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• » 21 Apr 1943

• US President Franklin Roosevelt made the official announcement regarding the Japanese execution of downed American airmen who had participated in the Doolittle Raid. ww2dbase [Doolittle Raid | TH]
• New Zealand troops of Maori ethnicity captured Takrouna, Tunisia. ww2dbase [Conclusion of the Desert War | CPC]
• USS Scorpion sank a sampan before 0100 hours with her deck gun. In the afternoon, she patrolled off Shioyasaki, eastern Honshu, Japan. ww2dbase [Scorpion | CPC]

• Isoroku Yamamoto's remains were cremated at Buin, Bougainville, Solomon Islands. ww2dbase [Isoroku Yamamoto | Operation Vengeance | Buin, Bougainville | CPC]

• Repair ship Akashi completed the repair work for destroyer Amagiri at Truk, Caroline Islands. ww2dbase [Akashi | Truk | CPC]

• Joseph Stilwell and Claire Chennault departed Chongqing, China. ww2dbase [Joseph Stilwell | Chongqing | CPC]

• A N-3PB floatplane piloted by Lieutenant W. W. Bulukin made a force landing in poor weather in eastern Iceland. The wreck was later recovered in 1979, sent to Northrop Corporation in California in the United States for restoration, and gifted to the government of Norway in Nov 1980. ww2dbase [N-3PB | CPC]

• Satoru Anabuki, flying Ki-43 fighter "Fubuki", shot down two P-36 fighters over Imphal, India, increasing his score to 34. ww2dbase [Satoru Anabuki | Imphal, Manipur | CPC]

• Leonardo da Vinci sank American freighter John Drayton, en route from Bahrain to Cape Town, South Africa, with one torpedo hit (out of four fired) and gunfire in the Indian Ocean at 1815 hours. All 56 aboard survived the sinking, but only 30 would survive the subsequent journeys aboard lifeboats. ww2dbase [Leonardo da Vinci | Raids into the Indian Ocean | CPC]

• USS Runner attacked a Japanese transport in the South China Sea; all 5 torpedoes fired missed. ww2dbase [Runner (Gato-class) | South China Sea | CPC]
• USS Wahoo conducted training off Midway Atoll. ww2dbase [Wahoo | CPC]

• Joseph Stalin officially signed the order to create GUKR SMERSH, the Main Directorate of Counterintelligence "Smert'shpionam" ("Death of Spies") and the naval UKR SMERSH. ww2dbase [Joseph Stalin | CPC]

• Troops of 48th Battalion of British Royal Tank Regiment captured German Tiger I heavy tank "131" near Medjez-el-Bab, Tunisia. ww2dbase [PzKpfw VI Ausf. E 'Tiger I' | Medjez-el-Bab | CPC]

• Allied convoy ONS 5 consisted of 42 ships departed from Liverpool, England, United Kingdom for a 3-week journey to Halifax, Nova, Scotia, Canada; it was escorted by 7 warships (2 destroyers, 1 frigate, and 4 corvettes) and supported by 2 trawlers and 1 tanker. The convoy was under the command of J. Kenneth Brook of the British Royal Navy Reserve; he was aboard Norwegian freighter Rena. The convoy was to grow in size from mid-journey rendezvous with other ships departing from other ports. ww2dbase [Black May | Liverpool, England | CPC]
• An attempt was made to assassinate General Charles de Gaulle when the Wellington bomber flying him to Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom was sabotaged at RAF Hendon. The pilot detected the elevator controls had been cut just before take-off and aborted the flight. At the time, the incident was hushed up and blamed on German intelligence but de Gaulle never flew by plane in Britain again. ww2dbase [Charles de Gaulle | London, England | AC]

• USS Ancon's conversion work from cargo-passenger ship to combined headquarters and communications ship was completed at Norfolk Navy Yard, Portsmouth, Virginia, United States. ww2dbase [Ancon | Norfolk Navy Yard | Portsmouth, Virginia | CPC]

21 Apr 1943 Interactive Map