Air Operations, Carolines
- 41st Medium Bomb Group B-25s attack Ponape Island.
- During the night, VII Bomber Command B-24s attack the Truk Atoll.
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]Air Operations, CBI
BURMA- 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.
RAF BOMBER COMMANDEvening Ops:
- 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.
ITALY:
- XII Air Support Command A-20s attack ammo dumps.
- XII Air Support Command fighter-bombers attack gun emplacements, a bivouac, and numerous transportation targets in the Rome area and along and around the battlefronts.
ROMANIA:
- In the first of many strategic missions under a commitment by the 15th Air Force to aid the advance of the Soviet Army across the Balkans by disrupting Balkans transportation centers in use to supply the German Army in the East, 350 B-17s and B-24s, escorted by 119 P-38s, are dispatched to attack rail facilities in Bucharest. Luftwaffe fighter oppostion is fierce, especially against the 449th Heavy Bomb Group, a 47th Heavy Bomb Wing B-24 unit that becomes separated from the rest of the wing in bad weather. 7 of the group's 28 B-24s are downed by Axis fighters, but the survivors attack the target and make it home.
- Altogether, 93 B-17s and 220 B-24s drop 863 tons of bombs, mostly on marshalling yards at Bucharest. 30 B-24s from two groups attack the Bucharest/Otopeni Airdrome. Bomber gunners are awarded credit for 50 Luftwaffe fighters, but the only victories credited to the 15th Air Force fighters taking part in the Bucharest mission are 1 Bf-110 and 2 Ju-88s downed over Caracal, Romania, at 1428 hours by 82nd Fighter Group P-38 pilots. [
| ]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.
[ | ]CBI
Sgt Ray Matsumoto, a Marauder with the 2nd Battalion on Nhpum Ga, places himself close to the Japanese lines to overhear the officers briefing their soldiers on the next attack. He returns and warns the defenders, who fall back from their main line of defense and establish new positions. When the Japanese do attack, they fine the defensive line abandoned. The Japanese are confused by this discovery, but then Matsumoto pretends to be a Japanese office and begins giving orders to charge. The soldiers respond and move directly into the massed fire of the prepared Marauders. Matsumoto's initiative and resourcefulness by all accounts probably save the battalion from being overrun.
[ | ]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.
SOUTHERN SECTORThe 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.
SOVIET COMMANDThe 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
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F6F Hellcats on HMS Emperor |
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