April 8th, 1945 (SUNDAY)
GERMANY: The US 7th Army captures Schweinfürt.
Patton's troops discover art treasures and the entire Reichsbank gold reserves, hidden in a salt mine near Mulhausen.
The US Eighth Air Force flies Mission 932: 1,173 bombers and 794 fighters attack various targets in Germany; 9 bombers and 1 fighter are lost.
- 31 B-17s bomb the Derben oil depot and 73 attack Schafstadt Airfield; 213 bomb the Halberstadt marshalling yard while 73 attack the Stendal marshalling yard; Derben is hit visually and the others targets visually and with H2X radar; 4 B-17s are lost. Escorting are 239 P-51s.
- 86 B-17s hit the marshalling yards at Plauen, 101 hit the marshalling yards at Hof, 111 bomb the marshalling yard at Eger and 203 attack an ordnance depot at Grafenwohr; the attacks are made visually and with H2X radar; 5 B-17s are lost. Escort is provided by 235 P-51s.
- 51 B-24s attack the munitions depot at Bayreuth, 89 bomb the Blumenthal jet aircraft factory at Furth while 57 bomb Unterschlauersbach Airfield and 91 hit Roth Airfield. The escort is 245 P-47s and P-51s; 1 P-47 is lost.
Around 620 Ninth Air Force A-20s, A-26 Invaders, and B-26 Marauders bomb the Munchenbernsdorf oil storage depot, the Sonderhausen communications center, Nienhagen oil refinery, Celle marshalling yard, and 8 city areas; fighters escort the bombers, attack an airfield, fly patrols and armed reconnaissance, and operate in conjunction with the US VIII, XII, and XX Corps in the Thuringer Forest and Erfurt areas.
Fifteenth Air Force P-38s bomb the Garmisch railroad bridge and strafe rail traffic in the Munich, area.
AUSTRIA: Fifteenth Air Force P-38s bomb the Rattenberg railroad bridge and strafe rail traffic in the Salzburg and Linz areas.
ITALY: Maj. Anders Frederick Emil Victor Schau Lassen (b.1920), General List (SAS), a Dane, led a patrol which wiped out three German positions on a lake. Mortally wounded, he died next day. (Victoria Cross)
During the night of 7/8 April, US Twelfth Air Force A-20s and A-26s hit command posts and dumps; medium bombers, despite bad weather bomb railroad bridges at Salorno, San Michele all' Adige, Vo Sinistro, and Bondeno, a railroad fill and canal at Salorno, and gun positions at La Spezia; XXII Tactical Air Command fighter-bombers concentrate their efforts on the Brenner area communications (cutting lines in 31 places and damaging 4 bridges), oil fields in the central Po Valley, and points further north.
500+ Fifteenth Air Force B-24s and B-17s, with fighter escorts, attack communications in northern Italy, concentrating on the transportation system feeding into the Brenner Pass; bridges, viaducts, and marshalling yards are hit at or near Bressanone, Campodazzo, Vipiteno, Fortezza, Campo di Trens, Mezzocorona, Avisio, Brescia, Gorizia, Pordenone, and Ponte Gardena; a power dam at Ponte Gardena is also hit.
BURMA:The British IV Corps and XXXIII Corps begin a rapid motorized advance down the Sittang and Irrawaddy valleys.
50+ Tenth Air Force P-38s and P-47s operating in central Burma battle areas attack troops, supplies, gun positions, and trucks at several points along and behind enemy lines, and sweep roads south of bomb line; transports maintain operations throughout the day.
CHINA: 31 Fourteenth Air Force P-51s knock out a bridge south of Shaoyang, destroy a section of track at Sincheng, and hit numerous road and rail targets of opportunity in the Yellow River areas and points to the south, from Shanhsien to Loning, at Hungtung, and south of Hei-Shih Kuan; 4 B-24s attack shipping targets of opportunity in the South China Sea and in Bakli Bay on Hainan Island and Yulin Bay, China and bomb Kowloon Docks in Hong Kong. Mines laid by USAAF planes sink a Japanese cargo ship in the Yangtze, near Shanghai, and damage escort destroyer HIJMS Habushi 10 miles (16 km) below Woosung.
The Japanese Army initiates a ground offensive against Paoching. The purpose is to drive 80 miles (129 km) into Hunan Province and capture Chichiang Airfield. This turns out to be the last Japanese offensive in China.
FORMOSA: For the second consecutive day bad weather prevents aerial attacks on the primary targets north of the Philippine Islands. Fifth Air Force B-24s and B-25s hit secondary targets including Chomosui Airfield in the Pescadores Islands, and on Formosa, Tainan town and railroad yards, the towns of Takao, Toko, and Kaiko, and other scattered objectives.
JAPAN: The XXI Bomber Command flies 2 missions against airfields on Kyushu from which Kamikaze attacks are originating. (1) Mission 60: 29 B-29 Superfortresses strike 2 airfields at Kanoya. (2) Mission 61: 48 B-29s attack the airfield at Kokubu; 1 B-29 is lost.
OKINAWA: The destroyer USS Charles J. Badger (DD-657) is damaged by an assault demolition boat; the destroyer USS Gregory (DD-802) is damaged by kamikaze; motor minesweeper YMS-92 is damaged by a mine; tank landing ship USS LST-939 is damaged in collision with tank landing ship USS LST-268; tank landing ship USS LST-940 is damaged by grounding.
The aircraft carriers USS Enterprise (CV-6) and USS Randolph (CV-15) arrive off Okinawa from Utithi Atoll during the night of 7/8 April and Task Force 58 is reorganized with the following 15 aircraft carriers:
Task Group 58.1
USS Belleau Wood (CVL-24) with Light Carrier Air Group 30 (CVLG-30)
USS Bennington (CV-20) with Carrier Air Group 82 (CVG-82)
USS Hornet (CV-12) with CVG-17
Task Group 58.2
USS Enterprise (CV-6) with Night Carrier Air Group 90 [CVG(N)-90]
USS Randolph (CV-15) with CVG-12
USS Jacinto (CVL-30) with CVLG-45
USS Wasp (CV-18) with CVG-86
Task Group 58.3
USS Bataan (CVL-29) with CVLG
USS Bunker Hill (CV-17) with CVG-84
USS Cabot (CVL-28) with CVLG-29
USS Essex (CV-9) with CVG-83
Task Group 58.4
USS Independence (CVL-22) with CVLG-46
USS Intrepid (CV-11) with CVG-10
USS Langley (CVL-27) with CVLG-23
USS Yorktown (CV-10) with CVG-9
BONIN ISLANDS: During the night of 8/9 April, 6 VII Fighter Command P-61 Black Widows from Iwo Jima Island, operating singly at 2-hour intervals, bomb Chichi Jima, Haha Jima, Ani Jima, and Ototo Jima Islands.
COMMONWEALTH OF THE PHILIPPINES: 25 Seventh Air Force B-24s from Angaur Island, Palau Island, bomb the Bunawan area on Mindanao Island.
Far East Air Force A-20s and fighter-bombers over Luzon support ground forces particularly in the areas east of Manila. B-24s join A-20s and fighter-bombers in support of ground forces on Cebu and Negros Islands.
Other B-24s bomb the north Davao Bay area on Mindanao and Jolo Island.