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• Prinz Eugen set sail for Copenhagen, Denmark. ww2dbase [Prinz Eugen | CPC]
• SS judge Otto Thorbeck sentenced Dietrich Bonhoeffer to death for conspiracy against the German state. ww2dbase [Dietrich Bonhoeffer | CPC]
• A British SAS brigade was dropped into eastern Netherlands as an advance force for Canadian units moving north. ww2dbase [TH]
• British Second Army captured Hildesheim in central Germany. ww2dbase [TH]
• Soviet 2nd Ukrainian Front continued its advance into northern Czechoslovakia. ww2dbase [TH]
• Defensive forts number 5 and 8 at Königsberg, East Prussia, Germany surrendered to Soviet forces. German forces attempted another counterattack, but it failed at the face of Soviet air superiority. On this date, Soviet aircraft dropped 1,500 tons of bombs on Königsberg. ww2dbase [East Prussian Offensive | TH]
• Two destroyers were damaged by Japanese special attack boats and aircraft off Okinawa, Japan. ww2dbase [Okinawa Campaign | CPC]
• In northern Italy, British Army SAS Major Anders Lassen and 19 men were tasked with creating a diversion at Lake Comacchio. The Dane, who joined the British forces after the fall of Denmark and had already won the Military Medal three times in commando operations, destroyed three enemy strong-points before being fatally wounded. As his men withdrew, he refused aid, knowing that he would only slow them down and endanger their escape. His body was later found and buried by partisans. The fighting Dane was awarded a posthumous Victoria Cross, the only non-British Commonwealth soldier to win the medal during the war. ww2dbase [AC]
• USS Snook reported her position to USS Tigrone east of the island of Taiwan, China. ww2dbase [Snook | CPC]
• The US coastal minesweeper YMS-103 was beached and abandoned after suffering fatal damage from a mine on the previous day off the coast of Okinawa, Japan. ww2dbase [AC]
• Soviet troops gained control of the main railway station in Vienna, Ostmark, Germany and surrounded the city. ww2dbase [Battle of Vienna | CPC]
• USS Seahorse sank a small Japanese vessel with gunfire off Japan. ww2dbase [Seahorse | CPC]
• HMS Cumberland joined Task Group 63.2 with HMS Queen Elizabeth, French Battleship Richelieu and HMS London screened by 5 Fleet destroyers to cover air reconnaissance flights by HM Escort Aircraft Carriers Empress and Khedive at Port Swettenham (now Port Klang) and Port Dickson, Malaya (now Malaysia). (Operation Sunfish). ww2dbase [Cumberland | London | Queen Elizabeth | Richelieu | DS]
• USS Bailey arrived in Albay Gulf, provided fire support for Army ground operations, and retired toward Mindoro, Philippines. ww2dbase [Bailey | DS]

• German submarine U-1001 (Kapitänleutnant Ernst-Ulrich Blaudow) was sunk in the Atlantic south-west of Land's End, England, United Kingdom by depth charges from the British frigates HMS Fitzroy (K 553) and HMS Byron (k 508). All 46 crew were lost. ww2dbase [Conclusion of the Battle of the Atlantic | HM]
• German submarine U-774 (Kapitänleutnant Werner Sausmikat) was sunk in the North Atlantic south-west of Ireland by depth charges from the British frigates HMS Calder (K 349) and HMS Bentinck (K 314). All 44 crew were lost. ww2dbase [Conclusion of the Battle of the Atlantic | HM]

• The Japanese cargo ship Tamon Maru No. 12 struck a mine that had been laid by USAAF aircraft in the Yangtze estuary, near Shanghai, China. ww2dbase [HM]

• The German auxiliary vessel Franken, supply ship for the last two remaining German heavy ships in the Baltic Sea Lützow and Prinz Eugen, was hit by bombs during a Soviet air raid and sunk in Danzig Bay. ww2dbase [Danzig Bay | HM]
• At about 1220 hours, Seaplane tender Hans Albrecht Wedel was sunk during a Soviet air raid in Danzig (Polish: GdaÅ„sk) Bay; 10 were killed. ww2dbase [Hans Albrecht Wedel | Danzig Bay | CPC]
• Franken was struck by Soviet aircraft and sank near the Hela Peninsula off Danzig. ww2dbase [Franken | CPC]

• Troops of the US 3rd Army discovered a hidden cache of gold, art, and other treasures in the Merkers salt mine near Mülhausen, Germany. ww2dbase [Mülhausen | CPC]
• US Seventh Army captured Pforzheim in southwestern Germany. ww2dbase [Southern Germany Campaign | Pforzheim, Baden | TH]
• German submarines U-2514 (Kapitänleutnant Rolf-Birger Wahlen) and U-2509 (Korvettenkapitän Rudolf Schendel), both of 31st Flotilla (a training unit) of the German Navy, were sunk at the Blohm und Voß shipyard in Hamburg, Germany by bombs from British Lancaster and Handley Page Halifax aircraft. ww2dbase [Conclusion of the Battle of the Atlantic | Hamburg | HM]
• Wilhelm Bauer was sunk in shallow water by Allied aircraft. ww2dbase [Wilhelm Bauer | CPC]
• The USAAF 306th Bomb Group flying from RAF Thurleigh launched a bombing raid against Halberstadt, Germany. ww2dbase [Bombing of Hamburg, Dresden, and Other Cities | RAF Thurleigh | Halberstadt | DS]

• Kamoi sank in shallow water in Hong Kong. ww2dbase [Kamoi | CPC]

• British troops attacked the area between the southern tip of Lake Comacchio and the Fossa di Navigazione, known as 'The Wedge', in northern Italy. ww2dbase [Operation Grapeshot and Operation Roast | Emilia-Romagna | CPC]

• Casablanca-class escort carrier USS Sargent Bay was reassigned from close air support and returned to screening duty for a logistics replenishment group supporting the fleet around Okinawa. ww2dbase [Sargent Bay | Okinawa | DS]

• USS Sea Robin sank two small Japanese fishing vessels in the South China Sea with her deck gun and took on 3 survivors. ww2dbase [Sea Robin | South China Sea | CPC]
• B-24 bombers of the US 13th Air Force attacked Japanese auxiliary submarine chasers southeast of the Celebes in the Dutch East Indies, sinking Cha 101 and damaging Cha 72. ww2dbase [HM]

8 Apr 1945 Interactive Map