April 16th, 1942 (THURSDAY)
FRANCE: Paris: School students stage a demonstration after their history teacher is arrested.
Vichy France: Under German pressure, Marshal Petain appoints Pierre Laval head of government and himself becomes a ceremonial head of state.
Admiral William D. Leahy, USN (Retired), Ambassador to France, receives a cable from Washington with information that his recall "for consultation" will be announced shortly after the formation of a new Vichy government.
GERMANY: Field Marshal Gerd von Rundstedt, the veteran of the invasion of France and the USSR is appointed C-in-C of the Atlantic Wall defences.
MALTA :King George VI awards MALTA the George Cross for collective heroism in the face of the Axis air attacks. A message to the island's governor, Lieutenant-General Sir William Dobbie, read: "To honour her brave people I award the George Cross to the Island Fortress of Malta, to bear witness to a heroism and a devotion that will long be famous in history."
Since Hitler ordered that the island be "neutralized" in preparation for invasion four months ago, it has suffered 1,000 air-raids - an average of seven a day. The Maltese people have gone underground, burrowing deep into the soft limestone to build shelters, communications centres and first aid centres, racing for cover when the alert sounds and emerging into the sunlight to carry on a near normal life - given that many Maltese are on desperately short rations - when they hear the "all clear". The capital, Valetta, is devastated beyond recognition; the Grand Harbour, once the home of the British Mediterranean Fleet, is under such constant bombardment that submarines are forced to remain submerged during daylight.
The submarines are an essential part of the island's lifeline. They bring fuel for the few Spitfires and Hurricanes available to defend Malta from airfields which are bombed daily, with ground crews working round the clock to service the aircraft, often "cannibalizing" wrecked planes for spares.
HMS Welshman, one of the fastest ships in the navy, makes regular dashes from Gibraltar, bringing in food and ammunition to help the island resist a bombardment which - the Germans say - has become the "most accurate in the world."
BURMA: Yenangyaung: Britain's largest oil field in the Far East is a sheet of flame. The 500-foot high flames silhouette the men of "Burcorps", the remnants of the 17th Indian and 1st Burma Divisions, who have been fighting a delaying action up the Irrawaddy valley and trying to hold on to the oil field.
Three days ago they began to destroy the oil wells to prevent them from falling into Japanese hands. The oilfields here came under attack after the Japanese forces took Migyaungye on 12 April.
During the night of 16/17 April, 10th Air Force B-17 Flying Fortresses take off from Dum Dum Airfield near Calcutta, India to bomb Rangoon. 6 B-17's, guided by flares, bomb the target; numerous searchlights make it impossible to estimate the bombing results.
COMMONWEALTH OF THE PHILIPPINES: Japan invades the island of Panay with a 4,000-strong force.
The Japanese Kawamura Detachment (41st Infantry) lands unopposed at Iloilo and Capiz on Panay Island.
PACIFIC OCEAN: The submarine USS Tambor (SS-198) torpedoes and sinks a Japanese stores ship 50 miles (80 km) southeast of Kavieng, New Ireland, Bismarck Archipelago.
ATLANTIC OCEAN: The unarmed U.S. freighter SS Alcoa Guide is shelled by German submarine U-123 (which expended her last torpedo on 12 April) east of North Carolina; Alcoa Guide tries to ram the U-boat without success. U-123 pauses to allow the crew to abandon ship and then sinks the freighter with gunfire once the merchant sailors (two of whom die of wounds suffered in action) have gotten away safely.