30 Apr 1893
- Joachim von Ribbentrop was born.
» In-depth article
30 Apr 1894
- H. V. Evatt was born.
» In-depth article
30 Apr 1918
- Hyuga was commissioned into service.
» In-depth article
» Tabular Record of Movement
30 Apr 1934
- Bernhard Rust was named the Minister of Science, Education and National Culture (Reichserziehungsminister) of Germany.
» In-depth article
30 Apr 1937
- Douglas MacArthur married Jean Faircloth in a civil ceremony.
» In-depth article - The Spanish Nationalist battleship Espana sank after hitting a mine off Cape Penas near Santander during the blockade of Bilbao, Spain.
» In-depth article - Seal was commissioned into service.
» In-depth article
30 Apr 1938
- Japanese captured the Chinese city of Xuzhou.
» In-depth article - The training exercise Fleet Problem XIX, which was held in US Territory of Hawaii, was completed.
30 Apr 1939
- Germany passed laws in preparation to move Jewish families into buildings reserved for Jewish residences.
- Franklin Roosevelt's address at the opening ceremonies of the New York World's Fair was broadcast on television, making him the first US President to appear in this medium.
» In-depth article - Photos dated 30 Apr 1939
30 Apr 1940
- The first guarded Jewish ghetto was established at Lodz, Poland; it was later sealed off with 230,000 Jews inside.
- At Greenock, Scotland, French destroyer Maille Breeze suffered an accidental detonation of two of her torpedoes in the forward section of the ship and sank. 25 men were killed while 48 were wounded.
- British minesweeper HMS Dundoon hit a mine at Smith's Knoll near Great Yarmouth and sank, killing 27.
- The German 196th Division arrived at Dombås, Norway on foot as their vehicles had been rendered useless after encountering blown bridges; their initial attacks were held off by the British 15th Brigade; despite causing heavy casualties to the Germans, the British withdrew their defensive line at dusk by train toward Åndalsnes. Near Oslo, RAF bombers conducted attacks on German-controlled airfields in Stavanger and Fornebu, escorted by naval fighters launched by HMS Ark Royal and HMS Glorious; Germans detected the location of the British carriers and successfully launched a fighter attack that drove off the carriers. Off Namsos, Norway, German Ju 87 aircraft attacked British anti-submarine sloop HMS Bittern, hitting her with a bomb and starting a fire on the stern that killed 20; destroyer HMS Janus rescued the survivors and scuttled HMS Bittern to prevent capture. Off Trondheim, Norway, German aircraft sank British trawler HMS Warwickshire; her wreck was later raised by the Germans and put into service. In the United Kingdom, a British fleet consisted of cruisers HMS Manchester and HMS Birmingham and destroyers HMS Inglefield, HMS Diana, and HMS Delight, under the command of Vice Admiral Layton, departed Scapa Flow, Scotland for Norway; its mission was to evacuate the British 148th and 15th Brigades from Åndalsnes and Molde.
» In-depth article - Nikolaus von Falkenhorst was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross medal.
» In-depth article - Firefighters from the US Navy Sixth Naval District fought off a fire that had broken out on the Norwegian tanker Willy, which was carrying a load of aviation gasoline, in the Cooper River off Charleston, South Carolina, United States.
- Photos dated 30 Apr 1940
30 Apr 1941
- New Zealand General Bernard Freyberg was appointed commander of Allied forces on Crete, Greece, commanding a garrison of poorly-armed 29,000 British, Australian, and New Zealand troops and 9,000 Greek troops.
» In-depth article - 6,000 Iraqi troops with 30 artillery pieces departed Baghdad, Iraq on an ostensibly training exercise before dawn. At first light, they reached a plateau overlooking the RAF airbase at Habbaniya 45 miles west of Baghdad. British Ambassador Kinahan Cornwallis warned British civilians to leave Baghdad; 230 of them would soon flee to Habbaniya while 350 and 150 would seek shelter in the British Embassy and the American Legation, respectively.
