7 April 1939

1936: SWITZERLAND: In Geneva, Ethiopia again appeals to the League of Nations for aid against Italy.

1938: RUMANIA: Corneliu Codreanu, founder and leader of the anti-Semitic paramilitary Iron Guard, which proposes a Christian-Nationalist political system, is arrested by King Carol who feared his strong influence after his party gained 1.6 million votes in the 1937 election. He is shot shortly afterwards.

April 7th, 1939 (FRIDAY)

GERMANY: Regarding Danzig, Germany reproaches Poland for responding to her offers with sabre rattling. "Poland had obviously not understood the offer.

. . . The sort of reply which the Polish Government had given us to this offer was no basis for a settlement of the matter in question."

SPAIN: Madrid: Spain joins Italy, Hungary, Germany, Japan and Manchukuo in the anti-Comintern pact.

ALBANIA: In an effort to mimic German Chancellor Adolf Hitler's conquest of Prague, Czechoslovakia, Italian dictator Benito Mussolini"> Mussolini's troops, though badly organized, invade and occupy Albania. Although the invasion of Albania was intended as but a prelude to greater conquests in the Balkans, it proved a costly enterprise for Il Duce. Albania is already dependent on Italy's economy, so had little to offer the invaders. The Italians state that they invaded "for the reestablishment of peace, order, and justice." "Influential persons in Albania had requested Italian intervention on account of the unbearable situation created by King Zog."

7 April 1940

April 7th, 1940 (SUNDAY)

NORWEGIAN CAMPAIGN.

GERMANY: German warships begin to leave their home ports for the invasion of Norway. The British have detected the concentration of shipping in Kiel but because they have no previous information to compare this with they fail to appreciate the significance. Some of the German units are sighted and attacked by RAF aircraft, however. The whole of the German surface fleet is committed to this operation, sailing at different times in six groups. They plan to land at Narvik, Trondheim, Bergen, Kristiansand, Oslo and a small detachment at Egersund.

Heavy cruiser Admiral Hipper and 14 destroyers leave Bremen at 0510 hours bound for Trondheim and Narvik, escorted by battle cruisers Scharnhorst and Gneisenau. Scharnhorst and Gneisenau sail with the Narvik group but are to go on to operate against shipping in the Arctic. In the evening, heavy cruisers Blucher and Lutzow and light cruiser Emden with eight minesweepers, two armed whaling ships and three torpedo boats sail with their troops for Oslo. Around midnight, light cruisers Koln and Konigsberg, a gunnery training ship, a storeship and eight torpedo boats leave Wilhelmshaven bound for Bergen. A large part of the U-boat fleet is also involved in the campaign but they achieve very little, partly because they use torpedoes with magnetic exploders which do not function properly in high latitudes. (This error is discovered during the campaign and is later rectified.) The ships carry units of three divisions for the assault. Three more are earmarked for a second wave. Only one, 3rd Mountain Division, is regarded by the Germans as being of best quality. They have air support from 500 transport planes, over 300 bombers and 100 fighters. For this air support to be effective it will be necessary quickly to take airfields in northern Denmark and Norway itself. This difficult task will be achieved.

Meanwhile, British units are preparing to sail for their own mining operations. In the evening the main forces of the Home Fleet sail.

NORWAY: During the night of the 7th/8th, the British lay three minefields in Norwegian waters and Norway protests British minelaying operations off the Norwegian coast.

GERMANY: Two Army officers - Brigadier General Kurt Himer, chief of staff of the 31st Corps, and Lieut. Colonel Hartwig Pohlman, operations officer of Falkenhorst's Gruppe XXI are sent to Copenhagen and Oslo respectively, as secret Plenipotentiaries of the Wehrmacht to advise and assist the German ambassadors. They travel in civilian clothes, their uniforms being forwarded separately as diplomatic baggage.

UNITED KINGDOM: The prototype Blackburn B-20 crashes into the sea off Gourock Head on the Clyde in Scotland during high speed trials due to aileron flutter. Three crew escape by parachute but Flt. Lt. Bailey (Blackburn's chief test pilot) is killed.

The British Norwegian invasion fleet sails from Scapa Flow in the Orkney Islands. Escort is provided by units of the Home Fleet including the battleships HMS Rodney and Valiant, the battle cruiser HMS Repulse, four cruisers and 14 destroyers which sail from Scapa Flow and Rosyth.

Accompanying them is a French cruiser and two destroyers. Two more British cruisers and nine destroyers leave other duties and sail for Norwegian waters.

PANAMA CANAL ZONE: USN Destroyer J. Fred Talbott (DD-247) departs the Canal Zone to rendezvous at sea with Japanese steamship SS Arimasan Maru to provide medical assistance to a passenger on board the Japanese steamship.

7 April 1941

April 7th, 1941 (SUNDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: General Montgomery is appointed commander of 12 Corps, responsible for the defence of the south-east coast, covering Kent and Sussex.

In an attempt to combat the growing losses suffered at the hands of radar equipped night fighters and AA guns the Luftwaffe simultaneously attack a number of targets stretching all the way from the southern coast to Scotland.

