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1936:     FRANCE: The French government prepares a critique of the German peace proposals of 31 March and counters them with a plan of her own.  

SWITZERLAND: Britain presents a memorandum to the League Committee of Thirteen on the Italian use of poison gas against the Ethiopians. The League Committee of Thirteen appointed a committee of jurists to examine the protocols of 1925, said to have been violated by the Italians, to consider measures member states should tor violation, and to determine what organ was competent for deciding the question of violation.  

1938:     FRANCE: Premier Eduard Daladier forms a new French government.  

April 8th, 1939 (SATURDAY)

ALBANIA: One day after the Italians invade Albania, King Zog flees to Greece as Mussolini's troops seize Tiranë.

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April 8th, 1940 (MONDAY)

NORWEGIAN CAMPAIGN.

NORWAY: Early this morning the light cruiser Karlsruhe, the auxiliary Tsingtao and ten torpedo boats leave Germany for Kristiansund, and four mine sweepers head for Egersund, a terminal of the telephone and telegraph cable from England. Twenty eight submarines of the Kriegsmarine form a protective screen across the western approaches to Norway.

     During Operation WILFRED, Royal Navy destroyers lay a minefield, simulated and real, at three points off the Norwegian coast between Stadtlandet and Bodø located just north of the Arctic Circle.
The Norwegian government is notified by the British and French that mines have been laid in their territorial waters. The destroyers are covered by battlecruiser HMS Renown and other destroyers. One of the screen HMS Glowworm, a 'G' and 'H' class destroyer, is detached to search for a man overboard, just as the heavy cruiser Admiral Hipper heads into Trondheim. They meet to the northwest of the port and the destroyer is sunk at around 0900 hours about 140 miles (225 kilometres) northwest of Trondheim, but not before she rams and damages the Hipper.
Lieutenant Commander Gerard Broadmead Roope RN (b. 1905) is posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross (VC not gazetted until 1945, but the first deed for which the VC was awarded in the war). The Admiral Hipper picks up the survivors. At 1150 hours, the German transport SS Rio de Janeiro is sunk by the Polish submarine Orzel near the town of Lillesand and many German soldiers are rescued by Norwegian fishing boats. There is heavy loss of life, but Wehrmacht soldiers in full combat dress who reach shore in southern Norway, tell the Norwegians that they were on their way to Bergen to aid the Norwegians against the British. When the report of this sinking reaches Berlin, the naval staff assumed that the element of surprise had been lost and that the invasion fleet would now be meeting resistance at all points along the Norwegian coast, but within a few hours the German naval attaché in Oslo advises Berlin that there were reliable signs that the Norwegian Administration had not been alerted, and that the navy were showing no signs of expected imminent danger. Despite these and other indications, the Norwegian authorities only alert the coastal forces in the evening. The chief communication officer of the Norwegian Admiralty staff is spending the evening with other important guests at the home of the German Air attaché in Oslo, and is not called away until 2330 hours, and it is 0100 hours the following morning (9 April) before the Admiralty orders the activation of mines in the Oslo Fjord, but too late, as German ships had already entered the fjord. Also shortly after 0100 hours on 9 April, the Army Chief of Staff informs Lieutenant Colonel Nielsen, Chief of the General Staff Army Operations section, that fortresses at the mouth of the Oslo Fjord have been attacked, and to black out the city as a precaution; the lights go out in Oslo at 0158 hours on 9 April.   (Alex Gordon and Jack McKillop)
     The British naval forces at sea are of course alerted, but are not kept up to date with all the information available to London and are, therefore, deployed too far out to sea to hope for interceptions of a landing force. Instead they guard against a raid out toward the Atlantic thus missing a chance to stop the German invasion of Norway.
 

Oslo and Copenhagen: 23:00 hours. Himer and Pohlman brief their respective Ambassadors on the forthcoming invasions.

