3 Apr 1888
- Thomas Kinkaid was born.
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3 Apr 1902
- Reinhard Gehlen was born.
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3 Apr 1917
- King Karl of Austria-Hungary and his Foreign Minister Ottokar Czernin visited the German Kaiser, ostensibly to complain about the declaration of unrestricted U-boat warfare, but secretly to press for the need for peace.
- USS Arizona completed post-shakedown overhaul and departed Brooklyn Navy Yard, New York, United States.
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3 Apr 1922
- Joseph Stalin was appointed the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Soviet Communist Party.
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3 Apr 1924
- S-18 was commissioned into service.
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3 Apr 1929
- Franklin Roosevelt gave a 30-minute-long radio address as the governor of New York, United States; he would come to use this medium to communicate with his supporters for the remainder of his career.
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3 Apr 1935
- Jiang Dingwen was promoted to the rank of general second class.
» In-depth article
3 Apr 1938
- Major fighting in Tai'erzhuang, Jiangsu Province, China caused hundreds of civilian deaths. Unable to secure permission to withdraw from the city, Chinese General Sun Liren promised his men that he would remain in the city with the rest of the troops.
» In-depth article - Lerida, Catalonia, Spain surrendered to Spanish Nationalist forces.
» In-depth article
3 Apr 1939
- Hitler, on his own authority, ordered the armed forces to prepare "Case White" for the invasion and occupation of the whole of Poland later in the summer.
» In-depth article - The US Congress granted US$300,000,000 for the purchase of 3,200 new military aircraft over the next two years.
- Photos dated 3 Apr 1939
3 Apr 1940
- Katyn Massacre: Over 20,000 Polish police, military officers, and intellectuals were massacred by the Soviet NKVD.
» In-depth article - Winston Churchill was appointed to chair a committee for war policy in Neville Chamberlain's cabinet.
» In-depth article - A pro-Axis government came to power in Iraq.
- German supply ships began departing for the invasion of Norway. The British cabinet was warned of this action and the German concentration of troops within hours.
» In-depth article - Flight Lieutenant Ryder of No. 41 Squadron RAF became the first RAF pilot to be shot down on home defence duties when he ditched his Spitfire fighter in the sea off Redcar, England, United Kingdom after bringing down a Heinkel 111 bomber. Ryder and the German crew were picked up safely.
- Chinese troops secured the Wuyuan region in Suiyuan Province, China.
» In-depth article - Submarine Orzel departed Rosyth, Scotland, United Kingdom to patrol the coast off Kristiansand, Norway.
» In-depth article
3 Apr 1941
- Winston Churchill warned Joseph Stalin (via the Soviet ambassador in London, England, United Kingdom) German troop movements into Poland detected by British intelligence.
» In-depth article - Axis troops marched toward Benghazi, Libya. British troops evacuated the city per General Philip Neame's orders.
» In-depth article - German aircraft conducted a heavy raid on Bristol, England during the night.
» In-depth article - Pál Teleki passed away.
» In-depth article - Italian Admiral Mario Bonetti's fleet of 5 destroyers and smaller warships, which had sailed out of Massawa, Italian East Africa on the previous day, was detected and attacked by a force of British aircraft. Without air cover, one by one the Italian ships became so damaged by bomb hits that they had to be abandoned. The last survivor, the torpedo boat Orsini, tried to flee back to Massawa but being badly damaged by the British air attacks, she eventually settled and had to be scuttled before reaching the port. With British ground forces only an hour away from entering the port the remaining Italian ships there (Acerbi and half a dozen small MAS boats) were destroyed with demolition charges.
» In-depth article - Winston Churchill recommended Richard O'Connor as the new British commander in Libya, but O'Connor declined.
» In-depth article - German submarine U-76 sank Finnish ship Daphne 150 miles south of Iceland, killing both crew members.
- British submarine HMS Tigris sank German tanker Thorn 100 miles southwest of Saint-Nazaire, France.
- HMS Argus and HMS Ark Royal, ferrying 12 Hurricane fighters and 3 Skua dive bombers, successfully launched them to reinforce Malta, completing Operation Winch.
» In-depth article - German bombers sank British munitions ship Northern Prince 17 miles west of Crete, Greece. All crew members survived.
» In-depth article - The Iraqi Parliamentary government was overthrown by the military coup d’état that began two days prior.
» In-depth article - Overnight, RAF unsuccessfully attacked German cruisers Scharnhorst and Gneisenau at Brest, France, but some German naval officers were killed when a bomb struck the Continental Hotel in the city.
» In-depth article
3 Apr 1942
- After a heavy artillery and aerial bombardment from 0900 to 1500 hours, Japanese troops launched an attack on the Bataan Peninsula in Philippine Islands, penetrating the lines held by the Filipino 41st Infantry Division.
» In-depth article - German submarine U-552 sank US collier David H. Atwater with her deck gun 10 miles off Chincoteague Inlet, Virginia, United States at 0340 hours; 24 were killed, 3 survived. German submarine U-754 sank US freighter Otho 150 kilometers east of Hampton Roads, Virginia, United States, killing 31 of 53 aboard. In the South Atlantic, German raider Thor forced the crew of Norwegian ship Aust to abandon ship and sank her with gunfire. At 2331 hours, U-505 sank US ship West Irmo 200 miles off Ivory Coast, French West Africa; 10 were killed, 90 survived.
