Yesterday           Tomorrow

April 14th, 1939 (FRIDAY)

GERMANY: Rudolf Hess signs a decree setting up the government of the Sudetenland as in integral part of the Reich.

U.S.A.: President Roosevelt writes to Hitler and Mussolini asking for a guarantee of non-aggression on-behalf of 31 countries from Germany and Italy. These countries include Belgium, Bulgaria, Denmark, Egypt, Estonia, Finland, France, Hungary, Iran, Iraq, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Liechtenstein, Palestine, Poland, Romania, Saudi Arabia, Spain, Switzerland, Syria, Turkey, United Kingdom, USSR and Yugoslavia

Top of Page

Yesterday                  Tomorrow

Home

Yesterday    Tomorrow

April 14th, 1940 (SUNDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: RAF Bomber Command: 2 Group. 107 Sqn moves to Scotland (Lossiemouth) with the help of Bombay transport. Aim is to attack Stavanger with up to 12 aircraft daily. All 250 pounders have to be manhandled as the bomb trolleys are still on a train making the long journey from Cambridgeshire.

NORWEGIAN CAMPAIGN: The German advances north from Oslo in the Glamma Valley near Lake Mjösa are delayed by skilful action of the Norwegian forces.

The British and French are still pondering their options for strategies at Trondheim and Narvik.

Submarine HMS tarpon on patrol off southern Norway is sunk by German minesweeper M6.

The advance party of the Allied Expeditionary Force lands at Namsos and Harstad. Despite being told that the Germans had fled Narvik, Maj. Gen. P.J. Macksey, a cautious officer, lands his 3 infantry battalions at Harstad, 35 miles north of Narvik but still in the hands of the Norwegians.

RAF Bomber Command raids Stavanger aerodrome twice. At dawn 3 Wellingtons bomb the two runways from 450 feet; several He-111’s and a hangar are damaged and air gunners fire at machine gun nests on the ground. The crews saw about 20 seaplanes and flying boats at moorings. Four aircraft go out in the evening, timed to reach Stavanger just after dusk. Two failed to find the objective. The remainder drop HE and incendiary bombs, damaging a hangar and put out a searchlight through machine-gun fire. One aircraft FTR.

The 14th again saw the Fleet Air Arm Squadrons at Hatston RNAS again strike at naval targets in Bergen, sent by Acting Captain C. L. Howe. This time a total of 15 Skuas were dispatched in two waves. The first consisting of six 800 Squadron aircraft led by Capt. R. T. Partridge, RM departed at 0500. The second consisting of nine 803 Squadron aircraft led by Lt. Lucy, departed at 0550. Each aircraft was armed with a single 500 pound SAP bomb.

800 Squadron crossed the Norwegian Coast at 0700, and attacked at 0712, dive bombing two vessels tied up at the jetty, and strafing two U-Boats, U-60 and U-7, and two schnellbootes, S-23 and S-25 in the harbour. After the first wave departed, the weather over Bergen deteriorated significantly. Of 803 Squadron, only Lt. Lucy's sub-flight was able to locate the target and make a low altitude glide-bombing attack. Lucy's bomb exploded alongside SS Barenfels (7,569 BRT) between her and the jetty, causing severe damage that ultimately caused the ship to sink stern first to the harbour bottom, carrying her valuable cargo of anti-aircraft guns to the bottom with her. One aircraft, Skua A8G, (serial unknown) was shot down in flames over the harbour. The crew, Capt. Eric  Donald McIver, RM (p) (Mentioned in Dispatches), and LA Albert Alexander Barnard, RN being killed. The others strafed a German flying Boat on the water on their way home. (Mark Horan)

During the night 28 aircraft are sent to lay mines in the Great and Little Belts, only 9 succeed due to bad weather.

General von Falkenhorst signs an order providing for taking as hostages 20 of the most distinguished citizens of Oslo including Bishop Berggrav and Paal Berg, who in the words of Minister Brauer, ‘were to be shot in the event of continued resistance of attempted sabotage.’

British Military Attaché, Lieut. Colonel E.J.C. King-Salter reaches Maj. Gen. Ruge’s HQ at Rena to liaise with the Allied Expeditionary Force. Ruge now has 12,000 troops, but no armour and no anti-tank weaponry. Ruge’s plan was to make his stand in the mountainous country 160 miles south of Trondheim where the Norwegian’s could use the terrain to their advantage while relying on the Allies to capture the city of Trondheim. Strategically placed with an excellent deep harbour and at the head of two valleys - the Gudbrandsal and the Osterdal - that lead south through the mountains to Oslo, it also lay on the only road and rail link with northern Norway, and currently it is only lightly defended with 1,700 mountain troops.

Off NORWAY: 

Flight operations on board HMS Furious were limited due mainly to the poor weather. At 1220, two Swordfish were dispatched on an uneventful armed reconnaissance flight to Tromsø . (Mark Horan)

DENMARK: Copenhagen: The occupation of Denmark is proving embarrassing for the Germans. As the Danes did not resist they have not been defeated.. Germany is obliged to keep to its word that German troops went in to protect Scandinavia from the Allies. Thus it is faced with king, a constitution and recognised democratic government.

Outside Denmark, the Danes are flocking to the Allies, 5,000 Danish seamen bringing in 90% of Denmark's tonnage into friendly ports. Inside Denmark, Danes continue to live as if the Germans did not exist, ignoring them, as King Christian ignores the salutes of the German sentries.

