Air Operations, CBI

• 62 10th Air Force P-47s and 459th Fighter Squadron P-38s attack troops and supplies at 4 locations in central Burma.

• 1 308th Heavy Bomb Group B-24 attacks the port area at Canton.
• 7 341st Medium Bomb Group B-25s attack a storage depot.
• 4 B-25s attack Tunganhsien.
• 3 B-25s attack a pontoon bridge.
• 3 B-25s attack Paoching.
• More than 200 14th Air Force fighter-bombers attack targets across southern and eastern China.

Air Operations, Europe

• 106 Mosquitos are sent to Berlin, 8 to Oranienburg airfield and 4 to Lechfeld airfield, and there are 19 Mosquito patrols and 27 RCM sorties.
• 1 Mosquito of No. 100 Group is lost.

• 1,278 8th Air force heavy bombers attack fortifications, strongpoints, gun emplacements, and flak positions at Bordeaux, Royan, and other German defensive positions remaining along the French Atlantic coast. The Royan mission is of interest in that it involves the first and only operational use of napalm bombs by 8th Air Force heavy-bomber units. The results are negligible, and plans to drop more napalm from heavy bombers are canceled.
• 1 B-24 is lost.

• 258 9th Air Division bombers attack five marshalling yards and several targets of opportunity.
• 9th and 1st Tactical Air Force fighter pilots down 10 Luftwaffe aircraft over Germany between 0745 and 1830 hours.

• 12th Air Force B-25s and XXII TAC P-47s privide direct support for the US 5th and British 8th Armies.
• During the night, XXII TAC A-20s and A-26s attack crossing points and three defended towns in the Po River valley.

• In its busiest day of the war, the 15th Air Force mounts 1,235 heavy-bomber sorties and 586 fighter sorties in unremitting attacks against German Army troop concentrations, headquarters, gun positions, and supply points, especially in and around Bologna.

• 15th Air Force fighters and fighter-bombers attack rail lines and other rail targets throughout Austria and southern Germany.

Air Operations, Formosa

• V Bomber Command B-24s attack the Shinchiku, Shinshoshi, and Toyohara airfields.
• 38th Medium Bomb Group B-25s attack rail yards at Shoka.
• During the night 63rd Heavy Bomb Squadron SB-24s attack Taihoku.

Air Operations, Japan

• Task Force 58 carrier aircraft attack airfields on Kyushu, where an estimated 59 aircraft are destroyed on the ground. US Navy carrier-based F6Fs and F4Us down 2 bombers and 25 fighters over southern Kyushu between 1500 and 1545 hours. US Marine Corps carrier-based F4Us down 2 A6M Zeros and a D4Y 'Judy' dive bomber near the Kanoya East airfield on Kyushu between 1505 and 1630 hours.
• During the night 194 313th and 314th Very Heavy Bomb wing B-29s attack Kawasaki, and 8 B-29s attack other targets. 109 73rd Very Heavy Bomb Wing B-29s attack Tokyo.
• 13 B-29s are lost.

Air Operations, Pacific

• The B-29 Superfortresses renew their attacks on Tokyo, dropping 754 (1,930?) tons of bombs on the industrial district of Kawasaki, in the south of the city.
• Fast Ki-84 fighters strafe US air bases on Okinawa.

Air Operations, Philippines

• FEAF B-24s and XIII Fighter Command fighter-bombers drop 107 tons of bombs in support of US 8th Army ground forces on Negros and attack targets on Cebu.
• XIII Bomber Command B-24s, 42nd Medium Bomb Group B-25s, and 1st Marine Aircraft Wing SBDs and F4Us attack highways and motor vehicles in the Davao area.
• V Bomber Command B-24s and V Fighter Command fighter-bombers attack fortified islands in Manila Bay and support US 6th Army ground forces on Luzon.

Air Operations, Ryukyus

• US Navy and Marine Corps aircraft support the US 10th Army on Okinawa and mount pre-invasion attacks against Ie Shima.
• Task Unit 52.1.2 TBMs and FMs attack airfields in the Sakishima Islands.
• VMF-323 F4Us and a VMF(N)-543 F6F down a D3A 'Val' dive bomber and 6 Japanese fighters from Okinawa northward between 1830 and 1900 hours.

Allied Planning

Gen Eisenhower gives final orders to his commanders that Berlin is not a military objective. Eisenhower orders 6th Army Group to advance through Bavaria and western Austria to link with Allied forces in Italy.

Battle of the Atlantic

U-285 is sunk in a depth-charge attack by the British frigates Grindall and Keats.

