2 May 1939

May 2nd, 1939 (TUESDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: RAF 104 Squadron (City of Cambridge) is formed.

Submarine HMS Triumph commissioned.

FRANCE: Minesweeper FS Commandant Dominie launched.

U.S.A.: Baseball: Lou Gehrig of the New York Yankees puts himself on the bench due to his poor showing in the previous games.

2 May 1940

May 2nd, 1940 (TUESDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM:

RAF Bomber Command: 4 Group. Bombing - Stavanger and Fornebu airfields.

51 Sqn. Six aircraft. All bombed Fornebu. Severe opposition. One crew abandoned aircraft on return.

58 Sqn. Six aircraft to Stavanger. One returned U/S, four bombed. Light opposition.

Blenheims of 107 Sqn. raid Stavanger and Rye aerodromes in daylight. Wellingtons raid Rye at night.

RAF Coastal Command: Escorting ships evacuating British forces from Norway.

Destroyer ORP (ex-HMS) Garland commissioned.

NORWEGIAN CAMPAIGN: Namsos, Norway. Lt. Richard Been Stannard (1902-77), RNR, of HMS Arab (trawler of 15th A/S Striking Force), showed great courage during 31 attacks on his ship from 28 April to 2 May, in one case saving a jetty ablaze from burning ammunition, and is awarded the VC.

Under heavy Luftwaffe bombardment, Allied forces start to evacuate Namsos; 5,400 soldiers embark today. The evacuation of Mauriceforce is scheduled for the nights of May 1 and 2. A dense offshore fog settled in yesterday and most of the French and British relief ships lay to, waiting for it to lift. General Carton de Wiart, unaware of the offshore weather, had all his men out of hiding and waiting down by the battered docks. Morning found them still waiting. There was barely time to get them back under cover before the first German reconnaissance planes arrived at daylight. Not until late today does the fog lift and the rescue begin.

Åndalsnes: After midnight the last available cruiser edged in, expecting to retrieve a 240 man read guard - and instead found almost 1,000 soldiers waiting on the dock. All of them crammed aboard, and by 2 a.m. on May 2 the last of Sickleforce’s survivors were away. Behind them they left 1,402 men of the 148th and 15th Brigades, either killed, wounded or POW. This afternoon when advance elements of the German 196th Division march into Åndalsnes, they found the port ruined by bombs of the Luftwaffe - and empty of British troops.

HMS Ark Royal and HMS Glorious, in company with battleship HMS Valiant, heavy cruiser HMS Berwick, and destroyers HMS Fury, HMS Encounter, HMS Escort, HMS Fearless, HMS Acheron, HMS Antelope, HMS Fortune, and HMS Kimberley continue to steam towards Scapa. HMS Furious in dockyard hands at Greenock. (Mark Horan)

ITALY: Rome: Mussolini proposes a bargain with Roosevelt; he will refrain from invading the USA if the President keeps America out of the war in Europe.

CANADA: Corvette HMCS Collingwood laid down Collingwood, Ontario.

2 May 1941

May 2nd, 1941 (FRIDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM:

From an article in the New Chronicle:

By 53% to 38%, with 9% undecided, the people of Great Britain are in favour of reprisal bombing of Germany.

But people in heavily blitzed areas are noticeably less in favour of reprisal bombing than those in areas which have escaped the worst of the raids on this country.

These facts revealed by the latest Gallup survey, in which the question was asked: "Would you approve or disapprove if the RAF adopted a policy of bombing the civilian population of Germany?"

The results over the whole country are as given above. But when the figures were analysed by areas significant differences appeared.

Area	Approve %	Disapprove %	Don’t Know %
Inner London	45	47	8
Outer London and SE England	51	37	12
West Riding, Yorkshire	65	28	7
N. Riding, Cumberland, Westmorland, etc	76	15	9
Glasgow and Clydeside	53	43	4
Midlands	49	40	11

It would appear that sentiment in favour of reprisals is almost in inverse ratio to the amount of bombing experienced.

RAF Bomber Command: 2 Group: 'Channel Stop' A 2,000-ton ship is claimed off Ostend.

Corvette HMS Windflower completed Scoutson and headed to Tobermory for workups.

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

MALTA: Returning to Malta with cruiser HMS Gloucester and other destroyers from a search for Axis convoys, HMS Jersey is mined and sunk in the entrance to Grand Harbour, Valetta.

