31 May 1939

Yesterday Tomorrow

May 31st, 1939 (WEDNESDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: Light cruiser HMS Fiji launched.

GERMANY: Berlin: Germany signs a non-aggression pact with Denmark.

31 May 1940

May 31st, 1940 (FRIDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM:

U-13 (Type IIB) is believed sunk in the North Sea north of Newcastle, in position 55.26N, 02.02E, by depth charges from the sloop HMS Weston. There are some survivors. (Alex Gordon)

RAF records show that Boulton Paul Defiants have shot down 65 enemy aircraft, mainly over Dunkirk against bomber formations.

RAF Bomber Command: 2 Group. 21 Sqn. Attacks on pontoon bridges near Nieuport. 107 Sqn. Bombs MT at Oostvleteken, Flak intense, 1 Bf109 shot down and one turned away by a lucky shot from a Blenheim’s nose blister gun. Blenheims escorted by Hurricane’s of 145 Sqn. which shot down two Bf109s. In the evening 24 crews from Wattisham bomb bridges in the Nieuport area and stop a German attack.

Signposts are removed from crossroads to confuse any invasion force.

Lieutenant General Alan Brooke arrives in Dover.

Detling, Kent: Cpl Joan Daphne Mary Pearson (b. 1911), WAAF, rescued the pilot of a burning bomber. She went back for the wireless operator, but found him dead. (Empire Gallantry Medal).

Minesweeping trawler HMS Blackthorn commissioned.

River Class destroyers HMCS St Laurent, Restigouche and Skeena arrived at Devonport and were assigned Western Approaches Command(.DS)

WESTERN FRONT: Operation Dynamo: Destroyer FS Sirocco sunk off Dunkirk by German MTBs S-23 and S-26.

Lord Gort hands over the command of British troops still in France to Major-General Harold Alexander, and departs for Dover; 68,014 troops also leave today. In the air over Dunkirk the RAF looses 28 fighters, and claims 28 German fighters.

Nursing Sister Catherine Mary Butland, who was evacuated from Dunkirk after two weeks at a clearing station in Belgium, has accused the Germans of ignoring the universal Red Cross sign and bombing ambulance trains. She and seven other nurses were driven to Dunkirk in a truck by a colonel.

"We were being attacked from the air all the way down," she said later: "The towns were being bombed constantly and the fact that we were an ambulance made no difference. It they wanted to bomb it they’d bomb it. If they wanted to come down and machine-gun while you were getting patients off the ambulances they came down and machine-gunned." Sister Butland and her companions were taken aboard the converted hospital ship ‘Worthing’. "We got our bedding rolls down and we went to work because there were casualties being brought in all states of injury, wanting treatment" she added. "The whole way through the atmosphere was one of: I want to get back to the unit."

Dunkirk: Capt. Harold Marcus Ervine-Andrews (b. 1911), East Lancs Regiment, led a delaying attack from a barn on vastly superior forces. (VC).

GERMANY: Germany’s economy is being reshaped to bolster its military campaigns. The Ministry of Armaments and Munitions was set up under Fritz Todt in March to improve the flow of arms to the front line.

Unlike the other warring powers, Germany was preparing for war as early as 1936, when a four-year economic plan was introduced which included large-scale investment in armaments. Despite this, Germany’s reserves are not geared to cope with a protracted war; this is one reason behind Hitler’s Blitzkrieg strategy. With other heavy industries, armaments have been hit by shortages of labour and raw materials, although the latter should be eased by the occupation of areas rich in iron-ore, such as Norway and Luxembourg.

NORWAY: The British blocking force evacuates Bodo.
HMS Ark Royal et al arrive in Scapa 0529 and commence refueling operations. At 0830, the two carriers depart, HMS Ark Royal still flying the flag of Vice-Admiral Wells. Escort is provided by five DDs, HMS Acasta, HMS Arden, HMS Acheron, HMS Highlander, and HMS Diana. The first task at sea is to embark aircraft. On this trip, the two carriers will carry the following aircraft:

HMS Ark Royal:

800 Squadron: 12 Skuas

803 Squadron: 12 Skuas

810 Squadron: 12 Swordfish

820 Squadron: 9 Swordfish

HMS Glorious:

802 Squadron (-): 6 Sea Gladiators

823 Squadron (-): 6 Swordfish

On this, the last trip to Norway, Admiral Wells mission is three-fold.: First, to cooperate with the forces ashore to cover the evacuation of all ground forces in the Narvik are. Second, to cover the movement of all troop convoys to the British Isles. Finally, HMS Glorious is to re-embark the surviving Gladiators of 263 Squadron, RAF as well as the Walrus amphibians of 701 Squadron, FAA. At this point, the belief is that the surviving Hurricanes of 46 Squadron will have to be destroyed. (Mark Horan)

JAPAN: Launching a bombing campaign against south-east China, Japan says that it will bomb Chungking until the Nationalist spirit breaks.

CANADA: Patrol vessel HMCS Moose (ex-US yacht Cleopatra) commissioned.

Yachts Cleopatra and Conseco purchased by RCN and were converted to patrol craft HMCS Moose and Otter respectively in Quebec City.

