Air Operations, CBI

2nd AVG Fighter Squadron P-40s destroy 3 Japanese Army bombers on the ground at Toungoo Airfield, Burma. On the return flight a Ki-32 'Mary' light bomber is shot down by one of the P-40s.

Air Operations, Europe

• 9 Bostons carry out an accurate raid on the Hazebrouck railway yards but 1 aircraft is lost.
• A large raid of 251 aircraft is sent to Essen. The aircraft include 171 Wellingtons, 31 Hampdens, 27 Stirlings, 13 Halifaxes and 9 Manchesters. 173 aircraft claim to have bombed Essen but bombing photographs indicate a wide area of the Ruhr is hit. Reports from Essen show a light improvement on the bombing. 5 high explosives and 200 incendiaries hit the Krupp factory and a large fire is started there. 28 houses are destroyed and 50 others seriously damaged. 27 people are killed, 36 injured and 9 are missing. 10 aircraft including 7 Wellingtons, 2 Hampdens and 1 Halifax are lost.
• This raid concludes a disappointing series of raids on this target which was judged to be the heart of the German armaments industry. There had been 8 heavy raids since the first Gee raid the night of March 8. The conclusions: 1,555 aicraft were sent to bomb Essen; 1,006 claim to have bombed the target; 64 aircraft were lost; 22 aircraft bombing photos within 5 miles of Essen. Reports from the ground show industrial damage on only 2 occasions, a fire in the Krupps factory and a few bombs on some nearby railway lines. In addition 63 civilians were killed and a modest amount of residential property had been hit.
• In minor operations, 27 aircraft are sent to Le Havre, 18 Whitleys to Genoa, 4 Blenheim Intruders to Holland, 20 aircraft lay mines in the German Bight and 7 on leaflet flights over France. No planes are lost.

Air Operations, Pacific

There are 12 Japanese raids on the Corregidor and Manila Bay forts.

Battle of the Atlantic

• The US freighter Delvalle (5032t), en route from New Orleans to Buenos Aires, is torpedoed and sunk by U-154 south of Haiti with the loss of one of her crew. Some of her survivors are rescued by the Canadian armed merchant cruiser HMCS Prince Henry. The rest reach Jacmel, Haiti by motor launch.
• The Panamanian motor tanker Stanvac Melbourne (10,013t) is torpedoed by U-203 about 15 miles off Frying Pan Shoals, North Carolina. The US Coast Guard cutter CG-186 rescues 48 survivors.
• U-130 torpedoes and shells the unarmed US tanker Esso Boston (7600t), en route from Venezuela to Nova Scotia.
• The US freighter Leslie (2609t) is torpedoed and sunk by U-123 about 3 miles southeast of Hetzel Shoals Gas Buoy, Florida. 27 survivors from the 32 on board reach the coast of Florida just north of Cape Canaveral. 1 other survivor is rescued by the US tanker Esso Bayonne.

Burma

Despite receiving help from 38th Chinese Div, which has been defending Mandalay, the British positions on the Irrawaddy are threatened by the Japanese capture of Migyaungye. The western flank of the Burmese forces is now undefended.

Diplomatic Relations

Iran breaks of diplomatic ties with Japan. The Japanese legation in Tehran is reported to have served as a propaganda center in Iran.

India, Home Front

Pandit Nehru, leader of the Indian Congress Party, speaks on the failure of the Delhi talks, he says, 'It distresses me that any Indian should talk of the Japanese liberating India'. He pledges to cooperate with the Allies in bringing about the full defeat of Germany and Japan.

Philippines

The defending forces on Cebu retire to the northern mountains to organize guerilla operations. With batteries sited on the southern point of Bataan and at Cavite, the Japanese intensify the shelling of Corregidor, and continue their attacks from the air.

The Bataan Death March began on the afternoon of 12 April 1942. Some 75,000 American and Filipino soldiers - who had surrendered to Japanese forces after the fall of Bataan and Corregidor in 1942 - were forcibly marched 25-miles from Bataan to Balanga in the north, and to San Fernando, another 31-miles.)

Bataan Death March