12 April 1939

April 12th, 1939 (WEDNESDAY)

GERMANY: The Lippisch design team conceive an interceptor based around the first available data for the turbojet engine.

ALBANIA: The Albanian throne is offered to the king of Italy.

ROMANIA: The prototype IAR-80 fighter makes its first flight.

U.S.A.: The destroyer USS Wilson is launched at Puget Sound Naval Yard.

12 April 1940

April 12th, 1940 (FRIDAY)

FRANCE: The entire Allied army in France is put on general alert, and all units have to be on six hours notice to move.

NORWEGIAN CAMPAIGN:

(Mark Horan adds): Hipper departed Trondheim prior to the 11 April attack, had joined the battleships. They were discovered off Stavanger by RAF search planes, and some 90 RAF bombers were dispatched to attack them, but the weather was such that not one bomber spotted the trio. However, the Fleet Air Arm was in action elsewhere this day..

After the highly successful attack on Bergen on the 10th, the ACOS Hatston, Acting Captain C. L. Howe, RN decided that another attack on the port was in order. The previous day 801 Squadron had arrived from Evanton, sizably increasing the number of Skuas available for the strike. First, in the largest attack of the war to date, twenty Skua fighter-dive-bombers of 803 (8 - 1 other struck for mechanical failure), 800 (6), and 801 (6) Squadrons departed RNAS Hatston at 1430 to attack shipping at Bergen Harbour. The Squadrons formed three waves, each 15 minutes apart.

The first consisted of seven 803 Squadron aircraft led the OC and strike commander Lt. W. P. Lucy, RN. Next came the six aircraft of 800 Squadron, again led by their OC, Captain R. T. Partridge, RM. Last came the seven 801 Squadron aircraft under their OC, Lieutenant-Commander Hugh Peter Bramwell, RN. Takeoff began at 1405, and the entire force departed at 1430. Each aircraft was armed with a single 500 lb. SAP bomb.

The squadrons approached the target at 5,000 feet, the altitude of the cloud base. 803 Squadron pushed over at 1615, 800 and 801 following at 15 minute intervals. The mean altitude of release was 2,000'. By all accounts the harbour was full of shipping, and the squadrons executed individual sections attacks on various targets. Unfortunately, probably due to the short dives, no practical results were obtained beyond some near misses and a thorough strafing of schnellboote S-24.

One Skua from 803 Squadron, L3037:A8Q was hit by Flak during the withdrawal and forced to land about 150 yards off shore some 10 miles West of Bergen in Kors Fjord. The aircrew, Acting Petty Officer Airman J. A. Gardner RN (P) and Naval Airman first class A. Todd, RN (AG) reached Norwegian Forces, and was ultimately picked up and returned to England by and RAF Coastal Command flying boat on 27 April. The other 19 aircraft returned safely.

Meanwhile, now operating off Narvik, in Vestfjord, where they arrived at 0500, in co-operation with other Royal Navy forces there preparing to attack the German destroyer flotilla in the Fjords. At 1545, with plans well underway for a dive bombing attack on the German warships trapped at Narvik, HMS Furious was detached to join the Battlecruiser squadron stationed further off shore. At 1615, the first range, eight Swordfish of 818 Squadron led by the OC, Lieutenant-Commander P. G. O. Sydney-Turner, RN, began taking off. The nine Swordfish of 816 Squadron, led by OC Lieutenant-Commander G. B. Hodgkinson, RN, followed at 1655. Each aircraft was armed with 4 x 250lb. GP bombs and 8 x 20lb Cooper bombs.

The weather was miserable, with 10/10 cloud at 1,500ft over the ship, though as 818 Squadron approached Narvik, the cloud base suddenly increased to 2,800 feet leaving the aircraft exposed during their approach. The three sub-flights attacked independently in the face of extremely intense and accurate Flak, targeting two of five destroyers sighted as well as the ore quay. Although one Swordfish was unable to release its bombs, the others claimed three 250 lb. and one 20 lb. hits. In the event, Erich Koellner (Z-13) was hit once, Erich Giese (Z-12) received splinter damage, and three small Norwegian craft, including the fishery protection vessel Senja, were sunk. Additionally, in all the confusion, the Dutch steamer Bernisse (951 BRT) scuttled herself. Six of the attacking planes were hit, three seriously. U3L, missing its port wingtip and aileron, half the starboard elevator and the bottom of the rudder, with virtually the entire instrument panel wrecked, and with both aircrew wounded, opted to make a water landing alongside HMS Grenade, which quickly picked up both Sub-Lieutenant(A) S. G. J. Appleby, RN (P) and Leading Airman E. Tapping, RN (AG). Meanwhile, U3A, with its petrol tank holed, managed to make it to the task force before force-landing alongside HMS Punjabi who quickly gathered in all three aircrew, Lieutenant-Commander P. G. O. Sydney-Turner, RN (P), Lieutenant W. B. Kellett, RN (O), and Petty Officer W. H. Dillnutt, RN (AG). The third Swordfish, U3K, having lost its port landing gear, remained aloft until all the other aircraft were down before executing a superb night landing.

