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.

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

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.

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.

Pacific

The US submarine Trout (SS-202) is reported as presumed lost in the Pacific Ocean area.

Images from April 17, 1944

Belgrade, 17 April 1944: Flying Fortress Throws Bombs

Belgrade, April 17, The 1944: US bombing

War Brides and Their Children en route to Canada, 17 April, 1944

This 483rd BG B-17 was destroyed by AAA over Nis, Yugoslavia, in April 1944. None of the crew bailed out, and the bodies of nine of the ten crew were found.

B-17 Destroyed by Anti-aircraft Fire