World War II in real time

Day 2040 of World War II, April 11th 1945

Eastern Front

The Soviet 4th Guards Army attacked the canals over the Danube River in Vienna, Ostmark, Germany. Nearby, Soviet 20th Guards Rifle Corps and 1st Mechanized Corps attacked the Reichsbrücke Bridge but failing to take it. After observing the fighting on the front lines in the district of Florisdorf, Otto Skorzeny concluded that Vienna was to fall within a day.

Western Front (1945) - Western Allied invasion of Germany

Map: HQ Twelfth Army Group situation map, April 11th 1945



Forces of the British 2nd Army cross the Leine River near Celle.

Photo: Churchill tanks of 3rd Scots Guards, 6th Guards Tank Brigade, advance towards Celle, 11 April 1945



Photo: Churchill tanks carrying infantry through Mellendorf, 11 April 1945



Leading armored units of the US 9th Army reach the Elbe River, south of Magdeburg. Forces of US 3rd Army capture Weimar.

Photo: Tanks support infantrymen of the 5th Division, 3rd U.S. Army, in clearing out a German observation post in the newly-taken town of Grevenstein, Germany. 11 April, 1945



Photo: Infantrymen of the 5th Division, 3rd U.S. Army, skirt the newly-taken town of Grevenstein, Germany, to attack a nearby hill which the Germans are using for an observation post. 11 April, 1945



US troops find an intact V-weapon plant at Nordhausen, and remove as much material as possible to keep it from the Russians. The first troops arrive at 11.30am after being radioed in by Pvt. Galione who was calling them into neighbouring Mittelbau Dora camp. Instead they got lost and stumbled upon Nordhausen.

Buchenwald concentration camp is liberated.

Western Front (1945) - Liberation of the Netherlands

Photo: Canadian soldiers search houses in Deventer, 11 April 1945



Air War over Europe

The Eighth Air Force flies Mission 941: 1,303 bombers and 913 fighters are dispatched to hit a variety of targets in Germany; 1 B-17 is lost: 300 B-17s bomb the Freiham oil depot and 133 attack the Kraiburg munitions plant; secondary targets hit are the munitions depot at Landshut and the marshalling yard at Treuchtlingen; 1 B-17 is lost. Escorting are 273 P-51s. 28 B-17s bomb the munitions depot and 82 hit the marshalling yard at Landshut; 131 attack the airfield and 79 hit the marshalling yard (79) at Ingolstadt; 70 bomb the marshalling yards at Treuchtlingen and 108 bomb the marshalling yards at Donauworth without loss. The escort is 281 P-51s. 79 B-24s bomb the Obertraubling Airfield, 31 hit a munitions depot while 80 attack an oil depot at Regensburg; 71 bomb the marshalling yards at Neumarkt and 73 hit the marshalling yards at Amberg. 211 P-47s and P-51s escort.

The Ninth Air Force dispatches 689 A-20s, A-26s and B-26s to strike marshalling yards at Bernburg, Oschersleben, Zwickau, and Kothen, the Naumburg ordnance depot, Bamberg motor transport plant, and several other targets; fighters escort the bombers, fly patrols, sweeps, a leaflet mission, and armed reconnaissance (claiming 43 aircraft shot down), and support the US 3d and 9th Armored Divisions in the Nordhausen and Ringleben-Sachsenburg-Rothenberga areas, the 2d Armored Division as it reaches the Elbe River south of Magdeburg in a record drive of 57 miles (92 km), the XVI Corps along the Ruhr River at Witten, the XX Corps as it crosses the Saale River at Weimar and overruns the Buchenwald concentration camp and Allied prisoner camp nearby, the XII Corps in the Coburg-Rottenbach area, and the VIII Corps as it approaches the Saale River south of Weimar.

40 Fifteenth Air Force P-38s dive-bomb the Rosenheim railroad bridge.

40 other P-38s and 29 P-51s strafe rail traffic in the Munich and Regensburg; Plzen, Czechoslovakia; and Linz and Salzburg, Austria areas.

129 RAF Halifaxes of No 4 Group and 14 Pathfinder Lancasters attacked the railway yards at Nuremberg with great accuracy. No aircraft lost.

100 RAF Halifaxes of No 4 Group and 14 Lancasters and 8 Mosquitos of No 8 Group also carried out a very good attack on railway yards on Bayreuth without loss.

107 RAF Mosquitos attacked Berlin in 3 waves. Large fires were seen. 1 Mosquito lost. 8 Mosquitos attacked Munich without loss.

Italian campaign

Carrara is captured by the US 92nd Infantry Division (an element of US 5th Army) in its advance from Massa. In the east, forces of British 8th Army have now pushed the leading units over the Senio River to the Santerno River, where bridging operations begin.

Photo: Photo: Sherman tanks advance, 11 April 1945



Photo: 'Fantails' or Buffalo amphibians transport German prisoners through a flooded landscape south of Lake Comacchio, 11 April 1945



During the night of 10/11 April, Twelfth Air Force A-20s and A-26s bomb bridges at Lavis, Ala, Rovereto, San Michele all'Adige, and San Ambrogio di Valpolicella, and hit vehicles, Po River crossings and targets of opportunity in the Po Valley; medium bombers continue to support British Eighth Army forces between Imola and Comacchio Lagoon, bomb guns south of La Spezia in front of the US Fifth Army advance, and bomb 4 bridges on the Brenner line; XXII Tactical Air Command fighter-bombers also fly support on the Eighth Army front, and hit communications (including the Brenner line) and fuel and ammunition dumps in the north.

544 Fifteenth Air Force B-24s and B-17s hit communications in northern Italy, concentrating on the transportation system feeding into the Brenner area, in an effort to hamper the enemy's supply and escape routes; the bombers bomb bridges at Padua, Vipiteno, Campodazzo, Ponte Gardena, and Campo di Trens, marshalling yards at Bronzolo and Ora, a vehicle repair shop at Osoppo, and a fuel depot at Goito. 250+ fighters escort the bomber missions.

United States

Photo: The U.S. Navy destroyer USS Wadleigh (DD-689) off the Mare Island Naval Shipyard, California (USA), on 11 April 1945



Pacific War

CHINA

(Fourteenth Air Force): In China, 7 B-25s bomb Hsihhsiassuchi, 5 pound the Pinglo barracks and storage area, and a few others hit the Yanglowtung railroad yards and targets of opportunity E of Paoching; 150+ fighter-bombers attack troops, river, road and rail traffic, and a variety of targets of opportunity scattered throughout S and E China and N French Indochina.

INDIA-BURMA

(Tenth Air Force): In Burma, 54 fighter-bombers hit troop and supply concentrations near Mong Kung and Mong Nim, attack trucks and targets of opportunity in other areas behind the battleline, and sweep several roads S of bomb line; transports fly 424 sorties carrying men and supplies to forward areas.

BURMA

Photo: Supply trucks heading south near Pyawbe stop to examine a signpost that points them towards Rangoon, 312 miles away, 11 April 1945



Photo: A column of vehicles heads south near Pyawbe, 300 miles from Rangoon, 11 April 1945



PALAU

(Seventh Air Force): 24 B-24s from Angaur Airfield hit Cotabato supply and personnel areas on Mindanao Island. 18 Guam based B-24s pound positions on Eten.

SOUTHWEST PACIFIC AREA

On Formosa, B-24s bomb Okayama while B-25s hit several targets including the Ts'eng Wen sugar refinery, Seiko, Sunbon-sha, and Shasekiryo. P-38s attack gun positions at Tarakan.

JAPANESE OCCUPIED NETHERLANDS EAST INDIES

Sabang is shelled by the battleships Queen Elizabeth and Richelieu of the British Eastern Fleet (Admiral Walker). Two escort carriers give air cover and attack installations and shipping at Port Blair and Emmahaven.

PHILIPPINE CAMPAIGN (1945)

Units of the Americal Division land on Bohol.

24 Seventh Air Force 24 B-24s from Angaur Island, Palau Islands, hit the Cotabato supply and personnel areas on Mindanao. B-24s bomb Cotabato on Mindanao. On Negros Island, B-24s hit Japanese defenses northwest of Guadalupe and A-20s hit a bivouac east of Negritos. On Luzon Island B-24s,B-25s, A-20s, and fighter-bombers bomb numerous targets including Fuga Island, the Cagayan Valley areas, Santa Fe, bridges and other communications in Iligan, Naguilian, Manga, and Tuguegarao, and troops and supply concentration north of Imugan; troop support strikes are flown in the Solvec Cove area and east of Manila; Baguio and a troop concentration in the Batangas area and on the Bicol peninsula are bombed; at Iriga, defenses are hit with napalm.

VOLCANO AND RYUKYU ISLANDS CAMPAIGN

The US Army's 105th Infantry Regiment, 27th Infantry Division, lands on Tsuken Shima off the east coast of Okinawa.

Kamikazes damage battleship Missouri (BB-63) and destroyers Bullard (DD-660) and Kidd (DD-661), 26°00'N, 130°00'E; carrier Enterprise (CV-6) (near-miss of two suiciders), 26°00'N, 128°00'E; and destroyer escort Samuel S. Miles (DE-183), 26°12'N, 127°20'E; carrier Essex (CV-9) is damaged by bomb, 26°50'N, 130°30'E; destroyer Hale (DD-642) is damaged by bomb, 26°00'N, 120°00'E; strafing accounts for damage to destroyer Hank (DD-702), 27°00'N, 130°00'E, and destroyer escort Manlove (DE-36), 26°12'N, 127°20'E; attack transport Berrien (APA-62) is damaged by collision with tank landing ship LST-808, 26°22'N, 127°43'E; friendly fire accounts for damage to destroyer Trathen (DD-530), 27°13'N, 130°15'E, and attack cargo ship Leo (AKA-60), 26°21'N, 127°43'E; tank landing ship LST-399 is damaged by grounding, 26°20'N, 127°45'E.

Photo: A kamikaze aircraft hits the water off the starboard quarter of the U.S. Navy aircraft carrier USS Enterprise (CV-6), during operations off Okinawa, 11 April 1945



Photo: The U.S. Navy aircraft carrier USS Enterprise (CV-6) at left under attack by a Japanese suicide plane, during operations off Okinawa on 11 April 1945. She was hit and damaged on this day, but returned to action in early May following repairs made at Ulithi. At right is USS Oakland (CL-95), which is opening fire on the diving plane. Note tracer shells streaking across the upper part of the image



Photo: A Japanese kamikaze suicide plane (Yokosuka D4Y "Judy"?) attacks the U.S. Navy aircraft carrier USS Bunker Hill (CV-17) off Okinawa, 1409 hrs, 11 April 1945. It was shot down and crashed aft of the ship



Photo: A Japanese Mitsubishi A6M piloted by Lieutenant Junior Grade Shigehisa Yaguchi about to crash into the U.S. Navy destroyer USS Kidd (DD-661) off Okinawa, Japan, on 11 April 1945. The plane hit on the starboard side below the bridge. Its 500 kg bomb continued through the boiler room exiting the port side of the hull and exploded close aboard. The attack killed 38 of Kidd's crew and wounded 55. Another destroyer is visible in the background



ALASKA

(Eleventh Air Force): P-38s together with USN aircraft pick up bombfilled paper balloons over Attu and E of Adak Islands in the Aleutian Islands; one balloon over Attu is shot down and portions of the gondola are recovered in Massacre Bay.

UNITED STATES NAVY DEPARTMENT COMMUNIQUES, CINCPOA COMMUNIQUÉ NO. 329, APRIL 11, 1945

No substantial changes were made in the lines on Okinawa on April 11 (East Longitude Date). In the south the enemy continued to resist attacks of the Twenty Fourth Army Corps with artillery, mortar and small arms fire. In the north Marines of the Third Amphibious Corps met some organized resistance on Motobu Peninsula but continued to advance northward on Ishi­kawa Isthmus.