For Germany to disband the government and rule directly would be great blow to its prestige among neutrals. But to continue is exasperating. These Nordic people, who should be welcoming Germans, are responding with a policy once favoured by Irish peasantry: the Boycott.

GERMANY: Despite his success in Norway and Denmark, General Jodl notes that the Fuhrer is suffering a ‘nervous crisis’ and ‘terrible excitement’, after he receives news of the naval losses at Narvik.

U.S.S.R.: Today there starts at Moscow a conference of the highest Soviet military leadership to ponder the lessons of the Winter War. The conference lasts until the 17th of April, and it initiates a series of reforms in the Red Army.

GIBRALTAR: Vice-Admiral Aircraft Carriers Lionel V. Wells, CB, DSO, RN shifts his flag to HMS Glorious, which then departs Gibraltar at 2130 in company with the destroyers HMAS Stuart (local escort only),  HMS Velox, and HMS Watchman bound for the Clyde. HMS Ark Royal remains at Gibraltar.

U.S.A.: New York: 'Lights Out in Europe', a film directed by Herbert Kline and narrated by Frederic March, showing how war broke out, opens.

Top of Page

Yesterday          Tomorrow

Home

Yesterday      Tomorrow

April 14th, 1941 (MONDAY)

London: Churchill tells the MOI to stop publishing the demoralizing weekly figures for shipping losses.

YUGOSLAVIA: King Peter leaves Yugoslavia for Athens, Greece.

The Germans smash the southern army and pour through the Monastir Gap, cutting off the Greek army in Albania.

GREECE: German forces enter Katerini, Greece. (Steve Stattharos)

The formation of 'Savige Force' under the command of Brigadier S. G. Savige is completed. Savige Force is to protect the British left flank by blocking the routes leading from Grevena and Metsovon via Kalabaka into the Larissa plain. 1st Armoured Brigade is combined with 17th Australian Brigade to form the force.

LIBYA: Tobruk: Cpl John Hurst Edmondson (b. 1914), Australian Military Forces, despite being severely wounded, saved the life of his officer, who was being attacked by two enemy soldiers. He died shortly afterwards. (VC)

In the fiercest battle he has faced so far in this campaign, Rommel saw his tanks withdraw from Tobruk's hastily prepared defences under a withering hail of fire from British ant-tank guns and heavy artillery; and then watched them literally chased back into the desert in confusion by tank attacks on his flanks. Although his Afrika Korps had managed deep penetration into what eariler reconnaissance had selected as a "weak spot", their light tanks were no match for British gunnery. 17 were knocked out before General Olbrich, the Panzer commander, ordered the withdrawal

The indications are that Rommel is coming to the limit of his supply lines. His men are tired and his tanks are badly in need of servicing. The prospect here is of a long siege so long as Tobruk can be supplied from the sea.

EGYPT: King Farouk sends a secret message to Hitler expressing the hope that Egypt will soon be liberated from the "British yoke."

ICELAND: Secret talks between Iceland and the US. Iceland agrees not to resist US forces replacing the British forces on Iceland.

On PALMYRA ISLAND, a US Marine garrison designated Marine Detachment, 1st defence Battalion, is established for the defence of the island. (Richard Gaines)

U.S.A.: The USAAC places an order for 2,000 Vultee Model 74s.

Top of Page

Yesterday           Tomorrow

Home

Yesterday                     Tomorrow

April 14th, 1942 (TUESDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: Operation Bolero is provisionally accepted by the British as a basis for the American build-up in Britain.

London: Purchase tax is to be doubled to 66% on nearly all non-essential goods. Beer is up 2d a pint. A bottle of whisky will cost 22/6 instead of 17/10, and cigarettes go up from 1/6 to 2/- for a pack of 20. These hefty increases in indirect taxation were announced in today's "sacrifices for victory" budget, which keeps the standard rate of income tax at 10/- in the pound (50%). The government denied that tobacco supplies to shops are to be cut.

FRANCE: Laval forms a new government in Vichy, with Marshal Petain as Head of State.

MEDITERRANEAN SEA: U class submarine Upholder is not heard from after meeting HMS Upholder to transfer an army officer. There was a report of a submarine sighting close to a minefield off Tripoli on 11 April, and on 14 April, Italian destroyer Pegaso carried out a depth charge on a suspected submarine which produced no debris, however, this would have been about 100 miles away from where Upholder was expected to be. There is no certainty about the fate of Upholder (commanded by Lt.Cdr. Wanklyn VC DSO RN) and her file remains open. (Alex Gordon)(108)

Ultra Intercepts had placed three Axis convoys at sea en-route from Italian ports to Tripoli, Libya. The largest convoy, consisting of the German motor vessel Reichenfels (7,744 g.r.t.), and three Italian motor vessels: Vettor Pisani (6,339 g.r.t.), Ravello (6,142 g.r.t.), and Reginaldo Giuliani (6,837 g.r.t.). The Italian Navy had provided a strong escort: five destroyers and two torpedo boats including Pegaso.

The recent blitz of Malta having greatly reduced the islands strike capability, the convoy was bolding steaming on a direct course, passing within 100 miles of the island.

For some time, the Coastal Command's Mediterranean command, 201 Group, had been building up a small force of Beauforts for 39 Squadron. Combining with elements of 22 Squadron, on a delayed passage to Ceylon, a striking force of 10 serviceable Beauforts (three from 22 Squadron, seven from 39 Squadron) as well as four Beaufighters of 272 Squadron is forwarded to the airfield at Bu Amud. As the aircraft do not have the range to strike the convoy and return to their North African base, the plan calls for them to fly on to Malta after the attack, and hope that they can fight their a through to the islands airfields through the ever present patrols of German fighters.