Meanwhile, 816 Squadron, took its departure at 1712. At 1808 they passed the returning survivors of 818 Squadron, but immediately afterward a sudden snow squall dropped visibility to virtually nil. By 1827 Hodgkinson gave up and turned for home, arriving at 2205 in pitch darkness. In the ensuing night landings, Swordfish U4L:K6002 missed the arrestor wires, catapulted overboard, and landed upside down in the Arctic waters. In what can only be called a miracle both aircrew, Lieutenant(A) M. D. Donati, RN (P) and Leading Airman F. A. J. Smith, RN (AG) scrambled clear to be rescued by HMS Hero after 45 minutes in the frigid water with only their life vests for support, the raft having gone down with the plane. There were, to say the least, very lucky!

MEDITERRANEAN SEA: HMS Ark Royal and HMS Glorious, in company with the destroyers HMAS Stuart, HMS Bulldog, HMS Westcott and HMS Wishard are en-route to Gibraltar.

U.S.A.: The motion picture "Johnny Apollo" is released. Directed by Henry Hathaway, this crime drama stars Tyrone Power, Dorothy Lamour, Edward Arnold and Lloyd Nolan.

12 April 1941

April 12th, 1941 (SATURDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: RAF Bomber Command: 2 Group: During a raid on Flushing Docks, Holland, three Blenheims are caught by two Bf109s and an air gunner is killed.

Operations Order 27 expands the anti-shipping campaign from Bordeaux to Norway.

Bristol: In his role as Chancellor of Bristol University, Churchill confers an honorary degree on Mr. Winant, the US ambassador, Dr J.B. Conant of Harvard and Robert Menzies, Prime Minister of Australia. Many of the academics are still covered in the grime from fighting the previous nights air raid.

GERMANY: Daily Keynote from the Reich Press Chief:

The Minister has ordered that the music of the grand Prince Eugen Fanfare and the German national anthem should no longer be played every time a special announcement is made, because then we would have no way left to intensify [the people's mood]. He has reminded us that our broadcast for the ceasefire with France moved the people most profoundly, precisely because [the music played] was unique. Thus the grand Prince Eugen Fanfare and the German national anthem must be played only two or three times throughout the whole Balkan campaign.

Russ Folsom adds: The march was composed in 1853 by Andreas Leonhardt inspired by a much earlier melody, (c.1717), the "Prinz Eugen Lied", which was the traditionsmarch of the k.u.k. Dragoon regiment NR. 13 "Prinz Eugen von Savoy." (See here for PrinzEugenmarsch.mp3.)

NORWAY: Hammerfest: A British raiding party on a Norwegian destroyer attacks a fish-oil factory.

U.S.S.R.: Moscow: Stalin has now issued a secret directive for the strengthening of the western frontier fortified zones. Some 150,000 construction workers have been drafted in, but work is held up by shortages of such materials as timber and cement.

BALKANS: Croatia is proclaimed as a sovereign state, with Ante Pavelich as head of the puppet Axis state.

GREECE: The British and Imperial forces, deployed along the rugged terrain from the Gulf of Salonika to Edhessa in the Vermion mountains, have been pulled back to Mount Olympus, the next defensible line, some hundred kilometres to the south. The Allied C-in-C, General Sir Henry Maitland Wilson, decided he had no other choice when he learnt that the Germans were pouring into Greece through the Monastir Gap and Yugoslav resistance was crumbling.

The 53,000 strong British and Imperial forces have had little or no time to prepare their defences, and their strength is insufficient to organize a defence in depth. If the Germans are not stopped at Monastir they will soon be turning the British left flank.

At Vevi the Germans thrust back the Rangers but the Royal Horse Artillery and Australian anti-tank gunners held back German infantry and tanks. By dusk German tanks were among the forward posts of the 2/8th and it was out of touch with Brigade Headquarters. It withdrew but the men reached the vehicles further south and on the west the 2/4th withdrew except for a company which walked into the German lines and was captured. After two successful rearguard actions by the armoured brigade the force was extricated and the infantry reached the Olympus-Aliakmon Line.

With the Australian and New Zealand units fighting side by side, Blamey as commander of 1 Australian Corps, renames it the Anzac Corps. (Anthony Staunton)

The Luftwaffe carry out a heavy raid on Kozani behind the position of the Amynteion Detachment. There was virtually no opposition to the raiding aircraft and the town was severely damaged.