Army troops of the Twenty‑Fourth Corps reduced enemy points of re­sistance on Tsugen Island off the east coast of Okinawa and occupied the island on April 11.

Direct support was provided for our forces by carrier aircraft, Naval gun­fire and Marine and Army artillery. Our forces in the Okinawa area were attacked sporadically by enemy aircraft, four of which were destroyed.

United States forces on Okinawa had lost 432 killed at the end of April 9. Our wounded for the same period were 2,103. A total of 180 were missing.

On the night of April 10, Army Black Widow night fighters strafed and bombed targets on Haha Jima and Chichi Jima in the Bonins. On the same date a Marine Mitchell of the Strategic Air Force attacked a large cargo ship north of the Bonins scoring rocket hits on it and leaving it dead in the water.

Planes of the Fourth Marine Aircraft Wing attacked buildings and other installations on islands in the Palaus and on Yap in the Western Carolines on April 11.

PACIFIC

Submarine Parche (SS-384) sinks Japanese auxiliary minesweeper Togo Maru off Todogasaki, 38°53'N, 142°05'E.

Submarine Spadefish (SS-411) sinks Japanese auxiliary minesweeper No.17 Hinode Maru off Tokckok-Kundo, 37°13'N, 125°11'E.

RAF Liberators (203 Squadron) sink Japanese submarine chaser Ch 7 and auxiliary netlayer Agata Maru in Andaman Sea, 08°57'N, 93°38'E.

Japanese auxiliary submarine chaser Cha 215 is sunk by mine off Futaoi-Jima, Shimonoseki.

Day 2042 of World War II, April 13th 1945

YouTube (Soviets Take Vienna and Königsberg)



Eastern Front

Vienna falls to the Soviet Army. As agreed by the Allies in 1943, it appears that Austria will not be treated as a conquered nation. Moscow radio said tonight that because the people of Vienna and other parts of Austria had helped the Red Army fight the Germans they had "saved the honour of the Austrian nation."

Western Front (1945) - Western Allied invasion of Germany

Map: HQ Twelfth Army Group situation map, April 13th 1945



The US 83rd Infantry Division with several associated units, arrive at the west bank of the Elbe. The US Army XIXth Corps commander, Major General Raymond S. McLain order it to cross the Elbe and into territory assigned to the Red Army, and to prepare to advance east/northeast (in the direction toward Berlin). Jena is captured by US 3rd Army units. To the south, US 7th Army forces take Bamberg.

Photo: Stuart light tanks pass half-tracks and other vehicles of 15th (Scottish) Division during the advance to the River Elbe, Germany, 13 April 1945



Photo: Carriers towing 6-pdr anti-tank guns and other vehicles of 15th (Scottish) Division in Celle during the advance to the River Elbe, 13 April 1945



Photo: A Wasp flamethrower and other vehicles of 15th (Scottish) Division during the advance to the River Elbe, 13 April 1945



Photo: Churchill tanks of 6th Guards Tank Brigade carrying men of the 10th Highland Light Infantry negotiate a bomb crater during the advance to the River Elbe in Germany, 13 April 1945



Photo: Churchill tanks of 6th Guards Tank Brigade with infantry, carriers and half-tracks of 15th (Scottish) Division wait to advance towards the River Elbe, 13 April 1945




Photo: Sherman tanks of the 1st Coldstream Guards, Guards Armoured Division, shooting at enemy positions in a wood during the advance in Germany, 13 April 1945



Photo: Troops pass through Heilbronn after initial German resistance crumbled. 13 April, 1945



Photo: Infantrymen of the 8th Infantry Division, 1st U.S. Army, move along the road outside Wergeberg, Germany. 13 April, 1945



The Nazi concentration camps at Belsen and Buchenwald are liberated by British and American forces respectively.

Eisenhower turns down his third chance to capture Berlin, saying that it is just a political prize.

Western Front (1945) - Liberation of the Netherlands

Photo: Churchill AVRE in Arnhem, 13 April 1945



Photo: A Buffalo of 79th Armoured Division on the banks of the River Ijssel at Arnhem, with the blown railway bridge in the background, 13 April 1945



Photo: A Universal carrier being loaded aboard a Buffalo prior to being transported across the River Ijssel at Arnhem, 13 April 1945



Air War over Europe

The Eighth Air Force flies Mission 945: The AAF claims 284-0-220 Luftwaffe aircraft. 212 B-17s, escorted by 256 P-51s, attack the marshalling yard at Neumunster visually; 2 B-17s are lost. The escort claims 137-0-83 Luftwaffe aircraft in the air; 6 P-51s are lost. During this mission, 97 P-47s and P-51s fly a freelance mission in support of the bombers; they claim 147-0-137 aircraft on the ground; a P-47 and a P-51 are lost. During Mission 946 flown that night, 10 B-24s bomb the Beizenburg rail junction without loss.

Fighter-bombers of the Ninth Air Force's IX Tactical Air Command fly a special mission against the HQ of Field Marshall Walter Model's Army Group B at Haus Waldesruh in the Ruhr pocket; the air attack is followed by an artillery barrage; as a result the HQ is moved to Haan. IX Tactical Air Command pilots sight Soviet fighters in the air for the first time. Weather grounds the 9th Bombardment Division. Fighters fly patrols and armed reconnaissance, and support the US XVIII Corps in the Huckeswagen and Hagen areas, the III Corps between the Ruhr and Honne Rivers, the 3d Armored Division on the Saale River in the Alsleben, Nelben and Friedeburg area, the XX Corps astride and between the Weisse Eister and Zwickauer Mulde Rivers north of Gera, the XVI Corps northwest of Hagen, the 2d Armored Division in the Elbenau-Grunwalde area, and the 5th Armored Division along the Elbe River in the Tangermunde area. (Jack McKillop)

34 RAF Lancasters of No 5 Group (Nos 9 and 617 Squadrons) set out to attack the warships Prinz Eugen and Lützow in Swinemünde harbour but the raid was abandoned because of cloud over the target. All aircraft returned safely.

377 RAF Lancasters and 105 Halifaxes of Nos 3, 6 and 8 Groups to Kiel. 2 Lancasters lost. This raid was directed against the port area, with the U-boat yards as the main objective. Bomber Command rated this as 'a poor attack' with scattered bombing.

20 RAF Halifaxes and 8 Mosquitos in a diversionary raid on Boizenburg, 87 Mosquitos to Hamburg, 20 to Stralsund and 12 to Reisa, 62 RCM sorties, 55 Mosquito patrols, 82 Lancasters and 27 Halifaxes minelaying in Kiel Bay and the Kattegat. 1 Mosquito of No 100 Group lost.

Italian campaign

New Zealander troops capture Massa Lombarda, southwest of Lake Comacchio.

Twelfth Air Force B-25s are restricted by weather to 1 mission, an attack on a road bridge at Mollinella; fighter bombers continue to hit communications and dumps in the Po Valley and guns in the La Spezia area; during the night of 12/13 April, A-20s and A-26 Invaders attack Po River crossings at San Benedetto Po, Ostiglia, Piacenza, and Casalmaggiore, bridges at San Ambrogio di Valpolicella, and motor transport and targets of opportunity in the Milan area.

Germany

Officially Germany reacted to the news of President Roosevelt's death with a correct silence. The Nazi leaders, however, greeted it as a ray of light in what is now a desperate situation for them. "My Führer," Josef Göbbels told Hitler, "I congratulate you. Roosevelt is dead. It is written in the stars that the second half of April will be the turning point for us." The Nazis believe that Roosevelt's death will be the signal for the western allies and the Soviet Union to fall out. Some plan to hold out in redoubts in north and south Germany until this occurs. Other Germans fear that Roosevelt's death leaves them to the possibly less tender mercies of Churchill and Stalin.

Adolf Hitler proclaims from his underground bunker that deliverance was at hand from encroaching Russian troops--Berlin would remain German. A "mighty artillery is waiting to greet the enemy," proclaims Der Fuhrer.

Chile

The government of Chile declares war on Japan.

United States

Photo: The U.S. Coast Guard cutter USCGC Owasco (WPG-39) off the Western Pipe & Steel Co. shipyard at San Pedro, California (USA), on 13 April 1945. She was commissioned on 18 May 1945. Note the heavy armament: Owasco carried two twin 5"/38 dual purpose guns as her main battery, two quad 40mm mounts and four 20mm cannons. Her anti-submarine armament consisted of 2 depth charge racks, six "Y" guns and a "Hedgehog"



Pacific War

CHINA

(Fourteenth Air Force): 6 B-25s hit a fort at Bac Ninh, French Indochina. In China, 11 B-25s bomb the railroad yards and warehouse area at Kaifeng and 6 knock out a bridge at Ningming; 7 B-25s hit shipping in the S China Sea and Bakli Bay on Hainan Island and the town areas of Tenghsien and Liuchow; 4 others, along with 5 P-51s, knock out a bridge and hit the town area and shipping at Puchi; 24 P-38s and P-51s knock out 3 bridges, damage another, and hit several targets of opportunity in N French Indochina; about 140 fighter-bombers fly armed reconnaissance and strikes throughout S and E China, hitting rail, road, and river traffic, town areas, troops, and general targets of opportunity. Unit moves in China: the detachment of the 16th Fighter Squadron, 51st Fighter Group, operating from Poseh with P-51s returns to base at Chengkung; the 490th Bombardment Squadron (Medium), 341st Bombardment Group (Medium), from Warazup, Burma to Hanchung
with B-25s.

INDIA-BURMA

(Tenth Air Force): In Burma, 30+ P-47s and P-38s attack troops and supplies in the Hamn gai, Loi-hseng, and Wan Yin areas and sweep roads S of the bomb line in C Burma; air transport operations to the front areas total 450 sorties. The 317th Troop Carrier Squadron (Commando), 2d Air Commando Group, moves from Palel to Kalaikunda, India with C-47s.

BURMA

Photo: Men of the 2nd York and Lancaster Regiment searching the ruins of a railway station for Japanese snipers, during the advance of 14th Army to Rangoon along the railway corridor, 13 April 1945



GUAM

(Seventh AF): 18 Guam Island-based B-24s pound enemy positions on Marcus Island in the N Pacific; 23 B-24s from Angaur Airfield bomb personnel and storage areas at Kabacan on Mindanao Island. 2 Saipan-based P-61 night fighters bomb and strafe Pagan Island in the Mariana Islands.

(Twentieth Air Force): Mission 67: During the night of 13/14 Apr, 327 B-29s bomb the Tokyo arsenal area; 3 others hit targets of opportunity; 7 B-29s are lost.

LEYTE

Photo: The U.S. Navy destroyer tender USS Dixie (AD-14) at anchor in Leyte, circa April-May 1945. Note the ship's jack is at half staff, dating the photo to the period of mourning for the death of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt on 12 April 1945. Dixie is painted Camouflage Measure 32, Design 4Ax



SOUTHWEST PACIFIC AREA

[Far East Air Force]: B-24s hit the Hong Kong waterfront (Taikoo Docks) and storage areas in Canton, China. On Formosa, other B-24s hit Tainan Airfield and Okayama Airfield while B-25s attack railroads.

PHILIPPINE CAMPAIGN (1945)

In Manila Bay, American forces land on Fort Drum, known as "the Concrete Battleship", and begin to pour 5,000 gallons of oil fuel into the fortifications. This is then set on fire and burns for five days, eliminating the Japanese garrison.

Photo: A U.S. landing party disembarking to cover the engineers who will be pumping petroleum into Fort Drum on April 13, 1945



Photo: Battery McCrea magazine explodes as petroleum burns throughout Fort Drum. The explosion of a magazine blows the armor and concrete off the top of Battery McCrea on April 13, 1945



On Luzon Island, numerous sweeps are flown over the Cagayan Valley and ground support missions are continued on Luzon, Cebu, and Negros Islands. On Mindanao, B-24s bomb the Davao area and B-25s hit various targets on Mindanao and in the Sulu Archipelago.

