April 5th, 1942 (SUNDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM: Of the eleven merchant ships that left Sweden on 1 April, two have reached Britain, six have been sunk or scuttled, and three have returned to Sweden.
FRANCE: During the night of the 5th/6th, RAF Bomber Command dispatches 20 Whitleys to bomb the Gnome and Rhone aircraft engine factory in the Paris suburb of Gennevilliers; 14 aircraft bomb but the main target is not hit. Local records show one house destroyed and four damaged, with no casualties. In a second mission, 14 aircraft bomb the port area at Le Havre.
NETHERLANDS: During the night of the 5th/6th, RAF Bomber Command dispatches six Blenheim intruders to attack airfields; individual aircraft hit De Kooy, Leeuwarden, Schipol and Soesterberg Airfields.
NORWAY: In Oslo, 654 of the 699
Lutheran ministers resign their civil service positions in protest of the German
occupation of their country.
GERMANY: Fuhrer Directive 41 is
issued and the Wehrmacht has its marching orders for 1942. Leningrad is to
finally be captured and contact is to be made with the Finns east of Lake Ladoga,
but that is a secondary objective. The big plan is in the South, which involves
2nd Army and 4th Panzer Army breaking through to Voronezh on the Don River. 6th
Army will break out south of Kharkov and combine with the 4th Panzer Army to
surround the enemy. After that, the 4th Panzer Army and 6th Army will drive east
under the command of Army Group B and surround Stalingrad from the North, while
Army Group A's 17th Army and 1st Panzer Army will do so from the South. Once
Stalingrad is taken, the 6th Army will hold the flank defence line while Army
Group A drives South into the Caucasus to seize the oilfields and become the
northern punch of a grand pincer movement (the southern half being Rommel) to
seize Suez, the Nile Delta, the Middle-East and its oilfields. (Mikko Härmeinen
and Jack McKillop)
During the night of the 5th/6th, RAF Bomber Command dispatches 263
aircraft, 179 Wellingtons, 44 Hampdens, 29 Stirlings and 11 Manchesters, to bomb
the Humboldt works in Cologne; 219 bomb the target claiming good results with
the use of GEE but the nearest bombing photographs developed were 5 miles (8
kilometres) from the Humboldt works. The Cologne report lists just one
industrial building hit, a mill in the Deutz area, with 90 houses destroyed or
seriously damaged and other buildings, including a hospital, hit. Seven people
were killed and nine injured in the bombing. There were further casualties among
a crowd who were watching a burning bomber which had crashed in the middle of
Cologne; the bomb load exploded killing 16 people and injuring 30 more. The
bomber's crew had been killed in the original crash. Two of the aircraft
dispatched bombed Bonn and another bombed Koblenz. (Mikko Härmeinen and Jack
McKillop)
MALTA:
Destroyer HMS Lance which is in dry-dock at Valetta for
repair is damaged beyond repair by German air attacks on this date and also the
9th. April.
Minesweeper Abingdon is alongside the jetty at Valetta
awaiting repair when she is sunk by a German air attack. (Alex Gordon)(108)
INDIAN OCEAN: The Japanese fleet that sailed from Kendari, Celebes, Netherlands East Indies, has reached a point about 200 miles (322 kilometres) south of Colombo and commences Operation C.
The Japanese force under Vice Admiral KONDO Nobutake consists of the battleships HIJMS Haruna, Hiei, Kirishima and Kongo; the aircraft carriers HIJMS Akagai, Hiryu, Shokaku, Soryu and Zuikaku; heavy cruisers HIJMS Chikuma and Tone; light cruiser HIJMS Abukuma; and nine destroyers.
At dawn, the carriers launch 127 aircraft [53 Nakajima B5N2, Navy Type 97 Carrier Attack Bombers (later assigned the Allied Code Name "Kate"), 38 Aichi D3A1, Navy Type 99 Carrier Bombers ("Val") and 36 A6M2, Navy Type 0 Carrier Fighters ("Zeke")]. Of these, seven are lost (6 "Vals" and a "Zeke") and 15 damaged (five "Kates", seven "Vals" and three "Zekes"). Two additional "Zekes" are damaged downing an RAF Catalina over the Japanese fleet.
In spite of the prior days warning of the approaching Japanese Task Force, the Royal Air Force (RAF) fighter units are caught fairly unprepared. In the massive air battle that follows, the RAF and Fleet Air Arm (FAA) losses a total of 30 aircraft, six Swordfish, four Fulmars, 17 Hurricanes, a Catalina, an Albacore and a Walrus. The FAA's No. 788 Squadron, the Eastern Fleet Torpedo Bomber Reconnaissance Pool unit equipped with Swordfish Mks I and II and based at China Bay, Ceylon, is caught unaware in transit from the Trincomalee area and loses all six Swordfish and their pilots. FAA Nos. 803 and 806 Squadrons operating two sub-flights together while based at Ratmalana, Ceylon, each lose two of three Fulmar Mk. II fighters and four crewmen. RAF No. 258 Squadron operating from Colombo Racecourse had 9 Hurricanes Mk. IIBs forced down of the 14 that sortied with the loss of five pilots, while No. 30 Squadron based at Ratmalana, had 8 Hurricanes Mk. IIA and IIBs forced down although the actual number that sortied is unclear; four pilots were killed and one later died of his wounds.
