Air Operations, CBI

During the night 5 7th Heavy Bomb Group B-17s attack Rangoon.

Air Operations, Europe

There is another Luftwaffe night raid on the Isle of Wight. It is repeated on June 3.

Air Operations, New Guinea

• 22nd Medium Bomb Group B-26s attack the Rabaul/Vunakanau and Rabaul/Lakunai airfields.
• While attacking Lae, 8 unescorted B-25s from the 13th Light Bomb Squadron, 3rd Light Bomb Group, are intercepted for the first time by A6M Zeros. 5 of the bombers are brought down with help from antiaircaft fire. The remaining bombers are badly damaged with one crash-landing at Port Moresby.

The Dutch cargo ship Hector was torpedoed and sunk in the Caribbean Sea 60 nautical miles (110 km) northwest of Grand Cayman by U-103 with the loss of two of her 31 crew. Survivors were rescued by the American tanker F. Q. Barstow.

Dutch Cargo Ship Hector

Burma

Stilwell arrives in Delhi after a 20-day trek through the Burma-Assam jungle.

Caribbean

The unarmed US freighter Beatrice (3451t) is torpedoed by U-558, but the torpedo fails to explode. The submarine then surfaces to shell the ship which is abandoned under fire with the loss of one man. There are 30 survivors, 21 reaching Pigeon Island, Jamaica in a lifeboat. The others are rescued by a British patrol craft.

Eastern Front

Group Kleist begins the destruction of the Izyum pocket. Massive attacks pound the disintegrating Soviet armies, constricting the pocket considerably. The 57th Army is virtually spent as it runs out of munitions, while the 6th Army desperately attempts to fight its way east.

Malta

Axis air raids continue and Malta is now completely neutralized as an air and naval base.

Pacific

The US submarine Pompano (SS-181) sinks the Japanese merchant fishing boat Kotoku Maru (6702t).