Off Okinawa, destroyer escort Connolly (DE-306) is damaged by kamikaze, 26°55'N, 126°46'E; gasoline tanker Wabash (AOG-4) is damaged in collision with small craft, 26°00'N, 128°00'E.

VOLCANO AND RYUKYU ISLANDS CAMPAIGN

On Okinawa, elements of the US 6th Marine Division not engaged on the Motobu Peninsula continue to advance up the west coast of the island and reach the northwest tip at Hedo Point. Japanese Kamikaze attacks hit a destroyer. British carriers attack Sakashima Gunto.

Photo: Okinawa - American LCTs unload supplies on Yellow Beach near the mouth of the Bishi Gawa river on 13 April 1945



ALASKA

(Eleventh Air Force): At Attu Island, 27 P-38s and P-40s scramble following radar reports of unidentified plots; later, they shoot down 9 of 11 Japanese paper bomb-balloons sighted over the W Aleutians.

UNITED STATES NAVY DEPARTMENT COMMUNIQUES, N. D. COMMUNIQUÉ NO. 593, APRIL 13, 1945

Far Eastern Waters.

1. U. S. submarines have reported the sinking of 15 enemy vessels, in­cluding two combatant ships‑an escort vessel and a converted gunboat. Re­ported sunk were:

1 escort vessel
2 destroyer transports
1 large tanker
1 naval auxiliary
1 converted gunboat
6 medium cargo vessels
1 medium tanker
2 small cargo vessels

2. These sinkings have not been reported in any previous Navy Depart­ment communiqué.

UNITED STATES NAVY DEPARTMENT COMMUNIQUES, CINCPOA COMMUNIQUÉ NO. 331, APRIL 13, 1945

During the early morning of April 13, the enemy in the Southern sector of Okinawa counterattacked in battalion strength but was beaten back with numerous losses by the Twenty‑Fourth Army Corps, supported by Naval gun fire and artillery. No substantial change was made in the lines in the South during the day.

On Motobu Peninsula in the North, Marines of the Third Amphibious Corps continued to engage groups of the enemy in sporadic fighting. Third Corps troops on Ishikawa Isthmus continued to press northward against In­effective resistance.

Aircraft from fast carriers of the U. S. Pacific Fleet shot down over 100 enemy planes in the area of the Ryukyus on April 11‑12, in addition to those reported destroyed in communiqué No. 330. At Tokuno and Kikai Islands, eight more planes were destroyed on the ground and fuel dumps and ware­houses were damaged or set afire.

On April 12, Shinchiku and Kiirun airfields on Formosa were attacked by Seafire and Hellcat fighters of the British Pacific Fleet. Sixteen enemy planes were shot out of the air, one was destroyed on the ground, and five were damaged.

On the following day, U. S. carrier aircraft shot one plane down and des­troyed 12 others on the ground in the Northern Ryukyus. Attacking shipping end ground installations in and around the Ryukyus our planes destroyed 23 Barges and small craft, damaged airfields and set buildings afire.

During the period March 18 to April 12, inclusive, U. S. Fast Carrier Task Forces under command of Vice Admiral Marc A. Mitscher, U. S. Navy, hot down 841 enemy planes in combat, destroyed 73 by gunfire and destroyed 363 on the ground.

Navy Search Aircraft of Fleet Air Wing One destroyed a large radio station on Gaja Island in the Northern Ryukyus and sank a picket ship and set second vessel afire north of the Bonins on April 13.

Army Black Widow night fighters bombed and strafed harbor installations at Chichi Jima and Haha Jima in the Bonins on the night of April 12‑13.

On April 12, a single Navy Search Privateer of Fleet Air Wing Two combed installations on Wake Island.

Marine Corsairs and Hellcats of the Fourth Aircraft Wing bombed ware­houses and buildings in the Palaus and on Yap in the Western Carolines on April 13.

Marine fighters and bombers continued neutralizing raids on enemy‑held gases in the Marshalls on April 12.

UNITED STATES NAVY DEPARTMENT COMMUNIQUES, CINCPOA PRESS RELEASE NO. 72, APRIL 13, 1945

The Commander in Chief, U. S. Pacific Fleet and Pacific Ocean Areas, has authorized the following, statement:

For some months the Japanese have been employing aircraft on a gradually increasing scale in suicidal attacks upon our forces in the Western Pacific. These aircraft were initially piloted by a group of pilots who were known as the "Kamikaze Corps" by the Japanese. The enemy has made much in his propaganda of this "sure death‑sure hit" suicide technique which is simply an attempt to crash planes on the decks of our ships.

The enemy has expended a large number of planes and personnel on missions of this nature with negligible effect on the continuing success of our operations. Some major units of the fleet have been damaged, but no battle­ship, fast carrier or cruiser has been sunk. Some smaller ships have been sunk, but in the great majority of cases they have remained in operation after being struck by one of these suicide planes. This reflects considerable credit on our officers and men and also on the designers and builders of our ships.

Effective methods of meeting and destroying suicidal attacks have been developed and will continue to be employed to increase the toll of Japanese aircraft shot down by our aircraft and by our antiaircraft guns.

The "suicide attack" and the so‑called "Kamikaze Corps" are the products of an enemy trapped in an increasingly desperate situation. Pushed back upon heir own inner defenses the Japanese have resorted to fanatical methods which, from a purely military viewpoint, are of doubtful value.

The "Kamikaze Corps" is apparently being used not only to attempt to damage our ships but also to stir the lagging spirits of the Japanese people. Although these "sure death‑sure hit" pilots are reported to be volunteers, many have very willingly become survivors of "suicide" missions and are now prisoners of war.

The enemy claims for the accomplishments of "suicide swimmers, human torpedoes and suicide speed boats" hardly need comment. In the majority of such attacks up to this date these personnel have failed completely in their missions but have been successful in committing suicide.

The "suicide" technique is continuing at the present time. Although it is always considered and prepared for as a factor in estimating the enemy's capabilities it cannot prevent our continuing success in the war in the Pacific.

PACIFIC

Submarine Parche (SS-384) sinks Japanese auxiliary minesweeper No.1 Misago Maru, 38°36'N, 141°41'E, and guardboat No.2 Kosho Maru, 38°27'N, 142°13'E off Todogasaki.

British submarine HMS Stygian sinks auxiliary minesweeper Wa.104 off Bali, 08°05'S, 115°06'E.

U.S. freighter Harrington Emerson is mistakenly bombed and strafed by U.S. aircraft off Borneo, 05°03'N, 119°44'E. The ship is only slightly damaged, and there are no fatalities among the merchant crew, the passengers, stevedores, or the 29 Armed Guards.

Japanese auxiliary submarine chaser Kaiko Maru is sunk by aircraft, 21°25'N, 109°20'E.

Mines laid by USAAF B-29 (20th Bomber Command) sinks Japanese cargo ship Shinro Maru southeast of Hesaki Light, 33°53'N, 131°02'E, and damage Coast Defense Vessel No.40 off Futaio Jima. B-29-laid mine sinks cargo ship Kinoto Maru off Cape Wada light, 34°39'N, 135°11'E.

USAAF B-24s (13th Air Force) sink Japanese merchant tanker No.12 Nanshin Maru off southeast coast of Borneo, 04°00'N, 116°20'E.

Day 2044 of World War II, April 15th 1945

Eastern Front

The Soviet 3rd Ukrainian Front (Tolbuhkin) begins an offensive against the industrial area of Mührisch-Ostrau in Moravia defended by Heeresgruppe Mitte (Schörner). Soviet forces begin a final offensive against the German held positions in the Samland Peninsula.

Western Front (1945) - Western Allied invasion of Germany

Map: HQ Twelfth Army Group situation map, April 15th 1945



Units of the US 9th Army, which have crossed the Elbe River near Magdeburg, are forced to retreat. The US 1st Army takes Leuna. Meanwhile, Operation Venerable is launched against the German garrison in the fortress of Royan, at the mouth of the Gironde River; heavy napalm bomb attacks by the US 8th Air Force and shelling by the Free French battleship Lorraine are followed by an attack by Free French and American forces.

Photo: Infantrymen of the 80th Division of Gen. Patton's Third Army passing the Carl Zeiss Lens and Camera Plant in newly-captured Jena, Germany. 15 April, 1945



The first British troops entered Bergen- Belsen on Sunday, April 15th 1945, at 3 p.m., led by Brigadier H.L. Glyn Hughes, the Chief Medical Officer of the British Second Army (with anti-tank battery of 63 A/Tk Regt, Royal Artillery.) Brigadier Hughes cried when he saw the horrible conditions of the camp. He later mentioned that "Belsen was unique in its vile treatment of human beings. Nothing like it had happened before in the history of mankind. The victims of this infamous behavior had been reduced to a condition of sub-human existence" The liberators' most urgent concerns included separating the sick from the living, burying the dead, and caring for the sick. While Bergen-Belsen contained no gas chambers, more than 35,000 people died of starvation, overwork, disease, brutality and sadistic medical experiments. Anne Frank and her sister, Margot, died of typhus in March 1945, along with other prisoners in a typhus epidemic.

Photo: A Comet tank of 11th Armoured Division approaches the neutral exclusion zone thrown up around Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, 15 April 1945



Photo: A Comet tank of 11th Armoured Division passes the camp gate at Bergen Belsen concentration camp, 15 April 1945



A heavily guarded convoy of US Army trucks moves the Reichsbank gold reserve from the potassium mines here back to the vaults of the Reichsbank in the recently captured city of Frankfurt-am-Main. By mid-August the gold will have been quantified and appraised. The gold is valued at $262,213,000 US dollars (4,575,760,923.08 dolloers in 2024).

Western Front (1945) - Liberation of the Netherlands

Allied troops captured Zutphen, Leeuwarden, and Zoutkamp in the Netherlands. 

Photo: A soldier looks down the approach road to the bridge at Arnhem, scene of bitter fighting during the previous September, 15 April 1945



Photo: An armoured bulldozer at work clearing debris in Arnhem, 15 April 1945



Western Front (1945) - Liberation of Belgium 

Photo: Belgian and French former POWs wait at Rheine aerodrome to board RAF Dakota aircraft which will transport them to Brussels, 15 April 1945



Air War over Europe

106 RAF Mosquitos to Berlin, 8 to Oranienburg airfield and 4 to Lechfeld airfield, 27 RCM sorties, 19 Mosquito patrols. 1 Mosquito of No 100 Group lost.

Italian campaign

Both US 5th and British 8th Armies continue their attacks. Elements of the Polish 2nd Corps (part of British 8th Army) has reached the Sillario River after crossing the Santero River.

Photo: German prisoners, taken by troops of the 10th Mountain Division, are marched to a stockade behind Fifth Army lines in Campidello, Italy, 15 April 1945



Battle of the Atlantic

Destroyer escorts Frost (DE-144) and Stanton (DE-247) sinks German submarine U-1235, North Atlantic, 47°54'N, 30°25'W.

Germany

Adolf Hitler issues an order in the event that Germany is split into northern and southern areas, Admiral Karl Dönitz would be appointed Commander-in-Chief of the north, or General Field Marshal Albert Kesselring would be Commander-in-Chief of the south, with Hitler in charge of the other part.

United States

Photo: The U.S. Navy high-speed transport USS Burke (APD-65) off Norfolk, Virginia (USA), on 15 April 1945. She is painted in Camouflage Measure 31, Design 20L



Pacific War

CHINA

(Fourteenth Air Force): In China, 3 B-25s knock out the Pa- Ching pontoon bridge, 7 pound a storage depot at Fang-cheng, 4 bomb Tunganhsien, and 3 hit Paoching; 1 B-24 bombs the Canton docks; almost 200 fighter-bombers ranging over all of S China and up into the N China plain hit numerous targets including bridges, river shipping, town areas, trucks, railroad traffic, gun positions, storage areas, and general targets of opportunity; the Paoching, Hengyang, Yungfengshih, and Hsihhsiassuchi areas are especially hard hit.

