Air Operations, Bismarcks

A VC-33 (USS Coral Sea) plane downs a G4M 'Betty' bomber at sea near Emirau Island at 1329 hours.

Air Operations, Carolines

• 41st Medium Bomb Group B-25s mount two attacks against Ponape Island.
• During the night, 27 307th Heavy Bomb Group B-24s, guided by 4 868th Heavy Bomb Squadron SB-24s, attack Dublon Island in the Truk Atoll. 1 B-24 is downed by an Japanese Navy night fighter.

Air Operations, Central Pacific

VII Bomber Command B-24s attack Wake Island.

Air Operations, CBI

• 6 490th Medium Bomb Squadron B-25s attack rail facilities at Shwebo. 2 B-25s and more than 80 10th Air Force fighter-bombers attack numerous targets in the Mogaung Valley. 6 10th Air Force A-31s attack targets around Tamanthi.

• 14th Air Force P-40s attack a Japanese Army barracks near Nanchang.
• During the night, only 1 of 6 341st Medium Bomb Group B-25s dispatched is able to get through bad weather to attack a Canton-area airfield.

Air Operations, East Indies

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

Air Operations, Europe

Spitfire fighter-bombers of the RAF destroy many planes on the Banja Luka airfield in Yugoslavia.

• 35 Mosquitos are sent to Hamburg.
• 1 Mosquito is lost.

• 14 Mosquitos attack 7 targets in the Ruhr and the Rhineland and there are 3 RCM sorties.
• There are no losses.

• Five 2nd Bomb Division B-24 groups are dispatched against the V-weapons site at Watten, but heavy cloud cover over the target prevents all but 12 B-24s from mounting the attack.

• 12th Air Force B-25s attack the Perugian Airdrome.
• 12th Air Force B-26s attack a bridge near Orvieto.
• XII Air Support Command fighter-bombers attack small ships in the Aegean Sea, and gun emplacements, railroad stations, and road and rail bridges throughout central Italy.

• The 350th Fighter Group, in modified ground-attack P-39s, mounts an all-out effort against German Army lines of supply and communication. Operating from Corsica, the group mounts 75 sorties in ten missions through intense flak and severs a highway and knocks out two rail bridges, a barracks, and two air-warning systems. When a flight of 6 of the groups P-39s is attacked in the afternoon by 10 FW-190s and Bf-109s in the Grosseto area, 10 P-39s flying top cover down 5 of the Luftwaffe fighters and drive away the rest without loss.

• 15th Air Force B-17s attack and airdrome at Zagreb.
• While escorting the B-17s, 325th Fighter Group P-47 pilots and 82nd Fighter Group P-38 pilots down 13 Luftwaffe fighters over Yugoslavia and northern Italy.

Air Operations, New Guinea

• Before dawn, V Bomber Command B-24s and Fleet Air Wing 17 PB4Ys and PBYs attack the Wakde Islands. Later, V Fighter Command fighters and fighter-bombers attack coastal targets at Aitape, Madang, and Wewak.
• Japanese forces at Hollandia report that only 25 aircraft remain serviceable following several days of attacks by 5th Air Force bombers.

Arctic

After a successful attack on convoy SC-156, U-302 is detected by the British frigate HMS Swale and forced to dive. Without taking any evasive action Swale makes two Hedgehog attacks and is rewarded with three explosions after the second. A few minutes later a large, muffled underwater explosion is heard.

U-302

Burma-India

In the northeast of Burma the 5307th unit makes slight progress in the Nhpum Ga area. On the Indian front, the Japanese 58th Regt succeeds in driving through Naga Village at the northern end of Kohima and up the Imphal-Kohima road to take key positions around the center of the settlement, but a dogged defense by the Royal West Kents stops the attack in its tracks. The 7th Indian Div is air-lifted from the Arakan to the Kohima-Dimapur area to reinforce the British IV Corps.

Operation U-GO completes its final objectives as the Japanese 33rd and 15th Divs cut off Imphal. The Allied defensive circle around Imphal is roughly 20 miles across, and contains the following IV Corps units: 17th Indian Light Div; 50th Parachute Bde; 5th Indian Div; 23rd Indian Div; 254th Tank Bde. Despite having been thoroughly routed, the Allied forces have made a professional retreat and conserved much of their strength and organization. Both Imphal and Kohima garrisons are now entirely dependent on air supply to maintain the defense, and their aim is to hank on until Britain's XXXIII Corps reaches them and breaks the siege. The Japanese besiege 3,500 British-Indian troops for 13 days. There is savage hand-to-hand fighting.

CBI

Elements of the 1st Provisional Tank Group support the Chinese 22nd Division at Shaduzup.

Gen Chennault, commander of the 14th Air Force, sends Gen Stilwell an assessment warning of a possible large-scale Japanese offensive in eastern China. To stop the Japanese attack and provide air support for Chinese forces, he requests an additional 8,000 to 10,000 tons of supplies a month be flown over the Hump. Stilwell, pressed to provide logistics support for the B-29 strategic bombing program fly supplies to British forces, and support the Chinese-American offensive in Burma, is unable to provide any more assistance to Chennault.

Eastern Front

There is heavy fighting north of Razdelnaya as a small German pocket is wiped out. The 1st Panzer Army reaches German lines after a 10-day fighting retreat.

A small German force is isolated at Razdelnaya and brought under sustained attack.

Mediterranean

It is unknown how or exactly when U-455 was lost. It was probably an accident arising from mechanical or drill failure in the Ligurian Sea north or Corsica.

U-455

New Guinea

As a result of the tremendous air offensive of the US 5th Air Force, the air defenses of the Japanese base at Hollandia can now rely on 25 planes.

Occupied France

The Resistance stops production at the Timken ball-bearing factory near Paris.

United States, Home Front

Rose O'Neill, artist and creator of the 'Kewpie Doll', dies at the age of 68.

Images from April 6, 1944

SBDs of VC-40 Sortie

SS-Standartenf�hrer Johannes M�hlenkamp

Panthers of SS-Panzer Regiment 5 Ready For Action

Garrison Hill at Kohima, India

B-17 Hit by Anti-aircraft Fire