Air Operations, Carolines

• 307th Heavy Bomb Group B-24s attack the airfield at Satawan in the Nomoi Islands.
• 41st Medium Bomb Group B-25s attack the Truk Atoll.
• During the night,
• RAAF Catalinas mine the waters in and around the Woleai Atoll.
• VII Bomber Command B-24s attack the Truk Atoll.

Air Operations, CBI

• 12 490th Medium Bomb Squadron B-25s attack a bridge spanning the Irrawaddy River.
• 9 12th Medium Bomb Group B-25s and 12 10th Air Force P-51 fighter-bombers attack the railroad station and warehouses at Mohnyin.
• More than 50 10th Air Force A-31s attack Japanese Army ground troops and positions in the battle area on both sides of the Burma-India frontier.
• More than 20 A-31s attack Japanese Army positions in the Arakan coastal region.

Air Operations, East Indies

• V Bomber Command B-25s attack Koepang, Timor.
• 380th Heavy Bomb Group B-24s based in Australia undertake a 17-hour mission to attack the Japanese Navy base at Soerabaja, Java.

Air Operations, Europe

The Russians bomb Galatz, Rumania.

Air Operations, New Guinea

• More than 170 V Bomber Command B-24s, B-25s, and A-20s attack the airfield and town area at Hollandia virtually without opposition, but bad weather on the return results in the loss of 19 bombers, 6 bombers damaged beyond repair, 5 P-38s lost, and 1 P-38 and 1 F-7 damaged beyond repair. Personnel losses are 16 killed and 37 missing in action.
• Before dawn, V Bomber Command B-24s and Fleet Air Wing 17 PB4Ys and PBYs attack the Wakde Islands.
• V Fighter Command P-38s attack the Madang area.
• P-39s attack communications targets at Hansa Bay and occupied village and supply dumps between Bogia and Uligan.

Battle of the Atlantic

The US destroyer escorts Peterson (DE-152), Joyce (DE-317) and Gandy (DE-764) sink the German submarine U-550 in the North Atlantic area.

Eastern Front

The Russians take Yalta. To the west Malinovsky's troops cross the Dniestr north and south of Tiraspol. The German 17th Army retreats towards Sevastopol, the fortress whose capture cost them so much blood. The 17th Army leaves behind vast quantities of arms and supplies in its retreat.

Tolbukhin hurls the huge forces at his command, namely the 2nd Guards Army, the 51st Army, and the Independent Maritime Army, against the city. 2 years ago the Germans were besieging Sevastopol, now they are the besieged.

At dawn, in two groups of around 700 men each, Group Neinhoff begins its desperate breakout. Running battle immediately erupt as the 1st Guards Army fights to prevent their escape. The Germans suffer heavy losses under ferocious fire, discipline breaking down as each man fights to save himself. Gen Neinhoff is killed during the fighting. By dusk the survivors of the first group just 43 men in all, reach the XLVIII Panzer Corps, followed shortly afterwardby 5 men of the second group. Barely 50 of the original 4,500 strong garrison reach safety.

In the Crimea, the Independent Coastal Army advances along the southern coast, taking Yalta.

Occupied Hungary

Eichmann begins the systematic concentration of 800,000 Hungarian Jews in ghettoes prior to their deportation to Auschwitz. The concentration is finished in early July and the deportation by the end of July.

Images from April 16, 1944

Communication Facility in Nettuno, Italy, 16 April 1944

Burning American Tank in Italy, 16 April 1944

US Patrol Tosses Grenades at German Position in Italy, 16 April 1944

US Tank Trapped in Bomb Crater in Italy, 16 April 1944

Members of the 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry, are getting last minute instructions from Lt Manotti before going out on patrol in Bougainville jungle. P.I. 16 April 1944.

Members of the 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry

This 155mm rifle, operated by negro troops of Section 2, Battery B, 49th Coast Artillery, is firing at Japanese positions. The soldier at (left) prepares to sponge the breech. Bougainville, 16 April 1944

155mm Rifle of the 49th Coast Artillery

U-boat Crew Abandoning Ship

This April 16, 1944, photo provided by the US Navy shows crewmen of the German U-550 submarine abandoning ship in the Atlantic Ocean after being depth charged by the USS Joyce, a destroyer in an Allied convoy that the submarine attacked. A team of explorers found the U-550 Monday on the floor of the Atlantic about 70 miles south of Nantucket Island. (AP/U.S. Navy)

US Patrol Moves toward German Position in Italy, 16 April 1944