INDIA-BURMA

(Tenth Air Force): In Burma, 62 P-38s and P-47s attack troop concentrations and supply areas at Loi-Mwe, Lawksawk, Thongdan, and near Laihka; 312 transport sorties are flown to forward areas.

HQ AAF (Twentieth Air Force): 2 missions are flown during the night of 15/16 Apr. Mission 68: 194 B-29s bomb the Kawasaki urban area; 8 others hit targets of opportunity; 12 B-29s are lost. Mission 69: 109 B-29s hit the urban area of Tokyo; 1 B-29 is lost.

SOUTHWEST PACIFIC AREA

[Far East Air Force]: On Formosa B-24s bomb Toyohara, Shinchiku, and Shinshoshi Airfields and B-25s hit the Shoka rail yards. The 4th Fighter Squadron (Commando), 3d Air Commando Group, moves from Mangaldan to Laoag with P-51s.

BURMA

The British 20th Indian Division (part of British 33rd Corps) captures Taungdwingyi and moves toward Magwe and Thayetmyo. Other units of British 33rd Corps are still fighting farther up the Irrawaddy River.

JAPAN

Aircraft of fast carrier task force (Vice Admiral Marc A. Mitscher) attack airfields and aircraft on the ground in southern Kyushu, Japan; strike is repeated on 16 April.

PHILIPPINE CAMPAIGN (1945)

A battalion of the 151st Infantry Regiment, 38th Infantry Division, lands on Carabao Island at the entrance to Manila Bay; landing is preceded by cruiser/destroyer and aircraft bombardment.

Far East Air Forces B-24s and fighter-bombers bomb island fortifications in Manila Bay, fighter-bombers hit bivouacs and other targets in northern Luzon and support ground forces east of Manila and on Carabao Island. Fighter bombers and B-24s fly support missions for ground forces on Negros and Cebu Islands. On Mindanao Island, B-24s bomb the Davao area and B-25s join USMC F4U Corsairs and SBD Dauntlesses in hitting highways and vehicles.

VOLCANO AND RYUKYU ISLANDS CAMPAIGN

On Okinawa, the US 6th Marine Division assaults Yae Hill but is driven back by the Japanese defense.

Off Okinawa, kamikazes damage destroyers Wilson (DD-408), 26°03'N, 127°20'E, and Laffey (DD-724), 27°16'N, 127°50'E; Japanese assault demolition boat damages motor minesweeper YMS-331, 26°15'N, 127°36'E; attack transport Berrien (APA-62) is damaged by friendly fire.

ALASKA

(Eleventh Air Force): A B-24 flies a weather reconnaissance mission.

UNITED STATES NAVY DEPARTMENT COMMUNIQUES, CINCPOA COMMUNIQUÉ NO. 333, APRIL 15, 1945

Three enemy counterattacks in the Southern sector of Okinawa were broken up by Marine and Army artillery on the night of April 14‑15 (East Longitude Date). At noon on April 15, the Twenty‑Fourth Army Corps lines were unchanged.

In the north, Marines of the Third Amphibious Corps continued to mop up small units of the enemy. In the Western area of Motobu Peninsula one isolated group of the enemy was offering stiff resistance.

Ground forces continued to receive effective support from Naval guns, carrier and land-based aircraft, and field artillery.

Keufu Island in the Kerama Group was occupied by our troops on April 14.

Privateers of Fleet Air Wing One damaged a small cargo ship near Tanega Island in the northern Ryukyus and bombed and strafed buildings and radio towers on the Island on April 15.

A Marine Mitchell scored rocket hits on a small ship in the area of the Bonins on the night of April 14‑15. On the same date, Army night fighters attacked targets on Haha Jima, Chichi Jima and Muko Jima in the Bonins.

Corsair and Hellcat fighters of the Fourth Marine Aircraft Wing damaged bridge and pier installations in the Palaus on April 15.

UNITED STATES NAVY DEPARTMENT COMMUNIQUES, CINCPOA ADVANCE HEADQUARTERS, GUAM, APRIL 15, 1945

1. Elements of the Marine Third Amphibious Corps on Okinawa Island on April 14 advanced northward to the vicinity of Momubaru town on the west coast and Arakawa town on the east coast. Resistance was negligible. The Marines on Motobu Peninsula are now in possession of most of that area and are attacking small concentrations of enemy troops which continue to resist.

2. In the southern sector during the early morning hours of April 14 the enemy mounted a small counterattack which was immediately beaten off by troops of the Ninety Sixth Army Division. Enemy positions were brought under fire of field artillery, ships' guns and carrier and land‑based aircraft.

3. A few enemy aircraft appeared in the area off Okinawa during the day and nine were shot down by our combat air patrols.

4. Aircraft from carriers of the U. S. Pacific Fleet bombed airfields on Ishigaki and Miyako Islands in the Sakishima group on 14 April, destroying seven aircraft on the ground and damaging twenty five more.

5. Without opposition, carrier aircraft of the British Pacific Fleet struck airfields and installations at Matsuyama and Shinchiku on Formosa on 13 April. A number of aircraft were damaged on the ground and hangars, bar­racks, buildings, a railway bridge, a train and other targets were heavily hit. Several small groups of enemy planes attempted to attack surface units of the British force and three of these were shot down. The task force suffered no damage.

6. Fighters of the Fourth Marine Aircraft Wing bombed enemy islands in the Palaus on 14 April.

C. W. NIMITZ,
Fleet Admiral, U. S. Navy,
Commander in Chief, U. S. Pacific Fleet,
and Pacific Ocean Areas.

PACIFIC

Submarine Charr (SS-328) lays mines off the Malay Peninsula.

Japanese guardboat No.2 Hinode Maru is sunk by U.S. aircraft off Chezhudo, 33°19'N, 127°21'E.

Mine laid by USAAF B-29 (20th Air Force) sinks Japanese cargo ship No.3 Yamanami Maru southeast of Hesaki Light, 33°53'N, 131°02'E.

Hulk of Japanese army tanker Shincho Maru (sunk by TF 38 planes on 21 January) is scuttled across entrance of Takao, Formosa, harbor.

Day 2046 of World War II, April 17th 1945

Eastern Front

The Soviet attacks east of Berlin continue. In the very fierce battles, which have developed, the Germans are fighting with skill and desperation but are slowly being forced to give ground. Meanwhile, in Austria and Czechoslovakia, the Soviet attacks and German losses continue, Zisterdorf and Polten are taken in Austria.

Western Front (1945) - Western Allied invasion of Germany

Map: HQ Twelfth Army Group situation map, April 17th 1945



Germans units in the Ruhr are beginning to surrender on a large scale. There is also fighting near Bremen and Nuremberg.

It is two days since the British Army agreed a truce with the local German commander which enabled them to enter Bergen-Belsen peacefully. The Hungarian army guards who stayed on duty "to prevent a mass breakout", have shot dead 83 prisoners for minor offences. Now the British are in full control, and a Jewish sergeant, Norman Turgel, has arrested Josef Kramer, the camp's commandant. Kramer's men have been disarmed and put to work burying the estimated ten thousand dead lying around the camp. They have to be locked up to protect them from the vengeance of prisoners. Yesterday seven Kapos [prisoner-guards] were savagely beaten to death.

U.S. Lieutenant Colonel Boris T. Pash commandeers over half a ton of uranium at Strassfut, in an effort to prevent the Soviets from developing an A-bomb. Pash was head of the Alsos Group, organized to search for German scientists in the postwar environment in order to prevent the Soviets, previously Allies but now a potential threat, from capturing any scientists and putting them to work at their own atomic research plants. Uranium piles were also rich "catches," as they were necessary to the development of atomic weapons.

Photo: Universal carriers pass through the ruins of Massendorf, 17 April 1945



Photo: Men of 6th King's Own Scottish Borderers move forward at the double during the assault on Uelzen, 17 April 1945



Western Front (1945) - Liberation of the Netherlands

German resistance in the Netherlands was effectively ended with the surrender of the Apeldoorn garrison. The Germans had intended to make a stand along the canal, but the Canadians sent the 5th Armoured Division up from Arnhem to surround the town. After this the remaining German garrisons along the Grebbe Line followed suit and by 19 Apr fighting was almost finished allowing food supplies to be sent forward for the starving Dutch population.

Photo: A Sherman Firefly of 5th Canadian Armoured Division assists troops of 11th Royal Scots Fusiliers, 49th (West Riding) Division to clear the Germans from Ede, 17 April 1945



Photo: Sherman tanks of the 5th Canadian Armoured Division and infantry of the 11th Royal Scots Fusiliers, 49th (West Riding) Division, advance through the outskirts of Ede in Holland, 17 April 1945



Photo: Universal carrier of 11th Royal Scots Fusiliers, 49th (West Riding) Division, during operations to clear the Germans out of the Dutch town of Ede, 17 April 1945



Photo: Dutch civilians cheer as a Sherman Firefly of 5th Canadian Armoured Division enters Ede, 17 April 1945



Photo: Infantry of the 11th Royal Scots Fusiliers, 49th (West Riding) Division, searching houses in Ede in Holland, 17 April 1945



Air War over Europe

Allied bombing has destroyed over a thousand Luftwaffe aircraft on the ground as US troops reach Magdeburg.

The Eighth Air Force flies Mission 957: 1,054 bombers and 816 fighters are dispatched to hit rail targets in eastern Germany and western Czechoslovakia; 50 Luftwaffe fighters are encountered, mostly jets and the AAF claims a total of 300-0-119 aircraft destroyed on the ground and in the air (including 4 jets); 8 bombers and 17 fighters are lost. 152 B-17s bomb the rail center at Dresden and 276 bomb the marshalling yard at Dresden; they claim 1-0-1 aircraft; 6 B-17s are lost. Escorting are 230 P-51s; they claim 2-0-3 aircraft in the air and 91-0-37 on the ground; 2 P-51s are lost. 76 B-17s bomb the Dresden area and 86 attack the rail junction and station at Aussig; 86 hit the secondary target, the marshalling yard at Dresden; 2 B-17s are lost. 265 P-51s escort claiming 11-0-2 aircraft in the air and 142-0-47 on the ground; 14 P-51s are lost. 55 B-24s hit the rail center and junction at Fischern while 37 bomb the rail junction and bridge at Falkenau. The escort is 228 P-47s and P-51s; they claim 53-0-29 aircraft on the ground; 1 P-51 is lost.

At Saaz, P-47s and P-51s bounce a flight of four Me 262s from JG 7 trying to land at the airbase. All four jets are destroyed with only Oblt. Grünberg baling out of his aircraft and surviving.

The Ninth Air Force's 9th Bombardment Division attacks the defended city of Magdeburg (including numerous gun positions in the area), marshalling yard and ordnance depot at Aalen, marshalling yard and ordnance depot at Tubingen, and ordnance depot at Ravensburg; fighters fly escort to the bombers, fly patrols, area cover, and armed reconnaissance, hit airfields at Marianske Lazne and Michalovy Hory, and support the US 3d Armored Division mopping up south of the Elbe River and west of the Mulde River near Dessau, the 9th Armored Division along the Mulde east of Leipzig, the VIII Corps in the Greiz-Zwickau area, the XX Corps southwest of Chemnitz, the 5th Armored Division at the Knesebeck Forest, south of Wittingen, and the 2d Armored Division opening an assault on Magdeburg.

147 Fifteenth Air Force P-38s divebomb railroad bridges at Seefeld and Mariahof. Fifteenth Air Force P-51s, with 10 flying top cover, strafe targets of opportunity in the Munich, Germany, Plzen, Czechoslovakia, and Linz, Austria areas.

