Air Operations, Aleutians

• 15 28th Composite Bomb Group B-24s and 12 B-25s mount ground-support attacks on Attu while 20 343rd Fighter Group P-38s fly top cover.
• 18 P-40s reconnoiter and attack Kiska and Little Kiska.

Air Operations, Bismarcks

43rd Heavy Bomb Group B-17s and 90th Heavy Bomb B-24s attack Cape Gloucester and barges along the coast.

Air Operations, Europe

• 12 Mitchells attempt to raid the airfield at Abbeville but cloud over the target and flak disrupts the attack and only 5 aircraft drop bombs which hit dispersal buildings near the airfield. 2 Mitchells are lost. 12 Bostons are sent to raid Cherbourg, but they abandon the operation.

• 759 aircraft are sent to Düsseldorf. Included in this total are 323 Lancasters, 169 Halifaxes, 142 Wellingtons, 113 Stirlings and 12 Mosquitos.
• This raid is a failure. There are two layers of cloud over the target and the Pathfinders have great difficulty in marking it. It is also believed the Germans are operating decoy markers and fire sites. As a result, the Main Force bombing is scattered over a wide area.
• 9 Lancasters, 8 Stirlings, 6 Wellingtons and 4 Halifaxes are lost.

NATAF B-25s and P-40s attack Marghana Airdrome, shipping, and troop concentrations.

Air Operations, New Guinea

43rd Heavy Bomb Group B-17s and 90th Heavy Bomb Group B-24s attack Madang and several other coastal towns.

Air Operations, Sicily

• IX Bomber Command B-24s attack the Messina ferry terminal and rail yards.
• NASAF B-17s, B-25s, B-26s, and fighters attack numerous targets throughout the island.
• 1st Fighter Group P-38s down 11 Bf-109s between 1110 and 1130 hours in an actions off Capo San Vito.
• At 1545 hours, a pair of 14th Fighter Group P-38s down a Do-217 medium bomber over Gela.

Aleutians

On Attu, the Southern Force's 2nd Battalion, 17th Infantry, gains a toehold on the crest of Fish Hook Ridge, after hand-to-hand fighting in a complex system of trenches and tunnels dug by the Japanese. The Northern Force, attacking with the 3rd Battalion, 32nd Infantry, supported by Companies A and C of the 17th Infantry also make some progress from the other side of the ridge.

Allied Planning

The Trident Conference, which began in Washington on May 12, comes to an end. It has been decided that the invasion of northwest Europe, Operation OVERLORD, will start early in May 1944. The invasion will be preceded by a gigantic air offensive. In Italy, after the landing in Sicily, Operation HUSKY, whatever actions are necessary will be taken to eliminate the country from the war. Systematic bombing of the Ploesti oilfields in Rumania, vital to the Germans, will be undertaken from bases in the Mediterranean. It was also agreed to increase aid to China and to step up the tempo of the war against Japan by island-hopping through the central Pacific. The strategy to be adopted in the Pacific was also approved in outline.

Boris Lopatin's ShAP Il-2M

Battle of the Atlantic

US Naval land-based aircraft (VP-84) sink the German submarine U-467 in the Atlantic Ocean area.

U-467

Mediterranean

U-414 is sunk in a depth-charge attack by the British corvette HMS Vetch during an attack on a convoy.

U-414

North Africa

Sousse is chosen as the site for the headquarters for the invasion of Pantelleria. The tactical method chosen is to be saturation bombing.

Enthusiastic Welcome to Bizerte

United States, Home Front

The president of Ford Motor Co, Edsel Ford, dies at age 49.