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• Japanese hospital ship Hikawa Maru arrived at Palau and departed later on the same day. ww2dbase [Hikawa Maru | CPC]
• US Navy completed a two-day raid on Truk, which destroyed 120 Japanese aircraft. ww2dbase [Attack on Truk | CPC]
• The first Commonwealth Prime Ministers' Conference began and would last until 16 May. British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, Australian Prime Minister John Curtin, New Zealand Prime Minister Peter Fraser, Canadian Prime Minister Mackenzie King, and South African Prime Minister Jan Smuts were in attendance. They would agree to support the Moscow Declaration and reached agreement regarding their respective roles in the overall Allied war effort. ww2dbase [Winston Churchill | TH]
• The Organizational Division of the German Prisoner of War Office reported that a total of 5,165,381 Soviet prisoners were in German captivity. ww2dbase [CPC]
• Submarine Macabi was laid down. ww2dbase [Macabi | CPC]
• Joseph Stalin justified taking the war into German borders by noting "[o]ur tasks cannot be restricted by pushing the enemy out of our Motherland.... We must free our brothers from German Europe who have been conquered by Hitler's Germany." ww2dbase [Joseph Stalin | CPC]
• Chiaki Matsuda was made the commanding officer of Carrier Division 4 and 4th Aircraft Squadron. ww2dbase [Chiaki Matsuda | CPC]

• Yamato arrived at Lingga, Dutch East Indies south of Singapore. ww2dbase [Yamato | Lingga | CPC]
• Destroyer Yukikaze arrived at Lingga, Dutch East Indies. ww2dbase [Yukikaze | Lingga | CPC]

• British Squadron Leader Maurice Southgate, whose task it was to coordinate the various Marquis groups between the Loire River and the Pyrenees mountains, was arrested by the Gestapo in Paris, France. ww2dbase [The French Resistance | Paris | AC]

• USS Finback arrived at Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii, ending her eighth war patrol. ww2dbase [Pearl Harbor Navy Base and Ford Island Naval Air Station | Finback | Honolulu, Oahu | CPC]

• Anglo-Indian troops attacked Crete West hill near Imphal, India. ww2dbase [Battle of Imphal-Kohima | Imphal, Manipur | CPC]

• Italian Navy formed Divisione Decima (10th Division) with theoretical strength of 11 battalions; in actuality only 4 were operational at this time. ww2dbase [CPC]
• The newly formed Italian parachute regiment formally became a part of the Italian Air Force. ww2dbase [CPC]

• Masafumi Arima was promoted to the rank of rear admiral. ww2dbase [Masafumi Arima | CPC]
• Landing ship No. 103 was completed. ww2dbase [No. 101/103-class | CPC]

• Boris Shaposhnikov received the Medal for the Defense of Moscow. ww2dbase [Boris Shaposhnikov | CPC]

• The Yugoslavian partisan leader Tito's mission arrived in London, England, United Kingdom to discuss cooperation with the Allies and gained official recognition. ww2dbase [London, England | TH]
• While in Britain, Robert Johnson was promoted to the rank of major. ww2dbase [Robert Johnson | England | CPC]

• USS Sterlet departed Key West, Florida, United States. ww2dbase [Sterlet | Key West , Florida | CPC]

1 May 1944 Interactive Map