13 April 1939

April 13th, 1939 (THURSDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: London: Britain and France guarantee Romanian and Greek security.

JAPAN: USS Astoria attempts pre-war reconnaissance On this day, the USS Astoria arrives in Japan under the command of Richard Kelly Turner in an attempt to photograph the Japanese battleships Yamato and Musashi.

Top of Page

Yesterday Tomorrow

Home

13 April 1940

Yesterday Tomorrow

April 13th, 1940 (SATURDAY)

FǢROE ISLANDS: An advance guard of Royal Marines is landed with the eventual agreement of the Danish Governor.

DENMARK: The first mines dropped by RAF aircraft are laid in Danish waters.

NORWEGIAN CAMPAIGN: Second Battle of Narvik. HMS Warspite and nine destroyers are sent into the Narvik Fjords to finish off the remaining German ships. U-64 is first of all sunk by HMS Warspite's Swordfish catapult aircraft scouting ahead. Then the surviving eight German destroyers are all destroyed or scuttled - Bernd von Arnim, Diether von Roeder, Erich Giese, Erich Koellner, Georg Thiele, Hans Ludermann, Hermann Kunne and Wolfgang Zenker. The Royal Navy's HMS Eskimo and HMS Cossack are damaged.

[8 crew of U-64 survive by self-escaping from the conning tower after sinking. All are rescued by a British destroyer to become PoWs. More are pulled from the water by locally deployed Gebirgsjäger (German mountain troops)]

In an effort to cooperate with the Royal Navy's assault on the German destroyers trapped in the fjords around Narvik, at 1220 HMS Furious dispatched six Swordfish of 816 Squadron and 4 of 818 Squadron each armed with 4 x 250 pound SAP bombs and 8 x 20 pound Cooper bombs. Visibility of the target area was extremely poor, the cloud base extending down to 500 feet and many rain storms about. After crossing Baroy Island, visibility began to improve and large calibre gun flashes were observed from HMS Warspite. At 1345, the formation split into individual sub-flights to attack several enemy destroyers observed below. The aircraft attacked first with the 250 pounders, then again with the 20 pounders. Two hits were claimed as well as several near misses, though in reality the only tangible result are near misses on the German destroyers Herman Künne (Z-19) and Bernd von Arnim (Z-11) and the sinking of the Norwegian patrol vessel Kelt .

Two aircraft of 818 Squadron were lost; one being shot down - U3C - Sub-Lieutenant(A) Grenville Robert Hampden, RN (P) and Naval Airman first class Raymond Frederick Dale, RN (AG) both being lost, and the other (U3M:L2810) with a badly wounded pilot force-landing ashore with a badly wounded pilot, the crew being saved. (Midshipman (A) D. H. Dammers, RN (P) and Leading Airman A. J. Sturges, RN (AG)) (Mark Horan and Russ Folsom)

Vice-Admiral Whitworth, commanding officer (Naval) wires the Admiralty and urges that since the German troops on shore have been stunned and disorganized - Dietl and his men had in fact taken to the hills - Narvik could be occupied at once ‘by the main landing force’.

The first British troop convoys have by now left the Clyde for Narvik, but some ships are diverted to Namsos. German forces are well-established in the south and centre of Norway and have control of the air. Norway’s remaining armed forces including the units which were guarding the Finnish frontier and some reservists are now under the command of Norway’s new C-in-C, General Otto Ruge, an intellectual reputed to work well under pressure. His strategy is to prevent the main German force now landed at Oslo from linking up with the coastal foothold, by blocking the valleys. Thus the German advance has been punctuated by bloody localised assaults, sending back a stream of casualties amongst Gen. von Falkenhorsts reservists. Falkenhorst’s tactics have been to use his elite 169th Mountain Division to outflank the Norwegian blocks and to apply "aerial artillery" (dive-bombers) against them. General Ruge is unlikely to surrender though, he says, "the defeat or captivity of our forces is better for the nation than their voluntary capitulation."