U.S.A.: Washington: Roosevelt asks Congress to authorise an extra $1,300 million in defence spending, for "acceleration and development of our military and naval needs as measured in both machines and men" .
Boston: A US team achieves the first successful automatic tracking of an aircraft in elevation and azimuth using a prototype centimetric radar on the roof of the MIT Radiation Lab. (Cris Wetton)

The motion picture "Buck Benny Rides Again" is released in the U.S. This western musical comedy directed by Mark Sandrich, stars Jack Benny, Ellen Drew, Andy Devine, Phil Harris, Dennis Day, Eddie "Rochester" Anderson, Ward Bond, Fred Allen and Don Wilson. The plot has New Yorker Jack Benny going to a ranch in Nevada and trying to convince singer Drew that he is 100% cowboy.

Destroyers USS Nicholson and Wilkes launched.

BATTLE OF THE ATLANTIC: U-boats start returning to the Western Approaches. As they do, one of the first 'Flower' class corvettes, HMS Arabis, attacks one of their number in defence of a Gibraltar/UK convoy.

With the closure of the Mediterranean to Allied shipping, the trade routes around Africa and the ports to sustain them take on a new importance. Particularly vital is the West African base at Freetown Sierra Leone.

Losses. 10 ships of 55,000 tons.

MERCHANT SHIPPING WAR:

Losses. 90 ships of 231,000 tons.

At 1402, the Orangemoor in Convoy HGF-31 was hit amidships by one torpedo from U-101 and sank within a short time southwest of Roches Doures. 18 crewmembers were lost. The master and 21 crewmembers were picked up by the Brandenburg and landed at London.

31 May 1941

May 31st, 1941 (SATURDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: Blackburn: Preston North End win the Cup Final replay against Arsenal, 2-1.

The voyage of the SS Dunera, a troopship which sailed to Australia last July with 2,700 internees aboard, has led to the court martial of their British Army escort, including the commanding officer, after repeated questions in parliament.

After the ship reached Australia in September, it was reported that the internees, most of them Jews who had fled from Hitler, has been brutally searched; their luggage had been confiscated and ripped open with bayonets, their valuable removed and never returned by their army guards. They themselves were confined below deck during the two-month journey in squalid conditions. Some were physically assaulted. One jumped overboard.

The court martial found three men guilty, including Major William Patrick Scott, the CO, who was severely reprimanded. His regimental sergeant major was jailed for 12 months.

The voyage was the worst incident of several which followed a series of decisions between 12 May and 26 June 1940 to intern anyone from Germany, Austria and Italy who was in Britain, although the great majority were eager to help the war against Hitler. All were out into transit camps - on racecourses, at holiday camps, in a derelict mill - until transferred to camps and boarding houses on the Isle of Man. At a peak there were 27,000 in custody.

Four ships left for Canada including the SS Arandora Star which was sunk by a U-boat with the loss of 175 Germans and 486 Italians. Soon afterwards the tide of opinion turned in favour of the internees. In a Commons debate wholesale internment was denounced as callous and called a "bespattered page in our history". Over 15,000 internees have been released and more will be, including many from the Dunera.

Tug HMS Dart commissioned.

Sloop HMS Gorleston (ex-USCGC Itasca) commissioned.

GERMANY: Himmler"> Himmler has approved Sigmund Rascher's request to submit prisoners at Dachau to pressure-chamber experiments.

The German government has urged parents in areas most affected by the war to send their children to country camps where they will be cared for by specially-trained teachers. But the church is unhappy about this evacuation and says that the camps are being used to separate children from their parents and institute "education by the state." Artur Axmann, the Reich youth leader, recently visited camps in Slovakia in an attempt to reassure parents.

U-219, U-617 laid down.

U-502 commissioned.

U-435 launched.

SWITZERLAND: Rationing of coffee, tea and cocoa, starts today. (William Jay Stone from http://www.geschichte-schweiz.ch/en/worldwar2.html)

U.S.S.R.: Soviet submarine SC-411 launched.

GREECE: CRETE: The last British contingent is evacuated from Sphakia.

IRAQ: A British-Iraqi armistice is signed at Baghdad. Rashid Ali flees Baghdad. The Regent is restored. (Michael Alexander)

CANADA: Corvette HMCS Sudbury launched Kingston, Ontario.

HMCS Trail departed Esquimalt for Halifax.

NEWFOUNDLAND: Commodore L.W. Murray RCN was appointed Commander of the Newfoundland Escort Force, later the Mid-Ocean Escort Force. He reported directly to the British Commander-in Chief, Western Approaches, Admiral Sir Percy Noble.

