@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.
April 11 1940 not 1049 Kinh Haakon called on all Norwegians to resist the Germans. The Netherlands moved toward a war footing by approving measures to complete a defense network.
1942 red Army reinforcements landed in the Crimea near Eupatoria but encountered extremely heavy resistance. Sir Stafford Cripps announced that Indian leaders had rejected Britian’s offer of post war independence.
1943 Two wings of the Allied forces in Tunisia linked up near Kairouan. The Faid Pass was retaken, generallt restoring the positions which existed two months before.
1944 The German Seventeenth Army fell back to Sevastopal as the Red Army took Kerch in a new offensive to retake Crimea.
1945 Allied forces occupied Coburg. Survivors of the Buchenwald concentration camp were liberated: 5,000 French, 3,500 Poles and Polish Jews, 2,200 Germans,2,00 Russians, 2,00 Czech’s 2,000 Ukrainians, 600 Yugoslavs, 400 Dutch, 500 Austrians, 200 Italians, 200 Spaniards, and 300 of other nationalities. The P.O>W. camp at Bad Sulza was overrun. American Seventh Army forces drove into Bavaria. U.S. Ninth Army units reached the Elbe near Magdeburg. More than 300,000 Germans were taken prisoner during the past two weeks of fighting, The U.S.92nd Division captured Carrara in Italy. Spain broke diplomatic relations with Japan. U.S. 38th Division forces counted 5,500 Japanese dead in the fighting to clear the area west of Clark Field in the Philippines. Reserve elements of the Americal Division landed on Bohol Island in the Philippines. Japanese suicide planes continued to strike U.S. naval ships off Okinowa, disabling the carrier Enterprise and damaging the battleship Missouri. The 5th Indian Division drove south from Pyawbwe, spearheading Slim’s drive to capture Rangoon, now only 300 miles away, before the arrival of the monsoon rains which were expected to begin in a month.
Keep up the great work, i read just about every day.
April 11-13 1940 The second battle of Narvik, ten British warships-led by the battleship Warspite, sank seven German destroyers.
1941 12th Belgrade, the capital of Yugoslavia, fell to the Germans as armored columns of the XLVI Panzer Corps stormed in from three sides. Even before the tanks entered, a young German captain and nine enlisted men bluffed their way into the city, and virtually the entire defense garrison surrendered. Zagreb was occupied, and the Germans were greeted enthusiastically by the Croatian population. Allied forces formed a defensive line centering on mount olympus in Greece. Outnumbered Australian troops at Veivi, in the Monastir gap just south of the Yugoslav border, fought a bitter defensive battle with a panzer division but finally had to yield. R.A.F. bombers flew daylight missions against targets on ths continent. South Greenlands governor informed the American consul at Godthaab that he would not recognize the agreement concluded by the Danish minister in washington giving the U.S. military base rights in Greenland… He said ha would resist any such move until “faced with the fate accompli.” ( The U.S. presented him with the fate accompli when it sent a contingent of U.S. Marines and three coast guard cutters to Greenland,)
1942 12th Japanese units began occupying Migyaungye and exposed the entire British western front in Burma. Iran broke off diplomatic relations with Japan. The Japanese legation in Tehran was reported to have served as a propaganda center inn Iran.
1943 Germany announced its forces had uncovered a mass grave of thousands of Polish army officers killed by the Russians at Katyn, near Smolensk.
1945 franklin D. Roosevelt, president of the United States longer than anyone died of a massive stroke at the winter white house in Warm Springs, Georgia. Harry S. Truman became the 33rd president. U.S. 2nd and 5th Armored Division forces reached the Elbe at Wittenberge, Weben and Sandu. Units established a small bridgehead on the east side of the river. Canadian I Corps units began attacking Arnhem. A U.S. 5th Army offensive in Italy was delaied because of unfavorable weather. German positions along the Santerno River collapsed before the British Eighth Army. The U.S. destroyer Manner L. Ablee was sunk by a Japanese Baka, or piloted bomb. Off Okinawa. The Baka was a more lethal kamikaze. A total of 151 Japanese planes were downed. japanese nighttime counterattacks penitrated positions held by the 96th Division on Okinawa, but the American line held. Charges against U.S. positions during the day left 1,594 Japanese dead.