Though the convoy is contacted by two Maryland reconnaissance aircraft of 203 Squadron, also operating from Bu Amud, one of 22 Squadron's ASV Beauforts is dispatched 0730 as a contact plane. The main striking force of nine Beauforts and four Beaufighters follows. One Beaufort had to abort early on.

The ASV-equipped contact plane found the convoy, transmitted its position, and then headed for Malta. Caught by Bf-109s during the approach to the island, the pilot (FS S. E. Howroyd, ) was killed, and Beaufort AW-282 crashed short of the runway. While the other three members of the crew survived the crash, the navigator, subsequently died of his wounds in hospital.

Unfortunately, Howroyd's position report was never received by the strike leader, FL J. M. Lander DFC (22 Squadron). Flying at sea level, the striking force passed the convoys line of advance without sighting it. Turning Southwest to search for the elusive foe, the escorting Beaufighters of 272 Squadron, led by SL W. Riley, flying about 500 feet higher than their charges, spotted several German Me-110s and Ju-88s providing distant air cover for the convoy. The series of combats bled away their precious combat fuel, and they were forced to turn for Malta. Lander knew the mission was in trouble. The departure of his escort left the Beauforts terribly alone. Several minutes later, when the target was finally sighted, the Beaufort crews were horrified to discover that, besides the strong naval escort, there were some 25 Bf-109s, Bf-110s, and Ju-88s overhead. 

What followed was reminiscent of the Charge of the Light Brigade. Stripped of their escort, there was little the three sub-flights could do but fling themselves at the convoy and then flee for home. Five of the Beauforts managed to get off good drops, unfortunately without any result (though three hits were claimed). Then began one of the longest air battles of the entire campaign, as the badly outnumbered eight struggled to fight through the 70 miles to safety. Five , N1100 (PO G. Belfield) of 22 Squadron, N1169 (FL R. G. W. Beveridge), N1186 (FO R. B. Seddon), N1166 (PO B. W. Way), and X8923 (FO D. A. R. Bee), all of 39 Squadron, did not make it, the latter actually lost over the island itself. Of the 20 aircrew, only five (Belfield's crew and FO McGregor of Seddon's crew) were rescued. Of the three that reached Malta, Lander's X8924, whose wing tip had actually hit the sea at one point, would not fly again while N1102 (FO S. W. Gooch) would be under repair for some time. Amazingly, other than sweat from the crew, FL A. T. Leaning's W6505 came through the entire ordeal without so much as a scratch!

While the courage and devotion to duty displayed by the Beauforts crews could not have been higher, the aftermath of the mission was to have severe consequences on the campaign against Rommel's supply lines. The combined squadron had operationally, for all intents, been wiped out. Besides the seventeen highly trained aircrew lost, only one operational Beaufort remained to return to Egypt. It had taken three months to accumulate 10 operational aircraft prior to this mission. It would take another two to replace them. Until June, the Beaufort Squadron had shot its bolt.

There was, however, one other unforeseen consequence of the mission. 

With the loss of Beveridge, 39 Squadron had lost one of the Flight Leaders. The needed replacement had been lingering at Group for several months - one FL Reginald Patrick Mahoney Pat Gibbs, DFC - a man who in the coming months would stamp a huge mark on the course of the war in the Mediterranean. (Mark Horan)

U.S.S.R.: Stalin opens a war loan subscription to raise 10,000 million roubles.

AUSTRALIA: The government approves the 30 March directive in which General Douglas MacArthur is named Supreme Commander, Southwest Pacific Area (SWPA).

ATLANTIC OCEAN: USS Roper sinks U-85, scoring the first submarine sunk by an American ship.

U-85 was the first U-boat to be sunk off the North American coast after the start of the Operation Paukenschlag (Drumbeat) on January 13, 1942. On the day that she was sunk, 14 April, U-85 stayed on the surface through the engagement. After repeated hits on the boat, fatally damaging her, the order to abandon ship was given and maybe half of the crew got into the water and then U-85 started to sink again fast. USS Roper then dropped 11 depth charges onto the already sinking U-boat and its 2 dozen survivors and in the process killed everyone in the water. (Gary Kao)

German submarine U-203 torpedoes and sinks the British freighter SS Empire Thrush approximately 8 miles (12,9 km) north of Diamond Shoals, North Carolina. The antisubmarine vessel ("Q-ship") USS Asterion (AK-100), masquerading as the freighter SS Evelyn (her original mercantile name), picks up entire crew (and the captain's dog). The rescued sailors are enjoined not to reveal the fact that they were rescued by a "Q-ship" and to keep secret Asterion's true identity.

The unarmed U.S. freighter SS Margaret is sunk by German submarine U-571 off the eastern seaboard while bound for New York City from San Juan, Puerto Rico. Although the Germans see the crew lower a boat and put rafts over the side, none of the 29 sailors from Margaret's complement are ever seen again.

Top of Page

Yesterday        Tomorrow

Home

Yesterday                     Tomorrow

April 14th, 1943 (WEDNESDAY)

GERMANY: Stalin's son Jacob dies in a PoW camp.

Stuka pilot Hans Ulrich Rudel is awarded the Oakleaves to the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross.