U.S.A.: The U.S. Navy's Task Group 1 consisting of the aircraft carrier USS Yorktown (CV-5), the heavy cruiser USS Vincennes (CA-44) and the destroyers USS Sampson (DD-394) and USS Gwin (DD-433) begin a 4,500+ mile (7,424+ km) neutrality patrol voyage which concludes at Hampton Roads, Virginia on 12 June. The Yorktown Air Group consists of Fighting Squadron Forty One (VF-41), Scouting Squadrons Forty One and Forty Two (VS-41 and VS-42) and Torpedo Squadron Five (VT-5)

Naval uniform regulations are changed today. The eagle is to face to the left in the rates comprising the Seaman Branch, Boatswain Mate, Turret Captain, Signalman, Gunners Mate, Fire Controlman, Quartermaster, Mineman and Torpedoman's Mate. All other rating badges are to have an eagle facing right. (Gordon Rottman)

BATTLE OF THE ATLANTIC:

Merchant Shipping Losses in European waters:

99 ships of 101,000 tons.

Merchant shipping losses in the MEDITERRANEAN SEA:

19 ships of 71,000 tons.

Losses in the ATLANTIC OCEAN:

60 ships of 336,000 tons, 1 battlecruiser, 1 destroyer and 1 armed merchant cruiser.

BISMARK and U-110.

U-69 torpedoes MV Sangara in Accra.

At 0313, the unescorted Clan MacDougall was torpedoed by U-106 north of the Cape Verde Islands. The vessel was sunk by a coup de grâce at 0345. Two crewmembers were lost. The master, 74 crewmembers and ten gunners landed at St Antonio, Cape Verde Islands.

At 0739, the Sire, dispersed from convoy OB-320, was hit on the starboard side in the bow by one torpedo from U-107 and sank after 10 minutes WSW of Freetown. Three crewmembers were lost. The master and 45 crewmembers were picked up by HMS Marguerite and landed at Freetown on 6 June.

Gravelines, a straggler from Convoy HX-127, was torpedoed by U-147 NW of Bloody Foreland and broke in two. The master and 10 crewmembers died. 23 crewmembers and two gunners were picked up by sloop HMS Deptford and landed at Liverpool. The afterpart of the Gravelines sank and the forepart was towed to the Clyde and beached at Kames Bay on 3 June. The vessel was declared a total loss and was broken up in Rothesay in 1942.

At 0515, the Holmsteinn was sunk by gunfire by U-204 NNW of Dyrafjord, Iceland. No survivors from crew of four.

At 0024, the unescorted Rinda was hit by two torpedoes from U-38 off Liberia. The torpedoes struck at hatch #4 and #5 and blew off the funnel and the entire after deck. Four men on deck and the master and another seaman on the bridge were killed. The survivors attempted to lower the lifeboats but the ship sank before they were free and the men were pulled down by the suction, drowning some of them. Only one lifeboat with one man hanging on to it and four rafts floated free. A few survivors righted the boat and picked up others during the night in the light of burning cotton. Finally, it contained 18 survivors (four of them badly burned) and set sail for Freetown. On 1 June, they were picked up by HMS Pict after being located by aircraft and taken to Freetown, where the wounded men were taken to a hospital ship. Bernt Gustavsen, who had been seriously burnt, stayed in the hospital for 11 months after the sinking. He then joined the Norwegian Navy and died when KNM Montbretia was torpedoed and sunk by U-262 on 18 Nov 1942. Among the survivors of Rinda was also the cat that was found swimming in the ocean by the lifeboat during the night. She remained on board the armed trawler that rescued the survivors and was renamed Rinda.

At 0025, U-69 fired one torpedo at the Sangara lying at anchor in the roads of Accra (arrived on 30 May). She sank by the stern in 33 feet of water with her bow still visible above the water. The master was the only casualty. At 2110 hours on 12 Aug 1941, the Italian submarine Enrico Tazzoli fired a torpedo at the bow of Sangara but missed. On 1 Apr 1943, the wreck of Sangara was sold to two locally based engineers for the sum of 500 pounds Stirling, was refloated and towed to Lagos roads, but it was not clear what should happen with her and she was then towed to Douala at the mouth of the Cameroon River where the cargo was salvaged and sold. Much later Elder Dempster repurchased the ship and towed her back to Lagos where a berth had been prepared just above Wilmot Point. After the war’s end, the engines were overhauled, all woodwork fittings were renewed and the torpedo damage repaired. In 1946, Sanagara was towed from Lagos to the Middle Docks, South Shields by the tug Seaman. At a speed of 2.5 knots they were underway for 62 days. After permanent repairs the ship returned to service in 1947. On 14 Sep, 1960, she was sold to British Iron and Steel Corporation and arrived three days later at Preston for scrapping.

31 May 1942

May 31st, 1942 (SUNDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: The Lockheed Ventura light bomber enters service with No. 21 Squadron of the RAF. (22)

FRANCE: Paris: A demonstration by housewives protesting about food shortages in the rue de Buci leads to the death of two policemen and the wounding of three others. The demonstration is believed to have been organised by the Communists. Several of the organisers are arrested, three will later be executed.

GERMANY: Last night was the first RAF 1,000 plane raid. The target was Cologne. The de Havilland Mosquito makes it first operational flight on the raid, when four Mosquitoes of No. 105 Squadron made a lightning daylight attack on Cologne a few hours before the main force. (22)

1,047 aircraft are used to shatter Cologne in the largest raid in the history of aerial warfare. The planes, crewed by 6,500 young men, jostled for position over the city to drop 1,455 tons of bombs. Two-thirds of them were incendiaries, and the fires could be seen from 150 miles away.

