16 May 1939

UNITED KINGDOM: The prototype Vickers Wellington Mk III (L 4251) heavy bomber makes its first flight today. (22)

GERMANY: Kriegsmarine warships conclude naval manouvers. They include Graf Spee along with Panzerschiffe Deutschland, Panzerschiffe Admiral Scheer, Kruizer Leipzig, Kruizer Koln, a Zerstorer, a U-boat tender, and various submarine flotillas. Made port at Ceuta and Lisbon.

LIBYA: The British withdraw from gains achieved yesterday near Halfaya Pass on the border of Egypt and Cyrenaica.

ETHIOPIA: Amba Alagi: The Italian army is seeking terms of surrender. The Duke of Aosta and his 18,000 troops had made a last stand here in the arid mountains of Tigre. The defences seemed unscaleable, but the morale of the Italians weakened. The Eritrean levies deserted them when they learnt of Britain's promise to give self-determination to Eritrea.

With over-stretched defences, and believing that the main attack would come through the Falaga Pass in the east, the Italian western defences crumbled when attacked by Indian and British troops.

TURKEY: Iraqi-Soviet exchange of notes at Ankara establishing diplomatic relations.

No change on the western front. on the southern front, three British aircraft released several bombs over an Iraqi city. The ground defenses succeeded in shooting down one Wellington bomber. The Iraqi air force undertook reconnaissance flights over enemy bases and all aircraft returned undamaged. Our aircraft overflew the area around Ar Rutbah and successfully bombed enemy armoured vehicles. British aircraft attacked our military barracks but no major damage was done. One enemy aircraft was probably shot down. Our troops in the desert fought throughout the day and are continuing to keep the situation under control.

3 German He-111s of the special Junck unit, bombed the British at Habbaniya. Then the aircraft of the British Fleet Air Arm raided the Iraqi airfield at Mosul and destroyed one He 111 bomber and 2 Me 110 destroyers of the Junck force.

ATLANTIC OCEAN: At 0548, the unescorted Rodney Star was hit in the stern by one of two torpedoes from U-105 about 420 miles WSW of Freetown. The ship was hit in the bow and amidships by two coup de grâce at 0620 and 0746, but remained afloat. The U-boat surfaced and fired 91 high explosive rounds and 22 incendiary rounds from the deck gun into the waterline. During this action, the deck gun on U-105 exploded, wounding six crewmembers. Shortly before the ship sank by the stern in 05°08N/19°15W at 0930, a shell exploded in the barrel which was tore apart and wounded six men of the gun crew. The survivors were picked up after six days by HMS Boreas and Batna and landed at Takoradi on 23 May.

U.S.A.: German U-boats continue their attacks on U.S. merchant vessels in the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean. U-506 attacks three tankers off Louisiana; one is damaged but escapes to New Orleans, a second is torpedoed and shelled but does not sink; but the third is sunk. In the Caribbean, U-103 sinks the unarmed freighter SS Ruth Lykes. The U-boat crew rescues one sailor and transfers him to a lifeboat and the U-boat captain apologizes stating, "You can thank Mr. Roosevelt for this. I am sorry." The captain then gives the survivors cigarettes and bandages before departing.

Minesweeper USS Strive launched.

Minesweeper USS Caravan laid down.

ATLANTIC OCEAN: Steam tankers Sun and William C. McTarnahan damaged by U-506 at 28N, 90W.

At 1900 on 14 May 1942, the Amapala sailed from New Orleans and anchored at Pilottown about 01.00 hours on 15 May. At 12.00 hours she left the anchorage and cleared Southwest Pass around 1330 hours. About 0005 on 16 May, U-507 was seen coming up fast on the starboard quarter, about four miles away. At the time the unescorted and unarmed Amapala was making 15 knots and was zigzagging. The master immediately ordered a change of the course to put the ship’s stern to the U-boat and send out an SOS and SSS four times in position 26°40N/88°17W. At 0012, U-507 began to attack the ship with shell and machine gun fire and soon hit the Amapala on the starboard side, destroying the lifeboat #3, wounding a fireman and throwing five men into the water. These men were picked up by the boat #4, which had been launched first, followed by two other boats. During this time, U-507 only fired with the Anti-Aircraft guns and continued shelling the vessel after the crew had abandoned ship. About three hours after the attack an aircraft appeared, sighted the U-boat and dropped depth charges, but without damaging U-507. It remained in the area for an hour and then left. The wounded fireman was placed in a lifeboat, but died at 0400 and was buried at sea. In the morning a USCG aircraft spotted the lifeboats and directed the fishing schooner Gonzalez out of Mobile to the boats. Shortly after 1600, another USCG aircraft landed on the water and brought two injured men to the Pensacola Naval Hospital. The remaining survivors were picked up by the Gonzalez and were landed at Burrwood Naval Base at 1500 on 17 May. The Amapala was still afloat when the survivors were picked up but her whole after deck was awash. She was taken in tow by the USCGC Boutwell but foundered in 26°30N/89°12W at midnight.

At 0415, the unescorted Nicarao was hit by one torpedo from U-751 north of San Salvador, Bahamas. The torpedo was spotted by the master about 20 feet from the ship and struck on the starboard side just forward of the #2 hold. The explosion ruptured the deck plates, tore a hole into the side and broke the back, causing her to sink by the bow within three minutes. The eight officers, 27 crewmen and four armed guards (the ship was armed with one 4in and two .30cal guns) tried to abandon ship in the two lifeboats, but both swamped and the survivors had to jump overboard and swim to three rafts, one officer and seven crewmen drowned. One of the boats was later righted and bailed out until the next morning. 31 survivors were picked up 21 hours later by the Esso Augusta and landed at Norfolk on 20 May. The master, Cecil Desmond, lost another ship to a U-boat when the William Eustis was torpedoed and sunk by U-435 17 Mar 1943 in Convoy HX-229.