U.S.S.R.: Leningrad: The Soviet High Command reports today that the Red Army has repulsed a heavy German tank and infantry attack south-east of Leningrad. The attack, says the Stavka, was of an "offensive-defensive" nature, and adds laconically that it resulted in "no material damage."

It would seem from these reports that, although the Russian corridor to the besieged city is only some 12 miles wide in this area, the attack was not a serious attempt to cut the road and railway which the Russians have built to carry supplies to the city's long-suffering people. It is far more likely to have been an attempt to seize a local advantage of terrain before the ground hardens and the Russians renew their attempts to drive the Germans and their allies away from Leningrad for ever.

Following their success in opening a route to the city on 18 January, the Soviets have twice tried to lift the siege completely. In their first attack, on 10 February, they were foiled by the Spanish Azul division, and then on 19 March they were driven off again. The situation now is like two boxers sparring, seeking advantage, before unleashing their big punches.

SARDINIA: Northwest African Air Force B-17s bomb the Elmas and Monserrato Airfields.

Axis forces in North Africa, now occupy their final defence positions in a ring from Cape Serat to Bizerta to Tunis to Enfidaville.

TUNISIA: Ninth Air Force P-40s fly convoy escort, and carry out fighter sweeps over the battle area as the British Eighth Army's 10 Corps continues to make quick jabs at positions at Enfidaville. These attempts to force an enemy retreat are unsuccessful.

During the night of 13/14 April, Northwest African Air Force Hurricanes and Blenheims bomb La Sebala Airfield and attack transport on the Tunis-Pont-du-Fahs road, and Western Desert Air Force light and medium bombers hit the Airfields at Sainte-Marie du Zit and Korba. During the day, B-17s  bomb El Aouina Airfield. P-38s escort the heavy bombers and fly a bombing and strafing mission against a beached vessel southeast of Cape Zebib. A-20 Havocs bomb Bordj Toum. Fighter-bombers hit a motor convoy near Grich el Oued and trucks northeast of Dechret Ben Saidane and a battery east of Djedeida. Fighters fly reconnaissance and sweeps throughout the Tunisian battle area. Patrol planes maintain sea reconnaissance and patrols.

BURMA: Tenth Air Force P-40s dropping 1,000 pound (454 kg) bombs, hit airfields at Myitkyina and Manywet, rendering the runways at both unusable.

CHINA: Fourteenth Air Force P-40s strafe pack horses south of Tengchung, barracks and warehouses in Lungling, and cattle and trucks north of Lungling. 

NEW GUINEA: Fifth Air Force B-17s, B-24s and B-25s carry out widespread attacks on individual enemy vessels. During these raids, B-17s bombing Hansa Bay sink an army cargo ship.

An estimated 144 Japanese bombers and fighters carry out a heavy attack on the Milne Bay area, severely damaging 1 vessel, beaching 1 vessel, and hitting 2 others, but doing very little damage to USAAF facilities in the area. AA defences and the 40+ P-40s and P-38s that intercept the enemy strike shoot down 7 aircraft with the loss of three US fighters.

Captain Richard I "Dick" Bong becomes a Double Ace when he gets his 10th kill, one of the Mitsubishi G4M, Navy Type 1 Attack Bombers (Allied Code Name "Betty") attacking the Milne Bay area. 

HMAS Wagga, a minesweeper, with HMAS ships Kapunda and Whyalla, took part in the defence of Milne Bay during a heavy Japanese air attack. The British vessel "Gorgan" was damaged and the Netherlands troopship "Van Heemskerk" was hit by bombs and set on fire. Minutes before the fire reached drums of petrol, which blew up, the Wagga took the survivors off the ship and saved a lot of lives in doing so. The ship was beached, but became a total loss. The Wagga sustained superficial damage. (Denis Peck)

PACIFIC OCEAN: The Japanese navy completes Operation I, a series of air attacks on New Guinea and the Solomon Islands, with a raid on Milne Bay.

TERRITORY OF ALASKA: ALEUTIAN ISLANDS: The Eleventh Air Force dispatches 30 P-40s, 17 P-38 Lightnings, 9 B-24 Liberators and 6 B-25 Mitchells to fly 10 missions to Kiska Island, bombing and strafing the runway, North Head area, installations, parked seaplanes, and facilities on Little Kiska.

U.S.A.: John Grist Brainerd, director of research at the University of Pennsylvania's Moore School, submits a proposal for an electronic computer to colleagues at the U.S. Army's Ballistics Research Laboratory. The proposal was written by the Moore School's John Mauchly. In May 1943, the Army contracted the Moore School to build ENIAC, the first American electronic computer. 

The USAAF activates the Weather Wing at Asheville, North Carolina to provide scientific weather information for the USAAF and the rest of the Army. This new wing assumes responsibility from HQ USAAF for the supervision of the Army Air Forces Weather Service which was established in 1937.

Top of Page

Yesterday        Tomorrow

Home

Yesterday                     Tomorrow

April 14th, 1944 (FRIDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: DeGaulle retires Free French General Giraud.

U.S.S.R.: Kiev: General Nikolai F Vatutin, injured on 29 February, dies of his wounds.

Moscow: The Red Army has re-conquered the Crimea in a lightning campaign which lasted just six days. Only the southern tip around Sevastopol is holding against Marshal Tolbukhin's Fourth Ukrainian Front. The attack was launched following the liberation of the Black Sea port of Odessa from which the Germans supplied General Jaenecke's 17th Army in the Crimea.

