Air Operations, Mediterranean

Italian and German air formations carry out a number of raids on air and naval bases on the island of Malta.

Battle of the Atlantic

• The British ammunition storage ship Moncousu (1420t) is sunk by German bombing at Plymouth.
• The British corvette Gladiolus sinks U-65 before she can make an attack on Convoy HX-121. U-552 torpedoes the British tanker Capulet (8190t) . The tanker is abandoned on fire and later sunk with gunfire. 9 of the crew are lost. 35 survivors are picked up by the British destroyer Douglas and the British rescue ship Zaafaran. U-96 sinks the British tanker Oilfield (8516t) south of Iceland with the loss of 47 of her crew. 8 survivors are picked up by the British anti-submarine trawler St Zeno. U-96 then sinks the Norwegian tanker Caledonia (9892t) with the loss of 12 crewmen. 25 survivors are also picked up by the rescue ship Zaafaran. The next ship sunk by U-96 is the British steamer Port Hardy (8897t). 1 crewman is lost; 97 survivors are picked up by the Zaafaran.

The Blitz

Plymouth is again bombed during the night.

German Raiders

The British steamer Clan Buchanan (7266t) is sunk by the German raider Pinguin in the Indian Ocean. All 107 of her crew are picked up.

Greece

Some 43,000 British and Poles of the expeditionary force re-embark at Nauplia, Monemvasia and Kalamata. At Kalamata a German force bursts into the town but is eventually defeated by the 7,000 troops waiting for evacuation. The naval force off the port sees the fighting and withdraws before the Germans are subdued. During the night about 5,000 troops are taken off bringing the total evacuated to just over 50,000. The Royal Navy has sent 6 cruisers, 19 destroyers and a great number of small transports to carry out the evacuation at a cost of 2 destroyers and 4 transports.

In this disastrous campaign the expeditionary force has lost 12,712 men, including 9,000 taken prisoner by the Germans, and the whole of its heavy equipment. The evacuation (Operation Demon) is nevertheless successful. Gen Freyberg, commanding the New Zealand contingent, arrives in Crete.

Italian losses in the 6 months of the Greek campaign: 13,755 dead, over 50,000 wounded, 12,368 severely frostbitten and 25,067 missing.

Greek losses: 15,700 dead and missing. About 300,000 men are taken prisoner by the Axis forces, but all except the officers are released almost at once.

It has taken Germany less than a month to overrun Greece and Yugoslavia. The strategic importance of the German campaign lies particularly in its relationship to the preparations for the attack on the USSR. It has often been suggested, although probably incorrectly, that the Balkan campaign delayed Barbarossa during a period of fine summer weather that might have been invaluable to the Germans later in the year. As well as questions of equipment, training and the weather in Poland that probably contributed most to the timing of the attack, it should be noted that the campaign in Greece was part of the long-intended German strategic program and that any disruption to the program was caused by the independent Yugoslavian situation.

The 'postponement' of Barbarossa which Hitler ordered in response to the Yugoslav coup did not change the date fixed for the attack, but changed the date by which preparations were to be complete - a rather different thing. Very few of the forces employed in Yugoslavia were irreplaceable in the Barbarossa order of battle, and there is evidence to suggest that after the Yugoslavian campaign they were only sent back to their Barbarossa positons slowly. If an earlier Barbarossa attack had been required, the units used in Yugoslavia could have taken part or been replaced, temporarily, from the reserve.

Mediterranean

German bombing sinks the Greek Eleni Canavarioti (797t).

North Africa

German troops capture Sollum.

United States, Home Front

Lindbergh resigns his commission as Colonel in the USAAC Reserve, following severe condemnation of his April 23 speech by Roosevelt.

The month-long coal miners' strike ends: the men are to receive an extra $1 a day.