Air Operations, Aleutians

Due to bad weather, only 1 28th Composite Bomb Group B-24 and 6 343rd Fighter Group P-38s are able to attack Attu, and other aircraft are diverted to Kiska.

Air Operations, Bismarcks

• 43rd Heavy Bombardment Group B-17s attack airfield in the Rabaul area.
• 90th Heavy Bomb Group B-24s attack the Gasmata airfield on New Britain.

Air Operations, East Indies

V Bomber Command B-25s attack Saumlakki in the Molucca Islands.

Air Operations, Europe

• 4 Mosquitos bomb a railway target at Orleans.
• 1 Mosquito is lost.
• 12 Mitchells are sent to bomb the airfield at Abbeville but are recalled.

• 104 aircraft including 64 Wellingtons, 36 Stirlings and 4 Lancasters are involved in an extensive minelaying operation. Area covered are the Frisisand, the Gironde River and off La Pallice.
• 3 Wellingtons and 1 Stirling are lost.
• 4 Mosquitos attack Berlin without a loss.

Air Operations, Mediterranean

Malta is raided by FW-190 fighter-bombers.

Air Operations, New Guinea

• 90th Heavy Bomb Group B-24s attack the airfield at Nabire.
• Japanese aircraft attack Wau for the fourth time in a week. The 3 earlier attacks were uncontested, but now 12 P-38s of the 8th Fighter Group’s 80th Fighter Squadron are vectored in, and they down 6 Japanese fighters near Salamaua between 0910 and 0920 hours.

Aleutians

On Attu, on the southern front, the Americans succeed in eliminating the only remaining Japanese strongpoint on one of the peaks overlooking Clevesy Pass and advance towards a crest near another pass leading from the Saran Valley to Chicagof Harbor. The troops landed at Holtz Bay advance more slowly on account of the greater difficulty of the mountainous terrain.

Over the next 7 days the Americans make some progress on Attu each day. The fighting is especially fierce from May 24-27 when the Japanese are gradually driven off a feature known as Fish Hook Ridge. On 27 May work is begun on an airfield at Alexai Point.

Britain, Home Front

The first American-built airfield in Britain is officially taken over by the 8th US Army Air Force.

Free French Forces

Adm Rene Godefroy, commanding the small French squadron interned in Alexandria since July 1940, decides to join the Allies. Vichy alleges that the crews have been 'starved into submission'.

Japan, Home Front

Tokyo announces the death in action of Adm Yamamoto.

Mediterranean

• In operations off the French Riviera, the British submarine Sickle sinks U-303 and 'torpedoes' a Monte Carlo casino. 2 torpedoes miss their intended targets, run up the beach and explode below the famous gaming establishment.
• The US destroyer Nields (DD-616) sinks the Italian submarine Gorgo off the coast of Algeria.

United States, Home Front

More than 150,000 people are made homeless as rivers in the Mississippi system burst their banks.