1 May 1939

Yesterday Tomorrow

May 1st, 1939 (MONDAY)

AUSTRIA: Seyss-Inquart is made a Reich's Minister without Portfolio.

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1 May 1940

Yesterday Tomorrow

May 1st, 1940 (WEDNESDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: RAF Bomber Command: 4 Group. Bombing - Stavanger and Fornebu airfields. 10 Sqn. Six aircraft bombed Stavanger, fires started.

77 Sqn. Three aircraft bombed Fornebu. Severe opposition.

102 Sqn. Three aircraft bombed Fornebu. Severe opposition.

Hampdens raid Aalborg.

ÉIRE: Dublin: In a desperate move to remain out of the war, the Irish government appealed today to the United States to guarantee its neutrality. Eire - the only Commonwealth nation which has not rallied to the Allied cause - chose neutrality when it considered its position shortly before the outbreak of war.

The cool attitude of the Prime Minister, Eamon de Valera, to the British cause and his refusal to allow British convoy escorts to be based in Irish ports, have infuriated many British politicians, so much so that there is genuine fear of a British invasion in Dublin. Equally, the possibility of a German invasion is not being ruled out.

Although Washington is unlikely to offer a formal guarantee, the Irish-American lobby is a powerful political force in a country whose support is vital to Britain.

Britain has appealed to de Valera to join a defence union with Northern Ireland. The former British detainee is unlikely to co-operate. The Irish government is being markedly active against the IRA, however, with Irish Garda cooperating with British police in the hunt for terrorists. Despite de Valera’s views, thousands of his countrymen are crossing the Northern Ireland border to volunteer for the British forces, so Britain is likely to refrain from any hostile moves.

NETHERLANDS: Submarine HNLMS O-25 launched.

GERMANY: Berlin: Germany announces the surrender of 4,000 Norwegian soldiers in the Lillehammer sector.

NORWAY: Blenheims of Bomber Command and Hudsons of Coastal Command raid Stavanger in daylight. No opposition.

As the Germans close in on Åndalsnes, the Allies begin to evacuate over 4,000 men from the port.

With daylight the Luftwaffe arrive in force, driving out to sea two WW1 vintage British cruisers converted for AA duty, that had been sent to protect the port. After twilight two more cruisers and five destroyers come in and pick up 1,300 additional men. More troops remained on shore - their number uncounted in the darkness and the confusion.

Mark Horan adds: HMS Ark Royal and HMS Glorious were with the Home Fleet preparing to support the bombardment of Trondheim Leeds, but it was called off. The weather was miserable over the landing sites, so throughout the day the bulk of the carrier air groups stood down while the Sea Gladiators of 802 and 804 Squadron on HMS Glorious defended the Fleet. First contact occurred at 0700 when a section of 804 Squadron ran off an intruder.

With the fleet found, the defensive patrols were stepped up with two sections on patrol and a third on deck ready to go. Red section of 804 Squadron (Lt. R. H. P Carver, RN) was vector after an intruder at 1115, but did not catch it. The following patrols continued the boring job until 1540 when 804's Blue section (Lt. R. M. Smeeton, RN) ran off an He-111K with minor damage, and at 1600 ran off another which jettisoned its bombs. At 1700 804's Red section (Lt. R. H. P. Carver, RN again) chased off another, then at 1750 damaged an He-115 after a long chase.

By this time it was clear an attack on the Fleet was developing, and fresh aircraft were launched including 802's Blue Section (CO Lt. J. R. Marmont, RN) which briefly chased an He-115 then returned to the fleet at 1825 in time to intercept a group of 7 Ju87's approaching. Carver's Red section almost missed out on the fun having chased the He-115 far off, but managed to engage several attackers as they pulled out. Not to be left out, the Squadron's the newly launched Yellow Section (CO Lt.Cdr. J. C. Cockburn, RN) got right in the thick of it, damaging several. All the sections noted that the Fleet's pom-pom fire appeared to be directed mostly at the defending Gladiators in lieu of the attacking Stukas!

While all this was going on, both Ark Royal and Glorious cleared the decks with Skua fighter patrols for the landing area at Namsos. Ark launched the four "borrowed" 803 squadron Skuas in two sections of two (Lt. W. P. Lucy, RN and S-Lt. G. W. Brokensha, RN), while Glorious contributed all that remained of 803 on board, one section of three (Lt. J. M. Christian, RN) The patrols spotted nothing significant over Namsos, but after returning home near nightfall, the trigger happy Fleet gunners decided the returnees were more attackers, and aptly put the finishing touches on the day when they knocked down Brokensha. Fortunately he was able to make a good water landing and the crew was soon on board HMS Nubian. no worse for their effort, but not speaking too highly of the Fleet's aerial recognition ability!