The startling events in Norway, for all intents, found the Royal Navy's Air Branch about as ill-placed as possible. The loss of HMS Courageous in September 1939 had left the Navy with six flight decks in commission. HMS Argus, the oldest and least serviceable, was operating out of Toulon, France as the Fleet's Deck Landing Training carrier. HMS Hermes, the next smallest in size and effectiveness, was stationed at Freetown to cover the South Atlantic trade routes. HMS Eagle was in dry-dock at Singapore undergoing an extensive refit to repair the damage sustained from an accidental explosion in her bomb ready room. HMS Furious, the oldest of the Fleet's fast carriers, having just completed a long refit at Devonport, was due to re-enter service momentarily. The Fleet's remaining two fast carriers had both just arrived at the new home of the Mediterranean Fleet, Alexandria, Egypt, intending to begin an extensive work-up period with their Torpedo-Spotter-Reconnaissance (TSR) squadrons. Finally, a seventh carrier, the first of the Fleet's new armoured carriers, HMS Illustrious, was fitting out at Devonport, scheduled to commission in late May. Thus, with the Fleet about to embark on the first naval campaign of the war, there was only one carrier, the navy's oldest, in home waters!

When it came to its aircraft, the Fleet was only a little better off. Despite steady expansion since September 1939, the Fleet Air Arm consisted of but twenty first-line squadrons: There were fourteen Torpedo-Spotter-Reconnaissance squadrons, thirteen (810, 812, 813, 814, 815, 816, 818, 819, 820, 821, 823, 824, and 825) each operating nine to twelve Fairey Swordfish and one (826) that had just received the first batch of the Fairey company's new Albacore, the Swordfish's planned replacement. The remaining six were fighter squadrons: four (800, 801, 803, and 806) operating a combination of Blackburn Skua II fighter-dive bombers and Blackburn Roc turret-fighters, and two (802 and 804) operating Gloster Sea Gladiator biplane fighters.

As fortune would have it, while nine of the TSR and one of the fighter squadrons were embarked on the overseas carriers, the remainder were actually in the UK, although all were not fully worked up. Both 816 and 818 Squadrons were at RNAS Campbeltown (near Greenock) with nine Swordfish TSRs each, ready to embark on HMS Furious when her refit was completed. 815 (Bircham Newton) and 819 Squadrons (Ford) were working up with the RAF's Coastal Command for ultimate deployment on HMS Illustrious. Finally, 826 was just beginning its working up Ford.

Three of the Fleet's fighter squadrons, 800 (six Skua IIs, three Rocs), 803 (nine Skua IIs, three Rocs), and 804 (twelve Sea Gladiators) had for some time been concentrated at RNAS Hatston (in the Orkney's) defending the Fleet anchorage at Scapa Flow. 801 Squadron (six Skua IIs, three Rocs), earmarked for HMS Furious, was at Evanton (Scotland) working up, while 806 Squadron (eight Skua IIs, four Rocs) was doing likewise at West Freugh in preparation for joining HMS Illustrious.

Unfortunately, the lack of available flight decks would, at least initially, limit these squadrons to operating from land bases. Tactically, this was a severe limitation as, other than the Skua fighter-dive bombers, none of the Fleet's combat aircraft had the range to reach Norway from any base in the UK. Further, while the Skuas could reach the Norwegian coast in the Bergen area, it was at the extreme limit of their range, leaving only a miniscule fuel reserve to get home on after any strike. Thus, the Fleet's ability to challenge the Luftwaffe over Norway would be greatly inhibited during the critical early phases of the invasion. (Mark Horan)

UNITED KINGDOM:  The troops embarking at Rosyth, Scotland, for the Anglo-French expedition to Narvik, Norway, are sent back onshore and their cruiser transports sail. In fact these troops could easily have reached their objectives before the German landings, or at least have been on hand for an attempt on Narvik early in the campaign.  
 

GERMANY: Below the Danish border Lieutenant General Leonhard Kaupisch, Commanding the XXXI Corps, musters his troop and a collection of armed icebreakers, minesweepers, merchant ships and prepares to invade Denmark tomorrow.

First operational sortie of the Focke-Wulf Fw 200 'Kondor', when aircraft of KGrzbV 105 serve as both transports and maritime reconnaissance.

MEDITERRANEAN SEA: RN carriers Ark Royal and Glorious arrive in the Eastern Mediterranean.

U.S.A.: Preliminary design studies for a very long range bomber are submitted by Boeing, Lockheed, Douglas and Consolidated.

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April 8th, 1941 (TUESDAY)

During the night of the 8th/9th, the Luftwaffe attacks Belfast, County Antrim, Northern Ireland, killing 13 and injuring 81. The Luftwaffe also bombs Coventry, Warwickshire, England, and the body of Christchurch church built in 1832 as a replacement for the medieval church is gutted by incendiaries. (Andy Etherington and Jack McKillop)

NORTH ATLANTIC OCEAN: AMC Rajputana is torpedoed and sunk by U-108 at 64 50N 27 25W whilst operating the Northern Patrol duty. There are 40 casualties, but 277 survivors are rescued by HMS Legion and taken to Iceland. (Alex Gordon)(108)

YUGOSLAVIA: Belgrade: Two nights of German air raids wreak havoc; estimates of dead range from 1,500 to 30,000 people.

