Admiralty Islands

The Americans complete the occupation of Pak Island and the mopping up of Manus Islands.

Air Operations, CBI

• 7 7th Heavy Bomb Group B-24s attack rail and port facilities at Moulmein and the town area at Prome. 5 490th Medium Bomb Squadron B-25s attack a bridge at Natmauk. 2 B-25s attack a bridge near Rangoon. 24 10th Air Force A-31s attack Japanese Army positions near Buthidaung. 35 A-31s attack Japanese Army ground troops at Paungbyin and near Imphal (India). B-25s and more than 80 10th Air Force fighter-bombers support Allied ground forces in the Mogaung Valley.

• 5 7th Heavy Bomb Group B-24s attack Nagorn Sawarn.

Air Operations, East Indies

2 V Bomber Command B-25s attack Penfoei, Timor.

Air Operations, Europe

• 39 Mosquitos are sent on a harassing raid to Osnabrück without a loss.

• 40 Halifaxes and 10 Stirlings lay mines in the Frisians and off Heligoland, 21 aircraft are on Resistance operations, 2 Mosquitos make Serrate patrols and there are 11 OTU sorties.
• 2 Stirlings are lost on Resistance operations.

Air Operations, New Guinea

• More than 180 V Bomber Command B-24s, B-25s, and A-20s, and 60 V Fighter Command P-38s attack the Hollandia area. B-24s, B-25s, A-20s, and P-39s attack the Hansa Bay, Madang, the Wewak area, and Karkar Island. P-39s sweep the coastal areas for barges. A-20s sink a small freighter in Humboldt Bay.
• V Fighter Command and 8th Fighter Group P-38s down 9 of 20 Japanese fighters encountered over the Hollandia area at 1145 hours. In this final appearance of Japanese Army fighters over the Hollandia area, one straggling B-24 is also shot down.

Burma-India

While the British try to reinforce the XXXIII and IV Corps in the Kohima-Imphal sector by airlifting troops to them from the Arakan, and from within India, the Chindits are reinforced by a new brigade from central Burma.

Eastern Front

Troops from Malinovsky's forces occupy Tirasapol. Col-Gen Erwin Jaenecke, commanding the German-Rumanian 17th Army, asks Hitler, with the agreement of the Commander of the South Ukraine Army Group, Gen Ferdinand Schörner, for authority to evacuate the whole of the Crimea. His forces are now in an indefensible position which must end in their being wiped out. But the Führer refuses, and orders resistance to the last man. The German armies, he declares, are going to take the initiative again. Moreover, German occupation of the Crimea is an important political weapon which helps him to bring pressure on Turkey and prevent it from joining the Allies.

The Germans begin a further series of evauations from the Crimea. In the next 4 days 67,000 men, Germans and their allies, are taken out with little loss from Russian air and naval attacks.

There is heavy fighting around Tarnopol while to the south Tiraspol falls to the 37th Army as it crosses the Dniestr.

Hitler belatedly gives his authorization for the withdrawal of German forces to Sevastopol, despite the fact that the 17th Army is in fact already retreating in considerable disorder. Jaenecke urgenly requests permission to evacuate the Crimea but this is denied. Despite this he begins an unofficial evacuation of non-essential personnel.

Mountain Regiment Krym, part of the XLIX Mountain Corps, makes a rearguard stand at Dzhankoy in order to gain time for the main body of the corps to escape to the south. Furious fighting rages as 51st Army hits the German positions. After a bloody struggle the German regiment is virtually annihilated. Fighting on the Kerch peninsula continues as the V Corps retreats, the bulk of the corps being at Parpatsch. Under heavy attack the V abandons its line and falls back toward the Jaila Mountains.

Italy, Home Front

King Victor Emmanuel abdicates and his son Umberto becomes Regent. The effective transfer of power will take place when Rome is liberated.

Rumania, Politics

In reply to a Romanian mission regarding the conditions for an armistice between Rumania and the Soviet Union, Moscow demands that Rumania break with the Germans, that its forces fight alongside the Red Army, and insists on the restoration of the Romanian-Soviet border. It also calls for reparations for damage inflicted on the Soviet Union by Romania, freedom of movement through the country for Soviet and other Allied forces, and the repatriation of Soviet prisoners. The Romanians reject these conditions and remain with the Axis.

Images from April 12, 1944

Lt Harriet Thomas of Olympia, Washington, a Nurse Attached to the 804th Medical Air Evacuation Hospital in the Admiralty Islands, 12 April 1944

The Spitfire XII had been in service for over a year when this shot was taken on 12 April 1944 of 2 Friston-based aircraft from No 41 Squadron

A British Soldier Examines a Captured German Goliath Radio-controlled Tracked Demolition Vehicle, 12 April 1944

Formation of B-24 Liberators on their way to Austria, 12 April 1944

Distinguished Observers at Exercise 'TROUSERS', 12 April 1944. On the beach at Slapton Sands, Devon, From left to right in the foreground, Adm Ramsay; Brig H.W. Foster; Adm Vian; Gen Montgomery; and Gen Dempsey

Observers at Slapton Sands