HMS Ark Royal's air group had been in action for eight days, during which the limitations of the weather had limited the flying to 127 sorties, including 72 fighter sorties by the Skua Squadrons, during which they had claimed 13 German aircraft destroyed and another 17 damaged. HMS Glorious, with an air groups composed primarily of fighters, though most were the short legged Sea Gladiators, had contributed another 65-75 sorties, including 26 by 803 Squadron's Skuas. The lot claimed 7 German aircraft destroyed and 3 damaged, while the ship's AA batteries claimed an additional destroyed. The two air groups had lost 4 Swordfish and 9 Skuas to all causes. Taken in light of the force available, and given the limitations of the weather, it had been a creditable performance - but given the virtual air superiority displayed by the Luftwaffe aircraft over land, it was not all the Army had hoped for.

Thereafter, the Home Fleet departed for Scapa Flow, due to arrive on the 3rd.

ITALY: Rome: Roosevelt sends a personal message to Mussolini urging him to stay out of the war; the Duce tells the US ambassador, William Phillips, that Germany cannot be defeated in Europe.

CHINA: Japanese troops advance from Xinyang, thrusting towards the Yangtze River.

U.S.A.: Washington: The US government announces that the US and Greenland, a Danish territory, have agreed to the mutual establishment of consulates "in view of the German occupation of Denmark."

ATLANTIC OCEAN: German raider 'Widder' heads for central Atlantic operations before her return to France in six months time.

On her way into the Indian Ocean, raider 'Atlantis' lays mines off South Africa.

1 May 1941

May 1st, 1941 (THURSDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: Westminster: Frederick Leathers, an industrialist who started work as an office boy in the coal trade, was tonight appointed head of a new ministry of wartime communications by Mr Churchill. He will amalgamate the ministries of shipping and transport, and gets a peerage on joining the government. Another change is the move of Lord Beaverbrook to be Minister of State - a rank without precedent. Lord Brabazon now takes over a Minister of Aircraft Production.

Liverpool: The Luftwaffe raids the city and continues for the next 7 nights. 76,000 people are made homeless and 3,000 killed or injured. 69 out of 144 berths are put out of action, and for a while the tonnage landed was down 75%.

Destroyer HS Adrias (ex-HMS Border) laid down.

Destroyer HMS Haydon laid down.

GERMANY: Day and night fighter interceptor controls are united under a single command post. German flak units remain under the control of the individual air district headquarters (Luftgaukommandos), but in other respects German air defence now makes up a single unified military organisation.

U-163, U-164 launched.

U-568 commissioned.

MEDITERRANEAN SEA: Around this time two submarines operating our of Malta are lost, possibly due to mines - HMS Usk in the Strait of Sicily area and HMS Undaunted off Tripoli, Libya. HMS Usk may have been sunk by Italian destroyers west of Sicily while attacking a convoy.

MALTA: In one of their almost daily attacks, Axis aircraft raid Valetta; the destroyer HMS Jersey sinks after hitting a mine in the harbour entrance.

LIBYA: The British Reuters News Agency reported from the headquarters of General Wavell:

An extremely violent battle ignited Wednesday night around Tobruk. After a vigorous bombardment lasting several hours, German and Italian infantry attacked the Tobruk fortifications, deploying heavy tanks and flamethrowing tanks simultaneously. Early this morning another attack ensued by large numbers of German Stuka dive bombers which dropped heavy calibre bombs on the defence installations. Until 10:00 A.M. the British garrison succeeded in preventing any breach in the Tobruk defences. After that, a strong panzer force successfully penetrated the outer perimeter along a 2-mile front. British and Australian troops are at this moment engaged in hand-to-hand fighting in the defensive installations outside the city.

Mike Yaklich adds: The flamethrower tanks were Italian flamethrower L3's. These had already been in service for a couple of years by 1941, and the Italian Ariete armoured division was heavily involved in many of the Axis assaults on the Tobruk perimeter in April- early May '41. Confusion is often generated by the reference to "Ansaldo cars" or "armoured cars," no doubt a too-literal translation of the "carro armato," the Italian word for "tank" (often further shortened to simply "carro"). The small size of the L3, and its lack of a turret, helped further this confusion, as it was something of a stretch to call the L3 a tank in the conventional sense. The flamethrower L3 was a rather distinctive vehicle. The flame projector (maximum range about 100 meters) replaced the twin machineguns mounted in the left side of the hull, and flame fuel came directly from a special two-wheeled trailer which the tank pulled behind it when in action.

