Admiralty Islands

The US forces extend their hold occupying Ndrilo and Koniniat.

Air Operations, Carolines

• US carrier aircraft from Task Force 58 [see March 28, 1944] conclude three days of strikes against targets in the western Carolines with an all-out attack against the Woleai Atoll and a minor raid against the Ulithi Atoll. It is estimated that Japanese Navy losses amount to 150 aircraft destroyed in the air and on the ground, plus 2 destroyers, 4 escort ships, several auxiliary vessels, and merchant ships amounting to 104,000 tons. Also, the entrance to the main fleet anchorage in the Palau Islands will be blocked for six weeks by aerial mines. In 2,645 effective sorties in the Carolines, Task Force 58 combat losses amount to 11 F6Fs, 6 SB2Cs, 5 SBDs, and 5 TBMs. Operational accidents claim 18 aircraft. In all, 18 airmen are lost and all others are rescued, including 26 who are picked up by US lifeguard submarines.
• VF-24 and VF-31 F6Fs down 2 G4M 'Betty' bombers at sea near Task Force 58 at 1150 hours.
• 41st Medium Bomb Group B-25s based at O'Hare Field at Abemama Ponape Island.
• During the night, 22 XIII Bomber Command B-24s attack the Truk Atoll and 868th Heavy Bomb Squadron SB-24s attack Dublon Island in the Truk Atoll.

Air Operations, CBI

• 16 7th Heavy Bomb Group B-24s attack Akyab and a railroad station near Rangoon. 6 490th Medium Bomb Squadron B-25s attack a rail bridge near Nattalin. More than 40 10th Air Force A-31s attack the Homalin, Paungbyin, and Thaungdut areas. 10 A-31s attack Japanese Army positions near Buthidaung in the Arakan coastal region. 14 459th Fighter Squadron P-38s attack a factory and a train near Mandalay.

Air Operations, East Indies

380th Heavy Bomb Group B-24s attack Boela, Ceram and V Bomber Command B-25s attack Penfoei, Timor.

Air Operations, Europe

US bombers hit Schaffhausen, Switzerland by mistake. 48 people are killed.

• 35 Mosquitos bomb Hannover through thin clouds. There are no losses.

• 7 Mosquitos are sent to Aachen, 6 to Krefeld, and 2 to the La Glacerie flying bomb site, 34 Halifaxes lay mines off the Dutch coast, 9 aircraft are invoved in Resistance operations, and there are 1 RCM sortie and 4 Serrate patrols.

Air Operations, New Guinea

V Bomber Command B-25s and A-20s attack Hansa Bay and Tadji.

Burma-India

Gen Stilwell asks Chiang Kai-shek for 2 Chinese divisions, the 50th and the 14th, to be air-lifted to Burma. The situation in the northeast is increasingly unfavorable to the Americans and Chinese and the British and Indian troops are in increasing difficulty in the Arakan and on the Imphal plain in India.

Carolines

The carriers of TF 58 attack Woleai. In the 3 days of attacks 130,000 tons of Japanese shipping is sunk as well as 7 small warships. The Americans lose 26 planes but shoot down 150.

Eastern Front

A considerable German force has been surrounded near Skala, northwest of Kamenets-Podolsky, between the advancing wings of 1st and 2nd Ukraine Fronts. The 1st Ukraine Front reaches Jablonica Pass.

Group Neinhoff launches a fierce attack in Tarnopol, inflicting severe casualties upon the 1st Guards Army. However, the Germans only repulse a counterattack upon the city center at considerable cost. Around Skala, the 1st Panzer Army is under heavy attack as the 4th Tank Army tries to prevent its movement west.

Images from April 1, 1944

Schaffhausen, Switzerland Bombed in Error by US Bombers

Léon Degrelle in his Sd.Kfz. 251 half-track with his children by his side during the parade of the SS Sturmbrigade Wallonien in Brussels on 1 April 1944. The Wallonien crossed the city from south to north passing in front of the 'Bourse' (the Belgian Stock Exchange Building).

Léon Degrelle in his Sd.Kfz. 251

Soldiers of the Byelorussian Front during a short respite after fighting, 1 April 1944

Prototype 37mm Flakpanzer IV 'Möbelwagen' 1 April 1944, in Essen, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany