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• Charles Burnett was born in Browns Valley, Minnesota, United States. ww2dbase [Charles Burnett | Browns Valley, Minnesota | CPC]

• Thomas Kinkaid was born. ww2dbase [Thomas Kinkaid | CPC]

• Reinhard Gehlen was born. ww2dbase [Reinhard Gehlen | CPC]

• King Karl of Austria-Hungary and his Foreign Minister Ottokar Czernin visited the German Kaiser, ostensibly to complain about the declaration of unrestricted U-boat warfare, but secretly to press for the need for peace. ww2dbase [AC]

• USS Arizona completed post-shakedown overhaul and departed Brooklyn Navy Yard, New York, United States. ww2dbase [Arizona | Brooklyn, New York | CPC]

• Kurt Fricke was awarded Friedrich August Cross 1st Class of Oldenburg. ww2dbase [Kurt Frike | CPC]

• Joseph Stalin was appointed the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Soviet Communist Party. ww2dbase [Joseph Stalin | CPC]

• S-18 was commissioned into service. ww2dbase [S-18 | CPC]

• Roza Shanina was born in the village of Yedma, Arkhangelsk Oblast, Russia. ww2dbase [Roza Shanina | Yedma, Arkhangelsk | CPC]

• RMS Queen Mary was ordered. ww2dbase [Queen Mary | CPC]

• Franklin Roosevelt gave a 30-minute-long radio address as the governor of New York, United States; he would come to use this medium to communicate with his supporters for the remainder of his career. ww2dbase [Franklin Roosevelt | New York | CPC]

• Jiang Dingwen was promoted to the rank of general second class. ww2dbase [Jiang Dingwen | CPC]

• Lerida, Catalonia, Spain surrendered to Spanish Nationalist forces. ww2dbase [The Spanish Civil War | AC]

• Major fighting in Tai'erzhuang, Shandong Province, China caused hundreds of civilian deaths. Unable to secure permission to withdraw from the city, Chinese General Sun Liren promised his men that he would remain in the city with the rest of the troops. ww2dbase [Battle of Xuzhou | Tai'erzhuang, Shandong | CPC]

• The US Congress granted US$300,000,000 for the purchase of 3,200 new military aircraft over the next two years. ww2dbase [AC]

• Adolf Hitler, on his own authority, ordered the armed forces to prepare "Case White" for the invasion and occupation of the whole of Poland later in the summer. ww2dbase [Invasion of Poland | AC]

• Sargo-class submarine USS Saury was commissioned at New London, Connecticut, United States, Lieutenant Commander George Warren Patterson, Jr. in command. ww2dbase [Saury | New London, Connecticut | DS]

3 Apr 1939 Interactive Map

• Katyn Massacre: Over 20,000 Polish police, military officers, and intellectuals were massacred by the Soviet NKVD. ww2dbase [Katyn Massacre and Related Atrocities | CPC]
• Winston Churchill was appointed to chair a committee for war policy in Neville Chamberlain's cabinet. ww2dbase [Winston Churchill | CPC]
• A pro-Axis government came to power in Iraq. ww2dbase [TH]
• Submarine Orzel departed Rosyth, Scotland, United Kingdom to patrol the coast off Kristiansand, Norway. ww2dbase [Orzel | CPC]
• Flight Lieutenant Ryder of No. 41 Squadron RAF became the first RAF pilot to be shot down on home defence duties when he ditched his Spitfire fighter in the sea off Redcar, England, United Kingdom after bringing down a Heinkel 111 bomber. Ryder and the German crew were picked up safely. ww2dbase [AC]
• Chinese troops secured the Wuyuan region in Suiyuan Province, China. ww2dbase [Battle of Wuyuan | CPC]
• A British Short Sunderland flying boat on patrol off Norway attacked by six Junkers Ju 88 aircraft successfully shot one down, forced another to land immediately and drove the rest off. ww2dbase [S.25 Sunderland | AC]

• German supply ships began departing Hamburg, Germany for the invasion of Norway; in all 7 freighters of 28,693 tons would set sail. The British cabinet was warned of this action and the German concentration of troops within hours. ww2dbase [Invasion of Denmark and Norway | Hamburg | CPC, HM]

• The keel of submarine Grayback was laid down by the Electric Boat Company in Groton, Connecticut, United States. ww2dbase [Electric Boat Company | Grayback | Groton, Connecticut | CPC]