IRAQ: Iraqi forces attack British forces at Rutba west of Baghdad.

CANADA: Examination vessels HMCS Marvita and Shulamite commissioned.

U.S.A.: Joint Army-Navy Board completes Rainbow-5 calling for abandonment of the Philippines upon the outbreak of war and the sacrifice of the garrison.

Hart advised by Navy Department that he would be given at least four days’ notice prior to the start of hostilities. Hart instructs his staff to base all plans on a two days’ warning.

Commander H D Linder, RNethN, joins Hart in Manila as a liaison officer. (Marc Small)

Admiral Ernest J. King assumes command of the USN's Atlantic Fleet.

The fifth Lake class US Coast vessel, USCGC Chelan (CGC-45), is transferred to the Royal Navy under Lend Lease and is renamed HMS Lulworth.

The motion picture "Citizen Kane" is released in the U.S. Directed by Orson Welles, this drama stars Welles, Joseph Cotten, Everett Sloane, Agnes Moorehead and a bit part by Alan Ladd. The film has been rank Number 1 on the American Film Institute's list of Top 100 films. The plot centres on the rise of a William Randolph Heart-like newspaper publisher and was Welles first and best film. It was nominated for nine Academy Awards and won the award for original screenplay, crediting Welles and Herman Mankiewitz.

Submarine USS Grenadier commissioned.

Destroyers USS Bancroft, Beatty, Endicott, Kendrick, Laub, McCook and Tillman laid down.

Light fleet carrier USS Independence laid down.

ATLANTIC OCEAN: At 1834, the unescorted Samsø was hit near the aft mast by one torpedo from U-103 SW of Freetown and sank slowly in 50 minutes. One crewmember was lost. The master and 18 crewmembers in three lifeboats landed at Los Island, French Guinea on 3 May and were taken to Conakry and thence to Freetown on 16 May.

At 0027, the Nerissa, a straggler from Convoy HX-121, was torpedoed and sunk by U-552 SE of Rockall. The master, 82 crewmembers and 124 passengers were lost. 23 crewmembers, six gunners, three stowaways and 51 passengers were picked up by HMS Veteran, transferred to HMS Kingcup and landed at Londonderry.

1 May 1942

May 1st, 1942 (FRIDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: Destroyer HMS Whelp laid down.

FRANCE: Paris: Lacan the Egyptologist, the Orientalist Pelliot and a dozen of their colleagues at the Collège de France and the Académie des Sciences have been thrown into Fresnes prison for a few days. It is thought that the police found their names on a list of those helping an underground paper. Lacan tells me that they were able to keep up with the news by asking for lavatory paper, and the wardens cut up the daily newspaper.

The Arno Brecker exhibition opens today at the Orangerie. Brecker had been influenced by Rodin. His neoclassical idealizations of the human figure coincided with Hitler's preconceptions of great art, with the result that Brecker has become a kind of Reich sculptor in chief.

GERMANY:

U-966 laid down.

U-189 launched.

U.S.S.R.: Moscow: Stalin promises that he has no territorial ambitions abroad.

BURMA: Mandalay falls to the Japanese.

PACIFIC OCEAN: The US submarine USS Grenadier (SS-210) sinks the Soviet freighter SS Angarstroi about 90 miles (145 km) west southwest of Nagasaki, Japan.

CANADA:

Corvette HMCS Woodstock commissioned.

HMC MTB 340, 341, 342 and 343 completed in Canada.

U.S.A.: Graduates of the first class of MIS Language School are sent to the Aleutians and the South Pacific. Field commanders clamour for more Nisei linguists.

May, 1942 Richard Sakakida becomes P.O.W. when Corregidor falls.

Corvette HMCS Bittersweet completed forecastle extension refit Charleston.

Submarine USS Paddle laid down.

