UNITED KINGDOM:

RAF Bomber Command: 4 Group (Whitley). Bombing - industrial targets in Germany - Wanne-Eickel, Gelsenkirchen, Reisholz, Dusseldorf. Rail targets - Dinant. 10 Sqn. 12 aircraft. 6 bombed German industrial targets, six bombed road and rail targets at Dinant. 51 Sqn. 9 aircraft. One returned early, 7 bombed. 58 Sqn. 9 aircraft. One returned early, 8 bombed, one hit by Flak.

This night all the RAFs combat-ready long-range bombers, 99 aircraft, are used.

"We are going to ask you to help us in a manner which I know will be welcome to thousands of you. We want large numbers of men of 17 to 65 to come forward and offer their services. The name of the new force will be the Local Defence Volunteers ..." This was the appeal of Anthony Eden, the War Secretary, on the radio at 9.15 pm yesterday. By the same time tonight, 250,000 men had rushed to their local police stations to volunteer. They have been promised uniforms and arms but for the present there are neither - 250,000 armbands inscribed LDV have been ordered. The LDV force was called for primarily to deal with Germans parachuted behind the lines, as they were during the invasion of Holland, some disguised as clergymen or peasants.

At 7:30 a.m. the new Prime Minister, Winston Churchill receives a telephone call from French Premier, Paul Renaud. "We have been defeated", Renaud blurts in English, we are beaten, we have lost the battle, the Front is broken near Sedan; they are pouring through in great numbers with tanks and armoured cars. We are defeated, we have lost the battle." (Stuart Millis)

The first of what will become many telegrams from Churchill to President Roosevelt, which is signed "Former Naval Person", is sent today.

Churchill to Roosevelt

" . . . The small countries are simply smashed up, one by one, like matchwood. We must expect, though it is not yet certain, that Mussolini will hurry in to share the loot of civilization. We expect to be attacked here ourselves, both from the air and by parachute and airborne troops, in the near future, and are getting ready for them. If necessary we will continue the wear alone, and we are not afraid of that.

"But I trust you realize, Mr. President, that the voice and force of the United States may count for nothing if they are withheld too long. You may have a completely subjugated, Nazified Europe established with astonishing swiftness, and the weight may be more than we can bear. . . . "

Churchill goes on to ask for non-belligerency from the United States, 50 WWI destroyers, aircraft, anti-aircraft weapons and the opportunity to purchase steel with payment in dollars as long as they can but he would like to feel reasonably sure that the United States would give the "stuff" to Britain when the dollars run out. 
(W Jay Stone)
Specifically:
(1) 40 or 50 "older destroyers" for use by the RN until new construction is available; 
(2) "several hundred" aircraft; 
(3) Anti-Aircraft "equipment and ammunition;" 
(4) steel;
(5) that a USN squadron visit Irish ports; and 
(6) he intimates that the U.S. "keep that Japanese dog quiet in the Pacific, using Singapore in any way convenient."

WESTERN FRONT: RN: Destroyers continue to support Allied land forces off the Dutch and Belgian coasts, and under heavy air attack HMS Valentine is bombed in an air attack in the North Sea off Terneuzen at 51 20N, 03 49E and beached in the Scheldt Estuary. (Alex Gordon)(108)

There is heavy and extended discussion about the various ideas on how to deploy units of the RAF. In the end the decision is that espoused by Air Marshall Dowding; additional fighters will not be sent to France.

Orders are issued to the RAF for the first bombing in the Ruhr.

NETHERLANDS: The Dutch army surrenders to the Germans.

German aircraft sink the Dutch warships Van Galen at Rotterdam, Frisa and Brinio at Ijsselmeer, Johan Maurits van Nassau at Callantsoog, Tjerk Hiddes, Gerward Callenburgh at Rotterdam and HMS Valentine at Terneuzen. (Alex Gordon)

BELGIUM: 2nd Lt Richard Wallace Annand (b. 1914), Durham Light Infantry, attacked enemy positions with grenades. Wounded, he made a second attack; later, told to retreat, he went back to rescue his wounded batman. For this he is awarded the VC.

