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http://www.etherit.co.uk/month/thismonth/10.htm

April 10th, 1944 (MONDAY)

BELGIUM AND FRANCE: The Eighth Air Force flies Mission 295: 729 bombers and 496 fighters are dispatched to hit aviation industry targets and airfields in Belgium and France; 3 bombers and 2 fighters are lost.

- 123 B-17s bomb the aviation industry and airfield at Evere, 52 hit Melsbroek Airfield at Brussels, 39 hit aviation industry targets at Brussels, and 20 hit Bergen op Zoom; 1 B-17 is lost.

- In Belgium, 62 B-17s hit Maldagem Airfield, 60 hit Schaffen Airfield at Diest and 42 hit Juzaine Airfield at Florennes; in France, 21 B-17s hit Courcelles and 21 hit Beaumont sur Oise Airfield; they claim 0-2-1 Luftwaffe aircraft; 1 B-17 is lost.

- In Belgium, 151 B-24s hit the airfield and aviation industry at Bourges; in France, 28 hit Bricy Airfield Orleans, 21 hit Romarantin Airfield and 15 hit V-weapon sites at Marquise/Mimoyecques; they claim 6-0-0 Luftwaffe aircraft; 1 B-24 is lost.

Escort is provided by 51 P-38s, 295 P-47s and 150 Eighth and Ninth Air Force P-51s: P-38s have no claims or losses; P-47s claim 12-0-7 Luftwaffe aircraft, 1 P-47 is lost; P-51s claim 40-0-16 aircraft, 1 P-51 is lost.

258 Ninth Air Force B-26 Marauders and 41 A-20s, including 12 aircraft dropping Window, attack coastal batteries at Le Harve/Le Grand Hameau, France, and military installation nearby. In Belgium during the afternoon 267 B-26s and A-20s bomb the marshalling yard, airfield, coastal defences, and NOBALL targets at Charleroi/Montignies, Namur, Coxyde, Nieuport and other points on the northern coast of Western Europe. 47 P-47s dive-bomb the airfield at Evreux, France. (Jack McKillop)

NORWAY: The Royal Navy’s X-craft, the midget four-man submarines which disabled the TIRPITZ battleship last September, scored another devastating success today. And this time there was no loss of life. X-24, commanded by Lieutenant M H Shean, managed to get in and out of the heavily-protected Bergen harbour without being detected.

Shean guided his midget submarine underneath the 7,500-ton merchant ship BARENFELS, placed his charges and escaped, undetected from the harbour before they went off. The explosion sank the BARENFELS but did not harm a dock which was also targeted. The puzzled Germans have assumed that the attack was sabotage.

U.S.S.R.: Russian forces take Odessa. The 2nd Ukrainian Front crosses the River Siret in Romania.

ITALY: Twelfth Air Force A-20s hit an ammunition dump at Gallicano near Lazio; B-25s bomb the Orvieto marshalling yard and 2 bridges; B-26s hit Poggibonsi and Cecina railroad bridges and tracks, and viaducts at Bucine and west of Arezzo; fighter-bombers operating over wide areas of central Italy and in the battle zones hit railroad bridges, railroad cars, motor transport, barracks, and troop concentrations with good effect. (Jack McKillop)

INDIA: British troops at Imphal and Kohima will be supplied by air and begin offensive operations.

BURMA: Air Commando Combat Mission N0.42 3:00 Flight Time Hailakandi, Assam to Banmauk, Burma. Bombed Japanese supply dumps. (Chuck Baisden)

About 100 Tenth Air Force fighter-bombers and a few B-25s pound numerous targets, including an encampment southwest of Mogaung, positions near Kazu, a railroad and truck park at Myitkyina, a supply area south of Myitkyina, and a bivouac area and supplies at Kamaing; some of the fighter-bombers carry out support of ground forces northeast of Kamaing; 40+ fighter-bombers and B-25s over the Katha area hit a bridge at Thityabin, troops and supplies at Shwegu, gun positions and troops south of Mawlu, and targets of opportunity including a fuel dump; and 9 B-24s bomb the railroad station and jetty area at Moulmein while 4 others mine the mouth of the Tavoy River.

