Air Operations, Bismarcks

43rd Heavy Bomb Group B-17s and 90th Heavy Bomb Group B-24s attack Rabaul and airfields in the area.

Air Operations, CBI

• 6 7th Heavy Bomb Group B-24s attack Syriam.

Air Operations, East Indies

V Bomber Command B-25s attack Dili and Penfoei, Timor.

Air Operations, Europe

FW-190 fighter-bombers attack Greater Yarmouth. 26 people are killed in an ATS hostel.

• 6 Mitchell are sent to bomb a railway works, but are recalled.

Air Operations, Mediterranaan

There are more raids on Catania, Marsala and Trapani in Sicily.

Air Operations, Solomons

During the night, XIII Bomber Command B-17s mount harrassment raids against the Kahilie airfield on Bougainville.

Aleutians

In Operation LANDCRAB the American 7th Div under Gen Albert E. Brown begins to land at several points on Attu supported by Adm Thomas C. Kinkaid's Task Force 16. All units get ashore safely in the afternoon in Massacre Bay, at Alexai Point, west of Holtz Bay in the northern part of the island. However, they are held up by the Japanese and the difficult terrain when they try to advance inland. More landings are carried out during the night. The landing forces advance towards the Jarmin Pass, but about 7:00p.m. they are held up by intense fire from defending troops on the heights on either side of the pass. Mud paralyzes trucks and tractors. Gen Brown plans an assault on the pass the following day. There are strong naval forces in support including 3 battleships, 1 escort carrier and numerous cruisers and destroyers.

Destroyer USS Pruitt and landing craft from USS Heywood moving toward Massacre Bay, Attu, Aleutian Islands, US Territory of Alaska, 11 May 1943

US Landing Craft Heading for Attu

In this picture men can be seen carrying 105 howitzer ammunition to supply the guns already going into position. In the background, blanketed by the fog, can be seen other landing barges coming into land. This picture shows to a degree the weather conditions in which the landing was made. Holts Bay, Attu, Aleutian Islands May 11, 1943

Ammo for the Guns

The ships provide effective fire support throughout the operation.

One of the first photos shows landing boats at Massacre Bay on Attu unloading soldiers of the US 7th Division and equipment on black volcanic sand similar to what the Marines found at Iwo Jima. The battle lasted until May 30 and was the only Arctic-type battle fought between the two countries.

Landing on Attu

The US Army landed on Attu Island on May 11, 1943, beginning the Battle of Attu to take back this westernmost land mass in the Aleutian Islands from the Japanese Empire. The battle off the coast of Alaska was the only land battle that America had to fight on its incorporated territory.

Map of Landings on Attu

Atlantic

The first of 5 Italian submarines leave Bordeaux on transport missions to Sumatra and Singapore. 2 will be lost.

Battle of the Atlantic

Over the next 3 days 3 U-boats are sunk during attacks on Convoy HX-237. The destroyer Hesperus and U-223 fight a dramatic but inconclusive battle with guns, torpedoes and depth charges. U-223 escapes despite a ramming.

Burma

The British pull 26th Div back from Maungdaw which the Japanese occupy on May 14. The 1943 Arakan campaign is over. The British have lost 3,000 killed and seriously wounded, more than twice as many as the Japanese. Above all the morale of the British force could hardly be poorer and their health is also weak. Gens Noel M. Irwin and W. L. Lloyd are relieved and William Slim is appointed to command 14th Army on May 15.

India

The monsoon rains make it impossible to proceed with work on the construction of the new Burma Road, which is to lead from Ledo, in Assam, to China. The roadway has been completed up to 45 miles east of Ledo, in Burmese territory.

North Africa

Allied forces rout the remaining Axis forces. Organized resistance ceases and the Allies control the whole country.

In the British 1st Army's IX Corps area, an uneventful sweep around the Cap Bon Peninsula by the 4th Div reveals no important enemy forces are there. The 6th Armored Div reaches Bou Ficha. In the French XIX Corps area, Axis resistance is weakening in the Zaghouan sector.

This photo from May 11, 1943 shows the first contingent of Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC) officers and enlisted women to arrive in Great Britain. They are greeted by the pipe band of the 7th BN. Scottish Home Guard, waiting on the dockside in Gourock, Scotland.

WAACs Arrive in Great Britain