Minesweeper Fermoy is bombed and damaged beyond repair whilst in dry dock at Malta for routine boiler cleaning and maintenance.

IRAQ: The Iraqi Army has concentrated a force of more than a division in strength overlooking Habbaniya. The British Flying School Squadron in Habbaniya armed with Gladiator fighters and supported by Wellington bombers from the RAF base at Shuaiba bombs the Iraqi troops in their positions only a mile away from the airbase. The Iraqis responded to the raid with a cannon barrage, supported by bombs and machine gun fire from their own aircraft. The British are aided by five companies of Kurds. This same day Rashid el Gailani asks Hitler for military assistance.

Allied troops occupy Basra and oil installations, and start to evacuate women and children from Habbaniya air base.
Opposition to continued British landings at Basrah, Iraq result in unrest, sniping and rioting. (Michael Alexander)

U.S.A.: Admiral Ernest J. King assumes command of the USN's Atlantic Fleet.

The USN's Office of Naval Intelligence initiates a three-week indoctrination course to prepare naval officers for foreign and domestic intelligence duties. (William L. Howard)

ATLANTIC OCEAN: At 2114, U-201 found the drifting wreck of the Capulet and sank her by a coup de grâce.

2 May 1942

May 2nd, 1942(SATURDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM:

Destroyer HMS Ursa laid down.

Minesweeping trawler HMS Bern launched.

Destroyer HMS Redoubt launched.

NORTH SEA: Submarine ORP Jastrzab (ex-USS S-25) mistakenly sunk by Allied forces off Norway, 5 men died.

ARCTIC OCEAN: The Royal Navy was forced to sink one of its cruisers today some 250 miles from Murmansk. HMS EDINBURGH took to the bottom a large cargo of Russian gold.

The EDINBURGH was escorting convoy QP-11back to Britain. She took up a position 15 miles ahead of the convoy in order to guard against a potential attack by German destroyers when two torpedoes fired by U-456 blow off her stern and wrecked her steering gear and starboard propeller three days ago. She turned back for Murmansk. Unable to make another attack due to the destroyers now in company, U-456, reports her movements, and destroyers Z.24, Z.25 and HERMANN SCHOEMANN put to sea from Kirkenes. Edinburgh manages to cripple KMS HERMANN SCHOEMANN with fire from her B turret, but Z.24 hits Edinburgh with four torpedoes which almost blown her two. HMS Gossamer (minesweeper) takes off 440 of her crew (there being 58 casualties in all) while Edinburgh continues to fight until she assumes a list of 17 degrees and can no longer bring her guns to bear. At this point she is abandoned and the remaining 350 crew are taken on HMS HERMES. A British torpedo from HMS FORESIGHT sinks the doomed cruiser. In 1982 the wreck of Edinburgh was located and most of the 5 tons of gold she was carrying (as payment for armaments) was removed. (Alex Gordon)(108)

Survivors website

COMMONWEALTH OF THE PHILIPPINES: The US river gunboat USS Mindanao (PR-8) is scuttled off South Harbor, Corregidor Island.

SOLOMON ISLANDS: The Australian garrison at Tulagi Island is evacuated.
The Japanese 3rd Kure Special Landing Force lands on Florida Island in the Solomon Islands. This landing is part of Operation "MO."

[Florida Island is just east of Tulagi, which is 20 miles east of Guadalcanal, in the Solomon Islands. There were no Japanese troops on Florida by August 7, 1942]

MIDWAY ISLAND: Admiral Nimitz arrives on the atoll via PBY-5A. The Admiral orders the marine commander to submit direct to CinCPac a detailed list of all supplies and equipment required for a decisive defence of Midway. (Will O'Neil)

AUSTRALIA: Minesweeper HMAS Invernell launched.

CANADA:

Minesweeper HMCS Mulgrave launched Port Arthur, Ontario.

Minesweepers HMCS Granby and Kelowna commissioned.

Frigates HMCS St Catharine's and Waskesiu laid down Esquimalt, British Columbia.

U.S.A.: Washington: Roosevelt extends lend-lease aid to Iran and Iraq.

Destroyers USS Pringle and Stanley launched.

Corvette USS Spry commissioned.

Submarine USS Sunfish launched.

