Air Operations, CBI

• 13 7th Heavy Bomb Group B-24s attack rail bridges between Moulmein and Kanchanaburi (Thailand). 6 10th Air Force A-31s attack targets of opportunity around Thaungdut.

• 51st Fighter Group P-40s down 9 Ki-44 'Tojo' fighters over the airfield at Nanning at 1435 hours.

• 14th Air Force P-40s based in China attack rail targets at Na Cham.

Air Operations, East Indies

V Bomber Command B-25s attack Koepang, Timor.

Air Operations, Europe

The US 15th Air Force begins a series of systematic attacks against the Ploesti oilfields dropping 588 tons of bombs. There is heavy flak and determined opposition from German, Rumanian and Bulgarian fighters. There are 262 civilians killed and 361 injured in the raid.

Later, on May 12, the US 8th Air Force will join in the offensive, which is to be extended to all German oil refineries. Shortage of fuel is endangering both the Wehrmacht's mobility and the country's war production. The Germans begin to build underground factories, step up the production of synthetic fuel and split up war contracts among a great number of small firms to reduce the risk. But from the middle of 1944 war production fails to keep pace with requirements of balancing losses.

• 144 Lancasters and 1 Mosquito of No. 5 Group successfully attack an aircraft factory at Toulouse.
• 1 Lancaster is lost as it explodes over the target.

• 24 Stirlings lay mines off Biscay ports and 37 aircraft are involved in Resistance operations.

• Due to heavy cloud cover over the target area, only 21 of 50 2nd Bomb Division B-24s dispatched attack V-weapons sites at St.-Pol/Siracourt.

• Despite heavy clouds and a snow storm that turns back numerous other groups, the 4th and 355th Fighter Groups, in P-51s, strafe eleven airfields in the vicinity of Munich and claim 96 aircraft destoyed on the ground. In addition to Luftwaffe aircraft destroyed on the ground, pilots of the 4th, 20th, and 355th Fighter Groups down a todal of 12 Luftwaffe aircraft over Germany between 1450 and 1515 hours.
• 10 USAAF fighers and 8 pilots are lost in the day's action

• Heavy bombers of the 8th Air Force's 45th Combat Bomb Wind strike an aircraft components factory.

• XII Air Support Comand A-36s attack Formia and several railroad stations.
• XII Air Support Command P-40s attack fuel dumps, a railroad stations, and gun emplacements in the US 5th Army battle area.

• Although SHAEF has officially proscribed attack specifically aimed at gutting Axis oil facilities, the commanders of the 15th Air Force heavy-bomber force claim that the 558 tons of bombs dropped by 95 B-17s and 135 B-24s on the Ploesti oil fields and refining facilities this day are aimed only at rail facilities. However, bombs that miss the rail facilities cause grave harm to adjacent oil facilities. Thus, this mission effectively begins a tacitly approved bombing campaign against oil targets, especially Ploesti. The bombers are attacked by as many as 85 Axis fighters.
• 5 B-24s are lost

• 15th Air Force B-24s attack a marshalling yard at Leskovac.
• 15th Air Force B-17s attack a marshalling yard at Nis.

Air Operations, New Guinea

More than 270 V Bomber Command B-24s, B-25s, and A-20s, and V Fighter Command P-38 fighter-bombers attack Hollandia area and dumps and occupied villages around Humboldt Bay. B-24s attack Efman Island and Kaimana. P-40 and P-47 fighter-bombers attack the Bogia, Hansa Bay, and Wewak areas.

Burma-India

The Japanese 31st Div isolates Kohima. The 138th Regt moves from the north; the 58th and 124th Regts attack from the south and west. Allied forces at Kohima are now trapped in a pocket less than 10 miles across.

Diplomatic Relations

US sources announce that between October 1941 and the beginning of April 1944, the United States has supplied the USSR with 9.5 million tons of war material, including 8,800 aircraft, 5,500 tanks and armored cars, 160,000 other vehicles and 19,000 rail cars.

Eastern Front

Malinovsky's forces reach Razdelnaya, cutting the rail route from Odessa. Tarnopol is captured by the Russians.

The 3rd Ukrainian Front exploits the hole in the German line at Razdelnaya to sever the railway line to Odessa.

Pacific

The Japanese auxiliary submarine chaser No. 46 is sunk by US carrier-based aircraft in the Caroline Islands area.

United States, Politics

Wendell L. Willkie withdraws from the Presidential Election Campaign.

Images from April 5, 1944

Soldiers Drinking Tea During Break

New Zealand Soldiers on the Cassino Battlefront

At the Battlefront in Cassino

Returning to Bomb the Oil Refinery at Ploesti

Soldiers Moving Through Ruins