Air Operations, CBI

A Japanese Army observation plane is shot down over Pyinmana, Burma by 2 AVG pilots during the morning.

Battle of the Atlantic

• The Allied convoy system is reorganized. The first of 11 new 'escort groups' commences regular patrols between 'WESTOMP', 'Western Ocean Meeting Point', off Newfoundland, and 'EASTOMP', off Londonderry.
• The unarmed US freighter West Imboden (5751t) is torpedoes by U-752 about 200 miles off Nantucket. The crew abandons her as she is being shelled by the U-boat. There are no casualties.

Burma

The Chinese 38th Div retires from Yenangyaung to the north, towards Gwegyo. Covering units of the 1st Burma Div escape from the threat of being encircled. Part of the Chinese 5th Army in the Sittang Valley retires northward from Pyinmana. The Japanese are still very active in the Loikaw-Loilem area.

Eastern Front

Lead elements of Seydlitz-Kurzbach's relief force make a tentative link with the Demyansk pocket. The SS Totenkopf Division, fighting its way west from inside the pocket, establish a bridgehead on the Lovat as the forces inside the pocket attack to the west.

The Bryansk Front has lost 21,319 killed and missing plus 39,807 wounded since the beginning of January.

Malta

Over the next three days Axis aircraft attack the island ceaselessly destroying or damaging most of the newly arrived Spitfire reinforcements on the ground. It appears as though there is nothing more that Malta can do. Axis forces can land at will. There is actually a plan in place for capture of the island, known as 'Operation C3'. The Italian Adm Vittorio Tur has been nominated to carry it out. German Gen Kurt Student is to aid in the operation with his paratroopers. Mussolini is eager to occupy the Maltese islands but Hitler refuses to give the go-ahead.

Mediterranean

• The USS Wasp (CV-7), escorted by HMS Renown, 2 cruisers and 6 destroyers, ferries 47 Spitfires to Malta. This is a vital reinforcement for the defenders of the island whose whole hope for survival rests on this aid. Unfortunately of the 46 which arrive, 30 are destroyed immediately after landing.
• The British submarine Trident sinks the German steamer Hodor (5386t) northwest of Namsos.

Occupied France

French Fascist leader Jacques Doriot survives an assassination attempt at Rennes.

Philippines

Panay Island as well as Visayan Island are captured by the Japanese and they are now virtual masters of the central Philippines. The small garrisons on Negros, Samar, Leyte and Bohol are in no position to check them.

United States, Home Front

Roosevelt orders the US Navy to take over 4 New York plants of inefficient Brewster Aeronautical Corp. Brewster subsequently produces 735 Corsair fighters, but management problems persist and the plants finally close in July 1944.

Vichy France

Laval broadcasts to the French people stating the policy of 'understanding and true reconciliation with Germany must be loyally carried out'.

Yugoslavia

A combined German-Italian-Croatian operation fo clear eastern Bosnia, led by Gen Paul Bader and under the operational control of the Italian 2nd Army, begins. The force consists of 3 Italian divisions, the German 718th Infantry Div, German units from Serbia, and Croatian national troops. It will last until May 3, by which time the partisans will have suffered 168 dead, 1,309 prisoners taken and stocks of weapons, ammunition and other equipment captured. Unfortunately for the Germans, large numbers of guerillas escape through Italian lines and make their way to Croatia.