The German 1st Panzer Group Kleist under General Ewald von Kleist captures Nis (or Nish) in Serbia and advances along the Morava Valley towards Belgrade. The Yugoslav Army in southern Serbia is retreating under enemy pressure and thereby exposing the left flank of the army   (Andy Etherington and Jack McKillop)

GREECE: Associated Press reports the Greeks holding firm at Rupel Pass, through which another German armoured column was trying to penetrate to the Struma River valley.

German armour advancing through the Dorian Gap pushes back the Greek 19th Division and the British 1st Armoured Brigade is sent to their aid. German units moving down the Axios Valley reach Kilkis late in the evening. The weather on the battlefield is terrible. Snow falls intermittently on the mountains and it is raining in the valleys and sometimes fog envelops the mountains and does not lift until 1000 hours. A force of Australian, British and New Zealand units under Major General Iven Mackay, General Officer Commanding 6th Australian Division, is formed to stop the German advance down the Florina Gap. General Thomas Blamey, General Officer Commanding I Australian Corps, is ordered to prepare for the defence of the Aliakmon line with the Australian 16th Brigade, Greek 12th Division and the New Zealand Division.   (Andy Etherington and Jack McKillop)
 

The 16th Australian Brigade is hurried forward to the Veria Pass where it begins to take up its positions. The brigade is astride a mountain road some 3000 feet above the sea and troops have to carry their gear, ammunition and rations either by hand or on the backs of donkeys. Snow and rain falls on the mountains and for shelter each platoon has a tent-fly which sags under the weight of the snow. (Anthony Staunton)

Athens:

The Greek High Command announced:

The Yugoslavia army in southern Serbia is retreating under enemy pressure and thereby exposing the left flank of our brave army. Nevertheless our soldiers are fighting with an incomparable spirit of sacrifice for every foot of the land of our ancestors.

LIBYA: The Italian Stefani News Agency reported:

Motorised German and Italian troops have recaptured the city of Derna.

Mechili falls to the German attacks in the morning and the Germans immediately begin to organize an advance to Tobruk.  

ERITREA: The Italians in the seaport of Massawa, the main Italian naval base in East Africa, surrender to British and French Foreign Legion troops. Of the 13,000 men defending the town, 3,000 have been killed and 5,000 wounded. The last Italian warship in East African waters, the torpedo boat Vincenzo Giordano Orsini, is scuttled by its crew prior to the British entering the town however, the Allies capture 17 large Axis merchant ships in the port along with many smaller military and civilian vessels. The 4th Indian Division, which has played a large part in the Allied campaign in Eritrea, is immediately prepared for shipping to Egypt where the Allied forces are under great pressure. The priority in the East African campaign is now to clear the road between Asmara and Addis Ababa and troops are being sent to this task from both ends of the road.  

The Italians had destroyed the workshops and had scuttled all ships in the harbour and the large floating dry-dock. The British were anxious to restore Massawa to operation as a working dockyard as it was geographically well-suited to support the RN in the Mediterranean, the current support then being conducted from South Africa, and had been a very modern and well-equipped facility. The British, however, lacked the resources to salvage the scuttled ships and to restore the port to operating condition.

The RN asked the USN for support. This was a political hot potato as the US was still at peace and rehabilitating a military base for use by a warring power seemed to be more than a bit of a challenge to the US claims to neutrality. The USN developed a team of salvage personnel to go to Massawa once the White House approved the move but a decision was deferred and was still pending on 7 DEC 1941. Following the Japanese strike against Pearl Harbor and the declaration of war on the US by Germany and Italy on 10 DEC, White House approval became a moot point but the team originally intended for Massawa was diverted to Pearl Harbor, along with almost all of the USN's salvage assets. (Andy Etherington, Marc James Small and Jack McKillop)

Before the final scuttling Italian MTB MAS213 torpedoes and damages cruiser HMS Capetown as she escorts a convoy off Massawa.

Four Italian submarines do manage to escape and eventually reach Bordeaux.

U.S.A.: An "Agreement relating to the defence of Greenland" is signed with the Danish minister to the U.S. This agreement includes Greenland in the U .S. system of cooperative hemispheric defence.  
 

