9 - 15 May 1942

[merdiolu]

9 May 1942

Atlantic Ocean : Beginning the first week of May 1942 , US Navy ASW (anti submarine) patrols got more stronger , quiped with more andf better aircraft from US Navy and Army and more and more ASW (anti submarine) craft and escorts joining to US Navy Atlanttic Fleet Eastern Seaboard Zone. As expected, German U-boats confronted greatly intensified ASW measures, including “heavy” air patrols all along the East Coast, mounted by 172 Navy and Coast Guard aircraft, plus the Army Air Forces planes. More than 50 British built Royal Navy patrol ships (anti submarine trawlers and corvettes) sent from UK in April 1942 (part of Reverse Lend Lease from Britain to US) plus ten new recently built US Coastal Guard Cutters and sixteen new US Navy destroyers also joined US Navy Eastern Zone reinforcing existing anti submarine vessels in the region. By the time these assets arrived in second week of May , Admiral Ernest King Commander of US Navy finally bowed down against pressure of merchant shipping losses and severe criticism from both his own goverment and from Royal Navy and let US Atlantic Fleet to initiate small scale coastal convoys from one port to another. These Bucket Brigade type coastal convoys were in full operation (by May 14th) and, on May 14, the first Key West–Norfolk–Key West coastal convoys (Bucket Brigades) sailed. Sixteen destroyers of the US Navy Atlantic Fleet spent an aggregate 238 days under control of the Eastern Sea Frontier: 184 days at sea on ASW missions, 54 days in replenishment or refit.

On top of that at the end of April and mid 1942 , US Navy finally overcame its own previous prejudice and interservice inter allied rivaly , finally let some US Naval officers to visit and copycat Royal Navy Eastern Approaches Submarine Tracking Room and Operatrions Rooms in Liverpool , UK to classify , organise and distribute intelligence and operations on US Eastern Seaboard and set up a similar Operations Center and Submarine Tracking Room. Royal Navy wireless and air/sea sighting intelligence sharing with US Navy became more organised and fast with combined and coodinated intelligence sharing about U-Boats with both sides of Atlantic. With Bletchley Park codebreaking operations also shared with US Navy , US codebreakers began building their own bombes to crack German naval wireless Enigma code in June 1942.

The historian of the US Navy Eastern Sea Frontier wrote of the month of May 1942, in part: “There was an extraordinary change this month in the fortunes of the war beneath the sea. April, when ships had gone down at the rate of almost one per day, was the worst month within the Frontier since the submarine first invaded this coast. As it drew to a close there was no indication and no hope that these severe losses could be appreciably reduced in the foreseeable future. In fact when two vessels went down on the 30th [of April], it was possible to predict that sinkings might well increase. Then, in the first 17 days of May not one ship was lost in the Eastern Sea Frontier. (only four merchants ships were lost off Cape Hatreras but these losses were tiny compared to earlier siniking rate since January 1942) In the fourteen days that remained [of May] only four vessels were sunk in our waters.”

These anti submarine precautions (which should have been implemented months ago in US Eastern Coast) and resources gathered in East Coat along with blackout on coastal cties of US Eastern cities and entire coast , proper encryption of US merchant and USN radio traffic , unscheduled and unannounced patrol times and zones by US anti submarine vessels and aircraft began to have quick results and sinkings by U-Boats at US waters began to fall down in May 1942. “Second Happy Time” is almost over and U-Boats in US waters began to suffer instead

German submarine U-352 attacked United States Coast Guard Cutter USS Icarus (commanded by Lt. Maurice Jester who drilled his crew for anti submarine warfare efficiently and fully on alert) with two torpedoes 50 kilometers east of Wilmington, North Carolina, United States; both torpedoes missed; USS Icarus located its attacker with a good sonar contact and her own counterattack with depth charges fatally damaged U-352, forcing her to surface for the crew to scuttle the submarine while USS Icarus opened fire with her deck gun and machine guns as German U-Boat sank ; 15 were killed, 33 survived and captured by USS Icarus.

German submarine U-564 torpedoed and sank Panamanian tanker Lubrafol 3 miles east of Hillsboro Inlet, Florida, United States, detonating the oil she was carrying, though she would burn for two days before sinking; 13 were killed, 31 survived.

German submarine U-162 torpedoed and sank Canadian cargo ship Mont Louis 50 miles north of Anna Regina, British Guiana; 13 were killed, 8 survived.

German submarine U-125 torpedoed and sank Canadian tanker Calgarolite 50 miles west of Grand Cayman island; all 45 aboard survived.

German submarine U-69 torpedoed , then shelled with her deck gun and sunk Norwegian tanker Lise in Caribbean Sea , 12 from her 33 crew lost.

English Channel : German minesweepers M-533 and R-45 collided and sank in the English Channel.

Liverpool , UK : Royal Navy battleship HMS King George V arrived at the Gladstone Dock in Liverpool, England, United Kingdom to repair the damage caused by the 1 May 1942 collision with destroyer HMS Punjabi.

