24 May 1913
- Chuichi Nagumo was assigned to destroyer Akizuki.
» In-depth article
24 May 1920
China
China
- Isaburo Yamagata succeeded Gonsuke Hayashi as the Governor-General of Kwantung Leased Territory in northeastern China.
24 May 1932
Germany
Germany
- The Do X aircraft arrived in Berlin, Germany, welcomed by 200,000 people.
» In-depth article
24 May 1937
- The Soviet Central Committee decided to place the arrested Marshal Mikhail Nikolaievich Tukhachevsky (the former First Deputy Commissar of Defence) and seven other Military Commanders on trial, accused of plotting an army conspiracy to overthrow Stalin.
24 May 1938
- Werner Mölders became the commanding officer of the 3rd Squadron of Jagdgruppe 88 in Spain.
» In-depth article
24 May 1940
- In France, the German 10th Panzer Division began an attack on Calais and captured the town of Boulogne (capturing 5,000 Allied troops), Maubeuge, and Saint-Omer. To the north, the German 1st Panzer Division reached the Aa Canal 10 miles from Dunkerque in an attempt to cut off the Allied troops in Belgium. At this key moment, Adolf Hitler interfered and ordered the tanks to pull back; he was promised by Hermann Göring that the Luftwaffe would be able to prevent the Allied evacuation from taking place; German Army generals protested, but to no avail. Meanwhile, German troops captured Ghent and Tournai, Belgium.
» In-depth article - The British War Cabinet issued the order to withdraw the British troops in Norway in light of the situation in France.
» In-depth article - German aircraft sank British destroyer Wessex off the coast of Calais, France.
- King Loopold III assumed command of the Belgian Army.
» In-depth article - German submarine U-37 sank Greek ship Kyma 200 miles west of Brest, France at 0248 hours, killing 7. Aboard were 6,000 tons of corn and 90 tons of trucks from Argentina to Britain.
- The President of Panama expressed support for the Dominican Republic in terms of the 8 Mar 1940 incident where a Canadian destroyer attacked German freighter Hannover in Dominic Republic's territorial waters. He called for the Chairman of the Inter-American Neutrality Committee in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil to investigate this violation of the Pan-American Neutrality Zone.
» In-depth article
- British Lieutenant Christopher Furness, the son of Viscount Furness, was killed in hand to hand fighting near Arras, France after his Bren gun carrier group engaged a vastly superior enemy force in order to allow a convoy to escape. He was awarded a posthumous Victoria Cross.
- Walter Grabmann was liberated by German troops in France.
» In-depth article
24 May 1941
See all photos dated 24 May 1941
- King George II of Greece departed Crete, Greece for Cairo, Egypt.
» In-depth article - British battlecruiser HMS Hood and battleship HMS Prince of Wales engaged German battleship Bismarck and cruiser Prinz Eugen at 0552 hours at the distance of 24 kilometers. At 0600, a 15 inch shells from Bismarck penetrated Hood's thin deck armor, detonating a magazine and sinking her with almost all killed. Prince of Wales broke off from the battle at 0604 hours after being hit 7 times. Bismarck was hit 3 times and began to sail south for repairs. At 2350 hours, 8 British Swordfish torpedo bombers from aircraft carrier HMS Victorious attacked Bismarck and scored one torpedo hit.
» In-depth article - The British government collected £124,000,000 in donations after a week-long War Weapon Week event.
- At 0552 hours, battleship Bismarck reported 'in fight with two heavy units' as she was engaged by British warships. Between 0555 and 0601 hours, she was hit on the port side by three shells from HMS Prince of Wales, but by 0601 she was able to sink HMS Hood. Between 0602 and 0609, she scored four hits on HMS Prince of Wales. At 0801 hours, Bismarck reported damage with electric plant no. 4 and boiler room no. 2; she would head for Saint-Nazaire due to her low fuel levels.
» In-depth article - Prinz Eugen engaged in combat with HMS Prince of Wales and HMS Hood alongside of German battleship Bismarck. She scored the first hit on HMS Hood.
» In-depth article - British Lieutenant Commander Malcolm Wanklyn of the submarine HMS Upholder won the Victoria Cross for sinking an Italian transport off Sicily, Italy and surviving 37 depth charges in 20 minutes. By the end of the year he had sunk 140,000 tons of enemy shipping. Wanklyn and Upholder were lost off Tripoli in Apr 1942.