The raid, codenamed Operation Millennium, was designed by Air Marshal Arthur Harris not only to saturate the defences of this important industrial city but also as a coup de theatre to demonstrate the power of his bombers.

He gathered every possible aircraft, from modern Lancasters to obsolete Whitleys. His five first-line bombing groups put every serviceable bomber into the air. 599 Wellington's formed the backbone of the force.

The raid was planned to take 90 minutes from start to finish, and the crews were ordered to set course for home at zero hour + 90 whether they had bombed or not to avoid having stragglers caught over Germany in daylight. In the event 868 aircraft actually bombed Cologne.

The danger of collision in a sky filled with flak and aircraft taking violent evasive action was obvious. One pilot said it was like being at Piccadilly Circus. In the event only two of the bombers collided over the target although 41 are missing from the raid. The results of the raid have been devastating. Around 480 people died, 5,027 were injured and 45,132 made homeless. In this historic city 2,500 seperate fires were started and 3,330 buildings destroyed, with 2,090 seriously damaged and a further 7,420 partly damaged. The great cathedral is among the victims. With dense smoke still rising from the shattered ruins, reconnaissance planes have been unable to take photographs today. However, the city's chemical works are believed to have been crippled.

Berlin: Hitler told a group of newly-commissioned German officers that he had no doubt of ultimate victory. "Fate has not led me this far for nothing," he said. "She has not done this simply to mock at me and snatch away what had to be gained after so bitter a struggle."

Yet as he was speaking the signs of stiffening resolve against the Nazi tyranny were mounting. In the Soviet Union a central staff for the partisan movement has been set up to direct operations behind the German lines.
News of the 1,000 bomber raid caused rejoicing in the Warsaw Ghetto. "Cologne is an advance payment", Emmanuel Ringelblum wrote in his diary, "on the vengeance that must and shall be taken on Hitler's Germany for the millions of Jews they have killed. After Cologne I walked around in a good mood, feeling that even if I should perish at their hands, my death is prepaid."
Death camps and "special actions" have killed 130,000 Jews in Nazi-occupied territory this month, including 36,000 at Sobibor.

U.S.S.R.: Kharkov: The fighting south of Kharkov which started so brightly for the Red Army has ended in disaster. The Germans, who launched their counter-thrust, Operation Fridericus, at the base of the Soviet breakthrough, have destroyed the five Russian armies caught in their pincer movement.

They claim to have captured 241,000 Russian soldiers plus 1,250 tanks and 2,000 guns. Only 23,000 of the trapped Russians were able to break out and cross the Don river to safety. Their commander General Kostenko, and three other generals were killed. The encircled men fought bravely, and Marshal Timoshenko launched three major assaults to try to break them out, but he could not pierce the Germans "ring of iron".

An analysis of the battle shows a number of basic faults in the Russian conduct of the battle. Their tanks were not deployed to exploit the initial breakthrough; they did not widen and strengthen the shoulders of the breakthrough; and the control of the counter-attacks was badly co-ordinated.

Throughout the battle the Russians were poorly supported by their air force, and the Germans had complete supremacy over the battlefield. They now hold a line along the Donets and are preparing to launch further offensives against their badly mauled enemies.

LIBYA: The whole RAF strength attacks Axis armoured transport for the third day running.
Rommel has launched his long awaited offensive in the Western Desert, but is tonight apparently trapped. His tanks, supported by Stuka dive-bombers, began the offensive by attacking British positions in the north with the aim of cutting the coast road at Gazala and driving on to Tobruk.

Another large armoured force swung southwards to attack Bir Hakeim. This desert post is held by the Free French, including Foreign Legion units. A fierce battle developed in front of the French positions between tanks of the Eighth Army and Rommels Panzers.

The offensive began on 26 May and initially surprised the British. But more than a third of the German tanks were lost on that first day, many to the powerful American Grant tank newly-delivered to the Eighth Army. After two days Rommel, still more than 20 miles from thesea, ordered his forces to adopt a defensive position beyond the fortified Gazala Line and cut off from the rest of his army.

Allied air forces are now bombing Rommel's beleaguered men in area nicknamed the "Cauldron". However, German and Italian airmen are joining an air battle every bit as fierce as that raging on the ground, with supply columns and communications the prime targets for bombing attacks. Although the German attempt to reach Cairo appears to have backfired, this desert battle is far from over.

MADAGASCAR: The Japanese submarine HIJMS I-10 again launches a Yokosuka E14Y1, Navy Type 0 Small Reconnaissance Seaplane, Allied Code Name "Glen," to fly a reconnaissance mission over Diego Suarez, Madagascar for the second day.

Japanese midget submarines last night sank the tanker British Loyalty and damaged the battleship HMS RAMILLIES in Diego Suarez harbour. A Japanese reconnaissance aircraft had prepared the way for the attack; the two submarines were launched ten miles from the harbour entrance. At 8.29pm a torpedo hit the RAMILLIES causing some damage. An hour later another torpedo sank the British Loyalty. The British have been concerned about the Japanese taking over Madagascar from Vichy France. On 5 May a British force invaded Diego Suarez which surrendered on 7th May.