London: the standard rate of income tax was today raised by 1/6 to ten shillings in the pound (50%). Personal allowances and tax exemption limits are also drastically reduced. Money raised by the cuts in allowances will be treated as compulsory savings, to be repaid through Post Office savings accounts after the war. Steps to peg the cost of living have been promised.

RAF Bomber Command: 2 Group: 105 Squadron makes a night raid on Cologne and Bremerhaven. No. 18 Sqn. attacks shipping with ten aircraft, two trawlers are damaged.

GERMANY: Kiel: The heaviest RAF attack on a single target yet, involving 229 aircraft, takes place. This five-hour long raid was the 36th time that the naval base has been hit. Whitley, Wellington and Hampden bombers used 40,000 incendiaries to spread fire across the whole urban area.

Berlin: The German high command reports that British sea losses for March are 718,000 tons.

YUGOSLAVIA: The German XL Panzer Corps advancing from Bulgaria, capturing Skopje in Macedonia and advancing towards Monastir. In the north, the German 2nd Army, under General Maximillian Baron von Weichs, advances on Zagreb while the Italian 2nd Army under General Vittorio Ambrosio crosses into north-western Yugoslavia from Italy. Powerful Luftwaffe contingents are supporting the advance of the army by flying reconnaissance and by raiding enemy columns, positions and transport vehicles. As has been already reported, the fortress installations and other military targets in Belgrade have been raided repeatedly by the Luftwaffe, to devastating effect. In particular, the main railroad station in Belgrade, a pontoon bridge over the Danube River east of Belgrade, and several transport trains, have been badly hit. A multitude of large fires go on burning into the night and light the way for German ground-attack aircraft as they make their fourth attack on the fortress of Belgrade. Further, airfields, in central and southern Yugoslavia are bombed to sustained effect and bombard with aerial guns. A number of Yugoslav aircraft are destroyed on the ground.

The head of the Croatian separatist movement, Ante Pavelic, calls on Croatians to set up a separate state.

The Wehrmacht High Command announces:

Along the south-eastern front the assault is proceeding according to schedule in dogged fighting. Powerful Luftwaffe contingents have supported the advance of the army by flying reconnaissance and by raiding enemy columns, positions and transport vehicles. As has been already reported, the fortress installations and other military targets in Belgrade have been raided repeatedly by powerful formations of German combat aircraft, to devastating effect. In particular, the main railroad station in Belgrade, a pontoon bridge over the Danube east of Belgrade, and several transport trains, have been badly hit. A multitude of large fires went on burning into the night and lit up the way for German ground-attack aircraft as they made their fourth attack on the fortress of Belgrade. Further, airfields, in central and southern Yugoslavia were bombed to sustained effect and bombard with aerial guns. A number of their aircraft were destroyed on the ground.

GREECE: The German 12th Army under General Wilhelm List crosses the Greek border from Bulgaria and after hard fighting, capture the important Rupel Pass. Facing this force are four Greek divisions and about 30 miles (48 kilometres) away, the British Expeditionary Force of four British and Commonwealth divisions and a Polish brigade. Another three and a half Greek divisions are on the Metaxas Line, a system of fortifications about 100 miles (161 kilometres) long extending from the Beles mountains to the Nestos River. At 1800 hours, the III Staffel of Kampfgeschwader (Bomber Wing) (III./KG 30) equipped with Junkers Ju88s) take off from Gerbini, Sicily, to mine the approaches to Piraeus harbour. The aircraft of 7./KG 30

led by Hauptmann (Captain) Hajo Herrman carried both bombs and mines and came in to the attack at low-level. Herrman's aircraft released its bombs on the freighter SS Clan Frazer which, unbeknown to the German crew, still had 250-tons of high explosives on board. With a shattering explosion of almost nuclear proportions, the ship blew up, destroying in the holocaust 12 other ships totalling 51,569 tons, in addition to 60 light sail boats and 25 motor sailors, and making the port of Piraeus unusable for many weeks. The defences were temporarily shattered, and then one anti-aircraft gun suddenly opened fire, putting Herrman's port engine out of action. With great skill Hermann managed to land his aircraft at Rhodes which had recently fallen to the Italians. (Andy Etherington and Jack McKillop)

Personal Story for above: As a personal footnote to this point, I have talked to my uncles, and my father about their wartime experiences (they were teenagers), and both of them have related to me their memories about this night. My father, now deceased, relayed very little, except that the explosion rocked windows all over the harbour. My Uncle Nick, though, went into more detail, and I heard more from my father's brother (through his son, my cousin). The three of them (my father, his brother Parasko, and my uncle were sitting on a stone wall that night, overlooking the harbour of Piraeus, watching the air raid. They often did such things, first because it was neat to watch, and second because it was the only entertainment that they had at night. All of a sudden, one explosion (evidently hitting the "Clan Frazer') was quickly followed by another massive burst. The impact of the burst, lighting up the night sky, knocked two of them off the wall.

They said the fireball went all over the water area, and that pieces of metal (shrapnel, parts of the ship, etc.) were later found a block or two from their house (and they lived rather far from the water's edge). The next morning, the harbour was a shambles, and they went around their neighbourhood looking for cracked window panes and broken windows. They were not disappointed. Later in the war, they got to sit and watched the Allies bomb the German ships in the harbour. (Pete Margaritis)

Greece breaks diplomatic relations with Bulgaria and Hungary.