3 Apr 1940 Interactive Map

• Overnight, RAF unsuccessfully attacked German cruisers Scharnhorst and Gneisenau at Brest, France, but some German naval officers were killed when a bomb struck the Continental Hotel in the city. ww2dbase [Scharnhorst | CPC]
• Axis troops marched toward Benghazi, Libya. British troops evacuated the city per General Philip Neame's orders. ww2dbase [Siege of Tobruk | CPC]
• German aircraft conducted a heavy raid on Bristol, England during the night. ww2dbase [Battle of Britain | CPC]
• Pál Teleki passed away. ww2dbase [Pál Teleki | CPC]
• Italian Admiral Mario Bonetti's fleet of 5 destroyers and smaller warships, which had sailed out of Massawa, Italian East Africa on the previous day, was detected and attacked by a force of British aircraft. Without air cover, one by one the Italian ships became so damaged by bomb hits that they had to be abandoned. The last survivor, the torpedo boat Orsini, tried to flee back to Massawa but being badly damaged by the British air attacks, she eventually settled and had to be scuttled before reaching the port. With British ground forces only an hour away from entering the port the remaining Italian ships there (Acerbi and half a dozen small MAS boats) were destroyed with demolition charges. ww2dbase [Invasion of Italian East Africa | AC]
• Winston Churchill recommended Richard O'Connor as the new British commander in Libya, but O'Connor declined. ww2dbase [Richard O'Connor | CPC]
• German submarine U-76 sank Finnish ship Daphne 150 miles south of Iceland, killing both crew members. ww2dbase [CPC]
• British submarine HMS Tigris sank German tanker Thorn 100 miles southwest of Saint-Nazaire, France. ww2dbase [CPC]
• German bombers sank British munitions ship Northern Prince 17 miles west of Crete, Greece. All crew members survived. ww2dbase [Balkans Campaign | CPC]

• Leonardo da Vinci departed Bordeaux, France at 0830 hours and sailed northward down the Gironde estuary, reaching Le Verdon-sur-Mer, France at 1245 hours. At 1945 hours, she set out to sea for a war patrol. ww2dbase [Leonardo da Vinci | Bordeaux, Aquitaine | CPC]

• The Iraqi Parliamentary government was overthrown by the military coup d’état that began two days prior. ww2dbase [Campaigns in the Middle East | AC]

• HMS Argus and HMS Ark Royal, ferrying 12 Hurricane fighters and 3 Skua dive bombers, successfully launched them to reinforce Malta, completing Operation Winch. ww2dbase [Malta Campaign | CPC]

• Winston Churchill warned Joseph Stalin (via the Soviet ambassador in London, England, United Kingdom) German troop movements into Poland detected by British intelligence. ww2dbase [Operation Barbarossa | London, England | CPC]
• Of the ten Norwegian Kvarstad ships that had escaped captivity from Gothenburg, Sweden two days prior, only two of them successfully reached Leith, Scotland, United Kingdom. They were B. P. Newton and Lind. B. P. Newton had carried on board 71 people. ww2dbase [Leith, Scotland | HM]

• German submarine U-552 sank US collier David H. Atwater with her deck gun 10 miles off Chincoteague Inlet, Virginia, United States at 0340 hours; 24 were killed, 3 survived. German submarine U-754 sank US freighter Otho 150 kilometers east of Hampton Roads, Virginia, United States, killing 31 of 53 aboard. In the South Atlantic, German raider Thor forced the crew of Norwegian ship Aust to abandon ship and sank her with gunfire. At 2331 hours, U-505 sank US ship West Irmo 200 miles off Ivory Coast, French West Africa; 10 were killed, 90 survived. ww2dbase [Second Happy Time | Thor | CPC]
• Aviation pioneer Charles Lindbergh began working on Ford's B-24 Liberator production line at Detroit, Michigan, United States as a consultant. ww2dbase [B-24 Liberator | AC]
• Admiral Chester Nimitz was confirmed as the Commander-in-Chief, Pacific Ocean Area. ww2dbase [Chester Nimitz | CPC]
• Japanese submarine I-17 sank British ship Glenshiel in the Indian Ocean at 0340 hours; all aboard survived. ww2dbase [CPC]
• Soviet destroyer Shaumian ran aground and was wrecked off Gelendzhik in southern Russia. ww2dbase [CPC]
• Allied convoy QP-9 arrived at Reykjavik, Iceland without any losses. At Murmansk, Russia, German aircraft sank British merchant ship Empire Starlight, British merchant ship New Westminster City, and Polish merchant ship Tobruk; Soviet ship was also damaged in the attack. ww2dbase [Arctic Convoys | CPC]

