Squids Cross Rhine

SAT 24 MAR 1945
Europe
For the second time, LCVPs (TG 122.5.1) support the Third Army's crossing of the Rhine, ferrying troops at Boppard, Germany, under heavy enemy 20-millimeter fire. Other navy landing craft from TG 122.5.1 ferry troops of the Ninth Army across the Rhine south of Wesel, Germany. Medium landing craft (LCM) are used on the Rhine for the first time in this operation.

Pacific
TF 59 (Vice Admiral Willis A. Lee) bombards Okinawa. Japanese sources list two vessels sunk by naval gunfire on this date, perhaps the victims of the battleship bombardment: Tosan Maru and No.10 Maiko Maru.

USAAF B-24 (possibly a USN PB4Y) attacks nine-ship Japanese Naha-to-Kagoshima convoy KANA-304 (probably rerouted into the East China Sea because of Allied air activity in the Ryukyus), sinking auxiliary minesweeper Seki Maru off Tokara Gunto, 29°12'N, 125°13'E. Planes from TG 58.1--carriers Bennington (CV-20) and Hornet (CV-12) and small carriers Belleau Wood (CVL-24) and San Jacinto (CVL-30)--complete the destruction of KANA-304, sinking torpedo boat Tomozuru, Coast Defense Vessel No. 68, auxiliary minesweepers Chitose Maru and No.16 Shonan Maru, army cargo ships Koshu Maru, and merchant cargo ships Soka Maru, Kaijo Maru and No.3 Tsukushi Maru about 200 miles northwest of Okinawa, 28°25'N, 124°32'E. The same day, TF 58 planes also sink army cargo ship Seizan Maru and merchantmen Sanko Maru at 29°15'N, 125°13'E, and Kobe Maru at 30°00'N, 126°30'E.

USAAF B-24s (13th Air Force) sink Japanese cargo ship Koshin Maru off Boeton Island Celebes, 05°40'S, 122°49'E.