17 May 1939

May 17th, 1939 (WEDNESDAY)

GERMANY: The 1939 census is taken. Supplementary questions are asked bearing on race, so that the Statistical Office can compile its survey of the Jewish population.

CANADA: HM King George VI and Queen Elizabeth arrive at the start of a tour of North America.

Their Majesties disembark at Wolfe's Cove from the Canadian Pacific ship Empress of Australia to start a month-long royal visit to Canada; the first by a reigning British monarch; addresses citizens of Quebec in fluent French. The tour is designed to repair and enhance British-Canadian relations, as war clouds again gather in Europe.

17 May 1940

May 17th, 1940 (FRIDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM:

RAF Bomber Command: 4 Group (Whitley). Bombing - oil storage depot at Bremen.

10 Sqn. 14 aircraft. One crashed on take-off, 12 bombed primary target from low-level, one bombed secondary target. Severe opposition, 6 aircraft damaged by Flak.

51 Sqn. 6 aircraft. 5 bombed primary, one bombed Delmenhorst airfield and was damaged by Flak. 58 Sqn. 6 aircraft. Five bombed successfully.

2 Group: 82 Sqn ( Blenheim) 12 aircraft bombing the Gembloux gap. 11 aircraft lost to Flak and fighters.

Destroyer HMS Blankney laid down.

BELGIUM:

Germany occupies Brussels, Louvain, Malines and Namur. The government of Belgium is evacuated to Ostend.
Lord Gort shores up his right flank which has been held by the Belgian Army.

FRANCE:

At dawn, Rommel and his armoured advance guard, thrust towards Landrecies. At 5.15 am the Germans enter Landrecies and make straight for the local headquarters; which they capture and then take the bridge over the Sambre.

On the upper Oise, Reinhardt’s advance-guard seizes the bridges between Hirson and Guise at about 8 am.

In the middle Oise between Guise and La Fere, posts manned by the French 2 Armoured Division were attacked at 5 am by forward elements of the 2nd Panzers, and resisted fiercely on the bridges of Moy, Bethenicourt and Mezieres. But farther to the south, the bridge of Ribemont was seized at 9am by the 1st Panzers.

Then the Panzers are halted. According to Guderian’s memoirs, this morning with his leading troops on the Oise, Von Kleist arrived by plane in a towering rage. Guderian was ordered to stop his columns at once, by the Fuhrer’s orders. he also stormed at him for having exceeded his instructions. Finally, he relieved him of his command, which he handed to his senior divisional commander. Guderian consequently sent orders to all his units to stop where they were, and handed over to General Veiel. Then by wireless he gave a full account to von Runstedt. In the afternoon the army group commander asked General List, commanding the 12th Army, to settle the quarrel. The latter went to see for himself, saw the position, re-established Guderian in his command, and even authorised him to send out "strong fighting reconnaissance patrols" on the next day, but without moving his command post. Guderian now used a succession of "advanced CP's" to pursue his advance.

On the French side, one positive action was the counter-attack by 4 Armoured Div., under Col. de Gaulle. he had only 150 tanks, one of Char-b's and two of R 35s. His intention was to reach Montcornet, on the Serre about 12 miles to the north., a junction of roads to Saint-Quentin, laon and Rheims, to block the German’s routes in those directions. They reached Montcornet, but the German’s were in strength on the Serre, and the unsupported tanks cannot cross it. In the evening, severely harassed by German artillery fire and continuous Stuka attacks, the group fell back to Laon, bring 130 prisoners with them.

NORWEGIAN CAMPAIGN:

RN: Cruiser HMS Effingham runs aground on an unseen rock in Vestfjord between Briksvaer and Terra Islands, as she carries troops to Bodo to help block the German advance on Narvik. She is later torpedoed and abandoned. The rock was marked on the chart, but at the time was obscured by a pencil line which had been drawn by the navigator. HMS Cairo, Coventry, Echo and Matabele took off the crew. She was finally destroyed by gunfire to prevent her capture by the Germans on 21 May 1940. (Dave Shirlaw and Peter Beeston)

During the evening of the 16th, HMS Ark Royal had steamed to seaward to place herself in position to cover a troop convoy enroute to Norway. After reaching position 68.08N, 07.00E, four Fighter Patrols were dispatched between 1510 and 2200 but the only excitement was caused when HMS Coventry decided to fire on her supporting aircraft!