Escort carrier USS Barnes launched.

CARIBBEAN SEA:

At 2253, the unescorted Sandar was hit amidships by two torpedoes from U-66 but still continued at slow speed although the midships section caught fire. She was hit in the aft part by a coup de grâce at 2310 and sank by the stern after 10 minutes. The survivors abandoned ship in the port lifeboat and the motorboat because the starboard boat had been destroyed. The first mate and the boatswain were lost. The U-boat surfaced and questioned the survivors in the boats and provided them food, first-aid material and the course and distance for land before leaving the area. The survivors were picked up the next day after being spotted by an aircraft by the American merchantman Alcoa Pilot about 25 miles north of Port of Spain. The master, who had been terribly burned was immediately admitted to a hospital in Port of Spain but died shortly thereafter.

ATLANTIC OCEAN: USS Cythera, a small, wooden hull, converted yacht, was refitted in the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard between December 1941 and March 1942. She was armed with two 3in deck guns, four .50cal machine guns, 50 depth charges and had a complement of five officers and 66 enlisted. Cdr Charles Rudderow, a US Navy veteran of WW1, commanded her. Cythera was 212 feet in length and had a 28-foot beam. Around midnight on 1 May 1942, USS Cythera embarked from the US Navy Base in Norfolk, Virginia, enroute to Pearl Harbor, via Cristobal, Panama Canal Zone. She was at sea only 24 hours, travelling south on a zigzag course, when she was attacked at 06.41 hours on 2 May by U-402 approximately 115 miles east of Cape Fear, North Carolina. U-402 stalked Cythera for at least two hours and finally submerged for an underwater attack, when Von Forstner fired three torpedoes in a fan shaped pattern. The first torpedo passed directly under the bow, the second passed under the stern, but the third struck Cythera dead centre. The ship immediately split in two, and the forward half rose steeply out of the water. The ship sank very quickly and at least two of her depth charges that were preset exploded underwater. This information was told to me by one of the two survivors, Mr. James M. Brown, who I located in Maine in 1991. He was on forward lookout at the time of the attack. The other survivor was Charles H. Carter, but I was never able to locate him. He was standing on the bridge next to the Commander when they were attacked. As a side note, Charles H. Carter was at Pearl Harbor aboard the battleship USS Oklahoma that was sunk during the Japanese attack. He survived two attacks within 5 months when the ships he was aboard were sunk - incredible! Shortly after USS Cythera went down, U-402 surfaced and turned on its search light looking at whatever debris was floating in the large oil slick that was all that remained from the ship. Brown and Carter were found clinging to a small raft and were taken aboard by Von Forstner. They asked to be left back in the water but Von Forstner replied, "no, boys, the war’s over for you." Both survivors were covered in oil, and Von Forstner gave his sweater to Mr. Brown. Both were also given some brandy to drink. Brown also spoke fluent German, but I never thought to ask if he revealed that to Von Forstner. He did say, however, that the Chief Engineer on the U-Boat spoke fluent English, so I suppose that’s how they communicated. When Brown asked Von Forstner why they were not machine-gunned in the water, Von Forstner and crewmembers present expressed shock that the Americans would even think of such a thing. During the return trip to France the Americans were treated well. They were given cigarettes every day and allowed to go topside for fresh air every day. Brown said Von Forstner was a compassionate man who was not signed on to Nazi ideology. He was a professional sailor who came from a family of military background. He was not enthused about war, but he did his job well as a German officer. When the Americans were turned over to the German Army in France there apparently was consternation between the U-Boat crew and the German soldiers, who may have manhandled the POWs. In the almost three week trip to France, the crew and prisoners formed somewhat of a bond between them; in fact, the Americans even invited the crew to visit them in America after the war. Brown, at least, wound up in a POW camp in Upper Silezia, Poland for the remainder of the war. The camp produced synthetic fuel and held mostly British POWs. Later in the war, the camp was abandoned because of advancing Soviet forces approaching from the east, and the POWs were force-marched toward Moosburg, Germany, to another camp. He was finally liberated in late April 1945 by forward units of Patton's 3rd Army and made his way back across Europe where he was put in a military hospital for several weeks.

U-88 saved 57 survivors from the sunken German destroyer Hermann Schoemann.

U-432 was damaged slightly by an air attack with six bombs in the North Atlantic.

