March 27 1941 American and British staff officers concluded their conferences in Washington on a common strategy if the U.S. entered the war. Britian and the U.S. reached an agreement for the transfer of British naval and air bases in Newfoundland, Burmuda, Jamaica, St Lucia, Antigua, Trinidad, British Guiana, and the Bahamas to the U.S. Congress approved an appropriation of $ 7 billion for the U.S. lend-lease program. Seventeen year old King Peter II assumed power in Yugoslavia after Army and Air force officers overthrew the government which had been forced to bring the country into the Axis. Churchill immediately promised British aid, but the new Belgrade government under General Dusan Simovich vowed to remain neutral. Hitler upon hearing of the coup, said to his military leaders “destroy Yugoslavia as a national unit . . .with unmercifal harshness.” The decision forced a crucial month-long delay in the German invasion of Russia. British forces captured the fortress of Keren in Eritrea. It was the main defense bastion for the Italians, who fought fiercely for seven weeks to keep it. The British overpowered the garrison but lost 4,000 men. The Italians suffered 3,000 losses. With Keren gone, all of Eritrea was open to the British.
1942 British forces raided the St Nazaire Naval facility in France. The German battle ship Tirpitz was in Norway, but the British feared it would break-out to menace the Atlantic convoys. If it did , it could only be docked at the St Nazaire lock which in peacetime had accommodated the French luxury liner Normandie. British Commandos were therefore given the task of destroying the huge lock. In the early morning hoursof the 28th a force of 260 men aboard a former American destroyer (Campbeltown ) loaded with explosives tried to ram the lock. eightteen coastal craft went in with her. The operation succeeded but only after the force was serverly mauled.All but two of the small ships were sunk, stranding many of the Commandos. In all, 170 of the men were killed or captured. But the old American destroyer, with its delayed action fuses , blew uparound noon before the Germans could disarm her, and the Tirpitzwas deprived of its base to prey on convoys
1944 Polish underground units were directed to make contact with the Russian Army in Poland.
1945 The U.S. First and Third Armies linked up near the Lahn River. About 20 towns were taken in the advance which carried the Allies to within 200 miles of Berlin. BritishXVII Corps forces advanced five miles through the Wesel Forest. House-to-house fighting took place in Danzig and Gdynia. Russian troops were 60 miles from Vienna. Sixteen prominent anti-communist Poles, including the deputy premier of the government-in-exile, were invited to a conference with Russian officials on political matters. When they arrived, all were arrested. The Poles were sent to Moscow and imprisoned, eliminating the last vestages of anti-communist leadership remaining in Poland. Cebu City fell to the American Division. B-29’s began night missions to mine the waters around Japan,eventually establishing a total blockade. More than 1,000 tons of mines were dropped into the Shimonoseki Strait alone within the next 4 days. The last V-2 rocket bomb fell on Britian. inall the 1,115 V-2s launched against England killed 2,855 people and seriously injured 6,268. Argentina, under U.S. presure declared war on Germany and Japan.
Mar 27 1937 Japan tuned down a 14 inch naval gun limitation proposal on the grounds that ships of other maritime powers were already equipped with more 15-inch guns than Japan’s and Russia had two ships with 16-inch weapons
March 28 1940 The Supreme War Council of the Allies agreed neither France or Britian would enter into separate peace arrangements. A study was ordered “for the bombing of the Russian oil area of the Caucasus,” a reflection of concern that the Germans would be fueled by Soviet oil. The council also ordered the mining of Norwegian waters.
1941 The Italians suffered a crushing defeat in the battle of Cape Matapan off the southern tip of Greece. Most of the Italian fleet was concentrated in these waters, but the British nontheless challenged the large enemy force with aircraft and surface forces. The crusiers Pola, Zara, and Fiume, and two destroyers were sunk by british gunfire. More than 2,400 Italians were lost aboard the five ships. The only British loss was a swordfish torpedo bomber airsraft. Total air raid civilian casualties to date were 28,859 killed and 40,166 injured.
1942 28-29 lubeck was subjected to a devastating raid by the R.A.F., the opening of bomber command’s main offensive against Germany. Bataan’s defense garisson was begining to experience severe problems as further efforts to break the Japanese blockade failed. Horses and mules were by now being slaughtered for food. The Vatican established diplomatic relations with Japan. The first trainload of Jews from Paris began being shipped to Auschwitz. Six thousand were earmarked for imprisonment.
1943 The British Eightth Army completed occupying the main positions on the Mareth line. Patton’s II Corps opened up an offensive directed at Gabes. French colonial camel corps troops of the southeast Algerian Command completed the capture of a string of towns to the south.
1944 Nikolayev was retaken by the Russians. The Allies conceded the campaign to take Monte Cassino was a temporary failure.
1945 Hitler dismissed Guderian as chief of the Army General Staff after a violent quarrel in the Reich Chancellery. Russian units reached the Austrian border. Gdynia was occupied inthe north. British Second Army forces began an offensive to reach the Elbe. U.S. troops began occupying Frankfurt. Mannheim’s burgomaster sought th surrender the city. The American 4th Armored Division found a bridge over the Main intact. First army units reached Marburg and Giessen, advancing up to 40 miles a day. Eisenhower confirmed plans for the final campaign to knock Germany out of the war choosing Leipzig instead of Berlin as the ultimate objective. Russia was to occupy the German capital. The decision had wide range political implications. Churchill futiley tried to change the thrust of the final Allied push, continuing to express his concern over Russian political gains after their military conquests. Soldiers Of the Burma Natonal Army revolted against the Japanese in central and southern Burma and joined forces with the Allies.