90 RAF Lancasters and 11 Mosquitos of No 5 Group attacked the railway yards in the small town of Cham deep in south-eastern Germany. The attack was completely successful, with tracks torn up and rolling stock destroyed. No aircraft lost.

61 RAF Mosquitos to Berlin and 43 to Ingoldstadt airfield, 28 RCM sorties, 40 Mosquito patrols. 2 Mosquitos lost from the Berlin raid.

Photo: Aerial photograph of Langar airfield looking north north west, with the control tower and technical site on the left and the bomb dump to the right, 17 April 1945. Photograph taken by No. 309 Fighter Training Unit, sortie number RAF/106G/LA/226



Italian campaign

Allied offensive operations continue. On the right flank of the British 8th Army attacks, Argenta falls to forces of the British 5th Corps after an amphibious move across Lake Coamchio. North and east of Argenta there are no more rivers before the Po River and the British units are soon passing through what becomes known as the "Argenta Gap." West of Argenta, the British 13th Corps enters the line between British 5th Corps and the Polish 1st Corps which is moving northwest toward Bologna. US 5th Army attacks continue as well, though with slower progress because of the more difficult terrain south and west of Bologna.

Photo: Churchill tanks being filmed by an AFPU cameraman during the advance of 56th Division north-east of Argenta, Italy, 17 April 1945



Photo: Infantrymen of Co. "I", 3rd Bn., 85th Regt., 10th Mtn. Div., march in a column of file up the road to the trucks which will take them to more forward positions. 17 April, 1945



Photo: Infantrymen of Co. "I", 3rd Bn., 85th Regt., 10th Mtn. Div., entruck to move to more forward positions. 17 April, 1945



During the night of 16/17 April, Twelfth Air Force A-20s and A-26 Invaders hit Po River crossings and several towns west and southwest of Bologna; during the day B-25s successfully attack 4 Reno River bridges near Bologna and close support targets on the British Eighth Army front to the southwest, and extensively damage 4 bridges in northern Italy and Austria on the Brenner rail line; XXII Tactical Air Command fighters and fighter-bombers concentrate on close support of the US Fifth Army south and west of Bologna.

The Fifteenth Air Force dispatches 751 B-24s and B-17s, in support of the US Fifth Army, to hit troop concentrations, supply dumps, gun positions, and HQ immediately south and southwest of Bologna; 143 P-51s provide escort.

Battle of the Atlantic

U.S. freighter Cyrus H. McCormack, while in convoy HX 348, is torpedoed and sunk by German submarine U-1107 70 miles southwest of Brest, France, 47°47'N, 06°26'W; British rescue ship Gothland picks up the survivors, but two Armed Guard sailors (of the 12-man detachment) are lost along with four of the 40-man merchant crew.

U.S. freighter Swiftscout is torpedoed by German submarine U-548 about 145 miles northeast of Cape Henry, Virginia, 37°30'N, 72°45'W; Armed Guard gunfire drives the attacker down, but U-548 returns to torpedo the ship a second time, sinking her. Only one man is lost (none of the 10-man Armed Guard) and the survivors are rescued by steamship Chancellorsville.

Pacific War

CHINA

(Fourteenth Air Force): In China, 4 B-25s and 4 P-51s blast river shipping S of Yiyang; 6 B-25s bomb the area around Kwangsi University at Liang-feng; 2 B-24s bomb the Bakli Bay dock area on Hainan Island; 70+ P-51s and P-40s hit troops, town areas, road traffic, river shipping, and general targets of opportunity at several locations in S and E China including Changsha, Sinning, Sinhwa, Yiyang, Tungting Lake, Paoching, Yungfengshih, Shanhsien, Lingling, Pingsiang, Tsinkong, and Hochih.

INDIA-BURMA

(Tenth Air Force): In Burma, 18 fighter-bombers hit troops and supplies near Mong Kung and Wan Hpun; 12 others attack vehicles and other targets of opportunity along roads S of the bomb line; 489 transport sorties are completed to forward areas throughout the day.

IWO JIMA

(VII Fighter Command): 18 P-51s flying two strikes from Iwo Jima attack vessels in Futamiko in the Bonin Islands.

SAIPAN

(Twentieth Air Force): Missions 70 to 75: 118 B-29s bomb airfields at Tachiarai, Kokubu, Izumi, Nittagahara, and 2 at Kanoya; 5 others attack targets of opportunity; beginning on this date and continuing through 11 May, XXI Bomber Command devotes about 75 per cent of its combat effort to support of the Okinawa campaign; during this period the B-29s fly more than 2,100 sorties against 17 airfields on Kyushu and Shikoku Islands which are dispatching air attacks (including Kamikaze raids) against USN and USMC forces.

SOUTHWEST PACIFIC AREA

[Far East Air Force]: On Formosa, B-24s bomb Taichu, Shinshoshi, Toyohara, and Okayama Airfields and B-25s hit the airfield at Taito. The 69th and 311th Fighter Squadrons, 58th FG, move from Mangaldan to Porac with P-47s.

PHILIPPINE CAMPAIGN (1945)

In Operation Victor Five, the U.S. Army's X Corps consisting of the 24th and 31st Infantry Division is landed on Mindanao Island, Philippine Islands, near Malabang, Parang and Cotabato. The landings are supported by the cruisers and destroyers of Task Group 74.2 and USMC aircraft (30 F4Us and 35 SBDs). The defenders do not make a determined stand.

VOLCANO AND RYUKYU ISLANDS CAMPAIGN

Off Okinawa, light cruiser Mobile (CL-63) is damaged by on-board explosion, 26°13'N, 127°52'E; light minelayer Tolman (DM-28) is damaged by grounding, 26°16'N, 127°32'E; and tank landing ship LST-929 is damaged in collision with tank landing ship LST-267, 26°21'N, 127°43'20"E.

Photo: A Japanese plane crashes near the stern of a U.S. Navy light aircraft carrier, during an unsuccessful kamikaze attack, 17 April 1945. As the photo was taken from the battleship USS South Dakota (BB-57) the carrier is most probably USS Bataan (CVL-29), as South Dakota and Bataan were assigned to Task Group 58.3 (and Bataan was the only CVL assigned to TG 58.3)



Destroyers Heermann (DD-532), McCord (DD-534), Mertz (DD-691), and Collett (DD-730), assisted by destroyer Uhlmann (DD-687) and TBM (VT 47) from small carrier Bataan (CVL-29) sink Japanese submarine I 56 150 miles east of Okinawa, 26°42'N, 130°38'E.

Numerous sweeps and sorties are flown in support of ground forces over Luzon, Cebu, Negros, and Mindanao Islands and the Sulu Archipelago. B-24s over Mindanao bomb Cotabato and Kabacan.

UNITED STATES NAVY DEPARTMENT COMMUNIQUES, CINCPOA COMMUNIQUÉ NO. 335, APRIL 17, 1945

About two thirds of the area of le Shima was brought under the control of the Tenth Army on April 17 (East Longitude Date) as our attacking forces wheeled eastward to occupy a line running from the northeast corner of the airfield along the base of the island's central pinnacle and through the town of Iegusugu to the southern coast. Resistance was moderate throughout the day.

Small pockets of the enemy continued to resist attacks of Marines of the Third Amphibious Corps on Motobu Peninsula and in northern Okinawa.

In the south there was no change in the lines of the Twenty‑Fourth Army Corps.

Our troops in both the northern and southern sectors were supported throughout the day by heavy Naval gunfire, carrier aircraft and Army and Marine artillery. A few enemy reconnaissance planes were in the Okinawa area during the day.

Search aircraft of Fleet Air Wing One destroyed two small cargo ships at anchor near Tanega Island in the northern Ryukyus and demolished a ware­house on the island with a direct bomb hit on April 17. In waters east of the Ryukyus, Fleet Air Wing One planes sank three small cargo ships and dam­aged three others on the same date.

United States forces attacking the home islands of Japan and the island groups of the Ryukyus since initiation of the Ryukyus campaign on March 18 to April 17, inclusive, have, destroyed more than 2200 Japanese aircraft in the air and on the ground. Aircraft from the fast carriers of the Pacific Fleet have destroyed more than 1600 of this total. In addition, units of the British Pacific Fleet operating in waters off the Sakishimas and Formosa have destroyed more than 80 enemy planes.

Search aircraft of Fleet Air Wing Four made rocket and machine gun attacks on buildings on Tomari Cape on Paramushiru in the northern Kuriles and strafed a trawler off the island on April 16.

Liberators of the Seventh Bomber Command bombed concrete structures and runways on Marcus Island on April 16. On the same date Marine Mitchells strafed ground installations at Kushira airfield on Kyushu.

Army Mustangs of the Seventh Fighter Command strafed and bombed shipping in and around Chichi Jima in the Bonins on April 17.

Corsairs and Hellcats of the Fourth Marine Aircraft Wing bombed and strafed targets in the Palaus on April 17.

Planes of Fleet Air Wing One attacked installations on Yap and Puluwat in the Carolines on April 17.

Fleet Air Wing Two planes continued neutralizing attacks on enemy‑held bases in the Marshalls on April 16.

Mopping up operations on Iwo Island continued during the month of April as our forces developed that island as an air base. A total of 22,731 of the enemy were killed on Iwo from February 19 to April 14, inclusive, and 624 were captured.

UNITED STATES NAVY DEPARTMENT COMMUNIQUES, CINCPOA PRESS RELEASE NO. 79, APRIL 17, 1945

On the morning of April 16 large numbers of enemy aircraft attacked one of our destroyers for more than two hours off the coast of Okinawa. The ship took two bomb hits and four suicide hits.

But she shot down 6 dive bombers and proceeded to operate as ordered.

PACIFIC

Submarine Seahorse (SS-304) is damaged by depth charges in Tsushima Strait, 33°45'N, 128°26'E, and is forced to terminate her patrol.

Submarine Sea Owl (SS-405) sinks Japanese submarine RO 46 500 yards off Wake Island 19°17'N, 166°35'E.

Japanese transport Teizui Maru (ex-German Mosel) is sunk by mine near western entrance to Shimonoseki Strait, 34°04'N, 130°50'E.

Day 2048 of World War II, April 19th 1945

Eastern Front

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

Western Front (1945) - Western Allied invasion of Germany

Map: HQ Twelfth Army Group situation map, April 19th 1945



In the west, the U.S. First Army nears its final stop line in central Germany as it captures Leipzig and Halle. Eisenhower has ordered the First and Ninth Armies to halt along the Elbe and Mulde rivers and let the Red Army overrun areas that will be part of the postwar Soviet occupation zone. Leipzig is taken. The British 2nd Army reaches the Elbe River south of Namburg. Patton's US forces cross the Czech border. Final German surrenders in the Ruhr pocket total 325,000. British begin the attack on Bremen.

Photo: Third U.S. Army tank moves past a burning building in Vorback, Germany. 19 April, 1945



Western Front (1945) - Liberation of the Netherlands

Photo: Universal Carriers of 49th (West Riding) Division's Reconnaissance Regiment are welcomed by Dutch civilians on the outskirts of Kampen, 19 April 1945



Air War over Europe

The Eighth Air Force flies Mission 961: 605 B-17s and 584 P-51s are dispatched to make visual attacks on rail targets in southeastern Germany and northwestern Czechoslovakia; they claim 18-1-5 Luftwaffe aircraft; 5 B-17s and 2 P-51s are lost: 135 B-17s bomb the Elsterwerda marshalling yards while 143 bomb the Falkenberg marshalling yards. Escorting are 191 P-51s that claim 5-0-0 aircraft; 1 P-51 is lost. Of 321 B-17s dispatched, 115 hit the railroad industry and rail bridge at Pirna while 87 hit Karlsbad and 109 bomb the marshalling yard at Aussig; they claim 6-1-2 aircraft; 5 B-17s are lost. The escort is 197 P-51s; they claim 7-0-3 aircraft.

