World War II Database

• Home
• » Events
• » WW2 Timeline
• » Today in WW2 History

• Semyon Budyonny was born. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]

• Edward Brooks was born in Concord, New Hampshire, United States. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]

• Edward Murrow was born. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]

• Friedrich Christiansen shot down a British H12B flying boat. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]

• Douglas MacArthur arrived in New York, New York, United States via ocean liner Leviathan. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]

• Four Polish armies under the command of Marshal Pilsudski marched into the Ukraine. ww2dbase [AC]

• Crown Prince Hirohito traveled to Peito (now Beitou), Taiwan and visited Mount Kusa (now Mount Yangming) and a hot springs resort. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]

• USS New Mexico departed Bremerton, Washington, United States for US Territory of Hawaii. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]

• Haguro was commissioned into service. ww2dbase [Main Article | Tabular Record of Movement | CPC]

• Hikawa Maru was commissioned into service. ww2dbase [Main Article | Tabular Record of Movement | CPC]

• Tatsuta Maru departed Yokohama, Japan on her maiden voyage. ww2dbase [Main Article | Tabular Record of Movement | CPC]

• Oswald Mosley's son Michael Mosley was born. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]

• Hitler appointed a prominent German Christian, Ludwig Müller (a former Army chaplain and an enthusiastic National Socialist), as his representative in the drawing up of a new constitution for a unified Reich church. ww2dbase [Main Article | AC]

25 Apr 1934 Interactive Map

• Prince Nagahisa married Sachiko Tokugawa. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]

• The French Potez 630 aircraft took its first flight. It would be ultimately be developed into a successful range of fighters, bomber and reconnaissance aircraft seeing much service in German, Vichy and Free French air arms. ww2dbase [Main Article | AC]

• Weather data for 25 Apr 1939

• The Chinese counter offensive toward Nanchang, Jiangxi Province, China reached the outskirts of the city. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]

• Weather data for 25 Apr 1940

• Wasp (Wasp-class) was commissioned into service. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]
• A new evacuation scheme was introduced in Britain as a Ministry of Health survey showed that only 8% of eligible children had been registered. Later studies revealed that 19% of parents refused to register their children, while 73% of them simply did not respond to the registration. ww2dbase [CPC]
• 3,000 troops of the British 15th Brigade were engaged by 8,500 troops of the German 196th Division at the village of Kvam in Norway, 55 kilometers south of Dombås; despite German numerical advantage and being supported by dive bombers, the British troops held ground and stopped the German advance. Elsewhere, a group of RAF Gladiator aircraft operating on the frozen Lake Lesjaskogsvatnet in Norway was discovered by the Germans. German aircraft bombed the rough airfield on and off for eight hours, destroying 13 aircraft on the ground. Three German He 111 bombers were shot down by RAF aircraft. By the end of the day, Squadron Leader Donaldson ordered the position to be abandoned; the 5 surviving Gladiator aircraft were to be withdrawn to Stetnesmoen. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]
• An Irish Republican Army land mine killed 6 in Dublin, Ireland. ww2dbase [CPC]
• US President Roosevelt announced that the United States recognized the state of war between Germany and Norway, and reaffirmed American neutrality in that conflict. To that end, he specifically forbade Norwegian submarines from entering American territorial waters. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]

• HMS Glorious transferred Gladiator aircraft to airfields on land in Norway. ww2dbase [Main Article | Event | AC]