Meanwhile, with the junction with HMS Furious and HMS Glorious at hand, Vice Admiral Wells instructed Glorious to send off one of the Walrus amphibians of 701 Squadron to communicate with him. It arrived at 1500, and then flew on to Harstad at 1700. (Mark Horan)

ICELAND: The 147 Brigade starts to arrive today to replace the occupying Royal Marines. (Dave Hornford)

U.S.A.: The USN announces that they will re-commission 35 more "four-stacker" destroyers for use on the Neutrality Patrol and to meet fleet requirements.

The motion picture "My Favorite Wife" is released in the U.S. This comedy, directed by Garson Kanin and starring Cary Grant, Irene Dunne and Randolph Scott, is about Grant's wife (Dunne) who is supposedly dead but returns to find him married to another woman. The film was nominated for three technical Academy Awards. This film was remade in 1963 as "Move Over, Darling" with Doris Day and James Garner.

17 May 1941

May 17th, 1941 (SATURDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM:

London:

The prisoner in the Tower of London today is Rudolf Hess, brought by train from Scotland after his "peace flight" from Germany. he is kept in a room neat the White Tower and spends much of his time watching guardsmen drilling. he will remain in the Tower until a Hampshire country house has been fortified for his detention.

Hess has been examined by army psychiatrists who say that they believe that he sane, but his condition is deteriorating. He claims that attempts are being made to poison him. He dresses in his Luftwaffe uniform and insists that he should be given diplomatic status.

In Germany, Hitler has ordered the arrest of Willi Messerschmitt; Hess took off from the company airfield at Augsburg, but the aircraft chief knew nothing of his plan. Hess's aides have also been arrested. Everybody, British and German alike, remains baffled by Hess's flight to Scotland.

London: The Reuters News Agency reports:

As was made clear in a report on foreigners in the British armed services, approximately 10,000 US citizens are fighting under the British flag. Most of them are attached to the RAF as pilots, observers and aerial gunners, or assigned to the training camps. Some US citizens have joined the ranks of General de Gaulle's Free French.

GERMANY:

Berlin: The German News Bureau reported:

Sollum, Capuzzo and Sidi Azeiz are once again in the hands of German and Italian troops.

U-212, U-261, U-465 laid down.

U-134 launched.

U-206 commissioned.

U.S.S.R.:

Moscow: The Soviet TASS News Agency stated:

Foreign reports that the Soviet Union has authorised the recruitment of volunteer pilots for the Iraqi army, are completely false.

GREECE:

Athens-Tatoi airfield: During an RAF bombing attack the one remaining Junkers G38 transport of Lufthansa the 'Generalfeldmarschal von Hindenburg' is destroyed.

EGYPT:

Cairo: General Wavell announced:

On Thursday the RAF bombed the three Syrian airfields at Palmyra, Damascus and Rayak. Three German Junkers and two other unidentified German aircraft, as well as an Italian Caproni 42, were sighted at Palmyra airfield. We succeeded in seriously crippling three of these machines; a fourth was demolished with incendiary bombs. Regarding General Dentz's communiqué, Wavell Headquarters has learned that one morning, 17 German aircraft landed at one Syrian airfield, and 5 at another field, and flew on in the direction of Iraq after refuelling. There is no question of the machines having been forced to make an emergency landing because the German aircraft were in impeccable condition. It is remarkable that General Dentz's communiqué makes no mention of the results of the British raid on the airfield at Palmyra.

Cairo: The British Middle East Air Force in Egypt announced:

German aircraft have been fired on by machine guns at Mosul (Iraq). One German plane went up in flames, the others were damaged. We have set oil warehouses on fire at Al Amarah (Iraq). The RAF base of Habbaniya has been attacked by German aircraft, but damage was insignificant and the toll of victims was low. Our operations in Abyssinia were confined to reconnaissance flights and the bombardment of fortified positions.

COMMONWEALTH OF THE PHILIPPINES: First shipment of P-40's (31 P-40B’s) arrives. No Prestone was included. These planes were unflyable. (Marc Small)

CANADA:

Corvettes HMCS Chicoutimi and Napanee arrived Halifax from builder Montreal, Province of Quebec.

