Day 946 April 3, 1942

At 3.40 AM in the Indian Ocean 500 miles South of India, Japanese submarine I-7 sinks British MV Glenshiel, carrying 1000 tons of general cargo and 12 passengers from Bombay to Fremantle, Australia (all hands and passengers rescued by British destroyer HMS Fortune and landed at Colombo, Ceylon).

At 3.40 AM 10 miles off Chincoteague Inlet, Virginia, U-552 surfaces and fires 93 rounds from the deck gun at US colier David H. Atwater. SS David H. Atwater is set on fire by about 50 hits and sinks (24 crew jump overboard and drown, 3 survivors swim to an empty lifeboat and are picked up by US Coast Guard CG-218).

Philippines campaign is the only Japanese offensive behind schedule so General Homma’s command is reinforced with 50,000 troops from other theaters (including China, the sacred cow of Japanese strategic planning) plus heavy artillery, including the WWI-era Type 96 240mm siege howitzer. The renewed offensive opens with a massive bombardment of American positions on the Orion-Bagac line from 9 AM to 3 PM by 300 guns and 100 aircraft. At 3 PM, Japanese troops attack up the face of Mount Samat, in the center of the line, shattering the defenses of the demoralised, diseased and starving Filipino 41st Infantry Division.

At 11.49 AM 200 miles East of Virginia Beach, Virginia, U-754 sinks American SS Otho carrying 4400 tons of manganese ore, 1300 tons of palm oil and 750 tons of tin from Gold Coast, West Africa, to Philadelphia (32 dead and 21 survivors).

Off Gelendzhik on the Caucasus (Eastern) shore of the Black Sea, Soviet destroyer Shaumian runs aground and is wrecked (later salvaged for scrap). German bombers sink Polish SS Tobruk and British steamers New Westminster City and Empire Starlight, from convoy PQ13, in harbor at Murmansk. U-702 goes missing in the North Sea 100 miles off Norwegian coast, possibly hitting a drifting mine (all 44 hands lost).

6 USAAF B-17 bombers (10th Air Force) fly from Asansol, Northeast India, to bomb docks at Rangoon, Burma, starting 3 fires in warehouses (1 B-17 lost).

In the South Atlantic, German raider Thor stops Norwegian vessel Aust with shellfire and sinks her after taking off the crew.

At 11.31 PM 200 miles off Ivory Coast, West Africa, U-505 American SS West Irmo (10 African stevedores killed, 35 crew and 55 stevedores rescued by British minesweeping trawler HMS Copinsay).