AUSTRALIA: Sydney Harbour: A force of Japanese midget submarines (The Japanese submarines HIJMS I-22, HIJMS I-24 and HIJMS I-27, each launch a Type A midget submarine) which penetrates the harbour defences of Sydney and attack shipping. They fire torpedoes that miss the heavy cruiser USS Chicago (CA-29), sink the accommodation ship HMAS Kuttabul and damage the Dutch submarine HNMS K 9 beyond economical repair.

All the attackers die. Later two submarines, Midget 21 and Midget 14 where recovered by the Australians. The six Japanese seaman where given funerals with full military honours and their ashes returned to Japan via red cross. This action by the Australians is said to have greatly surprised the Japanese military leaders. (James Paterson and Jack McKillop)

MIDWAY ISLAND: B-17 Flying Fortresses of the USAAF's 7th Air Force on detached service at Midway Island begin search operations. U.S. Navy PBY Catalinas concentrate their searches to the northeast from which the Japanese invasion fleet is expected to approach from.

U.S.A.: US Battleships Colorado and Maryland sail to San Francisco to reinforce the Pacific Fleet.

A Panamanian freighter is sunk by the German submarine U-107 in the Caribbean.

Destroyer USS Capps launched.

Light cruiser USS Savannah laid down.

ATLANTIC OCEAN:

At 0140, the unescorted Liverpool Packet was torpedoed and sunk by U-432 15 miles west of Seal Island, Nova Scotia. Two crewmembers were lost. The master and 18 crewmembers landed at Seal Island, near Cape Sable.

The unescorted Fred W Green was sunk by gunfire by U-506 SE of Bermuda. Four crewmembers and one gunner were lost. Destroyer USS Ludlow picked up the master, 32 crewmembers and three gunners.

31 May 1943

May 31st, 1943 (MONDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: Corvette HMS Amberly Castle laid down.

Destroyers HMS Myngs and Zenith launched.

Corvette INS Gondwana (ex-HMS Burnet) launched.

Escort carrier HMS Emperor (ex-USS Pybus) commissioned.

GERMANY: Dönitz transfers responsibility for naval armaments to Albert Speer's ministry.

Chronic shortages are biting deeper into German civilian morale. Today the government announced a cut in the weekly meat ration from 12 to nine ounces, and the SS, in one of its regular secret reports, noted on 6 May that despite stiff penalties bartering is increasing.

This is not surprising, given the lack of consumer goods. An SS report on 17 May expressed concern at the consequences of a shortage of alarm clocks: arms workers and miners, exhausted from long hours and frequent air raids, have been sleeping through early shifts.

U-1272 laid down.

ITALY: USAAF B-17s attack Naples.

ALGERIA: Algiers: Generals de Gaulle and Giraud begin talks on a provisional government of France; it is also announced that Rear Admiral Rene Emile Godfroy's naval squadron, immobilized at Alexandria, joined Giraud's forces on 7 May.

EGYPT: Egyptian Cabinet voted to resume diplomatic relations with Russia.

TERRITORY OF ALASKA: In the Aleutian Islands, the USAAF's Eleventh Air Force dispatches five F-5A Lightnings to fly separate photo missions over Kiska Island. Six B-24 Liberators, ten B-25 Mitchells, 37 P-40s and eight P-38 Lightnings fly attack missions to Kiska hitting Gertrude Cove, AA installations, trenches, the North Head runway, and a vessel.

The Japanese submarine HIJMS I-24 is getting ready to sail in an attempt to rescue personnel from Attu Island. The sub approaches the entrance to Chichagof Harbor three times in early June and then sails for Kiska Island.

CANADA: Destroyer HMCS Saskatchewan (ex-HMS Fortune) commissioned.

Frigate HMCS Stettler laid down Montreal, Province of Quebec.

U.S.A.: 500,000 US Coal Miners go on strike after protracted wage negotiations.

Minesweeper USS Adopt commissioned.

Destroyer USS Chauncey commissioned.

Submarine USS Bonefish commissioned.

Destroyer escorts USS Steward, Robert E Peary, Harold C Thomas, Charles Lawrence commissioned.

Destroyer escort USS Harmon laid down.

Submarine USS Pipefish laid down.

ATLANTIC OCEAN:

U-440 sunk in the North Atlantic NW of Cape Ortegal, Spain, in position 45.38N, 13.04W, by depth charges from an RAF 201 Sqn Sunderland. 46 dead (all hands lost)

U-563 sunk in the Bay of Biscay SW of Brest, in position 46.35N, 10.40W, by depth charges from RAF 58 and 228 Sqn Halifaxes and an RAAF 10 Sqn Sunderland.

31 May 1944

May 31st, 1944 (WEDNESDAY)

At Sea: Only five Allied or neutral merchant ships were lost in May, at 27,000 tons the lowest monthly figure of the war so far.

