4 April 1939

Yesterday Tomorrow

1934: U.S.S.R.: The nonaggression treaties between the U.S.S.R. and Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania is renewed until 1945.

April 4th, 1939 (TUESDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: Destroyer HMS Kashmir is launched.

U.S.A.: The US Navy orders a prototype of the new Brewster XSB2A-1 which later becomes the SB2A Buccaneer scout-bomber. (23)

Glenn Miller and His Orchestra record his theme song, "Moonlight Serenade," for Bluebird Records. Previously, the Miller theme had been "Gone with the Dawn" and, before that, "Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep."

4 April 1940

April 4th, 1940 (THURSDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: Churchill leaves for Paris to attempt to get more French co-operation in mining Norwegian waters.

NORWEGIAN CAMPAIGN:

Operation Wilfrid commences under the command of Vice-Admiral William "Jock" Whitworth, a veteran of World War 1. 16 submarines begin moving from the North Sea into the Skagerrak and the Kattegat.

U.S.A.: The motion picture "Dark Command" is released in the U.S. This western, directed by Raoul Walsh, starred Claire Trevor, John Wayne, Walter Pidegeon, Roy Rogers and George "Gabby" Hayes. The plot is about William Contrell (Walter Pidegeon), the Civil War era despot, who launches his terror raids after clashing with Marshall John Wayne. The film was nominated for two Academy Awards.

4 April 1941

April 4th, 1941 (FRIDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: Roosevelt had expressed concern for the Italian civil population in Abyssinia. Churchill telegrams to re-assure him that all efforts would be made to provide for civilians once the fighting has stopped. In the meantime though, all efforts were going towards keeping the armies supplied.

London:

Churchill appealed to Simovich, the Yugoslav Minister President, saying that he could not understand his argument about playing for time. The German army and air force were concentrating for an attack on Yugoslavia, and what was wanted was a decisive forestalling thrust by the Yugoslavs into Albania.

The Government issues a new regulation regarding the official time in the country. This regulation provides for double summer time, during which period the time is two hours in advance of Greenwich Mean Time (GMT), starting on the day after the first Saturday in May (4 May 1941) and ending on the day after the second Saturday in August (10 August 1941), both at 0100 hours GMT (rather than the previously used 0200 hours). The time for the rest of the year remained one hour in advance of GMT. The order provided savings for certain contracts with agricultural workers and concerning the production of milk: for those purposes, the time was to be taken to be one hour in advance of GMT throughout the year, unless the parties to the contract agreed otherwise.

FRANCE: Professor Georges Claude informs the Academy of Sciences at Paris of a new low cost, synthetic motor fuel called "acetylated ammonia", 40% acetylene and 60% ammonia. It should put France's cars back on the road as it can run a car 300 miles on a single tank.

GERMANY: Berlin: Hitler meets Matsuoka again, and promises to join Japan in fighting the US if it should declare war.

The anti-British propaganda film 'Omh Kruger' [Uncle Kruger], which depicts British atrocities against the South Africans in the Boer War, is released.

In an article in the German scientific magazine 'Die Naturwissenschaften' it is announced that Professors Clusius and Dickel of the University of Munich can now separate Uranium 235 from Uranium 238.

The Wehrmacht High Command announced:

As we already reported in a special announcement, on April 2, German and Italian troops continued their pursuit of British troops whom they defeated at Mersa-el-Brega in North Africa. We have captured Agedabia and reached Zuctina. The enemy is retreating northward in haste.

U.S.S.R.: Polish General Anders was taken from his cell in a Moscow prison and led to a luxuriously furnished study. Upon reaching this room, Anders was informed that in accordance with a recently signed Polish-Soviet agreement, he was promoted to Lieutenant General and appointed the commander of all Polish troops in the Soviet Union. The stunned Anders was then taken by limousine to a Moscow apartment which had been furnished for his personal use. (Alex Bielakowski)

EGYPT: The 2nd Armoured Division is abandoned without supplies at Msus because the British garrison there had prematurely blown up the all the fuel store, thinking to save them from the German tanks.

Cairo: The Reuters News Agency announced:

An official British government spokesman has said that Great Britain is allowing the enemy to penetrate farther east in Cyrenaica, until a point is reached where he can be fought with the greatest prospect of victory.

LIBYA: The German 5th Light and the Italian Ariete Divisions advance toward Mechili is going well.
German and Italian spearheads reach Benghazi and occupy the city.

