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• Chile declared war on Japan. ww2dbase [CPC]
• Troops of the US Ninth Army finished clearing the Duisberg Pocket in Germany. ww2dbase [Crossing the Rhine | TH]
• 9 Japanese balloons were shot down over the western Aleutian Islands in the North Pacific. ww2dbase [CPC]
• The Soviet Danube Flotilla landed men of the 80th Guards Rifle Division and 7th Guards Airborne Division on both sides of the Reichsbrücke Bridge in Vienna, Ostmark, Germany, securing it. Later on the same day, Soviet troops secured the Essling district of Vienna while the Danube Flotilla delivered more men near Klosterneuburg 15 kilometers up the river. By the end of the day, German resistance in Vienna, broken up in several pockets, ceased to be effective. ww2dbase [Battle of Vienna | TH]
• 4th Battalion Lincolnshire Regiment of the British 49th Division, attached to the Canadian Army, liberated Arnhem in the Netherlands, scene of the Market-Garden battle of the previous year. Attacking the town in flanking movement from the east across the River Ijssel rather than the Rhine, the fighting was no less bitter, but the Lincolns achieved their objective and took 234 prisoners at a cost of five men killed and 49 wounded. Elsewhere in the Netherlands, Allied troops captured Assen, Diepenveen, and Olst. ww2dbase [CPC, AC]
• German SS and Luftwaffe troops, while fleeing Allied advance with 1,016 political and military prisoners, deemed the prisoners too weak to continue marching. The prisoners were locked them inside a barn near Gardelegen, Saxony, Germany, which was then set afire, killing all of them. ww2dbase [CPC]
• USS Sennet attacked a Japanese patrol boat south of Japan; the single torpedo missed. ww2dbase [Sennet | CPC]
• USS Parche damaged a Japanaese fishing trawler and a small boat with her deck gun east of Kamaichi, Japan; as two Japanese aircraft closed in on a counterattack, Parche dove in a hurry, causing her ammunition to detonate, though causing little damage. ww2dbase [Parche | CPC]

• US fighter planes based on Attu Island, Aleutian Islands, Alaska encountered ten-to-thirty (sources differ) Japanese Fu-Go balloons between 30,000 and 37,000 feet. Nine were shot down and parts of one balloon were recovered. ww2dbase [Fu-Go | Attu, Aleutian Islands | DS]

• Dwight Eisenhower rejected the notion, for the third time, to advance onto Berlin, Germany. ww2dbase [Dwight Eisenhower | CPC]
• A group of prominent prisoners of war were transferred out of the Oflag IV-C camp at Colditz Castle in Germany for the camp at Laufen in southern Germany on the orders of Heinrich Himmler. ww2dbase [Colditz Castle | Colditz, Sachsen | CPC]
• Josias was arrested by Allied authorities. ww2dbase [Josias | CPC]
• While under repair at Deutsche Werke shipyard in Kiel, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, Emden was damaged by Allied aircraft. ww2dbase [Deutsche Werke Kiel | Emden | Kiel, Schleswig-Holstein | CPC]
• The HASAG Leipzig slave labour camp in Germany was officially closed; the remaining 1,100 prisoners were transported by train to Mauthasen Concentration Camp, several hundred of whom did not survive the journey. ww2dbase [Discovery of Concentration Camps and the Holocaust | HASAG Leipzig | Flösenberg, Bayreuth | CPC]
• The USAAF 306th Bomb Group flying from RAF Thurleigh launched a bombing raid against rail facilities at Neumünster, Germany. ww2dbase [RAF Thurleigh | Bombing of Hamburg, Dresden, and Other Cities | Neumünster | DS]

• Kamoi, which had already sunk in shallow water 5 days prior, was abandoned by her crew in Hong Kong. ww2dbase [Kamoi | CPC]

• British 78th Infantry Division secured a bridgehead at Bastia in northern Italy, across the Santerno River. ww2dbase [Operation Grapeshot and Operation Roast | Bastia, Emilia-Romagna | CPC]
• Italian commandos infiltrated Ancona, Italy by sea, but they were all captured before they did any damage. ww2dbase [Ancona, Marche | CPC]

• More than 300 American B-29 bombers attacked various targets in and near Tokyo, Japan. The smaller of the two cyclotrons at the Riken Institute was destroyed. ww2dbase [Operation Trinity and Manhattan Project | Tokyo | CPC]

• USS Bergall fired two torpedoes at a Japanese patrol vessel in the South China Sea; both torpedoes missed. ww2dbase [Bergall | South China Sea | CPC]

• Avenger aircraft from HMS Victorious attacked Matsuyama Arifield in Taihoku (now Taipei), Taiwan, damaging runways, and barracks; one ammunition dump or oil storage tank exploded. ww2dbase [Victorious | Matsuyama Airfield | Taihoku | CPC]
• Avenger aircraft from HMS Victorious, en route back to the carrier after attacking Matsuyama Airfield in Taihoku (now Taipei), strafed 12 aircraft on the ground at Giran Airfield in northeastern Taiwan; actual damage caused by the strafing was unknown. ww2dbase [Victorious | Giran Airfield | Taihoku | CPC]
• Avenger aircraft from HMS Victorious attacked Shinchiku Airfield in Taiwan, causing unknown damage to the runways. ww2dbase [Victorious | Shinchiku Airfield | Shinchiku | CPC]

• USS Wasp (Essex-class) arrived at Puget Sound Navy Yard , Bremerton, Washington, United States for a general overhaul and repairs of battle damage. ww2dbase [Wasp (Essex-class) | Puget Sound Navy Yard | Bremerton, Washington | CPC]

13 Apr 1945 Interactive Map