UNITED KINGDOM: London: The Allied air forces are hammering invasion targets all over Europe in a day and night onslaught. In daylight raids today attacks were made on the Seine bridges, four strategic railway yards in Germany and the oil refineries at Ploesti, in Romania. Tonight, for the fifth successive night, Bomber Command is pounding the French coast between Calais and Boulogne, pouring hundreds of tons of bombs onto German batteries, beach defences and transportation targets. Other RAF aircraft crossed the east coast of England in strength at dusk heading towards Germany.

In the daylight raids, 1,000 heavy bombers, escorted by 1,200 fighters, ranged over France, Belgium and Germany. The Luftwaffe showed a remarkable reluctance to challenge them, and only one bomber and four fighters are missing.

The escorting fighters, thus relieved of their guard duties, shot up railway lines and airfields. Fighter-bombers took up the attack later in the day, swooping on two airfields in western Germany to set installations, fuel dumps and aircraft ablaze. One group shot down five Focke-Wulf FW190s.

These assaults, at the end of the Allies' greatest month yet in the air, followed raids on the previous night in which the RAF paid special attention to a single, secret target on the French coast. All the raiders returned safely from that night's work, which included a raid by 30 Mosquitoes on the chemical town of Leverkusen and extensive sea and river mining.

London: More than 4,500 cooks are now on active service preparing meals for just one element of Overlord - the seaborne assault forces. All told, 54,000 men are employed on maintaining installations and getting 4,000 landing craft and barges ready for sailing with their crews.

The Americans, who will take off from Cornwall, Devon and Dorset, have supply and service networks that extend deep into the Midlands. The British and Canadians in Hampshire and Sussex have similar lengthy tails. For many men these last days are marked by services conducted by padres in open fields.

The commanders are spending much of their time visiting the troops. Lieutenant-General Omar Bradley squats on his haunches, chews a blade of grass and talks to his 12th Army Group troops as man to man. Monty approaches his troops, fixes the men with his steely gaze and then gives the order to break ranks before he makes a short speech. At other times he visits war factories, telling the workers that their efforts will make all the difference on D-Day. Eisenhower may lack Monty's swagger, but his relaxed confidence and the absence of an array of brass and medal ribbons have won approval from British and Americans alike. One colleague has said that the supreme commander's smile is worth 20 divisions.

In the south of England Majors John Howard and Vaughan drive from the airfield at Tarrant Rushton where D Company of the Ox and Bucks Infantry are completely sealed in on the huge base, to Broadmoor. There they meet Brigadier Poett. Smith and Fox sneak out of Tarrant Rushton to have dinner with their girl friends. (Jay Stone)(182)

Invasion stripes are to be issued to gliders at the discretion of the Air Commander-in-chief. (Ron Babuka)

The USAAF's Eighth Air Force in England flies Mission 382: 1,029 bombers and 682 fighters attack marshalling yards and aircraft industry targets in Germany and rail targets in France and Belgium; the fighters claim 4-0-1 Luftwaffe aircraft on the ground; one bomber and three fighters are lost:

1. Of 246 B-17s, 36 hit Luxeuil marshalling yard, France; 30 hit Florennes/Juzaine Airfield and four hit Namur marshalling yard, Belgium; 23 hit Gilze-Rijen Airfield and 12 hit Roosendaal marshalling yard, The Netherlands; and three hit targets of opportunity without loss.

Personal Memory: Weather at the target for today was predicted to be good but we soon had to deviate our course because of towering cumulus clouds. We were supposed to bomb Colmar, France for our primary and St. Dizier as a secondary. Both were clouded over so we picked a target of opportunity which was the Dutch airfield at Gilze-Rijen. We supplied 14 planes for this mission and in our wanderings around the clouds we got too close to Brussels. Lt. Flick flying off our right wing was hit by flak and one of his men was seriously wounded. He turned back and made an emergency landing in England at Chipping-on-Gar. Due to the clouds we only did a one minute bomb run at the Dutch airfield and we missed the runways. The bombs fell between the runways into a wooded area. In 1992 my wife and I visited this airfield which is now an F-16 base. The historian who showed us around said that we had destroyed a large supply of fuel that the Germans had hidden in the woods.To make matt ers worse for the Germans, one of our 500 pound bombs fell directly in the middle of their 100 foot pond that they used to fight the fire. It blew all the water out of the pond without changing its contours. And talk about flying fish! On August 19, 1943, bombs from another group fell short and killed 27 civilians in the Dutch hamlet of Hulten. Our 303rd Bomb Group had lost two B-17s that day. On today's mission we had two with major damage and six with minor, including our Betty Jane with a fist sized hole in her tail. (Vertical stabilizer, that is.) Score on my 7th mission: Milk runs: 3; Others; 4 (Dick Johnson)

2. 287 B-17s are dispatched to hit marshalling yards in Germany; 88 hit Osnabruck, 54 hit Schwerte, 52 hit Oeske and 50 hit Hamm; one B-17 is lost.

3. 491 B-24s are dispatched to hit rail targets in France and Belgium but are recalled due to clouds.

4. Four of five B-24s hit rail bridges at Beaumont-sur-Oise and bridges at Melun without loss; Azon radio-controlled bombs are unsuccessfully used against the bridges.