FRANCE: General Georges orders the Ninth Army to retreat from its positions on the Meuse and to fall back to the Fosses-Mettet line. This exposes the First Army’s flank. At 13:00 hrs General Blanchard orders First Army’s right wing back to the Orneau to be carried out at night. But at 18:00 hrs the Army Group Commander orders a withdrawal along the whole line. Blanchard then orders his three corps to break off battle and withdraw at night.

6:30 hrs Georges orders the 3rd Armoured Division to aid Second Army to counter-attack at Sedan. The offensive should take place on the Bulson-Sedan axis, by a "tank-based" operation. The tanks however do not appear until late in the day and the counter-attack must be called off. 

In the sector of General Huntziger's Second Army near Sedan, men of the 71st Division turned their helmets around - a rallying sign of the Communists- and bolted for the rear.

Both XIX and XLI Panzer Corps break out of their bridgeheads and drive rapidly westwards, stopping only briefly at times to allow the infantry to catch up. (Stuart Millis)

GERMANY: U-82, U-119 laid down.

NORWEGIAN CAMPAIGN: (Mark Horan) At 0030, HMS Ark Royal receives word that Polish troop transport SS Chrobry had been bombed. At 0445 Flag Officer Narvik requested air cover for the ships returning her surviviors to Harstad. At 0512 a trio of 801 Squadron Skuas departed on the task.

At 0710, Ark dispatched six Swordfish of 810 Squadron, led by Capt. N. R. M. Skene, RM, each carrying 2x250 lb and 8x20 lb Cooper bombs to bomb the railway and trucks between Hundallen and the Swedish border.. Two Skuas of 803 Squadron (Lt. L. A. Harris, RM) escorted the stringbags. They intercepted two He-111s and a single Ju-88, all of which escaped at high speed. However the later damaged 8L, slightly wounding both crew members ( Petty Officer Airman A. G. Johnson, RN (P) and Leading Airman F. Coston, RN (AG)) as the Skua did not have bullet-proof glass. All aircraft did return safely however.

Further fighter patrols were sent off at 0710, 0835, and 1010, only the later seeing action when the three Skuas of 800 Squadron, led by Lt. G. E. D. Finch-Noyes chased off a formation of four He-111s intent on bombing the fleet, and then ran off a single He-111 later on.

The last mission of the day occurred at 1900, when three 820 Squadron Swordfish were dispatched with torpedoes, escorted by three Skuas, with orders to sink the still burning wreck of SS Chrobry. Of the three torpedoes, one prematured, one missed, and the last exploded under the stern, but the ship remained afloat. All aircraft returned ending the days flying.

Meanwhile, HMS Furious and HMS Glorious continued their northward passage towards the waters off Narvik with their precious RAF fighters.

CANADA: HMCS Prince Henry (ex-North Star, ex-Prince Henry) purchased from Clarke Steamship Company for $606,740, and preparations were begun to convert her to an Armed Merchant Cruiser (AMC). The Washington and London Naval Treaties placed limits on the number of cruisers that could be built by the participating nations. Canada was governed by the limits placed on the Royal Navy. An important role of heavy cruisers was service on distant stations and as the 'patrolman on the beat,' keeping watch over the trade routes of the world. Smaller, more manoeuvrable light cruisers served as scouts for the battle fleet and as leaders for destroyer flotillas since they did not have the endurance for the trade protection role, except in home waters where short-range corvettes and armed trawlers sufficed. To meet the requirement for greater numbers of cruisers for mercantile protection, a survey of all small to medium sized passenger ships was undertaken to determine which were suitable for service as auxiliary cruisers. During the Second World War, a large amount of effort, time, and expense was dedicated to converting commercial ships to AMC's to defend against a threat that did not really exist any longer. Although both the German and Japanese navies did employ disguised merchant raiders, they were targeted against independently routed ships, as they did not have the capacity to withstand even a small conventional warship serving as a convoy escort. The use of heavy warships and submarines against convoys exposed the weakness of the AMC's. Their large size, low manoeuvrability, rudimentary armament, and lack of armour made them particularly vulnerable. Their large crews also made their manning and loss difficult to bear. By late '42 to early '43, the AMC's were being withdrawn from escort service and converted to troopships, a vastly less costly and complicated process as well as a more important role.

