CBI - China: Day 109 of 142 of the 1st Battle of Hebei.
1937 — , April 19
Spain: Day 277 of 985 of the Spanish Civil War. The Falange and Carlist Movements are united and become the FET (Falange Espanola Tradicionalista) or, the Nationalists.
1938 — , April 19
Spain: Day 642 of 985 of the Spanish Civil War. Franco's Nationalist troops defeat the Republicans and the Lincoln Battalion at Tortosa, driving to the Mediterranean at Vinaroz and isolated Barcelona.
CBI - China: Day 287 of 2,987 of the 2nd Sino-Japanese War.
Day 72 of 124 of the Battle of Henan.
Day 27 of 39 of the Battle of Xuzhou.
1939 — , April 19
Slovakia: The former Czechoslovakia passes its own version of the anti-Jewish Nuremberg Laws.
CBI - China: Day 652 of 2,987 of the 2nd Sino-Japanese War.
Day 34 of 54 of the Battle of Nanchang.
1940 — , April 19
ETO - Netherlands: A State of Siege is extended to the whole of the Netherlands.
ETO - Norway: Day 11 of 63 of the Battle of Norway. British and German troops clash at Verdal. 45 German paratroopers surrender to the Norwegian forces at Dombås. At night, 3 battalions of French mountain troops arrive at Namsos, but without their skis, mules and anti-aircraft weapons.
ETO - Germany: Hitler's staff announces the formation of the Reich Commissariat for the occupied Norwegian Territories.
PTO - Dutch East Indies: Japan informs the United States that it has no aggressive intentions toward the Dutch East Indies.
CBI - China: Day 1,018 of 2,987 of the 2nd Sino-Japanese War.
Day 157 of 381 of the Battle of South Guangxi.
1941 — , April 19
ETO - UK: Day 226 of 258 of the Blitz. Although not the largest bombing of the Blitz, this one delivers the largest single loss of Fire Brigade firefighters in British history when 34 firemen are killed at the Old Place School in Poplar, East London, while battling blazes. Four hospitals are also among the many buildings hit by German bombs during this attack.
Spotlight...
The Fire Brigade was organized by local British authorities until August of 1941, when the National Fire Service was created.
Nurses clear debris from one of the wards in St Peter's Hospital, Stepney, East London. Four hospitals were among the buildings hit by German bombs during a full scale attack on the British capital.
MTO - Greece: Day 14 of 25 of the Battle of Greece. German troops capture Larisa and Ioannina. The Greek Government agrees that British troops should be evacuated.
MTO - Libya: Day 10 of 256 of the Siege of Tobruk. British commandos make a successful amphibious hit-and-run raid against Axis forces in Bardia.
East Africa: Day 314 of 537 of Italy's East African campaign in the lands south of Egypt. The Indian 5th Division and British 1st South African Brigade attack the 7,000 strong Italian garrison at Amba Alagi, Abyssinia.
CBI - China: Day 1,383 of 2,987 of the 2nd Sino-Japanese War.
CBI - Thailand: Day 201 of 221 of the Franco-Thai War (Vichy France vs Thailand).
1942 — , April 19
Atlantic: Day 96 of 169 of Germany's Second "Happy Time," during which U-boats sink 609 Allied ships with little risk.
U-136 sinks the US freighter STEEL MAKER southeast of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina.
Russian Front - North: Day 224 of 872 of the Siege of Leningrad.
Russian Front - North: Day 71 of 102 of the Battle of the Demyansk Pocket, another failed attempt to break the siege at Leningrad.
Russian Front - North: Day 87 of 103 of the Battle of the Kholm Pocket. Another attempt to break the siege at Leningrad.
Russian Front - Center: Day 102 of 103 of the Battle of Vyazma, Russia.
Russian Front - Center: Day 102 of 103 of the Battle of Sychevsk, Russia.
Russian Front - Center: Day 48 of 49 of the Battle of Rzhev, Russia, a diversion to pull more German troops away from Moscow.
Russian Front - South: Day 172 of 248 of the Siege of Sevastopol, Crimean Peninsula.
CBI - Burma: Day 127 of 164 of Japan's Invasion of Burma. Day 9 of 9 of the Battle of Yenangyaung. The British evacuate the city leaving it for the Japanese. Elsewhere, the Chinese 38th Division captures Twingon then repels a Japanese counter-attack which sees heavy casualties on both sides.
CBI - China: Day 1,748 of 2,987 of the 2nd Sino-Japanese War.
PTO - Malaya: Day 60 of 357 of the Battle of Timor Island.
PTO - New Guinea: The Japanese land more troops on New Guinea.
PTO - Philippines: Day 133 of 152 of the 1st Battle of the Philippines. The US-Filipino garrison surrenders to the Japanese on Cebu Island.
1943 — , April 19
Atlantic: Operation MINCEMEAT: The submarine HMS SERAPH departs from Holy Loch, Scotland, for Spain with the body of Glyndwr Michael, dressed as Major William Martin and planted with false documents, intended to lure the Germans to Greece instead of the upcoming invasion of Sicily.