The Greek Albanian forces in the Northern sector begin their withdrawal from Albania today, 6 days after the initial German thrust into north-eastern Greece. Steve Stathros' grandfather's unit pulls out of Beragozhde (Pragosda) blowing up the road behind them to slow the Italians. The Italians, in fact, do not respond to the Greek withdrawal by advancing themselves until the following day. (Steve Stathros)

YUGOSLAVIA: Yugoslavian Headquarters announced:

In the northern sector, the superior enemy forces have crossed through Drvar (Yugoslavia) and reached the Save river; they have also occupied Kragujevac. German troops have marched into Zagreb unopposed by our troops.

NORTH AFRICA: Bardia falls to the Germans.

U.S.A.: Washington: the United States has decided to establish air and naval bases in Greenland, under an agreement concluded here yesterday between Henrik Kauffman, the Danish minister, and the US secretary of state, Cordell Hull. Kauffman has been disowned by Danish leaders in Nazi-occupied Copenhagen, but he said he was acting in the name of the Danish king. In terms of war, if not law, it will ease the ferrying of aircraft to Britain and enable the US Navy to patrol further eastwards to protect Allied convoys.

The code name for Greenland was BLUIE. Bases on the west coast of Greenland were coded "Bluie West numeric," e.g., Bluie West 1, or BW-1, was Narsarssuak while BW-8 was Sondre Stromfjord. BW-1 was located about half way between Goose Bay, Labrador and Reykjavik, Iceland making it an ideal emergency field. BW-8 was planned as a backup but the flying weather proved to be better through BW-8 and across the Greenland ice cap.

The Army Airways Communication System (AACS) had stations in operation at both of these bases on 7 December 1941; the USAAF's Airways and Air Communications System (AACS) still had the two stations in operation when I was in Iceland in 1956-57.

Bases on the east coast of Greenland were coded Bluie East numeric. The USAAF could not find a suitable site on the east coast and never built a landing field there. I know that US military installations existed on the east coast but I am not familiar with them; they may have been US Coast Guard weather stations.

The CBS radio show "The Life of Riley" commences its run.

12 April 1942

April 12th, 1942 (SUNDAY)

INDIA: The Congress Party leader, Pandit Nehru, promises no surrender and full resistance to the Axis, despite the rejection of Stafford Cripp's plea for greater Indian military co-operation in exchange for independence after the war.

BURMA: American Volunteer Group P-40s attack Toungoo Airfield and destroy 3 Japanese bombers.

COMMONWEALTH OF THE PHILIPPINES: Australia-based USAAF B-25s, staging through Mindanao Island, hit the harbour and shipping at Cebu, Cebu Island while B-17s carry out single-bomber strikes from Mindanao against Cebu harbour and Nichols Field on Luzon.

Motor torpedo boat PT-35, undergoing repairs on the marine railway at the Cebu Shipyard and Engineering Works, is destroyed by crew as the Japanese capture Cebu Island.

U.S.A.: Lieutenant General Henry H "Hap" Arnold, Commanding General USAAF, sends air plans for Operation BOLERO, the build-up of US armed forces in the UK for an attack on Europe, to General George C Marshall, Chief of Staff US Army, in London. The plan calls for establishment of the 8th Air Force in the UK.

ATLANTIC OCEAN: German submarines sink 4 merchant vessels:

- Armed U.S. freighter SS Delvalle, en route from New Orleans, Louisiana to Buenos Aires, Argentina, via St. Thomas, Virgin Islands, is torpedoed and sunk by U-154 south of Haiti.

- Armed Panamanian motor tanker MT Stanvac Melbourne is torpedoed by U-203 about 15 miles (24 km) off Frying Pan Shoals, North Carolina.

- Unarmed U.S. tanker SS Esso Boston, en route from Venezuela to Nova Scotia, is torpedoed and shelled by U-130 northeast of Puerto Rico.

- Unarmed U.S. freighter SS Leslie is torpedoed and sunk by German submarine U-123 approximately 3 miles (4,8 km) southeast of Hetzel Shoals Gas Buoy, Florida.

12 April 1943

April 12th, 1943 (MONDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: Westminster: Sir Kingsley Wood, the chancellor of the exchequer, turned the tax screw more tightly on Britain in a budget which will raise an extra £100 million without altering income tax. Beer, spirits, tobacco and entertainment will all cost more - beer 1/3 a pint, whisky £1/5/6 a bottle, wine and extra 1/- a bottle, and cigarettes 2/4 for 20. Entertainment tax will increase the price of 1/6 cinema tickets to 1/9 and add 1/- to the cost of a stall in West End theatres.

Purchase tax is removed from all utility cloth and textiles, including towels, furnishings, linen and handkerchiefs. But on all luxury goods, such as fur coats, silk dresses or fabrics, leather bags and suitcases, gramophone records and musical instruments, gold and silver watches and clocks, cosmetics, perfume and jewellery (real or imitation), the tax is increased to an unprecedented 100%.