Malta : Operation Bowery : American aircraft carrier USS Wasp and Royal Navy aircraft carrier HMS Eagle launched total 64 RAF Spitfire fighters 200 miles west of Malta to reinforce air defence of Malta. All except one (that splashed sea) landed Malta safely within 90 minutes , brought to reinforced steel hangars immadiately after landing , refueled and launched thirty minutes later to repel an incoming Axis air raid which was met and dispersed sucessfully by recently arrived Spitfires. RAF fighters and British anti aircraft gunners shot down seven Italian and 21 German aircraft over Malta before end of the day.

While aerial dogfights and bombings going on Royal Navy fast minelater HMS Welshman ( carrying 340 tons of supplies for Malta and disguised as a Vichy French destroyer ) arrived to Valetta harbour and unloaded all of its cargo including anti airctaft ammunition and food safely.

German fast torpedoboat S-31 whilst laying FMC Contact mines off Malta suddenly exploded killing 13 of her crew; it was thought that a mine had cut loose from its mooring and rose into the boat.

Paris , France : British SOE (Special Operartions Executive) saboteurs blew up and destroyed Paris radio mast , silencing the propaganda broadcasts of German collaborationist Radio Paris and Vichy propaganda radio Rennes Bretagne

Ukraine , Eastern Front : Third Battle of Kharkov starts. Marshal Semyon Timoshenko’s 28th Army (Lieutenant-General D. I. Ryabyshev), reinforced to 16 infantry , three cavalry divisions , six armored brigades and supported by two more incoming armies of Soviet Southern and Southwest Fronts , launched an offensive in the Volchansk sector near Kharkov, Ukraine. Today under heavy torrential rain that turned the terrain into quagmire and slowed down their attack , they broke German lines south and west of Kharkov , pursuing the retreating German units which left vast quantities of equipment and unused munitions in their forward defensive zones. Marshal Timoshenko gave his daily order before battle : “We have entered a new period of war , the period of liberation of Soviet lands from Hitlerite rabble. I hereby order all troops to begin decisive offensive operations against our vilest enemy , German fascist army , to exterminate its manpower and war materials and to raise our glorious Soviet banner on liberated cities and villages”

But some of Marshal Timoshenko’s staff is vary that they are advancing too quickly and being lured into a trap. Advance of Soviet Southwestern Front was checked by German 6th Army (which reinforced its defenses with multiple defensive lines and belts with reserve reinforcements) three days later just ten miles out of Kharkov after pushing out a salient of some 20 miles into the enemy lines.

Kerch Peninsula , Crimea : Under command of General Erich Manstein , German 11th Army attack against Soviet bridgehead in Kerch , Crimea progressing slowly but steady with support of 400 German bombers and fighters from Luftflotte 12 (under commsand of General Erich Von Richtoffen) , aiming to destroy 44th and 51 Soviet armies complately holding the Kerch and retake the peninsula before final assault to capture Sevastapol in the south. After meeting initial resistance , General Manstein feinted with an initial light attack on north of Kerch (where Soviet defences were strongest with multiple entrenched defensive belts) while massing his two panzer and five infantry divisions to south to attack with heavy Luftwaffe air support and break through Soviet 51th Army lines and to pin down 44th Soviet Army its back behind sea by overmaneuvering to north

Burma : By this date, most troops of the Burma Corps with hundreds of thousands escaping Burmaise civilian refugees preceeding or following them , had withdrew west of the Chindwin River towards Indian border.

American Samoa , South West Pacific : US Marine Observation Squadron 151 arrived at American Samoa from Norfolk, Virginia, United States.

Coral Sea , South West Pacific : Right after Battle of Coral Sea , US Navy Task Force 17 (damaged US Navy aircraft carrier USS Yorktown and her escorts) altered course to the east and proceeded out of the Coral Sea via a route south of New Caledonia. Nimitz ordered Fletcher to return USS Yorktown to Pearl Harbor as soon as possible after refueling at Tongatabu.

In the meantime, having heard nothing from Fletcher, Admiral Crace commanding the joint Auatralian US cruiser task force guarding the sea approaches of Port Moresby , deduced that Task Force 17 had departed the area. At 01:00 on 10 May, hearing no further reports of Japanese ships advancing towards Port Moresby, Crace turned towards Australia and arrived at Cid Harbour, 130 nmi (150 mi; 240 km) south of Townsville, on 11 May.

Japanese destroyers Yugure and Ushio took on fuel from a tanker in the Coral Sea at 0015 hours. At 0515 hours, Yugure was ordered to escort the damaged Shokaku to Yokosuka, Japan; Shokaku was administratively reassigned to Carrier Division 5 of 1st Air Fleet for the upcoming dramatic dash past a cordon of American submarines alerted to intercept the Japanese carrier. Meanwhile, Ushio was ordered to escort Zuikaku, which was ordered to pursue any American ships remaining in the Coral Sea area.

US Army 5th Air Force from Port Moresby began air raids on Japanese seaplane base at Debone islands.

Mindanao , Philippines : Troops of the Japanese Kawamura Detachment wiped out American and Filipino troops under Brigadier General William Sharp near Dalig on Mindanao, Philippine Islands.

Hawaii : Joseph Rochefort’s cryptanalytic team in Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii intercepted a Japanese Navy radio message ordering carrier Akagi to make rendezvous with another fleet at Sasebo, Japan on 20 May 1942.