1939 The civil war ended in Spain. Madrid was formally surrendered to General Franco
1933 The German Nazi party began an organized campaign to boycott Jewish stores and shops.
1938 The Japanese established the “Reformed Government of the Republic of China” in Nanking
Mar 29 1940 foreign Minister Molotov declared the Soviet Union would remain neutral in the European war.
1942 In an achievement that buoyed Allied hopes, a convoy reached the Soviet Arctic port of Murmansk by evading German ships and planes. The Murmansk run remained the most dangerous of the war. The Chinese withdrew from Toungoo, and the Japanese moved forward toward Prome. Philippine guerrillas were organozed as the anti-Japanese Peoples Army ( the Hukbalahaps ) under communist leader Luis Taruc. Britian offered India independence after the war.
1943 Montgomery’s forces pressed northward through Gabes and El Hamma.
1944 Japanese troops cut the road between Imphal and Kohima. Chinese troops occupied Shaduzup as part of an effort in northeast Burma to divert the Japanese forces from their main goal of moving into India.
1945 U.S, 5th Division forces comp,eted the capture of Frankfurt. Mannheim was abandoned by the Germans. French forces crossed the Rhine near Germersheim. U.S.3rd Armored Division units pursued disorganized German forces 50 miles northward toward Paderborn. Fighting continued in the eastern section of Danzig. The Kerama Islands in the Ryukyus were secured by the U.S.77th Division, clearing the approaches to projected landing beaches on Okinowa. Goebbels said “The Germans must stay on their feet no matter how, just stay on their feet, and then the moral and historical superiority of the German people can manifest itself.”
1939 Paris responded to the Italian demands of March 26 for controll of African territory held by France, saying it would not cede a foot of land. Chamberlain announced the British territorial Army would be doubled and placed on a war footing. Poland declared any unilateral action to alter the status of Danzig would be considered an act of war.
Mar 30 1940 A pro-Japanese government for all of China was proclaimed in Nanking to be headed by Wang Ching-wei, Tokyo stated " Arenascent China has just set out on the road to progress, a new defense is about to commence in East Asia" The U.S. refused to recognize the Japanese pupet Chinese government; In the light of whats been happening invarious parts of China since 1931, the setting up of a new regime at Nanking has the appearence of a further step in a program of one country by armed force to impose its willupon a neighboring country and to block off a large area of the world from normal political and economic relationships with the rest of the world. Hitler decreed that “so far as necessary” arms shipments to Russia would receive priority over deliveries to the German Army. This remained in effect untill April 14, when he ordered "punctual delivery to Russia only till the spring of 1941.
1941 The U.S. government seized all German, Italian, and Danish ships in American ports. R.A.F. planes failed to damage the German battle crusiers Scharnhorst and Gneisenau which were attacked while in port at Brest, France.
1942 Japanese troops broke through the outer defenses of Prome.
1943 U.S.units were blocked on trying to reach the Fondouk gap in Tunisia. Stalin was told the Allied convoys to Murmansk were being suspended because of heavy losses. Increasingly suspicious of Washington and London, Stalin assumed the suspension was motivated by political rather than military considerations.
1944 Russian forces were positioned 30 miles from the Ruthenian border U.S. bombers based in the Mediterranean began a series of heavy raids on the Balkans 30th-31st In a costly raid 795 R.A.F.planes attacked Nurnberg but 95 were lost and 71 severely damaged . Long range area raids were suspended as a result.
1945 The Russian Third Ukrainian Front crossed into Austria from Hungary near Koszeg.Danzig fell. Bulgarian and Soviet units advanced to the Drava River boundry between Hungary and Yugoslavia. The capital of Slovakia, Bratislava, was threatened as the Russian Second Ukrainian Front pressed westward across the Hron and Nitra Rivers. The British 6th Airborne and 11th Armored divisions reached the Ems River. Tanks of the 6th Armored Division broke through German defensives noth of Frankfurt and dashed toward Kassel. Heidelberg fell. U.S. Air Force bombers sank 10 German submarines in raids on Naval facilities in the Bremen-Hamburg area.
Nothing yet, two long games of Global yesterday and some chores to do today. I will post later.
Mar 31 1940 Mussolini told his King that Italy must inevitably go to war, but he said it would be " a war parallel to that of Germany to obtain our objectives, which can be summed up in this phrase "Liberty on the seas a window on the ocean.
1941 31st British Naval and Air Forces had sunk one fifth of the German submarine fleet during the month. The losses were particularly damaging to the German effort since many of their experienced commanders were among those lost. British civilian air raid casualties for March were 4,259 killed, 5,557 injured.
April1 Japanese foreign Minister Matsuoka began talks in Rome with Italian officials. He met with the King and told himJapan was in complete sympathy with Italies war aim. Asmara inEritrea fell to Commonwealth troops. The first 4,000 puond bombs were droppedby R.A.F. Wellingtons, on Emden, Germany.
