Today in
World War II History

Scraggy Hill at Imphal, India, April 1944 (Imperial War Museum: IND 3714)

80 Years Ago—April 18, 1944: Last air raid on London, the end of the “Little Blitz”; in the Little Blitz, on the eve of D-day, the German Luftwaffe lost over 500 aircraft, while the RAF lost only 8 aircraft.

Allies begin air supply to besieged British and Indian troops at Imphal, India.

Jerome Robbins’s ballet Fancy Free debuts at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York, the inspiration for the musical On the Town.

Prototype C-69 Constellation at Burbank, CA, 9 Jan 1943 (US Navy photo)

80 Years Ago—April 17, 1944: Countdown to D-day: Royal Navy & RAF Bomber Command begin laying mines in the English Channel in preparation for D-day.

Howard Hughes and Jack Frye fly a Lockheed Constellation from Burbank, CA, to Washington, DC, in 6 hours and 57 minutes, a new cross-country record.

US Fifth Air Force bombing of Hollandia, New Guinea, April 1944 (USAF Photo)

80 Years Ago—April 16, 1944: In the Crimea, Soviets drive Germans back to Sevastopol and take Yalta.

“Black Sunday” for US Fifth Air Force—after successful bombing of Hollandia, New Guinea, 26 planes are lost in heavy weather, the unit’s highest non-combat losses in the war.

Battleship USS Wisconsin is commissioned at Philadelphia Navy Yard, PA.

US air commanders: Brig. Gen. Jesse Auton, Gen. Dwight Eisenhower, Lt. Gen. Carl Spaatz (commander US Strategic Air Forces in Europe), Maj. Gen. James Doolittle (commander US Eighth Air Force), Maj. Gen. William Kepner (commander US VIII Fighter Command), Col. Donald Blakeslee, at presentation of Distinguished Service Cross to Blakeslee, Debden Airfield, England, 11 April 1944 (US National Archives)

80 Years Ago—April 15, 1944: Countdown to D-day: Allied Expeditionary Air Force issues Operation Neptune Overall Air Plan for D-day, temporarily suspending attacks on oil and industrial targets in favor of transportation targets.

Marshal Nikolai Vatutin, commander of Soviet Voronezh Front, dies after being wounded in ambush by Ukrainian insurgents on February 28.

Damage at Victoria Dock after Fort Stikine explosion, Bombay, India, 14 April 1944 (public domain via Wikipedia)

80 Years Ago—April 14, 1944: Countdown to D-day: RAF and US Eighth and Ninth Air Forces in England come under Gen. Dwight Eisenhower’s command for Operation Overlord.

At Bombay, India, British ammunition ship Fort Stikine explodes, killing 1300 and destroying 27 ships.

Chinese troops launch offensive across border into Burma.

B-17 Memphis Belle and her crew in England, 7 June 1943 (US Air Force photo 24147 AC)

80 Years Ago—April 13, 1944: Countdown to D-day: RAF and US Ninth Air Force begin bombing campaign against gun emplacements in Normandy and elsewhere on French coast to conceal invasion site.

Martial law lifted in US Territory of Hawaii, which had been in place since the attack on Pearl Harbor, 7 December 1941.

Hollywood movie premiere of the documentary Memphis Belle: A Story of a Flying Fortress, directed by William Wyler, about the famous B-17’s 25^th mission.

Longues-sur-Mer gun battery, Longues-sur-Mer, France, September 2017 (Photo: Sarah Sundin)

Prince Umberto of Italy, 1944 (Imperial War Museum: TR 1827)

80 Years Ago—April 12, 1944: German troops begin evacuating the Crimea by sea.

King Vittorio Emanuele of Italy transfers most powers to his son Prince Umberto but retains the throne.

Allied map showing German gun emplacements and defenses at Pointe du Hoc, Normandy, dated 21 April 1944 and used in preparations for D-day (Imperial War Museum MH 24806)

80 Years Ago—April 11, 1944: Countdown to D-day: Lt. Col. James Rudder submits plan for US 2^nd Ranger Battalion’s assault on Pointe du Hoc in Normandy on D-day. Read more: “The Land Beneath Us Tour of Pointe du Hoc.”

Due to increasing instances of sabotage in factories by the French, the German SS orders public execution as the penalty for sabotage.

Soviets take Kerch in Ukraine.

A copy of Operation Neptune orders and a weather map, on display at the National Museum of the Royal Navy, Portsmouth, England, September 2017 (Photo: Sarah Sundin)

80 Years Ago—April 10, 1944: Countdown to D-day: Adm. Sir Bertram Ramsay (Allied Naval Commander, Expeditionary Force) issues 700-page Naval Orders, Operation Neptune (naval plan for D-day). Read more: “The Sea Before Us tour – D-Day at Sea.”

Soviets & partisans take Odessa, Ukraine.

Park Street Church, Boston, MA (Photo: Sarah Sundin, July 2014)

80 Years Ago—April 9, 1944: Japanese surround 155,000 British & Indian troops in Imphal, India.

On Easter, churches around the nation donate $600,000 to the new War Relief Fund, started by Park Street Church in Boston, MA; in 1950, the organization will become World Relief.