Escort is provided by 193 P-38s, 180 P-47 Thunderbolts and 309 P-51 Mustangs; P-38s claim 1-0-0 Luftwaffe aircraft on the ground; one P-47 is lost; P-51s claim 3-0-1 aircraft on the ground with two P-51s lost. 674 Ninth Air Force fighters provide support; no claims or losses.

Fighter-bomber missions against German airfields with 500 lb (227 kg) and 100 lb (45 kg) general purpose bombs:

1. 78 of 81 P-47s hit Gutersloh Airfield; they claim 5-1-3 Luftwaffe aircraft.

2. 35 P-38s attack Rehein/Hopsten Airfield using DROOPSNOOT methods; they claim 5-0-0 aircraft on the ground.

22 B-24s are dispatched on CARPETBAGGER missions over France without loss.

The USAAF's Ninth Air Force in England dispatches about 200 B-26 Marauders to bomb lock and highway bridges at Bennecourt, Courcelles-sur-Seine and Rouen, France.

Submarine HMS Alaric laid down.

HMCS Mayflower and Rimouski departed Oban to escort Normandy blockships.

GERMANY: U-2323 launched.

U-1278 commissioned.

ITALY: Canadian forces take Frosimeone.

Velletri and Monte Artemisi fall to the US 36th Division near Anzio. This breaks the Caesar Line.

The USAAF's Fifteenth Air Force in Italy dispatches 480+ B-17s and B-24s to bomb oil refineries and communications targets in the Ploesti, Romaniaarea; fighters fly 200+ sorties in support; 15 bombers are lost to flak and fighters; 40+ enemy aircraft are claimed shot down.

POLAND: Auschwitz-Birkenau: The SS reports that 80 pounds (40 kg) of gold have been recovered from the teeth of Hungarian Jews gassed since 17 May.

U.S.S.R.: Moscow: Stalin and his staff complete the planning of Operation Bagration, a massive undertaking to liberate Byelorussia.

ARCTIC OCEAN: U-289 (Type VIIC) Sunk in the Barents Sea southwest of Bear Island, Norway, in position 73.32N, 00.28E, by depth charges from the British destroyer HMS Milne. 51 dead (all crew lost). (Alex Gordon)

SOLOMON ISLANDS: The destroyer escort USS England (DE-635) sinks Japanese submarine HIJMS RO-105 200 miles (322 km) north-northwest of Kavieng on New Ireland Island, Bismarck Archipelago. USS England is assisted by the destroyers USS McCord (DD-534) and USS Hazelwood (DD-531) and destroyer escorts USS George (DE-697), USS Raby (DE-698) and USS Spangler (DE-696). This is the sixth submarine involved in Operation "NA" sunk by USS England.

CANADA: Ottawa: All over Canada families await news of the expected invasion of Europe - and of the 30,000 Canadian troops committed to it.

Canada, the Dominion whose prime minister, William Mackenzie King, once hoped that it would grow rich out of the war without having to bleed its manhood, now contributes a greater proportion of its population of 11,500,000 to the Allied war than any other country.

Its 500,000 strong army has left its dead in Hong Kong, Dieppe and Italy. Its 600-vessel navy (15 ships strong in 1939) has taken half the escort burden in the Atlantic convoys. Its assembly lines are producing medium artillery (25-pounders) faster than Krupp's in Essen or the Soviet Magnitogorsk plant. Its slipways launch 20,000 tons of shipping a week. With new hydroelectric power from Lake St. John, it is now the world's third largest producer of aluminium.

At Goose Bay, in the Newfoundland territory of Labrador, an airport has been built with concrete runways capable of taking planes heavy enough to cross the Atlantic. A similar airport has been built on the Pacific coast, on an island of British Columbia, to provide for the defence of the Aleutian Islands from Japanese invasion.

Tug HMCS Glenevis laid down Owen Sound, Ontario.

U.S.A.:

Destroyer USS Ault commissioned.

Minesweeper USS Bombard commissioned.

Destroyer escort USS Jesse Rutherford commissioned.

Coast Guard-manned Army vessel FS-180 was commissioned. She was assigned to and operated in the Southwest Pacific area. She was decommissioned on 18 October 1945.

31 May 1945

May 31st, 1945 (THURSDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: London: The last underground shelter bunks are removed, from South Wimbeldon station.

Great Yarmouth, Norfolk: The first casualties of peace are the men responsible for clearing thousands of mines from the "invasion" beaches of East Anglia. Maps of the minefields have been lost; in some cases so have the minefields themselves, due to coastal erosion. Above the tideline the army has to clear the danger. Since 1943, 98 Royal Engineers have died and 26 have suffered serious wounds, some losing their sight, in this work. Below the tideline the Royal Navy has the job, often using divers to disarm the unexploded mines. The UXB teams on land also still have work to do, as unexploded bombs are unearthed in war-ravaged streets.

HMCS Loch Alvie arrived in the Clyde with Convoy RA 67.

HMCS Mayflower paid off and returned to RN at Grandmouth, Scotland.

GERMANY: Odilo Globocnik, a key figure in the organization of the Nazi death camps, commits suicide when arrested by a British patrol.

NORWAY: The government in exile returns to Oslo.