Ruge also gets some vital financial help today in the form of 11.1 million Kroner - almost 4.5 million American dollars - Norwegian bank notes. The notes had been spirited out of the Bank of Norway by the driver of the bank’s armoured truck, Rudolph Sandergren. In a daredevil exploit, Sandergren concealed the money in five potato sacks and smuggled it through German lines and roadblocks to the town of Hamar, where he turned it over to Anders Frihagen, Norway’s Minister of Commerce. Today, Frihagen appeared at Ruge’s HQ in Rena and presented him with the money, for use in paying the recruits to his Resistance force and to purchase food and other supplies.

RAF Coastal Command: aircraft reconnoitre the coastal areas of southern Norway. An enemy cruiser and destroyer are seen heading north off the Haugesund area; two enemy cruisers are anchored at Kristiansand South, and a considerable amount of Flak is encountered. Six Hudsons drop bombs on Stavanger airfield during the afternoon and are attacked by Bf110s, one Bf110 is claimed shot down and one damaged.

RAF Bomber Command: Weather prevents a force of Blenheims from attacking German shipping in the Heligoland Bight. During the night Hampdens lay mines in the Kattegat-Kiel area and on the return flight one comes down in the sea.

ITALY and HUNGARY: Rome and Budapest: Italy and Hungary seem to be sliding ever nearer to involvement in the war. In Italy's case it is only the dictator Mussolini's fear of the consequences which has kept him out. He has so far not fulfilled his obligation to Hitler under the "Pact of Steel" which committed Italy to go to Germany's aid with "all its military forces" in time of war.

"I must emphasise to you," he wrote to Hitler, "that I cannot assume the initiative of warlike operations, given the actual conditions of Italian military preparations." However, with Germany's continued military success there are indications the Duce is preparing to go to war in case he misses any of the spoils.

Hungary's case is different. It is caught between Russia and Germany and, although its army is reputed to be the best in the Danube basin, its central plain makes ideal tank country.

Every time its giant neighbours move, Hungary trembles. Admiral Horthy, the regent of this kingless kingdom, tries to placate both of them. Soon he may be forced to choose between Nazi Germany and Communist Russia.

MEDITERRANEAN SEA: HMS Ark Royal and HMS Glorious, in company with the destroyers HMAS Stuart, HMS Bulldog, HMS Westcott and HMS Wishard, arrive at Gibraltar.

PANAMA CANAL ZONE: Destroyer USS J. Fred Talbott (DD-247) returns to the Canal Zone after providing medical assistance to passenger on board Japanese steamship SS Arimasan Maru. The warship's medical officer remains with his patient until the Japanese vessel reaches Balboa.

U.S.A.: Experimental TV station W2XWV in New York City is licensed to the Allen B. DuMont Laboratories. (The station is now WNYW, Channel 5 in New York City.)

Britain places an order for several hundred of the Bell model 14 fighter, later to become the P-39 Airacobra.

The order was for 675 Model 14s which were to be named Caribou. This aircraft differed from the US version in armament which consisted of a 20mm Hispano M-1 cannon in the nose with 60 rounds; two 50-calibre (12.7 mm) machine guns in the nose with 135 rpg; and four 30-calibre (7.62mm) machine guns in the wings with 250 rpg.

This followed a $9 million order for 200 P-39s on 30 March 1940 by the French Government. Deliveries were to begin in October 1940.

13 April 1941

April 13th, 1941 (SUNDAY)

GERMANY: Berlin: The Wehrmacht High Command announced:

Yesterday the Luftwaffe again inflicted heavy losses in repeated raids on the remains of the Serbian army. Dive-bomber, destroyer and fighter aircraft cut enemy march columns to pieces in the lower Bosnia valley and in the area between the Sava and Drin rivers. Ground-attack aircraft bombed military installations around Sarajevo and scored bomb hits on aircraft stationed on the ground at Mostar airfield. Other Luftwaffe formations blew up Greek troop assemblies at Deskati. In the Lake Prespa area, German fighter planes shot down 6 British Bristol Blenheims. In bomb raids on Piraeus harbour, the Luftwaffe sank four merchant vessels totalling 35,000 tons, badly damaged eight large merchant vessels, and set the harbour installations on fire. During the last two nights, heavy calibre bombs hit a destroyer and 3 large merchant ships in the inlet at Eleusis and outside the port of Piraeus. Another effective high-explosive bomb raid was made on Eleusis airfield.