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

Fifteenth Air Force heavy bombers Bischofshofen and Rosenheim while 78 P-38s divebomb the marshalling yard at Weilheim. Fifteenth Air Force B-17s and B-24s bomb the Rattenberg railroad bridge and marshalling yards at Lienz, Klagenfurt and Linz.

49 RAF Lancasters of No 3 Group carried out a G-H raid on the Pasing railway yards, Munich. The bombing appeared to be concentrated. No aircraft lost.

36 RAF Lancasters of 9 and 617 Squadrons attacked coastal battery positions at Heligoland with Tallboy bombs. All targets were hit and no aircraft were lost.

79 RAF Mosquitos to Berlin, 35 to Wittstock airfield and 8 to Schleswig airfield, 34 RCM sorties, 40 Mosquito patrols. No aircraft lost.

Italian campaign

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

Photo: Members of the 2nd Bn., 85th Mtn. Inf., 10th Mtn. Div., on the move through Badia. 19 April, 1945



Photo: Troops of the 2nd Bn., 86th Mtn. Inf., 10th Mtn. Div., move down dusty mountain road into the Po Valley. 19 April, 1945



Photo: Stretcher bearers pass Sherman tanks in Portomaggiore, 19 April 1945



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

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

Battle of the Atlantic

Destroyer escorts Buckley (DE-51) and Reuben James (DE-153) sink German submarine U-879, North Atlantic, 42°19'N, 61°45'W.

Germany

On the eve of Hitler's 56th birthday, Dr. Goebbels exhorts the nation and predicts that in spite of all misfortunes Germany will yet prevail, that the "perverse coalition between Bolshevism and Plutocracy" is about to break up, and that it is Adolf Hitler ("Our Hitler!") who will still turn back the tide and save Europe, as he has thus far, from falling into the clutches of the Kremlin.

United States

Photo: The U.S. Navy destroyer USS Selfridge (DD-357) in the Atlantic Ocean on 19 April 1945. Selfridge was transferred to the Atlantic in September 1944. Note the addition of the HF/DF on the short mast aft. She is painted in Camouflage Measure 32, Design 3D. This photo was taken from an aircraft of Photographic Squadron 15 (VJ-15)



Photo: The U.S. Navy high-speed transport USS William M. Hobby (APD-95) underway off the Charleston Naval Shipyard, South Carolina (USA), on 19 April 1945. She is painted in Camouflage Measure 31, Design 5L



Pacific War

CHINA

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

INDIA-BURMA

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

BURMA

In the south, along the Irrawaddy River, Magwe is taken by British 20th Indian Division advancing southwest from Meiktila. In the Sittang Valley, Pyinmana falls to the British 5th Indian Division, which now leads the advance of British 4th Corps. Farther north between Meiktila and the Irrawaddy River, British 33rd Corps completes the clearance of the Mount Popo area and capture Chauk.

GUAM

Seventh Air Force: 17 B-24s from Guam hit Dublon, Fefan and Eten in Truk Atoll. 25 B-24s, based in the Palau islands, bomb nearby Arakabesan and Koror Islands. VII Fighter Command: 8 P-51s from Iwo Jima bomb and strafe Futamiko in the Bonin Islands. During the night of 19/20 Apr, 6 P-61s from Iwo Jima, operating singly and at intervals, bomb and strafe Chichi, Haha, and Muko Jima. Very Long Range Mission 4: 104 P-51s fly a fighter sweep to Atsugi and Yokusuka Airfields in Japan; they claim 23-0-7 aircraft in the air and 14-0-23 on the ground; 2 P-51s are lost.

SOUTHWEST PACIFIC AREA

B-24s bomb Tainan Airfield and Shinchiku town. Tarakan is hit by a light B-25 strike while B-24s returning from a French Indochina coastal sweep bomb Sandakan. B-25s, with P-51 cover, hit Haimi.

ADMIRALTY ISLANDS

Photo: U.S. Navy liberty section personnel returns from Rara Island (off Pitylieu Island, Manus, Admiralty Islands), aboard an LCM to the escort carrier USS Casablanca (CVE-55) on 19 April 1945



PHILIPPINE CAMPAIGN (1945)

In the advance by US 1st Corps units, on the northwest coast of Luzon, Vigan is taken.

Photo: Veteran Artillery men of the "C" Btry., 90th F.A., lay down a murderous barrage on troublesome Jap artillery positions in Balete Pass, Luzon, P.I. April 19, 1945



Photo: Veteran infantrymen of "K" Co., 3rd Bn., 161st RCT, 25th Div., cover a Jap cave with their rifles, should the Japs decide to come out because of the phosphorous grenade thrown into the cave, 19 April 1945



Unit moves on Luzon: HQ 3d Air Commando Group and the 3d Fighter Squadron (Commando) from Mangaldan to Laoag with P-51s; HQ 35th FG from Lingayen Airfield to Clark Field; HQ 312th BG from Mangaldan to Floridablanca; the 431st, 432d and 433d Fighter Squadrons, 475th FG, from Clark Field to Lingayen Airfield with P-38s. The 25th Liaison Squadron, 13 AF, moves from Dulag to Malabang with UC-78s and L-5s.

Numerous missions are flown in support of ground forces on Luzon, Cebu, and Negros. On Mindanao, other B-24s bomb personnel areas at Kabacan, Cagayan, and along the Davao River.

VOLCANO AND RYUKYU ISLANDS CAMPAIGN

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

Photo: Machine gun crew of the 1st Bn., 381st Infantry, keep on the alert for enemy movement on Okinawa. 19 April, 1945



ALASKA

(Eleventh Air Force): 8 B-25s off to bomb Kurile Island targets abort due to weather.

UNITED STATES NAVY DEPARTMENT COMMUNIQUES, CINCPOA COMMUNIQUÉ NO. 337, APRIL 19, 1945

The Twenty‑Fourth Army Corps launched an offensive of substantial force against enemy defense lines in the southern sector of Okinawa on April 19 (East Longitude Date). In the early morning hours, powerful concentra­tions of Army and Marine artillery joined with battleships, cruisers, and lighter units of the Pacific Fleet to deliver one of the largest bombardments ever made in support of amphibious troops. Under cover of this fire and supported by great flights of carrier aircraft, Army Infantrymen of the Seventh, Twenty‑Seventh and Ninety‑Sixth Infantry Divisions moved off to the attack between 0600 and 0800. By noon the left and right flanks of our lines were reported to have moved forward from 500 to 800 yards and our forces captured the village of Machinato. The enemy was resisting our ad­vance stubbornly with artillery, mortars, and light weapons. Our troops are now striking at a fortified line which is organized in great depth and developed to exploit the defensive value of the terrain which is dissected by ravines and terraced by escarpments. These fortifications whose northern perimeter follows an uneven line across the island at a point where it is about 8,000 yards wide are about four and a half miles north of Naha on the west coast and three and a half miles north of Yonabaru on the east coast. They include interlocking trench and pillbox systems, blockhouses, caves and the con­ventional Japanese dug‑in positions. During the forenoon, U. S. Army In­fantrymen were engaged in knocking out strong points and penetrating and destroying segments of the outer lines.

Tenth Army troops in Ie Shima continued to advance on April 19 moving their lines forward south of the Iegusugu Peak. The enemy continued to resist from concealed fixed positions. Some of our observation planes have landed on the island airstrip.

Marines of the Third Amphibious Corps continued to extend their control over the northern areas of Okinawa. On Motobu Peninsula, mopping up operations were still in progress.

Army Mustangs of the Seventh Fighter Command, Strategic Air Force, Pacific Ocean Areas, on April 19 attacked Atsugi airfield, in the area of Tokyo.

Preliminary reports show that the following damage was inflicted on the enemy:

Twenty‑one aircraft shot out of the air
Two aircraft probably shot down
Twenty‑six aircraft destroyed or probably destroyed on the ground
Thirty‑five aircraft damaged in the air and on the ground

A large cargo ship was seen sinking off the coast and a medium cargo ship was observed burning south of Tokyo. Our aircraft strafed the ground targets at low level through moderate to intense antiaircraft fire.

A search plane of Fleet Air Wing One sank a small coastal cargo ship in the area of the northern Ryukyus on April 19.

On the same date, Corsair and Hellcat fighters of the Fourth Marine Aircraft Wing attacked buildings and installations in the Palaus and Hell­diver bombers of the same force struck the airstrip on Yap in the Western Carolines.

PACIFIC

Submarine Cero (SS-225) sinks Japanese guardboat No.3 Isuzu Maru south of Japan, 30°42'N, 136°42'E.

Submarine Pogy (SS-266) is mistakenly attacked by PB4Y (VPB 102) as Pogy approaches a Japanese convoy southeast of Honshu, 32°59'E, 139°58'E. Fortunately, the submarine escapes the encounter undamaged and remains on patrol.

Submarine Sennet (SS-408), attacking Japanese convoy in Kii Suido off the south coast of Kyushu, sinks auxiliary submarine chaser Cha 97, 33°32'N, 135°23'E, and merchant cargo ship Hagane Maru, 33°35'N, 135°23'E.

Submarine Silversides (SS-236) sinks Japanese guardboat Kairyu Maru, 32°57'N, 145°03'E.

Submarine Sunfish (SS-281) attacks Japanese convoy TSO-201 off Hokkaido, sinking gunboat Kaiho Maru, 42°22'N, 142°16'E, and merchant cargo ship Taisei Maru, 42°22'N,142°13'E.

Submarine Trutta (SS-421) sinks Japanese merchant vessel Kaiyo Maru, 37°52'N, 122°24'E, and merchant fishing boats Kinshu Maru and Mitsuyama Maru, 37°52'N, 122°24'E.

USAAF B-24s bomb Japanese shipping at Saigon, adding further damage to merchant cargo ships Kenei Maru and Chefoo Maru (previously damaged in TF 58's 12 January 1945 strike).

Japanese tanker Shonan Maru sinks after running aground off Belawan, Sumatra, 03°55'N, 98°49'E.

Day 2050 of World War II, April 21st 1945

Eastern Front

Leading elements of the 1st Belorussian Front reach the eastern suburbs of Berlin. Meanwhile, the 1st Ukrainian Front attacks northward from Dresden and captures Bautzen and Cottbus 70 miles (113 km) southeast of Berlin while Soviet forces fighting south of Berlin, at Zossen, assault the headquarters of the German High Command. The only remaining opposing "force" to the Russian invasion of Berlin are the "battle groups" of Hitler Youth, teenagers with anti-tank guns, strategically placed in parks and suburban streets. In a battle at Eggersdorf, 70 of these Hitler teens strove to fight off a Russian assault with a mere three anti-tank guns. They were bulldozed by Russian tanks and infantry. Hitler announces he will remain in Berlin. Goering, Himmler and other top Nazis flee so they can surrender to the Americans or British. Fw 200B-2 DLH Condor "Hessen" crashes while trying to leave Berlin overloaded with Nazi party leaders trying to escape the encircled city.

The town of Treuenbrietzen is occupied by the Russians.

In East Prussia, remnants of AOK Ostpreussen (von Saucken) are still resisting in the port of Pillau, the Frische Nehrung and the Vistula delta between Danzig and Marienburg.

Western Front (1945) - Western Allied invasion of Germany

Map: HQ Twelfth Army Group situation map, April 21st 1945



Now the Battle of the Ruhr has ended, with 325,000 prisoners in Allied hands; these include 30 generals and an admiral. Eisenhower, in an order of the day, says that "21 enemy divisions, including three Panzer, one Panzergrenadier and three Parachute divisions" have been smashed. Stuttgart is overrun by De Lattre de Tassigny's 1st French Army while there is continued German resistance around Elbingerode in the Harz Mountains.