ETHIOPIA: Italian forces quit Addis Ababa.

RED SEA: Italian torpedo boat Giovanni Acerbi is sunk near Massawa, Eritrea, by British torpedo bombers.

U.S.A.: Washington: Roosevelt agrees to allow Royal Navy warships to be repaired in the U.S. Among the first ships to benefit from this order are the battleships HMS Malaya and Resolution. RN warships are also to be allowed to refuel in the U.S. when on combat missions.

The government freezes Bulgarian assets in the U.S.

ATLANTIC OCEAN: Armed merchant cruisers again suffer heavy losses at widely scattered locations and in different circumstances. Today AMC HMS Voltaire is sunk at 14 25N, 40 40W in a gun duel with raider 'Thor' west of the Cape Verde islands and U-boats sink ten vessels of a 22-ship US convoy. One U-boat is sunk.

AMC Cormorin is lost whilst escorting MV Glenarty to Freetown due to fire in the North Atlantic at 54 34N 21 20W. There are 20 casualties, but 405 survivors who are taken on board accompanying destroyers. The blazing Cormorin is finally despatched by a torpedo from HMS Broke. (Alex Gordon)(108)

4 April 1942

April 4th, 1942 (SATURDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: US naval TF 39 arrives in Scapa Flow. CV Wasp and BB Washington are part of this TF. They are supplementing the British Home Squadron while Operation Ironclad against Madagascar is run.

FRANCE: During the day, RAF Bomber Command dispatches 12 Bostons and four Wellingtons, escorted by RAF Fighter Command fighters, to attack the St. Omer railroad yards; 12 aircraft attack but their bombs fall in fields near the town.

GERMANY: Hitler orders raids on British historic towns as revenge for the bombing of Lübeck: they are called Baedeker raids after the German tourist guidebooks.

Göbbels writes in his diary of his relief that the tough and resilient north Germans have been bombed rather than the softer southerners.

JAPAN: After a heated debate, Admiral NAGANO Osami, Chief of the Navy General Staff, agrees to a simultaneous Aleutian-Midway operation.

MALDIVE ISLANDS: The crew of an RCAF Catalina Mk. I of No. 413 (General Reconnaissance) Squadron based at Koggala, Ceylon, on a reconnaissance flight reports sighting a Japanese fleet in the Indian Ocean about 360 miles (579 kilometres) southeast of Ceylon. Vice Admiral Sir James Somerville, Commander of the British Eastern Fleet, sails from Addu Atoll in the Maldive Islands, located about 400 miles (644 kilometres) southwest of Ceylon, with the faster ships (Force "A") to attack and orders the heavy cruisers HMS Cornwall and Dorsetshire to join him southwest of Ceylon. The two cruisers are at Colombo, Ceylon.

Colombo: The Royal Navy's 200 years of supremacy in the Indian Ocean have ended. Its shoestring fleet of five battleships - all but one of them pre-1918 - and the distinctly middle aged carrier HMS HERMES has been scattered by the threat of Nagumo's fleet of five carriers and four battleships - all veterans of Pearl Harbor. The Japanese fleet cruises the defenceless eastern coasts of Ceylon and India. The British fleet is 600 miles away, and is no match for Nagumo's ships and First Air Fleet.

Today the British heavy cruisers HMS Cornwall and HMS Dorsetshire sail from Colombo at 2200 hours to rejoin the British Eastern Fleet.

COMMONWEALTH OF THE PHILIPPINES: In the II Corps area on Bataan, the Japanese attack is again preceded by a demoralizing artillery bombardment in conjunction with air attacks. The main line of resistance of Sector D collapses as the 41st Division, Philippine Army (PA), withdraws again and the 21st Division, PA, is forced from their main line of resistance to the reserve line in front of Mt Samat. After nightfall, the Japanese regroup for an assault on Mt Samat. Sector C has to refuse its left flank because of enemy breakthrough.

The Luzon Force sends two regiments of the Philippine Division, the U.S. 31st Infantry and the 45th Infantry, Philippine Scouts, to support the II Corps.

AUSTRALIA: The RAAF forms No. 18 (Netherlands East Indies) Squadron at Canberra, and equips it with 5 B-25s.

