Air Operations, Aleutians

6 28th Composite Bomb Group B-24s and 11 B-25s mount 3 ground-support missions to Attu.

Air Operations, Bismarcks

V Bomber Command B-25s attack the Gasmata airfield on New Britain while 43rd Heavy Bomb Group B-17s and 90th Heavy Bomb Group B-24s mount individual attacks against Gasmata.

Air Operations, CBI

• 10th Air Force bombers and fighter-bombers continue their three-day all-out pre-monsoon effort against Japanese lines of communication in western Burma.

Air Operations, East Indies

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

Air Operations, Europe

• 12 Venturas are sent to bomb the airfield at Morlaix but are recalled.

• 6 Mosquitos are sent to Berlin, but only 2 bomb there, and there are 5 OTU sorties.
• There are no losses.

Air Operations, Mediterranean

• Me-109s intercept US formations bombing airfields on Sicily and Sardinia, but are driven off with loss.
• Pantelleria is again subjected to a heavy bombing raid.

Air Operations, New Guinea

V Bomber Command B-25s attack the Salamaua area and targets of opportunity on the Huon Peninsula.

Air Operations, Solomons

• An estimated 9 G4M 'Betty' bombers attack Guadalcanal during the evening. An 18th Fighter Group P-38 brings down 2 'Bettys' off Guadalcanal at 2102 and 2316 hours, respectively.
• During the night, 4 XIII Bomber Command B-17s and 2 B-24s mount light harrassing attacks against the airfield at Ballale and the Kahili area to mask a mine-sowing operation off Buin by 30 AirSols TBFs.
• 2 TBFs are lost to unknown causes.

Aleutians

On Attu the Americans attack before dawn to open Clevesy Pass which would clear a way to the Sarana Valley. Fighting continues until sunset, with the Japanese forces apparently dislodged.

Americans with A6M2-N Rufe 7134 abandoned at Holtz Bay on Attu Island Credit: May 19, 1943

Americans with A6M2-N Rufe

Battle of the Atlantic

U-boats attack Convoy SC-130, but on this occasion come up against supporting B-24 Liberators deploying homing torpedoes. Since early April, 14 of 22 convoys have crossed the North Atlantic without loss. No longer can the ageing U-boats cope with the advanced tactics employed by the Allies on sea and in the air. More than 30 U-boats have been sunk in the first 3 weeks of May.

Germany, Home Front

Goebbels announces that Berlin is completely free of Jews.

Finnish leader of the Lotta Svärd organization Fanni Luukkonen receives the Order of the German Eagle with Star from Adolf Hitler on May 19, 1943. Under Luukkonen's leadership, Lotta Svärd, a voluntary auxiliary organisation for women, grew to 232 000 members, the largest women's organisation in Finland, and even in the world.

Finnish Leader Lott Svärd and Hitler

United States, Home Front

Churchill addresses a joint meeting of Congress.

Watching Buses Arrive

Watching the buses arrive with new incarcerees, photographer Dorothea Lange, May 19, 1943, Stockton Assembly Center, California. (Photo - NARA) The Stockton Assembly Center was built at the San Joaquin County Fairgrounds site, just a few blocks southeast of the Stockton city center. The detention facility was populated from May 10 to October 17, a total of 160 days. The site included 125 barracks in the racetrack infield, along with forty more east of the fairgrounds. The population of the Stockton Assembly Center came almost mostly from the surrounding San Joaquin County area. The total population was 4,390, with a maximum of 4,271. Upon the closing of the camp, nearly all of the inmates were transferred to the Rohwer, Arkansas camp for long-term confinement, with a handful being sent to Gila River, Arizona.