Berlin: Hitler orders swift mopping-up operations in Yugoslavia and Greece.

U.S.S.R.: Moscow: In a treaty designed to safeguard both parties' borders, the Soviet Union and Japan today signed a neutrality pact, valid for five years.

By acknowledging existing borders the pact, negotiated by Molotov, give Russian recognition to Japanese Manchuria (now known as Manchukuo) for the first time. Under the pact, should either the Soviet Union or Japan become the object of military action, then the other party will observe neutrality.

The impetus came from Russia, increasingly concerned by the deterioration of its relationship with Germany. In Tokyo the pact was welcomed as guaranteeing Japan's "back door".

This means that Stalin can begin troop movements east and that Japan can look south.

YUGOSLAVIA: German and Hungarian troops enter Belgrade.

GREECE: General Wilson decides to withdraw to the Thermopylae line - running from the town of Molos on the Gulf of Euboea east of Thermopylae, to Eratine on the Gulf of Corinth.. This is a naturally strong defensive line, and had the merit of being only 50 miles long (compared with the 100 miles of the Olympus-Vermion line) and could in theory be held by the British troops on their own.

MALTA: The island is heavily bombed by the Luftwaffe.

LIBYA: The Germans capture Sollum and Fort Capuzzo.

ATLANTIC OCEAN: AMC HMS Rajputana on Northern Patrol is lost to U-108 in the Denmark Strait.

13 April 1942

April 13th, 1942 (MONDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: Rear Admiral Lord Mountbatten is appointed Chief of Combined Operations and functions as a member of the British Chiefs of Staff Committee. This appointment announced today was effective March 18.

FINLAND: Colonel Aarne Snellman, CO of the Finnish 17th Division is seriously injured at his divisions command post at Vaaseni (Vazhiny by River Svir in Olonets Isthmus) when it is attacked by Soviet night bombers.

LITHUANIA: Vilna: Feldwebel Anton Schmid, an Austria NCO in the German Army assigned to duties in occupied Lithuania is executed. He is guilty of providing food and medicines to Jews assigned to his workshop, and also of helping Jews escape from the ghetto and warning them of imminent SD 'Aktionen'. (Russ Folsom)

GERMANY: The German radio announces the finding of mass graves in Katyn, Poland, filled with the bodies of thousands of Polish officers.

BURMA: Allied forces retreat to Magwe, leaving the oilfields of central Burma exposed to the Japanese.

COMMONWEALTH OF THE PHILIPPINES: The last boat of US Navy Motor Torpedo Boat Squadron 3 is transferred to the US Army.

Australia-based B-25 Mitchells bomb targets in the Philippines for the second consecutive day. Staging through Del Monte Airfield on Mindanao, the B-25s take off just after midnight on 12/13 April and bomb shipping at Cebu on Cebu Island and installations at Davao on Mindinao. Later in the day the B-25s again attack Davao, bombing the dock area.

PACIFIC OCEAN: Submarine USS Grayling (SS-209) torpedoes and sinks a Japanese merchant cargo ship off the southwest tip of Shikoku, Japan.

SOUTH PACIFIC: Vice Admiral Robert L Ghormley, USN, is assigned as Commander-in-Chief South Pacific (COMSOPAC). He is to command all Allied base and local defence forces (land, sea, and air) in the South Pacific Islands, with the exception of New Zealand land defences.

BURMA: Allied forces retreat to Magwe, leaving the oilfields of central Burma exposed to the Japanese.

U.S.A.: The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) mandates that the minimum program time required of TV stations is cut from 15 hours to four hours a week for the duration of the war.

13 April 1943

April 13th, 1943 (TUESDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: USAAF, 78th Fighter Group equipped with P-47-Cs flies its first combat mission.

Imber, Wiltshire: An RAF pilot, demonstrating new tactics for attacking ground targets, kills 25 when he mistakenly fires on spectators rather than the practice target.