U.S.A.:

At 7.40pm today piloted by Gloster Aircraft Company's chief test pilot, Gerry Sayer, the aircraft flew for 17 minutes.

Afterwards Wing-Cdr frank Whittle, Britain's jet engine pioneer, said: "I was very tense, not so much because of any fears about the engine, but because this was a machine making its first flight." Afterwards there was an impromptu celebration in the officers' mess. Further test flights will now be made.

London: Anthony Eden informs Vichy Authorities that the RAF will attack Luftwaffe aircraft based in Syria. (Yanni Kadari)

Aircraft carrier HMS Victorious commissioned.

Corvette HMS Coltsfoot launched.

FRANCE: VICHY FRANCE: Marshal Petain at Vichy announce replacement of Franco-German armistice agreement by a new collaboration scheme.

Concerning the meeting between Admiral Darlan and the Führer; Marèchal Pètain declares his complete approval. (Yannis KADARI)

GERMANY: Dr Sigmund Rascher asks Himmler for permission to carry out medical experiments on prisoners at Dachau concentration camp.

GREECE: The British Mediterranean Fleet is ordered to stay in the waters around Crete.

CRETE: The Luftwaffe starts bombing the island.

EGYPT: Cairo: RAF Headquarters in the Middle East announced:

On Monday, aircraft of the SAAF went into action in Cyrenaica for the first time when the RAF bombed enemy aircraft at Gambut airfield. On Monday night through to Tuesday morning, heavy English bombers overflew the Mediterranean and attacked the German airfield at Kattavia on the isle of Rhodes.

Aircraft of the Fleet Air Arm took off to attack the Al Amarah military barracks in Iraq, 48 miles from the Persian Gulf. A factory in Al Musayyib, a fuel tank in Rashid and motorised transports were likewise bombed on Tuesday. The SAAF operated without a halt. In Abyssinia their targets were Fort Aba Maela and military positions at Ama Magiihr. In Lekemti aerial machine guns fired on a motorised transport column and aircraft on the ground. Three of General de Gaulle's Free French aircraft raided Gondar airfield (Ethiopia).

British forces in Egypt have been preparing for Operation Brevity. Their objective is to capture Halfaya Pass, utilizing the recent arrival of tanks in the Tiger Convoy. The Tiger Convoy being one of Churchill's operations, started while he was 1st Lord of the Admirality, has given him reason to dub these tanks "tiger cubs". This operation kicks off and initially good gains against the Axis forces are achieved.

LIBYA: A British offensive starts from the Sollum area in an attempt to relieve Tobruk and capture the Halfaya Pass. (Operation Brevity) Tanks and infantry succeed in retaking Sollum, but within hours the British are forced to withdraw leaving garrisons on the escarpment at Halfaya.

SYRIA: The RAF has bombed Luftwaffe aircraft on the ground at three airfields in Vichy-French SYRIA: Damascus, Rayak, east of Beirut, and Palmyra. General Dentz, Petain's High Commissioner in Syria, protested last night at the raids, which were a response to German efforts to ship aircraft, tanks, and other arms to Iraq to bolster Rashid Ali, the anti-British politician who seized power in Iraq last month. (Yannis Kadari)

JAPAN: Tokyo: Richard Sorge, a Soviet spy, warns Moscow that Germany plans to invade during the third week in June.

CANADA: Corvette HMCS Sackville launched Saint John, New Brunswick.

Corvette HMCS Galt commissioned.

Corvettes HMS Arrowhead, Bittersweet, Eyebright, Fennel, Hepatica, Mayflower, Snowberry, Spikenard, Trillium and Windflower transferred to RCN and retained the same names.