U-285

Burma

In XXXIII Corps' advance Taungdwingyi falls to 20th Indian Div. Other units of XXXIII Corps are still fighting farther up the Irrawaddy than the next objectives for 20th Indian which now moves toward Magwe and Thayetmyo.

Eastern Front

In Austria the 3rd Ukraine Front takes Radkesburg, southeast of Graz. The 2nd Ukraine Front attacks northward towad Brno. The Führer, in an Order of the Day to the troops fighting on the Eastern Front, declares: 'Berlin is still German, Vienna will return to Germany.'

Meanwhile, the 1st and 2nd Belorussian Fronts are getting ready to unleash the great offensive against Berlin. The 3(?) fronts contain 19 armies, 4 armored armies and 3 air armies, making a total of 1,600,000 men with 3,827 tanks and 2,334 self-propelled guns, 4,520 anti-tank guns, 15,654 field guns and 3,411 anti-aircraft guns, 6,700 aircraft and 96,000 vehicles. To oppose this enormous force the Germans have the 3rd Panzer Army, the 9th Army and the reserve of the Vistula Army Group, plus the 4th Panzer Army of the Army Group Center, making a total of 47 divisions, of which 3 are armored and 8 motorized, plus an infantry brigade.

Italy

In the US 5th Army sector the IV Corps goes ahead in the sectors of Suzzano and Vergato, and during the night the II Corps launches an attack in the direction of Bologna, east of Highway 64, after an intensive air bombardment. The Italian Legnano Combat Group also takes part in the attack.

On the east of the Allied line, the units of the Polish II Corps, British 8th Army, begin to cross the Sillaro River.

Occupied France

In Operations VENERABLE, after heavy napalm bomb attacks by the 8th Air Force and shelling by the battleship Lorraine, French and US forces attack the Royan 'Pocket' (Gironde). All resistance ends on April 20.

Okinawa

In the Motobu peninsula the 6th Marine Div is engaged in bloody battles for the capture of the Yae-Take heights.

On the islet of Minna, near Ie Shima Island, the Americans land strong forces of artillery, which begin to shell the larger island.

Pacific

• Aircraft of Vice-Adm Marc A. Mitscher's fast aircraft carrier squadron attack airfields in the south of Kyushu to try to prevent the continual attacks on American ships off Okinawa; nonetheless, Japanese suicide aircraft damage 2 more destroyers, Wilson (DD-408) and Laffey (DD-724), the oiler Taluga (AO-62) and the motor minesweeper YMS-331.
• Four Japanese ships are sunk in Japanese waters by mines: the submarines RO-64 and RO-67, the frigate Mokuto and the cargo ship No.3 Sannan Maru (873t).

Philippines

On Luzon in the south, near Legaspi, the 158th Regimental Combat Group attacks the Cituinan hills without success, while a battalion from the same group attacks and captures the village of San Francisco. Savage and indecisive fighting continues in all sectors.

The Japanese are everywhere resisting with small units, while the bulk of the 14th Army concentrates on the mountains of the Sierra Madre, in the northeast of the island.

On Cebu, the Americal Division proceeds with the liquidation of the enemy forces in the hills around Cebu City.

Western Front

In the Canadian 1st Army sector, the 49th Div, Canadian I Corps, finishes off the capture of Arnhem, while the Canadian II Corps is approaching Groningen.

The advance of the British XXX Corps, 2nd Army, toward Bremen, and of the VIII Corps toward Ülzen continues. British troops free 40,000 prisoners at the Belsen concentration camp and find 10,000 unburied dead bodies.

The XIII Corps, US 9th Army, begins an offensive on the right bank of the Saale River in an attempt to capture the ground between the Saale and the Rhine. Units of the V Corps reach the bridges over the Mulde River in the area between Colditz and Lastau.

Farther south the XX Corps, US 3rd Army, also crosses the Mulde River in the area of Rochlitz and Lunzenau. Units of the 4th Arm Div advance toward Chemnitz. The XXII Corps, US 15th Army, is made responsible for the Aachen sector.

The advance of the US 7th Army continues in the sectors of Nuremberg, XV Corps, and Neustadt, XXI Corps.

While the II Corps of the French 1st Army occupies the Black Forest, the I Corps crosses the Rhine north of Kehl.

Images from April 15, 1945

Canadian Camerons at Ten Boer, Sharing Food

Bergen-Belsen Camp Liberated by the British

Loading Bodies for Transport to Mass Graves

A Comet Tank at Bergen Belsen Camp

Receiving a Hot Meal

German Sniper Action

DUKW Being Loaded with Jerrycans

B-24J Liberators Dropping Incendiary Bombs