29 April 1939

1901 Hirohito, ruler of Japan during World War II and Japan's longest-reigning monarch, was born.

UNITED KINGDOM: Wolverhampton Wanderers win the FA Cup when they defeat Leicester City 3-1 at Wembley.

UNITED KINGDOM: RAF Bomber Command: 4 Group. Bombing - Fornebu airfield. 102 Sqn. Six aircraft detailed, five took off and bombed. One FTR.

NORWEGIAN CAMPAIGN: U class submarine HMS Unity lost in collision in fog in the North Sea off Blyth. Whilst proceeding down the swept channel the Unity was struck by the Norwegian freighter Atle Jarl. The crew clambered on to the casing as the submarine sank and were rescued by boats from Atle Jarl. Unfortunately two of the escapees drowned before rescue, and two of the crew remained inside the sinking submarine for too long and went down with her. (Alex Gordon)(108)

The sea phase of the evacuation of Sickleforce begins. First a sloop took off 340 men. After darkness fell that evening more than 1,800 British troops, exhausted and hungry, stumbled aboard blacked-out warships and transports.

King Haakon and the Norwegian Government are en-route from Molde to Tromsø on the British cruiser HMS Glasgow. The quay at Molde was aflame when they left, with the crew of HMS GLASGOW playing hoses on the flames. (88) (Alex Gordon) They will arrive on May 1st.

HMS Furious, in company with HMS Isis, HMS Ilex, and HMS Imogen arrives in the Clyde, the carrier anchoring off Greenock at 0800 in preparation to being dry-docked for repairs and refitting. HMS Glorious, at Scapa Flow, flew off her two unserviceable Skuas and has the pilots attempt to acquire replacement aircraft for what remains of 803 Squadron.

HMS Ark Royal has retired out to sea to rest and reorganize her air group in preparation for the planned bombardment of Trondheim Leeds by the Home Fleet, after HMS Glorious rejoins.

However, at Setnesmoen landing ground the 18 year old Midshipman(A) Gallagher and Naval Airman Halifax were making every attempt to fly their Skua back to the Orkneys. Unfortunately, the RAF Gladiators that were briefly based at the field were started by hand crank, and thus no replacement starter cartridges were available. Unaware that HMS Ark Royal had departed the area, Gallagher trekked to the evacuation site, conferred with the Naval Commander, and managed to get a message sent to the ship requesting that an aircraft fly out and airdrop a box of Coffmann cartridges on the field. Upon returning to his aircraft, he found that the few remaining RAF personnel were hiding from the constant German air attacks, intending to carry out their final demolitions that night under the eye of their Royal Marine protectors. Determined to wait into the morrow for the needed cartridges before destroying their plane, the pair slept under its wing that night (Mark Horan)

ASW trawlers HMS Cape Chelyuskin and Cape Siretoko bombed and sunk by German aircraft off Norway.

POLAND: Auschwitz: The camp’s new commander, Rudolf Hoess, takes up office and drafts 30 violent convicts from Sachshausen to be senior camp guards (kapos).

CANADA: Ottawa: A plan to train 20,000 aircrew in Canada as part of the Empire’s war effort is set to take off. The deal with Britain is said to impose a "staggering responsibility" on Canada where 40,000 experts are needed to teach flying at 58 centres. The first of these opens next month at Camp Borden, where the first qualified pilots will be kept as instructors. Observers and air gunners will also be trained under the deal signed by the Prime Minister, William Mackenzie King, and Lord Riverdale. Australia hopes to provide some 10,000 aircrew each year for the RAF; although some RAAF squadrons are joining in the fight as complete units it seems that the Australian role will be as a training service for the RAF. Other significant help is coming from Rhodesia and individual Americans.

Britains' Air Ministry first proposed a Commonwealth Air Training Scheme before 1939, but, ironically, the Canadians were unenthusiastic. The outbreak of war has rapidly changed people’s minds.

U.S.A.: Washington: Roosevelt sends Mussolini a message asking him to use his influence to bring peace.

15 Blenheims of 82 Sqn make a sweep off Norway, one large freighter is damaged for the loss of two Blenheims.

ITALY: Count Ciano writes: "The Croatian affair has taken many steps forward. The crown is offered to a prince of the house of Savoy..."

