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WWII On This Day: April 7

What happened on April 7 during World War II? This date brings together 7 events from 1940, 1941, 1944 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

The invasion groups sail for Norway

German naval groups carrying assault troops left their bases for the Norwegian coast on 7 April. The northern force bound for Narvik faced the longest voyage and the greatest exposure to the Royal Navy. The ships carried troops, ammunition and command staffs inside warships designed primarily for combat. The transport arrangement placed military success at the landing points inside the survival of the naval groups carrying them. British reconnaissance detected German naval movement and the Home Fleet sailed north. Each side now entered the same sea space with a different…

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1941
Damage at Piraeus on 7 April 1941 after the German air raid and explosions of the previous night.
Damage at Piraeus on 7 April 1941 after the German air raid and explosions of the previous night. Australian War Memorial 134866 · public domain Source
German Invasion of Greece, April 1941

The Piraeus raid cripples the main Allied port

German aircraft attacked Piraeus during the first night of the campaign. Bombing set the ammunition-laden Clan Fraser on fire; the ship later exploded, spreading fires and secondary detonations through the harbour area and damaging nearby vessels and installations. Piraeus was the principal port supporting W Force and the main southern transport network. Damage there affected unloading, stores and shipping at the moment the expeditionary force was already trying to move supplies north while preparing for the possibility of retreat. The destruction did not close the port permanently, but it demonstrated…

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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

German armour enters Skopje

The 9th Panzer Division entered Skopje on 7 April after forcing the southeastern approaches from Bulgaria. The city was the principal communications centre of Yugoslav Macedonia and lay astride the railway and road system connecting Belgrade with the Vardar valley and Greece. German commanders wanted the southern attack to isolate Yugoslav forces from the Allied armies in Greece and secure the flank of the simultaneous attack through Greece. Yugoslav units withdrawing through Macedonia had limited routes and faced continuing pressure from German mobile forces and aircraft. The capture of Skopje…

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A reconnaissance detachment of the German 5th Panzer Division entering Athens on 27 April 1941.
Bundesarchiv Bild 146-1979-123-32 · CC BY-SA 3.0 DE · Source
German Invasion of Greece, April 1941

German mountain troops reach the rear of part of the fortress system

The 6th Mountain Division pushed across snow-covered high ground west of the main Roupel approaches, using routes considered unsuitable for ordinary vehicles. By 7 April its troops were reaching the valleys and communications behind portions of the fixed frontier defence. This movement did not make the fortifications irrelevant by itself. The mountain troops still had to move men, ammunition and supplies through extremely difficult ground, while Greek positions continued resisting along the established approaches. Its operational value lay in widening the breach around the frontier system. With 2nd Panzer Division…

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1944
Child survivors of Auschwitz, wearing adult-size prisoner jackets, stand behind a barbed wire fence.
USHMM
The Holocaust: Timeline and Evidence

Rudolf Vrba and Alfréd Wetzler escape

Rudolf Vrba and Alfréd Wetzler escaped from Auschwitz-Birkenau on 7 April 1944 after hiding for three days in a concealed space within the outer camp perimeter. They then travelled on foot toward Slovakia and reached Jewish representatives there more than ten days later. They dictated a detailed account of the camp, deportations, selections and killing process. The report was completed by the end of April, became part of the Auschwitz Protocols and contributed to international reporting and diplomatic pressure while the deportation of Hungary's Jews was under way.

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1945
Men of the 95th Division patrolling Soest after its capture, 7 April 1945.
Men of the 95th Division patrolling Soest after its capture, 7 April 1945. US Army Signal Corps SC 336817 · NARA · Public domain Source
The Ruhr Pocket

The weather clears

Overcast and light rain gave way to warm, clear weather. Aircraft of IX and XXIX Tactical Air Commands could again attack strongpoints and columns of troops and vehicles. Railway rolling stock was excluded from the target list because the Allies expected to need it. In the industrial north, artillery rather than aircraft supplied much of the firepower.

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Men of the 95th Division patrolling Soest after its capture, 7 April 1945.
Men of the 95th Division patrolling Soest after its capture, 7 April 1945. US Army Signal Corps SC 336817 · NARA · Public domain Source
The Ruhr Pocket

Soest is outflanked

A combat command of the 8th Armored Division made a twenty-five-mile end run around Soest. The move threatened elements of the 116th Panzer Division with another encirclement. The Germans withdrew rather than hold the city. The episode shows how manoeuvre still decided individual towns even after the larger pocket had closed.

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