6 May 1939

May 6th, 1939 (SATURDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: Graham Greene's play The Great Jowett is broadcast on BBC radio.

"Two warships escort Britain's King George VI and Queen Elizabeth on a visit to Canada. Each ship carries about 15 million Pounds Sterling in gold for safekeeping in Canada."

GERMANY: The Institute for the Study and Eradication of Jewish Influence on German Church Life opens in Eisenach under the academic Grundmann. At the inaugural speech, Grundmann, a professor of New Testament at the University of Jena, spoke of the need to rid Protestantism of its connections to Judaism, as Martin Luther had rid Protestantism of Catholicism. The institute's goal, from its very inception, was to "purify" Protestantism, the Bible, and especially Jesus. Protestant Christianity was to be redefined as an Aryan religion with Jesus as the first man to battle the "pernicious" influence of the Jews. (Citation: Beth A. Griech-Polelle. Review of Heschel, Susannah, _The Aryan Jesus: Christian Theologians and the Bible in Nazi Germany_. H-German, H-Net Reviews. October, 2009. URL:
http://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=25673) (266)

U-53 is launched.

U.S.A.: Swedish actress Ingrid Bergman arrives in New York.

6 May 1940

May 6th, 1940 (MONDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: The Norwegian gold reserve, worth £33 million, arrives safely.

HMS Glorious is anchored at Greenock taking on provisions, ordnance, stores and supplies. HMS Furious remains in dockyard hands.

Mark Horan adds: At 1651, HMS Ark Royal, now in position 69.00N, 11.50 W, flies off a Walrus carrying Staff Officer Operations to Harstad to confer of the impending operations. These are immediately followed by two sections of Skuas (six aircraft) to fly fighter patrols over Harstad. At 2145, three Swordfish were dispatched to attack a surfaced U-boat that had been reported by the returning Skuas, but it was not sighted.

Minesweeping trawler HMS Ash commissioned.

Corvette HMS Calendula commissioned.

Minesweeping trawler HMS Loch Naver sank after collision off Hartlepool.

CANADA: Patrol vessels (ex-yachts) HMCS Ambler and Beaver commissioned.

6 May 1941

May 6th, 1941 (TUESDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: The Luftwaffe bombs Belfast with incendiaries.

Submarine HMS Sea Nymph laid down.

FRANCE: VICHY FRANCE: The vice-premier, Admiral Darlan, agrees to let Hitler send German troops to Iraq via Syria.

GERMANY: U-613, U-614 laid down.

U.S.S.R.: Stalin succeeds Molotov as chairman of the council of people's commissars, adding to his authority.

Moscow: The Soviet military attaché in Berlin warns Soviet High Command that Germany is preparing to invade the USSR.

MEDITERRANEAN SEA: Tiger Convoy: With the Afrika Korps driving through North Africa towards the Suez Canal, pushing the Western Desert Force before them and British forces close to collapse and strategic locations threatened, the British High Command risks sending a reinforcement convoy across the Mediterranean to Alexandria. The convoy consists of five large transport ships, escorted by Ark Royal, the battleships HMS Renown and HMS Queen Elizabeth, the cruisers HMS Sheffield, HMS Naiad, HMS Fiji, and HMS Gloucester, and screened by destroyers of the 5th Destroyer Flotilla. Prior to Ark Royal's departure, Captain Holland left to recuperate from stress and poor health, and was replaced by Captain Loben Maund. The convoy left Gibraltar on 6 May, and was detected by Italian aircraft. The convoy, limited to 14 knots (26 km/h) and escorted by so many capital ships, is such a tempting target that Italian and German aircraft are mobilised.

IRAQ: After four days of non-stop British air raids, the Iraqi troops were forced to leave the high ground around Habbaniya and retreat to Baghdad on the night of Tuesday 6 May.
The British 21st Indian Brigade arrives at Basrah.

COMMONWEALTH OF THE PHILIPPINES: Philippine Department Air Force established; Clagett assumes command. (Marc Small)

U.S.A.: The Republic XP-47B-RE Thunderbolt (40-3051) makes its first flight at Republic Field, Farmingdale, Long Island, New York. Originally ordered as the XP-47-RE, this aircraft is the first of 15,579 P-47s accepted by the USAAF.

