19 April 1939

Yesterday Tomorrow

1933: COMMONWEALTH OF THE PHILIPPINES: Major General Stanley D Embick, then commander of Manila Harbor Defences, described the provision to despatch a fleet to relieve Manila as "literally an act of madness" and assessed that the US should either massively increase its Philippine defences or completely withdraw to the Eastern Pacific. (Embick was later to serve as Chief of War Plans and, during World War II, to be one of Marshall's closest advisors.) (Marc Small)

April 19th, 1939 (WEDNESDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: HMS Bonaventure, an anti-aircraft cruiser is launched at Greenock in Scotland.

Britain will guarantee the independence of Denmark, the Netherlands and Switzerland.

19 April 1940

April 19th, 1940 (FRIDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM:
RAF Bomber Command: Reconnaissance - Hamburg. 51 Sqn. (Armstrong Whitworth Whitley IVs from Dishforth, Yorkshire) Task carried out as briefed. Considerable searchlight activity, but Flak negligible.

RNAS Hatston: poor weather results in no missions today.

NORWAY:
The country becomes a Reichskommisariat, led by Joseph Terboven under the control of the German Foreign Office.

Lofoten Islands: A force of British and French troops have landed at the Lofoten Islands, off Narvik. The aim of the Lofoten Islands force is to take Narvik. Maj. Gen. Macksy's force includes the French 5th Demi-Briage of Chasseurs Alpins - specialists in mountain warfare. However, the French have been dogged by trouble. Their convoy had been bombed by the Luftwaffe, one escorting destroyer was so badly damaged that it had to put back to France. When they reached port and began unloading cargo they discovered that their skis were useless - they had been shipped without bindings.
The British 148th Brigade at Åndalsnes under Brig. Gen. Harold de Riemer Morgan loads his troops onto trains to carry them the 60 miles inland to Dombas. From Dombas he intends to turn north to Trondheim, as he had been instructed to do. But General Ruge, who was eagerly awaiting their arrival, had a more pressing need for the British. "My men are near exhaustion," he told Morgan, and he warned that the Norwegian positions to the south were in danger of imminent collapse unless the British general rushed troops to their assistance.
The appeal seemed logical. If the British advanced northward and the Norwegian positions fell, the Germans could readily cut the only supply line from Åndalsnes to Dombas. The British would be stranded in unfamiliar terrain, wedged between the German garrison at Trondheim and the advancing spearheads of the German troops from Oslo. Morgan orders to his men south 80 miles to Lillehammer, and take up positions to the south of the city.

The British 146th Brigade retreats from Steinker towards Namsos.

(Mark Horan adds):

Off NORWAY:

HMS Furious had expected to finally get fully refuelled from the newly arrived tanker War Pindari (5,559 BRT), but the need to get underway in the face of two air attacks left little doubt that Tromsø was no longer a safe haven. Abandoning further efforts, she put to sea at her best speed on three shafts, 20 knots. That afternoon, having received word (errantly) that five German destroyers were at sea, a single Swordfish was send off on an armed reconnaissance mission ahead of the ship. The aircraft, 818 Squadron's U3K, became entangled in a snowstorm and was unable to return home. The crew navigated to Skogsfjord where they force-landed in a snowy field. The aircraft was recovered by Norwegian Navy personnel and taken to Skattoia, while the flight crew, Lieutenant(A) S. Keane, RN (P), Lieutenant A. S. Marshall, RN (O), and Naval Airman F. Clark, RN (AG) eventually reached friendly forces.

ATLANTIC OCEAN/The Clyde: HMS Ark Royal in company with the destroyers HMS Westcott and HMS Bulldog are en-route to the Clyde. HMS Glorious docks at Greenock and begins loading stores and equipment for 263 Squadron, RAF.

GERMANY:
Berlin: Jodl notes in his diary - 'Renewed crisis. Political action has failed. Envoy Brauer (the German minister in Oslo) is recalled. According to the Fuhrer, force has to be used...' The conference at the Chancellery becomes so embittered, with the heads of the three services blaming each other for the delays, that even the lackey Keitel stalked out of the room. 'Chaos of leadership is again threatening,' Jodl noted.

U.S.A.: The Japanese government advises the US that it has no aggressive intentions against the Netherlands East Indies.

19 April 1941

April 19th, 1941 (SATURDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM:
Labour exchanges across Britain were filled today with 20 and 21 year old women signing up for war work under the new Employment Order.
Under the order, brought in by the Minister of Labour, Ernest Bevin, women with young children will not be compelled to work for the war effort, but they must all register so that their cases can be considered. Subsidised childcare is being made available.
The government has also issued an Essential Work Order compelling reluctant companies to employ women to do war work.

