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• German Armeegruppe E completed its evacuation of Sarajevo, Yugoslavia. ww2dbase [TH]
• In Germany, US First Army captured Göttingen and US Ninth Army captured Eisenach and Hameln. ww2dbase [TH]
• General Schörner's German Armeegruppe Mitte attacked the Soviet 2nd and 4th Ukrainian Fronts in Czechoslovakia. ww2dbase [TH]
• USS Hancock, USS Maryland, and 4 destroyers were damaged by Japanese special attack aircraft. ww2dbase [Maryland | CPC]
• German jets were deployed to intercept heavy bombers of the Western Allies. ww2dbase [TH]
• USS Charr sank Japanese cruiser Isuzu, which had just been damaged by a torpedo from USS Gabilan, with three hits out of five torpedoes fired. ww2dbase [Charr | CPC]
• The US coastal minesweeper YMS-103 was damaged by a mine off Okinawa, Japan. ww2dbase [AC]
• USS Cabrilla fired 3 torpedoes at a Japanese transport off northern Japan; all torpedoes missed. ww2dbase [Cabrilla | CPC]
• Hauptmann Oskar Dettke and Oberleutnant Heinrich Südel of the German Kampfgeschwader 55 wing were awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross. ww2dbase [CPC]

• Anglo-Indian troops attacked Yindaw, which was 20 kilometers south of Meiktila, Burma. It was stubbornly defended by 1,000 Japanese troops which repeatedly repulsed assaults over the next few days. William Slim would ultimately order the town bypassed, leaving it for the mop-up phase later. ww2dbase [Battle of Meiktila-Mandalay | Yindaw | CPC]

• Hikosaburo Hata was named the chief of staff of Otozo Yamada (Japanese Kwantung Army in northeastern China). ww2dbase [CPC]

• Heavy cruiser Lützow, destroyer Z43, and other German ships completed the shelling Soviet positions on the coast of the Danzig Bay. ww2dbase [Lützow | East Pomeranian Offensive | Z43 | CPC]

• Tran Trong Kim met with Emperor Bao Dai of the Empire of Vietnam, a Japanese-sponsored puppet state. ww2dbase [Tran Trong Kim | CPC]

• German forces at Königsberg, East Prussia, Germany attempted a counterattack. Although it inflicted heavy casualties on the Soviets, it ultimately failed. ww2dbase [East Prussian Offensive | Königsberg, Ostpreußen | CPC]
• Wilhelm Canaris was sentenced to death by a special SS tribunal. ww2dbase [Wilhelm Canaris | CPC]
• In a last ditch operation by the so-called Sonderkommando Elbe, set up by the fanatical Oberst Otto Köhnke, the pilots of 183 Fw 190 and Bf 109K aircraft flying to the strains of martial music played over the radio were ordered to deliberately ram American B-17 bombers. How many actually did so remained a mystery but 137 of the German aircraft were lost with the loss 70 pilots killed. Only eight US heavy bombers were brought down. ww2dbase [AC]
• The USAAF 306th Bomb Group flying from RAF Thurleigh launched a bombing raid against the airfield at Wesendorf, Germany. ww2dbase [RAF Thurleigh | Bombing of Hamburg, Dresden, and Other Cities | Wesendorf | DS]

• Submarine USS Tinosa arrived at Apra Harbor, Guam at the conclusion of her ninth war patrol. Tinosa tied up alongside tender USS Proteus for repairs and refit. ww2dbase [Proteus | Tinosa | Apra Harbor | DS]

• USS Sargent Bay departed Okinawa. ww2dbase [Sargent Bay | Okinawa | CPC]
• 101 American B-29 bombers attacked the Nakajima aircraft factory near Tokyo, Japan; this was the first B-29 mission to be escorted by P-51 fighters from Iwo Jima. ww2dbase [Bombing of Tokyo and Other Cities | Tokyo | CPC]
• Kantaro Suzuki was named the 42nd Prime Minister of Japan. ww2dbase [Kantaro Suzuki | CPC]
• When Yamato was discovered was steaming south, Air Group 9 from USS Yorktown (Essex-class) claimed several torpedo hits on Yamato herself just before the battleship exploded and sank. USS Yorktown (Essex-class)?s planes also had at least three 500-pound bombs hit light cruiser Yahagi before that ship also sank. Yorktown then resumed her strikes on Okinawa. ww2dbase [Okinawa Campaign | Yorktown (Essex-class) | Okinawa | DS]
• Korechika Anami was made the Army Minister under Prime Minister Kantaro Suzuki. ww2dbase [Korechika Anami | Tokyo | CPC]
• [appx date] The last set of Japanese Fu-Go balloon bombs were launched into the jet-stream. ww2dbase [Japanese Attacks on the Continental United States | Fu-Go | Otsu, Ibaraki | DS]
• Patrol Boat No. 102 departed Fukue, Nagasaki, Japan at 2203 hours. ww2dbase [Stewart | Kukue, Nagasaki | CPC]

• Lieutenant General Yoshio Kozuki was named the commanding officer of the Japanese Chosen Army in occupied Korea, relieving Seishiro Itagaki. ww2dbase [CPC]

• Kosaku Ariga, commanding officer of battleship Yamato, went down with the ship as the battleship sank. ww2dbase [Okinawa Campaign | Kosaku Ariga | East China Sea | CPC]
• USS Tirante torpedoed a Japanese cargo freighter, surfaced, and observed two survivors clinging to debris. She was initially credited with the kill, but it failed to be confirmed after studying Japanese records post-war. ww2dbase [Tirante | Yellow Sea | CPC]
• While enroute to attack the US fleets off Okinawa, Japan, battleship Yamato was attacked by US carrier aircraft resulting in her loss, along with several of her escorts. ww2dbase [Yamato | Okinawa Campaign | East China Sea | TH]
• Destroyer Yukikaze rescued survivors of battleship Yamato and destroyer Isokaze; she suffered minor damage from American air attacks during the action (3 were killed, 15 were wounded). ww2dbase [Yukikaze | Okinawa Campaign | East China Sea | CPC]
• USS Gabilan sank the already-damaged Japanese cruiser Isuzu, which she and her wolfpack mates had been chasing since 4 Apr 1945, in the South China Sea, hitting her with 1 of 6 torpedoes fired. ww2dbase [Gabilan | South China Sea | CPC]

• While at Warm Springs, Georgia, United States, Franklin Roosevelt had a brief telephone conversation with his wife Eleanor Roosevelt, who was at the family estate at Hyde Park, New York, United States. ww2dbase [Franklin Roosevelt | Warm Springs, Georgia | CPC]

7 Apr 1945 Interactive Map