The American Institute of Public Opinion (AIPO) asked a cross section of America the following question: "If it appeared certain that there was no other way to defeat Germany and Italy except for the United States to go to war against them, would you be in favour of the United States going into the war?" Yes - 68%, No - 24%, No opinion - 8%. (Will O'Neil) (135)

 

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April 8th, 1942 (WEDNESDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: Harry L Hopkins, Special Assistant to President Franklin D Roosevelt, and General George C Marshall, US Army Chief of Staff, arrive in London for talks with British service and supply chiefs concerning the integration of US and British manpower and war production for action in Europe. General Marshall urges an offensive in the west to relieve pressure upon the USSR and promises a constant flow of US troops, including many air units, to the UK.

NORTH SEA: Four RAF Bomber Command Bostons fly a sweep off the Dutch coast during the day without loss. A ship is bombed but not hit.  

FRANCE: During the night of the 8th/9th, seven of 13 RAF Bomber Command Wellingtons dispatched bomb the port area at Le Havre and one bombs the port area at Cherbourg.  

NETHERLANDS: Three RAF Bomber Command Blenheims attack Eindhoven, Haamstede, Leeuwarden and Schipol Airfields during the night of the 8th/9th.  

GERMANY: During the night of the 8th/9th, 272 RAF Bomber Command bombers (177 Wellingtons, 41 Hampdens, 22 Stirlings, 13 Manchesters, 12 Halifaxes and seven Lancasters) are dispatched to bomb the Blohm and Voss submarine shipyards at Hamburg. Icing and electrical storms are encountered and only 175 bombers hit the targets with the loss of four Wellingtons and a Manchester. Overall, the raid is a failure; 17 people are killed and 119 injured. Other targets bombed are: three bomb Heligoland, two bomb Emden and individual aircraft attack Cuxhaven, Norden and Bremen. Bremen reports a load of incendiaries dropped very accurately on the Vulkan shipyard where four U-boats and several surrounding buildings are damaged by fire.  
 

German and Italian aircraft bomb MALTA in what will be the heaviest raid of the war against this beleaguered outpost in the Mediterranean.

ARCTIC OCEAN: Soviet submarine "Sch-421" of the Polar fleet and White Sea Flotilla - damaged by a mine in 336 degrees out from the German post on Svirhold, close to Cape Nordcap. It was later sunk by a torpedo of K 22. It was all observed by the minesweeper M 35. (Torstein and Sergey Anisimov) (69)

INDIA:   A USAAF cargo plane makes the first flight over "The Hump," the 22,000-foot (6706 meters) high Himalayan mountain range that separates India and China. During the next four years, more than 650,000 tons (589 670 metric tonnes) of supplies will be flown over the Hump to Kunming, China. More than 450 planes will crash during the airlift, giving the route over the mountains the nickname "The Aluminium Trail."  
 

CHINA: The first supplies are flown in over "the Hump" - the Himalayas - from India.

BURMA: Pilots of the 1st and 3d Fighter Squadrons, American Volunteer Group (AVG, aka, “The Flying Tigers”) shoot down 12 Japanese fighters near Loiwing Airdrome in northern Burma during the afternoon.  

COMMONWEALTH OF THE PHILIPPINES: On Bataan, the II Corps disintegrates completely under sustained Japanese attacks from the ground and air. The Japanese soon discover gaps in the Alangan River line held by the U.S. 31st Infantry and 803d Engineer Battalion; the Philippine Scouts’ 57th Infantry, 26th Cavalry and 14th Engineer Battalion; and Philippine Constabulary troops, and stream southward at will. In a final effort to stem the enemy advance, the Provisional Coast Artillery Brigade (Antiaircraft), serving as infantrymen, forms a weak line just north of Cabcaben, but other units ordered to extend this line are unable to do so. Major General Edward King, Commanding General Luzon Force, decides to surrender his troops and orders equipment destroyed during the night of the 8th/9th. Of the 78,000 men of the Luzon Force, about 2,000 succeed in escaping to Corregidor Island in Manila Bay.  
     Submarine USS Seadragon (SS-194) delivers food to Corregidor, and evacuates the final increment of naval radio and communications intelligence people.        
    The air echelons of the 3d, 17th and 20th Pursuit Squadrons (Interceptor), 24th Pursuit Group (Interceptor), and the 21st and 34th Pursuit Squadrons (Interceptor), 35th Pursuit Group (Interceptor) based on Bataan begin operating from Del Monte Field on Mindanao with whatever aircraft are left.
 