Corvette HMCS Summerside launched Quebec City, Province of Quebec.

Corvette HMCS Dauphin commissioned.

ATLANTIC OCEAN: At 0036, the unescorted Marisa was hit in the engine room by one torpedo from U-107. The U-boat had followed the tanker since 12.49 hours on 16 May. The explosion killed the fourth engineer C Kandel and a Chinese donkeyman and the remaining crewmembers abandoned ship in three lifeboats. The tanker was hit at 0115 by a coup de grâce in the stern, but did not sink. 15 minutes later, the U-boat opened fire with the 105-mm deck gun and hit the ship with 20 rounds, but the next grenade burst in the barrel and made the deck gun useless. The burning tanker settled by the stern, but the bow remained afloat. At 0217, the 20-mm Anti-Aircraft gun was used to shoot holes in the empty tanks, until the weapon was damaged by a round that exploded in the barrel. A part of the barrel hit a man on the conning tower, but fell off without wounding him. Hessler wrote in the KTB - What kind of weapons and munitions do we have, we must be afraid of it. On 20 May, one lifeboat was found by HMS Columbine and a second by HMS Surprise. The third lifeboat with the master landed at the coast of French-Guinea on 23 May. The Marisa had arrived Freetown with a full cargo of oil on 11 May from Abadan, via Capetown.

17 May 1942

May 17th, 1942 (SUNDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: Bristol: Sir Stafford Cripps, formerly British ambassador in Moscow and now a member of the war cabinet, told his constituents in Bristol tonight that the government, like the public generally, wanted to see a second front in western Europe.

"The only difference between us is that the public can talk freely about it, whereas we cannot, because we have two responsibilities - to organise it at the proper time and place, and secondly not to give the enemy any information of our intentions. Already the Germans are getting uneasy at the militant offensive spirit of the British and Americans in this matter."

U.S.S.R.: (Sergey Anisimov)(69)Polar Fleet and White Sea Flotilla: Shipping loss. SKR-21 (ex-RT-73 "Kuibishev") - by aviation at Jokanga (later raised)

The Russian advance on Kharkov grinds to a halt as German resistance stiffens.

PACIFIC OCEAN: Japanese submarine I-28 is sunk by USS Tautog (SS-199) east of New Guinea.

I-164 is sunk by the USS Triton (SS-201) south of Japan. (Mike Yared)(144 and 145)

U.S.A.:

Destroyers USS Frankford and Strong launched.

Submarine USS Gunnel launched.

ATLANTIC OCEAN: At 2358 on 16 May, 1942, the unescorted and unarmed Ruth Lykes was hit amidships on the port side by a dud torpedo from U-103 that glanced off the ship, when steaming on a zigzag course at 10 knots off Cape Falso, Nicaragua. The U-boat then surfaced and began shelling the ship at 0019 from a distance of 1.5 miles. After about 24 hits in the superstructure and rigging, the engines were stopped and the most of the eight officers, 21 crewmen and three passengers abandoned ship in two lifeboats, while several others jumped overboard and swam to a raft. The Germans ceased fire to let the crew time to abandon ship and then reopened fire at the vessel, which sank with a heavy list to port at 00.44 hours. The U-boat picked up one crewman who had injured himself by falling on wreckage as he jumped overboard. His wounds were threatened and placed in a lifeboat after being questioned. When they were asked for bandages, winter provided them four packages of bandages and cigarettes and stated - "I am sorry, but you can thank Mr. Roosevelt for this." Three officers and two crewmen were lost. The 27 survivors were picked up after twelve hours by the Norwegian motor merchant Somerville and landed them at Key West, Florida, but one crewman died from wounds on the vessel.

At 0454, the unescorted Fort Qu'Appelle, on her maiden voyage was torpedoed and sunk by U-135 north of Bermuda. The master, 12 crewmembers and one gunner were lost. Ten crewmembers and one gunner were picked up by minesweeper HMCS Melville and landed at Shelburne, Nova Scotia on 19 May.