Tolbukhin's men stormed across the Perekop peninsula in the north, outflanking defences by crossing the Sivash lagoon, thus unlocking the northern gate of the Crimea. General Eremenko then came in by the side door, attacking from his toehold at Kerch in the east.

Since then the Russians have rolled up the Germans, who, under Hitler's orders, tried to hold a second line of defence south of Perekop instead of giving ground as Jaenecke wanted to do.

Now the Germans and their Romanian allies have no choice. They have to fall back on the "Gneisenau Line" covering Sevastopol. Thousands of German and Romanian non-combatant personnel and Russian auxiliaries are being evacuated from the Crimea to Constanta. Jaenecke wants to get his fighting men away before they are trapped, but Hitler has ordered that Sevastopol must be held at all costs.

That cost will be high. Moscow radio today broadcast this order: "Sailors and airmen. Don't allow them to escape! Destroy their ships! Shoot down their planes! Don't allow a single enemy to escape retribution!"

ITALY: Twelfth Air Force B-25s attack Viterbo Airfield and Leghorn marshalling yard, B-26 Marauders strike at Poggibonsi, Certaldo, Cecina and Magra, attacking mostly rail facilities and hit Arezzo bridge and viaduct and Bucine viaducts; fighter-bombers also concentrate on rail lines and bridges and hit many supply dumps, gun positions and factories, generally located northeast of Rome.

INDIA: Bombay: The merchant ship Fort Stikine catches fire while at No. 1 berth, in the early stages of cargo discharge. From a sister-ship Fort Crevier, berthed 400 yards away, smoke is seen spiralling from the Fort Stikine's ventilators. Later it is also seen by the steamer Iran, and also by an inspector from the dock police. On a Norwegian ship, the Belray,  Able Seaman Roy Haywood, going below noticed what looked like a wisp of smoke coming from a ventilator on the Fort Stikine. To no one did it occur that the ship might be on fire, and it was not reported. Some time later the fire was seen by returning stevedores. The stevedores scrambled up from the hold shouting "Fire!"

Men from a Bombay fire brigade pump on the quay promptly ran with their hoses to the ship. Not until their section leader was on board however did he remember that, for a fire in a ship carrying explosives, his instructions were to send an immediate No.2 alarm which would call out a larger force. With orders to dial 290, his sub-leader struggled back down the gangway, crowded with dock workers pushing to get ashore, and dashed to a telephone. But the telephone had no dial. Confused, he ran along the dockside, broke the glass of a fire alarm and rang the bell. Thus the fire brigade control room received only a normal call for two pumps. The hands of the harbour clock tower stood at 2.16.

 In the previous five years there had been over 60 fires in ships in Bombay, but only one vessel had been lost, although 15 had carried explosives.

Because of the stink from the fish manure, the master of the Fort Stikine, Captain A.J. Naismith had told the dockers at Bombay to unload the fish first. When the fire broke out among the cotton bales they still had 6,000 cubic feet of timber on top of them. Above the timber the upper part of No.2 hold was packed with explosives. Below the cotton lay a thick layer of ammunition.

Eight minutes after receiving the alarm the fire station officer arrived with two pumps. He sent an immediate No.2 call to the control room. Eight more pumps and an emergency tender turned out. At 2.35 p.m. Norman Coombs, chief of the Bombay fire brigade, arrived dressed in slacks and jacket. he had had no time to change into uniform.

In the meantime, Captain B.T. Oberst, an ordnance officer rushed on board and secured a plan of the ships stowage. Then he hurried to Captain Naismith: "You have enough explosive here to blow up the whole of the docks," he said. "The only way out is to scuttle the ship," Coombs joined Oberst in his plea for scuttling, but Colonel J.R. Sadler, general manager of the docks, disagreed. He told Naismith that the only safe action was to take the ship out to sea; there was only four feet of water between her keel and the harbour bed, a distance so short that the water would not cover even the lower part of No.2 hold. Captain Naismith confused by conflicting advise, made no decision except to try to get in touch with Lloyd's surveyor.

Soon the serious nature of the fire became apparent, and every effort was made to contain it. Thirty-two hoses crossed her decks and a thousand tons of water poured onto the seat of the fire in No. 2 hold. Decks and shell plating grew red-hot.

For nearly an hour the firemen poured water into the burning ship. During this time most of the dockside workers went un-concerned about their jobs. The Fort Stikine did not display the red flag indicating that she carried explosives. She sounded no warning blasts at any time. A sailor on the Japalanda, which lay astern the Fort Stikine, grew so bored watching the fire fighting that he went below to read.

But at least one onlooker saw trouble ahead. Able Seaman Roy Hayward, on the Belray, had fought fires in the London blitz. he saw the flames from the Fort Stikine turn a yellow brown colour, and a phrase from his old fire service drill book leapt into his mind: "Yellow brown fire - explosives!" he shouted to his comrades, "Down! and fell on his face in the Belray's gun pit.

At 15:45 the explosive caught fire. Five minutes later a great sheet of flame shot up and the ship became a flaming torch. At 16:06 the fore-part of the ship exploded with a deafening roar. Flaming drums, blazing cotton and damaged. Dock gates, bridges and berths were destroyed, sheds warehouses and offices were demolished and the ruins afire; roads, railways and equipment a mass of tangled wreckage. No. 1 berth was a devastated crater, very few persons remained alive nearby, and smoke and flame enveloped the wreck.