Athens:

The Greek High Command announced:

...Throughout the day bitter fighting has ensued near the Greek-Bulgarian border, especially around the Beles mountains and in the Struma valley.

BULGARIA: RAF planes bomb Sofia in retaliation for enemy raids on Belgrade.

HUNGARY: Budapest: Great Britain severs diplomatic relations with Hungary.

LIBYA: On the coast Derna is overrun in the continuing Axis advance. Inland near Mechili an armoured battle begins between the German 5th Panzer Regiment and the remnants of the British 2nd Armoured Division. As a result, the commander of the 2nd Armoured Division and much of his command surrender at Mechili.

BERMUDA: U.S. Naval Operating Base, Bermuda, is established. The aircraft carrier USS Ranger (CV-4) and other ships are to be based here as the Central Atlantic Neutrality Patrol. These forces will be considerably increased by three battleships and two carriers later in April and during May and June. (John Nicholas and Jack McKillop)

7 April 1942

April 7th, 1942 (TUESDAY)

GERMANY: Three Catholic priests and Karl Friedrich Stellbrink, a protestant theologian and Evangelist minister in Lübeck, are arrested for anti-Nazi activities. Stellbrink will be executed on 10 November 1943 in Hamburg.

NORWAY: Oslo: In a mass demonstration of protest 654 of Norway's 699 Lutheran clergymen, resigned today, Easter Sunday, from their positions as civil servants employed by the Quisling ministry for church and education. They will continue to minister to their congregations "so far as this is possible ... in accordance with the Holy Scripture, the Creed and the Altar Book."

In a declaration read from pulpits throughout Norway, the clergy emphasized the supremacy of God rather than of political ideologies. They said they had acted "with a heavy heart" for the sake of the Christian life of the Norwegian people.

The resignations are reported to have shaken the puppet government, which has been trying to force government employees into a Nazi-style Labour Front. Quisling called a hasty meeting of ministers. Afterwards a spokesman said: "It is an act of revolt, a declaration of war." The leaders of the campaign would be punished, he said.

U.S.S.R.: Soviet Army troops force a very narrow corridor to Leningrad, opening a tenuous rail link to the city. Trains run into the city with desperately needed supplies and came out with civilians and the wounded, all under heavy artillery fire from the Germans.

The Soviet Navy lists submarine M-176 Northern Fleet Varangerfjord (lost off Norwegian coast, former M-93) (Mike Yared)

BURMA: IJA 18th Division arrives in Rangoon from Singapore.

COMMONWEALTH OF THE PHILIPPINES: On Bataan, the Japanese, attacking again in the II Corps area with air and artillery support, force the entire corps main line of resistance back to the Mamala River line; this line, too, becomes untenable, and Americans and Filipinos withdraw under cover of darkness, during the night of the 7th/8th, to the Alangan River. The 26th Cavalry, Philippine Scouts, released to the II Corps from the I Corps reserve, establishes a holding position while the line is formed along the Mamala River. Meanwhile, attempts by Philippine Division units to form a continuous line prove futile. Philippine Constabulary regiments defending the beaches are ordered into the battle line. The I Corps is directed to withdraw southward to the Binuangan River line. (John Nicholas and Jack McKillop)

The remaining USAAF P-40 fighters on Bataan are ordered flown to Mindanao Island. During the next three days, the P-40s will fly reconnaissance, cover heavy bombers sent to Mindanao from Australia operating against concentrations at Legaspi, Cebu, Iloilo, and Davao, and carry out a strafing attack aircraft at Davao. After the heavy bombers return to Australia on 12 April, the fighters will continue to fly reconnaissance until Japanese forces envelop the troops on Mindanao on 1 May.

TERRITORY OF ALASKA: By proclamation, the 263 Japanese-Americans living in the territory are notified that they may be relocated to the continental U.S.

U.S.A.: The War Department officially states that the 8th Air Force will be established in the UK as an intermediate command between US Army Forces in British Isles (USAFBI) and the AAF commands. General George C Marshall notifies Major General James E Chaney, Commanding General of USAFBI, of this decision.

7 April 1943

April 7th, 1943 (WEDNESDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: Westminster: The government announces that men and women will receive equal war compensation.

London: An ambitious scheme "for the future economic ordering of the world" was published as a British government white paper today. It was dubbed the Keynes Plan - after its author John Maynard Keynes, the treasury's senior adviser and the economist whose theories. The central aim is post-war establishment of an international bank offering an acceptable means of payment between nations while stimulating trade through greater currency stability. Similar plans for international finance are being developed in Washington by the US secretary of the treasury, Henry Morgenthau.

AUSTRIA: A four day meeting between Hitler and Mussolini begins at Salzburg. They decide to hold in North Africa.

ITALY: SICILY: Ninth Air Force B-24s attack Palermo harbour.

TUNISIA: Ninth Air Force B-25s bomb retreating columns which are being pursued north of Oued el Akarit by the British Eighth Army's 30 and 10 Corps while fighters carry out bombing and strafing operations the battle area.

