Air Operations, Aleutians
Due to bad weather, 11th Air Force aircraft are unable to conduct scheduled bombing attacks against Attu. However, 6 28th Composite Bomb Group B-24s and 5 B-25s are able to provide direct support for US Army troops. 1 re-supply B-24 crashes into a mountain. 2 P-40 fighter-bombers mount a dusk attack against Kiska.
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]Air Operations, Bismarcks
- 43rd Heavy Bomb Group B-17s and 90th Heavy Bomb Group B-24s attack Rabaul-area airfields.
- V Bomber Command B-25s attack the Gasmata airfield on New Britain. B-17s and B-24s mount inividual attacks against various targets on New Britain.
| ]Air Operations, East Indies
- V Bomber Command B-25s attack Penfoei, Timor.
- 43rd Heavy Bomb Group B-17s and 90th Heavy Bomb Group B-24s mount individual attacks against various targets in the East Indies.
| ]Air Operations, Europe
125 US bombers attack Kiel. 3 U-boats are sunk.
BOMBER COMMANDDaylight Ops:
- 6 Mitchells are sent to bomb the steelworks at Ijmuiden but are recalled.
- 5 OTU Wellingtons drop leaflets over France without a loss.
- RAF bombers continue to pound strategic bases in southern Italy.
303rd BG, 358th BS, 'Hells Angels' |
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| ]Air Operations, New Guinea
43rd Heavy Bomb Group B-17s and 90th Heavy Bomb Group B-24s mount individual attacks against various targets. In the last of a series of Japanese Navy air attack missions going back to March 11, a total of 40 G4M 'Betty' bombers and A6M Zeros attack the Oro Bay-Dobodura area. P-38s of the 49th Fighter Group’s 8th Fighter Squadron bring down a reconnaissance plane near Buna at 0935 hours, and 11 'Bettys', and 10 Zeros near Oro Bay between 1030 and 1045 hours. 1 P-38 and its pilot are lost.
[ | ]Air Operations, Solomons
- During the early evening, XIII Bomber Command B-24s mount individual attacks against the airfield at Ballale, the Kahili airfield on Bougainville, and the Munda Point airfield on New Georgia.
- During the night, B-17s attack the Kahili airfield on Bougainville.
| ]Battle of the Atlantic
The German submarine U-657 is sunk by naval land-based aircraft (VP-84) in the North Atlantic area.
[ | ]Italy, Home Front
The Under-Secretaries for War, Air and Navy announce anti-invasion measures.
[ | ]Mediterranean
Pantelleria is blockaded.
[ | ] Wrecks of German Junkers Ju-52s |
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Pacific
(15th?)The Australian hospital ship Centaur is sunk off Brisbane by Japanese submarine I-177 despite being clearly marked as a medical vessel. 268 people are killed with only 63 survivors.
Australian Hospital Ship Centaur |
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| The Australian Hospital Ship Centaur was en route to New Guninea from Sydney to collect casualties of war. As a marked Hospital ship she was entitled to be respected as a non combatant under the Geneva Convention. Japan had not signed the Geneva Convention but had declared that she would abide by it in 1942. Japan also had obligations under 1907 Hague Convention, to which she had been a signatory. |
Australian Hospital Ship Centaur |
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| A poster depicting the Hospital ship Centaur being attacked and sunk by the Japanese off the coast of Queensland, on this day in 1943, when 286 lives were lost, including 11 out of 12 nurses. The poster depicts moments after the ship was torpedoed. The Japanese had demonstrated on many occasions that the international Conventions meant little to them. The most likely culprit was submarine I-177 under the command of Hajime Nakagawa which was one of three submarines on patrol in the area and the only one to record a sinking on the 14th May. The torpedo tore a large hole in the hull of Centaur and set fire to the fuel tanks. This combination of events was to cause heavy casualties. The ship quickly caught fire and then sank rapidly. There was no time to send an SOS message. Of the 332 persons on board only 64 survived…. A post war War Crimes investigation failed to conclusively link I-177 and Hajime Nakagawa with the crime, although subsequent evidence has pointed more firmly in this direction. Nakagawa died in 1991 without making any further comment on the issue. |
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