ENGLISH CHANNEL: German ships tonight sink the Norwegian destroyer ESKDALE, which was manned by a joint British/Norwegian crew, in a night attack.

GERMANY: German radio announces the finding of mass graves in Katyn, Poland, filled with the bodies of thousands of Polish officers.

ITALY: SARDINIA: Northwest African Air Force P-38s bomb a cruiser at La Maddalena and other shipping at Porto Torres.

SICILY: Ninth Air Force B-24s are dispatched against the harbour at Catania. Total cloud cover prevents visual contact with the target. One drops bombs in the target area, but others jettison their load or return to base without bombing.

Northwest African Air Force B-17 Flying Fortresses bomb the airfields at Castelvetrano and Milo.

TUNISIA: The British Eight Army's 10 Corps, continuing north reaches an anti-tank ditch guarding new enemy positions at Enfidaville and unsuccessfully attempts, on a limited scale, to force a retreat before the line can be strengthened.

Northwest African Air Force B-25s bomb Oudna Airfield. Fighters maintain sweeps and armoured reconnaissance over northeastern Tunisia and the Straits of Sicily. During the night of 12/13 April, RAF aircraft bomb Megrine landing ground.

BURMA: 9 Tenth Air Force B-25s bomb the Myitnge bridge without inflicting further damage to the structure; 9 others hit Monywa Airfield. Six P-40s knock out a bridge at Shaduzup.

NEW GUINEA: Fifth Air Force A-20 Havocs bomb and strafe the Labiabi area while a single B-17 bombs the runway at Finschhafen.

SOLOMON ISLANDS: Thirteenth Air Force P-38s and Navy aircraft bomb the airfield at Munda Airfield on New Georgia Island and strafe barges.

TERRITORY OF ALASKA: ALEUTIAN ISLANDS: The Eleventh Air Force dispatches 15 B-24 Liberators, 15 B-25s, 28 P-38 Lightnings and 20 P-40s to fly 11 attacks to Kiska Island; 43 tons of bombs are dropped on the Main Camp, North Head, and runway.

Fighters attack the Main Camp causing large fires, and also strafe aircraft on the beach. Heavy AA fire damages 2 P-38s, 1 of which later crashes into the sea, and a B-25.

U.S.A.: President Franklin D. Roosevelt dedicated the Jefferson Memorial. (Tony)

13 April 1944

April 13th, 1944 (THURSDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: General Dwight D Eisenhower formally assumes direction of air operations out of the UK at 0000 hours (though he began informal exercise of this authority in late March 2944). This assumption of authority gives Eisenhower direction over the Allied Expeditionary Air Force (AEAF) consisting of the RAF 2nd Tactical Air Force and the USAAF Ninth Air Force; RAF Bomber Command; and US Strategic Air Forces in Europe (USSTAF) consisting of the USAAF Eighth and Fifteenth Air Forces (the Fifteenth Air Force retains some degree of independence) along with the US 1st Army Group, British 21 Army Group, and Allied Naval Forces.

BELGIUM AND FRANCE: The Ninth Air Force dispatches 121 B-26s and 37 A-20s to attack a marshalling yard, coastal batteries, airfields and V-weapon sites at Namur, Chievres and Nieuport, Belgium; Le Havre, France; and along the northern coast of France in general; nearly 175 other aircraft abort missions mainly because of weather; and 48 P-47s also dive-bomb V-weapon sites.

THE NETHERLANDS: During Eighth Air Force Mission 302, 4 B-17s drop 800,000 leaflets on Amsterdam, The Hague and Eindhoven at 2235-2252 hours without loss.

GERMANY: The Eighth Air Force flies Mission 301: 626 bombers and 871 fighters are dispatched to hit targets in Germany; the bombers claim 22-13-34 Luftwaffe aircraft and the fighters claim 42-8-10 in the air and 35-0-21 on the ground; 38 bombers and 9 fighters are lost; the bombers also drop 5.2 million leaflets on Germany; this mission is flown in conjunction with a raid on Hungary by 500+ Fifteenth Air Force bombers.

- 154 B-17s hit the industrial area at Schweinfurt and 1 hits a target of opportunity; 14 B-17s are lost.