GREECE: Sgt. John Daniel Hinton (b. 1908), 2nd New Zealand Expeditionary Force, cleared three machine guns, a mortar and a German-held house before being taken, wounded. (VC)

Evacuations through this morning from Greece result in about 50,00 troops removed at a cost of 2 destroyers and 4 transports.

Greece falls. 223,000 P.O.W.s. Some Greek and British soldiers escaped to Crete. The British lost 12,000 men and all their heavy equipment. The Germans lost 2,559 men, 5,820 wounded men, 3,169 missing men. (Steve Stathros)

SYRIA: In reply to a British warning of a possible German airborne attack against Syria, General Dentz replies that his orders are to resist all aggression.

UNITED KINGDOM: The Luftwaffe's bombers have added Norwich and York to their list of historic towns visited in revenge for the RAF's attacks on Lübeck and Rostock. They bombed and machine-gunned Norwich for over an hour two nights ago, and last night, by the light of a brilliant moon, they struck at the heart of York.

These Baedeker raids follow the attacks on Exeter and Bath; in each case the bombers delivered about half their loads on target and despite their small numbers, caused considerable damage and killed 400 people. British experts are sure that the bombers accuracy is due to a new electronic target beam and are working on a way of confusing the pilots so that they drop their bombs in open country.

The Germans are also suffering heavy casualties on these raids. Seventeen bombers have been shot down out of 150 used, and many of the lost crews are instructors thrown into action to appease Hitler's rage over the RAF attacks.

The Baedeker raids can be seen, therefore, to be doing more harm to the German war effort than to the British in the long run.

Tonight sees the last bombing operation by the Armstrong Whitworth Whitleys of Bomber Command with a raid on Ostend, Belgium.

BELGIUM: An explosion in a chemical factory, believed to be sabotage, kills 250 people.

MEDITERRANEAN SEA: U class submarine HMS Unge is believed to have been attacked by Italian fighter aircraft off Ras el Hilal whilst she was shelling MV San Giusto. (Alex Gordon)(108)

CHINA: Japanese troops lay siege to the Nationalist 39th Army at Buxian, in south-west Shantung.

BURMA: The Japanese enter Lashio. China is now cut off from the Allies by land. All supply will be by air. The dangerous route of "Flying the Hump" is born.

SOLOMON ISLANDS: As part of Operation "MO", the 3rd Kure Special Landing Force occupies the former RAAF seaplane base on Tulagi Island.

COMMONWEALTH OF THE PHILIPPINES: Japan applies steady pressure to force the defenders of Mindanao to retreat, and shells Corregidor heavily.

U.S.A.: The movie marquees in Times Square, New York City are ordered blacked out.

ATLANTIC OCEAN: At 0857, the unescorted Mobiloil was torpedoed by U-108 about 350 miles NE of Turks Island. The tanker had been spotted by the U-boat already at 1950 in grid DC 9592 the day before, but she was steaming at 14 knots and it took so long to come into an attack position. At 0412, a first torpedo already missed, before the U-boat fired a spread of two torpedoes at 0857 and hit the tanker with one between the #1 and #2 tanks on the starboard side and blew a large hole in the bow. Then the U-boat surfaced and began shelling the tanker from a distance of 2000 meters with all weapons, while Mobiloil was firing 12 rounds from the 4-in stern gun (the ship was also armed with two .50cal and two .30cal guns). After three hits on the tanker, Scholtz had to cease fire after 50 minutes because the target could not be seen properly, the 2cm AA gun jammed and the gun sight of the 37-mm AA gun was defect. In the meantime the tanker swung around to show the stern towards the U-boat, shifted some ballast and set course toward Bermuda. At 1112 and 1113, the U-boat fired two torpedoes, the first missed and the second struck on the starboard side of the #4 tank, destroying a lifeboat, opening the pumproom, wrecking the living quarters and the gyro compass, but the tanker was able to continue. The sixth torpedo fired at 1645 hit between #7 and #8 tanks on the port side, stopping the engines and caused flooding, this caused the ship to break in two in the middle. The eight officers, 33 crewmen, two workaways and nine armed guards abandoned ship in three lifeboats just before the ship sank at 1712 in 26°10N/66°15W with bow and stern pointing skyward. All survivors were picked up about 86 hours after the attack by submarine chaser USS PC-490 after being spotted and circled twice by aircraft and landed on 4 May at San Juan, Puerto Rico. The master was later convicted of violating convoy routing orders, because he had been ordered to await a convoy off Norfolk, but the vessels did not arrive at the appointed hour, so he proceeded alone.

