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• German submarine U-136 sank US freighter Steel Maker 200 kilometers southeast of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, United States, killing 1 of 45 aboard. ww2dbase [Second Happy Time | CPC]
• USS Gar began her second war patrol. ww2dbase [Gar | CPC]
• German submarine U-130 attempted to bombard oil storage tanks near Willemstad on the island of Curaçao but was driven away by coastal defense guns before any damage was done. ww2dbase [Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico Campaigns | CPC]
• Slim, Wavell, and Alexander met to start discussing plans for a major retreat of Allied personnel out of Burma. ww2dbase [William Slim | CPC]
• HMS Edinburgh arrived at Murmansk, Russia. ww2dbase [Edinburgh | CPC]
• James Johnson shot down a German Fw 190 fighter. ww2dbase [James Johnson | CPC]
• US and Filipino prisoners of war were loaded onto cramped freight trains from San Fernando to Camp O'Donnell at Capas, Tarlac, Philippine Islands; many died en route. ww2dbase [Invasion of the Philippine Islands | CPC]
• British submarine HMS Umbra sank Italian ship Assunta de Gregori off Sfax, Tunisia. ww2dbase [CPC]
• Off Palestine, German submarine U-81 sank a sailing vessel by gunfire at 1651 hours and sank sailing vessel Hefz el Rahman by ramming at 2200 hours. ww2dbase [CPC]
• ShCh-401 pursued a German convoy with torpedoes off Tanafjord, Norway, targeting tanker Forbach; the submarine was driven off by German mineseepers M 154 and M 251 before the attack was made. ww2dbase [ShCh-401 | CPC]

• At dawn, the lifeboat of the chief officer of neutral Argentinian motor tanker Victoria, which was damaged by German submarine U-201 on the previous day 200 kilometers east of Hampton Roads, Virginia, United States, was spotted by the British steam merchant Empire Dryden. Empire Dryden was just about to pick up the 21 men in it when Empire Dryden spotted American Minesweeper USS Owl (AM 2), which had already been on the scene since the previous day; USS Owl would pick up the 21 men and brought them to the Victoria. Among the 21 men was the engineer of Fairbanks Morse Company, the company that had built the diesel engines of the tanker. With his help it was finally possible to restart the engines and proceed at 1700 hours. The destroyers USS Swanson (DD 443) and USS Nicholson (DD 442) were sent from New York, United States to assist and the latter picked up the remaining survivors from the lifeboat that was under command of the master at 1600 hours, transferring them back to their ship about eight hours later. ww2dbase [Second Happy Time | HM]

• The 113th Regiment of the Chinese 38th Division under General Sun Liren captured Twingon, Burma then repulsed a Japanese counterattack that saw heavy casualties on both sides. To the east, Japanese 55th Infantry Division captured Pyinmana. ww2dbase [Invasion of Burma | CPC]
• Chiang Kaishek, Song Meiling, and Joseph Stilwell met at Maymyo, Burma. ww2dbase [Chiang Kaishek | Joseph Stilwell | Song Meiling | Maymyo | CPC]

• General Mikhail Grigoryevich Yefremov committed suicide by shooting himself in the head with a pistol as his Soviet 33rd Army was on the brink of total destruction at Vyazma, Russia. ww2dbase [Rzhev-Vyazma Offensive and the Demyansk Pocket | Vyazma | CPC]
• The 7 surviving ships of Allied convoy PQ-14 arrived at Murmansk, Russia. ww2dbase [Arctic Convoys | Murmansk | CPC]

• Less Carrier Division 5, which detached with screen to head for New Guinea for Operation MO, Akagi and the Striking Force departed Mako in high speed attempted pursuit of the carriers that had launched the Doolittle Raiders which had just struck the Tokyo Bay area on the previous day. ww2dbase [Akagi | Mako Guard District | Mako, Hoko | CPC]
• Shokaku departed Mako, Pescadores Islands to participate in Operation MO in the Coral Sea commencing 20 Apr 1942. ww2dbase [Mako Guard District | Shokaku | Mako, Hoko | CPC]
• Yugure departed Mako in the Taiwan Strait at 1100 hours. ww2dbase [Yugure | Mako, Hoko | CPC]

• German Luftwaffe group III./KG 27 returned to Kherson, Ukraine after operating against the Soviet salient at Izium in northeastern Ukraine. ww2dbase [Kherson | CPC]

• James Doolittle was promoted to the rank of brigadier general in the US Army. ww2dbase [James Doolittle | CPC]

19 Apr 1942 Interactive Map