Air Operations, East Indies
V Bomber Command B-25s attack Penfoei, Timor.
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]Air Operations, Europe
- In a repeat of the previous day's operations, Russian bombers again raid German troop concentrations and railways in Novgorod and the Bryansk-Orel areas and the Ukraine.
- There is a fighter-bomber raid on Great Yarmouth.
Daylight Ops:
- 6 Mitchells are sent to bomb a railway target at Boulogne, but they are recalled.
| ]Air Operations, New Guinea
- 43rd Heavy Bomb Group B-17s and 90th Heavy Bomb Group B-24s attack Madang.
- 3rd Light Bomb Group A-20s attack Japanese Army ground forces around Green’s Hill.
| ]Baltic Sea
Russian submarines supported by aircraft and minesweepers, make unsuccessful attempts to break through the German-Finnish blockade in the Baltic.
[ | ]Burma
The 26th Indian Div is forced to retire to the northwest from Buthiduang, which is taken by the Japanese.
[ | ]Canada, Home Front
The House of Commons vote to contribute an additional $1 billion toward the war effort.
[ | ]Mediterranean
British destroyers of Force K and Force Q blockade Cape Bon to prevent an Axis 'Dunkirk'-style evacuation from Tunisia.
[ | ]North Africa
TUNISIAThe Allied forces burst forward all along the line. Tunis and Bizerta are both captured at about the same time in the afternoon by the British at 3:40p.m. and the Americans at 4:15p.m. respectively. French forces with the 1st Army enter Pont du Fahs.
9th Division Soldiers near Bizerte |
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Captured Rocket Launchers |
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In the US II Corps area, the 9th Div finishes clearing Djebel Cheniti and the adjacent hills to the north, then reconnoiters toward Bizerte as enemy resistance on the northern front collapses. Reconnaissance elements of the 894th Tank Destroyer Battalion, followed closely by elements of the 751st Tank Battalion, enter Bizerte, where they find few enemy but many mines and booby traps. Ferryville falls to the 1st Armored Div. Elements of the 1st Armored Div driving eastward to cut the Tunis-Bizerte road reach Oued ben Hassine and take the bridge intact. The 34th Div drives toward the Chouïgui defile but is stopped a little short of it by enemy forces on Hill 242. The enemy abandons the pass during the night.
In the British 1st Army's IX Corps area, the 7th and 6th Armored Divs continue northeastward from Massicault, overrunning St Cyprien and Le Bardo. The Derbyshire Yeomanry and the 11th Hussars enter Tunis in the afternoon. The French XIX Corps occupies Pont-du-Fahs.
Italian Prisoners of War |
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| In this photograph Italian prisoners of war are seen being herded out of Tunis as the British V Corps entered the capital on May 7, 1943, the same day American armored and infantry divisions pushed the retreating Germans out of the port city of Bizerte in the north of the country. At 12:30 on May 13, one day after Mussolini had named him Field Marshal, Giovanni Messe surrendered the remainder of the Italian First Army. |
Gromalia POW Camp |
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| After the fall of Tunis and Bizerte, Axis troops began surrendering in such large numbers that they clogged roads, impeding the Allies’ mopping-up operations. In the second week of May enemy prisoners totaled over 275,000, many winding up at the Gromalia POW camp (shown here), four miles outside Tunis. When Axis generals began surrendering on May 9, 1943, the six-month Tunisia Campaign entered its final days. Victory in Tunisia did not come cheaply. Of 70,000 Allied casualties, the US Army lost 2,715 dead, 8,978 wounded, and 6,528 missing. At the same time, however, the Army gained thousands of seasoned officers, noncommissioned officers, and troops whose experience would prove decisive in subsequent campaigns. These seasoned soldiers would not have long to wait or far to go, for the next test was only two months and 150 miles away, the Italian island of Sicily and Operation Husky. |
| ]Solomons
US forces lay mine barrages in the waters around New Georgia across the Blackett Strait in the Kula Gulf to isolate it from Japanese supplies. 3 destroyers are sunk by these mines on May 8.
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