U-573 was attacked with 325-pound depth charges launched by an RAF 223 Sqn Hudson NW of Argel. Seriously damaged, U-573 headed for Spain, which she reached on 2 May. Unable to finish repairs in time, the boat was interned in Spain.

UNITED KINGDOM: The RAF has converted key areas of the Baltic into a minefield which paralyses shipping. Known to aircrew by the codeword "Gardening" (because areas where mines are laid are named after flowers), mine-laying is a little-publicized form of warfare, yet one which can have deadly results for U-boats on their way to patrol or training areas. Almost 11,400 mines were dropped by Bomber Command last year in spite of heavy flak from ships. In all, 23 aircraft were lost in last night's mission.

NORWAY: Six British commandos place limpet mines on German ships, but are caught by a patrol.

U.S.S.R.: A series of minor attacks in the Caucasus slowly pushes the Germans back.

TUNISIA: 2nd Lt. Louis Curdes, USAAF, 82nd FG, 95th FS, shoots down three German Me-109s and damages a fourth near Cap Bon. (Stuart Kohn)

AUSTRALIA: 79 Sqn RAAF move to Wooloomanata, a station and extemporised airfield near Geelong. (Daniel Ross)

U.S.A.: The motion picture "Mission to Moscow" is previewed at the Earle Theatre in Washington, D.C. to members of the government and the press. Directed by Michael Curtiz, it stars Walter Huston, Oscar Homolka, George Tobias and Gene Lockhart. This propaganda film about the U.S. Ambassador to Moscow, Joseph Davies, in the 1930s contains interesting insights into America's concepts of the USSR before World War II.

The documentary short "Mission Accomplished" is released in the U.S. This ten-minute film details the first high-altitude daylight bombing of Germany by USAAF B-17 bombers.

One man was lost when a 461 Sqn Sunderland attacked U-119.

U-332 sunk in the Bay of Biscay north of Cape Finisterre, Spain, in position 45.08N, 09.33W, by depth charges from an RAF 224 Sqn Liberator. 45 dead (all hands lost).

At 2334, the Nanking was hit in the bow by one of two torpedoes fired by U-123 and sank at 0013 after being missed by a coup de grâce twelve minutes earlier.

At 0924, U-258 fired torpedoes at Convoy ONS-5 and reported hits on three ships. However, only one torpedo hit the McKeesport, the other torpedoes detonated away from the convoy after missing the ship, which had been in station #42 but had fallen slightly astern. The torpedo struck on the starboard side at the collision bulkhead and the #1 hold. The explosion blew out all beams, hatches and ballast, put the steering gear out of order and opened a large hole. The ship continued at full speed for 45 minutes, but developed a list of 20° to port and began to sink further by the head. Then the twelve officers, 31 crewmen and 25 armed guards (the ship was armed with one 4in and nine 20mm guns) abandoned ship in four lifeboats. Due to the list, they had difficulties to launch the boats; some of them became tangled in the lifenets. The survivors were picked up within 30 minutes by armed trawler HMS Northern Gem and landed on 8 May at St John's, but one men died of exposure on the vessel. HMS Tay was ordered to sink the ship by gunfire, but apparently the vessel stayed afloat and was sunk at 1455 by two coup de grâce from U-258.

UNITED KINGDOM: Hal Turell completes his 30th mission by flying to Berlin. Thirty out, thirty back. Hooray! (Hal Turell)

Slapton Sands, Devon: At least 638 American soldiers and sailors were killed when an "Overlord" training exercise codenames "Tiger" was attacked in the Channel by E-boats (German motor torpedo boats) in darkness. Some who took part in the exercise believe the death toll to be much higher because of a communications mix-up which also led to the men being shelled by their own warships on the beaches of Slapton Sands.

