Admiralty Islands

The mopping up of the islands may be regarded as finished.

Air Operations, Carolines

• 20 307th Heavy Bomb Group B-24s attack the airfield at Satawan in the Nomoi Islands.
• During the night, RAAF Catalinas mine the waters in and around the Woleai Atoll.

Air Operations, CBI

• 5 7th Heavy Bomb Group B-24s attack Ywataung.
• 2 B-24s attack Akyab.
• 26 10th Air Force B-25s and 36 10th Air Force P-51s support Allied ground forces at Mawlu and attack a fuel dump at Kin.
• 36 attack Japanese Army positions near Bathidaung.
• A-31s attack Kalewa, Yaingangpokpi, and several occupied villages.
• 6 P-51s support Allied ground troops near Meza.
• 459th Fighter Squadron P-38s down 7 Ki-43 'Oscar' fighters over the airfield at Heho at 1050 hours.

• Diverted at the last minute from strikes in Burma, 13 1st Air Commando Group P-51s intercept Japanese aircraft over Imphal and down 3 Ki-43 'Oscar' fighters.

Air Operations, East Indies

More than 20 V Bomber Command B-24s attack the Kai Islands in the Molucca Islands.

Air Operations, Europe

B-17s and B-24s attack Belgrade and Sofia.

• 26 Mosquitos are sent to Cologne without a loss.

• 2 Mosquitos are sent to attack the railway yards at Le Mans, 14 Halifaxes and 6 Stirlings lay mines in Kiel Bay and in the Frisians, and there are 2 Serrate patrols and 4 OTU sorties.
• 1 mine-laying Halifax is lost.

• 14 2nd Bomb Division B-24s, including 5 pathfinder aircraft, conduct an experimental attack against the V-weapons site at Wizernes.

• 12th Air Force B-25s attack bridges at two locations.
• XII TAC A-20s attack fuel dumps near Rome.
• XII TAC fighter-bombers attack various transportation targets, gun emplacements around Orte, and gun emplacements, motor vehicles, and dumps in the Anzio battle area.

• 15th Air Force B-24s attack marshalling yards at Sofia.
• 7 Luftwaffe fighters are downed around Sofia between 1215 and 1300 hours by 31st Fighter Group P-51 pilots and 325th Fighter Group P-47 pilots.

• 15th Air Force B-17s attack a marshalling yard at Sava, an aircraft factory in Belgrade, and the Belgrade/Rogozarski Airdrome.
• 82nd Fighter Group P-38 pilots down 1 He-111 and 2 Ju-52s over Belgrade.

Air Operations, Marianas

5 VII Bomber Command B-24 based at Eniwetok begin a systematic effort to photograph Japanese defenses and terrain at possible invasion sites in the Marianas. The program will continue through early June. On this first mission, 1 B-24 is mortally damaged by Japanese fighters, but it ditches near a US destroyer on the return flight, and all crewmen are rescued.

Air Operations, New Guinea

• V Fighter Command P-39s attack antiaircraft batteries at Bogia.
• Numerous small attacks are conducted against the Hollandia, Madang, and Uligan areas.

Atlantic

To prevent German interference with the 'D-Day' invasion fleet, over the next 6 weeks, 7,000 mines are laid by the Royal Navy and the RAF Bomber Command in approaches ot the English Channel and as far north as the Danish coast. About 100 light warships and other craft sink as a result.

Battle of the Atlantic

• U-342 is sunk in an attack by Canso 'S' of No 162 Squadron RCAF southwest of Iceland.

U-342 Class Type VIIC CO Oberleutnant zur See Albert Hossenfelder Location N Atlantic, SW of Iceland Cause Air attack Casualties 51 Survivors None

U-986 Class Type VIIC CO Oberleutnant zur See Ernst Kaiser Location N Atlantic Cause Depth charge Casualties 50 Survivors None

• The German submarine U-986 is sunk by the US minesweeper Swift (AM-122) and the submarine chaser PC-619 in the North Atlantic area.