P-40E pilots of the USAAF 9th Pursuit Squadron (Interceptor) based at Darwin, Northern Territory, shoot down seven Mitsubishi G3M2, Navy Type 96 Attack Bombers (later assigned the Allied Code Name "Nell") and two Mitsubishi A6M2, Navy Type 0 Carrier Fighters ("Zeke") over Darwin between 1330 and 1405 hours.

U.S.A.: The Allies concur in the establishment and divisions of the Southwest Pacific Area and the Pacific Ocean Area proposed on 30 March.

The U.S. grants recognition to Free French administration in Equatorial Africa and appoints a Consul General to Brazzaville. Americans are granted permission to use the airfield at Point Noire, Congo in exchange for eight Lockheed Hudson bombers.

ATLANTIC OCEAN: Two unarmed US tankers are sunk by German U-boats: one is lost 225 miles (362 km) north of Puerto Rico by German submarine U-154 and the second 8 miles (13 km) off North Carolina by U-552. The ship's cargo of 91,500 barrels of crude oil catches fire.

4 April 1943

April 4th, 1943 (SUNDAY)

FRANCE: The U.S. Eighth Air Force dispatches 97 B-17s of the 1st Bombardment Wing to attack industrial installations in the Paris area including the Renault armament works and motor works. 85 aircraft drop 251 tons of bombs on the target between 1414 and 1417 local and cause severe damage; they claim 47-13-6 Luftwaffe aircraft; 4 B-17s are lost and 16 others are damaged by fierce fighter opposition.

GERMANY: RAF bombers drop 1,300 tons of bombs on Kiel in a night raid.

ITALY: The U.S. Ninth Air Force dispatches 99 B-24s to attack Naples, concentrating on the dock area. In Sicily, RAF Liberators, under operational control of the IX Bomber Command, bomb Palermo. Meanwhile, Northwest African Air Force B-25s bomb small shipping at Carloforte on San Pietro Island and 64 B-17s hit Capodichino Airfield and the marshalling yards at Naples.

TUNISIA: Northwest African Air Force P-38s dive-bomb a beached freighter off Cape Zebib. Other P-38's escort the bombing raids. Northwest African Tactical Air Force (NATAF) A-20's hit La Fauconnerie Airfield while B-25's hit El Djem and Sainte-Marie du Zit airfields. Fighters accompany light and medium bombers on attacks, and carry out numerous patrols, reconnaissance flights, and fighter sweeps over the battle areas of Tunisia.

LIBYA: The 'Lady Be Good' is a B-24 (s/n 41-24301) of the 514th Sqd, 376th Bomb Group, USAAF is lost on its first mission. (Dion Osika)

BURMA: 8 Tenth Air Force B-25 Mitchells hit the Maymyo engine sheds and 9 others bomb the Pyawbwe railroad yards. Seven B-24s heavily damage the Thilawa oil refinery.

SOLOMON ISLANDS: Vice Admiral Marc A. Mitscher, USN, assumes the position of Commander Air Solomons (COMAIRSOL) which has operational control of all Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF), USAAF, USMC and USN aircraft in the South Pacific.

BISMARCK ARCHIPELAGO: Fifth Air Force B-17s bomb the town area and airfield at Kavieng on New Ireland. Individual B-17s bomb Cape Gloucester on New Britain.

NEW GUINEA: Fifth Air Force B-25s and A-20s attack areas along the Huon Gulf, around Kitchen Creek and the Heaths and Lane Plantations. Individual B-17s bomb Salamaua.

PACIFIC OCEAN: The USN submarine USS Porpoise (SS-172) sinks a Japanese whaling ship near Eniwetok Atoll.

4 April 1944

April 4th, 1944 (TUESDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: DeGaulle announces the Committee of National Liberation. Of the various appointments, two are communists.

Early in the morning the 4th/7th Royal Dragoon Guards launch six of their amphibious Valentine 'Duplex Drive' (DD) tanks from landing craft for a live-firing rehearsal for D-Day.

The weather is marginal at launch but later deteriorated, resulting in the loss of the tanks and six lives.

ROMANIA: 350 U.S. Fifteenth Air Force B-17s and B-24s attack Bucharest; both hit marshalling yards and the B-24s also hit an air depot; 110 P-38s support of the mission; between 150 and 200 enemy fighters attack the bombers, shooting down 10; the bombers and escorts claim 50+ aircraft destroyed in combat. This is the first mission to Romanian support of the Soviet Army's drive across the Balkans.

POLAND: An Allied reconnaissance aircraft photographs part of the Auschwitz death camp.