1942 For the previous four months, British air raid civilian casualties were 189 killed and 149 injured.
April 1 Japanese forces began landing on Dutch New Guinea. Forced mass evacuation of Japanese Americans from the Pacific coast states was begun by the U.S. Army A reletive stalemate developed along the entire Russian front, with the Germans concentrating on aiding the II Corps to escape from the pocket at Staraya
1943 Cap Serrat in Tunisia was occupied by The British. British civilian air raid casualties for the first three months of the year were 973 killed and 1,191 wounded.
March 30- April 2 U.S. Naval Task Force 58 aircraft hammered Japanese targets in the western Carolines, including Palau, Yap, and Ulithi. the raids, which resulted in the destruction of 150 Japanese planes, 6 combat ships, and 104,000 tons of miscellaneous shipping, were designed to deny a quick response to the projected invasion of Hollandia, New Guinea. A total of 20 U.S.planes were lost
31st Admiral Mineichi Koga, Commander in-chief of the Japanese combined fleet, disapeared and was presumed killed while fling from Palau to Davao, in the Philippines, during a violent storm. British civilian air raid casualties for March were 279 killed 633 injured.
April 1 A German force of 40,000 was trapped by the Russians at Skala, in the Ukraine
1945 31st German troops began withdrwing fron the Netherlands. U.S. forces discovered 350 suicide boats in the Kerama Islands, which had been positioned for attacks on Allied shipping during the expected invasion of Okinowa. British air raid civiliancasualties for March were 792 killed, and 1,426 injured.
April 1 In what was to become the last , and the blodiest-major amphibious operation of the Pacific war, the U.S. Tenth Army invaded the Island of Okinowa, 360 miles south of Japan. Two army and twomarine division, a force of about 60,000 men, came ashore after intensive air and Naval bombardment. At first there was little Japanese opposition except for the Kamikaze attacks on the invasion fleet. Kadena airfield was taken at once, and the beachheads were firmly established, but the defense stiffened to a leval probably unmatched in the Pacific war. French II Corps units established contact with the U.S. Seventh Army south of Heidelberg after crossing the Rhine near Germersheim. The Ruhr was completely encircled as the U.S. First and Ninth armies linked up at Lippstadt, 20 miles west of Paderborn, trapping German Army Group B and two Corps of Army Group H. It was one of the largrst envelopments in history, with 325,000 Germans eventually captured . In numbers, it was a loss greater than Stalingrad. Soviet forces advanced to within 13 miles of Bratislava. Radio Werwolf begab broadcasting. The radio station was created by Goebbels to rally Germans to suicidal resistance. Its repeated theme was Besser tot als rot (“better dead than red”).
April 2 1940 The U.S. fleet sailed from west coast ports for Pacific maneuvers in the area of Hawaii
1941 British units began falling back in North Africa, abandoning Mersa Brega in the face of heavy German attacks. Mussolini told Matsuoka the U.S. was deliberately provoking war. Matsuooka also visited the Vatican and reported to Tokyo “The Pope took an utterly detatched attatude, free of any favoritism regarding the European war, and approached the question from the point of view of a general peace throughout the world”.
1942 U.S. Tenth Air Force planes flew their first missions in the C.B.I. theater, bombing Japanese fleet units in the Andaman Islands. Prome was abandoned by the British.
1943 A stalemate developed in Tunisia with both sides battered and unable to dislodge the opposing forces
1944 Units of the Second Ukrainian Front crossed into Rumania over the Prut River and occupied Gertza. Hitler continued to profess his belief in ultamate victory. The Russians have exhausted and divided their forces.
1945 Resistance on Okinowa remained light. The 49th Canadian Division advanced toward Arnhem from Nijmegen bridgehead. U.S. troops pushed into Munster. German troops offered strong opposition around Kassel. Martin Bormann issued a proclamation, which called for “Victory or death”. British Royal Marines and Commandos launched an offensive between the Comacchio lagoon and the Adratic Sea. Russian forces crashed through to within 50 miles of Berlin, but swirter progress was made toward Vienna.
Apil 1 1939 With Hitler in attendance Germany launched the battleship Tirpitz, then the biggest in the world at Wilhelmshaven, The 42,900-ton giant carried a crew of 2,500, had eight 15 inch guns and 86 anti-aircraft weapons. Tirpitz was properly called “the most feared ship afloat,” altering European naval strategy once war began.
April1 1933 Hitler ordered a one day nation wide boycott of all Jewish stores, doctors, and lawers in Germany. Other Nazi leaders began urging the expulsion of Jews from all schools and universities. The Nazi news paper Volkischer Beobachter said the boycott “is to be regarded merely as a dress rehearsal for a series of measures that will be carried out unless world opinion, which at the molment is against us,definitly changes”.
1936 April 1 Austria began plans for conscription, whether it was able to rearm or not. Vienna announced that military service was of “social value,for physical, moral, and patriotic education”. In fact, the Austrian government became fearfull of Germany’s military muscle-flexing.
I HATE IT WHEN I TOUCH A BUTTON AND ALL MT PROGRESS IS GONE!!! time to start again
1941 Apri 2-3 German troops crossed into Hungary while the Budapest government was still considering a grant of transit rights. Germany had demanded them in order to use Hungary as a military jumping-off point. Prime Minister Count Teleki committed suicide to dramatize Hungary’s plight.
3 Yugoslavia ordered fill military mobilization. A pro Axis Arab officer faction in Iraq, led by Rashid Ali Gailani, seized power in Baghdad. Rashid Ali had assurances from the Vichy officials in neighboring French Syria that German aircraft would operate out of Syrian bases in attacking the British in Iraq and that other German support would be forthcoming. Stalinwas personally told by the British ambassador in Moscow, Sir Stafford Cripps, that German units were being deployed along their eastern frontier for an attack on the Soviet Union.