» In-depth article - Aviation pioneer Charles Lindbergh began working on Ford's B-24 Liberator production line at Detroit, Michigan, United States as a consultant.
» In-depth article - Admiral Chester Nimitz was confirmed as the Commander-in-Chief, Pacific Ocean Area.
» In-depth article - Six B-17 bombers of the US 10th Air Force based in Asansol, India attacked Rangoon, Burma, setting three warehouses on fire; one aircraft was lost in this attack.
» In-depth article - Japanese submarine I-17 sank British ship Glenshiel in the Indian Ocean at 0340 hours; all aboard survived.
- Soviet destroyer Shaumian ran aground and was wrecked off Gelendzhik in southern Russia.
- German bombers attacked Murmansk, Russia, sinking Polish ship Tobruk and British ships New Westminster City and Empire Starlight in the harbor.
- German submarine U-702 became missing in the North Sea 100 miles off the Norwegian coast; all 44 aboard were never seen again.
- Shokaku entered the Indian Ocean.
» In-depth article
» Tabular Record of Movement - Photos dated 3 Apr 1942
3 Apr 1943
- Admiral Yamamoto and his staff departed Truk, Caroline Islands for Rabaul, New Britain on two Kawanishi H8K flying boats to supervise Operation I-GO from 7 to 14 Apr 1943, expecting to return to flagship Musashi on 19 Apr 1943.
» In-depth article - German Fw 190 fighters strafed Eastbourne, England, United Kingdom.
» In-depth article - US 1st Infantry Division captured Hill 369 near El Guettar, Tunisia.
» In-depth article - The Indian Army Medical Corps was formed by amalgamating the Indian Medical Services, the Indian Medical Department and the Indian Hospital Corps.
- USS Tunny set sail for Namonuito, Caroline Islands.
» In-depth article - Destroyer Yuzuki rescued the survivors of sunken tanker Arima Maru.
» In-depth article - The US submarine Pickerel was depth charged and sunk by Japanese warships north of Honshu, Japan.
» In-depth article
3 Apr 1944
- Evelyn Sharp passed away near Middleton, Pennsylvania, United States.
» In-depth article - Condemning the oppression of the Stalin regime, Viktor Kravchenko, a member of the Soviet Lend-Lease Purchasing Commission, announced his defection to the New York Times.
- General Montagu Stopford ordered Major General R. P. L. Ranking to move the Indian 161st Brigade from Kohima to Dimapur in India. Ranking believed this was a bad move as Kohima would be a Japanese target, and appealed to William Slim; Slim sided with Stopford.
» In-depth article - Shokaku arrived at Lingga, Dutch East Indies.
» In-depth article
» Tabular Record of Movement - Operation Tungsten: 41 British Barracuda dive bombers attacked German battleship Tirpitz, scoring 15 hits.
» In-depth article - USS Franklin arrived at Pearl Harbor.
» In-depth article - USS Wake Island departed Karachi, India.
» In-depth article - Aircraft from HMS Activity and HMS Tracker sank German submarine U-288.
» In-depth article - USS Pollack sank passenger-cargo ship Tosei Maru in the Nanpo Islands area, Japan with two of four torpedoes fired.
» In-depth article - Light carrier Ryuho departed Saipan, Mariana Islands.
» In-depth article
» Tabular Record of Movement
3 Apr 1945
- Soviet 2nd Ukrainian Front penetrated the German defensive lines between Wiener Neustadt and Neusiedler Lake, advancing toward Vienna, Austria. Major Carl Szokoll, a leader of the Austrian resistance, met with Soviet authorities about cooperation in Vienna to prevent the city's destruction.
» In-depth article - General of Infantry Wilhelm Hasse replaced Walther Nehring as the commander of the German 1.Panzerarmee.
- British Second Army arrived at Münster, Germany while the US Ninth Army captured Recklinghausen.
» In-depth article - US First Army captured Fulda and Kassel, Germany.
- German rocket troops were converted to regular troops and joined the German 5th Army Corps.
- 68 American B-29 bombers attacked the Koizuimi aircraft factory and the urban areas of Tokyo, Japan.
» In-depth article - Allied troops captured Hengelo, the Netherlands.
- The US coastal minesweeper YMS-71 struck a mine and sunk off Sanga Sanga, Borneo.
- Special attack boats of Japanese Navy Shinyo Squadron 22 sank American gunboat LCI(G)-82 at Okinawa, Japan.
» In-depth article - USS Wake Island was struck by two or three Japanese special attack aircraft, causing damage but little casualties.
» In-depth article - USS Sennet departed Guam, Mariana Islands for her third war patrol.
» In-depth article
3 Apr 1946
- Masaharu Homma passed away.
» In-depth article
3 Apr 1949
- Israel signed an armistice with Jordan to de-escalate the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, also known as the Israeli Independence War.
Timeline Section Founder: Thomas Houlihan
Contributors: Alan Chanter, C. Peter Chen, Thomas Houlihan, David Stubblebine
Special Thanks: Rory Curtis
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