E-boats from Cherbourg slipped past patrolling British MTBs during the night of 27-28 April, sank LST (landing ship tank) 507 and LST 531, and torpedoed LST 289. Senior commanders were dismayed to learn that among the missing were ten men who had top-secret information about Overlord. All ten bodies have been recovered.

Some men involved in "Tiger" claim that some landing craft were not told of a one-hour postponement of the exercise and that men began going ashore while the naval bombardment continued.

Whilst pursuing German Elbing class torpedo boats T.27 and T.28 which were based at St.Malo, Tribal class destroyer HMS Athabaskan is struck aft by a torpedo which starts a fire and brings her to a standstill. Ten minutes later she exploded either due to a second torpedo hit or a magazine explosion. T.27 is driven aground by HMS Haida, and then returns to the site of the sinking to find about 100 of Athabaskan’s crew in the water. Haida’s motorboat and a number of floats are left to aid the survivors, and then Haida heads for Devonport which is 100 miles away. Haida’s motorboat loaded with survivors heads north and is chased by three German minesweepers before being escorted by a couple of Spitfires. Later the motorboat is met by a motor launch which took off the crew and survivors. (Alex Gordon)(108)

U-2325 laid down.

U-806, U-901, U-1056 commissioned.

U-1132 launched.

MEDITERRANEAN SEA: U-421 sunk at 1200 in the Mediterranean near Toulon, France, in position 43.07N, 05.55E, by US bombs.

COMMONWEALTH OF THE PHILIPPINES: The Coast Guard-manned Army vessel FS-367 was commissioned April 29, 1944, with LTJG R.H. Greenless, USCGR, as commanding officer. She reached her final destination in the Philippines on 30 December 1944. In Operation L-3, near San Jose, Mindoro Island, Philippines, she anchored 500 yards off Bulong Point midway between Blue and White beaches. The USS Mariposa, Navy X-126, Liberty-type, converted oil tanker, dropped anchor about 300 yards away and some 800 yards from shore. At 1530 Japanese planes, in a sudden and devastating attack of shipping in the harbour sunk or damaged 24 ships. One crashed the USS Arturus, a PT-boat tender, which sank almost immediately. A second made a low level strafing and bombing attack on a group of LSTs unloading at White Beach blowing the stern off one of them and than turned on the Mariposa, into which it crash dived. The tanker immediately burst into flames and a number of the crew either were blown or jumped into the water. The FS- 367 went to her assistance. At the same time a third Japanese plane made a low-level attack on the destroyers outside the harbour, straddling two destroyers with bombs and finally crashing into the USS Ganesvoort, which immediately began to burn and settle in the water, being assisted by two other destroyers, in a sinking condition. Proceeding to assist the Mariposa, the FS-367 took several men aboard with her boarding net and James D. Ellis sighting a man struggling in the water and calling for help, dove into the water and supported him until both were picked up by an LSM. The FS-367 stayed alongside the Mariposa until all survivors had been taken off. About 1900 the FS-367 withdrew out of the line of fire of guns that were about to shell the Mariposa. Later, this was cancelled and the Ganesvoort launched 2 torpedoes into her. Immediately thereafter a great amount of burning gasoline spread over the bay making the FS-367's anchorage unsafe. As she was preparing to move, the Ganesvoort requested she come alongside and take off her crew. By the time she had reached the destroyer, however, the gasoline had spread so widely that the Ganesvoort was in immediate danger of being engulfed. The FS-367, instead of stopping to take off personnel, warped alongside the destroyer and began towing her to a safe anchorage. While so occupied another alert sounded and a Japanese plane was shot down immediately overhead. The FS-367 finally got the Ganesvoort to safety several hundred yards off White Beach. The next day the Ganesvoort was abandoned by her crew in a sinking condition. No casualties ware suffered by the FS-367. She was decommissioned 24 September 1945.

PACIFIC OCEAN: The captured airfields at Hollandia and Aitape are now in use by MacArthur's forces.

Gunboat FS Tahure sunk off Hainan in position 13°02'N, 109°28'E by submarine USS Flasher.

