World War II Database

• Home
• » Events
• » WW2 Timeline
• » 8 May 1941

• German aircraft conducted the last of the two consecutive nightly raids on Hull, England. ww2dbase [Battle of Britain | TH]
• A Walrus seaplane from British cruiser HMS Cornwall spotted German armed merchant cruiser Pinguin 400 miles off British Somaliland. The two ships fired on each other at 1714 hours; Pinguin was fatally damaged by Cornwall's superior firepower, but Cornwall was also hit, killing 1 and wounding 3. Shortly after Pinguin's commanding officer gave the abandon ship order, an eight-inch shell hit Pinguin, detonating her store of 130 naval mines and sinking her; 341 crew and 214 prisoners were killed, 66 crew and 22 prisoners survived. ww2dbase [Pinguin | CPC]
• German submarine U-97 sank British ship Ramillies in the North Atlantic; 29 were killed, 12 survived. ww2dbase [CPC]

• Comandante Cappellini sighted a German submarine in the Atlantic Ocean at 2250 hours and exchanged recognition signals. ww2dbase [Comandante Cappellini | CPC]

• Indian troops attacked Amba Alagi, Ethiopia at dawn, taking the Falagi Pass and three hills east and south of the city, respectively. Later in the morning, Italian troops counterattacked and recaptured two of the hills. ww2dbase [Invasion of Italian East Africa | Amba Alagi | CPC]

• 359 British RAF bombers attacked Hamburg and Bremen in Germany. ww2dbase [Bombing of Hamburg, Dresden, and Other Cities | Hamburg | CPC]

8 May 1941 Interactive Map