April 4th, 1945 (WEDNESDAY)
GERMANY: British and Canadian units take Osnabruck.
The US 9th Army reaches the River Weser at Hameln.
The US 3rd Army captures Kassel. The army also frees the slave labour camp at Ohrduf near Gotha when elements of the 4th Armored and 89th Inf. Divisions enter the slave-labour camp which is an "aussenlager" or subsidiary camp of KZ Buchenwald, near Weimar. It is the first camp to be overrun on German territory by the Western Allies. [The notorious KZ Natzweiler-Struthof in Alsace had been overrun by US forces in Nov.1944, but was previously evacuated by the SS.] (Russell Folsom)
French Units take Karlsruhe.
Gotha falls to US forces as US aircraft smash the naval bases at Kiel and Hamburg.
GERMANY:
STRATEGIC OPERATIONS: The U.S. Eighth Air Force dispatches 1,431 bombers and 866 fighters to hit airfields, a shipyard and a U-boat shipyard in Germany; they claim 30-4-30 Luftwaffe aircraft; 10 bombers and 4 fighters are lost.
1. 438 B-24s are sent to hit Parchim (33) and Perleberg (29) Airfields; 97 hit Wesendorf Airfield, the secondary; attacks are visual; they claim 6-4-6 aircraft; 6 B-24s are lost. Escorting are 324 P-47s and P-51s; the P-47s claim 14-0-20 aircraft and the P-51s claim 9-0-3 aircraft; 1 P-47 and 3 P-51s are lost.
2. 443 B-17s are sent to hit Fassberg Airfield (149); secondary targets hit are Hoya (37) and Dedelsdorf (13) Airfields; targets of opportunity are Unterluss (39) and other (24); bombing is visual; 1 B-17 is lost, 2 damaged beyond repair and 58 damaged. The escort is 220 of 232 P-51s; 1 is lost.
3. 505 of 526 B-17s hit the Deutsche shipyard at Kiel using H2X radar; 2 others hit Eggebeck Airfield, a target of opportunity; 3 B-17s are lost and 50 damaged. The escort is 208 P-51s; none are lost.
4. 22 of 24 B-17s fly a DISNEY mission attacking the Finkenwarder U-boat yard at Hamburg without loss.
5. 19 P-51s fly a scouting mission and claim 0-0-1 aircraft.
6. 25 P-51s escort 8 F-5s and 2 P-38s on photo and radar reconnaissance missions over Germany, claiming 1-0-0 aircraft.
7. 16 P-51s escort 1 OA-10 and 2 B-17s on air-sea-rescue patrols.
TACTICAL OPERATIONS: 330+ B-26s, A-20s and A-26s hit the Ebrach oil depot, Crailsheim marshalling yard and barracks area, Grossaspach supply depot, the town of Ellswangen, Backnang rail and road junction, and 2 targets of opportunity; fighters escort the bombers, fly patrols, sweeps, and armed reconnaissance, attack special targets, and support the US 104th Infantry Division at Scherfede and Hardehausen, the 9th Armored Division in the Warburg area, the XX Corps in the Muhlhausen-Kassel areas, the 2d and 5th Armored Divisions in the Hameln and Minden areas on the Weser River, and the 8th Armored Division as it assaults the Ruhr pocket in the Lippstadt area.
HUNGARY: Bratislava falls to Soviet forces under Malinovsky.
ITALY: U.S. Twelfth Air Force B-25s continue to blast communications along the Brenner rail line, ranging from the railroad bridge at Drauburg to the Camposanto railroad bridge; the B-25s also inflict considerable damage on the Merano methanol plant; P-47s concentrate on enemy movement, rail lines, and ammunition and fuel dumps throughout the Po Valley.
BURMA: Combat operations by the Tenth Air Force are restricted to attacks on a troop concentration and rice and fuel supplies behind enemy lines in central Burma; transports operate on steady basis throughout the day.
CHINA: U.S. Far East Air Force B-24s bomb Toyohara Airfield, Mako harbour, and Tokichito Island and A-20s hit Shinchiku factories and rail yards on Formosa. B-24s bomb the harbour at Hong Kong.
FORMOSA: Far East Air Force B-24s bomb Toyohara Airfield, Mako harbour, and Tokichito Island and A-20s hit Shinchiku factories and rail yards.
JAPAN: A Japanese escort vessel and a merchant cargo ship are sunk by mine laid by B-29s.
MARIANAS: 2 B-29s bomb groups arrive at West Field, Tinian Island from India.
OKINAWA: The high speed transport USS Dickerson (APD-21), irreparably damaged by kamikaze on 2 April 1945, is towed out to sea and scuttled. Kamikazes damage the destroyer USS Wilson (DD-408) off southern end of Kerama Retto and the destroyer USS Sproston (DD-577) is damaged by near-miss by bomb.
The first real resistance is met by Hodges troops on Okinawa. They are halted on a line just south of Kuba.
The landing craft of TF 51 off Okinawa suffer damage from heavy weather.
COMMONWEALTH OF THE PHILIPPINES: U.S. Far East Air Force P-38s and P-51s pound various targets in central Luzon Island while A-20s and P-38s hit the Calauag area. A-20s pound northwest Negros Island and B-24s bomb targets on central Mindanao Island.
U.S.A.: The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) designates General of the Army Douglas MacArthur"> MacArthur Commander-in-Chief, US Army Forces, Pacific (CINCUSAFPAC) and Fleet Admiral Chester W Nimitz Commander-in-Chief, Pacific (CINCPOA).