Air Operations, Asia

The first experimental flight by a US transport plane over 'The Hump', the Himalayan mountain barrier between India and China takes place. Regular service will be established April 22.

Air Operations, CBI

1st and 3rd AVG Fighter Squadron P-40s down 12 Japanese fighters near Loiwing Airfield, Burma during the afternoon.

Air Operations, Europe

• 4 Bostons sweeping off the Dutch coast attack a ship but record no hits.
• 272 aircraft, including 177 Wellingtons, 41 Hampdens, 22 Stirlings, 13 Manchesters, 12 Halifaxes and 7 Lancasters, are sent to bomb Hamburg. Weather conditions are a problem with icing and electrical storms. 188 planes report bombing the target area, but the raid is a failure.
• 17 people are killed and 119 are injured. At Bremen a load of incendiaries is accurately dropped on the Vulkan shipyard where 4 U-Boats and several surrounding buildings are damaged by fire. 4 Wellingtons and 1 Manchester are lost on the raid.
• In minor operations, 13 Wellingtons are sent to Le Havre, 3 Blenheim Intruders to Holland, 24 aircraft lay mines near Heligoland and 16 aircraft are on leaflet flights to Belgium and France. 1 Manchester on a leaflet flight is lost at sea.

A Finnish soldier is hoisted above a trench by two comrades to get a better view of the position of Soviet troops near Lake Ladoga, Karelia, April 1942.

Scouting Soviet Positions

A view of the ice road during April 1942 when the journey became was even more hazardous as the ice began to melt. Leningrad was isolated except for this winter route

The Icy Road to Leningrad

Battle of the Atlantic

The German submarine U-123 torpedoes and damages two US tankers, Oklahoma (9264t) and Esso Baton Rouge (7989t), off the coast of Georgia. Both ships sink in shallow water, and survivors (18 from Oklahoma and 36 from Esso Baton Rouge, from both vessels meet and proceed to Brunswick, Georgia. Both ships are later refloated, repaired and returned to service.

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Mediterranean

(7th?)It is a particularly bad day for Malta. The worst air attacks of the war take place.

Philippines

The American resistance on Bataan collapses as the Japanese break through emergency defense lines. Gen King decides that the Luzon force will have to surrender, and orders the destruction of all equipment during the night.

Almost totally out of supplies, a soldier in the trenches of Bataan prepares to throw a Molotov cocktail at the advancing Japanese, 8 April 1942.

Soldier Prepares to Throw Molotov Cocktail

Secret War

German agents land in Iceland from U-252. The U-boat will be sunk the night of April 13.