World War II Database

• Home
• » Events
• » WW2 Timeline
• » 5 Apr 1942

• Adolf Hitler ordered a renewed offensive in the Leningrad, Russia region in the Soviet Union. ww2dbase [Siege of Leningrad | CPC]
• Submarine USS Snapper delivered 20 tons of food to Corregidor, Philippine Islands and evacuated 27 personnel. ww2dbase [Snapper | CPC]
• Tatsuta Maru arrived at Tarakan, Borneo. ww2dbase [Tatsuta Maru | CPC]
• Japanese and Chinese troops clashed at Yedashe in central Burma. ww2dbase [Invasion of Burma | CPC]

• German submarine U-585 was posted as missing after she failed to report her position in the Barents Sea. All 44 aboard were lost. ww2dbase [Barents Sea | HM]

• German submarine U-154 sank US tanker Catahoula just off the northeastern coast of the Dominican Republic at 2318 hours; 7 were killed, 38 survived. ww2dbase [CPC]

• Tenryu departed Kavieng, New Ireland. ww2dbase [Tenryu | Kavieng, New Ireland | CPC]

• Seven Japanese Type 1 bombers, escorted by 4 Zero fighters, attacked Seven Mile airfield near Port Moresby, Australian Papua. Stores of fuel and ammunition were destroyed at the cost of one Zero fighter, which was shot down by Kittyhawk fighters. ww2dbase [Port Moresby | CPC]

• Commander Mitsuo Fuchida of Akagi commanded a 125-aircraft raid against Colombo, Ceylon. Akagi's aircraft helped in the sinking of HMS Cornwall and HMS Dorsetshire. ww2dbase [Akagi | Colombo | CPC]

• Francesco D'Alessandro was made the commanding officer of Morosini, relieving Athos Fraternale while at Bordeaux, France. ww2dbase [Morosini | Bordeaux, Aquitaine | CPC]

• 263 British bombers (179 Wellington, 44 Hampden, 29 Stirling, and 11 Manchester aircraft) attacked the Humboldt Engineering Works Company at Kalk near Köln, Germany; most of the bombs fell far from the Humboldt factories. The British lost 5 aircraft; one of the aircraft shot down crashed in Köln, killing 16 and wounding 30. ww2dbase [Bombing of Hamburg, Dresden, and Other Cities | Köln, Köln-Aachen | CPC]
• Adolf Hitler issued Führer Directive No. 41, calling for the invasion of the Caucasus region and Stalingrad, both in southern Russia. ww2dbase [Battle of Stalingrad | CPC]

• Shokaku launched air strikes against Colombo, Ceylon from the Indian Ocean. ww2dbase [Shokaku | CPC]
• In the morning, Japanese carriers launched 36 D3A2 dive bombers and 53 B5N2 torpedo bombers, escorted by 36 Zero fighters, against the British naval base at Colombo, Ceylon, sinking merchant cruiser HMS Hector, damaging port facilities, while shooting down 25 British aircraft; 7 Japanese aircraft were lost in this attack. Around noon, cruiser Tone's floatplane spotted British cruisers HMS Cornwall and HMS Dorsetshire 200 miles southwest of Ceylon; 53 carrier aircraft were launched to attack, sinking Dorsetshire at 1350 hours (234 killed) and Cornwall at 1400 hours (190 killed); 1,122 survived from both ships. ww2dbase [Raids into the Indian Ocean | CPC]
• Following Admiral Jisaburo Ozawa’s force’s attack on the British naval base at Colombo, Ceylon, the force is split creating a Northern Group commanded by Rear Admiral Takeo Kurita consisting of cruisers Kumano and Suzuya; the Center Group consisting of the carrier Ryujo and cruisers Chokai and Yura under Ozawa; and the Southern Group comprised of cruisers Mogami, and Mikuma under Captain Shakao Sakiyama for the purposes of smaller raids against merchant shipping. ww2dbase [Raids into the Indian Ocean | Yura | Chokai | Kumano | Suzuya | Mikuma | Mogami | Ryujo | Jisaburo Ozawa | Amagiri | DS]

• Japanese Navy leadership accepted the planned attack on Midway. ww2dbase [Battle of Midway and the Aleutian Islands | CPC]
• Japanese hospital ship Hikawa Maru arrived at Yokosuka, Japan for repairs in the drydock. ww2dbase [Yokosuka Naval Arsenal | Hikawa Maru | Yokosuka, Kanagawa | CPC]

• Italian aircraft attacked Valetta Harbour, Malta, causing fatal damage to minesweeper HMS Abingdon and destroyer HMS Gallant and also damaging destroyer HMS Lance. ww2dbase [Malta Campaign | CPC]

• Japanese troops defeated the Philippine 21st Division at Mount Samat on the Bataan Peninsula, Philippine Islands. Inside the Allied lines, General Jonathan Wainwright doubled rations for front line troops despite being short in food in order to give the troops strength. ww2dbase [Invasion of the Philippine Islands | Bataan | CPC]
• Western Luzon Guerrilla Forces fighter Ramón Magsaysay was made a captain of the Philippine Army. ww2dbase [Ramón Magsaysay | CPC]

• Joseph Stalin ordered the arrest of Moscow Air Defense Corps (PVO) Brigadier Commissar Kurganov for drunkenness, 745th Anti-Aircraft Artillery Regiment commander Zakharov for drunkenness and failure to report to post during an air raid, and 175th Artillery Regiment political officer Andreev and mechanic Military Technician 2nd Rank Kukin for drunkenness and accidental shooting of Lieutenant Kazanovsky. In the same order, he also fired and demoted PVO Main Directorate Chief Major General of Artillery Aleksei Osipov for drunkenness. ww2dbase [Joseph Stalin | Moscow | CPC]

• Milton Miles departed LaGuardia Marine Terminal, Queens, New York, United States by flying boat. ww2dbase [Milton Miles | Queens, New York | CPC]

5 Apr 1942 Interactive Map