April 15th, 1942 (WEDNESDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM: King George VI writes to the governor of Malta awarding the island the GC "to honour her brave people" and "to bear witness to a heroism and devotion that will long be famous."
London: Lord Louis Mountbatten's dazzling progress through the military hierarchy continues apace. Less than six months after being appointed chief of the tri-service Combined Operations, he has been made a vice-admiral of the Royal Navy, a lieutenant-general in the army, an air-marshal of the RAF and a full member of the Chiefs of Staff Committee. At yesterday's meeting in London of the Anglo-American Combined Commanders' Group. it was decided that no major Allied assault on the Nazis in western Europe could be launched this year. The decision puts the onus on Mountbatten at Combined Operations to keep the Germans guessing by delivering a succession of hit-and-run raids. One report, unconfirmed, says that he is planning an assault in strength on one of the French Channel ports. Such an operation, it is said, would provide invaluable experience for a full-scale invasion.
There are to be no more frills and fripperies in Britain as from 1 June. A new order issued by the board of trade bans embroidery, appliqué work and lace on women's and girl's underwear and also introduces stringent rule designed to minimize the work and material put into clothing. Skirts are to have no more than three buttons, six seams, one pocket and two box pleats or four knife pleats. Double-breasted suits are out, and men will also lose pockets on pyjamas.
POLAND: Sobibor, the new camp set deep in the woods near the river Bug, on a former railway siding, is ready to receive its first transports of Polish Jews and Gypsies. Like Chelmo and Belzec, it is a death camp: there will be no forced labour here, just immediate extermination in the gas chamber.
SS Staff Sergeant Paul Grot is one of the staff waiting to greet the first arrival. He is especially proud of his enormous dog Barry, trained to rip off the testicles of his master's chosen victim on the command Jude! [Jew]
COMMONWEALTH OF THE PHILIPPINE: The last remaining motor torpedo boat, PT-41, her torpedoes expended and lacking gasoline to operate, is transferred to the Army to be moved overland to Lake Lanao where she is slated for service as a machine gun boat. The rapid Japanese advance across Mindanao, however, compels the Army to destroy PT-41 to prevent her capture.
ATLANTIC OCEAN: German submarine U-575 torpedoes and sinks the unarmed U.S. freighter SS Robin Hood, en route to Boston, Massachusetts from Trinidad, British West Indies, about 300 miles (483 km) off Nantucket Island, Massachusetts.
U.S.A.: US Navy Motor Torpedo Squadron 3 is decommissioned.
Claire Chennault is recalled to active duty in the USAAF as a colonel.