April 13 1941 Japan and the Soviet Union signed a 5 year neutrality pact in Moscow. Stalin thoroughly feared Germany’s intentions and needed Russia and needed Russia’s flank protected, German controll of the Balkans and information that Berlin was already thinking of invading the Soviet Union dictated a peaceful resolution of relations with Japan. Tokyo, for its part, was increasingly determined to move south and wished to protect its northern flank. It was a marriage of convience. Stalins parting words to foreign Minister Matsuoka were interesting in understanding Stalin’s desperation. Stalin said he "was a convinced adherent of the Axis and a foe of England and the United States. Rommel’s forces encircled Tobruk and recaptured Bardia, placing the Afrika korps at the Egyptian border. Churchill assured Roosevelt the British would not abandon North Africa but said U.S. supplies could be crucial to the outcome. Malta was pounded by Axis bombers. R.A.F. bombers attacked Sofia, Bulgaria. Veroia and Katerini, points on the original British defense line in Greece, fell to the Germans.
1942 Moscow issued a stern warning to Tokyo to continue observing the Russian-Japanese neutrality pact. “It’s necessary that the Japanese military and fascist cliques whose heads have been turned by military successes realize that their prattle about an annexationist war in the north may cause damage . . .to Japan herself”. The oil fields of central Burma lay exposed to the Japaneseas a British defense line collasped
1943 British troops reached the Enfidaville Line in Tunisia, the final Axis defense position, but to breach the positions required additional beefing up of the Eighth Army.
1944 In one of the heaviest airstrikes of the war 3,000 Allied aircraft operating from bases in Britian and Italy struck at strategic targets in Germany, Hungary, and Yugoslavia. Allied aircraft began a series of attacks on German coast artillery units in Normandy Soviet troops reoccupied Simferopol in the Criea and captyed 20,000 Germans.
1945 Russian troops of the Second and Third Ukrainian fronts completed the capture of Vienna. Taungdwingyi in Burma was taken by the 20th Indian Division. Chinese forces launched a general offensive in Honan and Hupei provinces. The Japanese opened a drive to take Chinchiang.
1939 Italy annexed Albania. Britian and France gave guarantees to Greece and Rumania, the same kind of unqualified support for territorial integrity against external threat it had pledged to Poland two weeks earlier. London and Paris also sought an identical automatic involvement commitment from Russia covering Poland and Rumania, but Moscow turned down the suggestion. The Russians said they would not be covered in such a manner if the Soviet Union were attacked by Germany or Japan. Moscow also felt the Baltic states and Finland would be unprotected.
1932 Chancellor Bruning banned Nazi Storm Troopers (SA), defying the increasinglt influential Nazi’s under Hitler
No post today, I’ve got a Global game to do, maybe even two.
I’ll make up for it tomorrow
I want to say tank you to all who view this post
April 15 1940 Japanese foreign Minister Arita said Tokyo wished to maintain the status Quo in the Dutch East Indies, noting that should " the hostilities in Europe be extended to the Netherlands and produce repercussions in the Dutch east Indies, it would interfere with the maintenance and furtherance of economic independence and coexistance and coprosperity." A combined British, French, and Polish force landed near Narvik. It was essentially a diversionary effort, with the hope of maintaining a toehold in Norway. ( within three days a total of rour Battalions were shore in northern Norway, but they were quickly rendered helpless by German aircraft which had established mastery of the skies.) Quisling was removed as Norway’s prime minister by the Germans who felt no need then for even an obsequious puppet.
1941 14th Tobruks defenders beat back a determined assult by the german Light 5th tank Division on the encircled city. Yugoslavia sued for peace, seeking to negotiate a surrender. German troops reached the Aliakmon River in Greece.
15th bulgaria broke diplomatic relations with Yugoslavia. Its troops began marching into Macedonia.
1942 14th Marshal Petain became Vichy French chief of state, Laval became chief of government . Laval thus assumed actual direction of the Vichy adminestration, and the aging Petian remained to perform an essentially ceremonial function. British forces began destroying the Yenangyaung oil fields in Burma as the Japanese pressed their drive northward.
