Skip to content
WW2 Theatres Theatres of the Second World War
Home

World War II calendar

WWII On This Day: April 14

What happened on April 14 during World War II? This date brings together 5 events from 1940, 1941 and 1945, with period photographs and links to the full operations documented across WW2 Theatres.

1940
German mountain troops landing in Norway, April 1940.
Photo: Bagn Bygdesamling – Valdres Folkemuseum, Norway · CC BY-SA 3.0 DE · Source
Operation Weserübung

Allied troops land north of Trondheim

British troops began landing at Namsos to form the northern arm of an Allied movement toward Trondheim, followed by French troops and additional British formations. The port offered limited unloading capacity and sparse local air defence. German bombers repeatedly attacked Namsos and the road and rail network leading south toward Trondheim. The expedition entered combat before its artillery, vehicles and supply system had reached full strength. Every reinforcement movement depended on exposed ports and routes within Luftwaffe range.

Continue in Operation Weserübung →
1941
New Zealand infantry and Matilda tank crews meeting outside Tobruk during Operation Crusader, photographed 2 December 1941.
Captain Geoffrey Keating / No. 1 Army Film & Photographic Unit · Imperial War Museums E 6918 · UK Government public domain
Tobruk and Operation Crusader

The Easter attack is stopped inside the perimeter

German troops penetrated the southern wire on the night of 13–14 April. Australian infantry, artillery and local reserves fought to contain the breach and forced the attackers back. Corporal John Edmondson of the 2/17th Battalion was mortally wounded while helping fight off the attack and received a posthumous Victoria Cross. The defenders strengthened their use of patrols, secondary positions and prearranged gunfire. The fighting showed that the perimeter could be breached, but that an attacker still needed to bring sufficient infantry, armour and supply forward to exploit the opening.

Continue in Tobruk and Operation Crusader →
A German Panzer IV of the 11th Panzer Division advancing into Yugoslavia in April 1941.
Bundesarchiv Bild 101I-770-0280-20 · CC BY-SA 3.0 DE · Source
Invasion of Yugoslavia, April 1941

Yugoslav representatives seek an armistice

By 14 April, the loss of Belgrade and the surrender or dispersal of formations across several fronts had brought the Yugoslav Supreme Command to the point of seeking terms. Representatives approached German commands while remaining field headquarters tried to determine what forces could still be controlled. German commanders required a settlement covering the entire Yugoslav armed forces rather than a series of local ceasefires. That condition converted the immediate problem from arranging pauses in fighting to authorising a general military capitulation. The Yugoslav command therefore moved toward appointing representatives with…

Continue in Invasion of Yugoslavia, April 1941 →
1945
Soldiers of the U.S. 95th Infantry Division patrol Soest after its capture during the reduction of the Ruhr Pocket, 7 April 1945.
Men of the 95th Infantry Division patrol Soest, 7 April 1945 · Photographer Pick · U.S. Army Signal Corps / NARA · Public domain
The Ruhr Pocket

Stalag VI-A is liberated at Hemer

U.S. officers of the 7th Armored Division took control of Stalag VI-A at Hemer at about 16:00 on 14 April while operations around the town were still being resolved. The division’s after-action record counted 23,302 Allied prisoners, including 19,411 Soviet and 2,753 French prisoners. The camp contained severe hunger, overcrowding and widespread typhus, pneumonia, tuberculosis and dysentery. American troops initially maintained controlled guards around the prisoner population while medical and relief arrangements were organised, preventing thousands of sick and undernourished men from entering an active combat area without support.

Continue in The Ruhr Pocket →
The Ruhr Pocket

The remaining pocket is split

Late on 14 April, a battalion of the U.S. 8th Infantry Division’s 13th Infantry reached the south bank of the Ruhr at Hattingen and established contact with Ninth Army troops across the river. The link eliminated the remaining northern sector of the pocket. German-held territory south of the Ruhr was now divided into eastern and western enclaves. Army Group B’s headquarters could no longer direct a coherent front as subordinate corps, divisions and local groups surrendered on different schedules.

Continue in The Ruhr Pocket →