• Weather data for 25 Apr 1941

• Tanikaze was commissioned into service. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]
• German submarine U-103 sank Norwegian ship Polyana 200 miles southwest of Cape Verde Islands at 0038 hours, killing the entire crew of 25. ww2dbase [CPC]
• Allied rearguard forces from Thermopylae, Greece traveled 100 miles within 12 hours and reached the Greek capital of Athens around noon time; while crowds welcomed their arrival, diplomats of various countries burned papers as Axis capture was imminent. Just to the south, British troopship Pennland was damaged by German aircraft while attempting to evacuate troops, resulting in 4 deaths; other ships were able to evacuate 5,500 Allied personnel on this day. Out at sea, German aircraft sank 6 merchant ships and 1 yacht; 6 Greek destroyers and 5 submarines were able to escape toward Alexandria, Egypt. Finally, on this date, Hitler issued Führer Directive 28 for the attack on Crete, Greece, which was to be codenamed Operation Merkur. ww2dbase [Main Article | TH]
• The Axis offensive on the Libyan-Egyptian border resumed despite the lack of progress at Tobruk, Libya; German troops engaged British patrols near Fort Capuzzo. The 2 remaining Hurricane fighters in Tobruk were withdrawn to Egypt to join the mere 13 Hurricane fighters there, leaving Tobruk with only Lysander aircraft to perform artillery spotting duties and no aircraft capable of air defense. Out at sea, British submarine HMS Upholder sank Italian ship Antonietta Lauro off the Tunisian island of Kerkenah. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]
• German armed merchant cruiser Pinguin attacked British ship Empire Light, stopping the ship. After the 70 crew members were taken off, Pinguin scuttled Empire Light. ww2dbase [CPC]
• The German 8th Panzer Regiment departed Italy in three convoys for North Africa. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]
• Franklin Roosevelt called Charles Lindbergh an appeaser in response to Lindbergh's 23 Apr 1941 calls for the United States to stay out of the war. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]
• James Lacey, flying a Spitfire fighter, damaged a German Fw 190 aircraft. ww2dbase [Main Article | AC]
• Konteradmiral Karl Dönitz, the head of the German submarine branch, reiterated Adolf Hitler's orders that incidents with United States vessels must be avoided at all cost. ww2dbase [Main Article | AC]

• An indication that the Germans were considering Crete, Greece as a target for major parachute assault was discovered by the code-breakers at the Government Code and Cypher School at Bletchley Park in Britain through an interception of the German Luftwaffe's lax cypher discipline. ww2dbase [Main Article | Facility | AC]

25 Apr 1941 Interactive Map

• Weather data for 25 Apr 1942

• USS Hornet arrived at Pearl Harbor after conducting the Doolittle Raid. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]
• USS Enterprise arrived at Pearl Harbor after conducting the Doolittle Raid. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]
• Destroyer Yukikaze arrived at Davao, Mindanao, Philippine Islands. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]
• Tatsuta Maru departed Davao, Philippine Islands. ww2dbase [Main Article | Tabular Record of Movement | CPC]
• USS Spearfish sank Japanese freighter Toba Maru near the mouth of the Lingayen Gulf in the Philippine Islands. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]
• German submarine U-108 sank British ship Modesta 110 miles northwest of Bermuda at 0831 hours; 18 were killed, 23 survived. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]

• 27 Japanese bombers, escorted by 15 fighters, attacked the airfield near Darwin, Australia; fighters of the US 49th Pursuit Group, flying P-40 Warhawk fighters, shot down 10 bombers and 2 fighters without any losses. ww2dbase [CPC]

• Four B-17E Flying Fortress bombers of US 30th Bomb Squadron were launched from Seven Mile airfield near Port Moresby, Australian Papua at 0300 hours to attack Rabaul, New Britain; one of them would ran off the runway in the darkness and became stuck in thick mud, while another crashed into Mount Obree. At 0800 hours, Zero fighters attacked Seven Mile and destroyed the stuck bomber. ww2dbase [CPC]

• Alexander, Slim, and Stilwell met at Kyaukse, Burma, 25 miles south of Mandalay. It was decided that all Allied troops were to be pulled out of Burma, but Slim demanded that no British nor Indian units would be withdrawn to China even if the Chinese border was closer to that of India's. Meanwhile, Japanese and Chinese troops clashed at Loilem, central Burma. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]

• Shokaku arrived at Truk, Caroline Islands. ww2dbase [Main Article | Tabular Record of Movement | CPC]
• Chuichi Hara arrived at Truk, Caroline Islands. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]

• Troops of the Japanese 22nd Infantry Division began to conduct a search in Zhejiang and Jiangxi Provinces on the Chinese coast, burning down and massacring entire villages suspected of assisting the Doolittle Raiders. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]

• 110 British bombers attacked Rostock, Germany for the third night in a row, causing damage in the town and the nearby Heinkel aircraft factory. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]
• Karl von Le Suire was awarded the German Cross in Gold. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]

• Various Italian naval units began departing Italy by road to Vienna, Austria for the ultimate destination the Black Sea via the Danube River. ww2dbase [CPC]

