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• Coast Watchers reported that a Japanese flying boat base was being built in the upper Solomon Islands. ww2dbase [Solomon Islands Campaign | CPC]
• Erwin Rommel received the Colonial Order of the Star of Italy. ww2dbase [Erwin Rommel | CPC]
• HMS Edinburgh departed Murmansk, Russia. ww2dbase [Edinburgh | CPC]
• Allied convoy PQ-15, which had departed Iceland two days prior, was joined by British battleship HMS King George V, American battleship USS Washington, British aircraft carrier HMS Victorious, 5 cruisers, 12 destroyers, and 4 submarines for its journey toward Murmansk, Russia; the convoy was spotted by German aircraft 200 miles northwest of Tromsø, Norway. On the same day, returning convoy QP-11 departed Kola Inlet in northern Russia; it was consisted of 13 merchant ships and was escorted by 6 destroyers, 4 corvettes, 1 trawler, and 4 minesweepers. ww2dbase [Arctic Convoys | CPC]
• German submarine U-136 sank Dutch ship Arundo 30 miles southeast of New York, New York, United States at 1535 hours; 6 were killed, 37 survived. ww2dbase [Second Happy Time | CPC]

• USS S-35 sailed west from Dutch Harbor, US Territory of Alaska in response to a reported Japanese invasion fleet in the western Aleutian Islands, starting her second war patrol. ww2dbase [S-35 | Unalaska | CPC]

• USS S-38 departed Brisbane, Australia, starting her fourth war patrol. ww2dbase [S-38 | Brisbane, Queensland | CPC]

• At 1100 hours, Coast Watchers reported incoming Japanese aircraft flying south from the Lae, New Guinea area. Shortly after, 8 Japanese Type 1 bombers and 11 Zero fighters attacked Port Moresby, Australian Papua. In the ensuing combat, two of the Kittyhawk fighters attempted to engage in dogfights with Zero fighters at a high altitude, which caused their engines to stall, leading to the two fighters' crash. After the attack, Port Moresby personnel discovered one of the Japanese bombers had delivered a bag containing 395 letters written by prisoners of war kept in Rabaul, New Britain; actually two khaki bags of mail were dropped, but one of them fell in the water. ww2dbase [New Guinea-Papua Campaign, Phase 2 | Port Moresby | CPC]

• Troops of the Chinese 28th Division arrived at Lashio in northern Burma. To the west, the Indian 17th Division crossed the Irrawaddy River at Sameikkon, Burma on its retreat toward India; Chinese 38th Division and British 7th Armoured Brigade formed a line between Sagaing and Ondaw to guard the retreat. ww2dbase [Invasion of Burma | CPC]

• The German Reichstag passed the legislation marking Adolf Hitler as the "Supreme Judge of the German People," formalizing his status above the law. ww2dbase [Adolf Hitler | TH]
• 88 British bombers (62 Wellington, 15 Stirling, 10 Hampden, 1 Halifax) attacked Kiel, Germany, destroying all three main shipyard facilities and killing 15; 6 bombers were destroyed in his mission. ww2dbase [Bombing of Hamburg, Dresden, and Other Cities | Kiel, Schleswig-Holstein | CPC]

• Japanese Naval General Staff's technology sub-committee reviewed the preliminary proposal of a underwater aircraft carrier. ww2dbase [I-400-class | CPC]

• Axis aircraft attacked Malta, sinking British tug HMS West Dean. ww2dbase [Malta Campaign | CPC]

• Kamoi arrived at Jabor, Marshall Islands. ww2dbase [Kamoi | Jabor | CPC]

• 21 British Halifax and 12 Lancaster bombers attacked German battleship Tirpitz at Trondheim, Norway; two Halifax bombers were destroyed. ww2dbase [Tirpitz | Trondheim, Sør-Trøndelag | CPC]

• SS-Obersturmführer Franz Stangl was named the first commandant of Sobibór concentration camp in occupied Poland. ww2dbase [Sobibór Concentration Camp | Discovery of Concentration Camps and the Holocaust | Sobibór, Lublin | CPC]

• Naka departed Seletar Naval Base, Singapore and arrived at Keppel Harbour, Singapore. ww2dbase [Naka | Singapore | CPC]

• Tatsuta Maru arrived at Takao, Taiwan. ww2dbase [Tatsuta Maru | Takao | CPC]

• USS Ranger and Augusta arrived at Port of Spain, Trinidad. ww2dbase [Augusta | Ranger | Port of Spain | DS]

• Italian submarine Corallo sank Tunisian fishing boats Dar El Salam and Tunis with the deck gun off Cape Bon, Tunisia after taking off the crews. ww2dbase [Corallo | CPC]

• The historic Guildhall in York, England, United Kingdom was destroyed by fire started by a German air raid on the city. ww2dbase [Battle of Britain | York, England | AC]

• The keel of submarine Dragonet was laid down by the Cramp Shipbuilding Company at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. ww2dbase [Dragonet | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania | CPC]
• The first Japanese-American internees arrived at the Puyallup Assembly Center in Washington, United States. ww2dbase [Internment of Japanese-Americans and Japanese-Canadians | Puyallup Assembly Center | Puyallup, Washington | CPC]

• USS Honolulu and convoy arrived at Pago Pago, Samoa. ww2dbase [Honolulu | Pago Pago, American Samoa | DS]

28 Apr 1942 Interactive Map