April 11th, 1945 (WEDNESDAY)
GERMANY: The US 9th Army reaches the River Elbe. The US 3rd Army takes Weimar.
Advancing close behind the US 6th Armoured Division, the 76th Division reaches the Butstaedt area. (Skip Guidry)
US troops find an intact V-weapon plant at Nordhausen, and remove as much material as possible to keep it from the Russians. The first troops arrive at 11.30am after being radioed in by Pvt. Galione who was calling them into neighbouring Mittelbau Dora camp. Instead they got lost and stumbled upon Nordhausen. (Mary Galione-Nahas)
Buchenwald concentration camp is liberated.
The Eighth Air Force flies Mission 941: 1,303 bombers and 913 fighters are dispatched to hit a variety of targets in Germany; 1 B-17 is lost:
- 300 B-17s bomb the Freiham oil depot and 133 attack the Kraiburg munitions plant; secondary targets hit are the munitions depot at Landshut and the marshalling yard at Treuchtlingen; 1 B-17 is lost. Escorting are 273 P-51s.
- 28 B-17s bomb the munitions depot and 82 hit the marshalling yard at Landshut; 131 attack the airfield and 79 hit the marshalling yard (79) at Ingolstadt; 70 bomb the marshalling yards at Treuchtlingen and 108 bomb the marshalling yards at Donauworth without loss. The escort is 281 P-51s.
- 79 B-24s bomb the Obertraubling Airfield, 31 hit a munitions depot while 80 attack an oil depot at Regensburg; 71 bomb the marshalling yards at Neumarkt and 73 hit the marshalling yards at Amberg. 211 P-47s and P-51s escort.
The Ninth Air Force dispatches 689 A-20s, A-26s and B-26s to strike marshalling yards at Bernburg, Oschersleben, Zwickau, and Kothen, the Naumburg ordnance depot, Bamberg motor transport plant, and several other targets; fighters escort the bombers, fly patrols, sweeps, a leaflet mission, and armed reconnaissance (claiming 43 aircraft shot down), and support the US 3d and 9th Armored Divisions in the Nordhausen and Ringleben-Sachsenburg-Rothenberga areas, the 2d Armored Division as it reaches the Elbe River south of Magdeburg in a record drive of 57 miles (92 km), the XVI Corps along the Ruhr River at Witten, the XX Corps as it crosses the Saale River at Weimar and overruns the Buchenwald concentration camp and Allied prisoner camp nearby, the XII Corps in the Coburg-Rottenbach area, and the VIII Corps as it approaches the Saale River south of Weimar.
40 Fifteenth Air Force P-38s dive-bomb the Rosenheim railroad bridge.
40 other P-38s and 29 P-51s strafe rail traffic in the Munich and Regensburg; Plzen, Czechoslovakia; and Linz and Salzburg, Austria areas.
An element of the US 6th ('Super Sixth') Armored Division's, 9th Armored Inf.Bn. [Task Force 9 - Combat Team Bennett]. entered the vast Thuringian camp at approx.1600 on April 11th, 1945. Driving in an M8 Armored recon vehicle, Capt. Frederic Keffer, Spokane, Wash., T/Sgt. Herbert Gottschalk, Bronx N.Y., Sgt. Harry Ward, Seattle, Wash., (driver), and Pfc.James Hoyt, Oxford, Iowa, radio-operator), were the first US Army troops to enter the infamous 'KL Buchenwald' eight (8) kilometres north of Weimar on the Ettersberg. There, an estimated 21,000 political and military prisoners, slave-labourers, and Jews, including ca.900 children, were found in various states of starvation and broken health after years of terror under the Nazi regime. Although it was not a site of planned Genocide such as Auschwitz or Treblinka, mass killings of prisoners (including military POWs) took place during the war years through selection, forced-labour, disease, starvation, and medical-experimentation imposed by the SS. More than 250,000 people were held captive in the camp between 1937 and 1945, and an estimated 50,000 prisoners perished during this period.
Gedenkstaette Buchenwald:
http://www.buchenwald.de/index.html
[See also:
http://www.koch-athene.de/6th/weimar-buchenwald/bu-hot2.htm
and:
http://members.aol.com/super6th/ - 6th Armored Div. Vet website.] (Russ Folsom)
AUSTRIA: Tolbukhin reaches the Danube Canal in Vienna.
ITALY: Carrera falls to the US 92nd Division.
During the night of 10/11 April, Twelfth Air Force A-20s and A-26s bomb bridges at Lavis, Ala, Rovereto, San Michele all'Adige, and San Ambrogio di Valpolicella, and hit vehicles, Po River crossings and targets of opportunity in the Po Valley; medium bombers continue to support British Eighth Army forces between Imola and Comacchio Lagoon, bomb guns south of La Spezia in front of the US Fifth Army advance, and bomb 4 bridges on the Brenner line; XXII Tactical Air Command fighter-bombers also fly support on the Eighth Army front, and hit communications (including the Brenner line) and fuel and ammunition dumps in the north.
544 Fifteenth Air Force B-24s and B-17s hit communications in northern Italy, concentrating on the transportation system feeding into the Brenner area, in an effort to hamper the enemy's supply and escape routes; the bombers bomb bridges at Padua, Vipiteno, Campodazzo, Ponte Gardena, and Campo di Trens, marshalling yards at Bronzolo and Ora, a vehicle repair shop at Osoppo, and a fuel depot at Goito. 250+ fighters escort the bomber missions.