RAF Bomber Command: 2 Group: Three aircraft of 18 Sqn. sink a 7,000-ton ship in the North Sea and a Blenheim of 101 Sqn. sinks a 5,000 tonner.

London:
Tonight London experiences its heaviest air raid since the "Great Fire" of December 29. The attack lasted until the early hours. 712 aircraft dropped 153, 096 incendiaries, which started a record 1,500 fires followed by a rain of 1,026 tons of high explosive and parachute mines. These are as large as pillar-boxes and weigh over two tons. They drift down on the wind, exploding on impact with the surface with the maximum blast effect. Two can completely obliterate a street. One mine failed to explode and lodged on the railway bridge leading to Charing Cross, where it was disarmed on the spot by a naval squad.
Eight London Hospitals including Guy's were hit. Christie's auction rooms, Maples' furniture store and the Shaftesbury theatre were destroyed, parts of Selfridge's set on fire, the Speaker's House at Westminster, the Royal Hospital, Chelsea, the Law Courts and Wellington Barracks badly damaged.
St. Paul's is closed after a 500-pound bomb crashed through the north transept, strewing the crypt below with wreckage. Fortunately the St Paul's Watch, whose rest room is beneath, were all on the roof dealing with incendiaries. All the remaining windows were shattered, but the dome was not shaken by the blast.
Other churches destroyed or burnt out included St Andrew's, Holborn - Wren's largest after St Paul's - the City Temple, St Clement Danes and Chelsea Old Church.

GREECE:
The Germans take Olympus and Larissa, the SS 'Adolf Hitler' division cutting off the Greek retreat. General Wavell arrives in Athens to meet Generals Wilson and Blamey. By dawn all units except parts of battalion in the Pinios Gap were south of Larisa and the Anzac Corps was deploying in the Thermopylae positions.

IRAQ: The first Imperial troops arrive in Iraq when the British 20th Indian Brigade lands at Basra. Although Rashid Ali's new government objects, these movements are covered by a 1930 treaty and with no German support available, the objections are just words.

EGYPT:
Cairo: British Headquarters in Egypt announced: Violent attacks by German armoured formations and infantry units, aimed along the entire front, have been repulsed. The enemy has suffered heavy losses and we have taken many prisoners. Despite the heavy attacks, our lines have not been broken at any point.

Our patrols around Tobruk have launched several bold attacks.

19 April 1942

April 19th, 1942 (SUNDAY)

BURMA: The Chinese Expeditionary Force holds Twingon, near Yenangyaung, enabling over 7,000 Allied troops of the 1st Burmese Division to escape the Japanese.

The Chinese soldiers who met the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers put their blue caps on their rifle butts and waved them in the air, so that the British would not think they were Japanese. The Japanese saw them do it and did the same. They killed a score of Inniskillings that way.

The Chinese Nationalists, of General Sun Li-jen's division, had been fighting to the east of the British "Burcorps" troops, defending the Burma Road that carries supplies to Chiang Kai-shek's army. When most of "Burcorps" found itself trapped by the Japanese forces, Sun's division fought its way through and enabled the beleaguered Britons to escape. However they lose all of their tanks and much of their artillery and motorised transport. They have very little left to defend Mandalay, Lashio and the Burma Road and northern Burma.

CHINA: American missionary John Morrison Birch, comes across Colonel James H. Doolittle and members of his squadron who have just completed their air-raid on Tokyo. This accidental meeting behind enemy lines proved to be the rescue the airmen had hoped for. With his encyclopaedic knowledge of the language, customs, and geography of China, Birch was able to convey Doolittle and crew member of several of the other American bombers to safety in free China.

Birch, an American Baptist missionary has been serving in China since 1940.

COMMONWEALTH OF THE PHILIPPINES: The Japanese have completed their conquest of Cebu Island and encounter little organized opposition on nearby islands.

AUSTRALIA: All radios in the northern port of Darwin are silent. The reason for this is that on a previous night, a weak signal, using a three month old coastwatcher code, from a coastwatcher who had not been heard from for some time, had been picked up at the radio listening station at HQ Northern Territory Force in Darwin. All commercial and military radios have been told to stay off the air. About a month had passed since the last of the Allied Pacific bases had fallen and the Allies believed that the Japanese had uncontested control of their new empire; apart from some guerrilla resistance in the Philippines. Tonight the signal is received again:

this time more clearly but the listeners in Darwin were sceptical, suspecting a Japanese ruse; they demanded proof of identity from the signallers, a transcript of the message follows.