U.S.A.: Washington: relations between Vichy France and the United States degenerated sharply today as the senate passed a bill empowering the government to seize foreign shipping in US harbours.

Under the Ship Seizure Bill the US can take over vessels "by purchase, charter, requisition" or may take them "into protective custody." Although not specifically aimed at Vichy, the measure is a response to Petain's decision to collaborate more closely with Germany. Armed guards have already been placed on board all French ships in US ports, including the 83,423-ton liner 'Normandie'. A score of French merchant ships will be put in "protective custody" as they arrive.

In a baseball game played against the Chicago White Sox before 9,040 fans in Yankee Stadium in New York City, the White Sox defeat the New York Yankees 13-1. This was New York's fifth straight loss and nobody particularly cared that Yankee centerfielder Joe DiMaggio hit a single in the first inning and drove in the Yankees only run. This was the beginning of DiMaggio's 56-game hitting streak, a record that is yet to be broken.

The motion picture "A Woman's Face" opens in New York City, USA. This thriller, directed by George Cukor and starring Joan Crawford, Melvyn Douglas, Conrad Veidt, Marjorie Main and Donald Meek, is about a blackmailer (Crawford) who despises everyone because of her facial scar. After a plastic surgeon (Douglas) performs an operation to correct her disfigurement, she is torn between returning to her old life or starting a new one with a new name.

U.S.S.R.: German units, under Manstein reach Kerch.

ARCTIC OCEAN: The British Cruiser HMS Trinidad is scuttled after a German air raid on an Artic Convoy to Russia. She had been repaired at Kola after sustaining a hit from one of her own torpedoes. Now she is scuttled in the Barents Sea 100 miles N of Murmansk at 73 37N 23 53E. There are 81 casualties. (Alex Gordon)
A U.S. freighter suffers a direct hit by a bomb but there are no casualties. The ship is beached to prevent loss.

U.S.A.: Gasoline (petrol) rationing begins with the amount set for non essential vehicles at 3 gallons per week. There are 17 eastern states in the US, with rationing in effect, at this point.

There has been some grumbling as well as some severe shortages of the suddenly precious fuel. The basic allotment is three gallons a week, although special cases are allowed more. But even as many motorists complained that three gallons is an unreasonable amount, a number of drivers initially granted extra allotments returned their X and B-3 cards for lesser rations. Even Mrs. Roosevelt has an A card, for three gallons a week, saying that she will learn to use her new English bicycle to get around. One US citizen, Bernard Baruch, who is often asked to travel to Washington for conferences, gave up his special card for an A card. "I came to New York 62 years ago and hoofed it then. I can hoof it now," he said.

Shortages at stations occurred as pre-midnight consumption resulted in many dealers running out of fuel. Some station owners say that they will close on Saturday and Sunday to avoid irate motorists.

UNITED KINGDOM: The USAAF VIII Bomber Command in England flies Mission Number 57.

- 113 B-17s are dispatched against various targets in Germany as well as airfield and naval installations on Helgoland Island and the naval base and submarine construction works at Wilhelmshaven; 76 bomb the targets at 1050-1055 hours local and claim 29-20-30 Luftwaffe aircraft destroyed; five B-17s are lost. 80 B-17s are dispatched against the U-boat yard, marshalling yard and airfield at Emden; 59 bomb at 1056-1103 hours local and claim 14-3-1 Luftwaffe aircraft; one B-17 is lost.

- 116 P-47 Thunderbolts are dispatched on a high altitude sweep of the Amsterdam/Rotterdam area in the Netherlands prior to the bombing raids; they claim two Luftwaffe aircraft damaged; one P-47 is lost.

Submarine HMS Verve laid down.

FRANCE: General Delestraint, chief of the Secret Army (AS) moves to the Vercors area. He starts to organize a vast partisan area, with the co-operation of Pierre Dalloz. (Yanni Karadi)

GERMANY:

YUGOSLAVIA: Axis forces in Yugoslavia today launched their fifth offensive against aimed at smashing local resistance. Operation Black, as it is called, is the biggest offensive so far against the partisans, and promises to be the most savage.