EAST INDIES: Japanese forces landed and occupied, without a fight, the town of Djailolo on Halmahera Island.

TERRITORY OF HAWAII: At 1200 hours, the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise (CV-6), with the heavy cruisers USS Salt Lake City (CA-25) and Northampton (CA-26), four destroyers, and the oiler USS Sabine (AO-25), sortie from Pearl Harbor to rendezvous with the aircraft carrier USS Hornet (CV-8) which is carrying USAAF B-25s to attack Japan.  

U.S.A.: The USAAF’s V Air Support Command, which was activated on 1 September 1941 to support the Armored Force, is redesignated 9th Air Force with headquarters at New Orleans AAB, Louisiana.  
     The War Production Board accelerated the transformation of the nation's economy by ordering a halt to all production that was not deemed necessary to the war. The War Production Board's mandate quickly took hold; at the peak of the war, the military utilized nearly half of the nation's production and services. Far from causing fiscal woe, World War II proved to be a great boon to the economy: unemployment, which had climbed up to 14 percent in 1940, all but evaporated, while the gross national product doubled by the close of the war.  

Harry L Hopkins, Special Assistant to President Franklin D Roosevelt, and General George C Marshall, Chief of Staff, U.S. Army, arrive in London, England, for talks with British service and supply chiefs concerning the integration of U.S. and British manpower and war production for action in Europe. General Marshall urges an offensive in the west to relieve pressure upon the U.S.S.R. and promises a constant flow of U.S. troops, including many air units, to the U.K.  

ATLANTIC OCEAN: Three unarmed U.S. merchant tankers are torpedoed by German submarines off the East Coast of the U.S.: (1) U-160 attacks a ship bound from Corpus Christi, Texas, to New York City, about 65 miles (105 kilometres) southeast of Beaufort, South Carolina, but she manages to reach Hampton Roads, Virginia, under her own power. One man of her 33-man crew is lost in the attack. (2) U-123 sinks the second ship, which is en route from Port Arthur, Texas, to Providence, Rhode Island, about 53 miles (85 kilometres) east of Brunswick, Georgia. (3) U-123 then proceeds to sink the third ship about 85 miles (137 kilometres) east of Brunswick, Georgia.  

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April 8th, 1943 (THURSDAY)

TUNISIA: Axis forces continue their withdrawal towards Enfidaville. 

Ninth Air Force P-40s fly 29 bomber escort, armed reconnaissance, and fighter-bomber missions against retreating column along coast north of Gabes.

Northwest African Air Force P-40s and Spitfires fly sweeps and armed reconnaissance over the Faid Pass-Fondouk el Aouareb-Kairouan-Ousseltia area as the British X Corps attacks Fondouk.

Other fighters fly widespread reconnaissance and sweeps, attacking motor transport south of Zaghouan. Western Desert Air Force fighters hit retreating columns in the Cekhira-Sfax area.

CHINA: 10 Fourteenth Air Force P-40s strafe Ft Bayard Airfield.

BURMA: 9 Tenth Air Force B-25 Mitchells bomb Meiktila Airfield; 6 B-24s attack the airfield at Heho; and 4 P-40s and a B-25 strafe an enemy dump at Ningam.

NEW GUINEA: Fifth Air Force B-17 and B-24s bomb Finschhafen.

SOLOMON ISLANDS: The oiler USS Kanawha (AO-1), damaged by Japanese dive bombers yesterday, and beached off Tulagi by tugs USS Rail (AT-139) and USS Menominee (AT-73), sinks before daybreak.  

BISMARCK ARCHIPELAGO: Fifth Air Force B-17 Flying Fortresses and B-24 Liberators carry out small harassing raids on Ulamoa and Kavieng Airdrome on New Ireland Island.

TERRITORY OF ALASKA: ALEUTIAN ISLANDS: The Eleventh Air Force weather aircraft scouts Kiska and islands west of it with negative results.

U.S.A.: President Roosevelt orders certain wage and price controls in his effort to combat inflation. His order also restricts the ability of some workers to change jobs.

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April 8th, 1944 (SATURDAY)

GERMANY: US aircraft bomb the Volkswagen plant at Fallersleben, near Hanover.