Of the firemen scrambling from the Fort Stikine sixty six where killed outright and eighty three injured. The blast created a tidal wave which hurled the 5,000 ton, 400 foot long Japalanda from her berth and lifted her bow 60 feet to come rest on the roof of a dockside shed.

The explosion played capricious tricks. White hot metal, flung haphazardly into the town, picked out victims at random. Captain Sidney Kielly strolling with a friend, was cut in half by a piece of metal plate. His friend was unhurt.

On the dock C.W. Stevens, a marine surveyor was talking with Captain Naismith and Chief Officer Henderson of the Fort Stikine. Stevens was flung along the quayside. After the blast swept over him he stood up to find himself blackened and naked. Nobody saw Naismith and Henderson again.

Nearly a mile from the docks, D.C. Motliwala was sitting on his third floor veranda. A bar of gold crashed through the roof and lay on the veranda floor.

The million pounds-worth of gold had disintegrated. In the explosion the fore-part of the ship had blown off and sunk. The after-part remained afloat and on fire.

Meanwhile, on the Belray, Able Seaman Hayward made his way from the gun pit to the boat deck which was strewn with the injured and dying. He picked up a man who had lost a leg, carried him down the gangway, then went back for others. Time after time he made his awful journey of mercy, placing the injured between two intact walls where they would be relatively safe from the continual bursts of ammunition.

The last man was an Indian seaman who had lost both legs. Hayward picked him up and carried him towards a small car on the quay. He had just reached the car when, from the red glow inside the pall of smoke that hid the Fort Stikine, there came a second roar, far greater than the first.

Thirty-four minutes after the first blast this after-part containing 784 tons of explosive, also blew up with a blast even more shattering than before. Hayward hastily bundled the man underneath the car, then pushed under as far as he could himself, lying there until the hail of fragments ended. Then he put the man into the car and saw him off to hospital. Flying, flaming debris fell again into the dock area and into other parts of the city, causing terrible devastation and many more casualties.

Whereas the first explosion had burst sideways, losing some of its shock in the water and the quayside sheds, the second bore straight up, flinging flaming metal, timbers and cotton to a height of 3,000 feet. At the top of its trajectory the mass mushroomed and fell over an area of 900 yard radius.

Another huge crater was born where the remains of No. 1 berth had previously been. Chaos followed, for no organisation was equipped to deal with a disaster of such magnitude, and the two docks at the heart of the fire were virtually abandoned. Norman Coombs, the fire brigade chief saw that the harbour was ringed with fires. leaving the docks to the military, he ordered the remnant of his forces into the residential district, where houses where now burning. The radius of the fire was over a mile; hundreds of sheds, the edge of the oil depot and the western part of the city burnt furiously.

The human toll taken by the second blast was frightful. In two hours St. Georges Hospital took in 231 victims, and treated 140 more in the casualty department. The chief theatre sister at the hospital took on some of the surgical cases herself to help the overworked doctors.

After the injured came the dead. By Sunday morning the hospital mortuary was packed to the ceiling with corpses. Hundreds of bodies where never recovered.

In the Alexandra Dock area were three ammunition ships and four others with explosive cargoes and many sheds filled with explosives. A loaded tanker lay nearby. Fires had to be extinguished and the injured rescued. A central organisation was finally formed and the task of salvage and rescue got under way as confusion turned into efficiency. By the light of searchlights from the cruiser HMS Sussex, soldiers, sailors and harbour officials moved sixteen ships into the open sea. Men with no previous experience handled the tugs. This delicate operation took 19 hours, but the amateur pilots did not lose a single ship.

The work of rescue, fire fighting and salvage went on for many days. In a town where racial tension ran high (Bombay had only recently been the scene of bitter rioting) men of all nations joined in the common effort.

British and Indian soldiers, RAF men and Allied servicemen moved 39,398 cases of ammunition, weighing up to 115 pounds each, from Alexandra Dock. A party of WRNS set up a first-aid post. They worked all night, with only the flames to give them light. Red Cross girls parked a mobile canteen between the blazing warehouses. With ammunition exploding round them, they stayed until every fireman and rescue worker had had a drink.

Subsequently piles of debris were cleared, sunken vessels scrapped or lifted, quay walls, sheds and other buildings repaired or rebuilt. Docks were drained and cleared and other ruins and wreckage swept into the open sea.

When the damage was added up, it was found that all twenty seven ships in the two docks were sunk, burnt out or badly damaged. Three swing bridges over the entrances of the docks were blown partly from their seatings. The entrance to Victoria Dock was fouled by a 500 ton ship sunk inside and a 300 ton water boat sunk outside, and the gateway itself was blocked by a mound of rubble. Some 6,000 Indian and 2,000 British servicemen worked night and day for six months moving a million tons of debris, to get the harbour working again. Clearance and reconstruction would normally have taken years, but wartime requirement called for action on a grand scale, and the docks were operating again some six months later.

Allied shipping losses in the Bombay explosion were:

Pictures from Bombay after the blast. Picture1 Picture2

BURMA: The British 2nd Indian Division breaks the Japanese position at Zubza and relieves the British 161st Brigade.

Under pressure from the US, Ho Ying-chin, China's war minister, orders troops to cross the Salween river to attack the Japanese.

20 Tenth Air Force P-40s over the Mogaung Valley attack a camp at Manywet; 20 P-51 Mustangs and 3 B-25s support ground forces in the Mawlu area.