CAROLINE ISLANDS: Task Force 58, which had supported these landings, is now freed and begins a two-day attack against Truk Atoll. Today, 84 USN fighters fly a dawn sweep over Truk and during the day, USN aircraft shoot down 58 Japanese aircraft. During the night, Seventh Air Force B-24s, staging through Eniwetok Atoll from Kwajalein Atoll, bomb Truk and Jaluit Atolls.

U.S.A.: "San Fernando Valley" by Bing Crosby reaches Number 1 on the Billboard Pop Singles chart in the U.S. This song, which debuted on the charts on 11 March 1944, was charted for 22 weeks, was Number 1 for 5 weeks and was ranked Number 8 for the year 1944. Also on this day, Helen Forrest's record of "Time Waits For No One" makes it to the Billboard Pop Singles chart. The song is from the motion picture "Shine On, Harvest Moon" starring Ann Sheridan, Jack Carson, Dennis Morgan and Marie Wilson. This is her first single to make the charts and it stays there for 10 weeks reaching Number 2.

GERMANY: Berlin: In the last hours before his suicide, Hitler proclaimed his faith that the Nazi creed will arise again from the ashes of Germany's defeat. "I die with a happy heart," he says in his last testament, in the certainty that through the sacrifices of his soldiers and himself there "will spring up ... the seed of a radiant rebirth of the National Socialist movement and thus of a truly united nation."

The Führer dictated his message to posterity during the night, soon after his wedding to Eva Braun. In it he says that "international Jewry" must bear "sole responsibility" for the war. Neither he nor "anybody else in Germany" wanted war, but "I left no one in doubt that this time not only would millions ... meet their death ... but this time the real culprits would have to pay for their guilt even though by more humane means than war."

He sees betrayal on all sides: in the army, the air force, even in the SS. And now Hermann Göring and Heinrich Himmler, two men who had been at his side since the early days of the party, had betrayed him be seeking to end the war.

He concludes by asking that his personal possessions be passed to his sister, Paula, "for maintaining a petty bourgeois standard of living."

``He came out of the side room, shook everyone's hand, and said a few friendly words. And that was it. " (Associated Press)

There is little left now for the defenders of Berlin to die for. They are being split up into small groups which fall back to fight from the Flak towers and large air-raid shelters. Guns are set up in railway yards, squares and parks to hold off the advancing tanks. It appears that a last stand will be made in the Tiergarten, but more and more men, realizing that defeat is inevitable, are risking the SS execution squads and surrendering.

Berlin: General Weidling's diary (90) courtesy of Russ Folsom:
Catastrophe was inevitable if the Fuhrer did not reverse his decision to defend Berlin to the last man, and if he sacrificed all who were still alive and fighting in this town for the sake of a crazy idea. We racked our brains as to how we could avert fate. Surely the Fuhrer must realize that even the bravest soldier cannot fight without ammunition. The struggle was devoid of point or sense. The German soldier could see no way out of this situation. With a heavy heart I set out for the next situation briefing.

I once more mentioned the possibility of a breakout, and drew attention to the general situation. Like a man fully resigned to his fate, the Fuhrer answered me and pointed to his map. The position of our troops had been sketched in from reports on the foreign radio, because our HQs were no longer reporting them.

Since his orders were not being carried out, it was pointless to expect anything - for example, any help from VII Panzer Division (4), which according to its orders should have been approaching from the Nauen area.

The completely broken man got up from his chair with a great effort, with the purpose of allowing me to leave. But I urged him to take a decision as to what was to be done when all the ammunition was used up, which would be the evening of the next day at the latest. After a brief discussion with General Krebs, the Fuhrer replied that in that case the only thing to do would be to break out of Berlin in small groups, since he still refused to surrender Berlin.

30,000 surviving inmates of Dachau are liberated by troops of the US 3rd Army. The advance continues toward Munich.
Dachau: Enraged GIs who liberated Dachau death camp today killed many SS guards crossing their paths, including at least 30 who had surrendered. At Webling, about five miles away, 43 SS men were killed, one an officer whose head was smashed open with an entrenching tool. The GIs, men of the 157th and 222nd Infantry Regiments, found mounds of bodies outside a crematorium, and lying inside and alongside rail cattle trucks. Local civilians were busy looting, accompanied by their children. An arrogant commander attempted a formal military hand-over. The GIs screamed "Kill 'em!" and opened fire. Twelve died before a colonel intervened.

