April 29th, 1942 (WEDNESDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM: The Luftwaffe's bombers have added Norwich and York to their list of historic towns visited in revenge for the RAF's attacks on Lübeck and Rostock. They bombed and machine-gunned Norwich for over an hour two nights ago, and last night, by the light of a brilliant moon, they struck at the heart of York.
These Baedeker raids follow the attacks on Exeter and Bath; in each case the bombers delivered about half their loads on target and despite their small numbers, caused considerable damage and killed 400 people. British experts are sure that the bombers accuracy is due to a new electronic target beam and are working on a way of confusing the pilots so that they drop their bombs in open country.
The Germans are also suffering heavy casualties on these raids. Seventeen bombers have been shot down out of 150 used, and many of the lost crews are instructors thrown into action to appease Hitler's rage over the RAF attacks.
The Baedeker raids can be seen, therefore, to be doing more harm to the German war effort than to the British in the long run.
Tonight sees the last bombing operation by the Armstrong Whitworth Whitleys of Bomber Command with a raid on Ostend, Belgium.
Minesweeping trawler HMS Sir Gareth commissioned.
Submarine HMS Sibyl launched.
Submarine FS Curie (ex-HMS Vox) laid down.
Submarine KNM Ula (ex-HMS Varne) laid down.
BELGIUM: An explosion in a chemical factory, believed to be sabotage, kills 250 people.
GERMANY:
MEDITERRANEAN SEA: U class submarine HMS Unge is believed to have been attacked by Italian fighter aircraft off Ras el Hilal whilst she was shelling MV San Giusto. (Alex Gordon)(108)
The Alliance struck a mine laid on 13 April by U-562 off Famagusta and sank.
CHINA: Japanese troops lay siege to the
Nationalist 39th Army at Buxian, in south-west Shantung.
BURMA: The Japanese enter Lashio. China is now cut off from the Allies by
land. All supply will be by air. The dangerous route of "Flying the
Hump"
is born.
SOLOMON ISLANDS: As part of Operation "MO", the 3rd Kure Special Landing Force occupies the former RAAF seaplane base on Tulagi Island.
COMMONWEALTH OF THE PHILIPPINES: Japan applies steady pressure
to force the defenders of Mindanao to retreat, and shells Corregidor heavily.
U.S.A.: The movie marquees in Times Square, New York City are ordered blacked out.
Destroyer USS Murphy launched.
Destroyer USS Lansdowne commissioned.
ATLANTIC OCEAN: At 0857, the unescorted Mobiloil was torpedoed by U-108 about 350 miles NE of Turks Island. The tanker had been spotted by the U-boat already at 1950 in grid DC 9592 the day before, but she was steaming at 14 knots and it took so long to come into an attack position. At 0412, a first torpedo already missed, before the U-boat fired a spread of two torpedoes at 0857 and hit the tanker with one between the #1 and #2 tanks on the starboard side and blew a large hole in the bow. Then the U-boat surfaced and began shelling the tanker from a distance of 2000 meters with all weapons, while Mobiloil was firing 12 rounds from the 4-in stern gun (the ship was also armed with two .50cal and two .30cal guns). After three hits on the tanker, Scholtz had to cease fire after 50 minutes because the target could not be seen properly, the 2cm AA gun jammed and the gun sight of the 37-mm AA gun was defect. In the meantime the tanker swung around to show the stern towards the U-boat, shifted some ballast and set course toward Bermuda. At 1112 and 1113, the U-boat fired two torpedoes, the first missed and the second struck on the starboard side of the #4 tank, destroying a lifeboat, opening the pumproom, wrecking the living quarters and the gyro compass, but the tanker was able to continue. The sixth torpedo fired at 1645 hit between #7 and #8 tanks on the port side, stopping the engines and caused flooding, this caused the ship to break in two in the middle. The eight officers, 33 crewmen, two workaways and nine armed guards abandoned ship in three lifeboats just before the ship sank at 1712 in 26°10N/66°15W with bow and stern pointing skyward. All survivors were picked up about 86 hours after the attack by submarine chaser USS PC-490 after being spotted and circled twice by aircraft and landed on 4 May at San Juan, Puerto Rico. The master was later convicted of violating convoy routing orders, because he had been ordered to await a convoy off Norfolk, but the vessels did not arrive at the appointed hour, so he proceeded alone.
U-573 was attacked with 325-pound depth charges launched by an RAF 223 Sqn Hudson NW of Argel. Seriously damaged, U-573 headed for Spain, which she reached on 2 May. Unable to finish repairs in time, the boat was interned in Spain.