16 May 1892
- Manton Eddy was born.
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16 May 1916
- The Sykes-Picot agreement was signed in which Sir Mark Sykes of Great Britain and George Picot of France obtained from Russia agreement as to how the Ottoman Empire would be divided up after the war. In exchange for British and French territorial gains, Russia would take control of the Turkish Armenian provinces and northern Kurdistan.
16 May 1932
- Hiroaki Abe was transferred out of Japanese Navy Destroyer Division 1.
» In-depth article
16 May 1938
- Adolf Hitler asked his top commanders how many German divisions were on the border with Czechoslovakia and were ready to move within a twelve hour window. The answer he received was twelve.
» In-depth article - Photos dated 16 May 1938
16 May 1939
- Admiral Erich Raeder presented to Adolf Hitler German Navy's plan for conducting war against Poland in the Baltic Sea and against Britain and France in the Atlantic Ocean.
» In-depth article - Cruiser Köln completed training in the North Atlantic.
» In-depth article
16 May 1940
- German 6th Army broke through the Dyle Line; British troops withdrew west of Brussels and the Belgian government evacuated to Ostend. From its Meuse River bridgeheads, German Army Group A tanks broke through the French lines, capturing thousands of surrendering French troops. Guderian's units reached Montcornet, while Rommel's units reached Avesnes-sur-Helpe. Fearful that this advance into France would expose the invasion's flanks, the German High Command ordered Army Group A to halt its spearheads so that the infantry could catch up.
» In-depth article - Churchill urged Mussolini to stay out of the war.
- British Prime Minister Churchill flew to Paris, France to meet with his French counterpart Reynaud. Witnessing the burning of government archives, he inquired about the strategic reserve, and received the answer "Aucune" ("There is none").
- French Prime Minister Reynaud ordered Maxime Weygand to return from Syria to Paris, France.
» In-depth article - Remy Van Lierde was shot down while flying a reconnaissance mission over Belgium, becoming captured.
» In-depth article - US President Roosevelt requested the US Congress to appropriate US$546,000,000 for the US Army, US$250,000,000 for US Navy and US Marine Corps, and US$100,000,000 for his own office for national defense purposes. He also requested the authorization for the military and his own office to issue contracts in the amount of US$186,000,000 and US$100,000,000, respectively.
» In-depth article - US President Roosevelt responded to British Prime Minister Churchill's telegraph from the previous day, noting that any military aid to Britain must have the authorization from the US Congress, and that the US fleet would remain concentrated at Hawaii in the Central Pacific for the time being.
» In-depth article - Photos dated 16 May 1940
16 May 1941
- With drinking water fouled in the Italian stronghold of Amba Alagi, Abyssinia, the Italian Viceroy Duke of Aosta requested the British to send in fresh water. When the British refused, he called for a ceasefire in order to begin surrender negotiations. By this point, his forces had suffered incurring 289,000 casualties.
» In-depth article - German bombers conducted what would turn out to be the last major raid against London, England, United Kingdom, as most Luftwaffe units were being transferred to the Eastern Front.
» In-depth article - RAF aircraft conducted raids on Köln (Cologne) and Bramsfield in Germany; at the latter target the Atlantik rubber works was damaged.
» In-depth article - German bombers damaged British destroyer HMS Encounter in drydock at Malta.
» In-depth article - German bombers sank British troopship Archangel 10 miles off Aberdeen, Scotland, United Kingdom; 52 were killed, 435 survived.
- Italian sappers cleared barbed wires and mines. The subsequent attack on Tobruk, Libya saw Italian troops capturing several bunkers.
» In-depth article - Brigadier Gott withdrew British tanks and infantry from the desert around Sollum and Fort Capuzzo, Libya to consolidate a hold on Halfaya Pass on the Egyptian-Libyan border.
» In-depth article - The final British reinforcements arrived on Crete, Greece. On the same day, German aircraft bombed various British positions on Crete (including airfields) as well as the shipping in Suda Bay (sinking several freighters and damaging HMS York).
» In-depth article - German Me 110 and He 111 bombers attacked RAF Habbaniyah in Iraq, surprising the British; the British and the Germans each lost one aircraft during the attack. Meanwhile, German aircraft strafed British reinforcements traveling eastward from Palestine.
» In-depth article - German submarine U-105 attacked British ship Rodney Star 400 miles west of Sierra Leone, British West Africa between 0548 and 0930 hours, hitting her with torpedoes and gunfire; Rodney Star sank; the entire crew of 83 survived.