Northwest African Air Force Wellingtons attack Tunis and the Jabal al Jallud Marshalling Yard. Weather cancels all other bomber missions except for 2 reconnaissance sorties. All available airplanes of the XII Air Support Command and Western Desert Air Force hit ground forces which are retreating in all sectors. Fighters fly sweeps over Medjez el Bab (claiming 3 fighters downed), a scramble mission northwest of Oued Zarga (5 fighters are claimed destroyed), and over 100 other sorties (no encounters). Highway and motor transport are bombed between Sfax and Sousse. Light and medium bombers, and fighter-bombers attack concentrations north of the Oued el Akarit line. Units of the US II Corps make contact with the British Eighth Army on the Gabes-Gafsa road.

BURMA: 2 Tenth Air Force B-25 Mitchells temporarily knock out a bridge on the Ye-u railroad branch, crossing the Mu River between Ywataung and Monywa; 18 B-25s, in 2 forces, bomb the Ywataung Marshalling Yard; P-40s support ground forces north of Shingbwiyang and 6 B-24 Liberators bomb Japanese HQ at Toungoo.

NEW GUINEA: Fifth Air Force B-25s hit areas along the northeastern coast from Mur to Singor. B-24s bomb the landing ground at Babo and town area of Fak Fak while individual B-17s and B-24s attack shipping and coastal targets at Lae, Salamaua, Finschhafen and Wewak.

BORNEO: USN submarine USS Trout (SS-202) lays mines near Sarawak.

SOLOMON ISLANDS: 11th IJNAF Air Fleet begins "I" operation with attacks against Guadalcanal and Tulagi. 180 aircraft involved. The air groups of 4 carriers have been moved to land for this operation. This leaves almost no trained carrier pilots left.

In the second phase of the Japanese Operation I GO, 67 Aichi D3A, Navy Type 99 Carrier Bombers, Allied Code Name "Val," escorted by an estimated 117 Mitsubishi A6M Navy Type 0 Carrier Fighters, Allied Code Name "Zeke," are reported by coast watchers to be moving down the "Slot" to attack a convoy off the east coast of Guadalcanal, shipping at Koli Point, and a Task Force at Tulagi. All 75 operable fighters on Guadalcanal, 36 F4F Wildcats, 9 F4U Corsairs, 12 P-38 Lightnings, 6 P-40s and 12 P-39Airacobras, are scrambled, and the bombers are moved to the south-western tip of the island for safety. The air battle takes place off the Russells, near Tulagi, and over the convoy. Marine F4F pilots shoot down 12 "Val" dive bombers and 15 "Zeke" fighters; 7 F4Fs and P-38s are shot down with the loss of a pilot. The "Vals" attack Allied shipping and sink the corvette HMNZS Moa and the destroyer USS Aaron Ward (DD-483) is damaged by one bomb hit and four near misses. Moa was refuelling from the oil storage barge USS Erskine M. Phelps.

The Moa was hit at least one bomb (other reports say two bombs) in the commanding officer's cabin (the other is reported as hitting the boiler room). It is also reported that there were two near misses. The Moa sank in 3.5 to 4 minutes. Five crewmen were killed, Leading Seaman J. C. O. Moffat, Able Seaman K. Bailey, Leading Stoker H. D. Crawford, Stoker E. J. Buckeridge and Telegraphist C. Duncan. Lt Com Phipps and seven others were severely injured and another seven injured to a lesser degree. During the action, Lieutenant C. Belgrave dived under the water and rescued Assistant Steward W. J. Malloy who was unconscious. Leading Signaller J. L. W. Salter and Ordinary Telegraphist Bright saved Signaller F. Thomas who was also severely wounded and on the bridge. Salter and Bright were awarded the British Empire Medal.

Submarine rescue vessel USS Ortolan (ASR-5) and tug USS Vireo (AT-144) attempt to beach Aaron Ward, but the destroyer sinks as the result of bomb damage. Also damaged are the oilers USS Kanawha (AO-1) and USS Tappahannock (AO-43) and tank landing ship USS LST-449. Later, the tugs USS Rail (AT-139) and USS Menominee (AT-73) and the net tender USS Butternut (YN-9), tow Kanawha into Tulagi harbour, where the damaged oiler is beached just before midnight.

In a bid to regain air superiority in the south-west Pacific Japan's Pacific commander, Admiral Yamamoto, today put Allied air power in the Solomons to the test as more than 200 Japanese naval aircraft attacked and sank three Allied ships.

The Japanese force of 67 Aichi D3A Val carrier-bombers escorted by 120 Mitsubishi A6M Zero fighters took off from New Britain to attack shipping north of Guadalcanal in Ironbottom Sound, the ocean graveyard of more than 40 warships. During the fighting the US destroyer AARON WARD, a tanker and the New Zealand minesweeper MOA were sunk. The Japanese lost 19 aircraft. US losses were seven fighters, but only one pilot missing.

The results show a decline in Japanese pilot quality and are disappointing for Yamamoto. He switched his carrier aircraft to Rabaul a week ago to begin harassing Allied airbases, which have now made the Bismarck Sea a banned area for Japanese shipping after the loss of eight ships there last month.