15th French resistance forces attacked German headquarters in Arras. U.S. bombers conducted a daylight attack on the occupied French port of Cherbourg.
1943 15th General Omar Bradley assumed command of the U.S.II Corps from Patton who was assigned to plan the invasion of Sicily.
1944 In a step to prevent any word leaking out on an Allied plan for the invasin of France, Britian sharply restricted diplomatic privileges. Communications were censored.no code traffic was permitted. Pouches had to be inspected. Only U.S. Russian and British Dominion offices were exempt. The first Jews fron Greece began being transported from Athens to Auschwitz concentration camp. Two enormous explosions in the dock area of Bombay, India, killed as many as 940 people. The Freighter Fort Stikene, carring 1,300 tons of TNT, caught fire. As water was poured on the ship to contain the blaze,the munitions exploded. Another larger explosion occured minuets later, obliterating the Fort Stikene and 19 other ships. damage was estimated at 80 million. Fourty thousand tons of food was lost in the explosions, leading to a smifamine conditions in India later.
1945 14th The U.S. First and Ninth Armies linked up in the Ruhr, splitting the pocket in two. Several high ranking German generals were captured. Batreuth was occupied. U.S. Fifth Army pushed off an offensive to clear the Po River valley from positions in the Apennies south and southwest of Bologna. The Japanese high command ordered the expeditionary force in China to pull four Divisions back to central and northern China, leading to a withdrawl from thr hunan-Kwangsi railroad which linked up the former Allied airbases recently captured by the Japanese. A fierce Japanese counteroffensive was turned back on Okinowa. 14-15 A group of Japanese Army officers attempted to seize control of the government in Tokyo . Fearing an imminent capitulation to thr Allies, The officers won some support from the Imperial Guards Division and occupied part of the palace. There they search futiley for the emperor’s surrender speach which had been recorded. General Takeshi Mori was killed when he refused to give the dissidents control of the Army. The uprising was quelled, and it’s leader Major Kenji Hatanaka, committed suicde
15th Arnhem was totally occupied by the 49th Canadian Division while the 5th Armored pushed off from there toward the Zuider Zee. The French First Army crossed the Rhine, occupied Kehl and continued clearing the Black Forest… U.S. forces overran the large I.G. farben chemical plant at Leverkusen. British troops freed 40’000 prisoners at Belsen concentration camp and found 10,000 unburied dead bodies. Marines of the 6th Division were subjected to intense artillary barrages delivered from Japanese hill positions on the Motobu Peninsula of Okinowa . Heavy casualties were suffered by the Marines in attempting to seize the heights.
April 16 1940 Iceland requested recognition and formal relations with the U.S. British forces occupied the Faeroe Islands, and they also landed at Andalsnes and Namsos, about 100 miles south and north of Trondheim, the rail center leading over the mountains of central Norway into Sweden.
1941 Roosevelt outlined four essential points as a foundation for relatations between nations. 1 territorial integrity, 2 noninterference in the affairs of other countries, 3 equal commercial opportunity, and 4 a status quo in the Pacific. The points were made as talks began in Washington between U.S. and Japanese officials. St. Pauls Cathedral in London was bombed and damaged in the blitz. Four British destroyers destroyed an entire Italian convoy ( totaling 14,000 tons ) en route to Libya with supplies for Axis forces in North Africa. Rommel deployed the full 15th Panzer Division for the first time in North Africa to launch another assult on Tobruk. German panzers from Macedonia reached the Pindus Mountain Passes and cut off the escape routes of the Greek troops in Albania. German Second Army units began attacking Allied positions at the Servia Pass, with with the plain of Thessaly lying open behind it.
1942 In one of the most unusual awards in the war, the British govrnment presented Malta the whole Island the George Cross. The medal, like the Victoria Cross, was only given for the most gallant of deeds. ( Later in the war , King George VI himself was to visit Malta, whose survival was an important element in sustaining the Mediterrianean war.) More than 4,000 Japanese troops were put ashore on Panay in the Philipinnes, with an immidiate withdrawal by the 7,000 man American and Filipino defense force into the mountains to operate as guerrillas.