The cost of the war is estimated this year at £5,756 million, of which half will be raised in tax amounting to 2,900 million. National Savings bring in £30 million a week, making a total of £4,600 million saved by the end of last year.

A Board of 5 officers of the US Eighth Air Force and 1 of the Royal Air Force complete formulation of a plan for the Combined Bomber Offensive (CBO) from the United Kingdom in accordance with the mission prescribed by the Combined Chiefs of Staff (CCS) in the Casablanca Directive.

ITALY: Ninth Air Force B-24s sent to attack Naples harbour, are prevented by bad weather from bombing the primary target. About half return without bombing while the others hit Cosenza and Crotone. Other heavy bombers of the same group, in a subsequent mission, bomb Naples and the secondary target of Pizzo.

SICILY: RAF Liberators, under operational control of the US IX Bomber Command, are dispatched against Palermo. The primary target is attacked, in spite of total cloud cover, but most of bomb tonnage is dropped in Messina, Italy harbour. Northwest African Strategic Air Force (NASAF) B-17s bomb the harbour at Trapani and hit shipping in the Straits of Sicily.

POLAND: The Germans announce the discovery of mass graves at the Katyn Forest containing 4,100 Polish Officers.

Rastenburg: Hitler, perhaps unwittingly, signs an order making Martin Bormann his secretary.

U.S.S.R.: Moscow: Stalin writes to Churchill that he is delighted by the damage done to German industrial centres.

TUNISIA: Sousse falls to the Allies.
NASAF B-17s bomb the harbour at Bizerte. Northwest African Tactical Air Force (NATAF) B-25s and A-20s bomb airfields at Oudna and Sainte-Made du Zit; other tactical aircraft hit enemy movements and fly sweep and reconnaissance throughout NE Tunisia following the attack during the night of 11/12 Apr by British aircraft, mainly in the Enfidaville, Zaghouan, and Bou Ficha areas.

LIBYA: Sahara Desert: An air-sea rescue operation is being mounted from the US air base at Benghazi to scour the Mediterranean for survivors from a crashed Liberator. The eight surviving crew members are making a desperate attempt to walk home in the blazing heat of the Sahara desert. A simple, yet tragic, navigational error seems likely to cost the lives of the crew of Lady be Good.

Leaving markers along their trail, the crew are dying off day by day as they head north. Their water has run out. Their captain has written in his diary: "Still praying, eyes bad, lost all our wgt [sic], aching all over."

BURMA: 9 Tenth Air Force B-25s hit the airfield at Magwe while P-40s bomb and strafe the ammunition and supply dump at Walawbum. Fourteenth Air Force P-40s based in China strafe more than 20 vehicles 25 mi (40 km) E of Loiwing.

SOLOMON ISLANDS: Single Thirteenth Air Force B-24s continue snooper strikes, hitting Kahili Airfield on Bougainville twice during the evening.

BISMARCK ARCHIPELAGO: Fifth Air Force B-24s and B-17 pound the airfields at Rabaul and Gasmata, shipping in the Saint George Channel, and targets of opportunity in the Ubili and Talasea areas.

NEW GUINEA: Fifth Air Force B-24s and B-17s hit shipping in Hansa Bay, the airfields at Lae and Nubia and Bogia harbour. B-24's, operating individually, attack several targets, scoring hits on the Madang dock area and at Toeal.

Japanese aircraft, 43 Mitsubishi G4M, Navy Type 1 Attack Bombers (Allied Code Name "Betty") escorted by 131 fighters, attack Port Moresby.

The bombing destroyers 3 B-25s, an RAAF Beaufighter and several fuel dumps as well as the runways of 3 airfields. Fifth Air Force pilots shoot down 17 "Betty" bombers and 10 fighters; 2 P-39Airacobras are shot down.

PACIFIC OCEAN: Submarine USS Flying Fish (SS-229) sinks a Japanese merchant cargo ship at the eastern entrance to Tsugaru Strait, just off Shiriyazaki, northern Honshu.

TERRITORY OF ALASKA: ALEUTIAN ISLANDS: 3 B-25s, 24 P-40s, and 13 P-38s of the US Eleventh Air Force fly 7 missions to Kiska Island. The fighters also strafe Little Kiska. AA fire damages 1 P-40 and 1 P-38; the P-38 force-lands safely.

U.S.A.: During WW II, the Military Intelligence Service (MIS) produced numerous documents, most commonly known are the Intelligence Bulletins. The Military Intelligence Special Series continues with "German Military Abbreviations." (William L. Howard)

12 April 1944

April 12th, 1944 (WEDNESDAY)

FRANCE AND BELGIUM: 231 B-26s and 20 A-20s of the US Ninth Air Force attack railroad, shore batteries, radar installations, airfields, and V-weapon sites at Dunkirk and Courtrai/Wevelghem, France; Coxyde/Furnes, De Pannes-Bains, Saint Ghislain and Ostend, Belgium; and points along the coast. 70+ P-47s dive-bomb military installations in N France.