Igor Sikorsky sets a new helicopter endurance records when he flies his VS-300 helicopter for 1 hour, 32 minutes and 26 seconds.

The Douglas XB-19 four-engined bomber begins taxi tests. It has a length of 132.25 feet (40,34 meters), a wingspan of 212 feet (64,62 meters), an empty weight of 86,000 pounds (39 009 kilograms), normal range of 5,200 miles (8 369 kilometre) and a maximum range of 7,710 miles (12 408 kilometres).

Although not delivered with armament, it was designed to have one 37 mm cannon and one .30 calibre (7.62 mm) machine gun in the nose and forward dorsal turret; a .50 calibre (12.7 mm) machine gun in the tail, rear dorsal turret, ventral turret, left and right waist positions; and a .30 calibre machine gun on each side of the bombardier's position and on each side of the fuselage below the horizontal stabilizer. A normal crew consisted of 16-men but two additional flight mechanics and a six-man relief crew could be accommodated in a special compartment fitted with eight seats and six bunks. To feed this mob, a complete galley was included. The government paid Douglas $1.4 million ($17.32 million in 2006 dollars) but Douglas had spent an additional $4 million ($49.47 million in 2006 dollars) of their own money.

The aircraft was used as a flying laboratory and provided valuable data that was used to develop the Boeing B-29 and the Convair "Aluminum Overcast," aka, the B-36. During these tests, the plane had many engine-cooled problems and in 1943, the four 2,000 hp Wright R-3350 air-cooled radials engines were replaced with four 1,600 hop Allison XV-3420-1 liquid-cooled engines and the aircraft was redesignated XB-19A. This increased its maximum speed and eliminated the cooling problems. During the next 2-1/2 years, it was transferred from Wright Field, Dayton, Ohio, to Patterson Field in Dayon, to Lockbourne AAAB in Columbus, Ohio, and finally to Clinton County AAFld, Wilmington, Ohio. Finally, it was placed in storage at Davis-Monthan Field, Tucson, Arizona on 17 August 1946 and was scrapped in 1949.

Bob Hope does his first remote show from March Field, Riverside, California. Initially reluctant to leave the studio, he found an audience of servicemen so primed and ready to laugh that he was forever hooked. The roar of laughter and applause was so loud, he would recall, that he "got goose pimples" during the broadcast.

ATLANTIC OCEAN: At 1717, the Dunkwa, dispersed from Convoy OB-310, was torpedoed and sunk by U-103 216 miles WNW of Freetown. Five crewmembers and three gunners were lost. The master, 37 crewmembers and one gunner were picked up by Dutch merchantman Polydorus and landed at Oban.

MS Surat sunk by U-103 at 08.23N, 15.13W.

At 1052, the Oakdene, dispersed from Convoy OG-59, was hit by one torpedo from U-105 and sank NW of St. Paul Rocks. HMS Dorsetshire picked up the master, 31 crewmembers and three gunners.

U-556 sank steam trawler Emanuel with gunfire.

At 0240, HMS Camito was hit aft of amidships by one torpedo from U-97 WSW of Cape Clear, while escorting the Sangro to the UK. The Italian tanker had been taken as prize on 20 April, while sailing from Brazil to France. The U-boat had spotted the two ships at 1745 on 5 May and had problems to keep contact in heavy seas and bad visibility. Camito was missed at 0202 with a spread of two torpedoes and three minutes later with a stern torpedo before being hit, but continued at slow speed. The U-boat first chased the tanker, which caught fire after being hit by one torpedo at 0353 hours and then returned to the first vessel. Heilmann thought that she is a Q-ship and left the badly damaged ship, which sank the next day in 50°15N/21°16W.

6 May 1942

May 6th, 1942 (WEDNESDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: Anti-Aircraft cruiser HMS Sirius commissioned.

FRANCE: Paris: The Reich security chief, Reinhardt Heydrich, arrives and places SS Major-General Karl Oberg in charge of police forces in France.