- Allied troops began to fall back southward in Crete, Greece. German bombers attacked Chaniá on the northern coast, causing great damage. After dark, British minelayer HMS Abdiel transported 200 British commandos from Alexandria, Egypt to Suda Bay, Crete; another effort to transport 800 commandos to Port Lutro, Crete was canceled due to bad weather.
» In-depth article - German submarine U-38 sank British ship Vulcain off British West Africa at 0249 hours, killing 7. In the same general area, U-103 sank Greek ship Marionga at 0356 hours, killing 26.
- German auxiliary cruiser Atlantis sank British ship Trafalgar 850 miles off South Africa; 12 were killed, 33 survived.
See all photos dated 24 May 1941
24 May 1942
- German forces launched Operation Hannover to clear the Bryanks-Vyazma rail line of partisans.
- The first battalion of Spanish volunteers who fought under the German banner returned to Spain after completing a tour in Russia; up until this point, only the wounded were sent back to Spain from the Eastern Front.
- All American warships in the Coral Sea area were recalled to Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii in anticipation of the Japanese attack on Midway Atoll.
» In-depth article - German submarine U-502 sank Brazilian ship Gonçalves Dias 100 miles south of Santa Domingo, Dominican Republic; 6 were killed, 39 survived. U-103 sank Dutch ship Hetor 60 miles northwest of Grand Cayman island at 1640 hours; 2 were killed, 29 survived.
» In-depth article - British trawler HMS Retriever broke away from Allied convoy PQ-16 and returned for Iceland.
» In-depth article
- The floatplane of Japanese submarine I-9 conducted a reconnaissance mission over Kiska and Amchitka Islands in the US Territory of Alaska.
- 3 US B-26 Marauder bombers attacked Rabaul, New Britain, destroying the Genzan Air Group headquarters building and destroying four land-attack aircraft on the ground; 2 of the US bombers were damaged during this attack.
- Tatsuta Maru arrived at Sasebo, Japan.
» In-depth article
» Tabular Record of Movement - Repair ship Akashi exited the drydock at Kure, Japan.
» In-depth article
» Tabular Record of Movement
- Warrant Officer Susumo Ito, flying in a submarine-based (submarine I-21) E14Y aircraft, conducted a photographic reconnaissance mission over Auckland, New Zealand. The Auckland airport controllers mistook the Japanese aircraft for a friendly one and turned on the landing lights.
» In-depth article
- USS Pompano sank Japanese fishing vessel Kotoku Maru with the deck gun 20 miles northeast of Taiwan.
» In-depth article
- Soviet troops at Izium, Ukraine were completed surrounded by German troops.
» In-depth article
- German bombers attacked the Royal Navy seaplane training center at Poole in southern England, United Kingdom.
» In-depth article
24 May 1943
- SS-Hauptsturmfuehrer Dr. Josef Mengele arrived at Auschwitz Concentration Camp. He was soon to begin experiments on prisoners.
» In-depth article - US troops mopped up the final Japanese opposition groups in the Aleutian Islands. Overall in this campaign, the 2,600 Japanese men were wiped out at a cost of 550 American lives.
» In-depth article - British bombers attacked East Frisian Islands (Ostfriesische Inseln) in northwestern Germany.
» In-depth article - After suffering many submarine sinkings during May 1943, German Admiral Karl Dönitz ordered a temporary halt to submarine operations in the North Atlantic to regroup and re-evaluate tactics.
» In-depth article - Bunker Hill was commissioned into service.
» In-depth article - The United States Marine Corps abolished its glider program.
- USS Cabrilla was commissioned into service with Commander Douglas Thompson Hammond in command.
» In-depth article
- Japanese 39th Division completed the crossing of the Yangtze River near Pianyan, Hubei Province, China.
» In-depth article
- Irako departed Kure, Japan for Truk, Caroline Islands with armed merchant cruiser Aikoku Maru in escort.
» In-depth article
» Tabular Record of Movement
- USS Bluefish was commissioned into service with Commander George E. Porter in command.
» In-depth article
24 May 1944
- British Prime Minister Churchill formally announced that Spain would not be a target of the forthcoming Allied invasion on continental western Europe.
» In-depth article - SS official Adolf Eichmann's office in Budapest reported that 116,000 Hungarian Jews had already been deported, and another 200,000 were awaiting deportation, most of which were from Carpatho-Ruthenia and Transylvania.
