million men) begins crossing the river on the 23rd, when the British 51st (Highland) Division and the Canadian 3rd Division cross near Rees and Emmerich. On the 24th, the US 87th Division crosses at Boppard and the 89th at St. Goer, while farther north the British 6th and the US 17th Airborne Divisions land east of the Rhine and link up with advancing British forces. German units, exhausted and depleted by the fierce battles west of the river, are only able to offer token resistance. By the end of the month the Algerian 3rd Division of General de Lattre de Tassigny's French First Army has crossed the river - every Allied army now has troops on the east bank of the Rhine.

March 24
Far East, Burma
The Allied Chinese New First Army links up with the Chinese 50th Division near Hsipaw, thus bringing the campaign in northern Burma to an end.

March 25-28
Eastern Front, Hungary
The Soviet 2nd Ukrainian Front starts its attack across the Hron River and along the north bank of the Danube. Hungarian troops begin deserting their German allies in droves, while German commanders report a loss of confidence among their own men. By the 28th, the Red Army has reached the Austrian border in the Köszeg-Szombathely area.

March 30
Eastern Front, Poland
Danzig is captured by the Red Army, along with 10,000 German prisoners and 45 submarines in the harbor.

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