GERMANY: U-263, U-337 commissioned.

MEDITERRANEAN SEA: Submarine HMS Urge left Malta on 27 April 1942. She failed to arrive at Alexandria on 6 May and was reported overdue on that day. Most likely she was lost on Italian mines off Malta. There is also a possibility that she was sunk 29 April off Ras el Hilal, Libya by Italian aircraft or that she was sunk by the Italian torpedo boat Pegaso in the eastern Mediterranean.

CHINA: Attacks on seven cities yesterday signalled the start of an offensive along a 400-mile front by Chinese forces led by General Chiang Kai-shek against the Japanese occupation forces.

Shanghai and Nanking were among the cities raided, with Japanese communications and munitions supplies among the principal targets. Nanking, captured by Japan more than four years ago, is the seat of Wang Chingwei's puppet government set up with Japanese support.

CAPT Milton Miles arrives in Chungking, China, to begin building an intelligence and guerrilla training organization, Naval Group China.

COMMONWEALTH OF THE PHILIPPINES: General Wainwright surrenders on Corregidor with 15,000 American and Filipino troops. The island fortress' defences weakened by a 27-day artillery barrage, were breached last night by Japanese commandos.

Lt-Gen Jonathan Wainwright, the US commander, decided to surrender this morning after radioing President Roosevelt and General MacArthur. He told them he feared that his whole garrison might be killed. As he spoke several hundred Japanese were machine-gunning the eastern entrance of the Manilta Tunnel, Corregidor's underground gallery which was sheltering 6,000 administrative staff untrained for combat and 1,000 sick and wounded. The president told Wainwright: "You have given the world a shining example of patriotic fortitude and self-sacrifice."

The fall of Corregidor has been anticipated since Bataan surrendered 27 days ago. Since then the island, only two miles away, has had 300 air raids and been hit by 300 shells a day, it's green hills turning into a bleak moonscape. Yesterday's landings followed a day of 13 air attacks. Coming ashore under a bright moon the enemy was hit by two concealed 75mm guns which inflicted hundreds of casualties - but not enough to stem the attack.

The river gunboats USS Oahu (PR-6) and USS Luzon (PR-7) and the minesweeper USS Quail (AM-15) are scuttled in Manila Bay. The commanding officer of the USS Quail, Lieutenant Commander John H. Morrill, another officer and 16 enlisted men, escape Manila Bay in a 36-foot (11 m) motor launch from Quail.

Text of Wainwright's Message to Roosevelt"> Roosevelt:

6 May 1942

For the President of the United States:

It is with broken heart and head bowed in sadness, but NOT in SHAME, I report to Your Excellency that I must go today to arrange terms for the surrender of the fortified islands of Manila Bay: Corregidor (Fort Mills), Caballo (Fort Hughes), El Fraile (Fort Drum), and Carabao (Fort Frank).

With anti-aircraft fire control equipment and many guns destroyed, we are no longer able to prevent accurate aerial bombardment. With numerous batteries of the heaviest calibre emplaced on the shores of Bataan and Cavite out ranging our remaining guns, the enemy now brings devastating cross fire to bear on us.

Most of my batteries, seacoast, anti-aircraft and field, have been put out of action by the enemy. I have ordered the others destroyed to prevent them from falling into enemy hands. In addition we are now overwhelmingly assaulted by Japanese troops on Corregidor.

There is a limit of human endurance and that limit has long since been past.

Without prospect of relief I feel it is my duty to my country and to my gallant troops to end this useless effusion of blood and human sacrifice.

If you agree, Mr. President, please say to the nation that my troops and I have accomplished all that is humanly possible and that we have upheld the best traditions of the United States and its Army.

May God bless and preserve you and guide you and the nation in the effort to ultimate victory.

With profound regret and with continued pride in my gallant troops I go to meet the Japanese commander.

Good-by Mr. President.