Darwin; Do you know George Parker (the coastwatcher)

Signaller; Yes, he is with us

Darwin; what rank is he?

Signaller; Captain

Darwin; Is he there? Bring him to the transmitter. What is your wife's name George? Parker; Joan Darwin; What is the street number of your house? Parker; 94

A coastwatcher officer in Darwin, knew from set procedures that this was Parker and that he was not a prisoner. Darwin HQ was satisfied and asked for a report. The response was completely unexpected and secured a place in Australian military history.*

"The Timor force is intact and still fighting; badly need boots, quinine, money and ammunition."

Members of "Sparrow Force" the 2/2 Independent Company AIF, and survivors from the 2/40th Battalion, 22nd Brigade, 8th Division AIF along with local East Timorese guerrillas had taken to the mountains of East Timor and were holding salient about 100km long, anchored on the sea at each end with the town of Dilli in the centre. After 61 days of isolation, during which they had followed orders and continued to fight; contact with the outside world had finally been re-established. The message set in motion an effort to support and supply the men. (William L. Howard)(188, 189, 190, 191)

U.S.A.: Lieutenant Ronald Reagan, a reserve Cavalry officer, is called to active duty.

Washington: Roosevelt tells the White House press corps that the Doolittle raiders came from the mythical land of Shangri-La.

Secretary of the Treasury Henry Morgenthau asks Americans to spend 10 percent of their income on war savings bonds.

CARIBBEAN SEA: German submarine U-130 uses its deck gun to bombard Royal Dutch Shell refineries at Ballen Bay on Curacao in the Netherlands West Indies.

ATLANTIC OCEAN: Armed U.S. freighter Steel Maker is torpedoed and sunk by German submarine U-136 west of Bermuda. "I am sorry to have to sink you and do this to you," one German officer says apologetically after the enemy has questioned the survivors about the ship, its cargo, and destination, "but this is war." He promises to send Steel Maker's position to enable the Americans to be rescued. The last survivor is picked up on 18 May.

19 April 1943

April 19th, 1943 (MONDAY)

BELGIUM: Resistance fighters stop a train of Jewish prisoners bound for Auschwitz.

Raf Casert , The Associated Press

Published: Thursday, April 19, 2007

BOORTMEERBEEK, Belgium — In the dark amid the steam engine’s hisses, Simon Gronowski snuggled against his mother on the straw of a cattle train packed with Jews bound for Auschwitz. Suddenly there were shrieks of brakes, shouts in German, and the rattle of gunfire.

Outside, Robert Maistriau’s fake stoplight had done its work and the Belgian resistance fighter forced open a car — letting 17 people out before he came under fire and was forced to flee with two accomplices.

It was April 19, 1943, the only documented case of resistance fighters stopping a train to free Jews.

Transport XX, with 1,619 remaining prisoners, started once again cutting its way through the night toward its secret destination. Simon, then 11, soon slumbered in his mother’s warm embrace, unaware of what the raid had started:

Prisoners emboldened by the rescue attempt started prying open the doors.

"When my mother woke me," Gronowski recalled, "the door was wide open."

Within seconds, his life changed. His mother Chana took him by the hand and lowered him onto the step, the rush of wind roaring in his face. She held his collar tight and he heard her shout in Yiddish: "Der tsug geyt tsu schnell!"

— the train goes too fast!

Simon had practiced jumping for freedom from the top beds of the Mechelen Dossin Barracks, 20 miles outside Brussels, ever since the Gestapo had locked up his family a month earlier. And when the train lost speed, he took the leap of his life — a 100 franc bill from his mother tucked tightly in his sock.

"Then I waited for my mother," he said.

She never came. Nazi guards on the train realized there was another break and started shooting. Simon went on a mad, night-long rush through woods and fields along with about 200 others who had jumped from the cars.

His mother was gassed a few days later at Auschwitz. `Der tsug geyt tsu schnell,’ were the last words he’d hear her say.

Gronowski, now 75 and a lawyer for most of his life, recalled that April evening sitting on a velvet couch in an apartment in Brussels — side-by-side with the man he credits with saving his life, Maistriau.

"It is because of him that I am a father and a grandfather," said Gronowski. "Of all the convoys, which traversed Europe between 1940 and 1945, hundreds of convoys of Jews, only one was stopped, my convoy, the 20th convoy. It is a unique fact, extraordinary."