After leaving New York, the Challenger broke down and steamed to Savannah for repairs, but there were no facilities available and so she limped unescorted to Trinidad. At 0952 on 17 May 1942, U-155 caught the ship on a slow zigzagging course 25 miles east of Granada and fired two torpedoes. The first struck the #3 tank amidships on the starboard side and the second abaft the #5 hold, causing the after magazine to explode. This destroyed the entire stern section and blew the 4in gun completely of its mounting. The engines were stopped and an SOS was sent, but received no reply. The gun crew spotted a light off the port beam and opened fire with the forward 3in gun (the ship was also armed with six .50cal guns) at 3000 yards. 18 rounds were fired without effect. The light eventually crossed the bow and disappeared to the southwest. The ship carried nine officers, 32 crewmen, eleven armed guards and twelve passengers. The ship settled slowly and sank by the stern after one hour. Two armed guards, one passenger and five crewmen died on the vessel. 56 men abandoned ship in the two port lifeboats and were picked up eleven hours later by USS Turquoise, which was led to the survivors by an aircraft and were landed at Trinidad. The master John G Waller later experienced another sinking, when he commanded the African Star, which was sunk by U-172 on 12 Jul 1943.

At 0217, the unescorted San Victorio, on her maiden voyage, was hit by two torpedoes from U-155 and sank southwest of Grenada. The tanker had been spotted at 0033 hours and missed by a first torpedo at 0114. The U-boat had to crash dive 10 minutes after the hits because a flying boat was sighted. The master, 43 crewmembers, seven gunners and one passenger were lost. The sole survivor, gunner Anthony Ryan, was picked up by patrol yacht USS Turquoise and landed at Trinidad.

At 2104, the unescorted Barrdale was torpedoed and sunk by U-156 east of Martinique. One gunner was lost. The master, 44 crewmembers and seven gunners were picked up by the Argentinean merchant Rio Iguazi and landed at Pernambuco.

At 1830, the unescorted and unarmed Foam spotted U-432 on the surface about 85 miles south of Halifax. At the same time, the U-boat began shelling the trawler. The first shot passed over the bow and the master immediately stopped the engines. The second shell hit the bow and U-432 fired approximately 29 shots before the two officers and 19 crewmembers abandoned ship in one lifeboat and a raft. Approximately 15 more shots were fired to sink the ship; many of them did not explode and passed through the vessel. One man on the raft later died of wounds. 17 men in the lifeboat steered for land and arrived at the Sambro Light Ship 30 hours after the attack. A Canadian patrol boat took them off and landed them at Halifax. Corvette HMCS Halifax picked up the remaining three survivors from the raft two days after the attack and landed them at Boston.

At 0534, the unescorted Gulfoil was torpedoed by U-506 about 75 miles SW of the Mississippi River Delta. The ship had maintained a zigzagging course up to 0500 that day at 9.5 knots. The mate on watch spotted the first torpedo before it hit the starboard side amidships at the #4 tank. The explosion blew the catwalk away from the mainmast to the midships house. 15 seconds later, a second torpedo struck the engine room, killing the three men on watch below. After the first torpedo the vessel list about 40° to starboard, but partially righted herself after the second hit. The tanker sank within two minutes with a heavy starboard list. The crew had no time to launch the boats, only five officers and 14 crewmen out of eight officers, 28 crewmen and four armed guards (the ship was armed with one 4in and two .30cal guns) managed to leave the ship on two liferafts. After 35 hours, the survivors were picked up by the Benjamin Brewster and taken to Galveston, Texas.

At 1802, the unescorted Skottland was torpedoed on the port side by U-588 about 20 miles WSW of Cape Sable, Nova Scotia. A torpedo struck aft between #3 and #4 hatch and a second is assumed to have hit amidships near the fire room. The explosions stopped the engines and the ship lost all power. Most of the crew was on deck as they had just completed a gunnery drill and abandoned ship in the starboard lifeboat because the port boat had been destroyed and the motorboat capsized. They launched the boat with great difficulty because of the heavy list to port and some of the men later transferred onto two rafts that floated free after the ship sank by the stern in about 30 minutes. The men in the boat rowed around to search for a missing stoker, but did not find him and assumed that he had been killed by the explosions. The survivors were picked up by the Canadian lobster boat O.K. Servise 4 (Master SE Himmelman) after being spotted by a Canadian aircraft and taken to Boston, where they arrived the following morning. Nine men had been injured and four of them were taken to a hospital upon arrival.