U-74 sunk east of Cartagena, Spain, in position 37.32N, 00.10E, by depth charges from destroyers HMS Wishart and Wrestler, and depth charges from an RAF 202 Sqn Catalina. 47 dead (all hands lost).

2 May 1943

May 2nd, 1943 (SUNDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM:

The USAAF VIII Bomber Command in England flies Mission Number 56: A maximum force, 154 B-17s, 21 B-24s and 12 B-26s, is dispatched against four targets. This is first time more than 200 US bombers are dispatched.

- The principal attack is against submarine yards and naval installations at Kiel, Germany; 136 B-17s and 21 B-24s are dispatched with 126 B-17s and 17 B-24s hitting the target at 1200-1203 hours local and destroying three U-boats; they claim 62-24-27 Luftwaffe aircraft and lose 5 B-24s and 3 B-17s.

- 42 B-17s are dispatched against the former Ford and General Motors plants at Antwerp, Belgium; 38 hit the target at 1320 hours local; they claim 5-1-4 Luftwaffe aircraft; one B-17 is lost. The bombers are escorted by 118 P-47 which claim 4-6-11 Luftwaffe aircraft; 3 P-47s are lost.

- 39 B-17s are dispatched against Courtrai Airfield, France; 34 hit the target and claim 0-0-1 Luftwaffe aircraft; two B-17s are lost.

- 12 B-26's are dispatched against the Velsen power station at Ijmuiden, The Netherlands; 11 hit the target at 1100 hours without loss.

Submarine FS Curie (ex-Vox) commissioned.

Patrol vessel HMS Kilbernie launched.

AUSTRALIA: Japanese aircraft bomb Darwin. 18 Betty's and 26 Zeros are in the attacking force. They are intercepted by 33 Spitfires, but five have to abort. Although seven G4Ms and seven A6M's suffered damage, all of the raiders regained their base. Five Spitfires are lost in combat, another four suffer engine or CSU failure, and five more run out of fuel. Of the aircraft that succeeded in force-landing, only one flew again. (Steve Alvin)(136)

TERRITORY OF ALASKA: On Attu Island in the Aleutians, an attempt to capture Jarmin Pass is made by a combined attack of the Northern and Southern Landing Forces. The Southern Force will attempt to inch forward up Massacre Valley while the Northern Force will attempt to drive the Japanese off the reverse slope of Hill X, continue on to seize Moore Ridge and then take Jarmin Pass from the rear.

Each attack quickly bogs down. In the north, the Provisional Scout Battalion which has been pinned down since landing in Austin Cove on D-Day, remains pinned down. The second arm of the Northern Force also is unable to move forward because the 3d Battalion, 32d Infantry Regiment does not reach its assault position in time. Major General Albert E. Brown, Commanding General 7th Infantry Division, calls off the attack and in a report to higher headquarters that evening, states that "progress through passes will, unless we are extremely lucky, be slow and costly, and will require troops in excess to those now available to my command."

USAAF support is hampered by poor weather. The air-ground liaison B-24 flies reconnaissance and photo reconnaissance over Attu throughout the day while another B-24, carrying supplies for the ground forces, hits a mountain side 10 miles (16 km) west of the drop zone. Ground support missions over Attu are flown by six B-24s and five B-25s while two P-40s bomb Kiska Island through the overcast.

The USN continues gunfire support for the American troops.

CANADA: Corvette HMCS Halifax commenced refit Liverpool, Nova Scotia.

Corvette HMCS Sackville completed refit Liverpool, Nova Scotia.

Minesweeper HMCS Caraquet arrived Halifax from Esquimalt.

U.S.A.: Destroyer USS Irwin laid down.

Destroyer USS Hopewell launched.

Minesweeper USS Scout launched.

ATLANTIC OCEAN:

U-465 sunk in the Bay of Biscay north of Cape Finisterre, Spain, in position 44.48N, 08.58W, by depth charges from an RAAF 461 Sqn Sunderland. 48 dead (all hands lost).

U-188 was heading home through the Bay of Biscay when a Whitley aircraft attacked it. The commander, KL Siegfried Lüdden and a crewmember were heavily wounded. The crewmember died two weeks later in a hospital in Paris. [Matrosengefreiter Leo Rupp].

A crewmember on U-218 broke his leg.

