Air Operations - Europe
BOMBER COMMAND- 12 Bostons bomb the Le Havre power station and the dock area accurately with no losses.
- In overnight minor operations, 21 aircraft are sent to Le Havre and Lorient, 21 lay mines off French ports and 11 are on leaflet flights over France. 1 Manchester and 1 Wellington are lost in minelaying operations.
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]Air Operations, New Guinea
B-25s of the 3rd Light Bomb Group's 90th Bomb Squadron attack Salamaua.
Battle of the Atlantic
The unarmed US freighter Alcoa Guide (4834t) is shelled by U-123. After an unsuccessful attempt at ramming the U-boat, the freighter is abandoned havine lost two of her crew.. The U-boat then sinks the freigter with gunfire.
Rescued off the Coast of Cape Hatteras |
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| On April 16, 1942, a German submarine surfaced near the SS Alcoa Guide off the coast of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, and opened fire with its deck gun. Unarmed and without an escort, the ship sank in two hours, but Junior Engineer Waldemar Semenov and 26 of his shipmates survived. In two lifeboats, the men drifted for three days until they were spotted by a search plane. Twenty-eight-year-old Semenov did not panic as his ship came under fire. Before climbing into a lifeboat, he went below, grabbed his camera, and changed into a suit he had recently bought in New York. One of his shipmates took this photograph of Semenov in his suit. The next day, the USS Broome, a Navy destroyer, picked them up. |
| ] British Troops Destroying Equipment and Machinery |
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Air Attack on Le Havre |
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Malta
In one of the most unusual awards of the war, King George VI awards Malta the George Cross, for the collective heroism of the Maltese people in the face of the Axis air attacks. The medal, like the Victoria Cross, is given only for the most gallant of deeds. (See Sept 13, 1942.)
[ | ]Mediterranean
The submarine Marcantonio Colonna is laid up at Genoa. It will be scrapped in 1943. 2 sister ships are consigned to harbor service.
[ | ]Occupied France
Field-Marshal von Rundstedt is put in charge of the 'Atlantic Wall'.
[ | ] German Troops Check Out Anti-aircraft Gun in Berlin |
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| German troops test the readiness of a 105mm Flak-38 anti-aircraft gun on the Berlin Zoo Flak Tower (April 16, 1942). The tower was a heavily fortified structure that existed in Berlin from 1941 to 1947, until it was demolished by British military engineers. |
Pacific
The US submarine Tambor (SS-198) torpedoes and sinks the Japanese stores ship Kitami Maru (397t) 50 miles southwest of Kavieng, New Ireland.
[ | ]Philippines
With resistance on Cebu now being overcome, the Japanese also land the 41st Infantry Regiment, about 4,000 troops, on Panay Island, mostly near the capital, Iloilo, in the south, and at Capiz (now Roxas) in the northeast. The garrison of 7,000, rather than take on the invaders, withdraw inland into the mountains to operate as guerillas.
Gen Wainwright appoints Gen William F. Sharp to command the troops in the central Philippines.
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