Jonathan M. Wainwright

Lt. General USA

Allied commander in the Philippines

(William L. Howard)

NEW GUINEA: Jack McKillop adds:

In the Coral Sea, Rear Admiral Frank Jack Fletcher, commanding Task Force 17 in the aircraft carrier USS Yorktown (CV-5), gathers all Allied forces under his tactical command. Carrier aircraft from the USS Lexington and USS Yorktown plus USAAF reconnaissance aircraft continue their search for the Japanese Port Moresby invasion force. At 1030 hours local, three Australia-based USAAF B-17s find the light aircraft carrier HIJMS Shoho and her escorts and make a high-altitude attack but inflict no damage. The sighting is reported and forwarded to the navy.

AUSTRALIA: General MacArthur, the C-in-C of Allied Forces in the South-west Pacific, is given wide powers of censorship.

U.S.A.: The motion picture "Take a Letter, Darling" is released in the U.S. Directed by Mitchell Leisen, this comedy stars Rosalind Russell, Fred MacMurray, Constance Moore, Robert Benchley, Macdonald Carey and Dooley Wilson (the "pianist" in "Casablanca"). The plot has Russell, an advertising executive, hiring struggling painter MacMurray as her secretary. The film is nominated for three technical Academy Awards.

Washington: The Secretary of the Navy sends dispatch 062230 transmitting ALNAV 97 directing the removal of the red circle in the white star and the horizontal red and white stripes on the rudders of Navy aircraft.

Minesweeper USS Swallow launched.

Destroyer USS Johnston laid down.

ATLANTIC OCEAN and CARIBBEAN SEA: Three more U.S. unarmed merchant ships are sunk by German submarines. A tanker is sunk off Florida, a freighter is sunk in the Gulf of Mexico and another freighter is sunk in the Caribbean.

At 1855, a lookout on the unescorted and unarmed Alcoa Puritan spotted a torpedo passing approximately 15 feet astern about 15 miles off the entrance to the Mississippi River. The master immediately ordered full speed and swung the ship to keep the U-boat dead astern to present as small a target as possible. U-507 surfaced and began to overtake the freighter that was running at 16.5 knots. Five minutes the U-boat began to shell the ship from a distance of one mile. In 40 minutes, about 75 rounds were fired, scoring about 50 hits and disabling the steering gear. Two of the crewmembers suffered minor shrapnel injuries. The crew of ten officers, 37 crewmen and seven passengers abandoned ship in one lifeboat and two rafts. At 19.43 hours, a torpedo was fired, which struck below the #4 hatch and caused the ship to sink stern first in eight minutes. U-507 then approached the survivors and a German officer with a megaphone shouted "Sorry we can’t help you - hope you get ashore" and waved as the U-boat sailed away. All hands were picked up by USCGC Boutwell the same day and landed at Burrwood, Louisiana, after a patrol bomber had spotted them. The passengers were repatriated seamen from the American steam tanker T.C. McCobb, which was sunk by the Italian submarine Pietro Calvi 600 miles off British Guyana 31 Mar 1942.

At 0935, the unescorted Amazone was hit on the port side by a torpedo from U-333 and sank within two minutes off Miami. 14 crewmembers were lost (twelve men from the Dutch Antilles, one Dutch gunner and one Swiss crewman). The survivors were picked up by submarine chaser USS PC-484 and landed at Miami.

At 1125, the unescorted and unarmed Halsey was hit by two torpedoes from U-333 off Jupiter Inlet, Florida, while proceeding on a nonevasive course at 10.5 knots in bright moonlight. The torpedoes struck close together on the port side at the #2 and #3 main tanks. The explosion ripped a hole in the side 60 feet long. The master stopped the engines and headed toward the shore. No distress signal was sent, because the radio antenna had been destroyed. The entire crew of eight officers and 24 men abandoned ship in two lifeboats 15 minutes after the attack, the other two boats had been destroyed by the explosions. The men were nearly asphyxiated by the naphtha fumes before they could clear the ship. After one hour, the U-boat came alongside the lifeboats and offered assistance, but it was declined. The survivors recounted that the calcium lights on the lifebuoys ignited the naphtha two hours later. The tanker exploded amidships, broke in two and burst into flames both fore and aft. At the time of the explosion, USS PC-451 had approached the lifeboats but had to immediately investigate a probable sighting of a conning tower. Two fishing vessels later took the lifeboats in tow and brought them to the Gilbert Bar Lifeboat Station.

