Air Operations, Europe

During the night the Germans raid Dieppe.

Battle of the Atlantic

• The Dutch steamer Pia (304t) sinks on a mine between Dunkirk and Gravelines with the loss of 6 crewmen.
• The Norwegian steamer Sirius (944t) is sunk by German bombing off Senja with the loss of 7 of her crew.

Britain, Home Front

Tyler Kent, a clerk at the US Embassy in London, and Anna Wolkoff, a Russian emigree, are arrested on spying charges. Kent has had access to the correspondence between Churchill and Roosevelt, and Wolkoff has helped pass it to Germany via Italian diplomats. Kent's diplomatic immunity is waived by the United States ambassador. Wolkoff has had connections with a pro-Fascist organization, the Right Club.

Diplomatic Relations

Encouraged by the brilliant victories of the Germans, Mussolini sends a negative reply to the messages sent him by Roosevelt and Churchill.

France, Politics

Reynaud appoints a new Cabinet in an attempt to strengthen the French conduct of the war. He himself takes the Ministry of Defense, Marshal Petain is deputy prime minister, Mandel is minister of the interior and Daladier becomes Foreign Minister. Gen Weygand, even older than Gamelin but far more vigorous, has been recalled from the Middle East to take over the Supreme Command. Although these changes probably do strengthen Reynaud's team, especially his own new office, they will turn out to have been ill-advised. Some of the new men, Petain in particular, will become deeply pessimistic about the outcome of the war and will in time bring Reynaud down when he himself would have preferred to fight on.

Holland, Home Front

(20th?) Arthur Seyss-Inquart is appointed Reich Commissioner for Holland. He will take up office on 29 May.

Norwegian Sea

A heavy bomb penetrates the battleship Resolution during Ju-88 raids over Narvik.

Secret War

Tyler Kent, an American clerk at the US embassy in London, and Anna Wolkoff, a Russian emebrée, are arrested on spying charges. The American has provided scripts of conversations and correspondence between Churchill and Roosevelt for the woman to pass to Germany via the Italian diplomatic staff in London. The US Ambassador does not allow Kent to claim diplomatic immunity to avoid prosecution.

Western Front

Guderian's Panzers reach Pèronne on the River Somme. St Quentin and Cambrai are taken by German Panzer units. Gen Henri-Honoré Giraud and the remnants of the 9th Army (formerly under Gen Corap) enter Le Cateau, a small town not far from Cambrai, and are captured by Germans of Hoth's Corps, who got there some hours earlier. Farther north von Reichenau's 6th Army takes Antwerp.[MORE]