[merdiolu]

10 May 1942

Atlantic Ocean : German submarine U-588 torpedoed and sank British cargo ship Kitty’s Brook 35 miles off of Nova Scotia, Canada; 9 were killed, 25 survived. To the south, Grman submarine U-333 torpedoed and sank British cargo ship Clan Skene 300 miles off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, United States; 9 were killed, 73 survived.

Gulf of Mexico: German submarine U-506 torpedoed and damaged US tanker Aurora 50 kilometers south of New Orleans, Louisiana, United States, killing 1 of 50 aboard; Aurora was later towed to Algiers, Louisiana for repairs.

Mediterranean Sea : Operation MG started. On 10th May, Royal Navy Mediterranean Fleet learnt from their cryptographers that an important Axis convoy was about to leave Taranto for Tripoli Libya. Since only one submarine HMS Trasher, was in a position to make contact and so four Royal Navy destroyers (HMS Kipling, HMS Jackal, HMS Jervis, and HMS Lively) aiming to intercept Axis convoy , were sailed from Alexandria , Egypt to intercept Axis convoy in the Ionian Sea.

German JU-87 dive bombers hit and sank British hospital ship Ramb IV , ten staff and 155 patients killed.

Malta : A series of six sucessive Axis air raids were intercepted and fought of by recently arrived RAF Spitfire fighters vectored by radar above Malta , eight Italian and 28 German aircraft were shot down by RAF interceptors or anti aircraft batteries on Malta. Italian Foreign Minister Count Ciano confessed in his diary “For last two days both we and Germans suffered heavy aerial casaulties over Malta”

Same day Field Marshal Albert Kesselring , German Mediterranean Theater Commander and Luftflotte II declared over optimistically that “Malta is totally neutrilised as an enemy offensive base , the destruction of Malta air base and naval facilities is complate” Next day most of the Luftflotte II , tasked for bombing Malta began to be transferred to Eastern Front for incoming German Caucaus offensive (Case Blue)

Crimea , Ukraine : With heavy air support from Luftflotte 12 , German 11th Army under command of General Erich Von Manstein broke through positions of 44th Soviet Army and began to advance toward eastern portion of Kerch Peninsula. In ‘a nightmare of confusion and incompetence’, 51st Soviet Army and remants of 44th Soviet Army fell back, defeated by a numerically inferior enemy. On 10 May, Stalin ordered Soviet troops to retire back to the ‘Turkish wall’ across the peninsula.

Lt Gen. Kozlov, the commander of the Soviet Crimean Front responsible for the Kerch’ peninsula, was reprimanded by his political commissar, Army Commissar Lev Mekhlis, who was technically superior in rank. But Stalin was unimpressed and later replied sarcastically that Mekhlis should not have blamed Kozlov, but taken responsibility himself.

Meanwhile, Luftwaffe HE-111 bombers hit and sunk Soviet hospital ship Chernomorets evacuating 500 wounded troops from the Crimean Peninsula; all aboard the vessel were killed.

Belarussia : A new concentration camp was opened near the village of Maly Trostenets near Minsk, Byelorussia where the victims were executed en masse in mobile gas vans.

Indian Ocean : German armed merchant cruiser Thor stopped Australian cargo and passenger transport Nankin with gunfire 1,500 miles west of Australia at 1430 hours, killing 2; Nankin’s crew attempted to scuttle the ship, but the attempt was stopped by a boarding party from Thor which took control of the ship.

Burma : The Thai Phayap Army invaded Shan State, Burma. In western Burma, Gurkha units, rearguard to the British general retreat, held off another Japanese assault throughout the afternoon; they also withdrew westwards after sundown

Mindanao , Philippines : US Army General William Sharp received orders from General Jonathan Wainwright to surrender all US and Filipino troops on Mindanao, Philippine Islands, which he complied.

Coral Sea : Operation RY starts. A Japanese invasion force departed Rabaul for invading Ocean (Banaba) and Nauru Islands.

American submarine USS Porpoise rescued 5 USAAF pilots near New Guinea.

[merdiolu]

11 May 1942

Atlantic Ocean : In the middle of the Atlantic Ocean 400 miles northeast of Barbuda island, German submarine U-502 torpedoed then shelled by using her deck gun on the surface and sank British cargo ship Cape of Good Hope; 37 survived.

German submarine U-558 torpedoed and sunk Royal Navy anti submarine trawler HMT Berdfordshire off North Carolina

German submarine U-553 penetrated Gulf of St. Lawrence , Canada.

Libya : The 3rd Battalion of the “San Marco” naval infantry regiment of Italian Navy moved to the coast of Gulf of Bomba in Libya in preparation for a planned amphibious operation behind Allied lines, which would never take place.