» In-depth article - Friedrich Paulus gave Erwin Rommel the authorization to begin a ground assault on Tobruk, Libya, which was launched at 2000 hours after an entire day of artillery shelling at Ras el Madauar near Tobruk. German tanks broke through the defensive perimeter, and infantry overran several Australian positions, penetrating as far as 3 kilometers.
» In-depth article - British gunboats HMS Aphis and HMS Ladybird bombarded Axis positions at Gazala, Libya and Sollum, Egypt.
- German aircraft bombed Malta; a bomb passed through British cruiser HMS Gloucester without detonating.
» In-depth article - German submarine U-107 sank British ship Lassell 300 miles southwest of Cape Verde Islands at 2200 hours; 2 were killed, 51 survived.
- Four old US Coast Guard Cutters were commissioned into British Royal Navy service at New York, United States; they were christened HMS Banff, HMS Culver, HMS Fishguard, and HMS Hartland and were manned by crew members of battleship HMS Malaya, which was currently under repair.
- Adolf Hitler set the launch date of Operation Barbarossa to 22 Jun 1941.
» In-depth article
30 Apr 1942
- Two PBY Catalina aircraft from Mindanao evacuated 50 personnel (including 20 nurses) from Corregidor, Philippine Islands as the island was again subjected to a large scale artillery and aerial bombardment.
» In-depth article - In western Burma, Chinese 38th Division began to move westward to join the Anglo-Indian troops already en route for India. After the tanks of the British 7th Armoured Division had successfully crossed the Ava Bridge over the Irrawaddy River, Chinese troops blew up the bridge to slow the Japanese pursuit.
» In-depth article - Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini met at Berchtesgaden in southern Germany to discuss Mediterranean strategy; priority was given to capturing the Suez Canal and neutralizing Malta. Italian Foreign Minister Galeazzo Ciano noted that Hitler appeared to be very tired.
» In-depth article - 24 British DB-7 Boston bombers attacked Flushing in the Netherlands and Abbeville, Morlaix, and Le Havre in France. All aircraft returned safely.
- German bombers attacked Norwich, England, United Kingdom for the second consecutive day.
» In-depth article - German submarine U-162 sank British tanker Athelempress 180 miles east of Barbados at 0152 hours; 3 were killed, 19 survived. At 0336 hours, 18 miles south of Cape Fear, North Carolina, United States, U-402 sank Soviet ship Ashkhabad; all 47 survived. Four hours later at 0737 hours, further northeast about 95 miles east of Cape Cod, Massachusetts, United States, U-576 sank Norwegian ship Taborfjell; 17 were killed, 3 survived. German submarine U-507 sank US tanker Federal 5 miles north of Gibara, Cuba at 1810 hours, killing 5 of 33 aboard.
» In-depth article - Shokaku departed from Truk to support the Port Moresby, New Guinea invasion.
» In-depth article
» Tabular Record of Movement - Zuikaku departed from Truk to support the Port Moresby, New Guinea invasion.
» In-depth article
» Tabular Record of Movement - USS Enterprise sailed toward Coral Sea, but would arrive too late to participate in the upcoming battle.
» In-depth article - USS Hornet sailed toward Coral Sea, but would arrive too late to participate in the upcoming battle.
» In-depth article - Japanese hospital ship Hikawa Maru arrived at Truk.
» In-depth article
» Tabular Record of Movement - Tatsuta Maru departed Takao, Taiwan.
» In-depth article
» Tabular Record of Movement - Indiana was commissioned into service.
» In-depth article - German submarine U-456 damaged HMS Edinburgh, escorting Allied convoy QP 11, with two torpedoes in the Norwegian Sea 200 miles north of Murmansk, Russia at 1618 hours. She was carrying £5,000,000 worth of Soviet gold meant as payment for US weapons and other war supplies. HMS Edinburgh sailed for Murmansk at the slow speed of 3 knots, escorted by two British destroyer and two Soviet destroyers.
