April 25th, 1942 (SATURDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM: RAF Fighter Command: Bath is attacked in one of the first 'Baedeker raids'.London: The RAF hammered the German Baltic port of Rostock last night. "An overpowering concentration of bombers was brought over the town," said the air ministry. In last night's attack 125 bombers, including the new four-engined Lancaster, used area bombing tactics against the town and precision bombing by special crews to attack the Heinkel aircraft factory whose bombers did so much damage to British cities.
Some of the precision bombers, Manchesters of No. 106 Squadron led by Wing-Commander Guy Gibson, made their bombing runs at under 2,000 feet. However, daylight reconnaissance shows that no damage was done to the Heinkel works during the raid two nights ago, and the centre of the city was barely hit last night.
Despite this, the attacks by the RAF on German cities, though many of the targets escaped direct hits, has enraged Hitler. Following the raid on Lübeck last month he ordered a series of terror raids against British cities with a cultural heritage. He told Göbbels that he would repeat these raids "night after night until the English are sick and tired of terror attacks."
These raids on Britain's historic cities are being called the Baedeker raids, after the German travel guides, because after the destruction of Lübeck the deputy head of the German foreign office press department said: "Now the Luftwaffe will go out for every building marked with three stars in Baedeker." Exeter and Bath have been the first to suffer these travel guide raids. Great damage has been done to homes and there have been many casualties. It is believed that the Germans are using a new type of electronic beam to guide them to their targets, but they can scrape together only a few aircraft, and RAF fighters are taking a heavy toll of the enemy bombers.
Princess Elizabeth has registered for war service today, just four days after her 16th birthday. She was one of about 200,000 sixteen-year-old girls across the country who signed up with the ministry of labour under the youth registration scheme. So far local panels have been reluctant to call such young girls for interview, so it is unlikely that the princess will be called.
On the occasion of her birthday on Tuesday, the princess made her first inspection of the Grenadier Guards as their new colonel. She then gave her first luncheon to about 30 guests, and the day was rounded off in the evening by a dance to celebrate her "coming out". She danced the opening number with her father, the king.
FRANCE: Paris is exhilarated today by the news that General Henri Giraud, who has been a prisoner of war since he was captured in June 1940, has escaped to Switzerland.
The 63-year-old general's escape was a romantic adventure, and it has given a much-needed boost to the French morale, which has taken a hammering over the last three years.
He succeeded in freeing himself from the castle at Königstein, in Saxony, which has been turned into a maximum-security prison, jumped on board a moving train and reached the French border. His plans are not known, but he is unlikely to remain in Europe.
The Petain government has awarded him the Medaille Militaire. Hitler, on the other hand, was in such a "black rage" when he heard of Giraud's escape that he ordered the Gestapo to find him and assassinate him.
A graduate of the French army officer's school at St. Cyr, Giraud is famous for his physical courage. He served for many years in the colonies. Now that he is free, he will inevitably be a rival pole of attraction for French patriots to General de Gaulle, who served under him in 1936.
GERMANY:
BURMA: The Japanese move toward Lashio in Burma. They
lose Taunggyi to
the Chinese 5th Army.
AUSTRALIA: Sydney: Sixteen Sydney
people, member of the "Australia First" movement, have been arrested
here. Their premises have been searched and documents seized. They were detained
because of a suspected relationship between some Sydney members of the movement
and four people in Western Australia who had been charged with attending a
meeting at which they were told that they would be required to use sabotage to
help the Japanese. The prime minister, John Curtin, has told the House of
Representatives that the "Australia First" movement has been under
constant supervision by military intelligence and that there was a prima
facie case against 20 individuals.
The movement seeks the recall of Australian forces for the country's defence and aid for Australia before other countries, including the Soviet Union.
PACIFIC OCEAN: US troops land on the Free French colony of New Caledonia.
ATLANTIC OCEAN: At 0831, the unescorted Modesta was hit in the #2 hold by one torpedo from U-108 and sank within 12 minutes about 110 miles NW of Bermuda. A first torpedo had missed the ship at 0517. The master, 16 crewmembers and one gunner were lost. 19 crewmembers and four gunners were picked up by the Belgian Airman and landed at Bermuda.