At 1901, the unescorted Peisander was hit by two torpedoes from U-653 and sank at 1945 about 350 miles SE of Nantucket Island after a coup de grâce at 1928 had hit the ship. The master, 57 crewmembers, three gunners and four passengers were picked up by USCGC General Greene and landed at Newport, Rhode Island.

U-66 refuelled from the German supply ship Max Albrecht in El Ferrol, Spain.

U-156 rescued shipwrecked survivors of the sunken ship Barrdale.

17 May 1943

May 17th, 1943 (MONDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: The amazing "bouncing bombs" used to breach the Mohne and Eder dams last night were designed by Dr. Barnes Wallis, already famous for his Wellington bomber. Wallis made his bombs act like "ducks and drakes" stone, skipping along the surface of the water and then sinking to explode at the base of the dams. The first test was a disaster. The bomb broke up when it hit the water. The "super-boffin" solved that problem by making the bomb spin as it left the aircraft. Wallis is delighted by the success of his bomb, but devastated by 617 Squadron's losses.

Nearly two years of clothes rationing has reduced the money spent on clothing by the average family of four by three-quarters, from £30 per head before the war to £7/10/- per head this year. This has saved around £600,000 worth of material, with the ban on turn-ups alone saving five million yards of cloth. Coupons for clothes will have to stretch further from next September. Last year men had a quota of 46 coupons and women 50. But the biggest demands for coupons are made by children aged between 14 and 16.

Britain and America today came to an agreement to share the work and the results of a joint attack on the codes and ciphers of the Axis powers. Britain is to concentrate its efforts on the German and Italian ciphers while the US war department devotes its attention to the Japanese army ciphers.

Experts from both sides will work on each other's cryptanalytic programmes, and there will be a full exchange of information and "decrypts". It was also agreed to adopt the Bletchley Park codename of "Ultra", derived from Ultra-Secret, for all information gleaned from breaking the German Enigma, the Japanese "Purple" and the Italian C38M enciphering machines. Bletchley Park in Buckinghamshire, 40 miles north of London, is the wartime home of the vastly expanded government code and cipher school whose name gives little hint of the extraordinary work it is doing in allowing Allied commanders to read enemy secrets.

A brilliant collection of men and women is housed there in the mansion and its overflow huts. Dons, mechanical engineers and chess-players are all pitting their wits against the Enigma machine which is constantly being upgraded by the Germans. Their work is so secret that people working in one hut do not know what goes on next door; the enemy must get no hint that its codes are being read.

This secrecy extends to the distribution of the material. It is done through liaison units reporting on a "need to know" basis to commanders who have been cleared to receive Ultra intelligence. None may risk capture.

Churchill has no doubts about the war-winning importance of the work being done at Bletchley. Every morning at breakfast he demands "his eggs" from the goose whose eggs are golden.

The USAAF's VIII Bomber Command in England flies Mission Number 58: 159 B-17 Flying Fortresses are dispatched to hit the port area and U-boat base at Lorient, France; 118 bomb the target at 1213-1217 hours local and claim 47-8-29 Luftwaffe aircraft; six B-17s are lost. An additional 39 B-17s are dispatched to hit the docks and sub pens at Bordeaux, France; 34 bomb at 1238-1244 hours local and claim 0-1-0 Luftwaffe aircraft; one B-17 is lost. In a third strike, 11 B-26 Marauders are dispatched on a low-level mission to bomb power stations at Haarlem and Ijmuiden, The Netherlands; one B-26 aborts, the other ten are all shot down before they reach the target. This action prompts the Eighth Air Force to abandon low-level medium bomber attacks.

Frigate HMS Bullen laid down.

NETHERLANDS: A B-26 Marauder of the USAAF is one of a flight of ten that encounters heavy AAA fire while en-route to bomb a power plant near Amsterdam. It is shot down and forced to ditch in a canal. On-board is navigator Jim Hoel, of Evanston, Illinois, USA, one of three survivors of the aircraft's six man crew. During the crash Jim loses his elaborate Gallet Chronometer. 60 years later in 2003, Peter Cooper of England returns the watch to Jim. More...