At 0543, the unescorted Java Arrow was torpedoed twice by U-333 eight miles off Vero Beach, Florida. The first torpedo struck on the port side about 15 feet above the keel at the #5 tank, just aft of the bridge. The second struck on the port side about ten feet above the keel and demolished the engine room, killing two officers on watch below. Some of the surviving seven officers, 32 crewmen and six armed guards (the ship was armed with one 4in and four .30cal guns) abandoned ship after 20 minutes in a first lifeboat, the remaining men followed ten minutes later in a second boat. The survivors were picked up by USS PC-483 and a USCG craft and landed at Miami and Fort Pierce, Florida. A USCG officer boarded the tanker to ascertain the damage and concluded she could be saved, so the master and four men returned to the ship and dropped the starboard anchor to prevent the ship going aground on the beach. The master went to Fort Pierce to arrange the salvage tugs and returned later with 14 men. They cut through the anchor chain with an acetylene torch and remained on board. The tugs Ontario and Bafshe towed the tanker, escorted by USCG vessels, to Port Everglades, Florida arriving after 90 hours. In June 1942, the Java Arrow was given to the US Maritime Commission, repaired and returned to service in 1943 as Kerry Patch. 1944 renamed Celtic, but changed name again to Kerry Patch in 1945.

ASW trawler HMS Senateur Duhamuel sank following collision off Morehead City, North Carolina.

6 May 1943

May 6th, 1943 (THURSDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: Escort carrier HMS Patroller launched.

Corvette HMS Dumbarton Castle laid down.

GERMANY:

U-764, U-977 commissioned.

U-1021, U-1022 laid down.

NORTH AFRICA: The British V Corps destroys the 15th Panzer Division with heavy artillery and air bombardment as they move towards Tunis.

TUNISIA: US forces are advancing towards Bizerta.

The French XIX Corps are advancing towards Pont du Fahs.

PALESTINE: Haj Amin al-Husseini, the mufti of Jerusalem, protests to Bulgaria for allowing Jewish children to sail to Palestine; he says they should be deported to Poland.

U.S.A.: Submarine USS Batfish launched.

ATLANTIC OCEAN: U-630 sunk in the North Atlantic NE of Newfoundland, in position 52.31N, 44.50W, by depth charges from destroyer HMS Vidette. 47 dead (all hands lost).

U-531 sunk in the North Atlantic NE of Newfoundland, in position 52.48N, 45.18W, by depth charges from destroyer HMS Vidette. 54 dead (all hands lost).

U-438 sunk in the North Atlantic NE of Newfoundland, in approximate position 52.00N, 45.10W, by depth charges from sloop HMS Pelican. 48 dead (all hands lost).

U-192 sunk in the North Atlantic SE of Cape Farewell in position 53.06N, 45.02W by depth charges from corvette HMS Loosestrife. 55 dead (all hands lost).

U-125 rammed and sunk east of Newfoundland, in position 52.30N, 45.20W, by destroyer HMS Oribi and gunfire by corvette HMS Snowflake. 54 dead (all hands lost).

6 May 1944

May 6th, 1944(SATURDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: Slapton Sands: A last effort to remedy the mistakes and muddles thrown up in the succession of invasion exercises in held on the beaches of England has been made this week with Operation Fabius. This took place over five days and extended from Littlehampton in Sussex, through Hampshire and Dorset to Slapton Sands, the scene of last month's disaster when 638 Americans were lost in a German E-boat attack during a previous D-Day exercise.

The Americans, British and Canadian forces were assigned to four separate beaches corresponding to the assault beaches in France. Two other exercises involving naval forces, took place at the same time to familiarize the invasion fleet with the boarding, disembarkation and re-enforcement plans. A third exercise, Operation Splint, handled the evacuation of wounded by landing craft.