Malta : Newly arrived Spitfire fighters at Malta intercepted an Axis air fleet aiming to bomb Malta, shooting down 47 Axis aircraft at the loss of only three fighters. The large scale air raids over Malta is almost over since within two days Luftflotte II squadrons began to vbe transferred to Eastern Front. (though Axis air attacks with 20 - 40 bombers and fighter sweeps will continue for a few more weeks till Second Malta Blitz started in September 1942 when Luftflotte II squadrons partially return to Sicily to destroy British bases in Malta again)

Mediterranean Sea : Operation MG , Royal Navy attempt to intercept an Axis convoy with a destroyer sortie from Alexandria , ends up with a disaster. Royal Navy destroyers HMS Kipling, HMS Jackal, HMS Jervis, and HMS Lively, having been launched out of Alexandria, Egypt on the previous day to intercept an Axis convoy, was detected by German reconnaissance aircraft based out of Crete, Greece at about 1200 hours. At 1430 hours, 14 German JU-88 bombers from elite anti shipping squadrons of Luftflotte II attacked , bombed and sank HMS Lively 120 miles north of Sidi Barrani, Egypt at 1530 hours (76 were killed). Just before sundown, seven JU-88 bombers attacked again, hit and sinking HMS Kipling (25 were killed) and damaging HMS Jackal (15 were killed) 60 miles north of Sidi Barrani. The last destroyer in the squadron HMS Jervis rescued 630 survivors and took HMS Jackal, afire, in tow but HMS Jackal also sank a few hours later.

Black Sea : Luftwaffe JU-87 dive bombers hit and sank Soviet gunboat Rion and barge Anakriya in the Black Sea, killing 400, most of whom were wounded troops being evacuated from southern Ukraine.

Crimea , Ukraine : Red Army Crimean Front under General Kozlov and hated Soviet political comissar Lev Meklis , began preperations for evacuating Kerch peninsula on Crimea in a Dunkirk style retreat , utilising every available boat to ship shattered 44th and 51st Soviet Armies across Kerch Straits back to Taman Peninsula , east of Crimea. Meanwhile with heavy Luftwaffe air support 11th German Army overrun Tartar ditch west of Kerch peninsula , Soviet Crimean Front in a huge confusion , conflicting orders and under constant air attack of Luftflotte 12 bombers and fighters retreated further west towards a temporary line just west of Kerch.

Soviet light cruiser Voroshilov bombarded German troop positions near Tash-Alchin, Russia.

Izyum , Kharkov Front , Ukraine : Six Soviet armies supported by various independent rifle, tank, and cavalry units gathered in preparation of an offensive toward Kharkov, Ukraine. German intelligence gained knowledge of such an offensive and the German Southern Army Group under command of Field Marshal Fedor Von Bock prepared its defences around Kharkov by using Sixth Army mean while also preparing its own counter attack (Operation Fredericus II) to eliminate Soviet held Izyum salient with its own offensive to the south of Izyum bulge fibe days later by using 1st Panzer Army and 17th Army.

Szczebrzeszyn , Poland : SS Kommandant Amon Göth ordered the Jewish council of Szczebrzeszyn , Poland to pay 2,000 zloty and 3 kilograms of coffee as payment for the cost of the ammunition that would soon be used to execute the local Jewish people.

Coral Sea : Operation RY terminated. The Japanese invasion fleet (troopships Kinryu Maru and Takahata Maru, cruiser Tatsuta, destroyers Uzuki and Yuzuki, and minelayers Okinoshima (flagship) and Tsugaru) for Ocean (Banaba) and Nauru Islands set sail from Rabaul, New Britain. At 0452 hours, US submarine S-42 attacked the convoy, torpedoed and fatally damaged Okinoshima 125 miles east of Rabaul; one of the destroyers took Okinoshima in tow while the other escorts counterattacked S-42 for six hours, which would cause severe damage, forcing S-42 to end her war patrol early and return back to Australia.

At 0640 hours, heavily damaged Japanese minelayer Okinoshima foundered and sank in the St. George’s Channel. Fearing further submarine and air attacks Japanese admiral Inouye ordered cancellation of Operation RY and ordered Japanese invasion convoy to return to Rabaul.

Australian and American aircraft located the wreck of fleet oiler USS Neosho, damaged during the Battle of the Coral Sea and adrift for four days. Destroyer USS Henley arrived at 1300 hours to pick up the survivors and to scuttle wreck of USS Neosho with gunfire.

Due to heavy US Army Air Force raids , Japanese dismantle their seaplane base at Deboyne island and evacuate the island complately.

Pacific Ocean : American submarine USS Greyling torpedoed and sank Japanese cargo ship Kinyojan Maru off Truk.

Pearl Harbour , Hawaii : Joseph Rochefort’s cryptanalytic team in Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii intercepted a radio message from Nobutake Kondo noting that the occupation force for the upcoming campaign would proceed to Saipan, Mariana Islands to await the launch of the operation. Rochefort determined that this occupation force was likely to sail east rather than south, and Midway Atoll was a likely target.

[merdiolu]

12 May 1942

Atlantic Ocean : German submarine U-124 intercepted Convoy ONS-92 in North Atlantic thanks to German Navy code breakers and six U-Boats creating pack “Hect” converged on convoy , torpedoed sank British catapult armed merchant ship Empire Dell and British transport ship Llanover of Allied convoy ONS-92 800 miles west of Ireland at 0200 hours; 2 were killed, 92 survived. At 0340 hours, U-94 also attacked the convoy, torpedoed and sank Panamanian ship Cocle; 5 were killed, 37 survived. At 0400 hours, U-124 came back for another attack on the convoy, torpedoed and sinking and Greek cargo ship Mount Parnes and British cargo ship Cristales; 115 were killed. These shipping losses were avoidable since German submarine communications were incepted by escort vessels but convoy escort commander US Navy captain John Heffren ignored them.