• German submarine U-702 became missing in the North Sea 100 miles off the Norwegian coast; all 44 aboard were never seen again. ww2dbase [North Sea | CPC]
• German Type IXC U-Boat U-505 torpedoed and sunk the American freighter West Irmo off the British Gold Coast (Ghana). 10 were killed and 99 were rescued. ww2dbase [Second Happy Time | U-505 | DS]

• Six B-17 bombers of the US 10th Air Force based in Asansol, India attacked Rangoon, Burma, setting three warehouses on fire; one aircraft was lost in this attack. ww2dbase [Invasion of Burma | Rangoon | CPC]

• Naka arrived at Bantam Bay, Java, Dutch East Indies under tow by Natori. ww2dbase [Naka | Java | CPC]

• Vichy France passed a law to protect ski sites as public utilities, signifying the importance of sports in the new French education philosophy. ww2dbase [CPC]

• USS Honolulu departed Pearl Harbor, Hawaii bound for San Diego, California. ww2dbase [Pearl Harbor Navy Base and Ford Island Naval Air Station | Honolulu | Pearl Harbor, Oahu | DS]

• Shokaku entered the Indian Ocean. ww2dbase [Shokaku | CPC]

• The 10th MAS Flotilla special forces unit of the Italian Navy was relocated from La Spezia, Italy to nearby Muggiano. ww2dbase [Muggiano, Liguria | CPC]

• After a heavy artillery and aerial bombardment from 0900 to 1500 hours, Japanese troops launched an attack on the Bataan Peninsula in Philippine Islands, penetrating the lines held by the Filipino 41st Infantry Division. ww2dbase [Invasion of the Philippine Islands | TH, CPC]

• German bombers attacked Murmansk, Russia, sinking Polish ship Tobruk and British ships New Westminster City and Empire Starlight in the harbor. ww2dbase [Murmansk | CPC]
• Israel Fisanovich was made a Hero of the Soviet Union and was awarded the Order of Lenin. ww2dbase [Israel Fisanovich | CPC]

3 Apr 1942 Interactive Map

• German Fw 190 fighters strafed Eastbourne, England, United Kingdom. ww2dbase [Battle of Britain | CPC]
• US 1st Infantry Division captured Hill 369 near El Guettar, Tunisia. ww2dbase [Battle of El Guettar | CPC]
• USS Tunny set sail for Namonuito, Caroline Islands. ww2dbase [Tunny | CPC]
• Destroyer Yuzuki rescued the survivors of sunken tanker Arima Maru. ww2dbase [Yuzuki | CPC]
• The US submarine Pickerel was depth charged and sunk by Japanese warships north of Honshu, Japan. ww2dbase [Pickerel | AC]
• The Indian Army Medical Corps was formed by amalgamating the Indian Medical Services, the Indian Medical Department and the Indian Hospital Corps. ww2dbase [AC]
• Oberleutnant Josef Luxenburger, Hauptmann Wilhelm Mylius, and Oberfeldwebel Fraz Placzek of the German Kampfgeschwader 55 wing were awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross. ww2dbase [CPC]

• Admiral Yamamoto and his staff departed Truk, Caroline Islands for Rabaul, New Britain on two Kawanishi H8K flying boats to supervise Operation I-GO from 7 to 14 Apr 1943, expecting to return to flagship Musashi on 19 Apr 1943. They arrived at Rabaul at 1340 hours. ww2dbase [Isoroku Yamamoto | Rabaul, New Britain | CPC]

• USS Sunfish arrived at Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii, ending her second war patrol. ww2dbase [Sunfish (Gato-class) | Honolulu, Oahu | CPC]
• After repairs and upgrades to her deck armament, Gato-class submarine USS Silversides departed Pearl Harbor, Hawaii for her patrol area after two previous departures thwarted by mechanical failures. ww2dbase [Silversides | Pearl Harbor, Oahu | DS]

• USS Haddock fired 4 torpedoes at converted fleet oiler Arima Maru carrying 7,880 tons of oil, sinking her with 3 hits in the Philippine Sea. Her conning tower and radar system was damaged by depth charges from destroyer Yuzuki. ww2dbase [Haddock | CPC]

• Clifton Cates was promoted to the permanent rank of brigadier general. ww2dbase [Clifton Cates | Quantico, Virginia | CPC]