U-262 cruised for 4 days in Canadian waters. Her mission was to pick up some escaped German POWs, but none arrived at the rendezvous.

Destroyer HMCS Assiniboine had recently returned to service, as a member of Escort Group C-3 after a refit to repair damaged done when she rammed and sank U-210 on 06 Aug 42. She made one round-trip escorting convoys HX 221 and O, Nova Scotia. 163 during the last of which she suffered damage again (cause unknown). She was on passage to the UK to rejoin the C-3 group, which was preparing to take ON 172 back to North America, when she was damaged again. U-119 a large mine-laying boat encountered by chance 660 NM West of Ireland. Assiniboine caught U-119 on the surface as the U-boat was working her way south after laying a minefield off Iceland. Assiniboine closed to attack, opened fire when in gun range, and finally attempted to ram but struck only a glancing blow as the U-boat dived. U-119 lost 3-4 meters of her bow casing and Oerlikon rounds had holed her conning tower. She was able to remain at sea and fuelled 10 attack boats north of the Azores before proceeding to Bordeaux for repairs. Assiniboine, having had plating in both boiler rooms pushed in and with one of her two screws out of action proceeded to Liverpool for repairs which took 16 weeks. U-119 laid mines off Halifax in June 43 but was sighted on the surface west of France by an RAF Liberator and destroyed by Captain Walker's Second Support Group on 23 Jun 43. In the 22 months between Oct 41 and Jul 43, the critical period in the Battle of the North Atlantic, Assiniboine was out of action for damage repair for a total of 12 months.

2 May 1944

May 2nd, 1944 (TUESDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: London: The crossword in the Daily Telegraph has caused uproar among the D-Day planners today by apparently revealing two of the most closely guarded codewords of the invasion. The clue to 17 across is "One of US" and that of 3 down is "Red Indian on the Missouri", the answers - "Utah" and "Omaha" - are the names given to two of the American invasion beaches.

These clues were spotted with horror by senior officers who are among the devotees of the crossword. Their immediate reaction was that the invasion's secrets were being leaked to the Germans.

Their fears have been increased by the discovery that, in a puzzle prepared by the same compiler for publication a few days before D-Day, the answer to one clue is "Overlord", the codename for the whole invasion. MI5 is now investigating the compiler, Leonard Dawe, a 54-year old teacher from Leatherhead, Surrey.

FRANCE: D-Day Countdown
The German Perspective
02 May, 1944

It is a lovely spring day. Field Marshal Rommel, up early as usual,
is on a tour of the Mediterranean positions - perhaps for the last
time before the impending Allied invasion. He leaves with his
entourage at 0630, off to inspect the units along the coast.

They start with the nearest unit, the 338th Infantry Division, and
move eastward. Through La Marargue, the ancient town of
Aigues-Mortes, Le Grau-du-Roi, and Port St-Louis, where they
pass fields of plowed trenches. The staff officers note with
amusement that these furrows will make excellent cover for
airborne troops that might land nearby.

Onward, to the areas of the 244th and 242nd Infantry, Port-de-Bouc,
and finally to Couronne, where Rommel finds himself facing a assembly
of officers from the two divisions. Time for another one of his famous
pep talks. Partially for effect (it never hurts to add a little ginger
to his subject) and partially because of the beautiful weather, he
gives his speech outside. He stands atop of a small knoll facing
inland, with the men gathering around him.

He started off by telling them about the North African campaign.

"Look," he continues. "I understand that you men want to use your own
experiences instead of the experiences of troops who have already
faced the enemy. That's perfectly understandable."

He points his marshal's baton at them. "But men, time has just about
run out for us. The clock stands at five minutes to twelve, and we
can no longer take time to gather our own separate experiences on
how to fight the enemy. That's why I'M here."

A few quiet cheers here.

"Don't get me wrong; what you've done so far is a good start. But
nobody should believe that our goal has been reached yet. "

He went on to explain his objectives in detail, before winding up.

"I've heard that the enemy is reputed to say, `Kill the Germans
wherever you find them.' Such behaviour is alien to us. We fought
as respectable soldiers; but we were just as tough as the others.
The crushing defeat of this enemy attack on the coast of France
will be OUR contribution to vengeance."

To his surprise, they applauded him and cheer. Somewhat embarrassed,
he walks down the hill.