ATLANTIC OCEAN: Northeast of Iceland at 66 00N, 08 00W: While acting as screen to the home fleet the destroyer HMS PUNJABI is rammed and sunk by the battleship HMS King George V in fog. Force "Distaff," the combined US Navy and Royal Navy force that is protecting convoy PQ-15 en-route to Murmansk, is off Iceland when the RN battleship HMS King George V collides with and sinks the destroyer HMS Punjabi. Punjabi sinks stern down almost immediately, the US battleship USS Washington (BB-56) is unable to manoeuvre around the wreckage and must sail through it and the depth charges in HMS Punjabi explode underwater damaging the Washington's fire control systems. As the forward section sank more slowly, 205 officers and men including the commander were able to be rescued. (Jack McKillop and Alex Gordon(108))

Canadian Zwicker and H.O. Emptage fishing vessel James E Newsome sunk by gunfire from U-69 at 35.20N, 059.40W. Newsome's crew of 9 reached Bermuda by boat.

At 1136, the unescorted La Paz was hit by one of two torpedoes from U-109 in shallow waters about 10 miles SE of Cape Canaveral. 42 crewmembers abandoned ship in three lifeboats, while the master and 14 crewmembers remained on board to save the ship. A first torpedo had missed the ship at 1101. Bleichrodt observed how the ship sank by the stern until it rested on the bottom with the bow out of the water and heard another detonation one minute later, thinking that the second torpedo had hit a ship of a tug convoy, which had been spotted earlier further inshore, but apparently the torpedo exploded as it hit the shore. He claimed the Nicaraguan MS Worden, identified by an intercepted radio message, but the vessel only reported the distress of the La Paz and took the damaged ship in tow. With the help of some shrimp cutters, she was subsequently beached with the forward section in a distance of about seven miles in 28°19N/80°33´30W. The La Paz was salvaged together with the cargo after being sold to US agents and passed to the US War Shipping Administration (WSA). She was towed to Jacksonville, repaired and returned to service on 7 Oct 1942 as ship of the US Maritime Commission (USMC).

At 2046, the unescorted Parnahyba was hit by one torpedo from U-162 near Trinidad. The ship was finished off with 56 rounds from the deck gun after the survivors abandoned ship.

SS Tsiolkovskij sunk by U-589 at 71.46N, 34.30E in Convoy QP-11.

At 0543, the Bidevind was hit by a torpedo from U-752. The entire crew abandoned ship safely, but one of the lifeboats was hit by debris, which was thrown in the air by a second torpedo hit and injured the 17 men in it. They were transferred to the motor lifeboat that came to assist and they arrived near Toms River, New Jersey the next day. The Bidevind foundered later that day in 40°13N/73°46W.

1 May 1943

May 1st, 1943 (SATURDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: German guns shell Dover for 45 minutes.

London: Noel Coward's stage tribute to the ordinary Englishman, This Happy Breed, opened last night at the Haymarket. Coward himself played Mr. Gibbons, squire of 17 Sycamore Road, Clapham, south London.

The play was first presented in Blackpool on 21 September last year. Nothing could be further removed from the naval captain whom he portrayed in In Which We Serve. Yet they are connected by a gritty, undemonstrative patriotism which is not taken in by events - the false hopes of Munich, for instance. The Gibbons family lives through the General Strike, the Depression, the Abdication, and the coming of the war with phlegmatic common sense and endurance.

Frigate HMS Duckworth launched.

GERMANY: Berlin: The International Medical Commission signs its report on the Katyn massacre, confirming that it took place in 1940 and therefore must have been the work of the Russians.

U-742, U-845, U-1059 commissioned.

U.S.S.R.: Baltic Fleet and Ladoga Flotilla: (Sergey Anisimov)(69)Submarine loss. "Sch-323" - mined at Morskoi channel (later raised)

NORTH AFRICA: US forces capture Hill 609 in Tunisia.

NEW CALEDONIA: The Americal Division is reorganised as a triangular formation, losing its 51st Infantry Brigade Headquarters (redesignated as HQ and HQ Company, Americal Division) and TF 6814 Headquarters (disbanded). (Yves J. Bellanger)

CANADA: Frigate HMCS Grou laid down Montreal, Province of Quebec.

U.S.A.: The documentary film "Russians at War" is released in the U.S. This 61-minute documentary was compiled from newsreel footage taken by unaccredited Soviet cameramen and shows scenes of life in the Soviet Union during the Winter Campaign of 1941.

Destroyer escort USS Frament laid down.

Destroyer escorts USS Francis M Robinson and Weber launched.

Escort carrier USS Coral Sea launched.

Minesweeper USS Gladiator launched.

Submarine USS Bowfin commissioned.

Destroyer escort USS Burden R Hastings commissioned.