Dachau: Those liberated today included Lt-Cdr Patrick Albert O'Leary (real name Albert Marie Edmond Guerisse) (1911-89), a Belgian, who ran a PoW escape network in France before his betrayal in 1943. Silent under torture, he was sent to Dachau.

After three weeks of tense negotiations, the German garrison in Italy surrendered unconditionally. More than one million men - 22 German divisions in Italy and Austria - are preparing to lay down their arms and march into prison camps. A vast are of former Axis territory is now in Allied hands.

Negotiations began in great secrecy. The Germans had lost most of their heavy guns and tanks when they were trapped south of the Po. Fleeing survivors - including generals - had been forced to swim to safety as Allied tanks raced across the valley. Bologna had fallen and partisans had taken control of Milan and Turin. The German position was hopeless.

It was an SS general, Karl Wolff, who made the first overtures, using Cardinal Schuster of Milan as intermediary. The surrender document was signed at Allied headquarters here today. In a proclamation, General Heinrich von Vietinghoff, the German commander, told his soldiers: "Hitherto you have obeyed your Führer. Today you must obey your orders."

Venice is liberated by the 8th Army.

BURMA: The XXXIII Corps takes Allanmyo in the Irrawaddy Valley. The series of British attacks has caused a great deal of disorganization among Japanese forces in this area.

The British 17th Indian Division has captured Nyaunglebim and continuing toward Payagyi, in the Sittang Valley.

OKINAWA: Kamikazes damage the destroyers USS Hazelwood (DD-531) and USS Haggard (DD-555) and the light minelayers USS Shannon (DM-25) and USS Harry F. Baurer (DM-26).

ATLANTIC OCEAN: Convoy RA-66 of 24 ships, becomes involved in the last convoy battle of the
war. There are no transports sunk, only one damaged. But two U-boats are lost. This battle will continue through the 2nd of May.

U-286 Type VIIC Sank the first time 17th March 1944 in the Baltic Sea east of Rgen after collision with U-1013. 26 survivors. Raised and repaired and returned to duty.

On 18 July 1944 a Norwegian Mosquito aircraft (Sqdn 333/K) attacked the boat, causing damages and killing 1 man and wounding 7 more. The boat reached Kristiansand, Norway on the same day.

Finally sunk today in the Barents Sea north of Murmansk, Russia, in position 69.29N, 33.37E, by depth charges from the British frigates HMS Loch Insh, Anguilla and Cotton. 51 dead (all hands lost). (Alex Gordon)

U-427 attacked destroyer HMCS Haida but missed upon departure of Convoy RA-66 from Kola Inlet. Also in escort were sister ships HMCS Iroquois and Huron.

U-307 sunk in the Barents Sea near Murmansk, Russia, in position 69.24N, 33.44E, by depth charges from the British frigate HMS Loch Insh. 37 dead and 14 survivors.

Whilst engaged on an A/S sweep off Kola prior to the departure of convoy RA.66, frigate HMS Goodall is torpedoed and magazine explodes blowing away the forward part of the ship. Beyond salvage, she is abandoned and scuttled. Location: entrance to Kola Inlet at 69 25N 33 38E. Goodall is the last British warship to be sunk by submarine attack. (Alex Gordon)(108)

U-1017 sunk in the North Atlantic NW of Ireland, in position 56.04N, 11.06W, by depth charges from an RAF 120 Sqn Liberator. 34 dead, unknown number of survivors.

(4) The 7th Panzer Division, as a battered remnant of Heeresgruppe Nord, was evacuated from Danzig shortly before it's fall to the Red Army in April 1945. It was evacuated without any vehicles or equipment to speak of, and was in the process of re-organization during the time it was purported to have taken part in the defence of Berlin. It's presence at Nauen in the late April 1945 time-frame, and in any recognizable combat-ready state, was by any standard, wishful thinking on the part of Hitler.