Ward Adriaens, director of the Jewish Museum of Deportation and Resistance near Brussels, said the rescue was unique in the history of the Holocaust.

"As far as we can see, in the whole of Europe where thousands and thousands of trains brought millions of people to the gas chambers, it is the only registered case of stopping a train to save Jews," he said.

But Maistriau, the last survivor of the resistance team, brushed off accolades with a wan smile. "The Jews were the victims of war," he said.

He did take pleasure in recalling how adrenaline coursed through his body as he flung open the door to the train car. To his horror, many prisoners refused to flee.

"I shouted in bad German that they had to leave, this was the moment to rescue themselves," he said. "Some said ... `We’re going off to become farmers.’

I told them of the great dangers they faced."

Then one prisoner seized the opportunity, and then a few more before the Germans started shooting and the train was again hurtling through the night.

Of the 232 who jumped, 26 were shot and killed. Eighty-seven were recaptured.

Maistriau gave money to a few who escaped, got on his bike and cycled away.

The next morning, he celebrated in a patisserie with one of his accomplices, Youra Livschitz, who was later executed as a resistance fighter. "After something like this, they go have pastries," chuckled Gronowski.

On Friday, the Jewish Museum of Deportation and Resistance commemorates the raid and the victims with a project called "Give them a face." Outside the Dossin barracks in Mechelen, billboards with some 1,200 passport pictures of the prisoners give the statistics human faces.

Gronowski was given a preview of the grainy photos. He scratched his white beard as he surveyed one old picture after another, mumbling "I am looking for my mother."

After a walk along the billboards on the site where the train embarked for Auschwitz, he suddenly said: "Look, my mother."

"I have never seen this photo," he said. "She is very young in this photo.

I find her very beautiful."

Up to the Allied victory in May 1945, Gronowski believed his mother and older sister Ita, who was on another train, would come back to him.

He was briefly reunited with his father, who was ill in a hospital when the family was rounded up and escaped capture. The father died shortly after liberation, broken by the deaths of his wife and daughter. "I was quite alone,"

Gronowski recalled.

For half a century, Gronowski never discussed the rescue for fear of plunging into depression. He broke his silence when he realized that as one of the last surviving witnesses he had a role to play in history.

"I want to fight anti-Semitism and revisionism," he said. "I never get depressed anymore."

By speaking out, Gronowski met Maistriau. As they chatted in the former resistance fighter’s apartment, they found they both have children working as lawyers in Brussels.

"Who could have thought that then?" Gronowski said.

But the memory of his mother haunts him.

"She knew she could not jump and run like a kid," he said. "She sacrificed herself for me."

(http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/story.html?id=34f1d219-af20-49a0-847d-bcaf603d5853&k=27732)

POLAND: The Warsaw Ghetto uprising begins. The Jews rise up and drive 2,000 heavily-armed SS troops under Lt-Gen Stroop from the ghetto.
The final liquidation of the Warsaw Ghetto is timed for the Eve of Passover, tonight.

The final liquidation of the Warsaw Ghetto began on the Eve of Passover, April 19, 1943. The deportation did not come as a surprise. The Germans had amassed a military force to carry it out, but did not expect to engage in a confrontation that included street battles. Armed German forces ringed the ghetto at 3:00 a.m. The unit that entered the ghetto encountered armed resistance and retreated. The main ghetto, with its population of 30,000 Jews, was deserted. The Jews could not be rounded up for the transport; the railroad cars at the deportation point remained empty.

After Germans and rebels fought in the streets for three days, the Germans began to torch the ghetto, street by street, building by building. The entire ghetto became a sizzling, smoke-swathed conflagration. Most of the Jews who emerged from their hideouts, including entire families, were murdered by the Germans on the spot. The ghetto Jews gradually lost the strength to resist. On April 23, Mordecai Anielewicz the ZOB commander wrote the following to Yitzhak Zuckerman, a member of the ZOB command who was stationed on the "Aryan" side: "I cannot describe the conditions in which the Jews are living. Only a special few will hold out; all the others will perish sooner or later. Their fate is sealed. None of the bunkers where our comrades are hiding has enough air to light a candle at night.... Be well, my dear, perhaps we shall yet meet. The dream of my life has risen to become fact.

