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• » 26 Apr 1942

• Luftwaffe bombers conducted a raid on Bath, England. ww2dbase [Battle of Britain | TH]
• USS Tautog sank Japanese submarine RO-30. ww2dbase [Tautog | CPC]
• Destroyer Yukikaze departed Davao, Mindanao, Philippine Islands. ww2dbase [Yukikaze | CPC]
• Aleksandr Vasilevsky was promoted to the rank of colonel general. ww2dbase [Aleksandr Vasilevsky | CPC]
• German submarine U-66 sank US ship Alcoa Partner 80 miles north of Bonaire in the Caribbean Sea at 0830 hours; 10 were killed, 25 survived. ww2dbase [Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico Campaigns | CPC]
• Destroyer USS Sturtevant departed Key West, Florida, United States at 1520 hours to make rendezvous with a convoy sailing from New Orleans, United States; at about 1720 hours, 18 miles north of Key West, Sturtevant struck three mines previously laid by USS Miantonomah and sank; 20 were killed, 132 survived. ww2dbase [CPC]

• In Burma, the Indian 17th Division moved from Mahlaing to Meiktila, 20 miles to the south, to assist the Chinese 200th Division in forming a line of defense against the Japanese attack on Mandalay. ww2dbase [Invasion of Burma | Meiktila | CPC]

• 8 Pe-3 bombers of No. 2 Squadron of Soviet 95th Fighter Aviation Regiment attacked the German airfield at Heybukten, Finland, destroying 6 German aircraft; en route home, the Soviet bombers were intercepted by German Bf 109 fighters; 5 Pe-3 bombers were shot down. ww2dbase [Heybukten | CPC]

• Alpino Bagnolini departed La Pallice, La Rochelle, France at 1500 hours, starting her eighth war patrol. ww2dbase [Alpino Bagnolini | La Rochelle, Poitou-Charentes | CPC]

• USS St. Louis and convoy arrived at Bora Bora, Society Islands. ww2dbase [St. Louis | Bora Bora, Society Islands | DS]

• A law passed by the German Reichstag granted Hitler the right to change laws by decree without discussion by the Reichstag. The German dictator had now been given complete despotic power and Germany has ceased to be a state whose structure was based on the rule of law. ww2dbase [Adolf Hitler | AC]
• Five prisoners of war escaped from the military hospital at Gnaschwitz, Germany. Four would be recaptured, but the fifth, Belgian Captain Louis Rémy would make it to Algeciras, Spain. ww2dbase [Gnaschwitz | CPC]
• 106 British bombers attacked Rostock, Germany for the fourth and final night in a row, causing damage in the town and the nearby Heinkel aircraft factory. 1 Stirling, 1 Wellington, and 1 Whitley bombers were lost during this attack. At the end of the four-day attack, Rostock suffered 1,765 buildings destroyed, 204 civilians killed, and 89 civilians injured. ww2dbase [Bombing of Hamburg, Dresden, and Other Cities | Rostock, Mecklenburg | TH, CPC]
• The Nazi German parliament held its final meeting at the Kroll Opera House in Berlin, Germany. ww2dbase [Reichstag Building and Kroll Opera House | Berlin | CPC]

• Allied convoy PQ-15, consisted of 24 merchant ships, 1 fleet auxiliary oiler, and 2 icebreakers departed Reykjavík, Iceland for Murmansk, Russia with 4 destroyers, 1 corvette, 3 minesweepers, 4 trawlers, 1 catapult aircraft merchantman, and 1 anti-aircraft ship in escort. ww2dbase [Arctic Convoys | Reykjavík | CPC]

• HMS Edinburgh embarked 5 tons of Soviet gold worth about £5,000,000 at Murmansk, Russia; it was meant to be the down payment for US war goods. ww2dbase [Edinburgh | Murmansk | CPC]
• The PPS submachine gun began to be tested. ww2dbase [PPS | CPC]

• US Navy Admirals Nimitz and King met in San Francisco, California to discuss Nimitz's plan in the South Pacific. ww2dbase [San Francisco, California | CPC]

26 Apr 1942 Interactive Map