ITALY: U.S. Twelfth Air Force medium bomber missions are aborted due to weather but A-20s manage to bomb an ammunition dump and fighter-bombers bomb Terracina and Formia, attack a bridge and several vehicles during armed reconnaissance of the Rome-Orte area, bomb Itri and Fondi, hit numerous gun positions, a railway station, a bivouac area, and a vehicle concentration, and attack targets of opportunity between Atina and Cassino.

ALGERIA: Algiers: General de Gaulle takes control of the Free French armed forces, squeezing General Giraud off the Committee of National Liberation.

He said tonight on Free French radio: "The efforts of all Frenchmen must depend on a single leadership." Giraud, has been offered the role of inspector-general.

EGYPT: The Greek Army Brigade mutinies.

BURMA: The IJA 31st Division is in action against the British at Kohima. The British force is in need of supplies.

The U.S. Tenth Air Force dispatches 120+ fighter-bombers and 4 B-25s to hit rail lines, storage areas and Japanese held villages around Mogaung and Myitkyina and support ground forces near Kamaing and Myitkyina; during the night of 4/5 Apr, 14 B-24s bomb the Moulmein railroad yards and jetties and hit a Japanese HQ nearby at Nagorn Sawarn; and 25 P-51s and P-38s attack Aungban and Anisakan Airfields.

NEW GUINEA: 50+ U.S. Fifth Air Force B-24s pound the Wewak area; and 12 P-39s hit villages, bridges and wooded areas along the coast from Cape Gourdon to Bogia.

PACIFIC OCEAN: The first Royal Navy combat missions with the Vought Corsair night fighter are flown from HMS Victorious.

The Japanese lose a submarine (by accidental flooding), a provision ship and two army cargo ships.

SOLOMON ISLANDS: 12 U.S. Thirteenth Air Force P-40s hit a barge hideout in Gazelle Harbour, Bougainville Island; 10 B-25s (rained out of Rabaul, New Britain Island) bomb Buka Airfield on Buka Island, 23 P-39s hit the Aitara area, and 11 P-40s bomb the Mamaregu barge hideout; 24 P-38s pound Mamagata, Dio Dio, and the Miwo River area; and ground support missions along Empress Augusta Bay are carried out by a variety of fighters.

CAROLINE ISLANDS: U.S. Seventh Air Force B-24s, flying out of the Gilbert Islands, bomb Truk Atoll during the night of 4/5 April and B-25s, from Abemama Island and Tarawa Atoll, follow-up during the day with raids on Ponape Island, and Jaluit and Maloelap Atolls

U.S.A.: USAAF orders 1,000 P-80As; delivery of the first 500 was to be completed by the end of 1945; the remaining 500 were to be delivered by February 1946. Because of the introduction of jets by the Luftwaffe, the P-80 program was given the same high priority as the B-29 program.

HQ Twentieth Air Force is activated in Washington, DC. General Henry H. "Hap" Arnold is named Commanding General and he retains that position until the Twentieth moves to the Pacific in July 1945. It has been decided by the Joint Chiefs of Staff that this strategic air force will not be assigned to a theatre commander but rather, operations will be controlled by Washington.

4 April 1945

April 4th, 1945 (WEDNESDAY)

GERMANY: British and Canadian units take Osnabruck.

The US 9th Army reaches the River Weser at Hameln.

The US 3rd Army captures Kassel. The army also frees the slave labour camp at Ohrduf near Gotha when elements of the 4th Armored and 89th Inf. Divisions enter the slave-labour camp which is an "aussenlager" or subsidiary camp of KZ Buchenwald, near Weimar. It is the first camp to be overrun on German territory by the Western Allies. [The notorious KZ Natzweiler-Struthof in Alsace had been overrun by US forces in Nov.1944, but was previously evacuated by the SS.] (Russell Folsom)

French Units take Karlsruhe.

Gotha falls to US forces as US aircraft smash the naval bases at Kiel and Hamburg.

US Air Force Operations

GERMANY:

STRATEGIC OPERATIONS: The U.S. Eighth Air Force dispatches 1,431 bombers and 866 fighters to hit airfields, a shipyard and a U-boat shipyard in Germany; they claim 30-4-30 Luftwaffe aircraft; 10 bombers and 4 fighters are lost.