This is the date we [182nd Regiment, Americal Division, USA] left Guadalcanal for Fiji, in 1943. I knew it was April, and that LIFE magazine had called it "the biggest air raid of the Pacific War so far", but they thought it was only 100 Japanese planes. Yours says 180 planes. We were on the John Penn when the planes came over.

All our planes were caught on the ground. I sneaked under a 20mm gun mount, rather than be locked below decks, as the Navy did to keep us out of the way. I saw the greatest air raid in my history of 3-1/2 years out there in war. Planes went upwind, downwind, and crosswind clawing for height to attack the enemy. P-38's which were new went straight up like an elevator. Planes were falling with smoke trailing...no way to tell whose.

My late friend, Al Glendye, was Bos'n on a tanker loaded with air plane fuel. The ship was straddled by two 500 lb bombs. Had either landed and blown the ship, others would have gone down with it. J.F.Kennedy's bio "PT-109" opens with a chapter on this raid. He was coming out as a replacement when their ship pulled into "Iron Bottom Bay" (Bill McLaughlin)

ADMIRALTY ISLANDS: Fifth Air Force B-17 Flying Fortresses and B-24 Liberators attack Lorengau on Manus Island.

BISMARCK ARCHIPELAGO: Individual Fifth Air Force B-17s and B-24s attack Cape Gloucester on New Britain Island and Kavieng on New Ireland Island.

TERRITORY OF ALASKA: ALEUTIAN ISLANDS: Eleventh Air Force reconnaissance airplane aborts shortly after takeoff due to weather.

U.S.A.: The motion picture "The More The Merrier" is released in the U.S. This comedy, directed by George Stevens, and starring Jean Arthur, Joel McCrea, and Charles Coburn, is about the housing shortage in Washington, D.C Arthur decides to be patriotic and shares her apartment with Coburn who then turns around and rents to McCrea. The film was nominated for six Academy Awards; Mr. Coburn won for Best Supporting Actor. Mr. Stevens also won the New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Director.

Wyoming: The sale of coffee in restaurants is banned in Cheyenne and Casper due to violations of wartime rationing restrictions. (Patrick Holscher, from the Wyoming Historical Society)

BOLIVIA: La Paz: Bolivia declares war on the Axis.

7 April 1944

April 7th, 1944 (FRIDAY)

GERMANY: Berlin: In a desperate effort to rescue Berlin from the chaos created by Allied bombing, Hitler has suspended civil law and administration and installed Göbbels as Stadtspresident with unlimited powers. The city's military commanders, and the chiefs of police, fire brigades, medical, ambulance and rescue services, as well as food and relief organizations will be answerable to him alone. Shop assistants, office workers and commercial travellers are being drafted into labour units to clear bomb damage. Under the relentless air attacks, Berlin's fire-fighting services have broken down, relief organizations have failed to provide enough food and clothing for bombing victims, and wide-spread looting has been reported. There have been repeated outbreaks of disorder, with SS troops forced to intervene.

The destruction of police records has allowed what the authorities call "undesirable characters" to evade arrest and roam the city without identity papers.

Izieu, Ain: SS Lieutenant Klaus Barbie of the Lyons Gestapo today reported the destruction of the Jewish Colonie des Enfants [children's home] here in dutiful and businesslike words: "Captured - 41 children aged between three and ten years, and ten attendants. The transport will leave for Drancy tomorrow."

Drancy will be their only pause on the way to the gas chambers of Auschwitz-Birkenau.

U.S.S.R.: Generalmajor Ferdinand Schorner makes an inspection of the defences of Fortress Crimea. He states that everything is sufficient. (Gene Hanson)

ITALY: 400+ Fifteenth Air Force B-17s and B-24s attack marshalling yards; the B-17s bomb Treviso, the B-24s hit Mestre and Bologna; almost 100 P-38s provide escort; P-47s fly a sweep over the Gorizia-Udine area; the bombers and fighters claim almost 20 aircraft shot down.

Twelfth Air Force B-25s and B-26 Marauders attack bridges, tracks and a viaduct at Attigliano, Ficulle, Certaldo, Pontassieve and Incisa in Valdarno, and hit the Prato marshalling yard; A-20 Havocs hit an ammunition dump; Ausonia, Pignataro Interamna, San Apollinare and Terracina are bombed by P-40s along with a dump and several gun positions southeast of Rome; P-47 Thunderbolts also hit bridges and trucks in this same area and attack the Empoli marshalling yard while A-36 Apaches hit gun emplacements, train and tracks in the Orvieto area and vicinity and approaches to the Montalto di Castro bridge.

BURMA: IJA encircle the 161st British Brigade near Kohima.

20+ Tenth Air Force P-51 Mustangs and B-25s hit gun positions at Mawlu; throughout the Mogaung Valley 100+ fighter-bombers and 2 B-25s hit numerous targets including fuel and ammunition stores near Manywet, supplies and a railroad station at Myitkyina, supplies and a radio station at Sahmaw, the Kamaing area, bridges at Nsopzup and supply dumps west of Mogaung; 30+ of the fighter-bombers carry out ground support missions at Shaduzup.