Spotlight...
HMS SERAPH
Under the command of Lieutenant Norman "Bill" Jewell, HMS SERAPH picked up a canister at Holy Loch, Scotland, containing the corpse of Glyndwr Michael, posing as a fictitious Major Martin. The body was packed in dry ice and dressed in a Royal Marines uniform, his pockets meticulously stuffed with "wallet litter" to pass him off as a real person. Attached to the corpse was a briefcase containing faked "secret documents" designed to mislead the Axis.
Lieutenant Jewell had been briefed at the Admiralty on Operation MINCEMEAT and was the only one aboard the Seraph aware of their special passenger at the time the canister was loaded.
USA: At the Bermuda Conference, US and UK representatives discuss the Jewish refugee issues in occupied Europe with little results.
ETO - Belgium: The Belgian and Jewish underground attacks a transport of Jews from the Mechelen transit camp in Belgium. They are able to rescue 150 Jews, but another 220 die in the process. This becomes the only resistance effort during the Holocaust which attacks a transport train.
Germany: An armed uprising in the Jewish ghetto of Warsaw begins. The Waffen SS attacks the Jewish armed resistance using tanks and other heavy weapons.
Russian Front - North: Day 589 of 872 of the Siege of Leningrad.
Russian Front - North: Day 350 of 658 of the Siege of the Kholm Pocket.
MTO - Tunisia: Day 154 of 178 of the Battle of Tunisia. RAF and US Air Forces provide Allied air support. The British 8th Army opens an assault on the Enfidaville positions.
CBI - Burma: Day 71 of 79 of the Allied Operation LONGCLOTH. US 10th Air Force provides air support.
CBI - China: Day 2,113 of 2,987 of the 2nd Sino-Japanese War.
PTO: US 5th Air Force medium and heavy bombers strike the airfields at Hollandia and Lae.
PTO - Alaska: Day 317 of 435 of the Battle of Kiska, Aleutian Islands. US 11th Air Force attacks Kiska Island.
1944 — , April 19
ETO - UK: American polo player and assistant air attache to the US Embassy in London, Lt Col Thomas "Tommy" Hitchcock, is killed near Salisbury, Wiltshire, when he is unable to pull out of a dive while doing tests of a P-51 Mustang.
ETO - Germany: US 8th Air Force B-17s and B-24s bomb targets in Germany.
ETO - Germany: US 9th Air Force B-26s and A-20s bomb targets at Gunzburg, Ulm, Neu Ulm, Donauworth and Schelklingen.
Russian Front - North: Day 78 of 191 of the Battle of the Narva Isthmus, Estonia. Both German and Soviet troops remain in their defensive positions.
Russian Front - South: Day 12 of 35 of the Battle of the Crimea.
Russian Front - South: Day 12 of 60 of the Battle of Romania, 1st Jassy Offensive.
MTO - Italy: Day 94 of 123 of the Battle of Monte Cassino. RAF and US Air Forces provide air support. The German Gustav Line continues getting weaker.
MTO - Italy: Day 89 of 136 of the Battle of Anzio. RAF and US Air Forces provide air support.
CBI - Burma: Day 46 of 166 of the UK's Operation THURSDAY.
CBI - Burma: Day 41 of 147 of the Battle of Myitkyina. US 10th Air Force provides air support.
CBI - Burma: Day 19 of 302 of the Chinese Salween Offensive. US 14th Air Force provides air support.
CBI - China: Day 2,479 of 2,987 of the 2nd Sino-Japanese War.
Day 3 of 259 of Japan's Operation ICHI-GO.
Day 3 of 39 of the Battle of Central Henan, the first offensive in Japan's Operation ICHI-GO.
CBI - India: Day 43 of 118 of the Battle of Imphal-Kohima. After sundown, the Japanese launch three separate attacks against Anglo-Indian positions at Imphal but are not able to achieve their objectives.
CBI - Indochina: US 14th Air Force B-25s damage a bridge at Thanh Moi.
PTO: The USS FINBACK sinks a small Japanese vessel in the Pacific Ocean.
PTO - Caroline Islands: US 7th Air Force bombs at Truk Atoll.
PTO - Caroline Islands: US 13th Air Force bombs at Satawan Atoll.
PTO - New Guinea: Day 51 of 80 of the Battle of the Admiralty Islands. 5th Air Force provides air support.
PTO - New Guinea: Day 214 of 219 of the Battle of Shaggy Ridge. 5th Air Force provides air support.
PTO - New Guinea: Day 127 of 597 of the Battle of New Britain. US 13th Air Force provides air support.
PTO - Solomon Islands: Day 171 of 295 of the Battle of the Bougainville Islands. US 13th Air Force provides air support.