GERMANY: US Eighth Air Force Mission 300: 455 bombers and 766 fighters dispatched to bomb industrial targets at Schweinfurt, Zwickau, Oscheresleben, Schkeuditz, Halle and Leipzig are forced to abandon the mission because of haze and multilayer clouds; Luftwaffe fighter opposition is concentrated over N France and the bombers claim 10-6-7 fighters; 6 B-17s are lost, 2 damaged beyond repair and 1 damaged; 25 B-24s are damaged; casualties are 12 KIA, 16 WIA and 56 MIA. Escort is provided by 124 P-38s, 449 Eighth and Ninth Air Force P-47s and 193 Eighth and Ninth Air Force P-51s; they claim 18-1-3 Luftwaffe aircraft in the air and 1-0-8 on the ground; 3 P-38s and 2 P-51s are lost, 2 P-47s are damaged beyond repair and 3 P-38s, 17 P-47s and 1 P-51 are damaged.

U.S.S.R.: Germany begins to evacuate the Crimea, despite Hitler's order to hold to the last man.

FINLAND: In a secret session, the Finnish Parliament rejects the Soviet terms for peace.

AUSTRIA and YUGOSLAVIA: Bad weather lifts, permitting US Fifteenth Air Force bomber operations; almost 450 B-17s and B-24s attack targets in Austria and Yugoslavia; the B-17s hit aircraft factories at Fischamend Markt, Austria and Split, Yugoslavia; the B-24s hit the industrial area at Wiener Neustadt and Bad Voslau, Austria and the marshalling yard and air depot at Zagreb, Yugoslavia; 200+ P-38s and P-47s provide escort; the bombers and fighters claim 30+ enemy aircraft shot down; 8 US airplanes are known lost and several more fail to return.

ITALY: King Victor Emmanuel announces his plan to retire when the Allies enter Rome, and appoints Crown Prince Umberto lieutenant of the realm.

US Twelfth Air Force medium bombers bomb rail lines approaching the Monte Molino bridge and at a nearby junction to the Viterbo line, railroad and road bridges S of Orvieto and at Certaldo, tracks approaching a bridge at Impeda, and railroad bridges over the Var River and at Albenga; light bombers pound the Zagarolo supply dump; fighter-bombers and fighters (some operating with British aircraft) hit communications (mainly railroad bridges), vehicles, supply dumps at various places, including Arezzo, the island of Elba, Orvieto, NE of Grosseto, NW of Bracciano, Civita Castellana, Montalto di Castro, between Piombino and Viterbo, in the Castiglioncello area, NW of Montepescali and S of Cecina.

INDIA: The merchant ship Fort Stikine arrives at Bombay. She left Liverpool, on February 24th, staging north-about around Ireland in convoy, eleven days to Gibraltar and thence unscathed through air attacks in the Mediterranean, she sailed on to Suez, Aden and Karachi. Partial discharge at Karachi was followed by the loading of 9,000 bales of cotton, thousands of drums of lubricating oil (some leaking), timber, scrap iron, sulphur, fish meal, rice and resin. An attempt to load 750 drums of turpentine on top of the coal in the bunkers was firmly resisted.

The ship docked today. Despite carrying three categories of explosive and having a priority discharge certificate, unloading will not commence until she has been alongside for more than 24 hours. (78)

Kohima: Japanese forces, whose "March on Delhi" was halted last week on the Imphal Plain, are fighting a bloody battle with the defenders of British India. Here at Kohima, 50 miles north of Imphal, the Japanese 31st Division is locked in bitter combat with a scratch force of 3,500 Rajputs, Royal West Kents and Assamese, while Imphal is besieged by the Japanese 15th Army and Subhas Chandra Bose's Indian National Army. For eight days Kohima has been under siege and the Imphal road has been cut, isolating the 100,000 Anglo-Indian troops fighting on the Imphal Plain. Two Allied relief attempts have failed so far; one by 161 Brigade of the 5th Indian Division, did get its leading elements to Kohima before itself being cut off at Jotsoma.

Today XXXIII Corps, responsible for the Kohima area, is being reinforced as rapidly as possible, with 23 Brigade of the 3rd Indian Division being ordered south to aid the British 2nd Division and cut Japanese communications.

Fighting also continues in Naga, a tiny village which clings to a mountain east of the Manipur road. Here the Allied troops are under mortar and artillery fire by day, and at night they are attacked by waves of hungry Japanese infantry without supplies. For both sides it is a fight for survival and a race against time with the monsoon approaching next month.

