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• Weather data for 9 Apr 1942

• German relief attempts toward the Kholm encirclement were met with limited success. ww2dbase [Main Article | TH]
• Norwegian Lutheran Bishop Eivind Berggrav was arrested by the German occupation administration in Norway for resistance. ww2dbase [CPC]
• British submarine HMS Thrasher sank Italian merchant ship Gala 20 miles southwest of Benghazi, Libya. ww2dbase [CPC]

• German submarine U-123 sank US freighter Esparta within 10 kilometers of Cumberland Island, Georgia, United States at 0716 hours, killing 1 of 40 aboard. To the northeast, 20 kilometers off the coast of North Carolina, United States, U-160 sank US freighter Malchace at 0758 hours, killing 1 of 29 aboard. U-552 sank US tanker Atlas, killing 2 of 34 aboard. At 1004 hours, northwest of Iceland, U-252 sank Norwegian ship Fanefjeld, killing all 24 aboard. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]

• Just before 1200 hours, eight B-26 Marauder bombers attacked Simpson Harbor and Vunakanau airfield at Rabaul, New Britain, damaging ships in the harbor, port facilities, and several parked aircraft. ww2dbase [CPC]

• In the morning, eight Zero fighters attacked Seven Mile airfield new Port Moresby, Australian Papua, damaging one Hudson aircraft and one Kittyhawk aircraft on the ground. In the afternoon, Type 1 bombers escorted by four Zero fighters attacked Seven Mile once again; Australian fighters failed to scramble fighters. ww2dbase [CPC]

• Akagi launched air strikes against Trincomalee, Ceylon from the Indian Ocean. ww2dbase [Main Article | Event | Tabular Record of Movement | CPC]
• Shokaku launched air strikes against Trincomalee, Ceylon from the Indian Ocean. ww2dbase [Main Article | Event | Tabular Record of Movement | CPC]
• Japanese carrier aircraft attacked the harbor at Trincomalee, Ceylon at 0700 hours. Two hours later, empty British aircraft carrier HMS Hermes and Australian destroyer HMAS Vampire were detected 90 miles further south. At 1035 hours, Japanese carrier aircraft attacked and sank HMS Hermes (307 killed) and HMAS Vampire (9 killed); hospital ship Vita rescued survivors from both warships. At 1207 hours, 20 Japanese carrier dive bombers sank British oiler Athelstane (all aboard survived) and British corvette HMS Hollyhock (48 were killed, 17 survived) in the Indian Ocean. ww2dbase [Main Article | Event | CPC]

• Irako supplied food to auxiliary gunboat Okuyo Maru at Makassar, Celebes, Dutch East Indies. ww2dbase [Main Article | Tabular Record of Movement | CPC]

• Italian aircraft heavily damaged British destroyer HMS Lance at Malta; she would soon be written off as a total loss. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]

• Before dawn, Kuma was attacked by US motor torpedo boats PT-34 and PT-41 in the Cebu Strait between Cebu and Bohol in the Philippine Islands but sustained no damage; the only torpedo that hit Kuma failed to detonate. PT-34 would be found and destroyed by aircraft after daybreak, killing 2. ww2dbase [Main Article | Tabular Record of Movement | CPC]
• 75,000 US and Filipino troops, remainder of the US II Corps under General Edward King on the Bataan peninsula at Luzon, Philippine Islands, surrendered to the Japanese at 1230 hours; it was the largest American surrender in history. Before doing so, they destroyed fuel dumps, ammunition stores, submarine tender USS Canopus, tug USS Napa, and floating drydock USS Dewey. ww2dbase [Main Article | TH, CPC]

• Soviet light cruiser Voroshilov was damaged by German aircraft at Novorossiysk, Russia. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]
• Repeated Soviet attacks on German positions at Kerch, Russia failed to break through. ww2dbase [Main Article | TH]

• German bombers attacked Worthing in southern England, United Kingdom during the day, damaging a hospital and a gasometer and killing 2. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]

9 Apr 1942 Interactive Map