April 7th, 1944 (FRIDAY)
GERMANY: Berlin: In a desperate effort to rescue Berlin from the chaos created by Allied bombing, Hitler has suspended civil law and administration and installed Göbbels as Stadtspresident with unlimited powers. The city's military commanders, and the chiefs of police, fire brigades, medical, ambulance and rescue services, as well as food and relief organizations will be answerable to him alone. Shop assistants, office workers and commercial travellers are being drafted into labour units to clear bomb damage. Under the relentless air attacks, Berlin's fire-fighting services have broken down, relief organizations have failed to provide enough food and clothing for bombing victims, and wide-spread looting has been reported. There have been repeated outbreaks of disorder, with SS troops forced to intervene.
The destruction of police records has allowed what the authorities call "undesirable characters" to evade arrest and roam the city without identity papers.
Izieu, Ain: SS Lieutenant Klaus Barbie of the Lyons Gestapo today reported the destruction of the Jewish Colonie des Enfants [children's home] here in dutiful and businesslike words: "Captured - 41 children aged between three and ten years, and ten attendants. The transport will leave for Drancy tomorrow."
Drancy will be their only pause on the way to the gas chambers of Auschwitz-Birkenau.
U.S.S.R.: Generalmajor Ferdinand Schorner makes an inspection of the defences of Fortress Crimea. He states that everything is sufficient. (Gene Hanson)
ITALY: 400+ Fifteenth Air Force B-17s and B-24s attack marshalling yards; the B-17s bomb Treviso, the B-24s hit Mestre and Bologna; almost 100 P-38s provide escort; P-47s fly a sweep over the Gorizia-Udine area; the bombers and fighters claim almost 20 aircraft shot down.
Twelfth Air Force B-25s and B-26 Marauders attack bridges, tracks and a viaduct at Attigliano, Ficulle, Certaldo, Pontassieve and Incisa in Valdarno, and hit the Prato marshalling yard; A-20 Havocs hit an ammunition dump; Ausonia, Pignataro Interamna, San Apollinare and Terracina are bombed by P-40s along with a dump and several gun positions southeast of Rome; P-47 Thunderbolts also hit bridges and trucks in this same area and attack the Empoli marshalling yard while A-36 Apaches hit gun emplacements, train and tracks in the Orvieto area and vicinity and approaches to the Montalto di Castro bridge.
BURMA: IJA encircle the 161st British Brigade near Kohima.
20+ Tenth Air Force P-51 Mustangs and B-25s hit gun positions at Mawlu; throughout the Mogaung Valley 100+ fighter-bombers and 2 B-25s hit numerous targets including fuel and ammunition stores near Manywet, supplies and a railroad station at Myitkyina, supplies and a radio station at Sahmaw, the Kamaing area, bridges at Nsopzup and supply dumps west of Mogaung; 30+ of the fighter-bombers carry out ground support missions at Shaduzup.
CHINA: 7 Fourteenth Air Force P-40s strafe 3 barges and several junks at Saint John Island, leaving them burning. 2 B-24s on a sweep from Hong Kong to Formosa claim a large river boat and a small freighter sunk and 2 other freighters damaged; 1 B-24 is lost.
EAST INDIES: Fifth Air Force B-25s bomb barracks at Penfoei on Timor Island.
FRENCH INDOCHINA: 4 Fourteenth Air Force P-40s attack a large concentration of small vessels at Haiphong, French Indochina, sinking at least 4.
BISMARCK ARCHIPELAGO: Thirteenth Air Force aircraft attack New Britain Island. 50+ fighter-bombers pound supply areas at Ratawul; 9 B-25s hit Talili Bay, 11 bomb Vunakanau Airfield and 13 blast Tobera Airfield; 6 B-25s maintain night heckling of the Rabaul area.
The destroyer USS Saufley (DD-465) sinks Japanese submarine HIJMS I-2, 50 miles (80 km) west-northwest of New Hanover Island.
JAPAN: 8 Eleventh Air Force B-24s dispatched to destroy a convoy, believed southeast of Matsuwa Island, Kurile Islands, turn back due to engine, navigation and weather difficulties. A flight of F-7As Liberators of the 2d Photographic Charting Squadron, 1st Photographic Charting Group, 311th Photographic Wing (Mapping and Charting), arrives in the Aleutian Islands; its mission is mapping of the Kurile Islands. The squadron is based at Peterson Field, Colorado Springs, Colorado and sends detachments to various parts of the world to photo map.
MARSHALL ISLANDS: Seventh Air Force B-25s from Tarawa Atoll hit Maloelap Atoll, rearm at Majuro Atoll, and bomb Jaluit Atoll on the return flight.
NEW GUINEA: Fifth Air Force B-25s, A-20s and P-39Airacobras hit villages, barges, a supply area, and coastal road in areas around Madang, Tadji, Bogia, and Uligan Harbor; and B-24s bomb Langgoer and Wakde Island.
SOLOMON ISLANDS: 4 Thirteenth Air Force P-40s bomb pillboxes near the Reini River while 2 B-24s bomb Monoitu Mission.
U.S.A.: Requirements are established for a Boeing B-29 to be modified to perform the photo reconnaissance mission. (Mike Yared)(283)
ATLANTIC OCEAN: Destroyer USS Champlin (DD-601) is damaged when she intentionally rams German submarine U-856, 380 miles (612 km) southeast of Cape Sable, Nova Scotia, Canada. Champlin and destroyer escort USS Huse (DE-145) had teamed to sink U-856.