Fabius has been judged satisfactory. Afterwards, though, Brigadier-General Norman Cota told his headquarters staff of the US 29th Division that when the real thing came along "the little discrepancies that we tried to correct on Slapton Sands are going to be magnified and are going to give way to incidents that you might at first view as chaotic. The landing craft aren't going in on schedule and people are going to be landed in the wrong place ... The enemy will have some success in preventing our gaining lodgement. But we must improvise, carry on, not lose our heads."

Minesweeper HMS Chameleon launched.

FRANCE: La Roche Guyon: At the German Army Group B's HQ in north-western France, Rommel has substantially reinforced the coastal defences from the Netherlands through the Pas de Calais to Normandy. Bunkers have been built, and the beaches bristle with innumerable angle irons laced with mined stakes slanted seawards. In the Cotentin peninsula, covering the port of Cherbourg, a network of mined poles linked by wires stands as a defence against airborne landings. But the Germans are unable to agree on where the Allies will invade, so the six divisions of General Geyr von Schweppenburg's powerful Panzer Group West have been divided between Rommel's coastal forces and von Rundstedt's reserves near Paris.

GERMANY: Eighteen hundred slave labourers are requisitioned from France to work on the production of rocket bombs at Dora concentration camp.

U-778 launched.

U-325 commissioned.

NORWAY: Two men from U-348 stepped on a land mine near Stavanger. One was killed, the other wounded. The boat departed for its second patrol from Bergen on the 20th. [Bootsmaat Günter Labahn].

U.S.S.R.: The final Soviet assault by troops under General Fedor Tolbukhin on the German forces in Sevastopol begins tonight with a heavy bombardment of Katyusha rockets.

INDIA: Mahatma Gandhi, imprisoned since August 1942, is released owing to ill health.

BURMA: Chinese troops attack Japanese positions at Ritpong.

Air Commando Combat Mission N0.54. 3:00 Flight Time. Hailakandi, Assam to Ritpum, Burma. Bombed village that contained Japanese troops.

Note: On this occasion we were carrying we had a full load of frag cluster bombs. Minimum altitude for releasing non parachute frags was around 2000 feet. We dropped on our target not much over 200 feet. When we landed back in Hailakandi we found the bottom of our fuselage was riddled with holes. Sgt. Zajak, who was flying as waist gunner, counted fifty-nine holes. Our pilot claimed it was from ground fire, but we knew he had just plain screwed up. (Chuck Baisden)

JAPAN: The Mitsubishi A7M1, Navy Experimental 17-Shi Ko (A) Type Carrier Fighter Reppu (Hurricane) makes its first flight. The aircraft had been under development since 1942 as a replacement for the Mitsubishi A6M, Navy Type 0 Carrier Fighter, Allied Code Name "Zeke." The A7M1 was as manoeuvrable as the "Zeke" but was underpowered and lacked performance. Only ten of these aircraft, given the Allied Code Name "Sam," were built by Mitsubishi at Nagoya.

CANADA:

Frigates HMCS Outremont, Cape Breton, Waskesiu and Grou arrived Loch Ewe with Convoy RA-59.

Tug HMCS Birchton launched United Shipyard Montreal.

Frigate HMCS Toronto commissioned.

Frigate HMCS Ettrick completed refit Halifax NS and assigned to EG C-3.

Frigate HMCS Toronto commissioned.

U.S.A.: Frigate USS Brownsville commissioned.

The USAAF 477th Bombardment Group (Medium) moves to Godman Field, Ft. Knox, Kentucky, where it trains with B-25 Mitchells.

ATLANTIC OCEAN: The German submarine U-66 is sunk about 290 miles (467 km) west of the Cape Verde Islands, in position 17.17N, 32.29W, by depth charges, ramming and gunfire from Eastern Aircraft TBM Avenger and FM Wildcat aircraft of Composite Squadron Fifty Five (VC-55) in the escort aircraft carrier USS Block Island (CVE-21) and by the destroyer escort USS Buckley (DE-51); 36 of the 60 submariners survive. Block Island and Buckley were part of Task Group 21.11 which has been hunting this submarine since 1 May; several attacks had been made, including three Fido homing torpedoes that were dropped on the U-boat. Finally in the early morning hours of the 6th, U-66 was sighted by the crew of USS Buckley and after an exchange of gunfire, Buckley rammed the U-boat at 0329 hours local. Many of the U-boat survivors, some with small arms, climbed on Buckley's forecastle and the Americans, thinking they were being boarded as in the days of sail, used small arms, hand grenades, fists and a coffee cup to subdue them. Buckley backed away from the U-boat leaving five armed Germans on the escort who were promptly subdued and taken below. The U-boat started to draw ahead but then turned and hit the escort near its engine room opening a hole on the starboard side and for the second time the U-boat was raked with gunfire.

