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• German submarine U-123 sank US freighter Leslie 5 kilometers southeast of Cape Canaveral, Florida, United States at 0511 hours, killing 4 of 32 aboard. At 0745 hours, U-123 struck again, sinking Swedish ship Korsholm with her deck gun; 9 were killed, 17 survived. 400 miles south of Newfoundland, U-402 sank British ship Empire Progress at 2326 hours; 12 were killed, 38 survived. Just a short moment before midnight, just off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, United States, US destroyer USS Roper detected U-85 and proceeded to attack; U-85 dove quickly, leaving 29 men in the water. ww2dbase [Second Happy Time | CPC]
• German submarine U-154 sank British ship Empire Amethyst 40 miles south of Haiti at 0552 hours; all 47 aboard were killed. ww2dbase [Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico Campaigns | CPC]
• USS Grayling sank Japanese vessel Ryujin Maru 60 miles south of Japan at 2100 hours. ww2dbase [Grayling | CPC]
• British submarine HMS Thrasher sank German freighter Atlas 82 miles southwest of Benghazi, Libya at 1012 hours; she was counterattacked with 19 depth charges but she was able to escape without damage. ww2dbase [CPC]
• German submarines attacked Allied convoy QP-10 150 miles north of Norway; U-436 sank Russian merchant ship Kiev at 1300 hours (6 were killed, 62 survived), and U-435 sank Panamanian ship El Occidente at 1329 hours (20 were killed, 21 survived). ww2dbase [Arctic Convoys | CPC]

• Milton Miles arrived in Brazil. ww2dbase [Milton Miles | CPC]

• Japanese troops continued to assault the Minhia-Taungdwingyi-Pyinmana defensive line along the Irrawaddy River in Burma without success. To the northwest, troops of Japanese 56th Infantry Division captured Mauchi from troops of Chinese 6th Army and the nearby tungsten mines. ww2dbase [Invasion of Burma | CPC]

• Philippe Pétain, under German pressure, decided to reinstate Pierre Laval whom the Germans favored. ww2dbase [Philippe Pétain | Vichy | CPC]

• USS Lexington departed Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii to rendezvous with USS Yorktown for a raid on Rabaul. ww2dbase [Lexington (Lexington-class) | Pearl Harbor Navy Base and Ford Island Naval Air Station | Honolulu, Oahu | CPC]
• Barbers Point Naval Air Station: First commanding officer, Capt HF MacComsey USN, assumed command. ww2dbase [Barbers Point Naval Air Station | Ewa, Oahu | DS]

• Anton Schmid was executed by his superiors in Vilnius, Lithuania as a traitor; he had helped about 250 Jews escape from certain death. ww2dbase [Anton Schmid | Vilnius | CPC]

• Kamoi departed Taroa, Marshall Islands. ww2dbase [Kamoi | Taroa | CPC]

• Task Force 16 (USS Enterprise) made rendezvous with Task Force 18 (USS Hornet) north of Midway and pressed on westward toward the launch point for the Doolittle Raid. Later on the same day, they crossed the 180th meridian. ww2dbase [Northampton | Nashville | Vincennes | Enterprise | Hornet (Yorktown-class) | Doolittle Raid | Line Crossing Ceremony | DS]

• US and Filipino prisoners of war began to be marched from Balanga for Orani in Bataan, Philippine Islands. To the south, Japanese artillery continued the bombardment of Corregidor island. ww2dbase [Invasion of the Philippine Islands | CPC]

• Kumano departed Singapore. ww2dbase [Kumano | DS]

• Pilot Sergeant William McLachlan of No. 175 Squadron RAF, flying a Hurricane fighter, accidentally killed 25 spectators during a ground attack tactics demonstration flight in Imber, Wiltshire, England, United Kingdom. McLachlan was found guilty of making the fatal mistake, but continued to fly combat missions until he was shot down and killed in France on 29 Jun 1942. ww2dbase [Imber, England | CPC]
• USS Wasp took on British Spitfire fighters at Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom in preparation for an aircraft ferrying mission to Malta. ww2dbase [Wasp (Wasp-class) | Glasgow, Scotland | CPC]
• German bombers attacked Portland and Weymouth, England, United Kingdom during the day, damaging a number of homes. After dark, German bombers attacked Grimsby on the eastern coast of England, lasting until the next date. ww2dbase [Battle of Britain | England | CPC]

• Gerald Ford, the future 38th President of the United States, was commissioned as an ensign in the US Navy. ww2dbase [Gerald Ford | AC]
• USS Ranger departed Norfolk, Virginia bound for Newport, Rhode Island. ww2dbase [Norfolk Navy Yard | Ranger | Norfolk, Virginia | DS]
• USS Honolulu departed San Diego as an escort for a convoy bound for Bora Bora, Society Islands. ww2dbase [Honolulu | San Diego, California | DS]

13 Apr 1942 Interactive Map