Air Operations, CBI

During the night 3 7th Heavy Bomb Group B-17s attack the Rangoon/Mingaladon airfield hitting a fuel dump.

Air Operations, Europe

• 18 Bostons are sent to bomb the Boulogne docks, the Calais parachute factory and the power station in Caen. All the targets are hit without a loss.
• Stuttgart and the Bosch factory are again the target as 97 aircraft are dispatched. These include 55 Wellingtons, 15 Stirlings, 10 Hampdens, 10 Lancasters and 7 Halifaxes. This raid is another failure with the crews blaming ground haze for their failure to identify the taget. Ground reports that no bombs fall in Stuttgart, but some hit the woods to the west of the city. The Lauffen decoy may have been responsible for a raid on Heilbronn, only 5 miles from Lauffen but 20 from Stuttgart. More than 150 buildings are hit there and 7 people are killed.
• In minor operations, 19 aircraft are sent to Nantes, 4 Blenheim Intruders to Holland and 9 planes make leaflet flights to France. 1 Intruder is lost.

Battle of the Atlantic

The unarmed US tanker Halsey is torpedoed by U-333 northeast of Jupiter Inlet, Florida. The 32-man crew escape in two lifeboats.

Burma

The Chinese 200th Div, and part of the 55th, still at Taunggyi, are ordered to fall back on Myitkyina. Later they succeed in returning to China. Stilwell's Chinese recapture Maymo.

Caribbean

U-507 shells the unarmed US freighter Alcoa Puritan (6795t) and abandoned by all hands. The crew is rescued later in the day by the Coast Guard cutter Boutwell (WPC-130).

China

Gen Chiang Kai-shek leads Chinese forces in a new major offensive along a 400-mile front against Japanese occupiers in seven major cities, including Shanghai and Nanking.

China Sea

The American submarine Skipjack sinks 3 Japanese ships during the month of May.

Eastern Front

In the Crimea, the 11th Army prepares to wipe out the Soviet forces at Kerch and capture Sevastopol. Manstein has decided to deal with the Kerch concentration first, deploying the bulk of his strength here and leaving only thin covering forces to screen Sevastopol. Operation BUSTARD is aimed to strike the 44th and 51st Armies in their exposed forward positions, encircling the mass of the two armies on the narrow isthmus. The Crimean Front deploys 249,800 ne. For the operation Manstein has assembled the XLII, Rumanian VII and XXX Corps, a force of 5 German and 2 Rumanian infantry divisions, 1 panzer division and 1 Rumanian cavalry division. To the west the LIV Corps covers Sevastopol.

Liberia

US forces begin arriving in Liberia.

Madagascar

Royal Marine Commandos, landed from the destroyer Anthony, break the stubborn resistance by Vichy troops at Diego Suarez. The Vichy gunboat D'Entrecasteaux is crippled by bombs off the coast near Diego Suarez.

Pacific

• The US submarine Skipjack (SS-184) sinks the merchant passenger/cargo ship Kanan Maru (2567t) about 26 miles northeast of Cam Ranh Bay, French Indonesia.
• The US submarine Triton (SS-201) attacks a Japanese convoy north-northeast of Keelung, Formosa sinking the cargo ship Taiei Maru (2209t) and the transport/cargo ship Taigen Maru (2231t).

Philippines

After a whole day of negotiations, Gen Wainwright signs the document surrendering unconditionally Corregidor with 16,000 American and Filipino troops. On the last day of fighting 350 defenders are killed. The force has resisted fiercely, but the notion that Corregidor might hole out until large numbers of reinforcements could arrive was widespread. In a letter just before the surrender Gen Wainwright wrote: 'As I write this we are subjected to terrific air and artillery bombardment and it is unreasonable to expect that we can hold out for long. We have done our best, both here and on Bataan, and although beaten we are still unashamed.' Actually the dogged resistance did have an impact on the Pacific war. One Japanese division, the 4th, was so badly mauled in fighting for control of the island that its remnants were returned home. That division had been earmarked for fighting in New Guinea and the Solomons. Other forces, involved in cleaning up in the Philippines, might also have been freed for fighting crucial battles ahead, including Guadalcanal.

Victorious Japanese Troops atop the Hearn Battery, May 6, 1942

Surrender of U.S. forces at the Malinta Tunnel May 6, 1942

The Japanese capture Malinta Tunnel and land new forces. On Mindanao there are further Japanese attacks as they take Tankulan and are near Dalirig which now comes under artillery fire.