BURMA: 90+ P-40s, A-36s, P-51s, and B-25s over the Mogaung Valley support ground forces, bomb supply areas, and hit numerous targets of opportunity in areas around Mogaung, Myitkyina, Kamaing, Taungni, and Shaduzup; 5 B-25s knock out a bridge at Natmauk while 2 others damage the Pyu bridge near Rangoon; 5 B-24s bomb Nagorn Sawarn while 7 hit the Moulmein railroad station and jetties and bomb the SE part of Prome.

MARSHALL ISLANDS: US Seventh Air Force B-25s, flying out of Abemama Island, bomb Maloelap Atoll, rearm at Majuro Atoll, and hit Jaluit Atoll on the return trip.

BISMARCK ARCHIPELAGO: On New Britain Island, 23 B-25s and 11 P-39s of the US Thirteenth Air Force pound the W section of Rabaul, 7 other B-25s cause considerable damage in the Ratawul supply area; 23 fighter-bombers blast the concrete airstrip at Vunakanau.

SOLOMONS ISLANDS: On Bougainville Island, 12 US Thirteenth Air Force fighter-bombers bomb and strafe the Numa Numa trail and pound the harbour area.

NEW GUINEA: The US Fifth Air Force dispatches 180+ B-24s, B-25s, and A-20s, supported by 60+ P-38s, bomb AA positions, airfields, supply areas and shipping construction; B-24s, B-25s, A-20s, and P-39s bomb and strafe various targets at Wewak, Madang, along Hansa Bay and on Karkar Island; other P-39s fly a barge sweep from Alexishafen up the coast as far as the mouth of the Sepik River. 2 B-25s bomb Penfoei on Timor Island.

PACIFIC OCEAN: Submarine USS Halibut (SS-232), despite the presence of at least 3 escort vessels, sinks a Japanese army passenger/cargo ship about 20 miles (32 km) southwest of the Nansei Shoto, Ryukyo Islands.

Admiralty Islands: US troops clear Pak Island.

12 April 1945

DENMARK: 6 Eighth Air Force B-24s fly CARPETBAGGER missions in Denmark.

THE NETHERLANDS and GERMANY: US Eight Air Force Mission 944: During the night of 12/13 Apr, 9 of 10 B-24s drop leaflets.

GERMANY: The 9th US Army crosses the River Elbe at Magdeburg. Patton's forces take Erfurt.

The men of the US 100th Infantry Division enter the city centre of Heilbronn after an amphibious assault crossing of the swift flowing Neckar river. This was achieved under constant observation and direct fire of dozens of guns emplaced on the hills surrounding the town to the east. (William L. Howard)

Occupied GERMANY: It was too much to take, even for America's three toughest generals. As they toured the Ohrduf concentration camp today. Eisenhower and Bradley burst into tears. General Patton, the most battle-scarred of them all, was overcome by the sight and smell of the piled-up corpses; gagging at each fresh horror, in the end he simply bent down and vomited.

American troops are experiencing the same nausea. Yesterday they uncovered Buchenwald. One of Hitler's older camps, opened to house his opponents in 1938, it soon became another site for race murder. In 1941, 1,200 Jewish prisoners from Buchenwald were among the first to be gassed experimentally in the search for an efficient method to effect the "final solution" to the "Jewish question."

The GIs cannot believe their eyes. There are piles of unburied corpses, stacked higher than a man, at every turn. Inside the huts there are 20,000 skeletal slave labourers lying in bare wooden pigeonholes that stretch from floor to ceiling. When a soldier opens the door, the prisoners, too weak to move, turn their heads feebly. Their eyes, peering out over hollow cheeks, look mournful, confused and resigned. There is no joy in survival.

These pathetic scraps of humanity are some of occupied Europe's leading intellectuals and politicians. They come from Hungary, Russia, Austria, the Netherlands and Belgium; there are even French deputies who opposed the Vichy government and anti-Franco Spaniards.

As the Americans approached the camp, the Nazis hurriedly evacuated all the Jewish inmates, many of whom only arrived a few months ago from Auschwitz or other camps to the east. Most of them are now at Flossenburg. Himmler is keeping them alive as potential bargaining counters in what he still hopes will be peace negotiations with the allies.

167 A-20s, A-26s and B-26s of the Ninth Air Force, escorted by 95 Eighth Air Force P-51s, attack the Hof rail bridge, Kempten ordnance depot, and Goppingen marshalling yard, plus a town area and a casual target of opportunity; 275+ planes abort because of weather; fighters escort the bombers, attack the town of Kothen, fly armed reconnaissance and sweeps over wide areas and support ground forces; fighters also support the US III, XVI, and XVIII Corps as they continue to reduce the Ruhr pocket, the 9th Armored Division on the Saale River near Werben and Bad Lauchstadt, the XX Corps from the Saale River N and S of Jena E across the Weisse Elster River, the VIII Corps along the Saale further S of Jena, the XII Corp SE of Coburg on the Hasslach River, the 2d Armored Division across the Elbe River near Randau S of Magdeburg, the 5th Armored Division on the W bank of the Elbe at Wittenberge, and the XVI Corps as it continues fighting in the Duisburg and Dortmund areas.