ATLANTIC OCEAN: At 0030, U-107 fired a spread of two stern torpedoes at the unescorted Port Victor NE of the Azores, which was zigzagging directly into a good firing position in about 1000 meters distance. The ship carried 65 passengers (including 23 women and children) stopped after one torpedo hit amidships and the crew made the lifeboats ready to be launched. After a first coup de grâce hit amidships at 00.36 hours the boats were lowered, but when she was hit in the bow by a second coup de grâce at 0045. Two lifeboats were destroyed and the occupants killed. The vessel developed a list to port but still sent radio messages until being hit underneath the bridge by a third coup de grâce, which broke the ship in two and caused her to sink. Twelve crewmembers, two gunners and five passengers were lost. The master, 74 crewmembers, ten gunners and 60 passengers were picked up by HMS Wren and landed at Liverpool.

SS Adelfotis sunk by U-182 at 03.32S, 21.33W.

U-613 engaged in a gun battle with an RAF 172 Sqn Wellington. The aircraft was damaged in the attack and crash-landed, no fatalities among crew.

At 0540, U-515 attacked Convoy TS-37 for a second time about 75 miles SW of Freetown and fired three single torpedoes. The first hit the City of Singapore after 1 minute 8 seconds in the stern and the ship was observed to burn fiercely before she sank. The second torpedo hit the Mokambo after 1 minute 5 seconds and set her on fire. The third torpedo hit after 35 seconds the Clan MacPherson, which began to sink by the stern. The master, 86 crewmembers and ten gunners from the City of Singapore were picked up by trawlers HMS Arran and Birdlip and landed at Freetown the same day. The Clan MacPherson foundered later in 08°04N/14°12W. Four crewmembers were lost. The master, 126 crewmembers, seven gunners and two naval signalmen were picked up by Arran and landed at Freetown the same day. The Mokambo was badly damaged, but remained afloat. The ship was towed to Freetown roads by the tugs Aimwell and Onana, but capsized on 2 May and sank. Two men were injured of the crew of 51 (27 Belgians, 16 Congolesians and 8 British) and six gunners.

1 May 1944

May 1st, 1944 (MONDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: London: A Yugoslav military mission from Tito arrives for consultations on closer co-operation with the Allies.

Commonwealth prime ministers also meet to discuss the progress of the war.

U.S.S.R.: The highest Soviet military command, Stavka, formulates the political goals of the strategic strikes of the coming summer: "to purge our country of fascist invaders and reach the Barents Sea - Black Sea line".

PACIFIC OCEAN: Seven US battleships accompanied by destroyers under the command
of Admiral Willis Lee bombard Ponape in the Carolines.

CAROLINE ISLANDS: The US Navy's Task Force 58 has destroyed about 120 Japanese planes, half on the ground, in a two-day attack on Truk.

CANADA: Corvettes HMCS Calgary and Moose Jaw departed Halifax for Western Approaches Command Greenock.

Maintenance ships HMS Beachy Head, Flamborough Head, Berry Head, Hartland Point, Duncansby Head, Girdle Ness, Dodman Point, Fife Ness, Portland Bill, Spurn Point, Selsey Bill, Mull of Galloway, Rame Head, Mull of Kintyre, Rattray, Mull of Oa, Buchan Ness, Dungeness, Orford Ness, Tarbat Ness and Cape Wrath ordered in Canada.

Wooden yard craft HMC HC 317 and 318 ordered

Tug HMCS Glenbrook laid down Owen Sound, Ontario.

U.S.A.: The 442nd RCT ships out of Hampton Roads, Virginia, Port of Embarkation to Europe. (Gene Hanson)

Destroyer escorts USS Abercrombie, Holton and Slater commissioned.

Destroyer escorts USS French and Alvin C Cockrell laid down.

Aircraft carrier USS Oriskany laid down.

Submarine USS Macabi laid down.

ATLANTIC OCEAN: At 0411, the unescorted Janeta was torpedoed and sunk by U-181 about 900 miles SW of Ascension Island. The U-boat misidentified the ship as Banavon. Nine crewmembers and four gunners were lost. The master, 31 crewmembers and three gunners were rescued; the master, the third officer and eight survivors were rescued and landed at Bahia on 14 May. 15 more survivors were picked up by the Swedish MS Freja about 150 miles south of Bahia and landed at Rio de Janeiro. Ten survivors were picked up on 12 May by destroyer escort USS Alger and landed at Bahia.

