War Diary – May

War Diary – May

2ND MAY 1940
Allies evacuate Namsos and Andalasnes, Norway, King Haakon VII escapes to Britain

10th MAY 1940
Winston Churchill becomes British Prime Minister as Neville Chamberlain resigns after the debacle of the Allied intervention in Norway, he forms a war cabinet from the main political parties, German invasion of Holland and Belgium begins

12TH MAY 1940
German forces cross the Franco – Belgian frontier and begin their advance across France, outclassed and outmanoeuvred, British and France forces fall back, often in confusion

13TH-15TH MAY 1940
German armour crosses Meuse

14TH MAY 1940
Netherlands surrenders, Queen Wilhelmina escapes to Britain. Rotterdam razed by bombing

26TH MAY 1940
Allied evacuation at Dunkirk (to 4th June)

27TH MAY 1940
Belgium capitulates

2ND MAY 1941
British complete evacuation from Greece

6TH MAY 1941
British defeat Iraqi forces at Habbaniya

10TH MAY 1941
The final heavy mission of the Battle of Britain, 550 Luftwaffe aircraft attack London with high – explosive and incendiaries, starting many fires and killing some 1,400 civilians, 27 German aircraft are lost. Since July 1940, the UK has endured more then 50.000 tons of bombs and still stands firm-heralding a significant change to German fortunes

15TH MAY 1941
British recapture Sollum

18TH MAY 1941
Bismarck leaves Baltic

20TH-28TH MAY 1941
Germans invade Crete

22ND MAY 1941
British withdraw from Crete airfields

24TH MAY 1941
The world's most powerful battle cruiser, H.M.S. Hood, is sunk by Germany's 45,000 ton battleship Bismarck which Germany claims is unsinkable. The Bismarck was sunk by the Royal Navy on the 27th after a four – day pursuit

27TH- 28TH MAY 1941
Bismarck sunk

30TH MAY 1941
Rashid Ali flees Iraq

4TH MAY 1942
Battle of the Coral Sea (to 8th may)

5TH – 7TH MAY 1942
British attack Diego Suarez, Madagascar

6TH MAY 1942
Corregidor surrenders

8TH MAY 1942
Germans begin preliminary offensives in Soviet Union

12TH MAY 1942
Russians open Kharkov offensive

17TH MAY 1942
Germans counterattack in Kharkov area, beginning Battle of Kharkov

20TH MAY 1942
Japanese complete conquest of Burma

27TH MAY 1942
Rommel attacks Gazala Line in large- scale Axis offensive
28TH MAY 1942
Battle of Kharkov ends in Soviet defeat

30TH MAY 1942
Air Marshal Harris orders a major raid on Cologne involving more then 1,000 aircraft. 2,000 tons of bombs are dropped for a total loss of only 40 aircraft, R.A.F. chiefs clam to have destroyed more then 200 factories

7TH MAY 1943
Allied 18th Army Group captures Tunis and Bizerte

9TH MAY 1943
Axis forces in north-east Tunisia surrender unconditionally, 270,000 P.O.W s

11TH MAY 1943
US 7th Division lands on Attu

12TH MAY 1943
Trident Conference (Anglo-American) begins in Washington (to 25th May) All Axis resistance in North Africa ends Japanese retake Arakan

16-17TH MAY 1943
R.A.F. Lancaster bombers carry out the Dambusters raid bombing and partly destroying two major dams, the Mohne and Eder, and causing considerable damage within Germany's industrial heartland

26TH MAY 1943
Katyn massacre revealed Donitz moves U-boat operating areas

7TH MAY 1944
Japanese launch offensive in East China

9TH MAY 1944
Soviets retake Sevastopol

11TH MAY 1944
Allies open drive on Rome with attack on Gustav Line

17TH MAY 1944
Cassino falls to Poles

18th MAY 1944
US forces land on Wakde, off New Guinea

21ST MAY 1944
Allies begin massive pre- invasion air attacks on rail facilities on the Continent

23TH MAY 1944
US Fifth Army breaks out from Anzio beachhead

27TH MAY 1944
US Army forces land on Biak

2ND MAY 1945
Soviet Army completes capture of Berlin German forces surrender in Italy

3RD MAY 1945
Rangoon falls to the British

5TH MAY 1945
German forces in Netherlands, north western Germany and Denmark surrender, German Army Group G surrender in Bavaria

7TH MAY 1945
All German forces surrender unconditionally (2; 41 am at Reims)

8TH MAY 1945
VE-Day, following Germany official surrender on 7th May, Victory in Europe is celebrated throughout Britain, Churchill, King George VI and President Truman broadcast triumphant speeches

13TH MAY 1945
Last German resistance ceases in Czechoslovakia, thus ending fighting in Europe

20th MAY 1945
Japanese begin pulling back from Chinese bases

War Diary - May7.0104