Axis troops have been ordered to move "with utmost brutality" against "the hostile population". Four German and Italian divisions are supported by Bulgarian troops and the Ustachi, the notorious Croatian irregulars. In all 120,000 men are lined up against a much smaller force of guerrilla fighters.

The Germans and their allies are using new tactics. Until now they have advanced along main roads; but now they are using Tito's methods, advancing across the countryside, often by night.

U.S.S.R.: Moscow: Stalin has decided to disband the Comintern, the Communist International organization which controls foreign communist parties. The timing of the announcement, which will take effect in a  week, is significant. The Grand Alliance against the Axis powers came under strain last month when Moscow broke with the Polish government in exile in London over the Katyn atrocity.

This row still simmers, despite attempts to patch it up ten days ago, and observers believe that Stalin wishes to reassure the west that notions of exporting revolution have been abandoned, and that any countries liberated by the USSR will be allowed to choose their own regimes, undisturbed by Moscow.

Soon after the German invasion in 1941, Comintern offices were moved from Moscow to Ufa, just west of the Urals, and rumours surfaced in Moscow suggesting that the organization was being disbanded. But it continued its activities under the veteran Bolshevik Dmitry Manuilsky, the Bulgarian Georgi Dimitrov and the Italian Palmiro Togliatti. Many westerners familiar with Stalin's methods doubt whether the Comintern will in fact now be dissolved.

TERRITORY OF ALASKA: On Attu in the Aleutians, the fog lifts at 1100 hours and elements of the Northern Landing Force move forward. They find that the Japanese has withdrawn from the reverse slope of Hill X to Moore Ridge in the center of Holtz Valley leaving food and ammunition behind. This pullback permits the Provisional Battalion, which has been pinned down since D-Day, to link up with the 1st Battalion, 17th Infantry and the 3d Battalion, 32d Infantry. 

As the American troops enter the valley to the north of Moore Ridge, the clear skies permit Japanese troops to place accurate fire on them. The Southern Landing Force again attacks Jarmin Pass but is repulsed. On Adak, the reported situation on Attu appeared grim. Of special interest was the exposed position of theUSNships supporting the Army on the island; a Japanese submarine has already fire torpedoes at a battleship and there are reports that a Japanese task force is enroute to challenge the landings. The Navy advises the Army that the support ships will be withdrawn no later than 17 May.

Weather again curtails air operations. The air-ground liaison B-24 observes and directs air operations at Attu throughout the day as visibility permits and directs a supply drop for ground forces by another B-24 in two air-ground support missions. Six B-24s bomb Holtz Bay and Chichagof Harbor and 6 P-38s strafe AA installations in the Holtz Bay area.

CANADA: Destroyer HMCS Athabaskan laid down Halifax, Nova Scotia.

U.S.A.: Washington: The TRIDENT Conference between President Roosevelt, Prime Minister Churchill and the Combined Chiefs of Staff begins in Washington, D.C.

CARIBBEAN SEA: The Cuban subchaser CS-13, with the assistance of a US Kingfisher, sank U-176 off the north coast of Cuba. (Keith Allen)(68)

