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• Katyn Massacre: Over 20,000 Polish police, military officers, and intellectuals were massacred by the Soviet NKVD. ww2dbase [Katyn Massacre and Related Atrocities | CPC]
• Winston Churchill was appointed to chair a committee for war policy in Neville Chamberlain's cabinet. ww2dbase [Winston Churchill | CPC]
• A pro-Axis government came to power in Iraq. ww2dbase [TH]
• Submarine Orzel departed Rosyth, Scotland, United Kingdom to patrol the coast off Kristiansand, Norway. ww2dbase [Orzel | CPC]
• Flight Lieutenant Ryder of No. 41 Squadron RAF became the first RAF pilot to be shot down on home defence duties when he ditched his Spitfire fighter in the sea off Redcar, England, United Kingdom after bringing down a Heinkel 111 bomber. Ryder and the German crew were picked up safely. ww2dbase [AC]
• Chinese troops secured the Wuyuan region in Suiyuan Province, China. ww2dbase [Battle of Wuyuan | CPC]
• A British Short Sunderland flying boat on patrol off Norway attacked by six Junkers Ju 88 aircraft successfully shot one down, forced another to land immediately and drove the rest off. ww2dbase [S.25 Sunderland | AC]

• German supply ships began departing Hamburg, Germany for the invasion of Norway; in all 7 freighters of 28,693 tons would set sail. The British cabinet was warned of this action and the German concentration of troops within hours. ww2dbase [Invasion of Denmark and Norway | Hamburg | CPC, HM]

• The keel of submarine Grayback was laid down by the Electric Boat Company in Groton, Connecticut, United States. ww2dbase [Electric Boat Company | Grayback | Groton, Connecticut | CPC]

3 Apr 1940 Interactive Map