Self-defence in the ghetto will have been a reality. I have been a witness to the magnificent, heroic fighting of Jewish men of battle". The rebels pursued their cause, even though they knew from the outset that they could not win. Even before the war ended, the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising became a symbol of Jewish resistance. (Russ Folsom)

NORTH AFRICA: Another German effort to fly supplies into Tunisia fails.

TUNISIA: The British 8th Army makes small gains but suffers heavy casualties near Enfidaville, 45 miles (72 km) south of Tunis.

The U. S. II Corps takes over the northern end of the Allied line and prepares to attack.

Ninth Air Force B-25s hit landing grounds and defensive positions, and P-40s escort bombers and fly fighter sweeps in support of the British Eighth Army assault on Enfidaville.

During the night of 18/19 April, Northwest African Air Force Blenheims bomb La Marsa landing ground and roads nearby, and attack activity on beach at Reyville. During the day, B-17s bomb shipping at Tunis. B-25s and A-20 Havocs raid the La Sebala Airfield and fighter-bombers attack tanks in the battle area.

BURMA: Tenth Air Force P-40s hit bridges, seriously damaging the Namti railroad bridge between Mogaung and Myitkyina. Nine B-24s bomb Rangoon's main railroad station.

NEW GUINEA: Fifth Air Force B-17s, B-24s and B-25s bomb airfields at Hollandia and Lae.

BISMARCK ARCHIPELAGO: Fifth Air Force B-17 Flying Fortresses, B-24s and B-25s mount individual attacks against Gasmata and Cape Gloucester Airfields on New Britain Island.

SOLOMON ISLANDS: In the first night fighter victory in the Pacific, a USAAF P-70 shoots down a Mitsubishi G4M Navy Type 1 Attack Bomber (Allied Code Name "Betty") near Tulagi Island at 0425 hours.

PACIFIC OCEAN: The submarine USS Scorpion (SS-278) mines waters off Kashima Nada, Japan while USS Seawolf (SS-197) sinks a Japanese depot ship east of Okinawa.

TERRITORY OF ALASKA: ALEUTIAN ISLANDS: The Eleventh Air Force flies 9 missions involving 14 B-24 Liberators, 12 B-25 Mitchells, 32 P-40s, and 23 P-38 Lightnings to Kiska Island. The first mission is weathered out of the primary target, Attu Island, and directed to Kiska. Bombing and strafing concentrates on 4 grounded ships and the submarine base area where fires are started. One ship, believed to serve as a power station, is set afire.

19 April 1944

April 19th, 1944 (WEDNESDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: USAAF tactics summary for Operation No. 308.

"Me-109's and FW-190's participated in the only interception of the day, An estimated force of 50 fighters, protected by an additional 50 flying as top cover, made attacks which persisted for only about eight minutes on one Combat Wing. One mass attack was made head-on as the enemy aircraft dived through the formation in large Groups without taking any evasive action. After this one pass at the entire Combat Wing, the fighters directed their efforts at stragglers and the trailing elements. In these instances, the enemy aircraft attack in Groups of three astern, coming in level from the six o'clock position and closing to about 600 yards before breaking away."

(Scott Burris)

FRANCE: Railway links and river crossings throughout northern and western France - vital for Germany's defence against an Allied invasion - are being attacked with unprecedented fury by RAF and USAAF bombers. In 36 hours some 7,000 tons of bombs have been dropped. Pilots are ordered to pick their targets with care to ensure that French casualties are kept to a minimum.

Last night, RAF Lancasters and Halifaxes struck at rail links outside Paris and at Rouen, dropping 4,000 tons of bombs. It was the biggest load carried in a single raid. In order to conceal the intended invasion area, for every ton of bombs dropped behind the invasion zone the Allies are dropping two tons elsewhere in France.

Aircraft losses are falling; 14 bombers were lost last night and five in the earlier raids. The Germans are believed to be restricting their use of fighters because of dwindling supplies of aviation fuel caused by Allied bombing of oil refineries.

The Eighth Air Force flies Part 2 of Mission 308 27 B-24s bomb V-weapon sites at Watten; 1 B-24 is lost; escort is provided by 47 Ninth Air Force P-47s without loss.

GERMANY: The Eighth Air Force Mission 308.

During Part 1 of this mission: 772 bombers and 697 fighters are dispatched in 3 forces; they claim 17-1-6 Luftwaffe aircraft; 5 bombers and 2 fighters are lost.

- 271 B-17s hit the Kassel area, Eschwege Airfield, Limburg and a target of opportunity; 5 B-17s are lost.

- 243 B-17s hit Lippstadt and Werl Airfields and a target of opportunity without loss.

