Easter Sunday Raid

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Easter Sunday Raid on Ceylon
Part of the Pacific Theatre of World War II
Date 5 April 1942 Location Colombo, British Ceylon Result Japanese victory
Belligerents
Japan	United Kingdom  British Ceylon
Casualties and losses
7 aircraft[1]	26 aircraft Many more killed on the ground.[2]

The Easter Sunday Raid was an air attack on Colombo, Ceylon during the Indian Ocean raid by carrier-based aircraft of the Imperial Japanese Navy on 5 April 1942. The Japanese objective was to destroy the Ceylon-based British Eastern Fleet in harbour. The British preemptively dispersed shipping from the harbours before the attacks due to advance warning from intelligence in March 1942, and air reconnaissance during the raid.

The attacking Japanese aircraft were met by fighters of the Royal Air Force's (RAF) 222 Group, commanded by Air Vice-Marshal John D'Albiac, and the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm (FAA), and anti-aircraft artillery. Port facilities were damaged, and ships both in harbour and – having dispersed – on the ocean were sunk or damaged. The bulk of the British Eastern Fleet was not found and survived.

The raid demonstrated Ceylon's vulnerability; British forces were not prepared to face further Japanese carrier raids. The Eastern Fleet relocated its main base to East Africa, from which it regularly deployed carrier task forces into the central and eastern Indian Oceans.