Ten Fourteenth Air Force P-40s pound roads north and south of Wanling. (Jack McKillop)

FRENCH INDOCHINA: 3 Fourteenth Air Force B-25s damage 2 bridges at Phu Dien Chau and destroy several buildings and some railroad track. (Jack McKillop)

JAPAN: 3 Eleventh Air Force B-24s fly armed reconnaissance over Matsuwa and Onnekotan Islands in the Kurile Islands. (Jack McKillop)

BISMARCK ARCHIPELAGO: Thirteenth Air Force aircraft attack New Britain Island. 22 B-25s bomb the Ratawul supply area and 40+ fighter-bombers hit the runway at Tobera, both strikes causing considerable damage; night harassment of the Rabaul area continues. (Jack McKillop)

CAROLINE ISLANDS: Seventh Air Force B-24s, staging through Eniwetok Atoll, bomb Truk Atoll (1 hits Ponape Island) while B-25s, based on Abemama Island, strike Ponape. (Jack McKillop)

MARSHALL ISLANDS: Seventh Air Force B-25s, flying a shuttle mission between Tarawa and Majuro Atolls, pound Maloelap and Jaluit Atolls. (Jack McKillop)

NEW GUINEA: About 60 Fifth Air Force B-24s, teaming with US destroyers offshore, bombard the Hansa Bay area, concentrating on AA positions guarding airfields. (Jack McKillop)

U.S.A.: The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) informally approve Operation MATTERHORN, the plan for the bombing of Japan by B-29 Superfortresses based in the Calcutta, India, area and staging through advanced fields in the Chengtu, China, area, which had been approved in principle by President Franklin D Roosevelt on 10 November 43. The operational vehicle is to be the 58th Bombardment Wing (Very Heavy) (4 bombardment groups) of the XX Bomber Command, soon to be assigned to the newly activated Twentieth Air Force, operating under General Henry H “Hap” Arnold as executive agent for the JCS. (Jack McKillop)

US Marine Corps, V Amphibious Corps is split to form HQ, V Amphibious Corps and Marine Admin Command, V Amphibious Corps. (Gordon Rottman)

ATLANTIC OCEAN: Jim Verdolini notes in his diary: (Jim is 17-years-old and on his first ship. Some of the information was inserted post-war after conversations with his old Skipper, ComOfficer, Engineering Officer and shipmates).

Dawn April 10, 1944.

Our planes caught another sub, on the surface. The lookout crew on the deck of the sub, never had a chance. Our planes came in from the dark side.

I can just imagine the lookouts, watching the coming sunrise, and getting ready to slip beneath the waters, to safety. Our planes strafed and dropped depth charges. It went down immediately with all hands below deck, gone, to the same fate, they had given to merchant sailors, they had sunk.

Our planes circled and detected much debris, oil, and three bobbing heads.

They dropped rubber boats to the three survivors. But when we arrived, very shortly thereafter, only two men were in the water, and one young man was holding his buddie, with one hand, and holding on to the raft with the other. The other man was dead, and the other was badly wounded.

His sub was U-68. We’re doing pretty good. Hope no U boat gets us. He survived because he was on lookout, and was able to go over the side.

Seems we are in the middle of a real U boat passageway to the convoy lanes. I felt funny about the sailors who went down with their sub. At what level does the boat crush? Are the crew drowned, or trapped ? As they taught us in Boot Camp, “Kill, or be killed.” Still feel funny though.

On the other hand, how many Allied lives have we saved. We found out that between the two U boats we sank on this cruise, they had sunk 55 Allied ships, and a total tonnage of 250,000 tons. How many of our men died?

( A footnote here: We had fished a German torpedo out of the water. I did not know about it. But a year later while in the Pacific, I received a piece of the torpedo with the inscription. “ U 68 sunk 10th April 1944”. I guess that Boot Camp slogan, “Kill or be killed” made sense. )

The German submarine U-68 is sunk off Madeira by depth charges and rockets from FM-2 Wildcats and TBM Avengers of Composite Squadron 58 (VC-58) in the escort aircraft carrier USS Guadalcanal (CVE-60). (Jack McKillop)