• Captain Taijiro Aoki relieved Captain Hasegawa as the commanding officer of carrier Akagi. ww2dbase [Main Article | Tabular Record of Movement | CPC]
• Nachi arrived at Yokosuka, Japan. ww2dbase [Main Article | Tabular Record of Movement | CPC]
• Japanese hospital ship Hikawa Maru departed Yokosuka, Japan for her third voyage for the Japanese Navy. ww2dbase [Main Article | Tabular Record of Movement | CPC]
• Lieutenant Commander Shohei Matsumoto was named the commanding officer of Kamikaze, relieving Lieutenant Commander Kanematsu Hashimoto. ww2dbase [Main Article | Tabular Record of Movement | CPC]

• Hans-Joachim Marseille shot down two fighters north of Ain el Gazala, Libya, first piloted by Squadron Leader Osgood Hanbury (his 53rd kill) and the second piloted by Sergeant Wareham (his 54th kill). ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]

• The final US-Filipino stronghold on the island of Luzon in the Philippine Islands, Corregidor, while already under daily bombardment for the past two weeks, began to be subjected to night-time bombardment as well. At 2200 hours, two 240-millimeter shells hit the opening of a tunnel leading into the underground command center, killing 15. ww2dbase [Main Article | Facility | CPC]

• The large group of Polish artists and actors arrested in Krakow, Poland were put on a transport for Auschwitz Concentration Camp. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]

• Luftwaffe aircraft conducted a raid on Bath, England, United Kingdom. ww2dbase [Main Article | TH]

25 Apr 1942 Interactive Map

• Weather data for 25 Apr 1943

• Admiral Mineichi Koga arrived aboard Yamato for an inspection tour; he arrived to become the new Commander-in-Chief of the Combined Fleet, but that fact would be kept secret until the news of Yamamoto's death was to be made public next month. ww2dbase [Main Article | Tabular Record of Movement | CPC]
• USS Snook sank a Japanese or Chinese sampan with her deck gun off China. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]
• Commanding officer of the Chinese 5th Army defected to the Japanese. ww2dbase [CPC]

• USS Grayback departed Brisbane, Australia for her seventh war patrol. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]

• US Navy squadrons VF-26, VF-27, and VF-28, all equipped with F4F fighters, were transferred out of Henderson Field on Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]

• Repair ship Akashi began repairing cruiser Aoba at Truk, Caroline Islands. ww2dbase [Main Article | Tabular Record of Movement | CPC]

• Naka departed Yokosuka, Japan. ww2dbase [Main Article | Tabular Record of Movement | CPC]

• Jürgen Stroop reported that 27,464 Jews had been captured in the Jewish ghetto of Warsaw, Poland. ww2dbase [Main Article | Event | CPC]

• USS Wahoo declared her readiness for a war patrol while at Midway Atoll. ww2dbase [Main Article | Facility | CPC]
• USS Wahoo departed Midway Atoll for her fifth war patrol. ww2dbase [Main Article | Facility | CPC]

25 Apr 1943 Interactive Map

• Weather data for 25 Apr 1944

• Japanese hospital ship Hikawa Maru departed Saipan. ww2dbase [Main Article | Tabular Record of Movement | CPC]
• The Emsland concentration camps in Germany established the Kommandos Nord (Department North), which began to construct concentration camps in Norway north of the Arctic Circle; 1,404 prisoners were transferred there when completed. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]
• Australian troops captured Madang, New Guinea. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]
• Anglo-Indian troops attacked Ningthoukhong, India. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]

• Adolf Hitler made his last major public appearance at Hans-Valentin Hube's funeral in Berlin, Germany. ww2dbase [Main Article | TH]

• Landing ship No. 106 was launched. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]

• Kamoi entered dock No. 1 at Singapore for repairs. ww2dbase [Main Article | Tabular Record of Movement | CPC]

• George Patton was at a welcome club in Knutsford, England, United Kingdom as the guest of honor. Learning that his visit was supposed to be unofficial, he freely spoke of a post-war world in which the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union would together rule the world. A reporter carelessly missed writing down the Soviet Union, thus when the story was published several days later, it appeared as if Patton was disrespecting the Soviet Union. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]