The U-boat finally sank after a salvo from Buckley's 3-inch (76.2 mm) gun after one of the longest fights in the war.

SS Anadyr, dispersed from Convoy TJ-30, was torpedoed and sunk by U-129 about 600 miles SSE of Recife. Four crewmembers and two gunners were lost. The master and seven survivors landed at Porto de Galhinas near Recife and 39 survivors landed 20 miles south of Recife.

U-473 sunk at 0200 hrs in the North Atlantic WSW of Ireland, in position 49.29N, 21.22W, by depth charges from sloops HMS Starling, Wren and Wild Goose. 23 dead and 30 survivors.

U-765 sunk in the North Atlantic, in position 52.30N, 28.28W, by depth charges from two 825 Sqn Swordfish from escort carrier HMS Vindex and frigates HMS Bickerton, Bligh and Aylmer. 37 dead and 11 survivors.

6 May 1945

May 6th, 1945 (SUNDAY)

GERMANY: Dönitz sacks Himmler from all offices.

NORWAY:

The Hopseidet Incident.

[Story Continued from the 5th]

On the 6th, between two and three o'clock, the Germans went ashore, and fire was opened from the defenders. After some heavy fire from machineguns the defenders were forced to retire. Only one man stayed behind on the beach; the "Bergen-man" Henry Mohr was hiding behind some big rocks while he was responding the fire with his light arms. When he finally ran out of ammo, he stretched his arms up and surrendered. He was badly mistreated by the Germans, but for some reason not shot. Together with the "guide" Ivar ÿye was taken aboard the sub.

Another fisherman was also wounded by the Germans. Mathis Persen had been hit in the knee early in the fight. He was laying in agony on a small grass-field close to the beach. A German soldier approached him, looked at his knee, shook his head and pointed his gun against his head. Persen begged for his life, the German put away his gun and put a bandage to Persens knee. Twice he went back with his gun lifted, but finally left the wounded man.

The Germans concentrated their energy elsewhere; all livestock they could find was gathered and shot. All the buildings who was in such a state that people could take shelter or live in, were blown up (It is necessary to remember that all houses were burned as the Germans redrew from the county in autumn 1944, and these houses were just improvised structures).

Sigurd Ferman was one of the witnesses to what happened. The Germans were leading six fishermen, who were taken prisoner as they were trying to make it for the mountains, towards the only building left in the village, a warehouse. The fishermen were lined up with their hands above their heads, and three Germans lined themselves up against them with their weapons ready. Just before the weapons were fired, the witness Ferman could hear one of the fishermen shout:" Are you firing at civilians.?" Ferman was stunned as he watched the six fishermen being executed. The victims were screaming. An officer then gave them coup de grace with his bayonet.

Two of the soldiers went inside and searched the building. It later showed that two of the fishermen had knives placed in their hands to make it look as they had been armed. Ferman identified the knives and knew that they were taken from the warehouse.

In the cellar of a cowshed Caroline Mikalsen were hiding with nine of her eleven children, the youngest only 4 months old. One daughter was away, and her husband and the eldest son were among the executed fishermen. The Germans become aware of the hideaways, and one soldier went inside the cowshed and fired his weapon through the roof, above which some of the children was hiding and nearly hit by the bullets. The eldest daughters were hiding inside a cupboard.

Caroline asked for mercy, but the soldier said triumphant that her husband and son were shot, and then he raped her with the children watching. As he left the cowshed, he threw a hand grenade in through a window. It landed in a basket of clothes and did not explode. One of her sons later carried the basket down to the sea.