1. 438 B-24s are sent to hit Parchim (33) and Perleberg (29) Airfields; 97 hit Wesendorf Airfield, the secondary; attacks are visual; they claim 6-4-6 aircraft; 6 B-24s are lost. Escorting are 324 P-47s and P-51s; the P-47s claim 14-0-20 aircraft and the P-51s claim 9-0-3 aircraft; 1 P-47 and 3 P-51s are lost.

2. 443 B-17s are sent to hit Fassberg Airfield (149); secondary targets hit are Hoya (37) and Dedelsdorf (13) Airfields; targets of opportunity are Unterluss (39) and other (24); bombing is visual; 1 B-17 is lost, 2 damaged beyond repair and 58 damaged. The escort is 220 of 232 P-51s; 1 is lost.

3. 505 of 526 B-17s hit the Deutsche shipyard at Kiel using H2X radar; 2 others hit Eggebeck Airfield, a target of opportunity; 3 B-17s are lost and 50 damaged. The escort is 208 P-51s; none are lost.

4. 22 of 24 B-17s fly a DISNEY mission attacking the Finkenwarder U-boat yard at Hamburg without loss.

5. 19 P-51s fly a scouting mission and claim 0-0-1 aircraft.

6. 25 P-51s escort 8 F-5s and 2 P-38s on photo and radar reconnaissance missions over Germany, claiming 1-0-0 aircraft.

7. 16 P-51s escort 1 OA-10 and 2 B-17s on air-sea-rescue patrols.

TACTICAL OPERATIONS: 330+ B-26s, A-20s and A-26s hit the Ebrach oil depot, Crailsheim marshalling yard and barracks area, Grossaspach supply depot, the town of Ellswangen, Backnang rail and road junction, and 2 targets of opportunity; fighters escort the bombers, fly patrols, sweeps, and armed reconnaissance, attack special targets, and support the US 104th Infantry Division at Scherfede and Hardehausen, the 9th Armored Division in the Warburg area, the XX Corps in the Muhlhausen-Kassel areas, the 2d and 5th Armored Divisions in the Hameln and Minden areas on the Weser River, and the 8th Armored Division as it assaults the Ruhr pocket in the Lippstadt area.

HUNGARY: Bratislava falls to Soviet forces under Malinovsky.

ITALY: U.S. Twelfth Air Force B-25s continue to blast communications along the Brenner rail line, ranging from the railroad bridge at Drauburg to the Camposanto railroad bridge; the B-25s also inflict considerable damage on the Merano methanol plant; P-47s concentrate on enemy movement, rail lines, and ammunition and fuel dumps throughout the Po Valley.

BURMA: Combat operations by the Tenth Air Force are restricted to attacks on a troop concentration and rice and fuel supplies behind enemy lines in central Burma; transports operate on steady basis throughout the day.

CHINA: U.S. Far East Air Force B-24s bomb Toyohara Airfield, Mako harbour, and Tokichito Island and A-20s hit Shinchiku factories and rail yards on Formosa. B-24s bomb the harbour at Hong Kong.

FORMOSA: Far East Air Force B-24s bomb Toyohara Airfield, Mako harbour, and Tokichito Island and A-20s hit Shinchiku factories and rail yards.

JAPAN: A Japanese escort vessel and a merchant cargo ship are sunk by mine laid by B-29s.

MARIANAS: 2 B-29s bomb groups arrive at West Field, Tinian Island from India.

OKINAWA: The high speed transport USS Dickerson (APD-21), irreparably damaged by kamikaze on 2 April 1945, is towed out to sea and scuttled. Kamikazes damage the destroyer USS Wilson (DD-408) off southern end of Kerama Retto and the destroyer USS Sproston (DD-577) is damaged by near-miss by bomb.

The first real resistance is met by Hodges troops on Okinawa. They are halted on a line just south of Kuba.

The landing craft of TF 51 off Okinawa suffer damage from heavy weather.

COMMONWEALTH OF THE PHILIPPINES: U.S. Far East Air Force P-38s and P-51s pound various targets in central Luzon Island while A-20s and P-38s hit the Calauag area. A-20s pound northwest Negros Island and B-24s bomb targets on central Mindanao Island.

U.S.A.: The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) designates General of the Army Douglas MacArthur"> MacArthur Commander-in-Chief, US Army Forces, Pacific (CINCUSAFPAC) and Fleet Admiral Chester W Nimitz Commander-in-Chief, Pacific (CINCPOA).

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