CHINA: 7 Fourteenth Air Force P-40s strafe 3 barges and several junks at Saint John Island, leaving them burning. 2 B-24s on a sweep from Hong Kong to Formosa claim a large river boat and a small freighter sunk and 2 other freighters damaged; 1 B-24 is lost.

EAST INDIES: Fifth Air Force B-25s bomb barracks at Penfoei on Timor Island.

FRENCH INDOCHINA: 4 Fourteenth Air Force P-40s attack a large concentration of small vessels at Haiphong, French Indochina, sinking at least 4.

BISMARCK ARCHIPELAGO: Thirteenth Air Force aircraft attack New Britain Island. 50+ fighter-bombers pound supply areas at Ratawul; 9 B-25s hit Talili Bay, 11 bomb Vunakanau Airfield and 13 blast Tobera Airfield; 6 B-25s maintain night heckling of the Rabaul area.

The destroyer USS Saufley (DD-465) sinks Japanese submarine HIJMS I-2, 50 miles (80 km) west-northwest of New Hanover Island.

JAPAN: 8 Eleventh Air Force B-24s dispatched to destroy a convoy, believed southeast of Matsuwa Island, Kurile Islands, turn back due to engine, navigation and weather difficulties. A flight of F-7As Liberators of the 2d Photographic Charting Squadron, 1st Photographic Charting Group, 311th Photographic Wing (Mapping and Charting), arrives in the Aleutian Islands; its mission is mapping of the Kurile Islands. The squadron is based at Peterson Field, Colorado Springs, Colorado and sends detachments to various parts of the world to photo map.

MARSHALL ISLANDS: Seventh Air Force B-25s from Tarawa Atoll hit Maloelap Atoll, rearm at Majuro Atoll, and bomb Jaluit Atoll on the return flight.

NEW GUINEA: Fifth Air Force B-25s, A-20s and P-39Airacobras hit villages, barges, a supply area, and coastal road in areas around Madang, Tadji, Bogia, and Uligan Harbor; and B-24s bomb Langgoer and Wakde Island.

SOLOMON ISLANDS: 4 Thirteenth Air Force P-40s bomb pillboxes near the Reini River while 2 B-24s bomb Monoitu Mission.

U.S.A.: Requirements are established for a Boeing B-29 to be modified to perform the photo reconnaissance mission. (Mike Yared)(283)

ATLANTIC OCEAN: Destroyer USS Champlin (DD-601) is damaged when she intentionally rams German submarine U-856, 380 miles (612 km) southeast of Cape Sable, Nova Scotia, Canada. Champlin and destroyer escort USS Huse (DE-145) had teamed to sink U-856.

7 April 1945

UNITED KINGDOM: The impending break-up of Britain's coalition government was signalled by Ernest Bevin, the minister of labour, today. "We are at the parting of the ways," he said, and chided Mr. Churchill for apparently favouring a post-war coalition which he hoped he could lead. Mr Bevin went on: "I have a profound admiration for the prime minister as a war leader - unfettered I gave him my loyalty in that position: I never gave it to him as leader of the Conservative Party."

ENGLISH CHANNEL: U-1195 (German) 96' Depth charged; 9 of 10 self escape from after hatch even with 40 degree list on bottom, one without Drager gear, PoWs. (Mark Horan)

GERMANY: There is heavy fighting by US 1st and 9th Armies around the Ruhr pocket.

North-west: The German army in the west is disintegrating under the impact of Allied columns racing for Bremen. Hamburg, Hanover, Magdeburg and the Elbe. The roads are filled with long columns of prisoners trudging westwards into Allied prison camps.

The British are closing on Hanover on the Autobahn to Berlin, while another spearhead is driving for Bremen. In the south, the Americans have broken through to Wurzburg. The devastation of the Rhine battle zone has been left behind and the Allied forces are passing through towns apparently untouched by war, except for empty shelves in shops and white flags hanging outside houses.

The Reich's gold reserve is captured when the 282nd Combat Engineer Battalion of Patton's 3d Army, discovers the Reichsbank gold reserve cache in the Kaiseroda potassium mine at Merkers. The haul includes 8,198 bars of gold bullion; 55 boxes of crated gold bullion; hundreds of bags of gold items; over 1,300 bags of gold Reichsmarks, British gold pounds, and French gold francs; 711 bags of American twenty-dollar gold pieces; hundreds of bags of gold and silver coins; hundreds of bags of foreign currency; 9 bags of valuable coins; 2,380 bags and 1,300 boxes of Reichsmarks (2.76 billion Reichsmarks); 20 silver bars; 40 bags containing silver bars; 63 boxes and 55 bags of silver plate; 1 bag containing six platinum bars; and 110 bags from various countries.

The enormity of this hoard is such that Eisenhower appoints Colonel Bernard D. Bernstein, deputy chief, Financial Branch, G-5 Division of SHAEF to be responsible for its disposition. (Russell Folsom)

The Eighth Air Force flies Mission 931: 1,314 bombers and 898 fighters are dispatched to hit airfields, oil and munitions depots and explosive plants in central and northern Germany; all primary targets are bombed visually; they meet 100+ conventional fighters and 50+ jets; the German fighters attack fiercely and in the ensuing air battle down 15 heavy bombers; the AAF claims 104-13-32 aircraft including a few jets.

