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• Pierre Laval was named Chief of Government with special powers in Vichy France. ww2dbase [Pierre Laval | TH]
• US Navy Admiral Nimitz ordered USS Yorktown to Tongatapu, Tonga in the South Pacific; she was to support the defense of New Guinea and the Solomon Islands. ww2dbase [Yorktown (Yorktown-class) | CPC]
• Just after 0000 hours US destroyer USS Roper sank U-85 with 11 depth charges just off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, United States; Roper was the first American destroyer to sink a German submarine. German submarine U-203 sank British freighter Empire Thrush 10 miles off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, United States at 1515 hours; all 55 aboard survived. German submarine U-66 sank Greek ship Korthion off Barbados at 1636 hours; 14 were killed, 9 survived. Off Cape Cod, Massachusetts, United States, U-571 sank US freighter Margaret at 2102 hours, killing the entire crew of 29. British sloop HMS Stork and corvette HMS Vetch sank German submarine U-252 with depth charges 650 miles west of Brest, France at 2230 hours, killing all 44 aboard. ww2dbase [Second Happy Time | CPC]
• Hudson bombers of No. 139 Squadron RAF attacked the Japanese flying-boat base on the Andaman Islands. ww2dbase [AC]
• USS Wasp departed the Clyde Estuary, Scotland, United Kingdom with 52 Spitfire fighters of No. 601 and No. 603 Squadrons RAF on board for Malta; she was escorted by destroyers USS Lang and USS Madison. ww2dbase [Wasp (Wasp-class) | CPC]
• British submarine HMS Upholder became missing in the Mediterranean Sea somewhere between Italy and Libya; all 33 aboard were never seen again. She was either sunk by German aircraft or by Italian torpedo boat Pegaso. ww2dbase [CPC]
• A German Fw 200 Condor aircraft located Allied convoy QP-10 at dawn; 20 Ju 88 aircraft attacked at 0600 hours, damaging the rudder of British freighter Harpalion (she would be scuttled shortly after) at the cost of 4 aircraft shot down. ww2dbase [Arctic Convoys | CPC]
• Philippe Leclerc was promoted to the rank of brigade general. ww2dbase [Philippe Leclerc | CPC]
• Peter Drummond was promoted to the rank of air vice-marshal. ww2dbase [Peter Drummond | CPC]

• USS Skipjack departed Fremantle, Australia for her third war patrol. ww2dbase [Skipjack | Fremantle, Western Australia | CPC]

• 12 British DB-7 Boston bombers damaged the Mondeville power station in Calvados, France during a daylight raid. ww2dbase [Bombing of Cities in France and Low Countries | Mondeville, Basse-Normandie | CPC]

• 208 British bombers (142 Wellington, 34 Hampden, 20 Stirling, 8 Halifax, and 4 Manchester) attacked Dortmund, Germany, damaging 6 buildings and killing 4 civilians. 9 bombers were lost in this attack. ww2dbase [Bombing of Hamburg, Dresden, and Other Cities | Dortmund, Westfalen-Süd | CPC]
• Adolf Hitler ordered the German Luftwaffe to recommence air attacks on United Kingdom with an emphasis of bombing cities with no particular industrial value but of great beauty. The British soon called these raids "Baedeker" raids after the famous German 19th-century tourist guide. ww2dbase [Adolf Hitler | AC]

• Kamoi arrived at Emidji, Marshall Islands. ww2dbase [Kamoi | Emidji | CPC]

• USS S-31 began her second war patrol off the Panama Canal Zone. ww2dbase [S-31 | CPC]

• US and Filipino prisoners of war began to arrive at Orani in Bataan, Philippine Islands from Balanga, where facilities were totally inadequate for the large numbers of prisoners that would ultimately arrive at this location; to combat the issue, the Japanese marched a group of prisoners to Lubao further north and were imprisoned in an abandoned warehouse (en route, many died from heat, starvation, dehydration, and murders by Japanese guards). To the south, Japanese artillery continued the bombardment of Corregidor island. ww2dbase [Invasion of the Philippine Islands | CPC]

• The German bombing on Grimsby, England, United Kingdom that began before midnight on the previous date ended; it killed 13, injured 28, and destroyed a number of homes. ww2dbase [Battle of Britain | Grimsby, England | CPC]
• In a speech at a meeting with Franklin Roosevelt's representatives in London, England, United Kingdom, General Alan Brooke on behalf of the Chiefs-of-Staff Committee insisted that it must be essential to hold the Japanese and to ensure that there should be no junction between them and the Germans that could gravely threaten Allied oil supplies from the Persian Gulf. ww2dbase [Alan Brooke | London, England | AC]

• Stephen Hopkins was launched at the Kaiser Richmond Shipyards at Yard No. 2 in Richmond, California, United States. ww2dbase [Kaiser Richmond Shipyards | Stephen Hopkins | Richmond, California | CPC]
• USS Ranger anchored in Narragansett Bay, Newport, Rhode Island. ww2dbase [Ranger | Narragansett Bay, Rhode Island | DS]

14 Apr 1942 Interactive Map