- German submarine U-109 stumbled upon an American fleet containing a battleship and several destroyers. She dove and avoided attack.
- The damaged port side crane aboard Bismarck was repaired.
» In-depth article
16 May 1942
- German troops captured Kerch; Soviet troops in the area began a 5-day evacuation under heavy fire.
» In-depth article - Allied forces completed the withdraw from Burma to India after suffering 50% losses.
» In-depth article - German submarine U-506 damaged US tankers Sun and William C. McTarnahan (killing 18 of 38 aboard) and sank US tanker Gulfoil (killing 21 of 40 aboard) 50 kilometers south of New Orleans, Louisiana, United States.
» In-depth article - The first operational use of "Kittybombers" in the western desert (P-40 Kittyhawk fighters equipped with a bomb rack for a 500-lb bomb) occured when six aircraft of No. 112 squadron RAF attacked an enemy camp east of the main road near Bomba, Libya.
» In-depth article - Japanese bombers attacked Imphal, India.
- USS Enterprise received orders to return to Pearl Harbor.
» In-depth article - USS Hornet received orders to return to Pearl Harbor.
» In-depth article - Prinz Eugen arrived at Kiel, Germany to receive a new stern, which was destroyed on 23 Feb by a torpedo from HMS Trident.
» In-depth article - Destroyer Yuzuki departed Ocean and Nauru Islands area for Truk, Caroline Islands.
» In-depth article - Corsaro was commissioned into service.
» In-depth article
16 May 1943
- Wing Commander Guy Gibson's Dambusters attacked the Ruhr River dams in Germany, breaching two of them. This caused severe flooding and the deaths of many civilians, and did little direct harm to the nearby industrial facilities.
» In-depth article - The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising ended in Poland with the destruction of the Warsaw synagogue at 2015 hours. In Jürgen Stroop's final daily report, he noted that 180 Jewish fighters were killed on this final day.
» In-depth article - Joseph Goebbels noted in his diary that Kiel, Germany was heavily damaged in an Allied bombing.
» In-depth article - USS Mingo departed New London, Connecticut, United States for the Panama Canal.
» In-depth article - USS Snook sank a Japanese trawler with her deck gun.
» In-depth article
16 May 1944
- A transport of Jews from Hungary arrived at Auschwitz. Adolf Eichmann, in charge of all transports to the camps, arrived to oversee and speed up the extermination process personally.
- Major General Nobuo Tanaka ordered a two-pronged offensive toward Bishenpur and the plains near Imphal in India.
» In-depth article - USS Sea Cat was commissioned into service.
» In-depth article - USS Pintado departed Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii for her first war patrol.
» In-depth article - Light carrier Ryuho arrived at Tawi-Tawi, Mindanao, Philippine Islands.
» In-depth article
» Tabular Record of Movement - Photos dated 16 May 1944
16 May 1945
- Alderney of the Channel Islands was reoccupied by British troops; the garrison of 3,200 German troops became prisoners of war.
- William Slim and Aung San met at Meiktila, Burma; Slim later noted that although Aung San had an anti-British history, he was a promising candidate to lead Burma after the war.
» In-depth article - Japanese hospital ship Hikawa Maru departed Maizuru, Japan.
» In-depth article
» Tabular Record of Movement - Aircraft from escort carrier HMS Emperor attacked Japanese cruiser Haguro at the entrance of the Malacca Strait.
» In-depth article
» Tabular Record of Movement - USS Segundo departed for her fourth war patrol.
» In-depth article - After not responding to communications since 9 Apr 1945, USS Snook was presumed lost.
» In-depth article - USS Hawkbill arrived off British Malaya to serve on lifeguard station.
» In-depth article - USS Sennet arrived at Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii, ending her third war patrol.
» In-depth article
16 May 1946
- Allied repatriation ship Hikawa Maru arrived at Morotai, Moluccan Islands and embarked Japanese personnel. She departed later on the same day.
» In-depth article
» Tabular Record of Movement - Lardner was decommissioned from service.
» In-depth article
16 May 1948
- Zhao Chengshou surrendered to the Chinese Communist forces at Jinzhong, Shanxi, China.
» In-depth article
16 May 1949
- USS Segundo entered Mare Island Naval Shipyard, California, United States for overhaul.
» 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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