Burma-India

In the northeastern sector the Chinese troops make progress along the Mogaung valley, where the Japanese have evacuated the town of Wazarup. Stilwell does not have enough forces to launch an offensive against the efficient Japanese 18th Div manning this sector. For the Allies, assuming that the situation in India does not collapse, it would be important to gain possession of Myitkyina and Mogaung. Both are on the line of the Burma Road between India and China, and the first could act as a staging-point for aircraft on the airlift between India and China, as well as being the terminus of the railway to the south of the country.

In the Imphal area the reinforced British IV Corps begins a counterattack against the Japanese.

CBI

The Japanese attempt to forestall Allied efforts to establish B-29 bases in China and to secure for themselves an overland supply route stretching from Seoul, Korea to Saigon, French Indochina. Because of the effectiveness of the US submarine campaign on shipping, the Japanese armies in China require this overland supply route to sustain any offensive operations. The Japanese employ 820,000 men in this offensive, with the initial attack directed against Hunan province. The Chinese are completely unprepared and the 14th Air Force has already warned Stilwell and Chiang Kai-shek that it will unable to stem the advance. The Japanese force cross the Yellow River and begin an advance toward the rail line at Hankow.

Gen Stilwell orders Gen Chennault to defend the B-29 airbases at Chengtu as the Japanese begin an offensive to open a north-south corridor from the Yellow River to Hangkow and south to Changsha and then to Hengyang. The intent is to link with Japanese forces in Indochina. Two Japanese divisions cross the Yellow River with tanks.

China

The Japanese launch their last big offensive, ICHI-GO against Nationalist China, penetrating into the province of Honan across the Yellow River. The goal is to seize Allied air bases and decimate Chinese ground forces.

Eastern Front

The remnants of the V and XLIX Mountain Corps reach Sevastopol and dig in around the city. The XLIX Mountain Corps, with the remnants of 2 infantry divisions, deploy to cover the northern approaches. However, it comes under heavy attack as Soviet forces probe the German defenses.

The V Corps covers the eastern approaches (with 3 infantry divisions). Despite the harrowing retreat the V and XLIX Mountain Corps have suffered terribly, more thatn 13,000 German and 17,000 Rumanian soldiers being killed or captured in the fighting.

The fighting in the Ukraine has also been costly for the Soviet armies. The 1st Ukrainian Front has, since December 24, 1943, loses 124,000 killed and 332,000 wounded, the 2nd Ukrainian 66,000 killed and 200,000 wounded, the 3rd Ukrainian 55,000 killed and 214,000 wounded and the 4th Ukrainian 22,000 killed and 84,000 wounded.

Japan, Strategy

Japan attempts to reinvigorate its strategic policy toward China. Although already over-stretched in the Pacific and Burma, the Japanese Army is committed to a major offensive in China

ICHI-GO

which has the objective of occupying southern China, thus providing open land routes to Japanes forces in Malaya and Thailand, while also crushing US air bases in Honan and Kwangsi provinces.

Mediterranean

The US freighters James Guthrie (7176t) and Alexander Graham Bell (7176t), in Convoy NB-33, are damaged by Allied mines off the Isle of Capri. James Guthrie is abandoned and taken in tow by salvage vessel Weight (ARS-35) to Naples where she is written off as a total loss. Alexander Graham Bell makes it to Naples under her own power, is repaired and returned to service.

Pacific

• The US submarine Trout (SS-202) is reported as presumed lost in the Pacific Ocean area.
• The US submarine Harder (SS-257) attacks a Japanese convoy about 150 miles northwest of Woleai, Carolines and sinks the army cargo ship Matsue Maru (7061t).
• The US submarine Searaven (SS-196) sinks the Japanese auxiliary minesweeper No.2 Noshiro Maru (2333t) 120 miles south of Haha Jima, Bonins.

Images from April 17, 1944

Flying Fortress Throws Bombs

The US Bombing of Belgrade

War Brides and Their Children

B-17 Destroyed by Anti-aircraft Fire