1942 About 2,000 people were killed in a destuctive Japanese air raid on Mandalay, Burma. Japanese forces, reinforced by a fresh division, began their final assult on the last American defense line on Bataan. The U.S. units were subjected to a five hour air and artillary bombardment.
1944 U.S. and R.A.F.bombers began bombing Budapest and other Hungarian cities, ending the August 1943 agreement to refrain from such attacks in exchange for free and safe access
over Hungary. Germans,not Hungarians, now manned aerial defenses in Hungary. U.S. bombers attacked Hollandia in the heaviest attack yet on the New Guinea base. During the next four days more than 300 Japanese planes were destroyed, most of them on the ground. U.S. air superiority over Hollandia was established by these raids.
1945The British Guards Armored Division Reached the Dortmund-Ems Canal near Lingen. Munster was completely secured by the U.S. 17th Airborne Division. A hard fought battle ended when the Germans at Aschaffenburg surrendered. Russian troops occupied the Austrian manufacturing center of Wiener Neustadt.
1939 German military planners drew up plans (code named WEISS 0 for a war against Poland to be launched by Sept.1st Hitler hiself drafted the introductory section, on the state of relations between the two nations, which was included in the HighCommand’s “Directive for the Armed Services,1939-40.”. Chamberlain repeated the guarantees given Poland on March 31st, saying that recent developments have “made every state which lies adjacent to Germany, unhappy, anxious, uncertain, about Germany’s future intentions.” Italy sent an ultimatum to Albania demanding Italian control over the small Adriatic state.
April 4 1940 Churchill was given overall defense responsibilities in Britian.
1941 German and Italian troops wrested controll of Bengahazi. Rommel’s forces then moved out swiftly along the coast and directly across the Cyrenaican desert. addis Ababa was abandoned by the Italians. Hitler confered with Matsuoka in Berlin. The German leader had previously told his guest “England has already lost the war. It is only a matter of having the intelligence to admit it”. At this meeting Hitler again urged the Japanese to attack the British and her Allies in Asia. Hitler denigrated the United States, apparently to ease Japans fears about possible U.S. entry in to a Pacific war. The minutes indicate Hitler’s arguments, "Germany had made her preparations so that no American coiuld land in Europe. Germany would wage a vigorous war agains Americans with U-Boats and the Luftwaffe, and with her greater experience . . .would be more than a match for America, entirely apart from the fact that German soldierswere, obviously, far superior to the Americans
". In the end Hitler assured Japan that Germany would fightagainst the United States if japan got into a war with the U.S… The United States rejected German and Italian protests of the March 30 ship seizures, and requested withdrawal of the Italian naval attache. 3rd-4th German U-Boats sank 10 ships out of a 22 vessel convoy in the North Atlantic. these losses prompted U.S. Naval leaders to bring America’s ships operating in the area under convoy protection.
1942 U.S. and Filipino defenders were forced to yield ground on Bataan.
1944 DeGaulle was named Commander of all Free French forces. In a display of precision bombing six R.A.F. Mosquitos bombed a Gestapo building in the Hague which contained the files onDutchman earmarked for deportation. Inthe center of a civilian area only the target building was destroyed in the low leval attack. Japanese troops began their direct assult on Kohima. Indian troops from the Dimapur area were rushed to the front to help block the Japanese. Moscow called on all Rumanians to abandon the Germans and cese fighting or face destruction…
1945 Hungary was cleared of all German troops, who retreated into Yugoslavia. Bratislava in slovakia fell. red Army troops moved westward along the Polish-Czech boardertoward the Moravian gap. The U.S. Ninth Army reached the Weser River but found the bridges destroyed. Patton’s tanks were within 70 miles of Leipzig. French First Army units occupied Karlsruhe. Troops of the U.S. 90th Division occupied Merkers and found the vast hoards of gold and art treasures buried by the Nazi’s in a salt mine. The U.S. 4th Armored Division liberated the concentration camp outside Ohrdruf, the first of the infamous prisons reached by the Allies from the west. General Patton (who vomited on visiting the site ) rounded up townspeople to winess the horrors which had been perpetrated in their immediate area. Many victems were still lying where they had been shot by the retreating Nazi’s. Ohrdruf’s burgomaster and his wife were among those brought to the camp by Patton. When they returned home, they hanged themselfs. for the first time since landing, U.S. forces on Okinowa encountered significant resistance.
April 5 1941 Russia and Yugoslavia signed a treaty of friendship and nonaggression, which the Germans condemned. The pact marked a crucial point in the rupture between Germany and Ruaaia. Japan declared it would control all ruber exports from Thailand, Indochona and the Dutch East Indies through a Japanese association of rubber dealers. Japan was reduced to a month’s supply of rubber stocks.
1942 Japanese Naval forces moved to complete their dominance of the Indian Ocean with an attack on Colombo, Ceylon. The carriers Akagi and Kaga, which had been involved at Pearl Harbor, launched 127 planes which inflicted only light damage on the port but which caught two British crusiers trying to escape to open water. Dorsetshire and Cornwall were sunk by dive bombers in attacks of remarkable accuracy. 4th-8th A marauding Japanese Naval surface squadron and submarines roamed the bay of Bengal sinking merchantmen almost at will. The British had cleared Calcutta Harbor, fearing an air attack, and the ships at sea were picked off at an alarming rate. During this five day period the Japanese sank twenty-eight ships,totaling 144,400 tons.