These Luftwaffe attacks are by the hastily formed Schulungslehrgang Elbe unit. 120 Bf-109s engage by ramming, destroying at most 13 bombers at a cost of 53 German fighters. Many of the poorly trained pilots never even engaged the US formation. (Mike Yared)

- 143 B-17s bomb airfields at Kaltenkirchen and 134 hit Parchim; 36 attack an oil depot at Buchen while 104 bomb a munitions depot at Gustrow; secondary targets hit are the marshalling yards at Neumunster by 37 B-17s and Schwerin by 48 B-17s; 1 other hit Salzwedel Airfield, a target of opportunity; they claim 26-10-10 aircraft; 14 B-17s are lost. Escorting are 317 P-51s; they claim 31-1-8 aircraft; 3 P-51s are lost.

- 128 B-24s bomb an explosive plants at Krummel while 168 bomb a plant at Duneburg; 26 others hit the marshalling yard at Neumunster; they claim 14-2-6 aircraft; 3 B-24s are lost. The escort is 252 P-47s and P-51s; they claim 30-0-7 aircraft; 2 P-51s are lost.

- 107 B-17s attack the airfield at Wesendorf , 93 hit Kohlenbissen Airfield and 115 bomb an oil depot at Hitzacker; 92 hit Lundeburg, the secondary; 25 others bomb targets of opportunity; they claim 0-0-1 aircraft. 209 P-51s escort without loss.

The Ninth Air Force dispatches 268 A-20s, A-26 Invaders and B-26 Marauders to strike marshalling yards at Northeim and Gottingen, plus 2 town areas; fighters fly escort, patrols, and armed reconnaissance, and support the US 7th Armored Division at Schmallenberg, the 3d and 9th Armored Divisions along the Weser River east of Warburg, the VIII, XII, and XX Corps in the Muhlhausen, Eisenach, and Meiningen areas (including strong air support against a counterattack on the XII and XX Corps at Struth), the 2d Armored Division along the Sarstedt-Hildesheim road, and the XVI Corps between the Lippe and Ruhr Rivers in the Essen area.

The Taifun Express is attacked by American fighter-bombers late this afternoon near Vienenburg. As all the women prisoners had been locked into the first three railways carriages behind the locomotive, their casualties are high. The train carries on to Magdeburg, Riesa, Dresden and Prague. (Sandy Bybee)

AUSTRIA: A small number of Fifteenth Air Force bombers attack marshalling yards at Innsbruck, Sankt Veit an der Glan, and Klagenfurt. 82 P-38s bomb the Tainach-Stein railroad bridge while 74 others sent against a bridge in southern Austria abort due to weather.

ITALY: Okutsu, Yukio, Tech. Sgt., 442nd Regimental Combat Team, will be awarded the MOH for actions today at Mount Belvedere. (William L. Howard)

During the night of 6/7 April, Twelfth Air Force A-20s and A-26s bomb bridges at Lavis, Ala, Rovereto, and San Ambrogio di VaIpolicella, and several Po River crossings; during the day weather grounds the medium bombers; XXII Tactical Air Command fighters and fighter bombers, operating on a limited scale, hit the Montechino oil field, ammunition dumps and communications targets north of the battle area, and gun positions in the Monte Belvedere-Strettoia area in which US Fifth Army forces push north.

128 Fifteenth Air Force B-17s and B-24s attack the Mezzocorona railroad bridge and nearby road bridge, and the Verona-Parona di VaIpolicella railroad bridge while 500+ bombers return to base without bombing because of multi-layer clouds.

U.S.S.R.: Moscow: Stalin cables Roosevelt pointing out that German resistance in the east is much stronger than in the west.

BURMA: 95 Tenth Air Force fighter-bombers operating over and behind Japanese lines in central Burma pound troop concentrations,

CHINA: 14 Fourteenth Air Force B-25s hit town areas and targets of opportunity at Sichuan, Hsihhsiassuchi, Neihsiang, Shaoyang, and Nanchang and 24 P-51s attack river, road and rail traffic in the Yellow River area, south of Anyi, at Yuncheng, and at Tengfeng. 4 B-24s bomb harbours and dock areas at Bakli and Samah Bays on Hainan Island.

trucks, and supply areas, and sweep roads south of the bomb line.

FRENCH INDOCHINA: Fourteenth Air Force B-24s bomb Haiphong and 8 P-38s hit targets of opportunity around Dien Bien Phu and along the Nam Hon area.

JAPAN: Tokyo: Japan's desperate elder statesmen today advised the emperor to summon 79-year-old Admiral Baron Kantaro Suzuki, a moderate, out of retirement to lead the new government following the resignation of General Kuniaki Koiso's cabinet on 5 April. The crisis of confidence in Koiso has been precipitated by the invasion of Okinawa and Russia's shock renunciation of its neutrality pact with Japan. The new premier has been told to end the war as soon as possible by court advisers, Baron Suzuki, a former grand Chamberlain, led the peace faction opposed to escalating the war in China.

