April in WW2

This page gives a diary of April in the Second World War.

1 April 1945: US Tenth Army lands on Okinawa, Japan

2 April 1940: Hitler orders preparation for the invasion of Denmark and Norway under the code-name ‘Operation Weserbung’

3 April 1942: Japanese troops launch final drive on the Bataan Peninsula, Philippines

4 April 1945: German forces withdraw from Hungary

5 April 1944: British forces in Kohima, India surrounded by the Japanese

6 April 1941: German forces invade Greece and Yugoslavia

7 April 1945: Russian troops reach Vienna, Austria

8 April 1943: British and American patrols meet in Tunisa

9 April 1940: German troops invade Denmark and Norway

10 April 1941: Australian troops withdraw to the port of Tobruk, N.Africa

11 April 1943: German forces retreat into Sevastapol

12 April 1945: US President Roosevelt dies. Vice-President Harry Truman takes office

13 April 1941: Afrika Corps encircles Tobruk. (1945: British troops reach Belsen Concentration Camp)

14 April 1940: Royal Marines land in Namsos, Norway in preparation for a larger force to arrive

15 April 1945: Looted Nazi art treasures are discovered in an Austrian mine-shaft

16 April 1941: London`s St Pauls Cathedral is damaged in bombing

17 April 1941: Yugoslav army capitulates

18 April 1942: US B-25 bombers led by Jimmy Doolittle take off from the USS Hornet and bomb Tokyo

19 April 1945: US First Army moves into Halle and Leipzig, Germany

20 April 1945: US Seventh Army reaches Nuremburg

21 April 1945: Russian troops enter Berlin

22 April 1943: US troops land in Hollandia, New Guinea

23 April 1941: Greek King and ministers evacuate to Cyprus

24 April 1943: US War Department announces that Japan must be invaded

25 April 1945: US and Russian troops meet at Torgau on the River Elbe, Germany

26 April 1945: US Forces cross the River Danube

27 April 1941: German troops enter Athens, Greece

28 April 1944: German E-Boats attack unescorted landing craft of the Devon coast, England which were taking part in Exercise Tiger

29 April 1945: Hitler marries Eva Braun in his Berlin bunker, and appoints Admiral Donitz as his successor

30 April 1941: Iraqi troops surround RAF base at Habbaniyah, Iraq