GERMANY: Ruhr: Taking off from the grass runways of Scampton in Lincolnshire, 19 Lancasters of 617 Squadron last night headed for Germany's industrial heartland, the Ruhr, loaded with top-secret bombs being used for the first time.

Flying below 200 feet to evade enemy defences, the aircraft followed a zigzag course across the Netherlands and Germany. The first wave of bombers went for the huge Mohne and Eder dams. On each plane, the radio operator started the motor that set the five-ton, drum-shaped bombs spinning; the the navigator signalled that the aircraft was at the correct altitude - 60 feet - and the bomb-aimer released the bomb.

Travelling along a narrow-angle of descent, the bombs rebounded from the surface of the water, bouncing along until they came to the dams and sank. The water pressure set off the fuses. The bombs tore gigantic gaps in first the Mohne dam and then the Eder, releasing millions of gallons of water. Hydroelectric turbines were ruptured, severing power to the Ruhr's industries. A separate wave of bombers approached the Sorpe, Ennepe, Lister and Diemel dams, but only attacked the first two. The Sorpe was hit, but the breach was above water-level.

Eight of the specially designed Lancasters were lost; four were downed by anti-aircraft fire, one crashed after being damaged by its own bomb, two hit electricity cables, and one crashed into a tree after the pilot was dazzled by a searchlight. 53 of the 133 crew were killed. The operation was led by Wing-Commander Guy Gibson; he is to be recommended for the VC.

U-1304 laid down.

YUGOSLAVIA: The German occupation forces begin their 5th major offensive against Tito's partisans. Operation Schwartz is commanded by General Lüters with 120,000 Germans while Tito fields about 20,000 partisans.

INDIAN OCEAN: At 1412, U-198 fired two spreads of two torpedoes at Convoy LMD-17 north of Durban, heard four detonations and sinking noises and reported one ship sunk and another probably sunk. However, only Northmoor was hit and sunk. Eleven crewmembers and one gunner were lost. The master, 20 crewmembers, four gunners and two passengers (DBS) were picked up by trawler HMS St Loman and landed at Durban.

NEW GUINEA: Admiral Crutchley (Australia) and Admiral Berkey, USN lead the cover force of cruisers and destroyers for the landings of US forces on Insumarai Island, New Guinea. Landings also occur on the mainland of New Guinea. Rear Admiral Russell S. Berkey, USN, was commanding Task Force 74. This was Operation STRAIGHTLINE where Task Force 77 landed the US Army's 163d Regimental Combat Team (Reinforced), 41st Infantry Division, landed unopposed in Maffin Bay near Sarmi and prepared to take Wakde, New Guinea. The covering force, Task Force 74, provides fire support. USAAF B-24s and B-25 hit targets in the general vicinity at Sawar, Sarmi and the mouth of the Orai River in support of the landings.

NETHERLANDS EAST INDIES: HMS Illustrious and USS Saratoga send raids against the oil installations at Surabaya on Java. Admiral Sommerville's British Eastern Fleet performs escort duty.

TERRITORY OF ALASKA: On Attu Island in the Aleutians, the Northern Landing Force moves forward on Moore Ridge and discovers that the Japanese had abandoned the ridge during the night and patrols report that the east arm of Holtz Bay is free of Japanese. The Southern Landing Force attacks Jarmin Pass and finds that the enemy has also abandoned this previously defended area.

Two attempted ground support missions by the USAAF's Eleventh Air Force, a B-24 Liberator, five B-25 Mitchells, and six P-38 Lightnings, are recalled due to weather.

CANADA: HMC ML 091 commissioned.

U.S.A.: Washington: Britain and the US agree on a free exchange of deciphered signals intelligence, for which the codename "Ultra" is adopted.

Destroyer escorts USS Haines, Herzog and McAnn laid down.

Destroyer escort USS Stadtfield launched.

Destroyer escorts USS Hammann and Dobler commissioned.

ATLANTIC OCEAN: At 0237, the Aymeric in Convoy ONS-7 was torpedoed and sunk by U-657 east of Cape Farewell. 52 crewmembers and one gunner were lost. The master, 18 crewmembers and six gunners were picked up by British rescue ship Copeland and trawler HMS Northern Wave and landed at Halifax on 25 May.

U-648 shot down an RAF 10 OTU Sqn Whitley. The entire aircrew was lost.

