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• USS Cassin Young rescued survivors of two sunken US destroyers. ww2dbase [Cassin Young | CPC]
• Prisoners of Moringen Concentration Camp who could walk were sent on a death march toward the east; those who remained would be liberated by troops of the Western Allies three days later. ww2dbase [Discovery of Concentration Camps and the Holocaust | CPC]
• USS Hackleback made radio contact with the Japanese force centered around battleship Yamato; she attempted to attack by torpedoes but was driven away by escorting destroyers. She was able to report the location of the enemy fleet, however. ww2dbase [Hackleback | CPC]
• Vasily Chuikov was made a Hero of the Soviet Union for the second time. ww2dbase [Vasily Chuikov | CPC]
• James Johnson was promoted to the rank of group captain and was given command of the No. 125 Wing. ww2dbase [James Johnson | CPC]
• USS Hawkbill arrived at Fremantle, Australia, ending her third war patrol. ww2dbase [Hawkbill | CPC]
• Joseph Goebbels announced that a German victory was to come during this month and only Adolf Hitler knew the moment. He obtained this information from astrology. ww2dbase [Joseph Goebbels | CPC]
• Soviet 3rd Ukrainian Front began attacking the suburbs of Vienna, occupied Austria. ww2dbase [Battle of Vienna | TH]
• USS Wake Island departed Okinawa, Japan. ww2dbase [Wake Island | CPC]
• The Fletcher-class destroyer USS Bush was sunk by a Japanese special attack off Okinawa, Japan. ww2dbase [AC]
• Douglas MacArthur was named the supreme Allied commander in the Pacific. ww2dbase [Douglas MacArthur | CPC]
• Operation Kikusui No. 1 was launched off Okinawa, Japan, participated by about 230 Japanese Navy and 125 Japanese Army special attack and escorting aircraft. ww2dbase [Okinawa Campaign | CPC]
• After six days of artillery and aerial bombardment on Königsberg, East Prussia, Germany, the ground offensive began. 137,000 Soviet troops of the 3rd Byelorussian Front rushed into the city, supported by 530 tanks and 2,400 aircraft. ww2dbase [East Prussian Offensive | TH]
• Yugoslavian partisans took control of Sarajevo. ww2dbase [TH]
• USS Caiman arrived at Fremantle, Australia, ending second war patrol. ww2dbase [Caiman | CPC]
• USS Tirante stopped a Japanese fishing boat, captured the crew of three, and sank the boat by gunfire. ww2dbase [Tirante | CPC]
• USS Rock made a night time surface torpedo attack on a schooner with three torepdoes; all torpedoes missed. ww2dbase [Rock | CPC]

• In occupied Czechoslovakia, International Red Cross representatives visited the Theresienstadt Concentration Camp. ww2dbase [Theresienstadt Concentration Camp | Discovery of Concentration Camps and the Holocaust | Terezín, Cechy | CPC]

• Adolf Hitler read Wilhelm Canaris' diary in which Hitler he learned of Canaris' involvement in anti-Nazi activities. ww2dbase [Wilhelm Canaris | CPC]
• Walter Dornberger moved his headquarters from Bad Sachsa to Haus Ingeborg in Oberjoch in the Allgäu mountains in southern Germany. ww2dbase [Walter Dornberger | Oberjoch, München-Oberbayern | CPC]
• 15,000 prisoners of Buchenwald Concentration Camp in Germany were evacuated by German authorities. ww2dbase [Buchenwald Concentration Camp | Discovery of Concentration Camps and the Holocaust | Ettersberg, Weimar | CPC]
• US Lieutenant John G. Winant, son of the US ambassador to Britain, captured after his aircraft was shot down over München (Munich), Germany, was transferred to the Oflag IV-C prisoner of war camp at Colditz Castle in Germany. ww2dbase [Colditz Castle | Colditz, Sachsen | CPC]

• Barbers Point Naval Air Station: Station commemorated its 3rd anniversary. Bagley outdoor theater commissioned this date. Guests included Admiral Bagley, Gov Stainback of the Territory of Hawaii, Brig General LWT Waller, Jr., USMC, and Commodore BL Austen. ww2dbase [Barbers Point Naval Air Station | Ewa, Oahu | DS]

• Allied Operation Grapeshot was ordered to commence in northern Italy. ww2dbase [Operation Grapeshot and Operation Roast | CPC]

• The sick and the older sailors aboard Yamato were disembarked at Mitajiri anchorage in Japan before the battleship departed for Operation Ten-Go. She passed through the Bungo Channel between Shikoku and Kyushu at 1830 hours, sailing west and then turning south at 2100 hours to avoid American submarine USS Threadfin. Meanwhile, USS Threadfin continued to follow Yamato's position though unable to attack. ww2dbase [Yamato | Mitajiri, Yamaguchi | CPC]
• SS Hobbs Victory, struck by two special attack aircraft on the previous day, was destroyed in the East China Sea when the ammunition in her cargo hold exploded amidst firefighting efforts. ww2dbase [Okinawa Campaign | Tokko "Kamikaze" Special Attack Doctrine | Hobbs Victory | Okinawa | CPC]

• On the Island of Texel off the Dutch coast, the Georgian troops serving as volunteers with the German army mutinied. Some 246 German troops were killed in their sleep by the Georgians (most of whom had originally been captured on the Eastern Front) and battle broke out which eventually results in about 800 Germans, about 500 Georgian and 117 Texel civilian fatalities. The fighting ended only when the Canadians arrived on 20 May 1945, two weeks after the end of the European war. ww2dbase [Georgian Texel Uprising | Texel, Noord-Holland | AC]

6 Apr 1945 Interactive Map