U-277 sunk in the Arctic Ocean SW of Bear Island, Norway, in position 73.24N, 15.32E, by depth charges from a 824 Sqn Swordfish from escort carrier HMS Fencer. 50 dead (all hands lost).

1 May 1945

May 1st, 1945 (TUESDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: The prototype Auster A.O.P. 6 (TJ 707) makes its maiden flight. It is a light-cabin monoplane designed to equip the Air Observation Post squadrons. (22)

Minesweeper HMS Niger launched.

GERMANY: German General Krebs visits Zhukov to attempt to negotiate the surrender of Berlin. He is informed that surrender must be unconditional.

Berlin: General Weidling's diary (90) courtesy of Russ Folsom:
The situation was extremely acute by late afternoon. The defenders of Berlin were crowded into an extremely small space. There could no longer be any hope of a successful breakout. Any attempt at a breakout would have cost more valuable blood, and would have had not the least success. It was perfectly clear to me what the decision must be. Regardless of that, however, I was not going to take this responsible decision on my own, and I asked my closest collaborators to state their views frankly. They all agreed with me: there was only one solution
- Surrender.

We quickly succeeded in making radio contact with the local Russian commanders. At midnight Colonel von Dufving once again crossed our lines as a peace envoy. During the night we did our utmost to inform as many formations as possible of our intentions but our attempts failed almost completely, owing to poor signals communications.

At 0500 hours I crossed a sort of suspension bridge that had been rigged up from undamaged cables of the destroyed bridge over the Landwehrkanal. From Russian Divisional HQ we drove to Army HQ. From there I addressed for the last time those German soldiers still fighting in some parts of Berlin, with orders to lay down their arms. The orders were also passed on by some officers of my staff, accompanied by Russian interpreters.

When we reached Army HQ a delegation from the German Ministry of Propaganda appeared. The Permanent Under-Secretary of the Ministry, Dr.Fritzsche, also addressed an appeal to all German soldiers, urging them to stop fighting at once in the interests of the Berlin population. The Russian command did everything they could to help us put as quick an end as possible to this senseless and lunatic struggle.

Field Marshal Gerd von Rundstedt is captured by US troops.

From the deck of the Aviso (sloop) GRILLE Dönitz announces the death of Hitler. (Russ Folsom)

Hamburg Radio announces that Hitler is dead. Dönitz is announced as the second Fuhrer of the Reich. He then makes a radio address which seems to listeners as very weak.

Grand Admiral Dönitz, Hitler's appointed successor, orders the German troops to fight to the end while Himmler, who has no authority, is attempting to negotiate favourable surrender terms with the Allies. British troops advance on Lubeck and Hamburg, and US forces are dug in on the west bank of the Elbe.

The Fuhrerbunker, in Berlin, empties as Martin Bormann leaves with others. Josef Goebbels and his wife die after killing their six children. First the children had to be poisoned, all six of them: Helga, 12; Hilda, 11; Helmut, nine; Holde, seven; Hedda, five; and Heide, three. Having given them lethal injections. Josef Goebbels and his wife Magda left the bunker and asked an SS orderly to shoot them in the back of the head.

U-4710 commissioned.

U-3006 scuttled at 0700 at Wilhelmshaven. Wreck broken up.

U-3009 scuttled near Wesermünde. Wreck broken up.

AUSTRIA: The US 7th Army continues advancing into Austria.

ITALY: German General Vietinghoff agrees to the terms signed at Caserta.
Partisans under Tito capture Trieste a few hours before Britain's Eighth Army.

BURMA: British forces in the Sittang Valley approach Pegu. There are also paratrooper landings on the east bank of the Irrawaddy River with the intention of taking Rangoon.

BORNEO: General Whitehead and 18,000 troops of the 26th Australian Brigade land on
Borneo.

The assault landing by Australian troops on Tarakan, off the coast of east Borneo, is the first move to free the Dutch East Indies from Japanese occupation. The naval assault is under the command of VAdm Barbey. The 26th Infantry Brigade of the 9th Division stormed ashore today, thrusting aside a Japanese garrison of 2,100. The Australian government does not like to see its troops used in the Borneo campaign, which it regards as a mopping-up operation. It wants them to take part in the main offensive against Japan.

COMMONWEALTH OF THE PHILIPPINES: Manila: The Mexican Expeditionary Air Force arrives to fight alongside the USAAF in the Philippines.

U.S.A.: Escort carrier USS Lingayen laid down.

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