U-229 was attacked by a Catalina with four bombs. The boat was damaged so badly that it returned to base.

Due to serious technical problems U-448 had to return to base from the North Atlantic.

U-128 sunk in the South Atlantic south of Pernambuco, in approximate position 10.00S, 35.35W, by gunfire from destroyers USS Moffett and Jouett, and depth charges from two USN VP-74 Mariners. 7 dead and 47 survivors.

U-646 sunk SE of Iceland, in position 62.10N, 14.37W, by depth charges from an RAF 269 Sqn Hudson. 46 dead (all hands lost).

U-657 sunk east of Cape Farewell, Greenland, in position 58.54N, 42.33W, by depth charges from corvette HMS Swale. 47 dead (all hands lost).

17 May 1944

May 17th, 1944 (WEDNESDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: The prime ministers of Britain, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa tonight endorsed not only war plans but also peace aims. At the end of a series of meetings in London, they declared: "We give thanks for deliverance from the worst perils and now we hold back nothing to end mankind's agony." The Empire leaders reaffirmed that after victory the British Commonwealth will join in setting up a world organization with necessary power to preserve peace.

They added: "We rejoice to proclaim our kinship to one another. We have stood together through two world wars and have been welded the stronger. This unity will do further service to mankind."

Minesweeper HMS Sylvia commissioned.

NORTH SEA: U-240 Listed as missing in the North Sea west of Norway. No explanation exists for its loss. 50 dead (all hands lost).

GERMANY: U-1020, U-1235 commissioned.

ARCTIC OCEAN: Due to serious technical problems U-965 had to return to base from the Arctic Sea. Four hours later the boat encountered an enemy submarine. The submarine fired a torpedo fan at U-965, but all missed.

ITALY: Kesselring and Vietinghoff are unable to stop the Allied advance in the Liri Valley.

The USAAF's Fifteenth Air Force in Italy dispatches 450+ bombers to hit targets in Italy and Yugoslavia; B-17s bomb the marshalling yard at Ancona, Italy and troop concentrations at Bihac, Yugoslavia while B-24s bomb the port areas at San Stefano al Mare, Piombino, Portoferraio and Orbetello, Italy. P-38s strafe airfields at Ghedi, Villafranca di Verona, Modena, Forli and Reggio Emilia, Italy while other fighters fly 130+ sorties of bomber escort duty.

MEDITERRANEAN SEA: U-616 scuttled in the Mediterranean east of Cartagena, Spain in position 36.46N, 00.52E, after fatal damage from depth charges from destroyers USS Nields, Gleaves, Ellyson, Macomb, Hambleton, Rodman and Emmons, and by depth charges from an RAF 36 Sqn Wellington in a 3 day-long action. 53 survivors (No casualties).

INDIAN OCEAN: In the Indian Ocean (Malacca Straits) U-532 encountered a British submarine. The submarine fired six torpedoes at U-532, but all missed.

BURMA: Merrills Mauraders help the Chinese capture Myitkyina Air Field.

CHINA: On the Yunnan front a Chinese force takes the Huei-jen bridge area; forward elements penetrate Hongmoshu behind Japanese lines, but the village is recaptured by the Japanese.

NEW GUINEA: Admiral Victor Crutchley (Royal Navy) and Admiral Russell S. Berkey (US Navy) lead the cover force of cruisers and destroyers for the landings of US forces on Insumarai Island. Landings also occur on the mainland of New Guinea and on Wakde Island. (Peter Beeston)

Rear Admiral Russell S. Berkey, USN, was commanding Task Force 74. This was Operation STRAIGHTLINE where Task Force 77 landed the U.S. Army's 163d Regimental Combat Team (Reinforced), 41st Infantry Division, landed unopposed in Maffin Bay near Sarmi and prepared to take Wakde, New Guinea. The covering force, Task Force 74, provides fire support. USAAF B-24s and B-25 hit targets in the general vicinity at Sawar, Sarmi and the mouth of the Orai River in support of the landings.

NETHERLANDS EAST INDIES: HMS Illustrious and USS Saratoga send raids against the oil installations at Surabaya on Java. Admiral Sommerville's British Eastern Fleet performs escort duty. Liberator bombers also participate with a long range strike. Ten Japanese ships are also sunk in the raids.