3 Apr 1943 Interactive Map

• Operation Tungsten: 41 British Barracuda dive bombers attacked German battleship Tirpitz, scoring 15 hits. ww2dbase [Tirpitz | CPC]
• Light carrier Ryuho departed Saipan, Mariana Islands. ww2dbase [Ryuho | CPC]
• TIME Magazine feature Vannevar Bush on its cover and with an article inside titled "Yankee Scientist." ww2dbase [Vannevar Bush | DS]

• Aircraft from HMS Activity and HMS Tracker sank German submarine U-288 in the Barents Sea. ww2dbase [Activity | Barents Sea | CPC]

• USS Cero departed Brisbane, Australia for her fourth war patrol. ww2dbase [Cero | Brisbane, Queensland | CPC]

• Lieutenant Colonel George McGee, Jr., whose 2nd Battalion of US 5307th Composite Unit (Provisional) had been under near constant attack by the Japanese at Nhpum Ga, Burma for several days, sent a warning message to his superior Colonel Charles Hunter at the clearing of Hsamshingyang nearby, noting that the constant pressure by the Japanese and the lack of fresh water were about to break the morale of his men. With 1st Battalion five or six days away and Chinese allies more than ten days away, Hunter only had the tired troops of the 3rd Battalion to attempt to rescue the besieged 2nd Battalion. He planned to strike out from Hsamshingyang toward Nhpum Ga at 1200 hours on the next day, with Orange Combat Team at the front and Khaki Combat Team ready to flank the first Japanese position that Orange Combat Team would encounter. ww2dbase [Battle of Myitkyina | Charles Hunter | George McGee | Nhpum Ga | CPC]

• Shokaku arrived at Lingga Roads, Dutch East Indies. ww2dbase [Shokaku | Lingga Roads | CPC]

• The keel of U-2501 was laid down at the Blohm und Voss shipyard in Hamburg, Germany. ww2dbase [Blohm und Voss | U-2501 | Hamburg | CPC]

• USS Wake Island departed Karachi, India (now Pakistan). ww2dbase [Wake Island | Karachi, Sindh | CPC]
• General Montagu Stopford ordered Major General R. P. L. Ranking to move the Indian 161st Brigade from Kohima to Dimapur in India. Ranking believed this was a bad move as Kohima would be a Japanese target, and appealed to William Slim; Slim sided with Stopford. Also on this date, Louis Mountbatten and William Slim met with Joseph Stilwell at Jorhat, an airfield at Assam, India; Stilwell reluctantly offered to send Chinese 38th Division to Imphal, India to assist with the defense, and was secretly relieved when Slim declined as Stilwell wished to use the Chinese in northern Burma to further his own campaign ww2dbase [Battle of Imphal-Kohima | Joseph Stilwell | William Slim | Kohima, Assam | CPC]

• USS Pollack damaged passenger-cargo ship Tosei Maru in the Nanpo Islands area, Japan, hitting her with two of four torpedoes. ww2dbase [Pollack | CPC]

• UIT-24 arrived in Penang. ww2dbase [Comandante Cappellini | Penang | CPC]

• Evelyn Sharp passed away near Middleton, Pennsylvania, United States. ww2dbase [Evelyn Sharp | Middleton, Pennsylvania | CPC]
• Condemning the oppression of the Stalin regime, Viktor Kravchenko, a member of the Soviet Lend-Lease Purchasing Commission, announced his defection to the New York Times. ww2dbase [AC]

3 Apr 1944 Interactive Map

• Soviet 2nd Ukrainian Front penetrated the German defensive lines between Wiener Neustadt and Neusiedler Lake, advancing toward Vienna, Austria. Major Carl Szokoll, a leader of the Austrian resistance, met with Soviet authorities about cooperation in Vienna to prevent the city's destruction. ww2dbase [Battle of Vienna | TH]
• General of Infantry Wilhelm Hasse replaced Walther Nehring as the commander of the German 1.Panzerarmee. ww2dbase [CPC]
• British Second Army arrived at Münster, Germany while the US Ninth Army captured Recklinghausen. ww2dbase [Ruhr Campaign | TH]
• US First Army captured Fulda and Kassel, Germany. ww2dbase [TH]
• German rocket troops were converted to regular troops and joined the German 5th Army Corps. ww2dbase [CPC]
• Allied troops captured Hengelo, the Netherlands. ww2dbase [CPC]
• Special attack boats of Japanese Navy Shinyo Squadron 22 sank American gunboat LCI(G)-82 at Okinawa, Japan. ww2dbase [Shinyo-class | CPC]
• USS Wake Island was struck by two or three Japanese special attack aircraft, causing damage but little casualties. ww2dbase [Wake Island | CPC]
• The US coastal minesweeper YMS-71 struck a mine and sunk off Sanga Sanga, Borneo. ww2dbase [AC]
• While at Kiel, Germany, U-56 was seriously damaged by US aircraft, leading to her decommissioning from service. ww2dbase [U-56 | CPC]
• USS Bailey arrived at Subic Bay, Luzon, Philippines. ww2dbase [Bailey | DS]