INDIAN OCEAN: Sabang is shelled by Admiral Walker's British Eastern Fleet. BB Queen Elizabeth and French BB Richelieu are part of this fleet.
BURMA: British troops capture Pyawbe, opening the route to Rangoon.
54 Tenth Air Force fighter-bombers hit troop and supply concentrations near Mong Kung and Mong Nim, attack trucks and targets of opportunity in other areas behind the battleline, and sweep several roads south of the bomb line; transports fly 424 sorties carrying men and supplies to forward areas.
CHINA: 7 Fourteenth Air Force B-25s bomb Hsihhsiassuchi, 5 pound the Pinglo barracks and storage area, and a few others hit the Yanglowtung railroad yards and targets of opportunity east of Paoching; 150+ fighter-bombers attack troops, river, road and rail traffic, and a variety of targets of opportunity scattered throughout southern and eastern China and northern French Indochina.
FORMOSA: Far East Air Forces B-24s bomb Okayama Airfield while B-25s hit several industrial targets including the Ts'eng Wen sugar refinery, Seiko, Sunbon-sha, and Shasekiryo.
JAPAN: Off Okinawa, US BB Missouri and
CV Enterprise are damaged by Kamikaze attacks.
Missouri opened fire on a low-flying suicide plane which penetrated the curtain
of her shells to crash just below her main deck level. The starboard wing of the
plane was thrown far forward, starting a gasoline fire at 5-inch Gunmount No. 3
(The one used by the Marine detachment on the ship). Yet the battleship suffered
only superficial damage (a small dent in the side of the deck, still visible
today), and the fire was brought quickly under control. The Missouri remained on
station as part of Task Force 58.
RE: USS Enterprise (CV-6)
A single Kamikaze plummeted over her flight deck and glanced over the side and its engine damaged the ship at the waterline. The bomb the aircraft was carrying, exploded beneath the ship, lifting the hull about 3 feet (91 cm), rupturing eight fuel tanks and damaging some machinery. Enterprise retired to Ulithi Atoll in the Caroline Islands for repairs.
Kamikazes also damage the destroyer USS Kidd (DD-661) [Note: The USS Kidd [DD-661] is now berthed on the Mississippi River at Baton Rouge. (Tom Hickox)] [The USS Kidd [DD-661] is also the only unaltered Fletcher class destroyer in the world. (Skip Guidry)], destroyer escort USS Samuel S. Miles (DE-183) and an LCS; the carrier USS Essex (CV-9) and destroyer USS Hale (DD-642) are damaged by bombs; and the destroyers USS Black (DD-666) and USS Hank (DD-702) are damaged by strafing.
COMMONWEALTH OF THE PHILIPPINES: A battalion combat team of the US Army's 164th Regimental Team, Americal Division, makes an unopposed landing on Bohol Island (9.50N, 124.10E), Visayan Islands on a beach controlled by Filipino guerrillas.
24 Seventh Air Force 24 B-24s from Angaur Island, Palau Islands, hit the Cotabato supply and personnel areas on Mindanao.
Far East Air Forces B-24s bomb Cotabato on Mindanao. On Negros Island, B-24s hit Japanese defences northwest of Guadalupe and A-20s hit a bivouac east of Negritos. On Luzon Island B-24s, B-25s, A-20s, and fighter-bombers bomb numerous targets including Fuga Island, the Cagayan Valley areas, Santa Fe, bridges and other communications in Iligan, Naguilian, Manga, and Tuguegarao, and troops and supply concentration north of Imugan; troop support strikes are flown in the Solvec Cove area and east of Manila; Baguio and a troop concentration in the Batangas area and on the Bicol peninsula are bombed; at Iriga, defences are hit with napalm.
BORNEO: Far East Air Forces P-38s attack gun positions at Tarakan.
CAROLINE ISLANDS: 18 Guam Island-based B-24s bomb positions on Eten Island in Truk Atoll.
NETHERLANDS EAST INDIES: RAAF, USAAF"> USAAF 5th Air Force and USAAF 13th Air Force conduct preparation raids on targets throughout the East Indies (including Surabaya) before the landings by 1 Australian Corps in Borneo. (Mike Mitchell)
PACIFIC OCEAN: The Japanese lose 5 ships at sea:
- Submarine USS Parche (SS-384) sinks an auxiliary minesweeper off Todogasaki, Japan.
- Submarine USS Spadefish (SS-411) sinks an auxiliary minesweeper off Tokckok-Kundo, Japan.
- RAF Liberator G.R. Mk VIs of No. 203 Squadron based at Kankesanturai, Ceylon, sink a submarine chaser and an auxiliary netlayer in the Andaman Sea in the Bay of Bengal.
- A mine sinks an auxiliary submarine chaser off Futaoi-Jima, Shimonoseki, Japan.
TERRITORY OF ALASKA: ALEUTIAN ISLANDS: Eleventh Air Force P-38s together with USN aircraft pick up bomb filled paper balloons over Attu and east of Adak; one balloon over Attu is shot down and portions of the gondola are recovered in Massacre Bay.