Air War over Europe

The Eighth Air Force flies Mission 963: 532 bombers and 444 fighters are dispatched to attack jet fighter airfields and rail targets in south-eastern Germany; 2 bombers and 2 fighters are lost: 111 B-17s hit the marshalling yard at Munich, a target of last resort, with H2X radar. Escorting are 90 P-51s. 186 B-24s are sent to hit the Salzburg marshalling yard and rail bridge but abort the mission due to 10/10 cloud cover; 1 B-24 is lost. The escort is 99 P-51s. 6 B-17s hit the secondary target, the Amlech Airfield at Landsberg; 212 hit a target of last resort, the town of Ingolstadt; 1 B-17 is lost. 144 P-51s escort; 2 are lost.

The lost B-24 was the last American bomber shot down over Germany during World War II. The 'Black Cat' was hit at 22,000 feet and broke into pieces. One of the crewmembers was Howard Goodner. Twenty-one year old Goodner had no parachute. He came down in freefall alongside bombs and oxygen tanks, spinning toward the Bavarian village of Scharmassing. He landed in a field outside the town, his body striking the earth so hard that it left a crater nearly six inches deep. Maria Wittig, then 19, saw him there. He was athletic looking, fair-skinned, handsome. Long fingers. "I can see him before me," she told an interviewer, a half century later, so clear was her memory. Shown a picture of the entire crew, she picked out Goodner immediately. "That's him," she said, her voice breaking.

The Ninth Air Force dispatches 121 B-26 Marauders to hit the Attnang-Puchheim marshalling yard; fighters fly escort, patrols, armed reconnaissance and cooperate with the US VIII Corps as elements of the 6th Cavalry Group cross the Czechoslovakian border to reach Hranice and Trojmezi, the XII Corps in the Grafenwohr-Weiden area, and the XX Corps east of Nurnberg.

Fifteenth Air Force bombers bomb the marshalling yard at Rosenheim while 138 P-38s bomb railroad lines and facilities in the Munich and Rosenheim, Germany-Rattenberg, Austria areas

Weather curtails daytime operations but Twelfth Air Force B-25s score hits on the Matrei am Brenner bridge on the Brenner rail line.

About 200 Fifteenth Air Force bombers, with P-51 escort, bomb marshalling yards at Attnang-Puchheim, Spittal an der Drau, and Vocklabruck.

107 RAF Mosquitos to Kiel. 2 aircraft lost.

16 RAF Mosquitos to Eggebek airfield near Flensburg, 3 RCM sorties, 16 Mosquito patrols, 20 Lancasters of No 6 Group minelaying in the Kattegat. No aircraft lost.

Italian campaign

Bologna is captured by the Polish II Corps. It was 5.50am when the last of the German garrison motored out of this university city. Bologna slept. Fifteen minutes later, advance units of the Polish II Corps drove in from the east and hoisted their national flag on the town hall, just a few minutes before American tanks rumbled in from the north, soon to be joined by Italian troops of the Eighth Army, their British steel helmets adorned with flowers and feathers. Only then did Bologna awake to go noisily, crazily, mad with joy and relief. A stiff street-by-street battle had been expected. The German commander had received the now almost rubber-stamped order to fight to the last man. Instead, it seems that he made a deal with the city's archbishop and the Fascist mayor. If partisans did not molest his retreating troops, he would not demolish Bologna's public services. As the Poles advanced along the Via Emilia, a coded signal had to be sent to the partisans to rise up. Anticipating this, the Germans arrested and shot two of their leaders. Today, as Bologna went wild, the partisans shot two leading Fascists in revenge. Units of US 2nd Corps (part of US 5th Army) enter the town a few hours later.

Photo: Entry of Polish troops of the 2nd Polish Corps into Bologna. Soldiers of the Carpathian Uhlan Regiment in the T17 (Staghound) armored car welcomed by the population, 21 April 1945



Photo: Entry of Polish troops of the 2nd Polish Corps into Bologna. M4 Sherman tanks from the 1st Krechowiecki Uhlan Regiment leave the city, 21 April 1945



Photo: Entry of Polish troops of the 2nd Polish Corps into Bologna. M4 Sherman tank from the 1st Krechowiecki Lancers Regiment on the city streets, 21 April 1945



Photo: American soldiers being greeted by civilians in Genoa, 21 April 1945



US 5th Army forces have now cleared the Appenines and advancing rapidly on the Lombard Plain. East of Bologna, British 8th Army is advancing rapidly.

Map: Map of US IV and II Corps breakthrough into the Po valley, April 1945 (this map shows operations in the Bologna region, 14–21 April 1945, but does not seem to show any operations of non-US troops in the region)



Photo: T 5 Clifford Thompson, 3 Terrace Ave., New London, Conn., of the 752nd Tank Bn., taking a few minutes out to sleep after having made the long, hard push to Bologna. 21 April, 1945



During the night of 20/21 April, Twelfth Air Force A-20s and A-26 Invaders bomb Po River crossings with good results and in the late afternoon hit Po River crossings; XXII Tactical Air Command fighters and fighter bombers, grounded most of the day, fly close support to the US Fifth Army which drives into Bologna (a longstanding objective) and begins to push rapidly across the plain toward the Po River.

Arctic naval operations

In the Arctic Sea, an Allied U-boat hunter group attacked 'U-997' with depth charges. Due to some damage to the periscope, the boat had to return to base.

Battle of the Atlantic

'U-636' sunk in the North Atlantic west of Ireland, in position 55.50N, 10.31W, by depth charges from frigates HMS 'Bazely', 'Drury' and 'Bentinck'. 42 dead (all hands lost).

Germany

Göring takes his last trip by his personal train 'ASIEN'. From Karinhall he travels to Berchtesgaden to his lodge on the Obersalzberg.

Himmler meets Norbert Masur of the World Jewish Congress and refuses to free the Jews under his control.

Soviet Union

A mutual assistance treaty is concluded between the Soviet government and the Provisional Government of Poland, based on the Lublin Committee. The further recognition bestowed on the communist Poles, at a time when the London based Polish government in exile continues to receive western recognition, becomes an issue in postwar period.

United States

Photo: The U.S. Navy escort carrier USS Vella Gulf (CVE-111) in Puget Sound, Washington (USA), on 21 April 1945



Pacific War

CHINA

(Fourteenth Air Force): In China, 5 B-25s bomb Loyang; a single B-24 hits targets of opportunity in Bakli Bay on Hainan; 30 P-51s and P-47s attack railroad and road targets, barracks area, buildings, and bridges at or near Paoching, Chihsien, Taiku, Hsihhsiassuchi, Shaho, Linfen, Luan, Yutze, and Shanhsien.

INDIA-BURMA

(Tenth Air Force): Bad weather over Burma causes canceling or aborting of all combat missions however, transports complete 464 sorties, landing or dropping 682 tons of supplies to forward areas. The 81st Bombardment Squadron (Medium), 12th BG (Medium), based at Fenny, India with B-25s, sends a detachment to operate from Meiktila, Burma.

GUAM

(Seventh Air Force): 18 Guam Island-based B-24s bomb Marcus Island in the N Pacific.

(Twentieth Air Force): Missions 82 to 90: The XXI Bomber Command continues to hit airfields in Japan; 217 B-29s blast airfields at Oita, 2 at Kanoya, Usa, Kokubu, Kushira, Tachiarai, Izumi, and Nittagahara; 21 other B-29s hit targets of opportunity including the city of Kagoshima.

JAPANESE OCCUPIED NETHERLANDS EAST INDIES

On Borneo, Thirteenth Air Force B-24s bomb Miri, Kudat, Manggar, and Sepinggang Airfields and P-38s hit Tarakan Island and Sandakan, Miri Airfield, oil storage near Lutong, and, with B-24s, attack targets of opportunity along the southwest Celebes coast. USN PV Venturas also attack various targets on Borneo.

BURMA

The British 4th Corps advance in the Sittang Valley is beginning to pull ahead of the parallel efforts in the Irrawaddy Valley. Yedashe is taken by the British 5th Indian Division, while in the rear the airfields around Pyinmana are being cleared to be put into Allied service. In the Irrawaddy Valley, Yenangyaung falls to British 33rd Corps units mopping up in the rear of the main advance.

PHILIPPINE CAMPAIGN (1945)

The heavy fighting near Baguio is continuing, with the attacks of the US 37th Division making some gains near the Irisan River and the 33rd Division advancing to the west of the city.

Photo: Infantrymen of the 17th Regt., 7th Div., keep down and and carefully probe the the ample vegetation for the enemy. Okinawa. 21 April, 1945



The Fifth and Thirteenth Air Force continue large scale support of ground forces on Luzon, Cebu, Negros, and Jolo Islands. USMC F4Us and SBDs attack highways and roads supporting the US X Corps on Mindanao. USMC SBDs also attack Japanese positions on Mount Daho on Jolo Island.

The 39th Fighter Squadron, 35th FG, moves from Lingayen Airfield to Clark Field, Luzon with P-47s.

VOLCANO AND RYUKYU ISLANDS CAMPAIGN

The US 77th Infantry Division completes the occupation of Ie Shima. The island and its airfield have been secured after six days of heavy fighting during which about 5000 Japanese troops have been killed. The division is ferried to Okinawa to join in the battle in the south.

Photo: Men of 27th Division, U.S. Tenth Army, cross ponton bridge on Okinawa to assault heavily fortified Jap position, 21 April 1945



Photo: This craggy Japanese stroingpoint, called Hill 178 by U.S. Tenth Army assaulting troops, is being reduced in an offensive to wipe out enemy resistance on the island. Infantrymen of the Army's 7th Division watch as a flame-throwing tank licks at cave defenders on the battered hillside on Okinawa. 21 April, 1945



Off Okinawa, the destroyer USS Ammen is damaged by bomb that misses. Organized Japanese resistance on Ie Shima ends. Nearly 5,000 Japanese have been killed, 149 captured. The Americans have suffered 1,000 casualties.

UNITED STATES NAVY DEPARTMENT COMMUNIQUES, CINCPOA COMMUNIQUÉ NO. 339, APRIL 21, 1945

The Twenty‑Fourth Army Corps pressed its attack against the enemy in the southern sector of Okinawa on April 20 and 21 (East Longitude Dates) making small gains through heavily defended areas. On the approaches to Hill 178, the high ground changed hands several times on April 21 in the bitterest kind of fighting. Small gains were made by our forces in other seg­ments of the lines. Naval guns and Army and Marine artillery continued to bombard enemy emplacements with heavy fire and carrier aircraft attacked troop concentrations in the southern part of the island.

Marines of the Third Amphibious Corps reduced the remaining pockets of enemy resistance on Motobu Peninsula on the afternoon of April 20 and brought the entire area under their control.

Tenth Army troops placed the United States Flag on the summit of Iegusugu Peak on Ie Shima on the morning of April 21 after overcoming bitter resistance from caves, pillboxes and other strong points. Our forces are engaged in mopping up operations on the island which is now in our possession.

On the night of April 20‑21, enemy aircraft attacked Yontan and Kadena airfields causing minor damage. Carrier aircraft from the U. S. Pacific Fleet attacked air installations in the Sakishima group on April 19 and 21, shooting down one plane and strafing several others on the ground.

Hellcat and Corsair fighters of Fourth Marine Aircraft Wing bombed targets in the Palaus on April 21.

PACIFIC

Japanese guardboat Zenyo Maru is sunk by U.S. aircraft off Shionomisaki, 31°30'N, 135°40'E.

Japanese cargo vessel No.2 Toshi Maru is damaged by mine off Singapore.

Day 2052 of World War II, April 23rd 1945

Eastern Front

The Red Army has broken into Berlin from the north, east and south. Massed Russian artillery is shelling the central and western areas of the city. Buildings are collapsing piece by piece. Sturmovik aircraft dive over the rubble to silence German strongpoints. Latest reports say that Russian assault troops are smashing their way through the inner ring of SS resistance near the Stettiner railway station, one mile from the Unter den Linden.