He dines that evening in Avignon with *General der Artillerie*
Sodernstern, commanding the 19th Army.

---Peter Margaritis

GERMANY: U-2503 laid down.

CANADA: Destroyer HMCS Niagara assigned as training ship to Torpedo School Halifax, Nova Scotia.

U.S.A.: While getting underway in Boston, Massachusetts for Norfolk, Virginia USS Parrott (DD-218) is rammed by SS John Morton. She was beached by tugs and later towed to Norfolk Naval Shipyard. (Ron Babuka)

Baseball star Ted Williams earns a his wings and a commission to become a pilot in the USMC. (234)

While getting underway in Boston, Massachusetts for Norfolk, Virginia USS Parrott is rammed by SS John Morton. She was beached by tugs and later towed to Norfolk Naval Shipyard.

Destroyer escorts USS Walter C Wann, McCoy Reynolds and Lough commissioned.

Destroyer USS Lyman K Swenson commissioned.

Minesweeper USS Scuffle commissioned.

Destroyer escort USS Johnnie Hutchins launched.

ATLANTIC OCEAN:

On U-276 two crewmembers were wounded in an accident with the Anti-Aircraft gun.

U-846 shot down an RAF 58 Sqn Halifax shortly after 0100.

U-674 sunk in the Arctic Ocean NW of Narvik, in position 70.32N, 04.37E, by rockets from an 842 Sqn Swordfish from HMS Fencer. 49 dead (all hands lost)

U-959 sunk SE of Jan Mayen, in position 69.20N, 00.20W, by depth charges from an 842 Sqn Swordfish from HMS Fencer. 53 dead (all hands lost).

2 May 1945

May 2nd, 1945 (WEDNESDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: Frigate HMCS Victoriaville departed Barry, Wales to escort Convoy ON-300.

GERMANY: Soviet forces complete the capture of Berlin, when Soviet units in the north and south of Berlin link up on the Charlottenburg Chaussee. German forces surrender to Marshal Zhukov, who immediately despatches troops to search for the bodies of Hitler and Goebbels.
The German surrender is made by General der Artillerie Helmuth Weidling, CO of LVI Panzer Korps, and last "Kampf-kommandant" of Berlin. he unconditionally surrenders all German forces in the 'Reichshauptstadt' of Germany to the forces of the Soviet Red Army.

With over 130,000 men surrendering in Berlin, later that day General Weidling was taken, together with Mohnke, Gunsche, and other survivors from the Bunker, to the airfield at Strausberg (where Zhukov had his field HQ), about 35 km east of the city, where the Russians had established a special holding camp for VIP prisoners. Through O'Donnell's account, Mohnke has told us that the next day (May 4) Weidling and his staff had to leave the camp in the morning, returning that night. Weidling told him later that he had been taken to the Reichskanzlei where he was filmed coming out of one of the exits to the Voss Strasse from the cellars beneath the ruins of the Reichs Chancellery. Later, the Russians were to use this piece of film as propaganda , saying that it had been taken at Weidling's headquarters (he had actually directed the battle from Army Headquarters in the Bendlerblock) after he had signed the surrender document.

(Russ Folsom)

US and Soviet troops meet near Barow and Abbendorf.

The British 2nd Army captures Lübeck and Wismar.

Canadian forces take Oldenburg.

16 RAF Mosquito Mk XVIs of No. 608 Squadron, No. 8 Group join Halifaxes of No.100 Group (Nos. 177 and 199 Squadrons) to make the last Bomber Command raid of the Second World War, an attack on Kiel. (22)

There had been no offensive operations by Bomber Command since 26/27 April and most squadrons thought that their war in Europe was over, but it was feared that the Germans were assembling ships at Kiel to transport troops to Norway in order to carry on the war there. A last raid by No 8 Group Mosquitos was thus organized, with a large supporting effort being provided.

16 Mosquito bombers of No 8 Group and 37 Mosquitos of No 100 Group were first dispatched to attack airfields in the Kiel area. A Mosquito of No 169 Squadron, No 100 Group, was lost while carrying out a low-level napalm attack on Jagel airfield; its crew - Flying Officer R Catterall, DFC, and Flight Sergeant DJ Beadle - were killed.