The Eighth Air Force flies Mission 291: 3 separate forces, a total of 664 bombers divided into 13 combat wings, escorted by 780 fighters, are dispatched against airfields in north-western Germany and aircraft factories in the Brunswick area; 34 bombers and 23 fighters are lost.

- 59 B-17s hit Oldenburg Airfield.

- 83 B-17s hit Quakenbruck Airfield, 60 hit Achmer Airfield, 41 hit Rheine Airfield, 22 hit Twente Enschede, 21 hit Hesepe, 19 hit Handorf and 3 hit targets of opportunity; 4 B-17s are lost.

- 190 B-24s bomb aviation industry targets in Brunswick, 59 hit Rosslingen, 48 hit Langenhagen Airfield and 6 hit targets of opportunity;  they claim 58-9-32 Luftwaffe aircraft; 30 B-24s are lost

Escort is provided by 136 P-38 Lightnings, 438 Eighth and Ninth Air

Force P-47 and 206 Eighth and Ninth Air Force P-51 Mustangs; the fighters claim 88-3-46 Luftwaffe aircraft in the air and 49-6-38 on the ground: 5 P-38s, 4 P-47s and 14 P-51s are lost.

The Arado 234 V6 four jet-engined bomber makes its first flight. It is powered by four 800kg thrust BMW 003A-1 turbojets in four separate nacelles. (21)

BELGIUM: The Eighth Air Force flies Mission 292: 5 B-17s drop 1 million leaflets on Liege, Brussels, Ghent, Antwerp, and Mont-sur-Sombre, Belgium at 2215-2227 hours without loss.

198 Ninth Air Force B-26 Marauders attack Hasselt marshalling yard and hit Coxyde Airfield; and 32 P-47 Thunderbolts bomb the area around Hasselt.

ITALY: Twelfth Air Force medium bombers attack a bridge northwest of Orte while A-20 Havocs successfully attack supply stores; fighter-bombers hit several bridges, motor transport, and supply dumps in central Italy, and bomb railroad tracks at Sesti Bagni and Maccarese.

CHINA: Japan bombs Honan province.

BURMA: Air Commando Combat Mission N0. 40 2:50 Flight Time Hailakandi, Assam to Malu, Burma. Bombed Japanese troop area (Chuck Baisden)

Nearly 100 Tenth Air Force fighter-bombers and 2 B-25s again pound Mogaung Valley targets, including Manywet, storage areas and railroad at Mogaung, positions at Shaduzup and general targets of opportunity around Kamaing; 4 B-25s damage a bridge and track at Sittang.

INDIA: L/Cpl John Pennington Harman (b.1914), Royal West Kent Regt, destroyed a machine-gun post and, next day, wiped out another Japanese position before being fatally wounded. (Victoria Cross)

Four C-47 Skytrain squadrons of the 64th Troop Carrier Group based in Italy arrive in India to support the emergency resupply of the British Army's besieged garrison at Imphal.

ROMANIA: Konev's Soviet troops reach the River Siret on a 60 mile front.

U.S.S.R.: Moscow: A 324-gun salute marks the First Ukrainian Front reaching Czechoslovakia and Romania.

Russia launches a major Crimean offensive. 

The 17th Army (a mix of Germans and Romanians) in Fortress Crimea are mostly wiped out, the survivors retreating back to Sevastopol. (Gene Hanson)

Moscow: Mr. Molotov, the Soviet foreign minister, announced today that the Red Army has crossed the river Prut into Romania at several points and will pursue the Romanian and German armies into Romania until "their rout and complete capitulation". The first crossings were made on 2 April. The fact that the news was given by Molotov rather than by a general indicates the political implications of the advance. According to the official statement it is "the first step in the restoration of the frontier established by the Treaty of 1940 which Romania broke by her treacherous attack in 1941 in the wake of Hitlerite Germany".

"At the same time," said Molotov, "the Soviet government declares that the entry into Romania is dictated solely by military necessity, and is in no way aimed at the integrity of Romanian territory or the existing social order." Meanwhile, the Red Army is advancing on Jassy, the Romanian army's headquarters.

CHINA: 6 Fourteen Air Force B-25s damage several small ships in Yulinkan Bay; 2 others strafe an airfield on Weichow Island; 8 P-40s pound oil dumps at Wanling, leaving the target area in flames. 9 B-24s bomb the airfield on Samah Bay, Hainan Island; 4 others lay mines in the bay.

FRENCH INDOCHINA: 11 Fourteenth Air Force B-24s bomb railroad yards at  Hanoi.