ITALY: The British 8th Army achieves 3 separate bridge heads over the River Santerno.

ITALY and AUSTRIA: The US Fifteenth Air Force dispatches 400+ B-17s and B-24s to hit communications in N Italy and S Austria, attacking railroad bridges at Padua, Ponte di Piave and Nervesa della Bataglia, Italy, and Sankt Veit an der Glan, Austria, an ammunition dump at Malcontenta, and supply dump at Peschiera del Garda, Italy; 124 P-51s provide escort. 123 P-38s bomb railroad bridges at Unzmarkt and Arnoldstein, Austria; 128 B-24s, with P-51 escort, sent against N Italian communications abort due to bad weather. 38 P-51s escort MATAF B-25s on raids in N Yugoslavia.

ITALY and YUGOSLAVIA: During the night of 11/12 Apr, US Twelfth Air Force A-20s and A-26s hit Po River crossings; medium bombers, restricted by low clouds, bomb approaches to the Maribor, Yugoslavia bridge, hit targets along the Brenner rail line, and support the British Eighth Army in the Argenta area; fighter-bombers attack NE Italian railroad lines, including fuel dumps and communications targets in the Po Valley.

BURMA: British IV Corps makes progress in the Sittang Valley.

L/Naik Islamud-Din, 9th Jat Regt., having already shown great gallantry on 24 March, threw himself on a grenade to save his comrades. (George Cross)

75 fighter-bombers of the US Tenth Air Force continue to pound targets in the C Burma battle area; troop concentrations, gun positions, supplies, vehicles, and general targets of opportunity are attacked along the battlefront, behind enemy lines, and along roads S of the bomb line; 369 air supply sorties are flown throughout the day.

CHINA and FRENCH INDOCHINA: 12 US Fourteenth Air Force B-24s supported by 14 P-51s, bomb the Wuchang railroad yards and airfield; 7 B-25s bomb the Hsuchang railroad yards, 3 hit Loning, 2 attack Likuanchiao, 2 bomb Tenghsien, and a single B-25 attack storage areas at Pingyao and Huaiching. 100+ fighter-bombers attack troops, horses, bridges, river shipping, trucks, and railroad targets at several locations in French Indochina and at points scattered over S and E China.

FORMOSA: Far East Air Force B-24s attack Tainan and bomb Okayama Airfield.

JAPAN: The US Twentieth Air Force flies four missions.

Mission 63: 94 B-29s, escorted by 90 P-51s, strike the Nakajima aircraft factory at Tokyo while 11 hit the secondary target, the Shizuoka engine plant; B-29s gunners claim 16 fighters downed. The P-51s claim 15-6-3 Japanese aircraft; 4 P-51s are lost.

Mission 64: 66 B-29s hit a chemical plant at Koriyama and 9 hit targets of opportunity.

Mission 65: 70 B-29s hit a second chemical plant at Koriyama and 6 hit targets of opportunity; 2 B-29s are lost.

Mission 66: During the night of 12/13 Apr, 5 B-29s mine Shimonoseki Strait.

VOLCANO ISLANDS: During the night of 12/13 Apr, 6 Iwo Jima-based fighters of the VII Fighter Command, operating singly at intervals, bomb and strafe targets on Kita, Chichi, Haha, and Ani Jima Islands.

On Okinawa the fighting continues, US forces make little progress against the Shuri Line.

Three Kamikaze attacks achieve some results against the radar picket ships.
The destroyer USS Mannert L. Abele (DD-733) is sunk by a Baka - she is the first US Navy ship to be sunk by that type of weapon; destroyer USS Stanley (DD-478) is damaged by a Baka; high speed minesweeper USS Jeffers (DMS-27) is damaged by a Baka and a kamikaze; kamikazes sink support landing craft LCS-33 and damage battleship USS Idaho (BB-42); battleship USS Tennessee (BB-43), destroyers USS Purdy (DD-734), USS Cassin Young (DD-793) and USS Zellars (DD-777) and destroyer escort USS Riddle (DE-185); , 27°17'N, 127°50'E; destroyer escorts Rall (DE-304), USS Walter C. Wann (DE-412), and USS Whitehurst (DE-634) and light minelayer USS Lindsey (DM-32); minesweeper Gladiator (AM-319) is also damaged by the near-miss of a kamikaze. Kamikazes also attack U.S. freighter SS Minot Victory, but Armed Guard gunners inflict sufficient damage on the suicider that it only strikes the ship a glancing blow and then disintegrates; there are no fatalities on board the merchantman among the 57-man merchant complement, the 27 Armed Guard sailors and 9 passengers.