The XXI Bomber Command flies two missions:

- Mission 58: 101 B-29 Superfortresses bomb the Nakajima aircraft engine plant at Tokyo; 2 others hit targets of opportunity; they claim 80-23-50 Japanese aircraft; 3 B-29s are lost.

- Mission 59: 153 B-29s hit the Mitsubishi aircraft plant at Nagoya; 29 others hit targets of opportunity; they claim 21-11-22 Japanese aircraft; 2 B-29s are lost.

For the first time the missions above are escorted by 108 VII Fighter Command P-51s from Iwo Jima; they claim 21-5-7 Japanese aircraft; 2 P-51s are lost. This is the first B-29 mission escorted by fighters. One of the groups flying escort is the 15th Fighter Group which was based at Hickam Field, Territory of Hawaii on 7 December 1941.

An Eleventh Air Force B-24 flies a radar-ferret mission along the coasts of Paramushiru and Harumukotan Islands in the Kurile Islands.

Okinawa: Japanese battleship Yamato receives the attention of 380 US aircraft attacking in two waves from TF 58. She absorbs 10 torpedoes and 5 bomb strikes before sinking.

Lt. Cmdr. Herbert Houck leads 43 fighter, dive and torpedo bomber planes off the aircraft carrier USS YORKTOWN to meet an attack by the Yamato and its battlegroup of eight destroyers and a cruiser.

The behemoth warship was one of two 72,000-ton battleships carrying the largest guns ever sent to sea. The Japanese sent the Yamato to thwart an invasion of Okinawa by American troops.

Nearly 2,500 of Yamato's officers and crew were killed; its sinking effectively crippling the Japanese Navy.

The crew of a Martin PBM-3D Mariner of Patrol Bombing Squadron Twenty One (VPB-21), based at Kerama Retto anchorage in the Ryukyu Islands, spots the Japanese First Diversion Attack Force built around the battleship HIJMS Yamato and alerts the Fifth Fleet. Task Force 58 launches 386 aircraft and the battleship and the light cruiser HIJMS Yahagi are sunk west-southwest of Kagoshima, Japan at 30.40N, 128.03E. Also sunk are destroyers HIJMS Asashimo, HIJMS Hamakaze, HIJMS Isokaze and HIJMS Kasumi; the destroyers HIJMS Suzutsuki, HIJMS Hatsushimo, HIJMS Yukikaze and HIJMS Suzutsuki are damaged.

Off Okinawa CV Hancock and BB Maryland are damaged in a Kamikaze attack.

Fleet units shoot down 54 kamikazes against the loss of 10 fighters. High speed minesweeper USS Emmons (DMS-22), irreparably damaged by five kamikazes the previous day, is scuttled by high speed minesweeper USS Ellyson (DMS-19); tank landing ship USS LST-447 sinks as the result of damage inflicted by kamikaze the previous day. Motor gunboat PGM-18 is sunk by mine; while picking up PGM-18's survivors, motor minesweeper YMS-103 is damaged by mine. Also off Okinawa, kamikazes damage carrier USS Hancock (CV-19) (a suicide plane cartwheeled across her flight deck and crashed into a group of planes while its bomb hit the port catapult to cause a tremendous explosion); battleship USS Maryland (BB-46) [a suicide plane loaded with a 500-pound (227 kg) bomb crashed the top of turret No. 3 from starboard at dusk]; destroyers USS Longshaw (DD-559), and USS Bennett (DD-473); destroyer escort USS Wesson (DE-184); and motor minesweeper YMS-81; a shore battery damages motor minesweeper YMS-427; tank landing ship USS LST-698 is damaged by grounding; tank landing ship USS LST-890 is damaged in collision with LST-788.

In addition, two destroyers, a destroyer escort, and a motor minesweeper are also damaged by kamikazes.

COMMONWEALTH OF THE PHILIPPINES: Far East Air Forces fighters fly 130+ sorties in support of ground forces at Solvec Cove, Villa Verde Trail, the Ipo and Marikina Rivers, and northeastern Laguna de Bay on Luzon. B-24s again bomb Bunawan on Mindanao Island while B-24s and P-38s hit Jolo Island.

24 Seventh Air Force B-24s from Angaur Island in the Palau Islands, bomb the barracks area at Bunawan on Mindanao Island.

EAST INDIES: Far East Air Forces B-24s bomb Bima Airfield on Sumbawa Island in the Lesser Sunda Islands.

FORMOSA: Due to bad weather north of the Philippines, Far East Air Forces B-24s and P-38s hit various targets of opportunity.

PACIFIC OCEAN: Japanese ship loses include light cruiser HIJMS Isuzu by submarines USS Gabilan (SS-252) and USS Charr (SS-328); an auxiliary submarine chaser by submarine USS Tirante (SS-420); a fleet tanker by aircraft; and a merchant cargo ship by mines laid by B-29s;

ATLANTIC OCEAN: The destroyer escort USS Gustafson (DE-182) sinks German submarine U-857 off Cape Cod, Massachusetts.

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