Due to serious technical problems U-68 had to go to El Ferrol, Spain.

U-103 rendered medical aid to shipwrecked survivors of the sunken Ruth Lykes.

GERMANY: Wing Commander Guy Penrose Gibson (1918-44) leads RAF squadron 617 in an attack on Ruhr dams. This raid which will become known as the "Dambusters Raid" utilizes specially constructed bombs with special bombing techniques. The dams are on the Möhne and Eder rivers. Two of the 3 dams are bombed. Damage is not as severe as expected.
Gibson is awarded the Victoria Cross for deliberately drawing fire away from his comrades.

FINLAND: Thornycroft motor torpedo boat Raju hits an underwater boom obstacle in Koivisto Sound and repair of the old boat is not worth the efforts.

U.S.S.R.: Volga Flotilla: GB "Krasnii Dagestan" - mined close to Gusinii Is., in Stalingrad area (Sergey Anisimov)(69)

A large Japanese Naval Force consisting of the battleships HIJMS Musashi, HIJMS Kongo and HIJMS Haruna; the aircraft carrier HIJMS Hiyo; the heavy cruisers HIJMS Tone and HIJMS Chikuma; and five destroyers depart Truk Atoll in the Caroline Islands fro Tokyo for eventual duty in the Aleutian Islands.

U.S.A.: During WW II, the Military Intelligence Service (MIS) produced numerous documents, most commonly known are the Intelligence Bulletins. The Military Intelligence Special Series continues with "The German Rifle Company for Study and Translation." (William L. Howard)

U-182 sunk NW of Madeira Islands, in position 33.55N, 20.35W, by depth charges from destroyer USS Mackenzie. 61 dead (all hands lost).

U-463 sunk in the Bay of Biscay in position 45.57N, 11.40W by depth charges from an RAF 58 Sqn Halifax. 57 dead (all hands lost).

UNITED KINGDOM: London: With the liberation of their countries rapidly approaching, the the exiled governments of Belgium, the Netherlands and Norway today agreed to give Allied military commanders a free hand in administering territories after the Germans have been expelled. Norway, a close neighbour of the Soviet Union, signed a separate pact with Moscow.

Agreements signed in London give the commanders "such measures of supreme responsibility and authority over the civil administration as may be required by the military situation." The arrangements are temporary, and the exiled governments will take over as soon as the military situation permits. Talks are now being held with General de Gaulle's Free French on the administration of liberated areas of France.

GERMANY: Field Marshal Ernest Milch orders the long-range bombardment of England with FZG-76 (V1) missiles.

BALTIC SEA: U-24 encountered a Soviet submarine in the Black Sea, but neither boat attacked.

Cassino: Fusilier Francis Arthur Jefferson (1921-82), Lancs Fusiliers, smashed a counter-attack when, under blistering fire, he knocked out one tank and forced another to retreat. (Victoria Cross)

Air Commando Combat Mission N0. 58 Flight time not logged. Hailakandi to Silhet, Assam to Hopin, Burma. Mission was to destroyed one of our C-47 that had crash-landed with classified equipment aboard. We arrived over the area to find both Japanese and Chindit patrols were engaged in a fire fight. As we circled a Japanese fighter mad a pass at us from 6 o'clock level and broke off at to 3 o'clock when I fired a burst at him from the tail turret. Both guns jammed after the first burst. He had us cold turkey but think he was worried about our fighter top cover or maybe my tracers came close enough to discourage him from continuing his attack. We had no fighter cover on this mission and never did attempt to destroy the C-47 transport.

Notes: I flew as a spare gunner on this flight and it was to be the last combat mission for me in W.W.II. A few days later we packed our gear and left Hailakandi for Asonsol, India (We had another name for the place). A month later I was on my way back to the USA. I was offered a Warrant Office Jr. grade to stay but I had enough of the war and India and I had got sort of attached to my six stripes as a Master Sgt.

Did not fly as a combat crew man again until 1951 when my first flight in a B-29 was a combat mission to North Korea. Although I had been an instructor at Lowry AFB, CO teaching B-29 gunnery systems, I had lot to learn as to being a crewman on that magnificent bomber. (Chuck Baisden)

WAKE ISLAND USAAF's Seventh Air Force B-24s based on Kwajalein Atoll bomb the island.

Minesweeper USS Tercel laid down.

Escort carrier USS Bougainville launched.

Submarine USS Sea Cat commissioned.

Destroyer USS Collett commissioned.

Destroyer escort USS Melvin R Nawman commissioned.

Coast Guard-manned Army vessel FS-314 was commissioned at New York with LTJG F. H. James, USCGR, as her first commanding officer. He was succeeded on 18 September 1945 by LTJG F. A. Ziemba, USCGR, who in turn was succeeded on 19 November 1945, by LT B. T. Bassford, USCGR. She departed New York on 21 June 1944 for the Southwest Pacific where she operated during the war.

UNITED KINGDOM: Frigates HMCS Loch Alvie and Nene detached from Convoy JW-67 to escort 14 surrendered U-boats from Trondheim to Loch Eribol.

The IJN ships left Singapore on May 10. The British Destroyer Flotilla is part of the British Force 61 of the British East Indies Fleet under Vice-Admiral Walker. This larger force is composed of 2 battleships, 3 cruisers, 4 escort carriers, 8 destroyers and a submarine. The destroyer flotilla was detached due to the slow speed of the BBs and CVEs. (Tim Lanzendorfer)

JAPAN: During the night of 16/17 May, the USAAF's Twentieth Air Force flies Mission 175: 25 B-29 Superfortresses mine Shimonsoeki Strait, Japan while two others hit targets of opportunity.