• US 45th Infantry Division captured Aschaffenburg, Germany. ww2dbase [Southern Germany Campaign | Aschaffenburg, Hessen-Nassau | CPC]
• While under repair at Deutsche Werke shipyard in Kiel, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, Emden had her forward funnel destroyed by a direct hit of an Allied aerial bomb. ww2dbase [Deutsche Werke Kiel | Emden | Kiel, Schleswig-Holstein | CPC]
• The column of prisoners of war that SS-Feldgendarmerie personnel forced out of Marlag und Milag Nord prisoners of war camp in Westertimke, Germany on the previous day were strafed by RAF aircraft at about 1000 hours. Several prisoners were killed. ww2dbase [Marlag und Milag Nord | Weser-Ems | HM]
• U-1233 arrived at Flensburg, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. ww2dbase [U-1233 | Flensburg, Schleswig-Holstein | CPC]
• The USAAF 306th Bomb Group flying from RAF Thurleigh launched a bombing raid against the submarine yards at Kiel, Germany. ww2dbase [Bombing of Hamburg, Dresden, and Other Cities | RAF Thurleigh | Kiel | DS]

• USS Sennet departed Guam, Mariana Islands for her third war patrol. ww2dbase [Sennet | CPC]

• USS Franklin arrived at Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii. ww2dbase [Pearl Harbor Navy Base and Ford Island Naval Air Station | Franklin | Honolulu, Hawaii | CPC]

• Troops of British Special Boat Service and Italian 28th Garribaldi Brigade captured islands in Lake Comacchio in northern Italy. ww2dbase [Operation Grapeshot and Operation Roast | Comacchio, Emilia-Romagna | CPC]

• 68 American B-29 bombers attacked the Koizuimi aircraft factory and the urban areas of Tokyo, Japan. ww2dbase [Bombing of Tokyo and Other Cities | Tokyo | CPC]
• USS Ancon was ordered to move further away from Okinawa, Japan due to dangers from Japanese aircraft. ww2dbase [Okinawa Campaign | Ancon | Okinawa | CPC]

• Destroyer USS Shaw arrived in Leyte Gulf and anchored in San Pedro Bay. ww2dbase [Shaw | San Pedro Bay, Leyte | DS]

• Kamoi arrived at anchorage No. 26 at Singapore. ww2dbase [Kamoi | Singapore | CPC]

• 16 B-25 bombers of USAAF 3rd Bombardment Group and B-24 bombers of USAAF 90th Bombardment Group, escorted by 8 P-38 fighters, attacked the butanol plant, rail marshalling yards, and the military airfield at Kagi, Taiwan. ww2dbase [Kagi Airfield | Kagi, Tainan | CPC]

3 Apr 1945 Interactive Map

• Masaharu Homma passed away. ww2dbase [Masaharu Homma | CPC]
• The Australian-Thai Peace Treaty was signed. ww2dbase [CPC]

• USS Maryland was decommissioned at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard. ww2dbase [Puget Sound Navy Yard | Maryland | Bremerton, Washington | DS]

3 Apr 1947 Interactive Map

• Israel signed an armistice with Jordan to de-escalate the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, also known as the Israeli Independence War. ww2dbase [CPC]

• USS Wasp departed San Diego, California, United States with Carrier Air Group 15 aboard. ww2dbase [Wasp (Essex-class) | San Diego, California | CPC]
• USS Conecuh was decommissioned from service at Norfolk Navy Yard, Virginia, United States and was transferred to the National Defense Reserve Fleet (James River Group, located at Lee Hall, Virginia near Newport News). ww2dbase [Norfolk Navy Yard | Dithmarschen | Portsmouth, Virginia | CPC]

3 Apr 1956 Interactive Map

• USS Wasp arrived at Naval Air Station Quonset Point, Rhode Island, United States. ww2dbase [Wasp (Essex-class) | North Kingstown, Rhode Island | CPC]

• The merge of ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems and Atlas Elektronik of Bremen, Germany was completed. ww2dbase [Atlas Werke AG | Bremen, Weser-Ems | CPC]

3 Apr 2017 Interactive Map