On the North American coast, 50 miles southwest of Anticosti Island, Quebec, Canada, U-553 which penetrated Gulf of St. Lawrence torpedoed and sank Dutch cargo ship Leto and British cargo ship Nicoya , causing quite a bit panic and uproar in ther region and Canadian naval authorities. The Allies temporarily froze all gulf and river shipping, extinguished navigation lights, and saturated the gulf with ASW air patrols. Without finding anymore targets U-553 evacuated Gulf of St. Lawrence next week and ended her patrol.

German submarine U-507 torpedoed and sank US tanker Virginia immediately off the Mississippi River Delta in the Gulf of Mexico, killing 27 of 41 aboard.

English Channel : German fleet torpedoboats (destroyers but name) Seeadler and Iltis began escorting merchant raider Stier as German merchant raider left Texel , Netherlands and entered in the English Channel to attack British shipping in high seas later.

Izyum - Kharkov Front , Ukraine : The second stage of Marshal Timoshenko’s major Soviet offensive from Izyum salient toward Kharkov, Ukraine was launched, beginning with an aerial and artillery bombardment between 0630 and 0730 hours, followed by the ground assault with Soviet 6th (attacking frontally from center) , 38th and 57th Armies (attacking from southern flank of salient) aiming to take Kharkov into a pincer encirclement with Soviet 28th Army attacking from northern flank. Most of 640.000 Red Army troops , 13.000 guns and mortars and all of 1.200 tanks in Soviet Southern and South West Fronts are involved with this offensive. (However due to concentration of attack on Kharkov , very little reserve units left to Soviet 9th Army defending southern flank of Izyum salient , a blunder which Red Army and its leaders would pay dearly) By the end of the day the Soviets penetrated only about 10 kilometers into the German lines, falling far short of the ultimate goal of having the Soviet 6th and 28th Armies converging west of Kharkov to cut off the city and the German defenders.

Kerch , Crimea : Under heavy attack of Luftwaffe bombing and German 11th Army pressure , Soviet Crimean Front troops began to withdraw from the Kerch peninsula in Crimea towards Taman peninsula further east, freeing some German resources for the offensive near Kharkov, Ukraine to the north. Meanwhile Luftwaffe bombers sunk two small Soviet transports Krasny Flot and Krasny Foryat plus five Soviet patrol boats off Kerch peninsula while evacuating Soviet troops

Norwegian Sea : Soviet submarine K-23 intercepted a German convoy off Nordkyn, Norway but was in turn counterattacked by German escort trawlers UJ 1101 , UJ 1108 and UJ 1110 with depth charges, which sank K-23 with all hands lost.

UK : The US 8th Air Force began arriving in England.

Burma : The monsoon rains began in Burma, slowing the retreat of Allied troops into India, but it also stopped Japanese attempts to attack the retreating columns from the air.
The vanguard of Japanese 15th Army crossed Salween River , headed for Kengtung

Mindanao , Philippines : The last US troops in the Philippine Islands surrendered on Mindanao.

Coral Sea : American submarine USS S-44 intercepted and attacked salvage vessel Shoei Maru 24 kilometers (15 miles) off of Cape St. George, New Ireland at 0957 hours, hitting her with 2 of 4 torpedoes. Shoei Maru would sink at 1440 hours.

Pacific Ocean : American submarine USS Pollack torpedoed and sank a Japanese patrol vessel with her surface weapons off Japan.

Washington , US : Naval staff in Washington DC, United States disagreed with Joseph Rochefort’s conclusion that the Japanese was planning on an attack on Midway.

[merdiolu]

13 May 1942

Atlantic Ocean : German submarine U-69 torpedoped and damaged American cargo ship Norlantic with two torpedoes at 0338 hours and deck gun at 0347 hours en route between Pensacola, Florida, United States and Venezuela; Norlantic’s crew signaled for a ceasefire so the crew could board lifeboats, but U-69 continued to fire sinking the ship at 0411 hours; 12 men were killed during this attack.

South of New Orleans, Louisiana, United States, German submarine U-507 damaged US tanker Gulfprince with a torpedo while German submarine U-506 torpedoed and sank US tanker Gulfpenn inm same area (killing 13 of 38 aboard)

Battle of Convoy ONS-92 continues in North Atlantic. German submarine U-94 torpedoed and sank Swedish cargo ship Tolken and British cargo ship Batna of Allied convoy ONS-92 in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. Next day U-Boats retreated when ONS-92 came under air cover from Iceland though inexperience and incompatence of US Navy captain John Heffren commanding the convoy escorts , caused loss of seven ships of 52.000 tons. Captain Heffren was transferred “elsewhere” quitely after this bad performance.

To the south, U-128 torpedoed and sank British cargo ship Denpark from Allied convoy SL-109 off West Africa ; 21 were killed, 25 survived.
200 miles east of Barbados, German submarine U-162 torpedoed and sank US tanker Esso Houston and German submarine U-156 torpedoed and sank both British cargo ship City of Melbourne and Dutch cargo ship Koenjit. in the same area

Rastenburg , East Prussia : In a series of meetings between Hitler , Admiral Doenitz and Grandadmiral Raeder in 13th and 14th May , Hitler agreed to increase U-Boat building programme , allocate necessary resources for increased U-Boat construction , continue full scale submarine war not against Atlantic convoys but in US territorial waters in East Coast and further sıouth at Caribbean , Bahamas and Gulf of Mexico since defenceless targets and objectives of increased tonnage sunk can be reached in these regions more easily. Therefore the best policy was to sink ships wherever the greatest number could be sunk at the lowest cost in U-boats lost. Allied tonnage sunk anywhere degraded the ability of the enemy to mount a “second front.”

