Air Operations, CBI

During the night 4 7th Bomb Group B-17s attack the Rangoon/Mingaladon airfield.

Air Operations, Europe

There is a Luftwaffe night raid on the Isle of Wight.

• 6 Bostons are sent to bomb the power station at Le Havre, but only hit nearby buildings. There are no losses.
• In a raid on Stuttgart, 121 aircraft are dispatched. These include 69 Wellingtons, 19 Hampdens, 14 Lancasters, 12 Stirlings and 7 Halifaxes. As on the recent Rostock raid, a number of aircraft are instructed to bomb a specific factory. In this case it is the Robert Bosch factory which makes dynamos, injection pumps and magnetos. Complete cloud cover makes the raid a failure as bombs are scattered across a wide area of Stuttgart and the surrounding countryside. 13 people are killed and 37 injured in Stuttgart. The Bosch works are not hit. A decoy site near Lauffen, 15 miles north of Stuttgart, attracted a number of bombers.
• In minor operations, 9 aircraft are sent to Nantes, 5 Stirlings attack the Skoda munitions facility in Pilsen, Czeshoslovakia, 8 planes lay mines off Heligoland and 6 are on leaflet flights over France. 1 Stirling is lost on the Pilsen raid.

Col-Gen (later Marshal) Ivan Konev is pictured among the troops on May 4, 1942 on the Kalinin Front.

Col-Gen Ivan Konev

Air Operations, North Africa

Axis aircraft bomb Alexandria, hitting port and railway installations.

Air Operations, Pacific

22nd Medium Bomb Group B-26s from the Bismarcks attack the Rabaul/Vunakanau airfield in New Guinea.

Battle of the Atlantic

• The unarmed US freighter Eastern Sword (3785t) is torpedoed by U-162 about 12 miles off Georgetown, British Guiana.
• The German submarine U-507 attacks three US tankers during this day. The first, Norlindo (2686t) is torpedoed and sunk about 200 miles northeast of Havana, Cuba losing 5 of her crew. Eight hours later U-507 torpedoes and shells the Munger T. Ball (5104t). Flames, fed by the ships cargo of gasoline, trap many crewmen with only 4 of the 34-man crew survive. The third tanker is the unarmed Joseph M. Cudahy (6950t) which is torpedoes about 74 miles northwest of the Dry Tortugas. Only 10 of the 37-man crew survive.
• The Commander-in-Chief, US Fleet, Adm King, orders the Coast Cuard Auxiliary to use civilian small craft as coastal pickets in response to the German U-boat threat.

Battle of the Coral Sea

The bagins as Task Force 17 under Rear-Adm Frank Jack Fletcher attacks the Japanese Tulagi Invasion Force under Rear-Adm Shima Kiyohide at Tulagi in the Solomon Islands. Elements of the invasion force goes ashore on Tulagi and Gavutu to establish defenses. Aircraft from the US carrier Yorktown (CV-5) sink the destroyer Kikuzuki, the mine sweeper Tama Maru and the auxiliary minesweepers WA-1 and WA-2. Damaged in the attack are the destroyer Yuzuki, minelayer Okinoshima, the transport Azumasan Maru and the cargo ship Kozui Maru. This is the first carrier-versus-carrier naval battle as opposing surface ships never exchange fire. The Yorktown then returns south to join the rest of the Allied forces.

Burma

Akyab on the Bay of Bengal is evacuated by the British. The Chinese 29th Div is defeated at Wanting on the Burma Road and other Chinese forces at Bhamo on the Irrawaddy. Chiang-Kai-shek orders the Chinese 5th Army to concentrate in the Myitkyina area.

The American Flying Tigers abandon Burma and re-establish their base at Kunming, China.

Charles Bond of the American Volunteer Group, Flying Tigers single-handedly attacks a formation of 27 Japanese "Sally" bombers over China, May 4, 1942, in his P-40B. Artist Terry Pyles illustrates the action.

Artist Terry Pyles Illustrates Flying Tigers in Action

Caribbean

The unarmed US freighter Tuscaloosa City (5687t) is torpedoed and sunk by U-125. The entire 34-man crew is rescued by the US steamship Falcon.

Madagascar

British forces land on the north coast encountering only light Vichy French opposition.

The German steamer Wartenfels (6181t) is scuttled at Diego Suarez.

New Britain

A Japanese invasion fleet leaves Rabaul for Port Moresby.

Norwegian Sea

The German steamer Klaus Fritzen (2936t) is sunk by British bombing at Maaloy near Bergen.

Pacific

• The US minesweeper Tanager (AM-5) is sunk by a Japanese shore battery off Corregidor.
• The US submarine Greenling (SS-213) sinks the Japanese gunboat Kinjosan Maru near Truk in the Carolines.
• The Japanese gunboat Kongosan Maru is torpedoed and sunk by the US submarine Trout (SS-202) off the southeast coast of Honshu, Japan.

Philippines

On Mindanao there is reduced activity as the Filipinos complete their withdrawal to a new defense line in the Dalirig and Puntian sectors. A third regrouping of units defends the Cagayan River valley. There is only air activity on the part of the Japanese, but in Manila Bay the bombardment of Corregidor becomes most intense. At least 16,000 bombs and shells hit the island.

Submarine Rescue Ship USS Pigeon (ASR-6)

The Submarine Rescue Ship USS Pigeon (ASR-6) was sunk on May 4, 1942, by a dive bomber while her crew was ashore assisting in the defense of Bataan and Corregidor. At least sixteen of her crew died in the Philippine Islands, during transport to POW camps in Japan, or in the camps themselves.

United States, Policy

The War Production Board rations sugar to save scarce sources.