1943 Japanese forces overran British brigade headquarters on the Mayu peninsula in Burma. A concerted Allied air campaign was begun to destroy Axis shipping and air facilities in Tunisia and Sicily, making it virtually impossible to resupply the Germans and Italians left in North Africa.
1944 U.S. planes launched the first in a new series of strikes against Axis oil targets. The first raid was directed at Polesti in Rumania as 588 tons of bombs were dropped on rail facilities around the refining and production center. Tarnopol was captured by the Russians
1945 Moscow denounced the Russian-Japanese neutrality pact which had been signed on April 13 1941, and was to run for five years. The Japanese cabinet resigned because of the Soviet action. Admiral Kantaro Suzuki replaced General Kuniaki Koiso as premier. In an unmistakable order for mass suicide, the Japanese Imperial Navy commanded its remaining men-of-war to engage the Americans in a final banzai," Second Fleet is to charge the enemy anchorage of Kadena off Okinowa Island at daybreak of 8 April. Fuel for only one way passage will be supplied". A bridgehead across the Wesser was established by the U.S. 2nd Armored Division. The U.S. First Army cleared a broad area within the Ruhr pocket. Units of the U.S. 6th Armored Division occupied Mulhouse. French units began attacking German fortified positions at the north end of the Black Forest. Schwarze Korps, official organ of the Gestapo admitted that Germany was “only days or perhaps weeks from absolute collapse”.
1939 Warsaw again turned down Germany’s bid for control over Danzig and overland routes through the Polish corridor.
@suprise:
April 5 1941 Russia and Yugoslavia signed a treaty of friendship and nonaggression, which the Germans condemned.
In a curious coincidence, another treaty was signed between the USSR and Yugoslavia (effectively, the provisional government established by the later president Tito) exactly 4 years later on April 5, 1945. The treaty allowed Soviet troops to enter Yugoslavia, which they had in fact already done in late 1944, and they were supposed to leave after concluding their operations (which they reluctantly did).
That was interesting to know about Russia & Yugoslavia, and Tito as their leader. Tanks
April 6 1941 German troops launched coordinated attacks against Yugoslavia from Bulgaria, Rumania, Austria, and Hungary. Spearheading the invasion were 33 German divisions, supported by 1,200 planes of the Luftwaffe. Hitler said he had only “tried to convince Yugoslav statesman of the absolute necessity for their cooperation with the German Reich for restoration of lasting peace and order in Yugoslavia.” Yugoslavia had 28 divisions to defend its long borders and could never offer concentrated or coordinated resistance. The Germans drove towards Zagreb and Belgrade in the north while other units were to occupy southern Yugoslavia and break through to Greece. Belgrade was subjected to intense aerial bombardment, primarily from Stukas, and was reduced to rubble by the 13th. German forces invaded Greece. Units from the XXX Corps swept into Thrace and the XVIII Corps into Macedonia from Bulgaria. Greek defenses in the northeast part of the country were arrayed along the Metaxas line, which was attacked frontally. As Yugoslavia defenses colapsed, the German 2nd Panzer Division swung south and moved behind the Metaxas line toward Salonika. The capital of Ethiopia, Addis Ababa,was occupied by the South African 1st Division. Six British Generals, including Sir Richard O’Connor and Sir Philip Neame, were captured by a German patrol in Libya. They had become lost un a sandstorm.(O’Connor later escaped from captivity and ended up commanding the VIII Corps in the Normandy invasion.)
1942 Red army units advanced in the area of Smolensk. Japanese troops landed in the Admiralty Islands. A Japanese naval force under Vice Admiral Jisaburo Ozawa sank 92,000 tons of merchant shipping along the east coast of India. Vizagapatam and Cocanada, Indian cities on the Bay of Bengal, were bombed by Japanese aircraft. Chaing Kai-shek promised another division to help defend Burma. More Japanese troops arrived in Rangoon. Axis planes bombed Alexandria, Egypt.
1943 The British army resumed offensive operations, attacking Wadi Akarit in Tunisia.
1944 Japanese troops advanced within Kohima. Only 25 Japanese planes were left in sevice at Hollandia.
1945 The first of the concentrated Kamikaze attacks off Okinowa sank two U.S. destroyers, Bush and Calhoun, and four auxiliaries. Only 24 of the 355 suicide planes from Kyushuactually hit targets, but they caused great destruction. The furious fighting also resulted in many U.S. ships hitting each other. A battleship (North Carolina) a crusier (Pasadena) and two transports, a sub-chaser, a cargo ship, and two LST’s were all damaged by friendly fire. U.S. 84th and 2nd Armorded Division forces broke across the Wesser River near Minden. The U.S. XVIII Airbirne Corps began a major offensive across the Sieg River. The German POW camp at Hammelburg was liberated, all the prisoners except the seriously wounded had been evacuated. The Germans moved 15,000 Jewish prisoners out of Buchenwald concentration camp. Red Army forces advanced to the suburbs of Vienna. Yugoslav Partisans gained control of Sarajevo. The British 56th Division moved in force across the Reno River in Italy.