This was Operation TRANSOM which was timed to coincide with the Wakde landings. Carrier aircraft from the British Far Eastern Fleet's Task Force 66, built around the aircraft carrier HMS Illustrious, and the USN's USS Saratoga (CV-6) with Carrier Air Group Twelve (CVG-12), attack shipping and the naval base at Soerabaja, Java and an adjacent aviation fuel refinery. RN aircraft sink a transport while USN aircraft damage a patrol boat, two submarine chasers, an auxiliary minesweeper, two cargo ships and a tanker. During the night of 17/18 May, seven B-24s of the USAAF's Fifth Air Force also bomb the naval base at Soerabaja.

U.S.A.: The motion picture "Cobra Woman" is released in the U.S. This camp classic, directed by Robert Siodmak and starring Maria Montez, Jon Hall, Sabu and Lon Chaney, Jr., has island beauty Montez being kidnapped before her wedding to Hall and finding she has an evil twin sister.

Light cruiser USS Astoria commissioned.

Destroyer USS Charles S Sperry commissioned.

Submarine USS Hawkbill commissioned.

Minesweeper USS Phantom commissioned.

Coast Guard-manned Army vessel FS-158 was commissioned at Los Angeles with LT Sloan Wilson, USCGR, as first commanding officer. He later became a famous author and his works included The Man in the Grey Flannel Suit. LT Wallace E. Cooke, USCGR succeeded him on 26 September 1945. LTJG Robert J. Pate, Jr., USCGR subsequently succeeded him. She was assigned to and operated in the Southwest Pacific area.

Coast Guard-manned Army vessel FS-159 was commissioned at Los Angeles with LT Oliver Pickford, USCG, as first commanding officer. She was assigned to and operated in the Southwest Pacific area. On 2 September 1944, she was turned over to and accepted by the Navy and designated USS FS-159 and attached to the Seventh Fleet Service Force.

Coast Guard-manned Army vessel FS-160 was commissioned at Los Angeles with LT W. H. Seeman, Jr., USCGR, as first commanding officer. LTJG William E. Thirkel, USCGR succeeded him on 7 September 1944. She was assigned to and operated in the Southwest Pacific area during the war.

ATLANTIC OCEAN: A crewmember on U-1192 was wounded when the 37-mm Anti-Aircraft gun exploded.

17 May 1945

May 17th, 1945 (THURSDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: Submarine HMS Ambush laid down.

JAPAN: Okinawa: US marines today launched an assault on Naha, the capital, in an advance that is turning into the modern equivalent of Flanders trench warfare - a slow, bitter, muddy and bloody confrontation costing thousands of lives.

In the past six weeks the US Tenth Army has averaged barely 133 yards a day and its casualties are close to 20,000 - in excess of those on Iwo Jima. The worst losses have come in the last five days with the assault on three positions near Naha. During the action the marines suffered 2,662 casualties, many from crossfire from nearby hillsides. Further east the US 77th Infantry Division made swift progress today with a dawn raid bringing them close to Shuri, the heart of Japan's defensive line.

JAPAN:

The USAAF's Twentieth Air Force flies Mission 176: Between 0300 and 0600 hours local, 457 of 522 B-29 Superfortresses dispatched attack the Nagoya urban area in the last great attack on this city; the southern part of Nagoya, the site of the Mitsubishi Aircraft Works, Aichi Aircraft Company's Atsuta plant and the Atsuta branch of the Nagoya Arsenal, the Nippon Vehicle Company and other targets are attacked from low levels; eleven other B-29s hit targets of opportunity; three B-29s are lost.

In an attempt to prevent kamikaze attacks, USAAF VII Fighter Command fighters from Iwo Jima fly 41 effective strike sorties against Atsugi, Japan; pilots claim ten parked aircraft destroyed. During the night of 17/18 May, two P-47 Thunderbolts of the 318th Fighter Group, presently arriving on Ie Shima (between 13 and 19 May), fly a heckling mission over Kyushu, Japan-the first such VII Fighter Command mission against Japan.

PACIFIC OCEAN: USS Ticonderoga (CV-14), with Carrier Air Group Eighty Seven (CVG-87) aboard, attacks Taroa Island in Maloelap Atoll as part of a training mission for the air group.

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