Air Operations, East Indies

5th Air Force B-17s attack the Timor/Koepang airfield and its antiaircraft batteries.

Air Operations, New Guinea

An 8th Fighter Group P-39 shoots down 2 A6M Zeros over Waigani at 0900 hours.

Atlantic

The Mexican tanker Faja de Oro(6,067t) is sunk by U-106 off Florida. 10 of the crew are killed with 27 surviving.

Britain, Planning

Air Marshal Harris's plan for an air attack on Germany by the RAF receives the approval of the government and the Chiefs of Staff. Harris sends a letter to Coastal, Fighter and Army Co-operations Commands describing the operation and asking for maximum possible cooperation. His directive anticipates the complete destruction of one of Germany's biggest industrial cities: Cologne or Hamburg, which must be razed to the ground on a single night.

Burma

The Japanese are virtually in control of Burma. The 4 divisions employed, the 18th, 33rd, 55th and 56th, now begin mopping-up operations and take up defensive positions. In the fighting in Burma the Japanese have suffered about 7,000 casualties against 13,463 British, Indian and Burmese dead.

The rearguards of I Burma Corps return to India and are absorbed into the IV Corps.

Japanese Tanks Crossing an Auxiliary Bridge in Burma

Caribbean

The US freighter Clare (3372t) is torpedoed and sunk by U-103 about 40 miles off the south coast of Cuba. All hands survive in rafts and a lifeboat. Later, U-103 torpedoes and sinks the US freighter Elizabeth losing 6 of those on board. 36 survivors reach the coast of Cuba the next day.

Diplomatic Relations

The Vice-President of the Soviet Committee of National Defense, Molotov, arrives in London. His visit sets the seal on the Anglo-Russian alliance which, among other things, requires the Soviet Union to become a member of the United Nations and not to interfere in the internal affairs of other states.

Eastern Front

The Soviet forces north of Kharkov go onto the defensive once more as the Germans pile on the pressure. The hard-won positions from the early days of the offensive are rapidly lost as the 3rd Panzer Division launches a fierce attack against the junction of the 21st and 28th Armies. By the end of the day, these forces are back to their May 12 start lines. This success enables the rapid transfer of the 3rd and 23rd Panzer Divisions to the south, to strike into the northern wing of the Izyum pocket.

The Soviet forces south of Kharkov hastily attempt to regroup in order to meet Kleist's attack. The Germans, however, plunge forward once again, smashing the extreme right wing of the 57th Army, bending it back upon itself toward Lozovaya. Now not only is the 9th Army in danger of disintegration and the rear of the 6th Army and Group Kostenko exposed, the 57th Army faces a separate encirclement. The XXIII Tank Corps attempts to bolster the now detached right wing of the 57th but is held back by the XLIV Corps. The gap between the XLIV Corps to the south and the LI Corps to the north of the salient is now just 12 miles.

Germany, Home Front

Göring exhorts munitions workers and farmers to 'rally and cling together. Like the front [line soldiers] welded together by blood, so must you be welded together by work.'

Gulf of Mexico

• The unarmed US tanker Halo (6986t) it torpedoed and sunk by U-506 about 50 miles from Southwest Pass with the loss of 19 of her crew.
• The US freighter George Calvert (7191t) is torpedoed and sunk by U-752 near the Yucatan Channel losing three of those on board. 58 survivors reach the coast of Cuba the next day.

Pacific

The Americans have broken the Japanese code and know that the Japanese are planning to invade Midway and the Aleutians. US forces are ordered deployed to meet the threats, concentrating on Midway and not on the diversion to the north.