1943 The Polish government in London announced it was requesting the International Red Cross to investigate the Katyn massacre. By order of the Vichy government childern in the shore areas of Cherbourg, Dieppe, St-Malo and Le Harve were evacuated inland.
1944 Yalta in the Crimea was recaptured by the Russians.
1945 Hitler ordered that “he who gives the order to retreat is to be shot on the spot.” Since the first of the month Allied forces on the western front captured 755’573 German troops. In the Greatest maritine loss in history, about 6,500 Germans were drowned while being evacuated from Danzig. Their ship, the overloaded 5,230 ton merchant man Goya, was torpedoed in the Baltic near Cape Rixhoft and quicly sank. ( A total of 18,000 Germans were lost when the refugee ships in the Baltic were subject to constant Allied air and naval attack. Sixteen such vessals were sunk between January and May.) General Carl A. Spaatz, commander of U.S. Straegic Air Forces in Europe, announced that all strategic operations had ceased and air units would henceforth merely engage in mopping up action against Germany. A huge Russian force began its drive for Berlin along the Oder and Niesse rivers, attacking the German Ninth and Fourth Panzer armies. Russian and R.A.F. fighter planes joined together from the east and west for the first time while attacking a train near Dresden. German units began pulling back along a broad front in Italy. The German battleship Lutzow was sunk by R.A.F. bombers during a daylight attack on Swinemunde. Indian troops seized Shwemyo in Burma. Ie Shima, off Okinowa, was invaded by the U.S. 77th Division. Japanese troops began pulling out of Cebu City.
1937 Japan decided to establish an autonomous north China ( embrscing the provinces of Hopei, Shansi, Shantung, Chahar, and Suiyuan ) which would be closly aligned with Manchukuo in pro-Japanese, anti-Soviet policies.
Sorry everybody I had some things to take care of and its too late now, I’ll make it up to ya and thank-you for all the views, I know its not in vane.
S.A.
April 17 & 18 1940 The U.S, said any change in the status of the Dutch East Indies " would be prejudicial to the cause of stability, peace, and security."
18th German forces pressed their advances in Norway, breaking out of the Oslo area and advancing toward Hamar to the North.
17th 1941 Geman forces took the Sevia pass. A large R.A.F. bombing force struck Berlin. Royal Navy units bombarded the old Italian fortress of Capuzzo in Libya. A German raider sank the Egyptian steamship Zamza in the south Atlantic. About 150 Americans were umong the rescued…
18th Admiral Ernest J. King, commander in chief, U.S. Atlanyic Fleet, ordered U.S. ships and planes to attack any Axis ship within 25 miles of the western Hemisphere on the asumption it was hostile. British troops in Greece began withdrawing to Thermopyale.
1942 18th Japan was bombed by American warplanes. Sixteen B-25 bombers under the command of Lieutenant Colonel James H. Doolittle took off from the carrier Hornet to carry the war to Japan for the first time. The first attacking aircraft was launched at 8:18 a.m. about 10 hours ahead of schedule because the naval convoy had been spotted by a Japanese vessal. The range to Yokyo was thus increased to 800 statue miles instead of the planned 650, which was considered the maximum to achieve success. Some of the planes reached Tokyo during a practice air alert, and most Japanese were first confused, then startled when actual bombs started falling. Yokohama, Kobe, and Nagoya were also struck. Only one plane was hit by Anti-aircraft fire, suffering only minor damage. Eight of the aircraft bombed their primary targets. Five others had to select secondary objectives. Only one failed to drop its bombs on Japan. Favored by an uncommon tailwind, the planes continued westward ,most of them to China and safely. One landed near Vladivostok, and the crew was interned by the Russians. Two crews came down in japanese occupied China ( three men were executed by the Japanese ,five were made prisoners, and four of them were freed at the end of the war). Little damage was inflicted on the Japanese cities, but the doolittle raid gave Japanese military leaders pause and was a factor in their decision to consolidate their vast holdings rather than to expand them further. For the Allies, the attack was an antidote for the painfull doses of defeat. MacArthur formally assumed his position as supreme commander,southwest Pacific area. Australian Vice Admiral Herbert F. Leary as Allied Naval Force Commander, and U.S. General Grorge H. Bret as commander of Allied Airforces. The road to the key transportation center of Lashio in Burma was threatened when the Chinese 55th Division collapsed under heavy Japanese pressure. Field Marshal Wilhelm Ritter von Leeb was relieved of his command of German forces in the northern sector of Russia. Leeb was frustrated by Hitlers direction of the war, and Hitler was equally frustrated by the marshals inability to occupy Leningrad.