- 230 B-24s bomb Paderborn and Gutersloh Airfields, Soest, Koblenz, Buren and targets of opportunity without loss.

Escort for the three forces above is provided by 127 P-38s, 439 Eighth and Ninth Air Force P-47 Thunderbolts and 131 Eighth and Ninth Air Force P-51s; they claim 16-1-2 Luftwaffe aircraft; 2 P-51s are lost.

The Ninth Air Force dispatches 350+ B-26 Marauders and A-20s to bomb marshalling yards, city areas, and targets of opportunity at Gunzburg, Ulm, Neu Ulm, Donauworth, and Schelklingen; fighters fly over 1,200 sorties against a variety of targets in north-western Europe.

ITALY: Twelfth Air Force B-26s hit the Cecina railroad bridge and Ancona marshalling yard while B-25s hit a marshalling yard at Piombino; P-47s hit railroad tracks, a marshalling yard, junction, and railway cars between Pontedera and Empoli and between Figline Valdarno and San Giovanni Valdarno.

U.S.S.R.: The Red Army battles for Sevastopol.

Action along the Soviet front subsides as spring mud and floods make movement impossible. The exception is the Crimea, where Tolbukhin's 4th Ukrainian Army is closing on Sevastopol.

CHINA: Japanese troops strike south along the Peking to Hankow railway, in Honan province.

The Japanese offensive gathers momentum as the 12th Army pushes down the Peking-Hankow Railroad toward four B-29 bases of the U. S. 14th Air Force. The Japanese easily defeat Chiang Kai-shek's poorly led, equipped and trained army.

BURMA: Air Commando Combat Mission NO.45 4:05 Flight Time Hailiakandi, Assam to Mawlu, Burma Bombed Japanese troops (Chuck Baisden)

Air Commando (2nd mission) Combat Mission N0.46 2:55 Flight Time Same as mission 45.

Notes: Am now taking atabrine tablets and skin is turning a bit yellow but no fever, chills or backaches. We are getting a ration of beer and I've got a case under my cot. Officers coming around to swap their booze for beer.

Our S/Sgt crew chief got himself all warped out of shape on a bottle of Bombay gin. Came into Col. Alison's office with Gin bottle in one hand and a machete in the other. Demanded a promotion which of course he did not get. I was never sure of the exact outcome of this incident as he continued to do the maintenance work on our plane but in a rather subdued and quiet manner. (Chuck Baisden)

The Tenth Air Force dispatches 6 B-25s and 8 P-51 Mustangs to attack troops and stores northwest of Banmauk; 10 P-38s hit the airfield near Meiktila; and 5 P-51s attack troop positions near Mawlu and a bridge at Shweli.

Four Fourteenth Air Force P-40s attack the village of Takaw causing several fires and sink a ferry- boat in the area.

EAST INDIES: Sumatra: Admiral Sommerville's British Eastern Fleet including the carrier USS Saratoga (CV-3), British carrier HMS Illustrious and three US destroyers attacks Japanese ships and positions at Sebang, as part of Operation Cockpit to divert attention from the start of landings at Hollandia, in New Guinea. This is the first joint naval exercise in the Indian Ocean.

NEW GUINEA: Fifth Air Force B-24s hit Urarom and Manokwari while B-25s, A-20s, and fighter aircraft strike a wide variety of targets around Hollandia, Aitape, Bogia, Uligan, Bunabun, Madang and Cape Croisilles.

SOLOMON ISLANDS: Thirteenth Air Force fighters hit the Numa Numa area on Bougainville Island.

FRENCH INDOCHINA: Three Fourteenth Air Force B-25s damage a bridge at Thanh Moi and score hits on railroad and buildings south of the bridge.

BISMARCK ARCHIPELAGO: 38 Thirteenth Air Force fighter-bombers hit supply areas on Matupi Island.

CAROLINE ISLANDS: Seventh Air Force B-24s, staging through Eniwetok Atoll, bomb Truk Atoll while B-25s from the Gilbert Islands strike Ponape Island.

21 Thirteenth Air Force B-24s bomb the airfield at Satawan Atoll, hitting the target area with about 50 tons of high explosives while B-24s bomb Woleai Atoll.

During the night of 19/20 April, RAAF Catalinas mine the waters in and around Woleai Atoll.

U.S.A.: Washington: President Roosevelt has given the go-ahead to make Lend-Lease contracts for a further year. The House of Representatives approved the move by a huge majority today. But behind the scenes intensive talks are going on about what to do about international payments now that the war is ending. Lend-Lease has provided the munitions, industrial materials and food for Britain to fight; now some Americans feel that the country is strong enough to start paying its way again.