1939 Italy assured Britian it had no designs on Albania. London voiced its concern about military movements which appeared directed at Albania.
April 7 1941 Advanced element of a German panzer division reached Skoplje, having fought their way 60 miles in 32 hours throuigh increadibly difficult terrain. German planes had effectivly neutralized Yugoslavia’s rail system by knocking out key junctions. The Yugoslavs found it impossible to strenthen faltering defense points. With transportation so decisive a factor, those Yugoslav troops which had penetrated into Northern Albania were forced to withdraw. Claiming that Hungary had become a base of operations against the Allies, Britian severed diplomatic relations with Budapest. R.A.F bombers raided Sofia. Derna in Libya was occupied by the advancing Germans and Italians. The British evacuated Benghazi. A 12,000 ton ship laden with TNT exploded in Piraeus, Greece, severly crippling port facilities. Six merchant ships and 60 lighters were lost in the blast. Anammunition train was ignited on shore. The accident created a logistical hard ship for the British in the crucial days ahead. The first British jet plane, a Gloster E28/39, was test flown successfully. British forces and French Foerign Legionnaires occupied Massawa, the main Italian naval base in East Africa. Ten thousand Italians were captured. The Red Sea was now cleared of all Italian naval activity,which allowed for unobstructed runs through the Indian Ocean to the Suez Canal. The fall of Massawa also permitted President Roosevelt to declare the red Sea was no longer a combat zone and opened the way for U.S. merchant ships to use the route. German troops took the Skoplje Gap and the Rupel Pass, opening the way into Serbia and Northern Greece. Axis forces inLibya overwhelmed the badly decimated British 2nd Armored Division and the 3rd Indian Brigade at Mechili. Chaing Kai-shek told the Executive Yuan that the Kuomintang would pursue a policy of cooperating with the Chinese Communists, “these border embroglios are mere secondary questions. We cant worry too much over such trivalities. As the international situation improves, they will automaticly be settled. Let’s wait at least untill we get a definite assursnce from England and the United States before we clamp down on the Communists”.
1942 Russian forces were able to open a rail line to Leningrad. Malta sounded its 2,000 air raid alert of the war. The Japanese pressed steadily forward along the Bataan front, piercing the final American defense positions
1943 Mussolini met with Hitler at Klessheim Castle near Salzburg. Although the Duce had been urged by his advisers to press Hitler to end the war in Russia, the subject never came up and Mussolini was nothing more than a passive oarticipant. Hitler did most of the talking, mostly about a new German offensive in Russia.Hitler was concerned Mussolini’s physical condition and told Donitz he wondered whether the Duce had the will “to carry on to the end”. Japanese planes hammered Guadalcanal. A totalof 188 aircraft were involved in the attack in which three Allied ships were sunk. Bolivia declared war on the Axis powers. U.S. 9th Division troops from Gafsa linked up with the British Eighth Army units in Tunisia, 20 miles from the coast.
1944 Counterattacking German forces made some advances in the Criea but suffered heavy casualties. Kohima’s water supply was cut off by the Japanese.
1945Russian units crossed the Danube and smashed into Vienna. Street fighting comenced. Gottingen was taken by U.S. trops. Japanese air and Naval units suffered a disasterous setback in the battle of the east China Sea. Task Force 58 planesintercepted the Japanese Second Fleet heading for Okinowa. The 72,200-ton battleship Yamoto was subjected to three hours of bombing and torpedo attacks and finally capsized with only 269 survivors from the 3,292 man crew. It was the largest single loss involving a warship in history. Other casualties of the battle included the crusier Yahagi, 4 destroyers and 54 aircraft. Ten U.S. planes were downed, of the 900 which were involved in the attacks. Iwo Jima-based U.S. aircraft made their first attacks on Japan. Fighters began arriving on Okinowa. British fourteenth Army forces isolated a large Japanese force between Mandalay and Meiktila.
1939 Italian forces=on this good friday struck at Albania in what was considered a “rectification” of Italies claims in the Adriac. A naval bombardment of coastal centers preceded the troop landings, and the Albanian military was able to offer onlt token resistance. Hitler had approved of the Italian move generally but was never told when it would happen. The King of Italy questioned Mussolini about the wisdom of an invasion to grab four rocks. mussolini’s actions can only be understood by his petulance over Germany’ successes while Italy’s imperial wishes were being frustrated. The official reason given by Rome for the invasion was that "influential persons in Albania had requested Italian intervention on account of the unbearable situayion created by King Zog. The occupation was in clear violation of the Anglo-Italian agreement of the previous April, but Britian remained silent. Germany expressed its disapointment over the Polish responce on the Danzig proposal,saying, "Poland had obviously not understood the offer. Spain became the fifth signatory in the anti-Comintern Pact,joining Germany, Italy,Japan, and Hungary.
April 8 1940 British and French ships mined the waters of neutral Norway because “Germany obtains from Norway facilities which place the Allies at a dangerouse disadvantage”. The Norwegian government protested. The Polish submarine Orzel sank the German troop transport Rio de Janeiro, one of the invasion-fleet ships, off the south coast of Norway. A few of the troops survived, reached shore, and told the Norwegians they were bound for Narvik to help fight the British. German secrecy was preserved. The British destroyer Glowworm was sunk off Norway by the German crusier Hipper after separating from her group to search for a man overboard. Glowworm went down quickly, with few survivors, but not before she rammed and seriously damsged Hipper.
