Air Operations, Carolines

• 41st Medium Bomb Group B-25s attack Ponape Island.
• During the night, VII Bomber Command B-24s attack the Truk Atoll.

Air Operations, CBI

• 4 490th Medium Bomb Squadron B-25s and more than 120 10th Air Force fighter-bombers attack Japanese Army ground troops, occupied villages, dumps, and rail lines at Myitkyina and Mogaung. 27 10th Air Force P-38 and P-51 fighter-bombers attack the airfields at Anisakan and Aungban.
• 14th Air Force P-38s attack fuel dumps and motor vehicles near Wan Mong Kang.
• A 1st Air Commando Group P-51 downs a Ki-61 'Tony' fighter over Aungban at 1007 hours.
• During the night, 14 7th Heavy Bomb Group B-24s attack rail yards and port facilities at Moulmein and a nearby Japanese Army headquarters.

• More than 80 10th Air Force A-31s attack Japanese Army positions near Imphal.

Air Operations, Europe

The Bucharest marshalling yards are 'blitzed' by 15th Air Force B-17s and B-24s with heavy escort. Fighters attack in strength. 20 planes are lost. Civilian casualties include 2,942 killed and 2,126 injured.

• 41 Mosquitos are sent to Cologne without a loss.

• 5 Mosquitos are sent to Aachen, 4 to Essen, 3 to Duisburg, 2 to Krefeld and 2 to La Glacerie.
• There are no losses.
• In a display of precision bombing 6 RAF Mosquitos bomb a Gestapo building in The Hague which contain the files on Dutchmen earmarked for deportation. In the center of a civilian area only the target building is destroyed in the low-level attack.

Air Operations, New Guinea

More than 50 V Bomber Command B-24s attack the Wewak area. 12 V Fighter Command P-39s attack coastal targets, bridges, and occupied villages between Bogia and Cape Gourdon.

Burma-India

The Japanese 31st Div begins to put real pressure on the British IV Corps' position at Kohima, cutting both routes out of the town toward the rear. It is vital for the Japanese to capture this British supply center as they are relying on its resources for their own replenishment. The British send in the few reserves they have. In the northeast sector the Japanese attack the battalion surrounded at Nhpum Ga. The Chinese 114th Regt takes over the task, previously assigned to the 112th Regt, of blocking the road to the Kamaing valley.

Eastern Front

Units of Busch's Army Group Center, including the 4th Panzer Army, counterattack near Kovel. They succeed in freeing the German forces surrounded since March 19 in the area north of the Pripet marshes by the 2nd Belorussian Front. Farther south the Soviets are prevented from gaining routes through the Carpathians near Kolomya. The North Ukraine Army Group, under Model, launches a number of counterattacks in the area southwest of Tarnopol.

The German 17th Army consisting 5 German and 7 Rumanian divisions, cut off for some time in the Crimea, prepares to withstand the thrust of the greatly superior forces of Tolbukhin's. 4th Ukraine Front. The Russians can muster about 470,000 men with 6,000 guns and mortars and 772 anti-aircraft guns, 559 tanks and self-propelled guns, and the support of 1,250 aircraft.

Moscow calls on all Rumanians to abandon the Germans and cease fighting or face destruction.

The 4th Panzer Army launches a limited counterattack with its LIX Corps that recovers Kovel. Along the Dniestr, as the 1st Panzer Army attacks west the I and II SS Panzer Corps begin a relief attack from Buchach, striking the extended flanks of the 1st Guards and 38th Armies. To the south, the 37th Army crosses the Tiligul River, capturing Razdelnaya.

The Stavka reorganize its forces in the central sectors. The recently formed 2nd Belorussian Front is disbanded, its forces being allocated to Rokossovsky's 1st Belorussian Front.

As the fighting in the Ukraine bogs down the Stavka plans to unleash two new offensives. The first will hit the German 17th Army in the Crimea while the second, far larger attack is designed to destroy the froces of Army Group Center in Belorussia. Throughouth April and May the Russian forces in this region are comprehensively re-formed and reinforced.

Egypt

A Greek brigade mutinies, led by Communists. British troops blockade the camp until April 24. 1 British officer is killed in the disturbance.

France, Politics

De Gaulle announces changes in the Committee of National Liberation. 2 communists are appointed and de Gaulle himself becomes head of the armed forces. Gen Giraud is being sidelined. On Apr 9 he becomes Inspector General of the Army and on Apr 14 he is placed on the retired list.

Occupied France

The Resistance halts the production of Bronzavia aircraft components at the plant near Paris.

Images from April 4, 1944

Bombing of the Gara de Nord Marshalling Yard, Bucharest, 4 April, 1944

Aerial View of Auschwitz I Concentration Camp, 4 April 1944

M4 Sherman 755th Tank Battalion in Monticelli, Italy, April 1944

Sgt. John C. Clark...and S/Sgt. Ford M. Shaw...(left to right) clean their rifles in bivouac area alongside the East West Trail, Bougainville. They are members of Co. E, 25th Combat Team, 93rd Division... April 4, 1944

Cleaning Rifles on Bougainville

F6F Hellcats on HMS Emperor, 4 April 1944