April 10th, 1942 (FRIDAY)
GERMANY: An RAF Halifax drops the first 2 ton or 8,000-pound bombs over Essen.
NORWAY: Bishop Berggrav of Oslo is sent to Bredvedt concentration camp.
INDIAN OCEAN: The British Far East Fleet withdraws from Ceylon, in the face of the Japanese Forces. As the British move west, the Japanese force moves east.
BURMA: Pilots of the American Volunteer Group's 2d and 3d Fighter Squadrons shoot down 4 Japanese aircraft over Loiwing at 1545 hours local.
JAPAN: The submarine USS Thresher (SS-200) torpedoes and sinks a Japanese (ex-Portuguese) merchant cargo ship 6 miles (9,6 km) north of Oshima, near the entrance to Tokyo Bay, Honshu.
COMMONWEALTH OF THE PHILIPPINES: The submarine USS Snapper (SS-185) evacuates military personnel from Corregidor.
The minesweeper USS Finch (AM-9) is sunk by aerial bombs off Luzon.
The Japanese Army lands 12,000 soldiers on Cebu.
The crews of the river gunboats USS Oahu (PR-6) and USS Mindanao (PR-8) are transferred ashore to man the guns at Fort Hughes in Manila Bay.
U.S.A.: A headline in a Hollywood trade paper states that "Bogart Replaces Reagan as Lead in "Casablanca"."
It's an urban legend that Reagan was in the running for the role of Rick in "Casablanca." As Aljean Harmetz points out in her book on the making of the movie, "Round Up the Usual Suspects," it was common practice among actors' agents to plant items stating that their clients were being considered for this or that role, whether true or not. In this case, Reagan was never in the running. (Matt Clark)
The Pacific Fleet is reorganized into type commands: Battleships (Rear Admiral Walter S. Anderson); Aircraft Carriers (Vice Admiral William F. Halsey Jr.); Cruisers (Rear Admiral Frank Jack Fletcher); Destroyers (Rear Admiral Robert A. Theobald); Service Force (Vice Admiral William L. Calhoun); Amphibious Force (Vice Admiral Wilson Brown, Jr.); Submarine Force (Rear Admiral Thomas Withers); and Patrol Wings (Rear Admiral John S. McCain). The old titles Battle Force and Scouting Force are abolished.
ATLANTIC OCEAN: US tanker SS Gulfamerica is sunk by the German submarine U-123. The tanker had been silhouetted by the lights of Jacksonville, Florida making her an easy target. Seventeen of the 41-man crew die along with two of the seven-man Armed Guard detachment.