9th Germany invaded Denmark and Norway. In a series of swift land sea and air strikes, Germany extended the war, claiming it possessed “documentary proof that England and France had jointly decided, if necessary, to carry out their action through the territory of the northern states against the will of the latter . . . Germany has thus preserved the Scandanavian countries and peoples from destruction, and will untill the end of the war defend true neutrality in the north”. German occupation forces were embraced by Norwegian pro-Nazis led by Vidkun Quisling, whose name henceforth became synonymous with traitor.Quinsling proclaimed himself prime minister, though he was as surprised as any Norwegian by the swift German action. Denmark submitted to Germany under protests, but its military forces were directed to offer no resistance. About 10,000 German troops hidden aboard merchant vessels stormed ashore at Olso, Bergen, Kristiansand, Trondheim and Narvik, while paratroopers seized the airfields of Oslo and Stavanger. The invasion caught the Norwegians completely by surprise. Germanys only major loss was the new heavy crusier Blucher, which was sunk by shore units at the entrance to Oslo. A thousand sailors and soldiers were lost when the ship rolled over after being hit reapeatedly. The British Royal Navy reacted to late to block a naval operation it thought the Germans incapable of launching. King Haakon VII and most of the cabinet and parliament together with the countries gold reserves escapted to Hamar, 70 miles north of Oslo. With the action against Denmark and Norway, Hitler abandoned whatever hopes remainedthat he could negotiate a peace with France and Britian. The “phoney war” was over. Denmarks government capitulated when the German forces gained all their objectives within four hours, Resistance was almost nonexistent. The Danish Army suffered 13 dead and 23 wounded German casualties were 20. Copenhagen authorities issued the following statement by afternoon "The government have acted in the honest conviction that we have saved the country from an even worse fate. It will be our continued endeavor to protect our country and its people from the disasters of war, and we shall rely on the people’s cooperation. The German crusier Karlsruhe was torpedoed and sunk in the Skagerrak south of Kristiansand, Norway. Soviet foreign minister Molotov told the German ambassador in Moscow, "We wish Germanycomplete success in her defensive measures ( against Denmark and Norway ).
New post for the next years on this date.
Apri 8-9 1941 The United States aquired full military defense rights in Greenland. The agreement affirmed Greenlands loyalty to Denmark and agreed on the need for protection against attack by a non-American power. German reconnaissance flights had been made over Greenland, causing concern that Berlin might be able to establish bases on the Island to be used in attacking North America. The Danish minister in Washington arranged the agreement, but his action was disavowed by the government in Copehagen. Rommel’s forces swept into Bardia. German 2nd Panzer Division tanks smashed into Salonoka, Greece. Nish in eastern Yugoslavia fell to the Germans, opening the southern back door to Belgrade. Djevdjeliya was taken, cutting the last land link between Yugoslavia and Greece. A Croatian government was proclaimed in Zagreb as German troops reached the outskirts of the city. The Croats were generally favorably disposed to the Germans a fact recognized by the Germans who spared all cities in Croatia from air attack. British bombers hit Berlin in an attack which brought the war home with devastating impact. The Wellingtons gutted the State Opera House and caused extensive damage along Unter den Linden. The first American “shot in anger” against Germany was fired by a U.S. destroyer south of Iceland. After picking up survivors from a Dutch freighter, the U.S.S. Niblack detected a submarine in the area assumed it was attacking, and dropped deapth charges on it. The German submarine, which was indeed there left the scene, apparently undamaged. Hungary and Italy joined in the attack on Yugoslavia. The Italian Second Army crossed the Julian Alps and proceeded to drive down the Adriatic coast. Hungary occupied Yugoslavia territory north of the Danube which it had lost after the last war. The German Second Army occupied Skoplje in Yugoslavia. All of southern Serbia was under controll of the German Twelfth Army. Allied defenders held off off the German XL Corps which was sweeping down fron Yugoslavia along the Aliakom River. In North Africa, the 9th Australian Division pulled back to Tobruk. The U.S. proclaimed that the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden were no longer areas of combat, thereby opening these waters to American ships. Military and conservative factions in Japan gained greater influence in a cabinet reshuffle. Musatsume Ogura, Admiral Teijiro Toyoda, and Lieutenant General Teichi Suzuki, all considered proexpansion, were added to the cabinet. In another move strenthening the “war Hawk” point of view, AdmiralOsami Nagano replaced Prince Hiroyasu Fushimi as chief of the Naval Staff.
Another post for the next year on this date.
1942 8-9 About 2,00 of the force 78,000 men defending Bataan escaped to Corregidor as defensive efforts collapsed. U.S. Air Ferry Command began flights over the Himalayas to China. Traffic over the hump played a key role in suppling China.
9th Bataan fell to the Japanese. General Edward P King, Jr signed the surrender document at 12:30 PM About 35,000 Americans and Filipino troops fell into Japanese hands. Almost immediatly, the prisoners began the forced “Bataan Deatg March” from Balanga to San Fernando. Japanese air and artillary unitswere moved in to concentrate on Corregidor. Japanese naval aircraft attacked the Ceylonese port of Trincomalee. The British had anticipated the attack and cleared the harbor, but the planes located the British carrier Hermes, a destroyer and a corvette, and two tankers in nearby waters and sank them. A strong attack by the Russians in the Crimea gained little ground. German defense positions were over run around Orel. General Mikhail G Yefremov,commander of the Russian Thirty-third Army, committed suicide near Vyazma rather than surrender to the Germans. Yefremov was one of the heros of the Red Army in the defense of Moscow. Vichy protested the establishment of an American consolate in Brazzaville in the French Congo.