NEW GUINEA: Fifth Air Force P-40s attack targets of opportunity in the Aitape-Wewak area; and A-20s hit targets in the Hansa Bay area, firing a fuel dump and destroying several warehouses and other buildings at 3 plantations and strafing and bombing roads and bridges along the coast.

BISMARCK ARCHIPELAGO: During the night of 7/8 April, 6 Thirteenth Air Force B-25s heckle the Kavieng Airfield area on New Ireland Island. On New Britain Island, 50+ fighter-bombers hit the northeastern section of Rabaul and 24 B-25s bomb the centre of Lakunai Airfield.

CAROLINE ISLANDS: Seventh Air Force B-24s flying out of Kwajalein Atoll, strike Truk Atoll while Abemama Island-based B-25s bomb Ponape Island.

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

PACIFIC OCEAN: The submarine USS Seahorse (SS-304) attacks a Japanese convoy 7 miles (11 km) off Guam, torpedoing an ammunition ship; the explosion in turn damages destroyer HIJMS Asakaze. The crippled ammunition ship, burning, drifts ashore and explodes and sinks the next day.

SOLOMON ISLANDS: 4 Thirteenth Air Force B-24s again bomb Monoitu Mission on Bougainville Island.

U.S.A.: The Pied Pipers' record of "Mairzy Doats" makes it to the Billboard Pop Singles chart. This is their first single to make the charts and it stays there for 1 week reaching Number 8.

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April 8th, 1945 (SUNDAY)

GERMANY: The US 7th Army captures Schweinfürt.

Patton's troops discover art treasures and the entire Reichsbank gold reserves, hidden in a salt mine near Mulhausen.

The US Eighth Air Force flies Mission 932: 1,173 bombers and 794 fighters attack various targets in Germany; 9 bombers and 1 fighter are lost.

- 31 B-17s bomb the Derben oil depot and 73 attack Schafstadt Airfield; 213 bomb the Halberstadt marshalling yard while 73 attack the Stendal marshalling yard; Derben is hit visually and the others targets visually and with H2X radar; 4 B-17s are lost. Escorting are 239 P-51s. 

- 86 B-17s hit the marshalling yards at Plauen, 101 hit the marshalling yards at Hof, 111 bomb the marshalling yard at Eger and 203 attack an ordnance depot at Grafenwohr; the attacks are made visually and with H2X radar; 5 B-17s are lost. Escort is provided by 235 P-51s.

- 51 B-24s attack the munitions depot at Bayreuth, 89 bomb the Blumenthal jet aircraft factory at Furth while 57 bomb Unterschlauersbach Airfield and 91 hit Roth Airfield. The escort is 245 P-47s and P-51s; 1 P-47 is lost. 

Around 620 Ninth Air Force A-20s, A-26 Invaders, and B-26 Marauders bomb the Munchenbernsdorf oil storage depot, the Sonderhausen communications center, Nienhagen oil refinery, Celle marshalling yard, and 8 city areas; fighters escort the bombers, attack an airfield, fly patrols and armed reconnaissance, and operate in conjunction with the US VIII, XII, and XX Corps in the Thuringer Forest and Erfurt areas.

Fifteenth Air Force P-38s bomb the Garmisch railroad bridge and strafe rail traffic in the Munich, area.

AUSTRIA: Fifteenth Air Force P-38s bomb the Rattenberg railroad bridge and strafe rail traffic in the Salzburg and Linz areas.

ITALY: Maj. Anders Frederick Emil Victor Schau Lassen (b.1920), General List (SAS), a Dane, led a patrol which wiped out three German positions on a lake. Mortally wounded, he died next day. (Victoria Cross)

During the night of 7/8 April, US Twelfth Air Force A-20s and A-26s hit command posts and dumps; medium bombers, despite bad weather bomb railroad bridges at Salorno, San Michele all' Adige, Vo Sinistro, and Bondeno, a railroad fill and canal at Salorno, and gun positions at La Spezia; XXII Tactical Air Command fighter-bombers concentrate their efforts on the Brenner area communications (cutting lines in 31 places and damaging 4 bridges), oil fields in the central Po Valley, and points further north. 