A task force of Cuban sub chasers formed by CS-11, CS-13 and CS-12 was sailing from Isabela de Sagua in the Sabana Archipelago en route to Havana escorting the Honduran merchant ship SS Wanks and the Cuban SS Camagüey, both transporting sugar. The crews were on maximum alert. Shortly before casting off they had received communication that a submarine had been seen surfacing north of Matanzas. The merchant ships were sailing side by side 500 yards apart, with the Camagüey closer to shore. The escorts were 750 to 1,000 yards away. At the vanguard was the CS-12, followed by the CS-11, which was the flagship, and the CS-13 at the rear of the small convoy. At 17:15, when the ships were sailing by Mégano Key, a US Navy Kingfisher flew over them. The plane dived and flying at low altitude circled twice gunning and killing its engine in order to signal in the pre-established code the presence of an enemy submarine. The leader of the sub-chaser task force ordered the captain of the CS-13, Ensign Mario Ramírez Delgado, to explore the area pointed at by the plane. Years ago Ramírez told me about his actions at the time. The CS-13 sped to the area. After some minutes the hydro acoustics equipment gave a sounding of a loud and clear contact 900 yards away. It was the sub taking evasive action. The attack was on. At the proper range three depth charges were dropped aft of the sub-chaser, set to explode at 100, 150 and 250 feet, according to the calculated immersion rate of the submarine. Four explosions were detected. The fourth one "probably by proximity of one or more of the submarine’s torpedo warheads" was so potent that the Cuban sub chaser’s stern was submerged and water flooded the engine room through the hatch. At that moment through the hydrophones a noise similar to liquid entering a submerged recipient was heard. Immediately a slowly diminishing whistling was also heard. They were the evidence that the sub had been hit. To finish it off, the CS-13 dropped a couple of more charges set for 250 feet and continued exploring. After a few minutes a lookout discovered a dark stain on the water. A black and viscous substance reeking of diesel oil surfaced from the bottom. Ramírez ordered a hand to take a sample as proof of the sub’s sinking. After patrolling the area and failing further detection, the sub chaser went back to the convoy, which had continued its route. For reasons unknown, the Cuban government at the time decided to silence the action. That was the last thing that Ensign Mario Ramírez told me. At the end of the Second World War when the German Navy files were captured, it was known that the U-Boat that had been operating in the area in those days had been the U-176, commanded by Kapitänleutenant Reiner Dierksen. In 1946 Ramírez Delgado, who had been promoted to Lieutenant Jr. Grade, was decorated with the Medal of Naval Merit. His success was also acknowledged by Rear Admiral Samuel E. Morrison, the US Navy’s official historian in his book History of US Naval Operations in World War II¸ where he also praised the expertise and efficiency of Cuban seamen. CS was small wooden boats with a length of 83 ft, a 45-ton displacement and a crew of 12. Maximum speed was 18 knots. They were armed with a 20-mm cannon and 8 depth charges of 325 lb. The boats had been recently leased to Cuba by the US government and the crews had been trained in the United States. The U-176 commanded by Captain Reiner Dierksen was an IXC Class 1,540 ton submarine with a little over 250 ft. Maximum speed was 18.2 knots on the surface and 7.3 submerged. It could go down to 775 ft. The submarine could load 22 torpedoes (other sources say 12) and 44 mines. It was armed with one cannon and two antiaircraft machine guns. At the time it was sunk there were 53 men aboard, three short of its full crew. None survived. The U-176 had sunk 11 ships for a total tonnage of 53.307 tons. By the end of the war the German submarine fleet had lost three out of four of its vessels. It was the service with the greatest losses.

ATLANTIC OCEAN: U-266 sunk in the North Atlantic in position 45.28N, 10.20W, by depth charges from an RAF 58 Sqn Halifax. 47 dead (all hands lost).

At 2043, the unescorted Maroussio Logotheti was hit by two torpedoes from U-105 and sank immediately. The ship had been missed by a first torpedo, which detonated prematurely. The second officer was taken prisoner by the U-boat, transferred four days later to U-460 and landed at Bordeaux on 25 June.

At 1219, U-607 fired a spread of two torpedoes at the unescorted Irish Oak and hit her twice under the bridge after 2 minutes 10 seconds. After the crew had abandoned ship, she was sunk by a coup de grâce at 1331.

U-591 was hit with machine gun fire from an RAF 10 Sqn Whitley that wounded the Commander and one seaman. The boat had to abort its 3 day-old patrol and returned to St Nazaire 2 days later.

I had been anticipating this first mission for quite some time. Fortunately for me it was a Milk Run, but being copilot kept me so busy I didn't have time to get too scared. On most of my missions I became apprehensive as we approached enemy territory. As soon as I saw the first burst of flak I became calm and a grim attention to my work.

My second mission, on May 19, was not quite so uneventful. (Berlin) ! ! !