Air Operations, CBI

• 1st and 2nd AVG Fighter Squadron P-40s down 7 Japanese fighters over Paoshan, China at 1300 hours.
• During the night 4 7th Heavy Bomb Group B-17s attack the Rangoon/Mingaladon airfield possibly destroying 40 and damaging 26 Japanese aircraft on the ground.

Air Operations, Europe

• 12 Bostons are sent to bomb the coke ovens at Zeebrugge and the Lille power station. Only the Zeebrugge target is bombed with no losses.
• 77 aircraft including 49 Wellingtons, 13 Stirlings, 11 Halifaxes and 4 Lancasters are sent to bomb Stuttgart and the Bosch factory. The ground is covered with haze which causes the bombers to miss again. The nearest bombs to Stuttgart fall in woods to the west of the city. The Lauffen decoy site again attracts a number of the bombers. 3 Wellingtons and 1 Stirling are lost.
• In minor operations, 19 aircraft are sent to bomb Nantes, 14 Blenheim Intruders to Schiphol, and 10 planes are on leaflet flights over France. There are no losses.

Battle of the Coral Sea

Takagi's carriers enter the Coral Sea from the west. Fletcher is refuelling but fortunately for him the Japanese make no contact.

Burma

Gen Stilwell, in Burma with his Chinese troops who are retiring on Myitkyina, learns of the true extent of the Japanese advance further north on the Irrawaddy. The railway has been cut at Indaw and the Japanese have captured Bhamo. He decides that his forces must retire toward India, not China. Japanese forces have in fact entered China via the Burma Road.

Eastern Front

Red Army units begin assaults directed at Kharkov and Kursk.

Lead units of the XXXIX Panzer Corps are in sight of Kholm and, after a furious battle with the 3rd Shock Army, break through to relieve Group Scherer. The 103-day siege has been broken, but the struggle has cost Group Scherer dear, over 1,500 men killed and 2,200 wounded. Barely 1,200 men of the original force ramin fit for action. The siege has also cost the Luftwaffe significant losses. Some 252 Ju-52 planes have been lost, but 65,000 tons of supplies were flown into the pocket together with 30,000 men. 35,000 wounded were also flown out of the battle.

The Bryansk Front reports to the Stavka that it is unable to attack toward Orel as scheduled. Golikov requests a postponement until May 16 at the earliest, to which Stalin reluctantly agrees. The Stavka, however, maintains that the attack must begin by th 16th, as the Southwest Front offensive will be launched as planned on the 12th.

Japan, Planning

Imperial Headquarters orders the navy to prepare for an attack and landing on Midway Island (the MI Plan) and key points in the western Aleutians (the AL Plan) and 'to destroy all enemy forces that may oppose the invasion'.

Madagascar

In Operation Ironclad British forces land at Courier Bay near Diego Suarez supported by a British naval squadron under the command of Rear-Adm Neville Syfret and consisting of the battleship Ramilies, the carriers Indomitable and Illustrious, the light cruiser Hermione, the Dutch cruiser Van Heemskerk and 4 destroyers.

An Invasion Barge Ferrying a Motor Ambulance to the Shore

The ports of Diego Suarez and Antsirene are soon captured. In the operation a Vichy AMC and submarine are sunk and the British corvette Auricula is mined. The local garrisons, loyal to the Vichy government, offer little more than token resistance. Diego Suarez is quickly converted into a big air and naval base which is to be of considerable help against the Japanese.

The US Government, previously sensitive to Vichy opinion, openly backs the British action as necessary to secure the island against Axis, 'especially Japanese'

Marshal Pétain calls on the governor general of Madagascar and all French units on the island to resist the British: 'I am at the side of the military commander in this tragic trial in which he is defending the honor of France.'

North Sea

The German steamer Sizilien (4647t) is sunk by British bombing near Borkum, Germany.

Occupied France

Karl Oberg arrives in Paris to assume the position of Supreme Head of the SS and Police. A vicious anti-Semite, Oberg once dismissed a complaint on the abduction of Jewish orphans in unoccupied France by saying, 'A Jew is not a human being.'

Philippines

After a deadly air and artillery preparation just before midnight the Japanese land on Corregidor near North Point. They establish a beachhead at Cavalry Point, several miles east of where thry were supposed to be put ashore. Most of the gun emplacements on the island have been put out of action by the Japanese bombardment. Nonetheless the Japanese lose heavily to the defensive fire before they consolidate their landing.

The Marine Corps' first 29 Navajo code-talker recruits are sworn in at Fort Wingate, New Mexico, on May 5,1942. (Photo Courtesy NARA)

Navajo Code-Talker Recruits Are Sworn In