SYRIA: Damascus: For the second time in 18 months, Britain has intervened in Syria. Three days of fighting between Arab nationalists and French troops followed Syria's refusal to negotiate a quasi-independence treaty under duress. Now Anthony Eden, the British foreign secretary, has announced that Britain "can no longer stand aside", and arranged a cease-fire. With the US backing the Syrians, France's withdrawal from the Levant seems inevitable.

BURMA: The combined US-British Eastern Air Command is dissolved and the USAAF's Tenth Air Force and other USAAF units in Burma are directed to support operations in the China Theater.

CHINA: Song Ziwen (Dr T V Soong) succeeds Chiang Kai-shek as president of the Nationalist Yuan.

JAPAN: Okinawa: Japanese forces withdraw from Shuri.

Pfc Clarence Craft (1920-2002) will receive the MOH for his actions todayon Hen Hill, Okinawa, when he killed 25 Japanese soldiers and led his battalion to breach enemy defenses, May 31, 1945. Craft was a rifleman with Company G, 382d Infantry, 96th Infantry Division.

Hen Hill was a tactical position on which the entire Japanese defensive line on Okinawa hinged, according to Crafts' award citation.

Craft, along with five fellow soldiers, was dispatched to the hill to feel out enemy resistance. The group had proceeded only a short distance up the slope when rifle, machinegun fire and a barrage of grenades wounded three and pinned down the others.

Against odds that appeared suicidal, Craft stood up in full view of the enemy, and according to his citation, began shooting with deadly marksmanship wherever he saw a hostile movement. He steadily advanced up the hill, killing Japanese soldiers with rapid fire and driving others to run for cover. When Craft reached the crest of the hill, he threw grenades at extremely short ranges into the enemy positions. His assault lifted the pressure from his company for the moment, allowing members of his platoon to comply with his motions to advance and pass him more grenades.

With a chain of his comrades supplying him while he stood atop the hill, he hurled a total of two cases of grenades into a main trench and other positions on the reverse slope of Hen Hill. Meanwhile, he also directed the aim of his fellow soldiers who threw grenades from the slope below him.

Craft left his position, where grenades from both sides were passing over his head, and attacked the main enemy trench. Straddling the excavation, he pumped rifle fire into the Japanese at pointblank range, killing many and causing the others to flee down the trench.

Pursuing them, he came upon a heavy machinegun, which was still creating havoc in the American ranks. With rifle fire and a grenade, Craft wiped out the position.

At last, the Japanese were in complete rout and !

American forces swarmed over the hill. Craft continued down the central trench to the mouth of a cave where many of the enemy had taken cover. A satchel charge was given to him, and he tossed it into the cave. When it failed to explode, Craft retrieved the charge from the cave, re-lighted the fuse and threw it back, sealing up the entrance.

Against tremendously superior forces heavily armed with rifles, machineguns, mortars, and grenades, Craft killed at least 25 of the enemy; but reports say his contribution to the campaign on Okinawa was much greater: Hen Hill was the key to the entire defence line, which rapidly crumbled that day. (ARNEWS Correspondent Staff Sgt. Marcia Triggs compiled this report from information provided by the Medal of Honor Society and Center for Military History Web page.)

Mines previously laid by B-29 Superfortresses of the USAAF's Twentieth Air Force sink a Japanese cargo ship and damage a gunboat, two army cargo ships and a freighter. Another cargo ship is damaged but sinks after being towed into harbor.

CANADA: Minesweeper HMCS Beech Lake launched Port Carling, Ontario.

Frigate HMCS Poundmaker commenced tropicalization refit Lunenburg, Nova Scotia.

U.S.A.: The motion picture "Back to Bataan" to released in the U.S. This war drama, directed by Edward Dmytryk, stars John Wayne, Anthony Quinn, Beulah Bondi, Richard Loo, Philip Ahn and Lawrence Tierney. The plot has an Army Colonel (Wayne) joining Filipino guerrillas after the fall of the Philippines in 1942 until the invasion of Leyte in 1944.

Destroyer USS Shelton laid down.

1962: Adolf Eichmann is hanged in Israel.

Born March 19, 1906 in Solingen, Germany, he is raised in Linz, Austria. In 1934 he joins the SS and rises through the ranks. He finishes the war as Head of the Gestapo's Department of Jewish Affairs.

In July 1942, Eichman is joined Reinhard Heydrich, Heinrich Muller and Roland Friesler attended the Wannsee Conference where they discussed the issue of the large number of inmates in Germany's concentration camps. At the meeting it was decided to make the extermination of the Jews a systematically organized operation. Eichman was placed in charge of what became known as the Final Solution. After this date extermination camps were established in the east that had the capacity to kill large numbers including Belzec (15,000 a day), Sobibor (20,000), Treblinka (25,000) and Majdanek (25,000). For a while he took personal charge of the Auschwitz camp to see the Final Solution in operation..

On May 11, 1960 Four Mossad agents abducted the fugitive Nazi war criminal from a bus stop in Buenos Aires. Then on May 23 Ben Gurion announces to the Knesset that Eichmann will be put on trial. (Gene Hanson)

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