Air Operations, Aleutians

Of 4 28th Composite Bomb Group B-25s, 17 343rd Fighter Group P-38s, and 7 P-40s dispatched against Kiska, only 1 P-40 is able to complete an attack through bad weather.

Air Operations, Bismarcks

90th Heavy Bomb Group B-24s mount individual attacks against the Cape Gloucester and Gasmata airfields on New Britain.

Air Operations, Europe

• 305 aircraft are sent to Essen, the 55th raid on Essen by the RAF. Included in the total are 190 Lancasters, 105 Halifaxes and 10 Mosquitos.
• Cloud is predicted over the target so Pathfinders use Oboe skymarking. Results are not expected to be good, but the plan worked well and 238 crews claim to have bombed Essen. Because of the cloud cover, no photographs are taken. The Krupp factory is again hit.
• 6 Halifaxes and 6 Lancasters are lost.

• 8 Stirlings and 8 Halifaxes carry out H₂S training attacks on Bocholt.
• 1 Stirling is lost.

Air Operations, New Guinea

90th Heavy Bomb Group B-24s mount individual attacks against Lae.

Air Operations, Solomons

5 XIII Bomber Command B-17s attack bivouacs and revetments at the Kahila airfield on Bougainville.

Aleutian Islands

The convoy transporting the main body of the US 7th Div for the Attu landing reaches Cold Harbor, Alaska.

Battle of the Atlantic

• RN and RCN form 'Support Groups' for anti-U-boat operations.
• Over the next 2 days U-515 sinks 7 ships from Convoy TS-37 along the west African coast off Freetown. Sinking on the 30th are the British merchant steamer Bandar Shahpour (5,236t), the British merchant steamer Corabella (5,682t), the Dutch motor merchant Kota Tiandi (7,295t) and the British merchant steamer Nagina (6,551t). Sinking on May 1st are the British merchant steamer City of Singapore (6,555t), the British merchant steamer Clan MacPherson (6,940) and the Belgian motor merchant Mokambo (4,996t).

Britain, Home Front

Beatrice Webb, Lady Passfield, a champion of Socialism, dies at age 85.

Britain, Policy

New antisubmarine strategies are formally adopted by the Royal Navy, centering on carrier-based aircraft cover and long-range patrol planes. They are immediately employed in the Bay of Biscay, where in the following month 38 U-boats will be sunk. The key to the program is catching the submarines while they are leaving or returning from their bases on the French coast. Ultra messages are invaluable in giving British ships and planes specific times and locations for intercepting the submarines.

Burma

The survivors of Gen Wingate's first ill-fated Chindit expedition cross into British India and safety. Emaciated and fatigued, the troops have covered more that 1,000 miles to reach safety, and the campaign has cost 1,000 British lives. A question mark now hangs over the future use of the Chindits.

Eastern Front

Marshal Novikov is appointed Commander-in-Chief of the VVS (Army Air Force). Novikov is an able commander and under his leadership the Soviets gradually regain control of the skies, greatly influencing the campaigns of the latter stages of the war.

During April the Germans withdraw the 328th Infantry Division from the line but introduce the 39th, 106th, 257th and 282nd Infantry Divisions, leaving the Ostheer with 16 panzer, 15 panzer grenadier and 146 infantry division.

Mediterranean

• 3 Italians destroyers are bombed off Tunis.
• During April Axis convoys transport 2,800 troops, 18,690 tons of supplies, 26 guns and 46 tanks to Tunisia despite incessant Allied naval and air countermeasures.

North Africa

The Germans retake Djebel Bou Aoukaz but at heavy cost to their armor. Farther north the Americans gain a foothold on Hill 609. Gen Alexander sends the 4th Indian Div and 6th and 7th Arm Divs to support the British 1st Army. Meanwhile Gen von Arnim, who has replaced Rommel, has concentrated his forces around Tunis on the heights surrounding the city. This strongpoint is where the next Allied attack takes place. To the north towards the coast, the American 9th Div breaks through and threatens the German positions in the 'Mousetrap'.

During the month of April the Axis forces have been reinforced and supplied only in dribblets. At least 200 Italian and German aircraft have been shot down by US fighters between Sicily and Tunis. If the Axis forces in Africa, faced by immensely superior Allied forces, manage to put any substantial resistance it will be little short of a miracle.

Gen Alexander calls on the British 8th Army to supply reinforcements for the British 1st Army in preparation for the final assault. Gen Montgomery agrees to release the 7th Armored Div, the Indian 4th Div and the 201st Guards Brigade, all veteran units.

The US II Corps makes substantial gains. On the northern flank, the 60th Regimental Combat Team, 9th Div, takes Djebel Guermach, a short distance from Kef en Nsour. The 39th Regimental Combat Team seizes the strongly contested Hill 382 and other heights north of the Jefna position. The 34th Div drives to the summit of Hill 609 in a tank-supported assault but is subjected to intense fire there. The 16th Regimental Combat Team, 1st Div, take 2 hills east of Hill 609 but loses both to persistent counterattacks. The 1st Armored Div provides tank assistance in the area. On the southern flank, the 1st Armored Div retains Hill 299 under enemy fire, but the hill has not yet been cleared entirely of the enemy.

A stern view of the escort carrier Independence (CVL-22) underway, taken from the USS Sigsbee (DD-502), a Fletcher class destroyer, 30 April 1943.

US Escort Carrier Independence (CVL-22)

Secret War

As part of the deception plan for the invasion of Sicily, Operation HUSKY, a British submarine, the Seraph, releases a corpse into the sea off the Spanish port of Huelva hoping that it will be picked up and the papers carried passed to the Germans. In Operation MINCEMEAT, a civilian corpse dressed as 'Maj Martin, RM', and carrying false top-secret orders from Gen Nye, Vice-Chief of the British General Staff, and Adm Mountbatten, Chief of Combined Operations, to Eisenhower, Alexander and Cunningham for planned Allied invasions of Sardinia (Operation BRIMSTONE) and Greece (Operation HUSKY) is deposited in the sea off Huelva, Spain. The body is recovered and the documents made known to the Germans who immediately send reinforcements to 'threatened' areas.

United States, Policy

The US Atlantic Fleet transfers to the British and Canadian navies responsibility for protecting convoys between Halifax, Nova Scotia and Great Britain.