Diary WW2

Diary for Thursday, April 11, 1940: Sea War The British S class submarine Spearfish cripples pocket-battleship Lützow, south of Oslo (night April 10-11). Norway General Ruge appointed CinC Norwegian Army, […]

Diary for Wednesday, April 11, 1945: Russian Front Russians cross Danube Canal in Vienna. Western Front US 9th Army reaches river Elbe, near Magdeburg. Canadians cross river Ijssel. Italy Operation

Diary for Wednesday, April 10, 1940: Sea War FIRST BATTLE OF NARVIK. 5 British destroyers engage 10 German destroyers and shore batteries in Ofot Fjord, west of Narvik. Destroyers Hardy,

Diary for Tuesday, April 10, 1945: Western Front Americans capture Hanover. Okinawa After massive preparatory barrage, US 96th Division seizes part of Kakazu Ridge. Air War Britain: Last enemy sortie

Diary for Tuesday, April 9, 1940: Norway GERMAN INVASION OF NORWAY (Weserübung Nord = Operation Weser Crossing North) with 6 regiments, 1 parachute battalion, 888 aircraft (345 bomber, dive-bomber and

Diary for Monday, April 9, 1945: Russian Front East Prussia: FALL OF KÖNIGSBERG after 59-day siege. Austria: Tolbukhin’s troops smash their way into center of Vienna. Western Front Americans occupy

Diary for Monday, April 8, 1940: Sea War British destroyers lay mines in Norwegian territorial waters, southwest of Narvik (Operation Wilfred). HMS Glowworm becomes detached and encounters German naval force

Diary for Sunday, April 8, 1945: Western Front Americans enter Schweinfurt; French capture Pforzheim. Russian Front Colonel-General Schörner becomes the last Wehrmacht field marshal. Air War RAF Bomber Command sinks

Diary for Sunday, April 7, 1940: Sea War Atlantic: British Home Fleet leaves Scapa Flow for Norwegian Sea.

Diary for Saturday, April 7, 1945: Sea War Pacific – BATTLE OF EAST CHINA SEA. Yamato (2,498 killed), cruiser Yahagi and 4 destroyers sunk by TF 58 (10 planes lost).

Diary for Saturday, April 6, 1940: Air War RAF Bomber Command ends its leaflet (‘Operation Nickel’) raids on Germany: 65 Million leaflets and propaganda ‘newspapers’ dropped since September 3, 1939.

Diary for Friday, April 6, 1945: Sea War Pacific – Operation Kikusui (‘Floating Chrysanthemum’): first of 10 massed Kamikaze attacks on US invasion fleet off Okinawa (April 6-7 to June

Diary for Thursday, April 5, 1940: Sea War First captured German merchant ship – the Uhenfels (renamed Empire Ability) – brought up river Thames. Politics Anglo-French note to Norway: warning

Diary for Thursday, April 5, 1945: Western Front Allied forces cross river Weser. 18 US divisions begin clearance of Ruhr Pocket. Okinawa US forces, pushing south, encounter first line of

Diary for Thursday, April 4, 1940: Home Fronts Britain: Chamberlain tells Conservative Party meeting in London that, by not taking maximum advantage of Germany’s military superiority over Britain in September

Diary for Wednesday, April 4, 1945: Russian Front Slovakia: Bratislava captured by Malinovsky. Western Front Allied forces at Kassel, Gotha, Karlsruhe and Aschaffenburg.

Diary for Wednesday, April 3, 1940: Sea War First German Norway invasion ships sail. Air War Sunderland flying boat disperses formation of 6 Ju 88s attacking convoy in North Sea

Diary for Tuesday, April 3, 1945: Russian Front Austria: Tolbukhin captures Wiener Neustadt. Okinawa US Artillery spotter planes begin operating from Kadena airfield. Air War Germany: RAF bombers attacking Nordhausen.

Diary for Tuesday, April 2, 1940: Air War German aircraft raid Scapa Flow; on return flight they attack lighthouses, at Duncansby Head and Stroma Island.

Diary for Monday, April 2, 1945: Western Front Montgomery’s forces capture Rheine Me 262 jet fighter-bomber base and Münster.