Monday, 6 April 1942

US NAVY

INDIAN OCEAN—Japanese Operation C continues: Second Expeditionary Fleet, Malay Force (Vice Admiral Ozawa Jisaburo) raids Allied shipping off the east coast of India. Japanese Northern Group (Rear Admiral Kurita Takeo) attacks Allied convoy; unarmed U.S. freighter Exmoor is sunk by gunfire of heavy cruisers Kumano and Suzuya, and destroyer Shirakumo, 19°53'N, 86°30'E (there are no casualties among the 37 man crew), as are British merchantmen Silksworth, Autolycus, Malda and Shinkuang. Southern Group (Captain Sakiyama Shakao), consisting of heavy cruisers Mogami and Mikuma and destroyer Amagiri, sink British merchantmen Dardanus, Gandara and Indora. Central Group, formed around carrier Ryujo, heavy cruiser Chokai, light cruiser Yura, and destroyers Yugiri and Asagiri, attacks shipping in a third area. After planes from carrier Ryujo attack unarmed U.S. freighter Bienville, heavy cruiser Chokai shells and sinks the American merchantman at 17°50'N, 84°50'E; Japanese gunfire renders all lifeboats useless and kills 19 of the 41 man crew. Five more crewmen die later of wounds suffered in the attack. Lost with the ship is its cargo of 500 monkeys (which are most likely earmarked for infantile paralysis research in the United States). Floatplanes from Chokai bomb unarmed U.S. freighter Selma City (17°40'N, 83°20'E) and British freighter Ganges, sinking both. Two men wounded by bomb fragments constitute the only casualties on board Selma City; her29 man crew reaches Vizagapatam later the same day by boat. Yura and Yugiri, meanwhile, sink Dutch motorships Banjoewangi and Batavia, and British steamer Taksang. Planes from Ryujo bomb and sink British steamer Sinkiang, and Dutch motorship Van der Capellen (the latter sinks on 8 April) and, at Vizagapatam, bomb and damage British motorship Anglo Canadian.

            Unarmed U.S. freighter Washingtonian, en route from Suez to Ceylon, is torpedoed and sunk by Japanese submarineI-5 at 07°25'N, 73°05'E; all hands (39 man crew and two passengers) survive the attack and reach the Maldive Islands in less than a day's rowing.

PACIFIC—Advance elements of the U.S. Army 41st Division reach Melbourne, Australia.

            River gunboats Mindanao (PR-8) and Oahu (PR-6) engage Japanese landing barges, claiming the destruction of at least four, in a night surface action in Manila Bay. Mindanao is damaged by return fire.

ATLANTIC—Destroyer Sturtevant (DD-240), directed to the scene by a patrolling USAAF plane, rescues 31 merchant seamen and the 7 man Armed Guard from sunken U.S. tanker Catahoula, sunk by U-154 on 5 April.

            Unarmed U.S. tanker Bidwell, bound from Corpus Christi, Texas, to New York City, is torpedoed by German submarine U-160 about 30 miles east of Cape Lookout, North Carolina, 34°25'N, 75°57'W, but manages to reach Hampton Roads under her own power. One man of her 33 man crew is lost in the torpedoing.

US ARMY AIR FORCE

TENTH AF—10 DC‑3’s of Pan American Airways begin hauling 30,000 gals of fuel and 500 gals of lubricants from Calcutta to the airstrip at Asansol, completing the mission on the following day. This fuel, subsequently transferred via Dinjan to China, is for use by Lt Col James H Doolittle’s Tokyo raiders, already at sea aboard the carrier Hornet.

US ARMY

LUZON—II Corps counterattacks N toward reserve line in Sector D but meets enemy attack head on and falls back. On corps E flank, U.S. 31st Infantry and 21st Division (PA), directed to drive N in region E of Mt Samat, are unable to reach line of departure.

            In center, Philippine 33d Infantry, followed by 42d and 43d, endeavors to drive N between Catmon and W slopes of Mt Samat, but 33d is surrounded and presumed lost and units to rear are routed. Hq of Sector D and W flank troops are thus separated from rest of II Corps. On W, Philippine 41st Infantry, followed by 45th, makes limited progress, but 45th is unable to overtake 41st and 41st becomes isolated. U.S. 31st Infantry and Battalion of 57th Infantry (PS) are assigned to Sector C, where line is withdrawn to San Vicente River. Japanese receive effective air and artillery support throughout day.

ADMIRALTY ISLANDS—Small Japanese naval force from Truk lands at Lorengau.

AUSTRALIA—Main body (Hq, 163d Regiment, 167th FA Battalion, and other units) of U.S. 41st Division reaches Melbourne.

BURMA—Japanese land reinforcements at Rangoon. Chiang Kai-shek, visiting Maymyo, urges that Taungdwingyi be held and agrees to provide Chinese division to assist Burma I Corps. Chinese 200th and 96th Divisions are in position to defend Pyinmana.

MIDDLE EAST—U.S. War Department decides that no fixed installations are to be established in Iranian Mission territory.

US MARINE CORPS

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