» In-depth article - A transport of 859 prisoners from the Pawiak prison in Warsaw, Poland arrived at Stutthof Concentration Camp.
» In-depth article - USS Cabrilla damaged a Japanese ship east of Borneo, hitting her with 1 of 6 torpedoes fired.
» In-depth article - Japanese troops captured Gibraltar Hill and attacked Lone Tree Hill near Imphal, India. To the north at Kohima, Indian 7th Division began an offensive against Dyer Hill, Pimple Hill, and Big Tree Hill.
» In-depth article - Japanese troops penetrated Chindit defense lines near the Blackpool site in Burma.
» In-depth article - USS Flying Fish attempted to attack a Japanese convoy; all 4 torpedoes fired missed. She was detected and was subjected to a depth charge counterattack.
» In-depth article
- Iceland's four-day plebiscite ended; the result would show that 97% of the population wished to terminate the personal union with the King of Denmark, and 95% of the population wished to establish a new republic.
- US forces captured Terracina, Italy.
» In-depth article - The German Senger Line south of Rome, Italy was breached by troops of Canadian 1st Infantry Division, Canadian 5th Armoured Division, and II Polish Corps.
» In-depth article
24 May 1945
- The Allies began exchanging the prisoners of war they had freed in Germany.
- Operation Kikusui No. 7 was launched off Okinawa, Japan, participated by about 65 Japanese Navy and 100 Japanese Army special attack and escorting aircraft. On the island, seven Type 97 bombers attempted to crash-land at an American-controlled airfield to deliver suicide commandos during Operation Gi; several aircraft were shot down, but those who successfully reached the airfield delivered 69 commandos who destroyed 9 aircraft and damaged 29 others and set the fuel dump aflame; all commandos were killed or committed suicide.
» In-depth article - USS Pompon arrived at Guam, Mariana Islands, ending her eighth war patrol.
» In-depth article - USS Ray sank 2 small Japanese vessels west of Japan with her deck gun.
» In-depth article
- At Salzburg, Austria, Field Marshal Robert Ritter von Greim, head of the Luftwaffe, committed suicide in American captivity. Having learnt that he was to be a part of a Soviet-American prisoner exchange and, fearing torture and execution at the hands of the Russians, he took cyanide. His final words were: "I am the head of the Luftwaffe, but have no Luftwaffe."
» In-depth article
- USS Ticonderoga departed Ulithi, Caroline Islands with other ships of Task Group 58.4.
» In-depth article
- Aircraft of US Navy Task Force 58 attacked airfields in southern Kyushu, Japan while 520 US Army B-29 bombers attacked urban and industrial areas south of the Imperial Palace in Tokyo.
» In-depth article - Submarine I-369 arrived at Yokosuka, Japan.
» In-depth article
- Joseph Stilwell arrived in Manila, Philippine Islands.
» In-depth article
24 May 1946
Dutch East Indies
Dutch East Indies
- Allied repatriation ship Hikawa Maru arrived at Makassar, Celebes, Dutch East Indies and embarked Japanese personnel. She departed later on the same day.
» In-depth article
» Tabular Record of Movement
24 May 1947
Japan
Japan
- Shigeru Yoshida stepped down as the Prime Minister and the Foreign Minister of Japan.
» In-depth article
24 May 1950
- Archibald Wavell passed away.
» In-depth article
24 May 1954
- USS Blenny joined the US Navy Atlantic Fleet.
» In-depth article
24 May 1962
Photo(s) dated 24 May 1962
Photo(s) dated 24 May 1962
24 May 1981
- Claude Auchinleck passed away.
» In-depth article
24 May 2008
United States
United States
- Daniel Inouye married Irene Hirano in Beverly Hills, California, United States.
» In-depth article
24 May 2009
Photo(s) dated 24 May 2009
Photo(s) dated 24 May 2009
24 May 2010
- The US Federal Register reopened the bidding process for the conversion and maintenance of battleship Iowa as a museum ship.
» In-depth article
Timeline Section Founder: Thomas Houlihan
Contributors: Alan Chanter, C. Peter Chen, Thomas Houlihan, David Stubblebine
Special Thanks: Rory Curtis
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"Goddam it, you'll never get the Purple Heart hiding in a foxhole! Follow me!"Captain Henry P. Jim Crowe, Guadalcanal, 13 Jan 1943