Meanwhile, a 205 Squadron Catalina of the morning search found the Japanese fleet, but was shot down by the Japanese Combat Air Patrol (CAP) before getting off a report; all eight crewmen were killed. Also an FAA No. 700 Squadron Walrus operating from the light cruiser HMS Glasgow is dispatched on a search after the raid but on its return, it crashes while landing, killing the pilot. The Japanese also sink the destroyer HMS Tenedos and the armed merchant cruiser HMS Hector. (Mark Horan, John Nicholas and Jack McKillop)
A Japanese scout plane from the heavy cruiser HIJMS Tone sights two British cruisers southwest of Ceylon and the Japanese aircraft carriers launch 53 "Vals." The two heavy cruisers, HMS Dorsetshire and Cornwall, had sailed from Colombo, Ceylon, at 2200 hours yesterday and during the night orders were received from the commander in chief Eastern Fleet to join him at 1600 hours today. Starting at 1100 hours, aircraft, some friendly, were sighted but none attacked. At about 1340 hours, both ships were attacked by the Vals and both were severely damaged. HMS Dorsetshire sank at 1351 hours and HMS Cornwall at 1355 hours. Between the two ships, 424 crewmen were lost and 1,122 are rescued tomorrow after spending 30 hours in the water.
No Japanese aircraft were lost in this attack. (Mark Horan and Jack McKillop)
After the attack, the Japanese Second Expeditionary Fleet, Malay Force (Vice Admiral OZAWA Jisaburo) is divided into three groups to disrupt Allied shipping in the Bay of Bengal. The British also are active after the attack. RAF No. 11 Squadron, based at Colombo Racecourse, dispatches ten Blenheim Mk. IVs on a retaliatory strike but estimates of the Japanese position are off and, with no further reports being received, the target is not found. During the day, a pair of No. 827 Squadron Albacore Mk. Is from the aircraft carrier HMS Indomitable, on a reconnaissance flight, run into the Japanese CAP and one is shot down with the loss of three crewmen. Later in the day another No. 827 Albacore is intercepted by the CAP, but escapes.
Unfortunately, the lack of a proper sighting report from the later plane (its radio had been destroyed) left Admiral Somerville to assume no contact had been and thus he did not change course to close. By the time his scout returned two hours later, the Japanese Force had doubled back and further FAA search efforts failed to make the contact necessary for Somerville to execute his planned night aerial torpedo attack. (Mark Horan)
AMC Hector which was not in commission at the time, being in
the process of re-conversion to trade, receives hits from 4 bombs dropped from
IJN aircraft from Akagi, Soryu, Hiryu which are attacking Port of Colombo,
Ceylon. Hector sinks in shallow water with her upperworks awash, and a fire on
her deck and the dockside alongside, burns for 14 days before being
extinguished.
Unable to put to sea due to defects, S class destroyer
HMS Tenedos suffers an air attack in which she receives two direct hits aft, a
third near the foremast and a near miss astern and sinks rapidly. There are 33
casualties.
County class cruiser HMS Cornwall ( in company with HMS
Dorsetshire) is overwhelmed by IJN air attacks and sinks after being rendered
dead in the water. There are 190
casualties, survivors being rescued by HMS Panther and Paladin some 30 hours
after the sinking in the Indian Ocean South of Ceylon at 01 54N 77 45E.
County class cruiser HMS Dorsetshire suffered in the same
raid as HMS Cornwall. There were 234 casualties and the survivors were in the
sea for some 30 hours prior to rescue by Panther and Paladin. (Alex Gordon)(108)
BURMA: Pilots of the American Volunteer Group's 1st and 3d Fighter Squadron shoot down 12 Japanese fighters near Loiwing Airdrome during the afternoon.
COMMONWEALTH OF THE PHILIPPINES: After air and
artillery preparation, the Japanese resume their offensive in the II Corps area
on Bataan, concentrating on the 21st Division, Philippine Army, which yields Mt
Samat and is left virtually ineffective as a fighting force. The Corps prepares
to counterattack tomorrow with all available forces. (John Nicholas and Jack
McKillop)
A Japanese invasion force of 4,852 troops sails from Lingayen Gulf, Luzon,
toward Cebu Island, in the Visayan Islands, east central Philippines.
BISMARCK ARCHIPELAGO: In their
combat debut, nine USAAF B-26 Marauders attack Lakunai and Vunakanau Aerodromes
at Rabaul on New Britain Island.
ADMIRALTY ISLANDS: Japanese forces occupy Lorengau on Manus Island without opposition. Several hundred Japanese troops of a Special Naval Landing Force are landed by a naval force consisting of the light cruiser HIJMS Tatsuta, destroyer HIJMS Mutsuki and a troop transport ship SS Mishima Maru. The island is defended by No. 4 Section, 'B' Platoon, First Independent Company, Australian Imperial Force. With little and limited resources the Australian Independent Company Section smartly withdraws to prepared positions in the jungle.
CANADA: The port of Port Rupert, British Columbia, is opened to the U.S. for shipment of supplies to the Territory of Alaska, thus avoiding a logistics jam at Seattle, Washington, U.S.A.
ATLANTIC OCEAN: German submarine U-154 sinks a US tanker en-route from San Pedro de Macoris, Dominican Republic, to Wilmington, Delaware, USA, about 37 miles (60 kilometres) off the eastern coast of the Dominican Republic.