JAPAN: 3 Eleventh Air Force B-24s fly an armed photo reconnaissance mission during the early morning over Matsuwa, Onnekotan, and Paramushiru Islands, Kurile Islands. Photographs taken are negative due to cloud cover.

BISMARCK ARCHIPELAGO: The Thirteenth Air Force dispatches 24 B-25s and 40+ fighter-bombers to attack a supply area at Ratawul; and 8 other fighter-bombers hit Wunapope; both targets are on New Britain Island.

CAROLINE ISLANDS: Seventh Air Force B-25s from Eniwetok Atoll in the Marshall Islands bomb Ponape Island.

19 Thirteenth Air Force B-24s on a mission to the Caroline Islands bomb Eten, Param, and Kuop Islands and targets of opportunity in Truk Atoll.

In the Pacific, the I Marine Amphibious Corps was redesignated the III Amphibious Corps. Marine Night Fighter Squadron 532 flew the Marine Corps' first successful interception by F4U night fighters, near the Marshalls. 

MARSHALL ISLANDS: Shortly after 0100 hours local, 12 Mitsubishi G4M, Navy Type 1 Attack Bombers (Allied Code Name "Betty") approach Engebi Island in Eniwetok Atoll to attack the airfield. They are intercepted at 20,000 feet (6096 meters) by four F4U-2 Corsair night fighters of a detachment of Marine Night Fighting Squadron Five Hundred Thirty Two [VMF(N)-532] based on Engebi. The Marines shoot down 2 Bettys and get a "probable" on a third.

All enemy bombs fell into the water; one Marine plane and pilot are lost and another pilot has to bail out with the loss of the aircraft. This was the first successful interception by F4U night fighters. Unfortunately for the squadron, it was their first and last victory of the war. 

A single Seventh Air Force B-24, en route from Kwajalein Atoll to Tarawa Atoll, bombs Jaluit Atoll while B-25s from Abemama Island strike Jaluit and Maloelap Atolls, using Majuro Atoll as an arming station between strikes.

SOLOMON ISLANDS: 20+ Thirteenth Air Force fighter-bombers strike various targets in the northeastern part of Bougainville Island.

NEW GUINEA (Fifth Air Force B-25s and P-39Airacobras hit barges and luggers in Vanimo Harbor and at Bogia.

On Palmyra, a Marine garrison designated Marine Detachment, 1st defence Battalion, was established for the defence of the island. (Richard Gaines)

U.S.A.: Chart topping songs in the U.S. today include "It's Love, Love, Love" by Guy Lombardo And His Royal Canadians with vocal by Skip Nelson; "I Love You" by Bing Crosby; "Besame Mucho" by Jimmy Dorsey And His Orchestra with vocal by Bob Eberly and Kitty Kallen; and "Too Late to Worry, Too Blue to Cry" by Al Dexter and his Troopers.

Top of Page

Yesterday        Tomorrow

Home

Yesterday                     Tomorrow

April 14th, 1945 (SATURDAY)

FRANCE: A series of French attacks on remaining German positions begins today and will last for 6 days. The area is in the south-west at Royan, in the Gironde estuary. The French battleship Lorraine provides bombardment support for these attacks.

The Eighth Air Force flies Mission 948: 1,167 bombers are dispatched without escort to visually attack enemy pockets on the Gironde estuary; 2 B-24s are lost; other Allied Air Forces and French naval units attack similar targets; the air attacks precede a ground assault by a French detachment of the Sixth Army Group on the defence pockets which deny the Allies use of port facilities in the Bordeaux area:

- 480 B-17s hit 15 strongpoint's and flak batteries in the Bordeaux/Royan, Pointe Coubre and Pointe Grave areas without loss. 

- 315 B-24s hit 12 strongpoints and flak batteries in the same area as Force 1 above; 2 B-24s are lost.

- 338 B-17s attack 4 strongpoints and flak batteries in the Bordeaux/Royan area without loss.

NETHERLANDS: A French Canadian Soldier attacks and liberates ALONE the city of Zwolle in the Netherlands. The soldier is Private Léo Major, DCM & Bar. He was a scout and a sniper. (Jocelyn Major Proud Son of Léo Major, DCM & Bar)

GERMANY: Himmler orders that no prisoners at Dachau concentration camp "shall be allowed to fall into the hands of the enemy alive."

"A handover is out of the question. The camp must be evacuated immediately. No prisoner must be allowed to fall into the hands of the enemy alive," says a handwritten note, apparently referring to Dachau concentration camp. It is signed by Gestapo chief Heinrich Himmler and dated April 14, 1945.

Central GERMANY: With Patton's Third Army thrusting through the Thuringian Forest to Dresden and Leipzig, the gap between the Americans and the Russians is closing rapidly and Germany is being sliced in two. There are fears that Hitler may attempt a last-ditch defence in the southern redoubt based on Berchtesgaden. French and American troops are closing on the Danube before crossing into Bavaria. In the north, the British are moving on Bremen, Hamburg and Wilhelmshaven to forestall any attempt to mount a defence of the ports.

Relentless Allied air attacks on Germany are wiping out the Luftwaffe on the tarmac and the Kriegsmarine in harbour. Figures show that 1,738 enemy aircraft were destroyed in a week's attacks on 59 airfields. A total of 332 were shot down in air combat. Many German planes are limited by a lack of fuel.  