500+ Fifteenth Air Force B-24s and B-17s, with fighter escorts, attack communications in northern Italy, concentrating on the transportation system feeding into the Brenner Pass; bridges, viaducts, and marshalling yards are hit at or near Bressanone, Campodazzo, Vipiteno, Fortezza, Campo di Trens, Mezzocorona, Avisio, Brescia, Gorizia, Pordenone, and Ponte Gardena; a power dam at Ponte Gardena is also hit.  

BURMA:The British IV Corps and XXXIII Corps begin a rapid motorized advance down the Sittang and Irrawaddy valleys.

50+ Tenth Air Force P-38s and P-47s operating in central Burma battle areas attack troops, supplies, gun positions, and trucks at several points along and behind enemy lines, and sweep roads south of bomb line; transports maintain operations throughout the day.

CHINA: 31 Fourteenth Air Force P-51s knock out a bridge south of Shaoyang, destroy a section of track at Sincheng, and hit numerous road and rail targets of opportunity in the Yellow River areas and points to the south, from Shanhsien to Loning, at Hungtung, and south of Hei-Shih Kuan; 4 B-24s attack shipping targets of opportunity in the South China Sea and in Bakli Bay on Hainan Island and Yulin Bay, China and bomb Kowloon Docks in Hong Kong. Mines laid by USAAF planes sink a Japanese cargo ship in the Yangtze, near Shanghai, and damage escort destroyer HIJMS Habushi 10 miles (16 km) below Woosung.

The Japanese Army initiates a ground offensive against Paoching. The purpose is to drive 80 miles (129 km) into Hunan Province and capture Chichiang Airfield. This turns out to be the last Japanese offensive in China.

FORMOSA: For the second consecutive day bad weather prevents aerial attacks on the primary targets north of the Philippine Islands. Fifth Air Force B-24s and B-25s hit secondary targets including Chomosui Airfield in the Pescadores Islands, and on Formosa, Tainan town and railroad yards, the towns of Takao, Toko, and Kaiko, and other scattered objectives.

JAPAN: The XXI Bomber Command flies 2 missions against airfields on Kyushu from which Kamikaze attacks are originating. (1) Mission 60: 29 B-29 Superfortresses strike 2 airfields at Kanoya. (2) Mission 61: 48 B-29s attack the airfield at Kokubu; 1 B-29 is lost.

OKINAWA: The destroyer USS Charles J. Badger (DD-657) is damaged by an assault demolition boat; the destroyer USS Gregory (DD-802) is damaged by kamikaze; motor minesweeper YMS-92 is damaged by a mine; tank landing ship USS LST-939 is damaged in collision with tank landing ship USS LST-268; tank landing ship USS LST-940 is damaged by grounding.

The aircraft carriers USS Enterprise (CV-6) and USS Randolph (CV-15) arrive off Okinawa from Utithi Atoll during the night of 7/8 April and Task Force 58 is reorganized with the following 15 aircraft carriers:

Task Group 58.1

USS Belleau Wood (CVL-24) with Light Carrier Air Group 30 (CVLG-30)

USS Bennington (CV-20) with Carrier Air Group 82 (CVG-82)

USS Hornet (CV-12) with CVG-17

Task Group 58.2

USS Enterprise (CV-6) with Night Carrier Air Group 90 [CVG(N)-90]

USS Randolph (CV-15) with CVG-12

USS Jacinto (CVL-30) with CVLG-45

USS Wasp (CV-18) with CVG-86

Task Group 58.3

USS Bataan (CVL-29) with CVLG

USS Bunker Hill (CV-17) with CVG-84

USS Cabot (CVL-28) with CVLG-29

USS Essex (CV-9) with CVG-83

Task Group 58.4

USS Independence (CVL-22) with CVLG-46

USS Intrepid (CV-11) with CVG-10

USS Langley (CVL-27) with CVLG-23

USS Yorktown (CV-10) with CVG-9

BONIN ISLANDS: During the night of 8/9 April, 6 VII Fighter Command P-61 Black Widows from Iwo Jima Island, operating singly at 2-hour intervals, bomb Chichi Jima, Haha Jima, Ani Jima, and Ototo Jima Islands.

COMMONWEALTH OF THE PHILIPPINES: 25 Seventh Air Force B-24s from Angaur Island, Palau Island, bomb the Bunawan area on Mindanao Island.

Far East Air Force A-20s and fighter-bombers over Luzon support ground forces particularly in the areas east of Manila. B-24s join A-20s and fighter-bombers in support of ground forces on Cebu and Negros Islands. 

Other B-24s bomb the north Davao Bay area on Mindanao and Jolo Island.

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