April 8th, 1944 (SATURDAY)
GERMANY: US aircraft bomb the Volkswagen plant at Fallersleben, near Hanover.
The Eighth Air Force flies Mission 291: 3 separate forces, a total of 664 bombers divided into 13 combat wings, escorted by 780 fighters, are dispatched against airfields in north-western Germany and aircraft factories in the Brunswick area; 34 bombers and 23 fighters are lost.
- 59 B-17s hit Oldenburg Airfield.
- 83 B-17s hit Quakenbruck Airfield, 60 hit Achmer Airfield, 41 hit Rheine Airfield, 22 hit Twente Enschede, 21 hit Hesepe, 19 hit Handorf and 3 hit targets of opportunity; 4 B-17s are lost.
- 190 B-24s bomb aviation industry targets in Brunswick, 59 hit Rosslingen, 48 hit Langenhagen Airfield and 6 hit targets of opportunity; they claim 58-9-32 Luftwaffe aircraft; 30 B-24s are lost
Escort is provided by 136 P-38 Lightnings, 438 Eighth and Ninth Air
Force P-47 and 206 Eighth and Ninth Air Force P-51 Mustangs; the fighters claim 88-3-46 Luftwaffe aircraft in the air and 49-6-38 on the ground: 5 P-38s, 4 P-47s and 14 P-51s are lost.
The Arado 234 V6 four jet-engined bomber makes its first flight. It is powered by four 800kg thrust BMW 003A-1 turbojets in four separate nacelles. (21)
BELGIUM: The Eighth Air Force flies Mission 292: 5 B-17s drop 1 million leaflets on Liege, Brussels, Ghent, Antwerp, and Mont-sur-Sombre, Belgium at 2215-2227 hours without loss.
198 Ninth Air Force B-26 Marauders attack Hasselt marshalling yard and hit Coxyde Airfield; and 32 P-47 Thunderbolts bomb the area around Hasselt.
ITALY: Twelfth Air Force medium bombers attack a bridge northwest of Orte while A-20 Havocs successfully attack supply stores; fighter-bombers hit several bridges, motor transport, and supply dumps in central Italy, and bomb railroad tracks at Sesti Bagni and Maccarese.
CHINA: Japan bombs Honan province.
BURMA: Air Commando Combat Mission N0. 40 2:50 Flight Time Hailakandi, Assam to Malu, Burma. Bombed Japanese troop area (Chuck Baisden)
Nearly 100 Tenth Air Force fighter-bombers and 2 B-25s again pound Mogaung Valley targets, including Manywet, storage areas and railroad at Mogaung, positions at Shaduzup and general targets of opportunity around Kamaing; 4 B-25s damage a bridge and track at Sittang.
INDIA: L/Cpl John Pennington Harman (b.1914), Royal West Kent Regt, destroyed a machine-gun post and, next day, wiped out another Japanese position before being fatally wounded. (Victoria Cross)
Four C-47 Skytrain squadrons of the 64th Troop Carrier Group based in Italy arrive in India to support the emergency resupply of the British Army's besieged garrison at Imphal.
ROMANIA: Konev's Soviet troops reach the River Siret on a 60 mile front.
U.S.S.R.: Moscow: A 324-gun salute marks the First Ukrainian Front reaching Czechoslovakia and Romania.
Russia launches a major Crimean offensive.
The 17th Army (a mix of Germans and Romanians) in Fortress Crimea are mostly wiped out, the survivors retreating back to Sevastopol. (Gene Hanson)
Moscow: Mr. Molotov, the Soviet foreign minister, announced today that the Red Army has crossed the river Prut into Romania at several points and will pursue the Romanian and German armies into Romania until "their rout and complete capitulation". The first crossings were made on 2 April. The fact that the news was given by Molotov rather than by a general indicates the political implications of the advance. According to the official statement it is "the first step in the restoration of the frontier established by the Treaty of 1940 which Romania broke by her treacherous attack in 1941 in the wake of Hitlerite Germany".
"At the same time," said Molotov, "the Soviet government declares that the entry into Romania is dictated solely by military necessity, and is in no way aimed at the integrity of Romanian territory or the existing social order." Meanwhile, the Red Army is advancing on Jassy, the Romanian army's headquarters.
CHINA: 6 Fourteen Air Force B-25s damage several small ships in Yulinkan Bay; 2 others strafe an airfield on Weichow Island; 8 P-40s pound oil dumps at Wanling, leaving the target area in flames. 9 B-24s bomb the airfield on Samah Bay, Hainan Island; 4 others lay mines in the bay.
FRENCH INDOCHINA: 11 Fourteenth Air Force B-24s bomb railroad yards at Hanoi.
NEW GUINEA: Fifth Air Force P-40s attack targets of opportunity in the Aitape-Wewak area; and A-20s hit targets in the Hansa Bay area, firing a fuel dump and destroying several warehouses and other buildings at 3 plantations and strafing and bombing roads and bridges along the coast.
BISMARCK ARCHIPELAGO: During the night of 7/8 April, 6 Thirteenth Air Force B-25s heckle the Kavieng Airfield area on New Ireland Island. On New Britain Island, 50+ fighter-bombers hit the northeastern section of Rabaul and 24 B-25s bomb the centre of Lakunai Airfield.
CAROLINE ISLANDS: Seventh Air Force B-24s flying out of Kwajalein Atoll, strike Truk Atoll while Abemama Island-based B-25s bomb Ponape Island.
MARSHALL ISLANDS: Seventh Air Force B-25s from Tarawa Atoll hit Maloelap Atoll, rearm at Majuro Atoll and bomb Jaluit Atoll during the return flight.
PACIFIC OCEAN: The submarine USS Seahorse (SS-304) attacks a Japanese convoy 7 miles (11 km) off Guam, torpedoing an ammunition ship; the explosion in turn damages destroyer HIJMS Asakaze. The crippled ammunition ship, burning, drifts ashore and explodes and sinks the next day.
SOLOMON ISLANDS: 4 Thirteenth Air Force B-24s again bomb Monoitu Mission on Bougainville Island.
U.S.A.: The Pied Pipers' record of "Mairzy Doats" makes it to the Billboard Pop Singles chart. This is their first single to make the charts and it stays there for 1 week reaching Number 8.