Frankfürt am der Oder: After 6 days of heavy defensive fighting, the defenders of the city, assisted by 11.SS-Armee Korps [Kleinheisterkamp], gave very little ground to Soviet 1st Byelorussian Front. Massive and continuous artillery bombardments on the town from 20 to 22 April, 1945, reduced vast parts of the city to a wasteland of burning rubble. Still, the defensive perimeter remained intact. Zhukov's 1st Byelorussian then sought to bypass and find a way around and behind the stubborn defenders. By 22 April the near breakup of 9th Armee into three isolated segments was dangerously close. Hitler, at the insistence of Gen.Heinrici, allowed 9th Army to remove itself from continued [suicidal] holding of the Oder line-position, which allowed the extrication of the beleaguered and nearly surrounded garrison of 'Festung-Frankfurt' aided by elements of 11.SS-Armee.Korps, at the very last moment. The Russians [actually a Polish Tank Brigade of the Red Army] took possession of the city on 23 April 1945. Detonations and fire in the city centre area went on for a number of days beyond this, and have been attributed to both unexploded Allied aerial ordnance [The RAF raided Frankfurt a.Oder in late March and early April 1945], as well as to last ditch Hitler-Jugend attacks by the so-called 'Werwolf' organisation.

Western Front (1945) - Western Allied invasion of Germany

Map: HQ Twelfth Army Group situation map, April 23rd 1945



British Second Army reaches the Elbe River near Hamburg, Germany.

A group of non-Jewish Flossenbürg Concentration Camp prisoners arrived at Dachau Concentration Camp in Germany after a six-day march. On the same day, elements of the 2nd US Cavalry Group, 90th and 97th US Infantry Divisions liberated the main camp of Flossenbürg, finding 1,527 prisoners still in the camp; about 300 of them would die despite receiving care from US Army medics. Meanwhile, several groups of prisoners who were marched out of Flossenbürg in the preceding days were found and liberated by US Army troops in the surrounding area. 

Photo: Flossenbürg concentration camp liberated by the US Army, 23 April 1945



Air War over Europe

First Tactical Air Force (Provisional): HQ 71st Fighter Wing moves from Vittel, France to Heidelberg, Germany. Ninth Air Force: Weather cancels combat operations by the 9th Bombardment Division. In Germany, fighters patrol the Magdeburg area and the US Third Army front (E of the Bayreuth-Nurnberg area), fly armed reconnaissance over E Germany and W Czechoslovakia, and operate in conjunction with the XII Corps as it presses forward N of Regensburg between the Danube River and Czech Border. P-47 unit moves in Germany: 411th and 412th Fighter Squadrons, 373d Fighter Group, from Venlo, the Netherlands to Lippstadt; 509th, 510th and 511th Fighter Squadrons, 405th Fighter Group, from Ophoven, Belgium to Kitzingen.

148 RAF Lancasters of No 5 Group set out to attack the railway yards and port area at Flensburg but the operation was abandoned because of cloud which covered the target on the bomb run. All aircraft returned safely.

60 RAF Mosquitos dispatached to Kiel; none lost.

38 RAF Mosquitos to Rendsburg, 32 to Travemünde and 8 to Schleissheim airfield, 45 RCM sorties, 35 Mosquito patrols. No aircraft lost.

Italian campaign

Advance units of both US 5th and British 8th Armies reach the Po River. US 5th Army units manage to cross the river south of Mantua.

Photo: A Churchill tank halts near infantry of the 1st London Irish Rifles near Tanara during the advance to the River Po, Italy, 23 April 1945



Photo: Three members of HQ, 2nd Bn., 85th Regt., 10th Mtn. Div., arrived at the Po River bank for reconnaissance, 23 April 1945



Battle of the Atlantic

At 1535, 'U-1023' fired a spread of two LUT torpedoes at Convoy TBC-135 and heard one detonation and sinking noises. In fact, the 'Riverton' was only damaged.

The unescorted 'Katy' was torpedoed and damaged by 'U-857' east of Kitty Hawk. She was towed to Lynnhaven, Hampton Roads on 26 April and repaired. It is also possible that 'U-879' torpedoed this ship, but both U-boats were lost during April 1945 in that area and this success can not be definitely assigned to one of the boats.

'U-396' reported missing from weather-reporting duties. No explanation exists for its loss. 45 dead (all hands lost).

'U-1055' reported missing in the North Atlantic or the English Channel. No explanation exists for its loss. 49 dead (all hands lost).

Minesweeper HMCS 'Vegreville' damaged by mines off French coast and headed for Devonport for repairs. The damage to her port engine was considered to be beyond economical repair and was declared a constructive total loss 6 Jun 45.

'U-716' depth charged in the Arctic by a hunter-killer group. Due to the damage incurred the boat had to return to base.

Germany

In Berlin, Germany, Adolf Hitler noted that, when Germany would have lost the war, Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring would be the better person to negotiate peace terms. Göring, who was in Berchtesgaden in southern Germany, was made aware of this fact. After consulting Hans Lammers and other senior government officials, Göring carefully noted that, according to Hitler's decree of 29 Jun 1941, Göring would take power over Germany if Hitler could not respond by midnight. This message would be distorted by Martin Bormann as a sign of Göring's thirst for power. Hitler originally ordered Göring to surrender all of his positions, but Bormann would convince Hitler to issue an arrest order.

After sundown, Albert Speer bid his final farewell to Adolf Hitler. He admitted to Hitler that he had sabotaged Hitler's scorched earth policies, and Hitler forgave him for disobeying the order. Speer toured the Chancellery in Berlin, Germany for the last time before leaving for Hamburg, Germany.

Reichsjugendführer Artur Axmann gives a personal order that battalions of Hitler Youth be raised to defend the Pichelsdorf bridges across the River Havel in Berlin to keep the way open for Wenck's phantom army.

Folke Bernadotte met Heinrich Himmler at the SS Hohenlychen sanatorium in Lychen, Germany for the last time. During this meeting, Bernadotte secured the release of some Scandinavian Jews, but refused to help seek a separate peace between Germany and the Western Allies.

German occupied Netherlands

George Marshall authorized Dwight Eisenhower to negotiate with the Germans in the Netherlands for a limited ceasefire in order to bring relief to the starving civilians.

United States

Photo: The U.S. Navy light cruiser USS Dayton (CL-105) underway in the Delaware River, near the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard, Pennsylvania (USA), 23 April 1945



Photo: Amidships view of the Fletcher-class destroyer USS David W. Taylor (DD-551) at Hunters Point Naval Shipyard, California (USA), on 23 April 1945



Photo: The U.S. Navy attack cargo ship USS Montague (AKA-98) underway off New York City (USA) on 23 April 1945



Pacific War

CHINA

(Fourteenth Air Force): In China, 5 B-25s blast the Hsuchang railroad yards, completely demolishing a locomotive repair shop; 2 B-24s attack targets of opportunity in the S China Sea; 39 P-47s and P-51s attack troops, horses, trains, and rivercraft at or near Nanyang, Burma and Taiku, Shanhsien, Hsihhsiassuchi, Loning, Sinyang, Chenghsien, Sichuan, Lushan, and along the Pinghan railroad, and render a railroad tunnel near Sinyang unusable.

INDIA-BURMA

(Tenth Air Force): In Burma, 7 P-61s attack with napalm, rockets, and cannon several targets during sweeps from Laihka to Loilem to Hopong to Wan Yin; Laihka Airfields, a bridge S of Wan Yin, trucks, and other targets are successfully pounded; 40+ fighter-bombers attack troop concentrations along and behind the lines at several points including Loilem, Nawng Leng, Mong Pawn, and Naungtaw; a bridge at Namhkok is temporarily out due to bomb damage to approaches; 570 transport sorties are flown to forward areas throughout the day.

BURMA

The 150 officers and 3,000 men of the 1st Division of the Indian National Army, an anti-British resistance group aided by the Japanese, surrendered to the Allies at Pyu, Burma. Meanwhile, Lieutenant General Heitaro Kimura, despite having been given orders of defend Rangoon, Burma to the death, ignominiously abandoned the city without issuing any orders to the Burma Area army.

GUAM

(Seventh Air Force): 13 B-24s from Guam Island pound positions on Marcus Island. The 28th Photographic Reconnaissance Squadron, Seventh AF, based on Kualoa Airfield with F-5Es, sends a detachment to operate from Okinawa, the first Seventh AF unit to arrive (another detachment is operating from Saipan Island).

JAPANESE OCCUPIED NETHERLANDS EAST INDIES

The US Navy's Patrol Bombing Squadron One Hundred Nine (VPB-109) based at Puerto Princessa, Palawan, Philippine Islands, launches the Special Weapons Ordnance Device (SWOD) Mk. 9 for the first time against an enemy target. The SWOD Mk. 9, or "Bat" missile, is a glide bomb consisting of a 1,000 pound (453.6 kg) bomb casing equipped with wings, twin tail and internal radar to guide it. Two Bats are launched by a VPB-109 Consolidated PB4Y-2 Privateer against Japanese shipping in Balikpapan harbor in Borneo but both are defective and do not hit any targets.

In Borneo, other B-24s bomb airfields at Sepinggang and Jesselton and P-38s drop napalm on Tarakan. Other B-24s fly a shipping sweep over the Makassar Strait and damage several small vessels.

SOUTHWEST PACIFIC AREA

[Far East Air Force]: On Formosa, B-25s hit the Shinei railroad yards, P-51s hit Karenko Airfield and P-38s attack various targets of opportunity. In China, B-24s bomb a military depot at Shanghai and shipping in Yulin harbor on Hainan. B-24s bomb the naval base at Saigon, French Indochina.

PHILIPPINE CAMPAIGN (1945)

Units of the US 37th Division reach the outskirts of Baguio, Luzon, PI. Fighter bombers continue to support ground forces in the N and S parts of Luzon Island pounding numerous artillery positions, supply areas, and general targets of opportunity.

VOLCANO AND RYUKYU ISLANDS CAMPAIGN

On Okinawa, the attacks of US 24th Corps begin to achieve some gains, notably by US 96th Division.

UNITED STATES NAVY DEPARTMENT COMMUNIQUES, CINCPOA COMMUNIQUÉ NO. 341, APRIL 23, 1945

Naval guns and carrier aircraft continued to support troops of the Twenty-Fourth Army Corps attacking the enemy's fortified line in the southern sector of Okinawa on April 23 (East Longitude Date).

Planes from carriers of the U. S. Pacific Fleet attacked 25 enemy aircraft about to take off from an airfield on Miyako in the Sakishima group on the evening of April 22 destroying 15 on the ground and shot down five more in the air. Four planes were shot down over Ishigaki in the same group. On April 23, three aircraft were destroyed on the ground at Kume Island in the Okinawa group by our fighters and a single enemy plane was shot down north of Okinawa by a Marine plane.

No further information is available on the progress of the fighting in southern Okinawa.

Carrier aircraft of the British Pacific Fleet bombed and strafed air In­stallations in the Sakishima group on April 16 and 17. Four enemy planes were shot down and one was destroyed on the ground.

Fighters of the Fourth Marine Aircraft Wing bombed targets in the Palaus on April 23.

On April 22, Marine Corsairs continued neutralizing raids on enemy bases in the Marshalls.

PACIFIC

Submarine Besugo (SS-321) sinks German submarine U-183 in Java Sea, 04°57'S, 112°52'E.

PB4Ys (VPB 109) employ "Bat" missiles against Japanese shipping off Balikpapan, Borneo, in the first combat use of the only automatic homing missile to be used in World War II.

Japanese merchant cargo ship Tamae Maru is sunk by accidental ammunition explosion in Sakai harbor.