- 207 B-17s bomb aviation industry targets at Augsburg and 20 hit the city of Augsburg; 18 B-17s are lost.

- 93 B-24s hit Lechfeld Airfield; 60 bomb aviation industry targets at Oberpfaffenhofen; 29 hit Lauffern and 2 hit targets of opportunity; 6 B-24s are lost.

Escort is provided by 134 P-38s, 504 Eighth and Ninth Air Force P-47 Thunderbolts and 233 Eighth and Ninth Air Force P-51s; 3 P-38s, 2 P-47s and 4 P-51s are lost.

SWEDEN: Stockholm: Britain and American demand that Sweden stop exporting ball bearings to Germany.

HUNGARY: 535 Fifteenth Air Force heavy bombers (largest bomber mission to date) bomb targets in Hungary; 163 B-17s bomb an aircraft plant and depot at Gyor while 324 B-24s bomb an aircraft factory at Budapest and air depots at Budapest, Tokol and Vecses; fighter opposition and AA account for 14 US bombers and 1 fighter shot down; 40 enemy fighters are claimed shot down and 120+ aircraft destroyed on the ground.

The Hungarian fighters include sixteen Hungarian-made Me-210Cs, but these failed to shoot down any American aircraft, but lost several of their number including at least one to Hungarian anti-aircraft fire, which knocked out one of its engines.

Casualties amount to 1,073 killed and about 500 injured, prompting a mass evacuation of 100,000 people from the city (mostly children, elderly and pregnant women). (Jack McKillop and Mike Yaklich)

U.S.S.R.: The Red Army captures Simferopol.

ITALY: Twelfth Air Force B-25s attack Terni and a bridge at Marsciano while B-26s bomb Ancona marshalling yard and a nearby railroad bridge; fighter-bombers again strike mainly at communications, the town of Itri, Cesano station, a factory at Fontana Liri, a railroad overpass at Fara in Sabina, Anguillara, and bridges, trucks and other targets at points throughout central Italy.

CHINA: 28 Fourteenth Air Force fighters attempt to intercept but fail to make contact with 13 Japanese airplanes which bomb Namyung, China.

BURMA: 90+ Tenth Air Force P-40s, P-51 Mustangs and A-36 Apaches and a few B-25s carry out ground support missions near Kamaing and hit assorted targets throughout the Mogaung Valley; 12 B-25s and 11 P-51s support ground forces at Mawlu.

JAPAN: 3 Eleventh Air Force B-24s fly armed reconnaissance and bombing runs over the airfield on Matsuwa Island and installations on Onnekotan Island in the Kurile Islands.

NEW GUINEA: Australian troops retake Bogodijm.

80+ Fifth Air Force B-24s and A-20s pound the airfields at Dagua and But on the north coast of New Guinea; 33 A-20s hit Aitape; P-39Airacobras, B-25s, and B-24s fly light strikes against a variety of targets along Hansa Bay, on Wakde Island, at Uligan, and several other points along the coast.

CAROLINE ISLANDS: There are two attacks on targets in Truk Atoll. During the early morning 23 Thirteenth Air Force B-24s bomb and later in the day, Seventh Air Force B-24s from Eniwetok Atoll attack.

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

PACIFIC OCEAN: Submarine USS Harder (SS-257) sinks Japanese destroyer HIJMS Ikazuchi 180 miles (290 km) south-southwest of Guam.

BISMARCK ARCHIPELAGO: Thirteenth Air Force aircraft attack targets on New Britain Island. 24 B-25s bomb the Talili Bay and Ratawul supply areas and the town of Rabaul; 40+ fighter-bombers strike the Malaguna area northwest of Rabaul; 17 fighter-bombers hit personnel and supply areas at Mosigetta, Mawareka, Meive, and Maririei.

U.S.A.: The motion picture "The Memphis Belle: A Story of a Flying Fortress" opens in Hollywood, California. Directed by William Wyler, this film documents the 25th and final mission of the crew of the Eighth Air Force's B-17F-10-BO "Memphis Belle."