1945 — , April 19
Canada: A Royal Canadian Air Force Catalina crashes near Lake Morhiban, Labrador, in northeastern Canada. To rescue the seven downed crewmen, a USAAF Sikorsky R-4B helicopter is sent to evacuate them. Little known among the more than 299,000 American aircraft built during WWII for US and Allied Forces, the 133 R-4s built between 1942 and 1945 deserve a special place in the annals of aviation.
Spotlight...
An R-4B in flight
The Sikorsky R-4 was the only US military helicopter to be used operationally during World War II.
A Navy-Coast Guard HNS-1 is "stuffed" into a C-54 transport of the Air Transport Command at the Coast Guard air station in Brooklyn, NY. The helicopter was flown 1,000 miles on 19 April 1945, to Goose Bay, Labrador. It was then reassembled and rescued 11 Canadian airmen from two separate crashes in rugged territory, carrying them to safety one man per flight.
ETO - France: Day 264 of 284 of the Battle of Brittany.
ETO - France: Day 217 of 236 of the Siege of Dunkirk.
ETO - Germany: Day 45 of 46 of the Battle of the Ruhr Pocket. Although all organized resistance has stopped some stubborn German units continue fighting.
ETO - Germany: The British 2nd Army reaches the Elbe and makes an attack on Bremen. The US 1st Army captures Leipzig and Halle, 50 miles south of Magdeburg. Canadian troops capture the Luftwaffe base at Stade, west of Hamburg.
ETO - Germany: The RAF attacks Helgoland, a little German island in the North Sea.
ETO: US 8th Air Force bomb rail targets in southeast Germany and northwest Slovakia.
Germany: On the eve of Hitler's 56th birthday, Dr Goebbels predicts that in spite of all misfortunes Germany will somehow prevail.
Russian Front - Finland: Day 217 of 223 of the Lapland War. Finland and Russia have joined forces to kick the Germans out of Finland's most northern province.
Russian Front - Center: Day 187 of 206 of the Battle of the Courland Pocket in Latvia.
Russian Front - Center: Day 7 of 13 of the Battle of Zemland, East Prussia.
Russian Front - Center: Day 4 of 23 of the Battle of Settin-Rostock, both sides of the border between Germany and Poland. Day 4 of 4 of the Battle for the Oder-Neisse Rivers. These rivers have been taken, leaving no German defenses between this area and Berlin.
Russian Front - Center: Day 4 of 17 of the Battle of Berlin.
Russian Front - Center: Day 66 of 83 of the German Siege of Breslau (today Wroclaw, Poland). The Soviets continue with their siege.
MTO: US 15th Air Force bombs targets in southern Germany, Austria and northern Italy.
MTO - Italy: Day 1 of 5 of an assault by the 442nd Infantry Regiment of Nisei Japanese-Americans against German fortifications on the Gothic Line in Tuscany.
MTO - Italy: Day 14 of 27 of Operation GRAPESHOT, a successful offensive in northern Italy.
MTO - Italy: Day 11 of 13 of the Battle of Bologna. The US 5th Army reaches the Po plateau.
MTO - Italy: Day 8 of 8 of the Battle of the Argenta Gap. The British 8th Army takes the gap.
CBI - Burma: Day 75 of 99 of the Battle of Pakokku and Irrawaddy River operations in central Burma. The British wipe out 500 Japanese troops at Mount Popa west of Meitkila after 3 weeks of fighting.
CBI - China: Day 2,844 of 2,987 of the 2nd Sino-Japanese War.
Day 19 of 91 of the Battle of Zhijiang. US 14th Air Force provides air support.
Day 11 of 60 of the Battle of West Hunan (near Zhijiang).
PTO - Caroline Islands: US 7th Air Force B-24s bomb Dublon, Fefan and Eten Islands in Truk Atoll while other B-24s bomb the nearby Arakabesan and Koror islands.
PTO - Formosa: US 5th Air Force bombs at Tainan and Shinchiku.
PTO - Japan: Day 19 of 83 of the Battle of Okinawa. A major attack is launched against Japanese positions on Okinawa. Other US troops encounter very stiff resistance by the Japanese at Bloody Ridge on Ie Island.
PTO - New Guinea: Day 479 of 597 of the Battle of New Britain. US 10th Air Force provides air support.
PTO - New Guinea: Day 363 of 481 of the Battle of Western New Guinea. US 10th Air Force provides air support.
PTO - Philippines: Day 182 of 299 of the 2nd Battle of the Philippines, aka the Liberation of the Philippines or the Philippines Campaign.
PTO - Philippines: Day 126 of 244 of the Battle of Luzon. 5th Air Force provides air support. The USS ROCK bombards a Japanese radio station at Bataan.
PTO - Philippines: Day 41 of 159 of the Battle of Mindanao Island. 5th Air Force provides air support.
PTO - Philippines: Day 33 of 135 of the Battle of the Visayas region. US 5th and 7th Air Forces provide air support.
Day-By-Day listings for April 19 were last modified on Friday, February 23, 2018
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