Left to right, Matsudaira Tsuneo, Shimada Shigetaro, Koga Mineichi and Hyakutake Saburō on the deck of the battleship Musashi. Koga died during a typhoon in the Pacific.
By Phil Kohn. Dedicated to the memory of his father, GM3 Walter Kohn, U.S. Navy Armed Guard, USNR, and all men and women who have answered the country’s call in time of need. Phil can be contacted at ww2remembered@yahoo.com.
In the Pacific, Adm. Mineishi Koga, Commander-in-Chief of the Imperial Japanese Navy’s Combined Fleet, is killed when his plane crashes during a typhoon near Palau on March 31, 1944. Political differences within the government prevent immediate naming of a replacement. The RAF announces that its losses after 35 major attacks on German cities since 18 November 1943 are 1,047 aircraft destroyed and 1,682 damaged. The Hungarian government mandates Jewish-owned businesses to close and requires all Jews to wear a yellow Star of David on their clothing. The Red Army captures Ochakiv, Ukraine, on the Black Sea 37 miles east of Odessa.
On April 1, 50 U.S. Army Air Forces B-24 Liberator heavy bombers on a raid on Ludwigshafen stray from German airspace and drop 60 tons of bombs on the village of Schaffhausen, in neutral Switzerland, killing around 50 civilians and injuring another 270. U.S. diplomats immediately apologize and offer to pay reparations to the Swiss. The first Allied air raid of Pforzheim, Germany, takes place. The town in southwestern Germany — widely known for fine watchmaking — is identified as a center for producing precision instruments. The British government bans all visitors from being within 10 miles of the English coast from Land’s End in the extreme southwest to The Wash, about halfway up the eastern shore.
The Soviets on April 2 threaten to shoot one third of all German POWs if the 18 divisions of the 1st Panzer Army, encircled near the city of Kamianets-Podilskyi, Ukraine, do not surrender. The Germans do not surrender and, in fact, break out a few days later. (The Soviets do not shoot the POWs.) In Italy, the Communist Party declares its support of the Badoglio government. In Central America, an attempted military coup in El Salvador is put down after four hours, resulting in about 53 dead and 134 injured.
Allied bombers on April 3 hit Budapest, Hungary, occupied by the Germans, and Bucharest, Romania, ahead of the arrival of the Red Army. In Norway, the German battleship Tirpitz is attacked at anchor in Altenfjord by Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm aircraft, putting the vessel out of action for what will be three months.
German Army Group Centre, under Field Marshal Ernst Busch, launches a counterattack on April 4 that succeeds in reaching German units at Kovel, surrounded in the Pripet swamps of the Ukraine since March 19. Gen. Charles de Gaulle takes command of all Free French forces. In India, Japanese troops begin five weeks of attacks in attempts to reach Imphal from the south. The Japanese also begin an attack on Kohima, farther north. A South African Air Force de Havilland Mosquito reconnaissance plane takes aerial photographs of the Auschwitz concentration camp.
The U.S. Army Air Force on April 5 bombs the German-held oil fields at Ploeşti, Romania, causing heavy damage and many casualties. In London, taking steps to tighten security ahead of the preparations for Operation Overlord, the British government cuts telephone service to the Republic of Ireland and halts newspaper distribution to Ireland and Gibraltar. In the U.S., Wendell Willkie — titular head of the Republican Party —withdraws as a candidate for president after poor showings in primary elections. (He will ultimately be replaced by New York Governor Thomas E. Dewey.)
As of April 6, British and Indian forces at Imphal and Kohima in northeastern India remain surrounded by the Japanese. In Europe, the first of 200,000 troops of the German 1st Panzer Army that had been surrounded by the Red Army — after a journey of about 150 miles — reach the German 4th Panzer Army south of Tarnopol, in western Ukraine.