13 April 1945

April 13th, 1945 (FRIDAY)

GERMANY: The liberation of German camps at Belsen and Buchenwald reveal the horrors of these camps to the world.

Eisenhower turns down his third chance to capture Berlin, saying that it is just a political prize.

The US 83rd Infantry Division with several associated units, arrive at the west bank of the Elbe. The US Army XIXth Corps commander, Major General Raymond S. McLain order it to cross the Elbe and into territory assigned to the Red Army, and to prepare to advance east/northeast (in the direction toward Berlin).

Berlin: Officially Germany reacted to the news of President Roosevelt's death with a correct silence. The Nazi leaders, however, greeted it as a ray of light in what is now a desperate situation for them. "My Führer," Josef Göbbels told Hitler, "I congratulate you. Roosevelt is dead. It is written in the stars that the second half of April will be the turning point for us." The Nazis believe that Roosevelt's death will be the signal for the western allies and the Soviet Union to fall out. Some plan to hold out in redoubts in north and south Germany until this occurs. Other Germans fear that Roosevelt's death leaves them to the possibly less tender mercies of Churchill and Stalin.

Adolf Hitler proclaims from his underground bunker that deliverance was at hand from encroaching Russian troops--Berlin would remain German. A "mighty artillery is waiting to greet the enemy," proclaims Der Fuhrer.

The Nazi have forced Allied PoWs to march up to 500 miles across Europe on starvation rations, according to reports published today in British newspapers The reports allege that of 6,000 Russians, Britons and Americans who set out in January, only 533 are still alive.

The Russians came from camps in Poland and the British and Americans from Stalag VIIIA, near Breslau. In January both groups marched to Gorlitz, in Silesia. In February they set out again. Most of them died from starvation, exhaustion or dysentery, and a few from the random cruelty of the guards.

The Eighth Air Force flies Mission 945: The AAF claims 284-0-220 Luftwaffe aircraft. 212 B-17s, escorted by 256 P-51s, attack the marshalling yard at Neumunster visually; 2 B-17s are lost. The escort claims 137-0-83 Luftwaffe aircraft in the air; 6 P-51s are lost. During this mission, 97 P-47s and P-51s fly a freelance mission in support of the bombers; they claim 147-0-137 aircraft on the ground; a P-47 and a P-51 are lost. During Mission 946 flown that night, 10 B-24s bomb the Beizenburg rail junction without loss.

Fighter-bombers of the Ninth Air Force's IX Tactical Air Command fly a special mission against the HQ of Field Marshall Walter Model's Army Group B at Haus Waldesruh in the Ruhr pocket; the air attack is followed by an artillery barrage; as a result the HQ is moved to Haan. IX Tactical Air Command pilots sight Soviet fighters in the air for the first time. Weather grounds the 9th Bombardment Division. Fighters fly patrols and armed reconnaissance, and support the US XVIII Corps in the Huckeswagen and Hagen areas, the III Corps between the Ruhr and Honne Rivers, the 3d Armored Division on the Saale River in the Alsleben, Nelben and Friedeburg area, the XX Corps astride and between the Weisse Eister and Zwickauer Mulde Rivers north of Gera, the XVI Corps northwest of Hagen, the 2d Armored Division in the Elbenau-Grunwalde area, and the 5th Armored Division along the Elbe River in the Tangermunde area.

1st Lt. Shannon E. Estill, USAAF"> USAAF, is flying a P-38-J Lightning, when it is struck by Anti-Aircraft fire while attacking targets in eastern Germany. Another U.S. pilot reports seeing Estill's aircraft explode and crash. (William L. Howard) More...

AUSTRIA: Vienna falls to the Soviet Army. As agreed by the Allies in 1943, it appears that Austria will not be treated as a conquered nation. Moscow radio said tonight that because the people of Vienna and other parts of Austria had helped the Red Army fight the Germans they had "saved the honour of the Austrian nation."

ITALY: Twelfth Air Force B-25s are restricted by weather to 1 mission, an attack on a road bridge at Mollinella; fighter bombers continue to hit communications and dumps in the Po Valley and guns in the La Spezia area; during the night of 12/13 April, A-20s and A-26 Invaders attack Po River crossings at San Benedetto Po, Ostiglia, Piacenza, and Casalmaggiore, bridges at San Ambrogio di Valpolicella, and motor transport and targets of opportunity in the Milan area.