18 Ninth Air Force B-26s fly a leaflet mission in the Ruhr area; fighters fly patrols, sweeps, and armed reconnaissance, and support the US 3d Armored Division southwest of the Elbe/Mulde River junction near Dessau, the 9th Armored Division in the Borna and Lobstadt area, XX Corps elements which continue to arrive at the Zwickauer Mulde River, the VIII Corps along the Weisse Elster River south of Gera, XII Corps elements in the Bayreuth area, the 2d and 5th Armored Divisions along the Elbe River in the Barby-Magdeburg and Tangermunde areas.

29 Fifteenth Air Force P-38s bomb and strafe railroad targets in the Munich and Regensburg-Linz, Austria areas.

AUSTRIA: Fifteenth Air Force bombers attack the Klagenfurt marshalling yard as a target of opportunity.

The Taifun Express, rocket and missile train arrives at Linz. (Sandy Bybee)

ITALY: During the night of 13/14 April, Twelfth Air Force A-20s and A-26 Invaders continue to hit communications in the Po Valley; bad weather over the northern part of the Brenner line prevents medium bomber attacks but the B-25s, escorted by 54 Thirteenth Air Force P-51s, hit alternates on the southern part of the line at Salorno, San Ambrogio di Valpolicella, and Chiusaforte, bomb gun emplacements southeast of La Spezia in support of the US Fifth Army, and hit 5 defensive positions along the British Eighth Army front in the Argenta area; fighter-bombers concentrate on supporting Fifth Army forces southwest of Bologna.

318 Fifteenth Air Force B-17s and B-24s hit ammunition factories at Avigliana, Spilimbergo, Malcontenta, and Palmanova, and a motor transport depot at Osoppo; 158 fighters provide escort.

U.S.S.R.: Moscow: The scene is now set for the Red Army's assault on Berlin. The victorious marshals, Zhukov, Konev and Rokossovky, are drawn up in overwhelming strength, ready to attack. Zhukov and Konev dislike one another, and there is keen rivalry between them for the honour of taking the German capital. Elsewhere, the Russians are slackening their advance. East Prussia is now harmless. Vienna has fallen. Graz is threatened. But it seems as if the Russians are holding their breath in readiness for the last 40-mile march on Berlin. It will be a desperate affair.

JAPAN: On Okinawa, the 4th and 29th Marines launched a coordinated attack on the Motobu Peninsula inland in an easterly direction and west and southwest from the centre of the peninsula, respectively. (Richard Gaines)

Kamikazes damage battleship USS New York (BB-34) and destroyers USS Sigsbee (DD-502), USS Dashiell (DD-659), and USS Hunt (DD-674). 

Carrier-based F6F Hellcats, FM Wildcats and F4U Corsairs shoot down 45 Japanese aircraft near the ships of Task Force 58. 

The aircraft carrier HMS Formidable joins the RN's Task Force 57 replacing HMS Illustrious which is ordered to retire for an overhaul.

PACIFIC OCEAN: Japanese vessels sunk at sea:

- Submarine USS Gabilan (SS-252) attacks a Surabaya-to-Makassar convoy, sinking a cargo vessel and an auxiliary submarine chaser.

- Submarine USS Tirante (SS-420) attacks Japanese convoy MOSI-02 in the approaches to the Yellow Sea, sinking a transport, an escort vessel, and a coast defence vessel west of Quelpart Island. For his skill and daring in carrying out this surface attack through mined and shoal-obstructed waters, Lieutenant Commander George L. Street III, Tirante's captain, will receive the Medal of Honor.

- An aircraft sinks an auxiliary submarine chaser off French Indochina.

- An aircraft sinks a merchant cargo ship near Rima Island.

COMMONWEALTH OF THE PHILIPPINES: 24 Seventh Air Force B-24s based on Angaur Island, Palau Islands, bomb supply and personnel areas at Tigatto. 

Far East Air Forces B-24s, B-25s, A-20s, and fighter-bombers fly numerous strikes in support of ground forces and against airfields, gun positions, defences, and troop concentrations throughout Luzon, Cebu, Negros, and Mindanao Islands.

SBDs from Marine Aircraft Group 24 flew the last Marine aviation mission on Luzon, in support of the 37th Army Division. (Richard Gaines)

JAPAN: Tokyo: Not a building is left standing in ten square miles of Tokyo after a four-hour fire-bomb raid last night by 327 USAAF B-29s. Where yesterday there were wooden homes, workshops and munitions factories, there is only smoking rubble in which thousands are feared to have died. The imperial palace was also damaged. The fire-storm started as 2,139 tons of incendiaries filled with jellied petrol set buildings burning so fiercely that all air was consumed, creating strong winds that spread the fire further - until there was nothing left to burn.

BURMA: 41 Tenth Air Force P-47s and P-38s attack troops, supplies, and fuel dumps at Tawnghkam Nawng-hkam, Mong Kung, Loi-makhkawn, and Nawngkaw; 8 P-38s damage bridges at Kong pau and Kyawngteng; 446 transport flights are flown to forward areas.

CHINA: 24 Fourteenth Air Force B-24s, supported by 12 P-51s, bomb Loyang and knock out a bridge over the Yellow River; 30+ B-25s and 130+ fighter-bombers attack bridges (knocking out at least 6), river, road, and rail traffic, troops, storage areas, town areas, and general targets of opportunity over the vast expanse of southern and eastern China. 

Far East Air Forces B-25s sweep the Canton-Hong Kong waterways, hitting shipping and other targets.

FORMOSA: Far East Air Forces B-24s bomb four airfields.

Top of Page

Yesterday        Tomorrow

Home