Another post for the next year on this day.
1943 8th A predawn attack on the Fondouk line in Tunisia was launched by Allied forces. Heavy fighting resultd with the Axis troops offering a strong defense.
1944 8th Russia launched its final drive to oust the Germans from the Crimea. Red Army troops on the central front were aproaching the Czech border. Stalin was told the date of the Normandy invasion. Almost simultaneously, the Japanese told the Soviets they were willing to mediate a peace between Germany and Russia. The initiave was Tokyo’s, not Berlin’s, and the Russians rejected the offer. B-24’s knocked out two spans of the Sittang bridge, regarded as the most criticaltarget of the Rail system in Burma. Its partial destruction halted most Japanese rail shipments to Myitkyina for nearly 2 months.
9th Large units of the British Fourteenth Army were surrounded at Kohima as the Japanese blocked the final escape route. Air resupply was essential, but the onset of the monsoon rains made the task difficult.
1945 8th Russian troops began an all out assult on Konigsberg in east Prussia. Red Army units started driving toward Linz and Graz in Austria. The British Guarda Divisin broke for Bremen after overwhelming German defenders east of Lingen. U.S. 42nd Division forcesreached the outskirts of Schweinfurt.
9th British bombers sank the German crusiers Admiral Scheer and Hipper at Kiel. The Allied fifteenth Army Group opened its final offensive in Italy, smashing across the Senio River. In perhaps the broadest employment of an integrated international force in history, troops from Britian, the U.S., France, New Zealand, South Africa, Poland, India, Senegal, Brazil, Italy, Greece, Morocco, Algeria, plus the Jewish Brigade were involved in the final phase of the Italian campaign. The fortess at Konigsberg fell to the Third White Russian Front, virtually ending all German resistance in East Prussia. The fight for the city left 42,000 Germans dead. Another 92,000 were captured. A U.S. Liberty Ship loaded with aerial bombs exploded in Bari, Italy. The blast and resulting fire killed 360 people and injured 1,730. The Island of Jolo in the Sulu Sea was occupied by by U.S. forces British Pacific fleet planes attacked Japanese airfields on Formosa which were used to launch raids on U.S. ships off Okinowa.
April 10 1942 Iceland ended Denmark’s royal controll over the Island, and said it would act as an independent state. Norwegian and Danish funds in the U.S. were frozen by Washington. The U.S. also extended its maritime danger zone to include all waters surrounding the Scandinavian countries. Belgium went to a military alert but reaffirmed its neutrality. Brussels rejected an offer of “preventive aid” by Britian and France because it said acceptance would mean abandonment of Belgium’s policy of neutrality. The First battle of Narvik was fought off the Norwegian coast. German and British naval forces suffered equally in this initial full-scale duel, each loosing two destroyers. But 5 other German destroyers were disabled or severely damaged and would fall easy prey to the pusuing British force. Pilots of the British fleet Air Arm, flying Blackburn Skuas, sank the German crusier Konigsberg, which was docked in Bergen harbor. This was the first sinking of a major warship by aircraft in history. Konigsberg had been damaged by Norwegian shore batteries during the invasion and could not defend herself against the divebombing Skuas which scored two fatal bomb hits.
1943 Japanese units landed on Cebu and Billiton in the Philippines. 10th-11th An R.A.F. Halifax dropped an 8,000-pound bomb for the first time, in a raid on Essen.
1943 Sfax in Tunisia was occupied by the Brish Eighth Army
1944 The Black Sea Port of Odessa was recaptured by Soviet forces. It had been under German occupation since Oct. 1941. Kleist’s Army Group A fell back beyond the Dniester River into Rumania. German officers gave up their plans for another attack on Anzio. General Slim ordered his forces in the Imphal-Kohima battle to take the offensive.
1945 Thirty of 50 German Me-262’s jet fighters were shot down by U.S. bombers and their P-51 escorts in the Berlin area. The attacking force of 1,232 B-17’s and B-24’s were able to beat off the largest jet effort of the war. Only 10 of the bombers were lost. Hannover in Lower Saxony was taken by the U.S. 84th Division while the 5th Armored Division opened the final assult toward the Elbe River. Former Chancellor Papen was captured by U.S. troops in the Ruhr. British Royal Marines swept around the Senio River lines by assult boats, threatening the German rear defenses in Italy. Indian and British troops took Paywbwe, a key point on the Mandalay-Rangoon rail line in Burma. Churchill announced that total Commonwealth and Empire casualties thus far were 1,126,802 military and 34,161 merchant marine. In addition, Britishcivilian casualties were 144,542. Lieutenant GeneralSosaku Suzuki, commander of the Thirty-fifth Army, was lost at sea during the withdrawal of japanese forces from Cebu.
Once more, thank you for doing this. A minor correction: I’d think that the events you describe for April 10, 1942, actually happened on April 10, 1940.
Yes i am prone to make mistakes, tanks. I sometimes catch myself starting on one paragraph and then going to a different one and saying, that doesnt make any scense Chinese being led by Germans attacking Japanese in Tunisia or something. I’ve also had some long days, I’m looking forward to next weekend at F.M.G.