In summary , Hitler approved both admirals Doenitz , Raeder’s proposal that submarine production be stepped up from seventeen boats a month “to the very limit.” The copper and labor shortages were to be overcome by buying copper on the black market in France and Belgium and by exempting shipwrights from conscription into the Wehrmacht. Nazi Armaments Minister Albert Speer also attended these meetings and agreed with increased U-Boat construction and agreed to provide necessary raw materials even at the cost of stripping copper from high voltage power lines and church bells across Europe (which Germans suprisingly did to get copper for war production)

But, in fact, Dönitz had won only a partial victory. Humiliated that Germany could not deploy Tirpitz, in part because the Kriegsmarine had no aircraft carriers to protect her, Hitler directed that work on the carrier Graf Zeppelin was to continue at high priority and, furthermore, that the battle cruiser Gneisenau, the heavy cruiser Seydlitz (under construction), and two large ocean liners, Europa and Potsdam, be converted to aircraft carriers. This work was to divert high-grade steel, copper, and shipyard workers from U-boat production lines. Moreover, still believing that the Allies intended to invade Norway at any hour, Hitler insisted that not less than twenty U-boats remain in Norway to thwart the supposed invasion and to attack the Murmansk convoys in cooperation with the Luftwaffe, even though the nightless Arctic summer had arrived, robbing the U-boats of cover for surface chases and attacks and for charging batteries, and reducing their effectiveness to near zero. On top of that both Hitler and German Army Hight Command insisted at least 24 additional submarines kept in Mediterranean Sea to support Rommel and close Mediterranean to Allied shipping.

Murmansk , Kola Peninsula : Royal Navy light cruiser HMS Trinidad (which was damaged in March 1942 during convoy PQ-13 when struck by her malfunctioning torpedo ) under escort of destroyers HMS Foresight , HMS Forester , HMS Somali and HMS Matchless , departed Murmansk, Russia after receiving temporary repairs , returning back to Britain.

Mediterranean Sea : An Allied convoy ran into a minefield laid by German submarine U-561 five miles off of Port Said, Egypt on 14 Apr 1942; Greek cargo ship Mount Olympus sank while Greek cargo ship Fred and Norwegian cargo ship Hav were damaged by explosions. Norwegian cargo ship Hav was towed back to Alexandria but declared a total loss.

English Channel : German armed merchant cruiser raider Stier, escorted by German fleet torpedo boats Iltis, Kondor, Falke, and Seeadler, attempted to break out into the Atlantic Ocean by running the English Channel. Royal Navy tracking their movements with air recon and radar , intercepted and attacked German ships with fast motor torpedo boats MTB 219 , MTB 220 and MTB 221, Royal Navy fast torpedoboats torpedoed and sank both German fleet torpedoboat Iltis (115 were killed) and fleet torpedoboat Seeadler (85 were killed) at the cost of losing MTB 219, but they were not able to stop German merchant raider Stier from reaching Boulogne, France.

Izyum-Kharkov Front , Ukraine : Soviet troops advanced 10 kilometers toward Kharkov, Ukraine.

Kerch Peninsula , Crimea , Ukraine : German 11th Army broke through last Soviet defences and captured town of Kerch while Soviet Crimean Front hastily trying to evacuate the peninsula. Over these remnants of the Crimean Front , General Von Manstein now laid a mass artillery barrage from guns of 11th German Army quickly positioned over Kerch Heights overlooking to Soviet held bridgeheads at the tip of peninsula that are shrinking , blowing men, guns and tanks and lorries to pieces; with more air support from dive bombers of Luftflotte 12 , the Germans drove off the Black Sea Fleet motor gunboats trying desperately to lift the troops off the beach where they were being battered to death.
Vast number of Soviet troops are either cut off or surrendering , some entrenching hiding in coastal defences and caves. German forces capture huge number of war marterial , vehicles ,supplies and weapons abandoned by Soviet forces at Kerch.

Leningrad , Soviet Uniıon : In Leningrad, the deaths from starvation, while not as many as in April, were still in their thousands every day. It was on May 13 that Tanya Savicheva, a young girl who had been in the city throughout the siege, noted in her child’s address book, under the letter M: ‘Mummy May 13 at 7.30 morning 1942. The Savichevs are dead. All dead. Only Tanya remains.’ Earlier alphabetical pages showed ‘Zhenya, died Dec 28’, ‘Granny, died Jan 25’, ‘Leka, died March 17’, ‘Uncle Vasya, died April 13’ and ‘Uncle Lyosha, May 10’. Evacuated to Gorky, on the Volga, Tanya herself died of chronic dysentery in the summer of 1943.

Radun , Belarussia : On May 10, 1942, 100 young Jews were requisitioned to dig pits in the Jewish cemetery. As the working Jews attempted a mass-escape, many of them were shot. When the ghetto was liquidated, more than 1,500 Jews were killed by the SS Einsatzgruppen execution squads and the local police.