• Weather data for 25 Apr 1945

• USS Cod sank Japanese minesweeper W-41. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]
• Finland reported all German troops were now out of its boundaries, which was 10 days later than the Soviet demand. ww2dbase [TH]
• US Third Army crossed the Danube River in southern Germany. ww2dbase [TH]
• British bombers attacked Berchtesgaden, Germany. The US 8th Air Force conducted its last heavy bomber raid on Germany. ww2dbase [Main Article | TH]
• Benito Mussolini fled to Como, Italy. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]
• US Army Colonel George Lynch addressed German civilians at Gardelegen, Saxony, Germany regarding the massacre of 1,016 political and military prisoners that took place nearby on 13 Apr 1945. ww2dbase [CPC]

• USAAF B-24 bombers attacked Japanese shipping at Saigon, Indochina, sinking one transport. ww2dbase [CPC]

• When units of Soviet 1st Byelorussian and 1st Ukrainian Fronts met near Kietzen, completing the encirclement of Berlin, Germany. German III.SS-Panzer Korps attempted to break this newly formed encirclement in failure. About 70 kilometers to the south, American and Soviet troops met at Torgau. ww2dbase [Main Article | TH]
• Adolf Galland announced to the pilots of German Jagdverband 44 at München (Munich), Germany that the war was effectively lost, and he would only accept volunteers to continue fighting from now on. All of his men stepped forward as volunteers. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]
• Robert von Greim arrived at Gatow, Berlin, Germany. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]
• 1st Lieutenant William B. Hoelscher, flying a flak-damaged P-51D fighter, pursued and claimed to have shot down the Me 262 jet fighter flown by Leutnant Sepp Huber at 0800 hours; the victory would not be credited. Unable to fly his damaged fighter home, Hoelscher crash landed in occupied Czechoslovakia and was assisted by locals until he made contact with personnel of US 14th Armored Division at Pilsen on 7 May 1945. ww2dbase [CPC]

• US 34th Infantry Division occupied Parma, Italy, which had recently been liberated by Italian partisan fighters. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]
• British V Corps crossed the Po River in northern Italy. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]
• Many Italian motor torpedo boats were destroyed to prevent Allied capture. ww2dbase [CPC]

• At 0900 hours, officers of Japanese Submarine Squadron 1 (Nobukiyo Nambu, Toshio Kusaka, Tsuruzo Shimizu, and Katsuo Ohashi) and 631st Naval Air Group (Lieutenant Commander Masayoshi Fukunaga, Atsugi Asamura, and Kazuo Takahashi) met to discuss plans for an attack on the Panama Canal. They were joined by officers from the Naval General Staff from Tokyo, Japan (Commander Shojiro Iura and Commander Yasuo Fujimori). ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]

• USS Spot shelled Japanese facilities on Soheugsan island, Korea in the Yellow Sea, destroying or damaging a radio station, oil storage facilities, and barracks. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]

• Shalva Loladze was killed in combat on Texel, the Netherlands. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]

• Graf Zeppelin was scuttled with demolition charges at Stettin, Germany (now Szczecin, Poland) at 1800 hours to prevent Soviet capture. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]

• Allied convoy JW-66 arrived at the Kola Inlet near Murmansk, Russia. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]

• Representatives from 46 nations met in San Francisco, California, United States for the United Nations Conference on International Organization. ww2dbase [CPC]

25 Apr 1945 Interactive Map

• In Hong Kong, a war crimes court presided by Lieutenant-Colonel J. C. Stewart found Lieutenant Yasuo Kishi, Lieutenant Chozaburo Matsumoto, and Sergeant Major Hiroshi Uchida guilty of war crimes committed against civilians at Mui Wo, Lantau Island, Hong Kong between 19 Aug and 27 Aug 1945; they were sentenced to death by hanging. 10 others were also found guilty and given prison terms ranging from 2 years to 10 years. 3 of the defendants were acquitted. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]

• USS Barbero was decommissioned and placed in reserve while still in commission. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]

• Hisao Tani's appeal against his death sentence was rejected by Chiang Kaishek. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]

• Francis Tuker retired from military service. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]

• Douglas MacArthur spoke to a crowd at Soldier Field, Chicago, Illinois, United States. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]

25 Apr 1951 Interactive Map

• Wei Lihuang met with Mao Zedong in Beijing, China. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]

• USS Ticonderoga ended a tour in Asian waters. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]

• Frank Fletcher passed away. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]

• Rupert Lonsdale passed away. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]

• The senate of Iowa, United States passed a resolution to support battleship Iowa remaining at Mare Island, California, United States as a museum ship. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]

25 Apr 2009 Interactive Map