In baseball, New York Giants manager and right fielder Mel Ott hits the first National League home run of the season, the 464th of his career, helping the Giants defeat the Boston Braves, 2-1. Ott will finish the season with a .288 batting average and 26 home runs.

Ott retires from the playing field after the 1946 season with a career .304 batting average and 511 home runs. During the 1948 season, he is replaced as manager halfway through the season by Leo Durocher.

19 April 1945

April 19th, 1945 (THURSDAY)

GERMANY: In the west, the U.S. First Army nears its final stop line in central Germany as it captures Leipzig and Halle. Eisenhower has ordered the First and Ninth Armies to halt along the Elbe and Mulde rivers and let the Red Army overrun areas that will be part of the post-war Soviet occupation zone. Leipzig is taken.

In the east, Zhukov's army crashes through German defences and swarms to within 20 miles (32 km) of Berlin's eastern suburbs.

Konev's army threatens southern Berlin.

The British 2nd Army reaches the Elbe River south of Namburg.

German Field Marshall Model commits suicide.

Patton's US forces cross the Czech border.

Final German surrenders in the Ruhr pocket total 325,000.

The Eighth Air Force flies Mission 961: 605 B-17s and 584 P-51s are dispatched to make visual attacks on rail targets in south-eastern Germany and north-western Czechoslovakia; they claim 18-1-5 Luftwaffe aircraft; 5 B-17s and 2 P-51s are lost:

- 135 B-17s bomb the Elsterwerda marshalling yards while 143 bomb the Falkenberg marshalling yards. Escorting are 191 P-51s that claim 5-0-0 aircraft; 1 P-51 is lost.

- Of 321 B-17s dispatched, 115 hit the railroad industry and rail bridge at Pirna while 87 hit Karlsbad and 109 bomb the marshalling yard at Aussig; they claim 6-1-2 aircraft; 5 B-17s are lost. The escort is 197 P-51s; they claim 7-0-3 aircraft.

Ninth Air Force bombers hit marshalling yards at Ulm, Neu Ulm, and Gunzburg (primary targets), the city of Donauworth and a target of opportunity at Schelklingen; weather prevents 70+ of the 450+ dispatched aircraft from bombing targets; fighters fly escort to the bombers, carry out patrols and armed reconnaissance, bomb a radio station, and cooperate with the US VII Corps in the Halle-Dessau area, the XII Corps attacking southeast from south of Bayreuth, the XX Corps in the Bamberg-Nurnberg area, preparing to drive toward Austria, and the XIX Corps along the Elbe River in the Magdeburg area.

Fifteenth Air Force heavy bombers Bischofshofen and Rosenheim while 78 P-38s dive-bomb the marshalling yard at Weilheim.

AUSTRIA: Fifteenth Air Force B-17s and B-24s bomb the Rattenberg railroad bridge and marshalling yards at Lienz, Klagenfurt and Linz.

CZECHOSLOVAKIA: Eighth Air Force fighter pilots shoot down five Me 262 jet fighters between 1150 and 1300 hours local.

NORWAY: During the night of 19/20 April, 11 Eighth Air Force B-24s fly CARPETBAGGER missions; 2 B-24s are lost.

ITALY: The US Fifth Army breaks out of the Apennines onto the Po plateau.

During the night of 18/19 April, Twelfth Air Force A-20s and A-26 Invaders bomb roads, vehicles, and lights in the Bologna, Turin, Milan, and Mantua areas, and continuing to attack Po River crossings, hit 8 bridges; B-25s and B-26s bomb bridges in the Brenner Pass and support ground forces at several points including Budrio, Vignola, and San Martino in the Soverzano areas; fighter-bombers hit dumps, communications, and close support targets in the US Fifth Army battle areas south and west of Bologna.

Fifteenth Air Force bombers attack the Avisio viaduct, the Vipiteno railroad bridge, Anti-Aircraft batteries near Grisolera and Santo Stino di Livenza, and several minor targets of opportunity.

CHINA: 12 Fourteenth Air Force B-24s bomb railway repair shops at Taiyuan; 3 others attack targets of opportunity in Bakli Bay on Hainan Island, 8 B-25s attack bridges and rail and road traffic north and northeast of Anyang and northeast of Taiku, damaging or destroying several locomotives and numerous boxcars; 100+ P-40s, P-51s, and P-47s attack town areas, troops, river, road, and rail traffic, and general targets of opportunity all over southern and eastern China and hit a few targets of opportunity in northern French Indochina.