The following is from the Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. Mannert L. Abele resumed radar picket duty 8 April, patrolling station No. 14 about 70 miles northwest of Okinawa, accompanied by two LSMRs. Midway through the afternoon watch on 12 April, Mannert L. Abele caught the full fury of the kamikazes. Three Vals attacked at 1346, but her lethal gunfire drove off two and set fire to the third which splashed after attempting to crash an LSMR. By 1400, between 15 and 25 additional planes "had come down from the North and the ship was completely surrounded." Except for one light bomber which challenged and was damaged by the destroyer's fire, the enemy kept outside her gun range for more than half an hour.

At about 1440 three Zekes broke orbit and closed to attack. Mannert L. Abele drove off one and splashed another about 4,000 yards out. Despite numerous hits from 5-inch bursts and antiaircraft fire, and spewing smoke and flame, the third kamikaze crashed the starboard side and penetrated the after engine room where it exploded.

Immediately, Mannert L. Abele began to lose headway. The downward force of the blast, which had wiped out the after engineering spaces, broke the destroyer's keel abaft No. 2 stack. The bridge lost control and all guns and directors lost power.

A minute later, at about 1446, Mannert L. Abele took a second and fatal hit from a Baka bomb a piloted, rocket powered, glider bomb that struck the starboard waterline abreast the forward fire room. Its 2.600 pound warhead exploded, buckling the ship, and "cutting out all power lights, and communications."

Almost immediately, Mannert L. Abele broke in two. her midship section obliterated. Her bow and stern sections sunk rapidly. As survivors clustered in the churning waters enemy planes bombed and strafed them.

However LSMR-189 and LSMR-I90, praised by Comdr. Parker as "worth their weight in gold as support vessels," splashed two of the remaining attackers, repulsed further attacks, and rescued the survivors.

COMMONWEALTH OF THE PHILIPPINES: 24 Seventh Air Force B-24s, based on Angaur Island hit a personnel area at Kabacan on Mindanao Island. Far East Air Force operations include dispatching P-38s and A-20s to support ground troops on Cebu and Negros Islands. On Mindanao Island, B-24s bomb Sapakan, Kabacan and the Davao Bay areas and P-38s hit Cotabato and also Kabacan. On Luzon Island, B-24s, B-25s, A-20s, and fighter-bombers pound targets throughout the Cagayan Valley, blast defences at Balete Pass and in the Baguio area, and hit troops, communications targets, and defences at numerous points in SW and SE Luzon Island.

PACIFIC OCEAN: 5 Japanese ships are sunk at sea:

- Submarine USS Silversides (SS-236) sinks an auxiliary submarine chaser east of Tanega Jima south of Kyushu.

- British submarine HMS Stygian sinks an auxiliary minesweeper off the north coast of Bali.

- Mines sink the submarine HIJMS RO 64 off Kobe, Japan and a merchant cargo ship off Wakamatsu, Japan.

- A B-24 aircraft (service and nationality unspecified) sinks a merchant ship off Badjowe, Borneo.

TERRITORY OF ALASKA: ALEUTIAN ISLANDS: US Eleventh Air Force P-38s shoot down a Japanese paper bomb-balloon over Attu Island.

U.S.A.: Washington: President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the only American president ever elected four times, died suddenly of a cerebral haemorrhage in Warm Springs, Georgia, this afternoon while he was sitting for a portrait, his last words being 'I have a terrific headache' before dying in his bedroom. He was 63. The whole country is mourning the Democratic president who offered the United States a "New Deal" of expansionist policies to end the economic crisis of the 1930s and then led it out of isolationism towards victory in a world war.

Although a decline in the president's health had been widely noticed in recent months, his death came as a shock to Washington. Around the world, some American soldiers and sailors refused to believe that he was dead.

His widow Eleanor said: "I am more sorry for the people of the country and of the world than I am for us." The words of his constant adversary, the Republican Senator Robert Taft, were typical of the response in Congress. Taft called the late president "the greatest figure of our time", removed "at the very climax of his career". "We were fortunate," said Harold Ickes, the secretary of the interior, "to have given to civilization the greatest leader in the history of our country."

Harry S. Truman, the vice-president, was sworn in as the 33rd president of the United States at the White House this evening. "Boys," the new president told reporters, "if you ever pray, pray for me now." He said he felt as if "the moon, the stars and all the planets had fallen on me". Minutes after the swearing-in, the secretary of war, Henry Stimson, told Mr Truman that the United States has developed a new explosive "of incredible power". Many here express worries about the former senator from Missouri's lack of experience. But the speaker, Sam Rayburn, said: "Truman will not make a great, flashy president like Roosevelt, But, by God, he'll make a good president, a sound president. He's got the stuff in him."

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