BURMA: 30+ Tenth Air Force P-47s and P-38s attack troops and supplies in the Hamn gai, Loi-hseng, and Wan Yin areas and sweep roads south of the bomb line in central Burma; air transport operations to the front areas total 450 sorties.

CHINA AND FRENCH INDOCHINA: 6 Fourteenth Air Force B-25s hit a fort at Bac Ninh. 11 B-25s bomb the railroad yards and warehouse area at Kaifeng and 6 knock out a bridge at Ningming; 7 B-25s hit shipping in the South China Sea and Bakli Bay on Hainan Island and the town areas of Tenghsien and Liuchow; 4 others, along with 5 P-51s, knock out a bridge and hit the town area and shipping at Puchi; 24 P-38s and P-51s knock out 3 bridges, damage another, and hit several targets of opportunity in northern French Indochina; about 140 fighter-bombers fly armed reconnaissance and strikes throughout southern and eastern China, hitting rail, road, and river traffic, town areas, troops, and general targets of opportunity.

Far East Air Forces B-24s bomb the Hong Kong waterfront (Taikoo Docks) and storage areas in Canton.

FORMOSA: RN aircraft from the RN's Task Force 57 again attack airfields. TF 57 then retires to refuel at sea and return to its station off the Sakishima Islands in the Ryukyu Islands.

Far East Air Forces B-24s bomb airfields at Tainan and Okayama while B-25s attack railroads.

JAPAN: XXI Bomber Command flies Mission 67 during the night of 13/14 April:

327 B-29 Superfortresses bomb the Tokyo arsenal area; 3 others hit targets of opportunity; 7 B-29s are lost.

MARIANA ISLANDS: 2 Seventh Air Force P-61 Black Widows based on Saipan bomb and strafe Pagan Island.

NORTH PACIFIC: 18 Guam-based Seventh Air Force B-24s bomb enemy positions on Marcus Island in the N Pacific.

OKINAWA: Off Okinawa, destroyer escort USS Connolly (DE-306) is damaged by kamikaze.

On the island, Technical Sergeant Beauford T. Anderson of the United States Army, 381st Infantry, 96th Infantry Division, single-handedly kills 25 Japanese during an attack on his companies' position. (MOH)(Drew Philip Halévy)

PACIFIC OCEAN: Six Japanese ships are sunk at sea:

- Submarine USS Parche (SS-384) sinks an auxiliary minesweeper and a guardboat off northern Honshu, Japan.

- RN submarine HMS Stygian sinks an auxiliary minesweeper off Bali in the East Indies.

- An auxiliary submarine chaser is sunk by aircraft northwest of Hainan Island, China.

- Mines laid by USAAF B-29 Superfortresses in Japanese waters sinks two cargo ships and damage a coast defence vessel.

COMMONWEALTH OF THE PHILIPPINES: Ft. Drum, a "concrete battleship" in Manila Bay is attacked with 5,000 gallons of fuel oil and burned out over the next 5 days.

23 Seventh Air Force B-24s from Angaur Island, Palau Islands, bomb personnel and storage areas at Kabacan on Mindanao Island.

The Far East Air Forces flies numerous sweeps are flown over the Cagayan Valley on Luzon and ground support missions are continued on Luzon, Cebu, and Negros Islands. On Mindanao Island, B-24s bomb the Davao area and B-25s hit various targets on Mindanao and in the Sulu Archipelago.

TERRITORY OF ALASKA: ALEUTIAN ISLANDS: On Attu Island, 27 Eleventh Air Force P-38s and P-40s scramble following radar reports of unidentified plots; later, they shoot down 9 of 11 Japanese paper bomb-balloons sighted over the western Aleutians.

CANADA: Beginning of intimidation campaign towards Japanese Canadians living in British Columbia to move to Eastern Canada or be deported to Japan.

CHILE: Santiago: CHILE declares war on Japan.

Top of Page

Yesterday Tomorrow

Home