BURMA: Pyinmana in the Sittang Valley falls to the 5th Indian Division.

XXXIII Corps clears the Mt. Popo area.

Magwe falls to the British 20th Indian Division.

14 Tenth Air Force P-38s hit supplies near Paklu, a fuel dump at Hainang, and bridges near Kunna; 1 bridge is knocked out; 6 other P-38s attack targets of opportunity along roads behind enemy lines; air supply operations continue as 800 tons of supplies are landed or dropped in forward areas.

COMMONWEALTH OF THE PHILIPPINES: US I Corps takes Vigan, Luzon.

Numerous missions are flown by the Far East Air Forces A-20s, B-24s and B-25s in support of ground forces on Luzon, Cebu, and Negros Islands. On Mindanao Island, Thirteenth Air Force B-24s bomb personnel areas at Kabacan, Cagayan, and along the Davao River. USMC SBD Dauntlesses attack IJA positions on Jolo Island. B-25s and USMC F4U Corsairs and SBDs sweep highways and road on Mindanao.

FORMOSA: Fifth Air Force B-24s bomb Tainan Airfield and Shinchiku town.

JAPAN: While serving as a radio operator on board a B-29 Superfortress over Koriyama, Henry Eugene "Red" Erwin, of Leeds, Alabama, was responsible for dropping phosphorus smoke bombs. One of the bombs exploded in the launching chute. The burning phosphorus bomb shot back into the interior of the aircraft, striking him in the face and obliterating his nose and completely blinding him.

Erwin realised that the aircraft and crew would be lost if the burning bomb remained in the plane. He picked it up and instinctively crawled toward the co-pilot's window. Erwin located the window and threw the bomb out. Engulfed in flames, he fell back upon the floor.

The smoke cleared and the pilot pulled the plane out of its dive at 300 feet. Erwin's gallantry and heroism went above and beyond the call of duty and saved the lives of his comrades, according to the citation for his subsequent Medal of Honor. (MOH) (Air Force Print News)

The Seventh Air Force flies Very Long Range Mission 4:

104 P-51s based on Iwo Jima fly a fighter sweep to Atsugi and Yokusuka Airfields; they claim 23-0-7 aircraft in the air and 14-0-23 on the ground; 2 P-51s are lost.

Eight Eleventh Air Force B-25s off to bomb Kurile Island targets abort due to weather.

Iva Toguri, a Japanese-American marries Felipe D'Aquino, a Portuguese, registering with the Portuguese consulate in Tokyo and Toguri declining to take her husband's citizenship.

OKINAWA: An enormous bombardment precedes attacks on the Shuri Line, but the 7th, 27th and 96th Infantry Divisions make small gains and suffer severe losses. The 1st and 6th Marine divisions complete occupation of north and central Okinawa.

PACIFIC OCEAN: US submarines sink 9 Japanese vessels at sea:

- Submarine USS Cero (SS-225) sinks a guardboat south of Japan.

- Submarine USS Sennet (SS-408), attacking a convoy in Kii Suido

off the south coast of Kyushu, sinks an auxiliary submarine chaser and a merchant cargo ship.

- Submarine USS Silversides (SS-236) sinks a guardboat .

- Submarine USS Sunfish (SS-281) attacks a convoy off Hokkaido, sinking a gunboat and a merchant cargo.

- Submarine USS Trutta (SS-421) sinks a merchant vessel and two merchant fishing boats.

PALAU ISLANDS: 25 Seventh Air Force B-24s, based in the Palau islands, bomb nearby Arakabesan and Koror Islands.

BONIN ISLANDS: 8 Seventh Air Force P-51s from Iwo Jima bomb and strafe Futamiko in the Bonin Islands. During the night of 19/20 April, 6 P-61 Black Widows from Iwo Jima, operating singly and at intervals, bomb and strafe Chichi, Haha, and Muko Jima Islands.

BORNEO: Thirteenth Air Force B-25s attack Tarakan while B-24s bomb Sandakan.

CAROLINE ISLANDS: 17 Seventh Air Force B-24s from Guam bomb Dublon, Fefan and Eten Islands in Truk Atoll.

U.S.A.: The musical "Carousel", based on Molnarís "Liliom," opens at the Majestic Theatre in New York City. John Raitt and Jan Clayton starred in the show which ran for 890 performances. Music was by the team of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein.

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