Dutch men, in reprisal for the attempted murder of Hanns Albin Rauter. Operation Sunrise: Waffen-SS General Karl Wolff meets with Allen Welsh Dulles of the United States Office of Strategic Services at Lucerne, Switzerland, to negotiate the surrender of the Axis forces in Italy to the Allies. March 9–10 – WWII: Bombing of Tokyo: USAAF B-29 bombers attack Tokyo, Japan, with incendiary bombs, killing 100,000 citizens in the firebombing. It is the single most destructive conventional air attack of the war. March 11 The Empire of Japan establishes the Empire of Vietnam, a puppet state which will last only until August 23, with Bảo Đại as its ruler. The Sammarinese general election gives San Marino the world's first democratically elected communist government, which will hold power until 1957. March 12 – WWII: Swinemünde is destroyed by the USAAF, killing an estimated 8,000 to 23,000 civilians, mostly refugees saved by Operation Hannibal. March 15–31 – WWII: The Soviet Red Army carries out the Upper Silesian Offensive. March 15 – The 17th Academy Awards ceremony is held, broadcast via radio in the United States for the first time. Best Picture goes to Going My Way. March 16 – WWII: The Battle of Iwo Jima unofficially ends. The Bombing of Würzburg, as part of the Allied strategic bombing campaign against Nazi Germany, destroys 89% of the city and causes 4,000 deaths. March 17 – WWII: Kobe, Japan is fire-bombed by 331 B-29 bombers, killing over 8,000 people. March 18 – WWII: 1,250 American bombers attack Berlin. March 19 – WWII: Adolf Hitler issues the Nero Decree: ordering that all industries, military installations, machine shops, transportation facilities and communications facilities in Germany be destroyed. Off the coast of Japan, bombers hit the aircraft carrier USS Franklin, killing about 800 of her crewmen and crippling the ship. March 21 – WWII: British troops liberate Mandalay, Burma. Bulgarian and Soviet troops successfully defend the north bank of the Drava River, as the Battle of the Transdanubian Hills concludes. March 22 The Arab League is formed, with the adoption of a charter in Cairo, Egypt. The Cathedral and the historic city-centre of Hildesheim in Germany are destroyed in an air raid. March 24 WWII: Operation Varsity – Two airborne divisions capture bridges across the Rhine River to aid the Allied advance. The cartoon character Sylvester the cat debuts in Life with Feathers. March 26 – WWII: The