Pacific Ocean : American submarine USS Drum torpedoed and sank Japanese cargo ship Shonan Maru 20 miles south of Japan.

Japanese cargo ship Nagasaki Maru struck a mine off Nagasaki , Japan and sank.

Japan : Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto was granted audience with Emperor Showa, who congratulated him on the success in the Battle of Coral Sea. Knowing that the tactical victory was not as glorious as it appeared, Yamamoto was notedly ambiguous on his responses to the emperor.

Pearl Harbour , Hawaii : Joseph Rochefort’s cryptanalytic team in Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii intercepted a radio message of Japanese warships requesting navigation charts of the Oahu, Hawaii area. Some time later, the team intercepted a message ordering aircraft transport ship Goshu Maru to embark the seaplane unit at Emidj island, Jaluit Atoll, Marshall Islands and sail to Saipan, Mariana Islands to join the AF campaign. Realizing that AF must already have a seaplane base or was a good location for a future seaplane base, Rochefort further confirmed that AF was Midway Atoll. Later in the evening, he sent this report to Chester Nimitz and the naval leadership in Washington DC, United States.

[merdiolu]

14 May 1942

Atlantic Ocean : German submarine U-564 torpedoed and sank Mexican tanker Potrero del Llano off Florida, United States; 13 were killed, 22 survived. South of New Orleans, Louisiana, United States, German submarine U-506 torpedoed and seriously damaged US tanker David McKelvy, killing 17 of 36 aboard; she would later be written off.
German submarine U-507 torpedoed and sank Honduran cargo ship Amapala in Gulf of Mexico
50 miles west of Grenada, German submarine U-155 torpedoed and sank Belgian cargo ship Brabant. 14 miles southwest by of Grand Cayman island, German submarine U-125 torpedoed and sank Honduran cargo ship Comayagua. 90 miles northeast of Barbados, German submarine U-162 torpedoed and sank British tanker British Colony with 6 torpedoes; 4 were killed, 43 survived.

Washington , USA : Admiral Ernest King finally agreed to allow Vice Admiral Adolphus Andrews to organize cutters and other small armed vessels to protect shipping on the US Atlantic coast.

Barents Sea : Royal Navy light cruiser HMS Trinidad was hit and fatally damaged by Luftwaffe JU-88 bombers, killing 63 in the Barents Sea north of Norway. A German Fw 200 Condor aircraft discovered Trinidad off northern Russia at 0730 hours; at 1852 hours, two BV 138 aircraft relieved the Fw 200 aircraft in shadowing the cruiser; at 2200 hours, a wave of JU-88 bombers attacked and severely damaged the cruiser. Due to heavy bomb damage and unable to maneuver anymore , after her crew and passengers were evacuated , HMS Trinidad was scuttled by a torpedo from escort destroyer HMS Matchless next day 170 miles off Norway. Eighty sailors were killed, twenty of whom were injured men who had been taken off the cruiser HMS Edinburgh , when she had been hit on the same run two weeks earlier. But at the cost of two Royal Navy light cruisers and a destroyer more than fifty merchant ships managed to reach Murmansk that month, with their war cargoes for the Russian front.

Spitzbergen , Norway : Luftwaffe FW-200 Condor aircraft raided Allied held Spitzbergen (where only a small a meteorology and radio station active) bombed and hit and sinking Norwegian icebreaker Isbjorn and s seal cataching boat Selis

English Channel : RAF Coastal Command Hudson bombers hit and sank German minesweepers M26 and M256 off Cherbourg, France at 1400 hours.

North Sea : German minesweeping trawler M-1307 struck a friendly mine and sank in the North Sea.

Mediterranean Sea : Royal Navy submarine HMS Turbulent sank small Italian cargo vessel San Giusto with her deck gun off Ras el Hilal, Libya at 2100 hours; San Giusto exploded as her cargo of 161 tons of gasoline was detonated.

Kharkov , Ukraine : Newly arrived German aircraft from Luftflotte 12 in the Kharkov region in Ukraine overcame Soviet aircraft over battlezone and halted the northern pincer of the Soviet attack by heavy and accurate dive bombing and high attitude bombing attacks on Soviet tank and infantry columns out of Kharkov. On the ground, with Field Marshal Fedor Von Bock’s urging , General Ewald von Kleist prepared his German 1st Panzer Army for a counterattack on the southern base of Izyum weakly held by dispersed Soviet 9th Army to cut off Izyum salient and destroying Soviet South West Front complately.
At the Soviet side , Marshal Timoshenko hesistates to deploy his main armored reserve 21st Soviet Tank Corps to the offensive due to wrong intelligence estimates that German armored forces were further north.

Black Sea : Soviet destroyer Dzerzhinski struck a mine and sank near Sevastopol, Russia.

Madacascar , Indian Ocean : Despite British assurances that Madacascar will be retrned back to French colonial rule , General De Gaulle leader of Free French sent Free French units to Madacascar under British command to participate the capture of the island.

Burma : Burma Corps under command of General William Slim accompanied appox. 400.000 refugees escaping from Japanese reached Tamu on Burma-India frontier

Pacific Ocean : American submarine USS Tuna torpedoed and sank Japanese troop transport ship Toyoharu Maru 65 miles off Sohuksando, Korea.

