4th April 1942
Atlantic Ocean : German submarine U-505 torpedoed and sank Dutch cargo ship Alphacca 200 miles off Ivory Coast, French West Africa at 2329 hours; 15 were killed, 57 survived. On the other side of the Atlantic Ocean, at 2335 hours, U-154 torpedoed and sank US tanker Comol Rico in Caribbean Sea ; 3 were killed, 39 survived.
German submarine U-552 torpedoed and sank US tanker Byron D. Benson 16 kilometers east of Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, United States at 2257 hours local time (recorded in U-552 logs as at 0447 hours on 5 Apr 1942, German time), killing 10 of 38.
Malta : Greek submarine Glavkos was bombed and sunk by Axis aircraft at Malta. Royal Navy Fleet auxilary tanker RF Plumleaf was also bombed and sunk by Luftwaffe JU-87 Stuka dive bombers in Valetta harbour
Sevastapol , Crimea : Soviet destroyer Sovershenny was destroyed by German shelling at Sevastopol , Crimea
Leningrad : 62 Luftwaffe JU-87 Stuka dive bombers and 70 other bombers escorted by 59 Bf 109 fighters attacked Soviet fleet at Kronstadt near Leningrad, Russia in the afternoon, damaging battleships October Revolution and Petropavlovsk, cruisers Maxim Gorky and Kirov, and destroyers Silny and Grozyashchi. After dark, He 111 bombers, some of which had participated in the Kronstadt attack in the afternoon, bombed Leningrad.
Lae , Papua New Guinea : In the morning, Australian pilot John Jackson alone flew over Lae on the northern coast of New Guinea and made a strafing run. In the afternoon, he led a group in attacking the same location, destroying several Japanese aircraft on the ground.
Burma : Japanese aircraft bombed areas of Mandalay, Burma, killing more than 2,000, most of whom were civilians.
Indian Ocean : Operation C started by Japanese Imperial Navy to drive Royal Navy out of Indian Ocean. As Japanese carriers sailed toward Ceylon, the fleet was discovered by a Royal Canadian Air Force PBY Catalina flying boat 400 miles south of the island. A Japanese Zero fighter from carrier Hiryu shot down the Catalina aircraft (3 killed, several captured) but not until they radioed in the fleetâs location. Admiral James Sommerville , Commander of Royal Navy Eastern Fleet , already aware of approaching Japanese Navy aircraft carrier fleet for a few weeks due to Japanese Navy wireless decryption , therefore got exact location of enemy fleet and its rough approach , ordered all of his ships (five pre-1918 WWI era old battleships , one old WWI era aircraft carrier HMS Hermes with only 20 old aircraft on board and ten cruisers , and 18 destroyers) to leave Ceylon and Calcutta to meet up a secret supply base C south of Addu Atoll.
Bataan , Philippines : General Douglas MacArthur, now relocated to Australia per President Franklin Rooseveltâs orders, radioed Jonathan Wainwright, saying that âunder no conditions should Bataan be surrendered; any action is preferable to capitulationâ. Meanwhile, at Bataan in the Philippine Islands, Japanese troops moved toward Mount Samat, threatening to take this dominant position. Starved and ranks thinned out disease US and Philippino troops from US II Corps retreat to their final defence line to avoid being crushed by heavy Japanese artillery fire and airpower.
Rastenburg , East Prussia : Hitler orders heavy bombing raids on British historic towns as revenge for bombing of Lubeck , they are called Baedeker Raids , after the German tourist guidebooks.
Meanwhile in Berlin , Goebbels writes in his diary that he was actually relieved that tough and resilient noerhern Germans were bombed rather than softer southerners
Washington , USA : President Franklin Rooseveltâs special envoy Harry Hopkins and General George Marshall departed Baltimore, Maryland, United States by plane to lay the US strategic war plans, that had already been approved by the President, before the British War Cabinet and Chiefs-of Staff Committee.