1943 Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, commander in chief of the Japanese combined Fleet, was killed when his plane was shot down just before landing at Kihili airfield at the southern tip of Bougainville. P-38s from Guadalcanal had been sent up to “get Yamamoto” after the U.S. had intercepted coded radio messages informing the appropriate Japanese military authorities of his arrival. It was surprising the Japanese did not consider the possibility that the code was compromised, for this was another instance of clear intelligence data being used by the Allied forces. No effort was made to change the code. The loss of the respected naval officer was a shock to the Japanese people and is said to have demoralized everyone. For Americans, Yamamoto was the Japanese who ordered the attack on Pearl Harbor. What was not known then is that Yamamoto opposed the war, feeling it could not be won. In what was to become known as the “Palm Sunday Massacre,” 51 Luftwaffe transports and 16 escorting fighters were shot down in about 10 minutes while attempting to ferry supplies from Europe to the hard pressed Army Group Africa. Seventy U.S. and British fighters( directed to the proper intercept point from Ultra intercepts) had little trouble pouncing on the slow, trimotor Junker 52 aircraft. Seven of the Allied planes were lost. Moscow accused the Germans of the massacre of Polish officers at Katyn : "The hand of the Gestapo can easly be traced in this hideous frameup. Australian Prime Minister John Curtin was critical of the Allied “Europe First” policy, which denied supplies to Aulstalia which was rapidly exhausting its resorces . . . the Australian government accepts the global strategy . . . but it does not accepta flow of war material, notably aircraft, that does not measure up to the requirements of a holding war. Germany and Turkey signed a trade agreement, with the Germans to recieve cotton, tobacco, and dried fruits in exchange for heavy industrial machinery,locomotives, trucks, and chemicals. The agreement is noteworthy in that Germany was more interested in consumer products than in potential war material, even in the fourth year of the war.
1944 17th Japan launched what was to be its last major offensive in China. A Division struck over the Yellow River in Honan Province in the first move of the campaign to seize Allied air bases and decimate Chinese ground forces.
18th Russian Marines recaptured Balaklava in the Crimea. Marshal Badoglio resigned as head of the Italian government, but the King requested he remain with a reconstituted cabinet.
1945 17th The U.S. promised the Soviet Union an additional 5,700,000 tons of supplies. Red Army forces began establishing a bridgehead across the Oder and Neisse Rivers in their drive for Berlin. The American Seventh Army began closing in on Nurnberg,symbolic center of the Nazi State. U.S. 30th Division units captured most of Magdeburg. German resistance was ferocios in the fighting around Nurnberg. The U.S. VI Corps raced to the Swiss border to block the German escape route from the Black Forest. French troops split the German Nineteenth Army in two by taking Freudenstadt. The U.S. X Corps landed on Mindanao in the Philippines and met little resistance. The force was concentrated at Malabang on Moro Gulf. It was the last major amphibious operation necessary to regain the Philipinnes. Japanese troops suffered heavy casualties as U.S.Marines finished taking the Motobu Peninsula on Okinowa.
18th All resistance in the Ruhr pocket ended with the surrender of 325,000 German troops under the command of Field Marshal Model. Except for the Russian surrender around Kiev in September 1941, this was the single largest capitulation of the war. The Canadian 5th Armored Division reached the Zuider Zee, completing the last offensive action of the Canadian First Army in the war. All road outlets out of Nurnberg were blocked
No posts for a few days as for I’m off to the F.M.G. convention for a weekend of A&A.
Feel free to add to the history, if you so desire.
