Air Operations, Carolines

• 41st Medium Bomb Group B-25s attack Ponape Island.
• During the night, 23 307th Heavy Bomb Group B-24s and a squadron of VII Bomber Command B-24s attack the Truk Atoll.

Air Operations, CBI

• 12 490th Medium Bomb Squadron B-25s and 11 10th Air Force P-51s support Allied forces at Mawlu. 24 10th Air Force A-31s attack communications targets and artillery batteries at Buthidaung. Several B-25s and more than 90 fighters and fighter-bombers attack Kamaing and targets throughout the Mogaung Valley.
• 90 10th Air Force A-31s attack numerous targets in the battle area on both sides of the Burma�India border.

• Japanese aircraft attack Namyung as 28 14th Air Force fighters fail to intercept.

Air Operations, Europe

The US Tactical Air Force begins to attack the German heavy guns in Normandy.

• 29 Mosquitos are sent to Berlin but results of the bombing are not possible because of the glare of massed searchlights.
• There are no losses.

• 6 Mosquitos are sent to Düren, 3 to Dortmund, 10 Stirlings and 6 Halifaxes lay mines off Cherbourg, Le Havre and La Pallice.
• There are no losses.

• 154 1st Bomb Division B-17s attack aircraft-industry targets at Schweinfurt.
• 182 2nd Bomb Division B-24s attack Lauffern, the Lechfeld Airdrome, and aircraft-industry targets at Oberpfaffenhofen.
• 227 3rd Bomb Division B-17s attack the Messerschmitt factory and town area at Augsburg.
• In the heaviest Luftwaffe fighter attack mounted since November 1943, 32 B-17s and 6 B-24s are lost, 350 heavy bombers are damaged
• Escort for the various heavy bombers missions is provided by 871 USAAF fighters. 42 Luftwaffe fighters and a trainer are downed over Belgium, Germany, and Luxembourg between 1310 and 1645 hours.
• 9 USAAF fighters are lost with 8 pilots

• 175 IX Bomber Command A-20s and B-26s abort in the face of bad weather, but 121 B-26s and 37 A-20s attack airdromes, marshalling yards, coastal batteries, V-weapons sites, and other military targets along the Channel and North Sea coasts at Chievres, Le Havre (France), Namur, and Nieuport.
• 9th Air Force P-47s dive-bomb coastal V-weapons sites.

• The US 9th and British 2nd Tactical Air Forces formally open a coordinated offensive against German Arm shore defenses and batteries along the Normandy coast. However, to prevent the Germans from pinpointing the area as the OVERLORD invasion objective, attacks on targets in Normandy are to be mixed in with the general offensive, already under way, against numerous other targets in other areas of coastal France and Belgium.

• 12th Air Force B-25s attack Terni and a bridge.
• 12th Air Force B-26s attack a rail bridge and a marshalling yard.
• XII Air Support Command fighter-bombers attack numerous rail and road targets throughout central Italy>

• Approximately 50 15th Air Force heavy bombers attack a marshalling yard at Brod.

• In the 15th Air Force's largest mission to date, 324 B-24s attack the aircraft components plant on Csepel Island, at Budapest, and the Tokol and Vesces Airdromes. 163 B-17s attack the Bf-109 components factory and airdrome at Gyor.
• 18 heavy bombers and 3 escort fighters are lost to enemy action
• Pilots of the 1st, 82nd, and 325th Fighter Groups down 14 Axis fighters and 5 Ju-88s during various phases of the mission.

• At 0335 hours, Luftwaffe night bombers attack the Alesan Airdrome, the new home of the 340th Medium Bomb Group, whose entire complement of B-25s was destroyed in late March during an eruption of Mt. Vesuvius. The fragmentation bombs dropped by the Luftwaffe kill 20 members of the group, totally destroy 30 of the group's 90 B-25s, and severely damage 45 others.

Air Operations, Japan

3 28th Composite Bomb Group B-24s reconnoiter and attack the airfield on Matusuwa and Onnekotan Island.

Air Operations, New Guinea

Before dawn, V Bomber Command B-24s and Fleet Air Wing 17 PB4Ys and PBYs attack the Wakde Islands. More than 80 V Bomber Command B-24s and A-29s attack the airfields at But and Dagua. 33 A-20s attack Aitape. B-24s, B-25s, and P-39s mount light attacks against Hansa Bay, Uligan, and the Wakde Islands.

Britain, Home Front

The 5th Earl of Lonsdale, sportsman and donor of the 'Lonsdale Belts' awarded to champion boxers, dies at age 87.

CBI

B-29 Superfortresses of the XX Bomber Command arrive in India. The headquarters 468th Bomb Group and the 792nd, 793rd, 794th, and 795th Bomb Squadrons are located at Kharagpur. The 444th Bomb Group and the 677th an 679th Bomb Squadrons are located at Charra. The squadrons' first missions are scheduled for early June.

Eastern Front

In the Crimea Tolbukhin's and Yeremenko's tank forces advance rapidly, capturing Feodosia, Evpatoriya, and Simferopol. The Germans and Rumanians are retreating in some disorder toward Sevastopol. Farther west Malinovsky's men take Ovidiopol at the mouth of the Dniestr.

The 46th Army takes Oviodopol at the mouth of the Dniestr. At Tarnopol the 1st Guards Army splits Group Neinhoff apart, isolating half on the west bank of the Siret and the other in the Zagrobela suburb.

The 51st Army closes upon Simferopol. Jaenecke plans to make a stand in the Belbek Valley but first has to beat the Soviet forces in the race to Sevastopol. Feodosia falls to the Independent Coastal Army and Evpatoria to the 2nd Guards.

India

The Japanese start to suffer serious setbacks in the U-GO offensive. Allied troops have today pushed the Japanese off Nungshigum Hill on the Imphal plain, allowing them to intensify attacks on the Japanese 15th Div.

In Kohima, Japanese forces push into the center of the settlement, throwing themselves at positions reaching from GPT Ridge in the south the the 'Tennis Court' in the north around the district commissioner's residence. A tenacious defense by 1,500 Allied troops (mostly from the Assam Rifles and 4th Royal West Kents) beats back the Japanese, who also suffer heavy casualties from 3.74in howitzer fire from Jotsama.

New Guinea

The Australians take Bogadjim.

Pacific

The Japanese destroyer Ikazuchi is sunk by the US submarine Harder (SS-257) 180 miles south-southwest of Guam.

Images from April 13, 1944

Crash Site of a Plane on Schweinfurt Mission

Corporal Awai of the Royal Papuan Constabulary

Canadians Manning a PIAT Anti-tank Weapon

Canadians Training in England

First Visit to the 461st Bomb Group

Robert S. Johnson of the 61st Fighter Squadron