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• Japanese aircraft bombed areas of Mandalay, Burma, killing more than 2,000, most of whom were civilians. ww2dbase [Invasion of Burma | AC]
• German submarine U-505 sank Dutch ship Alphacca 200 miles off Ivory Coast, French West Africa at 2329 hours; 15 were killed, 57 survived. On the other side of the Atlantic Ocean, at 2335 hours, U-154 sank Comol Rico; 3 were killed, 39 survived. ww2dbase [Second Happy Time | CPC]
• USS Grampus completed her first war patrol. ww2dbase [Grampus | CPC]

• German Type IXC U-Boat U-505 torpedoed and sunk the Dutch freighter Alphacca off the French Ivory Coast (Côte d'Ivoire). 15 were killed and 52 were rescued. ww2dbase [U-505 | Second Happy Time | DS]

• In the morning, Australian pilot John Jackson alone flew over Lae on the northern coast of New Guinea and made a strafing run. In the afternoon, he led a group in attacking the same location, destroying several Japanese aircraft on the ground. ww2dbase [New Guinea-Papua Campaign, Phase 2 | Lae | CPC]

• As Japanese carriers sailed toward Ceylon, the fleet was discovered by a Canadian PBY Catalina aircraft 400 miles south of the island. A Zero fighter from carrier Hiryu shot down the Catalina aircraft (3 killed, several captured) but not until they radioed in the fleet's location. ww2dbase [Raids into the Indian Ocean | CPC]

• Prince Hiroyasu was awarded the Order of the Golden Kite 1st Class. ww2dbase [Hiroyasu | CPC]
• Prince Kotohito was awarded Order of the Golden Kite. ww2dbase [Kotohito | CPC]

• Greek submarine Glavkos was sunk by Axis aircraft at Malta. ww2dbase [CPC]

• Douglas MacArthur, now relocated to Australia per Franklin Roosevelt's orders, radioed Jonathan Wainwright, saying that "under no conditions should Bataan be surrendered; any action is preferable to capitulation". Meanwhile, at Bataan in the Philippine Islands, Japanese troops moved toward Mount Samat, threatening to take this dominant position. ww2dbase [Invasion of the Philippine Islands | Bataan | CPC]

• Gneisenau arrived at Gotenhafen (Gdynia), occupied Poland. ww2dbase [Deutsche Werke Gotenhafen | Gneisenau | Gdynia, Pomorskie | CPC]

• Soviet destroyer Sovershenny was destroyed by German shelling at Sevastopol, Russia. ww2dbase [Sevastopol | CPC]
• 62 Luftwaffe Stuka dive bombers and 70 other bombers escorted by 59 Bf 109 fighters attacked Soviet fleet at Kronstadt near Leningrad, Russia in the afternoon, damaging battleships October Revolution and Petropavlovsk, cruisers Maxim Gorky and Kirov, and destroyers Silny and Grozyashchi. After dark, He 111 bombers, some of which had participated in the Kronstadt attack in the afternoon, bombed Leningrad. ww2dbase [Siege of Leningrad | Kronstadt, Leningrad | CPC]

• German submarine U-552 sank US tanker Byron D. Benson 16 kilometers east of Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, United States at 2257 hours local time (recorded in U-552 logs as at 0447 hours on 5 Apr 1942, German time), killing 10 of 38. ww2dbase [Second Happy Time | Kitty Hawk, North Carolina | CPC, TH]
• President Franklin Roosevelt's special envoy Harry Hopkins and General George Marshall departed Baltimore, Maryland, United States by plane to lay the US strategic war plans, that had already been approved by the President, before the British War Cabinet and Chiefs-of Staff Committee. ww2dbase [George Marshall | Baltimore, Maryland | AC]

4 Apr 1942 Interactive Map