UNITED KINGDOM: London: Eisenhower sets D-Day, the date for the Allied invasion of Europe at 5 June.

Submarine HMS Springer laid down.

Submarine FS Doris (ex-HMS Vineyard) launched.

GERMANY: US aircraft attacked Berlin and Brunswick, in north Germany, today. The Luftwaffe threw most of its resources into the battle. Brunswick was attacked by 287 Liberators and 49 Fortresses, and Berlin by 378 Liberators. More than 200 interceptors were reported over Brunswick and another 100 over Berlin. Allied pilots spoke of aircraft in combat from 23,000 feet down to ground level. In this aerial war of attrition, 119 German aircraft are said to have been destroyed, 59 by US fighters and 60 by bomber gunners. Some German pilots are reported to have tried to bring down the heavy US bombers by ramming, a suicidal gesture. The Americans lost 36 bombers and 13 fighters.

The attack on Berlin was the second in two days. In other raids of the last 24 hours, the French and Belgian rail systems have been hit as part of the pre-invasion strategy. In another attack aimed at cutting aviation fuel supplies, RAF planes bombed targets in Romania.

U-2326 laid down.

HUNGARY: Budapest: Adolf Eichmann">Eichmann, the head of the Jewish office of the Gestapo, is holding the Jews of Hungary hostage. Joel Brand, a member of the Hungarian Jewish Assistance and Rescue Committee, is being sent to Turkey. To save the Jews, he must persuade the Allied representatives there to provide Germany with 10,000 heavy trucks. But a first convoy of Hungarian Jews arrived at Auschwitz on 28 April; it is hard to imagine that it will be the last.

U.S.S.R.: Hitler now gives in about allowing a full scale withdrawal from the Crimea.

NORWAY: The carrier HMS FURIOUS and her escort carriers HMS SEARCHER and HMS EMPEROR are conducting an antishipping sweep along the Norwegian coast. The F6F Hellcats of 800 Squadron FAA are escorting a Barracuda strike group when they are attacked by a mixed group of Me 109 and Fw 190s, number not specified in my source, Barrett Tillman's "Hellcat." Tillman says that both German fighter types were faster than the Hellcat "and both could stay with an F6F through most of a long dive. The Grumman's great advantage was a tighter turning radius, and the Emperor's pilots used it as best they could." Two Hellcats, two Me 109s, and one Fw 190 were shot down. (Keith Allen)(254)

ITALY: Nine U.S. Naval Aviators from Cruiser Scouting Squadron Eight (VCS-8) are assigned to the Twelfth Air Force's 111th Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron based at Santa Maria, Italy for flight training and combat operations in the North American F-6 Mustang photographic reconnaissance aircraft. Previous combat experience with the USN's cruiser- and battleship-launched Curtiss SOC Seagull and Vought OS2U Kingfisher seaplanes used in air spotting and reconnaissance missions proved both types were vulnerable to enemy fighters and AA fire. A total of eleven Naval Aviators fly with the USAAF in support of the Italian campaign and the invasion of southern France until 2 September 1944 when they are returned to their ships. During their tour with the USAAF, the sailors flew missions from Italy, Corsica and France.