After this the Germans went back to the beach. The loudspeakers on the subs played march-music, and a voice declared that Hopseidet was taken without German casualties, and that six enemies were fallen. The soldiers embarked the subs, and accompanied by loud music they left and were soon out of sight.

To the six bodies by the warehouse were attached propaganda-posters. The wounded man Mathis Persen was still laying down by the shore. Caroline Mikalsen heard his call for help and found him by rowing slowly along the shore. Her 14-year old son and herself carried the wounded, now unconscious man into shelter. Her nursing saved Persens life until the doctor arrived.

At 5 o'clock the following day Norwegian troops arrived at Hopseidet only to find that six innocent civilians lives were lost. Half an hour later the Germans in Norway surrenders, Hopseidet became the last German military action in Norway.

Later two German soldiers were put to trial in West-Germany, accused of the misdeed, but the case was dismissed in 1969. The soldiers claimed self- defence, and a Norwegian trial was never stated.

On the scene of the misdeed a memorial has been placed, bearing the following inscription:

"In memory of six civilian unarmed fishermen, mishandled and shot by the Germans the 6. May 1945.

Leonard Eriksen 35 years

Einar Mikalsen 47 years

Johan Mikalsen 18 years

Harald Kristiansen 39 years

Henry Kristiansen 16 years

Reidar Karlsen 17 years

The German U-Boats involved were the "U-318" and the "U-992", which landed a platoon of Kleinkampfverbände 35 under command of Korvettenkapitän Wolfgang Woerdermann at Hopseidet, near Gamvik in Finnmark county, 6th May, 1945. They executed six unarmed Norwegian civilians as well as committing other crimes. Both U-boat captains were tried after the War, but were found not guilty as the crimes committed were not committed by the U-boat crews. (Torstein Saksvik)

CZECHOSLOVAKIA: Pilsen is liberated by the US 3rd Army, but is ordered to stay there to allow the Russians to occupy the rest of the country.

Prague: The 1st Division of the POA join the fight with the Czech patriots against the remaining German SS units. By the evening the city is clear of SS.

Lisbon: PORTUGAL severs diplomatic relations with Germany.

BURMA: The British 26th Indian Division mops up in the area north of Rangoon.

INDIAN OCEAN: The battleships and cruisers of TF 63 shell Port Blair in the Andaman Islands.

RN 804 Sqn Hellcat a/c #JX803 ditched port side of ship during Operation "BISHOP" strikes on the Nicobar and Andaman Islands off Port Blair in the Indian Ocean. Pilot lost.

SINGAPORE: U-181 and U-862 taken over by Japan and became the Japanese submarine I 502 15 July 1945.

NETHERLANDS EAST INDIES:

U-195 is taken over by the Japanese at Soerebaja.

U-219 is taken over by the Japanese at Batavia.

OKINAWA: The Japanese counteroffensive fizzles out with heavy losses. This confirms US gains at Maeda Ridge and Marchinto Air Field.

Off Okinawa, kamikazes damage the surveying ship USS Pathfinder (AGS-1) and the seaplane tender USS St. George (AV-16).

PACIFIC OCEAN: Naval landing force evacuates 500 Marshallese from Jaluit Atoll, Marshall Islands.

U.S.A.: Heavy cruiser USS Toledo launched.

ATLANTIC OCEAN: Destroyer escort USS Atherton, while en route from New York to Boston, encountered a U-boat. After four depth charge attacks, pieces of broken wood, cork, mattresses, and an oil slick broke the surface. Atherton, in conjunction with frigate USS Moberly, was later credited with destroying U-853.

U-881 sunk in the North Atlantic SE of Newfoundland, in position 43.18N, 47.44W, by depth charges from destroyer escort USS Farquhar. 53 dead (all hands lost).

U-1008 sunk in the Kattegat north of Hjelm Island, in position 56.14N, 10.51E, by depth charges from an RAF 86 Sqn Liberator. 44 survivors (No casualties)

U-3523 sunk at 1839hrs in the Skaggerak east of Århus, Denmark, in position 57.52N, 10.49E, by depth charges from an RAF 86 Sqn Liberator. 58 dead (all hands lost).

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