126 Mosquitos of No 8 Group then attacked Kiel in 2 raids, 1 hour apart.

The target area was almost completely cloud-covered but H2S and Oboe were used. Large fires on the ground were seen through the cloud. No Mosquitos were lost on these raids. Towards morning, a large column of military vehicles departed in the direction of Flensburg on the Danish frontier.

'The upsurge in the population's morale was indescribable', comments the town diary. 'There was a final spasm of fear when explosions were heard from the harbour but these turned out to be all the flak guns and warships in the harbour firing off their ammunition.' After this, Kiel was declared an open, undefended town. As soon as this happened, all the military stores and some of the civilian ones containing rationed goods were thrown open to the public before Allied troops arrived 36 hours later.

RCAF, RAF, and Norwegian 'Mosquito' fighter-bomber a/c from RCAF 404 Sqn, RAF 143, 235, and 248 Sqns and Norwegian 333 (RAF) Sqn, attacked and sank U-2359 in the Kattegat, in position 57.29N, 011.24E. There were no survivors from her crew of 12.

Meanwhile, there had been a final small tragedy for Bomber Command. 89 RCM aircraft of No 100 Group had been sent to support the Mosquito bomber force and 2 Halifaxes from No 199 Squadron, each with 8 men on board, were lost.

The Halifaxes had been part of the Mandrel screen and were also carrying 4,500lb bombs and large quantities of Window. The 2 aircraft crashed at Meimersdorf, just south of Kiel, and it is probable that they collided while on their bomb runs. They were the last Bomber Command aircraft to be lost in the war. There were only 3 survivors. 13 airmen, 12 from the United Kingdom and one from the Irish Republic, mostly second-tour men, died. They were: Warrant Officer WF Bolton; Flight Sergeant AA Bradley; Flight Lieutenant WE Brooks; Sergeant FT Chambers; Flying Officer KNJ Croft; Warrant Officer KAC Gavin; Flight Sergeant D Greenwood; Flying Officer ASJ Holder, DFC; Flight Sergeant JR Lewis; Flight Sergeant J Loth; Pilot Officer WHV Mackay; Warrant Officer RHA Pool; and Flight Sergeant D Wilson. (Ron Babuka)

RAF">RAF Mitchell light bombers of 2nd T.A.F. make their last mission of the war when 47 aircraft of Nos. 98, 108, 226, 320 and 342 Squadrons bomb railway marshalling yards at Itzehoe. (22)

AUSTRIA: The defenders of Innsbruck begin to sue for peace. The French I Corps reaches Gotzis and Obersdorf.

NORWAY: U-977 sailed from Kristiansand on her final patrol.

ITALY: The German surrender is effective at noon. 490,000 troops become PoW.

A remarkable story of the dangerous intrigue that led up to the surrender of German forces in Italy began to emerge today. It was an SS man, Karl Wolff, who masterminded negotiations in Switzerland and north Italy with Allen Dulles, the representative of the US Office of Strategic Services (OSS) which was formed in 1942 to gather intelligence and aid resistance groups.

The first peace-feelers were put out in December by two SS men concerned with the possibility that Hitler's threat of a "scorched-earth" policy would destroy much of Italy's culture. Dulles took a cool view of Wolff's involvement, but agreed to talk when two Italian partisans were freed as a gesture of good faith.

Negotiations began seriously at Ascona, a resort of Lake Maggiore. Despite Russian objections, two Allied officers, joined Dulles in total secrecy. In grave danger, Wolff was recalled to Berlin but used his charm to escape Hitler's wrath. Even so, he and his co-conspirators faced death until the surrender was signed at Caserta.

BURMA: Operation Dracula, the capture of Rangoon, which began with a paratrooper drop yesterday continues. The British 26th Indian Division lands for a naval TF which includes 6 escort carriers and BB Queen Elizabeth and Richelieu.

The British IV Corps north of Rangoon at Pagu complete the liberation of Rangoon.

CANADA: Corvette HMCS Cobourg commenced refit Halifax, Nova Scotia.

U.S.A.: Destroyer USS Rupertus laid down.

ATLANTIC OCEAN: Minesweeping trawler HMS Ebor Wyke was torpedoed and sunk by U-979 off Hrafneyri Light, seven miles north of Skagi, Iceland. The only survivor was Coxswain John Milnes.

Top of Page

Yesterday Tomorrow

Home