Ninth Air Force. United States Army Air Force (USAAF) XXIX
Tactical Air Command moves operational Headquarters to Brunswick.
Weather prevents combat operations by 9th Bomber Division
and IX Tactical Air Command. XIX Tactical Air Command flies
armed reconnaissance over East Germany and West Czechoslovakia,
flies area cover over Wurzburg, Bayreuth areas, patrols Third
Army front Bayreuth, Nurnberg areas, and XII Corps in German
Czechoslovakian border area near Weiden.
Twelfth Air Force. Entire night and day effort is concentrated
against Wehrmacht forces retreating North across the Po River
in face of allied forces which send advance elements racing
to South bank. Medium bombers fly 16 missions against ferries
and pontoon bridge sites on the Po between Casalmaggiore and
Polesella. XXII Tactical Air Command light bombers, fighter-bombers,
and fighters maintain night and day attacks on Po crossings
and enemy movement. The command claims over 900 motor and
horse drawn vehicles destroyed.
Fifteenth Air Force. Bad weather cancels all heavy bomber
operations. 258 United States Army Air Force (USAAF) P-51
Mustang fighter-bombers and P-38 Lightning fighters fly armed
reconnaissance over Northeast Italy, bombing marshalling yards,
bridges, railroads, highways, and several buildings and strafing
an airfield, rail and road traffic, and numerous other targets.
Other P-38 Lightning fighters fly reconnaissance while P-51
Mustang fighter-bombers escort reconnaissance and supply missions.
Tenth Air Force. Bad weather again cancels scheduled air strikes.
464 transport sorties fly 664 tons of supplies to forward
areas.
Fourteenth Air Force. 2 United States Army Air Force (USAAF)
B-24 Liberator heavy bombers bomb targets at Bakli Bay and
Canton. 5 B-25 Mitchell medium bombers bomb Hsuchang and hit
area to the North West. 19 P-51 Mustang fighter-bombers and
P-47 Thunderbolt fighters attack trains, trucks, troops, horses,
and town areas at or near Linfen, Luan, Sincheng, Fentingfukou,
Taiku, Chenghsien, Sinsiang, and Kaifeng.
Far East Air Force (FEAF). Numerous missions in support of
ground forces on Luzon, Cebu, and Negros continue. B-24 Liberator
heavy bombers bomb Manggar and Jesselton airfields, B-29 Superfortress
heavy bomber's hit Tarakan, and P-38 Lightning fighters hit
Kuching. B-24 Liberator heavy bombers hit shipping and harbour
installations at Saigon.
Twentieth Air Force. Strikes against airfields continue. 80
United States Army Air Force (USAAF) B-29 Superfortress heavy
bomber's bomb airfields at Izumi, Kushira, Miyazaki, Tomitaka,
and Kanoya.
VII Fighter Command. 99 United States Army Air Force (USAAF)
effective sorties are flown during fighters attack from Iwo
Jima against Akenogahara and Suzuko airfields. The fighters
claim 10 aircraft downed and 15 destroyed on the ground.
Heinrich
Himmler on 22 April 1945, through Count Bernadotte, puts
forth an offer of German surrender to the Western Allies,
but not the Soviet Union.
Adolf
Hitler on 22 April 1945, admits defeat in his underground
Berlin bunker after learning Felix Steiner could not mobilise
enough men to launch a counterattack on the Russians who had
just broken through.
Go To: 23rd
April
Articles:
The Second Great War.
Edited by Sir John Hamilton
The War Illustrated.
Edited by Sir John Hamilton
2194 Days Of War.
ISBN-10: 086136614X
For a complete list of
sources