New Caledonia , South West Pacific : US Navy transport ship USS Tangier arrived at Nouméa, New Caledonia with flying boats, thus freeing fleet carriers from scouting duty.

Pearl Harbour , Hawaii : Joseph Rochefort presented his Midway Atoll theory to Chester Nimitz’s war plans officer Lynde McCormick. McCormick spent hours at Rochefort’s office at the basement of the main navy building in Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii and was convinced that Rochefort’s theory was likely correct. McCormick would return to Nimitz and would convince Nimitz to agree to this theory.

[merdiolu]

15 May 1942

Atlantic Ocean : German submarine U-156 torpedoed and sank Norwegian cargo ship Siljestad 420 miles northeast of Barbados at 0254 hours (2 were killed, 31 survived); several hours later, as Yugoslavian ship Kupa responded to the distress call and arrived to pick up survivors, she was also attacked , torpedoed and sunk by U-156 at 2100 hours (2 were killed, 39 survived)

South Atlantic : British cargo ship Soudan struck a mine and sank off Cape Agulhas , South Africa , one crewmember killed , rest reasched to coast.

Kiel , Northern Germany : German pocket battleship Lützow departed Kiel, Germany for Ofotfjord in northern Norway.

North Sea : RAF Coastal Command Hudson bombers hit and sank German manned Norwegian cargo ship Selje and German anti submarine trawler V 2002 Madeleine Louise off Terschelling , Holland

USA : The first seventeen U.S. states put gasoline rationing into effect after it became apparent that voluntary rationing was insufficient

Kerch Peninsula , Crimea , Ukraine : German 11th Army complated recapture of Kerch Peninsula (Operation Bustard) For Soviet Armed Forces whole Kerch operation ended with a huge defeat and disaster , entire Soviet Crimean Front was literally wiped out. The mopping up holding Soviet pockets and remants in coastal caves and enclaves will continue till 20th May. On 15 May, General Halder , head of OKW ( German General Staff ) in Rastenburg , noted in his diary ‘the Kerch’ offensive may be considered closed’. Russians sources say it ended on 18 May and fighting in the area finally came to an end on 21 May, six days after Halder’s note.

Of the Soviet forces trapped on the peninsula, 176,000 soldiers, went into German captivity. Additionally 24.000 Red Army troops were killed. Some 7,558 Germans were killed in action and 21.000 Germans were wounded , while 120,000 Russians — according to Soviet records — escaped across the Kerch’ strait to the Taman peninsula on the other side. The Germans also claimed to have taken 258 tanks and more than 1,100 guns. Now great naval base and port city of Sevastapol in southern tip of Crimea stands alone and open to attack. Stalin , enraged that all of the struggles and resources to recapture Crimea since last winter were utterly lost due to frontline incompatence , sacked General Kozlov , former Soviet Crimean Front commander and demoted front political commissar Lev Meklis.

Luftwaffe He 111 bombers of German Luftwaffe group I./KG 100 attacked Taman harbor, Russia with the heavy 1,800-kilogram SC 1800 bombs, causing heavy damage.

Kharkov , Ukraine : Soviet Southwest Front troops attempted a renewed offensive toward Kharkov, Ukraine, but failing to regain momentum. Meanwhile Nikita Khruschev , political comissar of Southwest Front , recognising German build up in south of Izyum salient and (according to his memoirs) called off Moscow to seek permission from Stalin and STAVKA for ending Kharkov offensive and return south to contain this new threat. But Stalin refused to speak to him and Stalin’s aide Georgy Malenkov replied on his behalf “Stalin ordered Leave things as they are”

Burma : The retreating Allied columns and refugees reached Assam in northeastern India. More than 900 mile (1.440 km) long retreat and evacuation of Burma by Burma Corps , Chinese Nationalist units and Burmaise and Indian , Malay , Chinese refugees is almost complate. British , Indian , Burmaise troops exhausted , wrecked by disease , lost most of their heavy weapons and a lot of motorised vehicles but managed to extract and withdraw in a cohesive and ordered manner back to Indian frontier and Chinese troops Japanese 15th Army halted its pursuit after crossing Irrawady due to exhaustion and logistical problems.
General Harold Alexander arrived at Imphal, India.
General Joseph Stilwell arrived in India.

Porteguise Timor , Dutch East Indies : The Australian Sparrow Force conducted a raid on Japanese barracks at Dili, Portuguese Timor.

Pacific Ocean : American submarine USS Tuna torpedoed and sank Japanese cargo ship Toyohara Maru off Honshu , Japan.

Coral Sea : Task Force 16 (aircraft cariers USS Enterprise and USS Hornet escorted by two cruisers and six destroyers) under command of Admiral William Halsey departed Coral Sea , heading back to Pearl Harbour , Hawaii.

Washington , USA and Pearl Harbour , Hawaii : Admiral Ernest King allowed Chester Nimitz to move the two carriers currently in the South Pacific to move up to the Central Pacific area, but King noted that he was still not convinced that Midway Atoll was the primary target of the suspected Japanese offensive. Later in the same day, Nimitz responded to the message, stressing that he believed the Japanese was likely to launch a three-prong attack against Midway Atoll, Aleutian Islands, and, likely at a two-to-three-week delay, Port Moresby in Australian Papua.