» In-depth article - Repair ship Akashi arrived at Kure, Japan.
» In-depth article
» Tabular Record of Movement - USS S-35 arrived at Dutch Harbor, US Territory of Alaska, ending her first war patrol.
» In-depth article - Photos dated 30 Apr 1942
30 Apr 1943
- The construction for the Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camp in northwestern Germany began.
» In-depth article - The Bermuda Conference ended without any concrete conclusion.
» In-depth article - The body of Glyndwr Michael was put into the sea from British submarine HMS Seraph off Huelva, Spain; posed as Major William Martin, the body carried false documents intended to mislead the Germans.
» In-depth article - USS Scorpion sank the Japanese patrol ship Ebisu Maru No. 5 with a torpedo; during the surface action, Lieutenant Commander R. M. Raymond was killed, the submarine's first casualty. As a Japanese aircraft responded with depth charges, Scorpion dove and survived the attack.
» In-depth article - The keel of trawler Gulland was laid down.
» In-depth article - Photos dated 30 Apr 1943
30 Apr 1944
- USS Puffer departed Fremantle, Australia for her fourth war patrol.
» In-depth article
30 Apr 1945
- The recently married Hitler and Braun committed suicide in Berlin, Germany. Their bodies were burned near the Chancellery bunker.
» In-depth article - The Western Allies captured Finnmark, Norway.
- In the Tiergarten district of Berlin, Germany, Zhukov launched an assault, refusing to permit an armistice, demanding only unconditional surrender.
» In-depth article - US Fifth Army in Italy made contact with French forces near the Italo-French border.
» In-depth article - US Third Army freed over 100,000 prisoners of war near Moosburg, Germany.
- Soviets and US First Army linked up near Ellenburg, Germany.
- British Second Army freed 20,000 prisoners of war from Sandbostel, Germany.
- American B-24 bombers sank Japanese transport Kunikawa Maru at Borneo.
- Eva Hitler committed suicide in the Führerbunker in Berlin, Germany by ingesting cyanide.
» In-depth article - Ira Eaker was named deputy commander of the Army Air Forces and chief of the Air Staff.
» In-depth article - Anglo-Indian forces gained a beachhead on the west bank of the Pegu River at Pegu, Burma.
» In-depth article - Japanese hospital ship Hikawa Maru departed Yokosuka, Japan for her 24th voyage with the Japanese Navy.
» In-depth article
» Tabular Record of Movement - USS Trepang sank Miho Maru in the Yellow Sea.
» In-depth article - Photos dated 30 Apr 1945
30 Apr 1952
- USS Tunny was decommissioned from service.
» In-depth article
30 Apr 1975
- Aleksandr Vasilevsky was awarded the Order for Service to the Homeland in the Armed Forces of the Soviet Union 3rd Class.
» In-depth article
Timeline Section Founder: Thomas Houlihan
Contributors: Alan Chanter, C. Peter Chen, Thomas Houlihan, David Stubblebine
Special Thanks: Rory Curtis
Search WW2DB & Partner Sites
News
- » The Pritzker Military Library Presents (2012.04.06)
- » Current and Upcoming WW2 Movies (2012.02.01)
- » Wreck of HMS Olympus Discovered off Malta (2012.01.10)
- » WW2DB's Seventh Anniversary (2011.12.29)
- » See all news
Random Photograph
Site Sponsors
Advertise on ww2db.com
Current Site Statistics
- » 661 biographies
- » 280 events
- » 21561 timeline entries
- » 611 ships
- » 269 aircraft models
- » 147 vehicle models
- » 246 weapon models
- » 55 historical documents
- » 239 book reviews
- » 192 maps
- » 13290 photos, 1298 in color
Famous WW2 Quote
"All right, they're on our left, they're on our right, they're in front of us, they're behind us... they can't get away this time."Lt. Gen. Lewis B. "Chesty" Puller, at Guadalcanal
Share this article with your friends:
Stay updated with WW2DB: