21 May 1893
- Charles Portal was born.
» In-depth article
21 May 1895
Taiwan
Taiwan
- Admiral Viscount Sukenori Kabayama was named the governor-general of Taiwan.
21 May 1899
- Ioseb Jughashvili, already disenchanted with religion and rebellious, was removed from the Tiflis Theological Seminary in Tiflis, Georgia Governorate, Russian Empire.
» In-depth article
21 May 1911
- Having defeated the weak Federal Army, Francisco I. Madero compels Mexican President Porfirio Díaz to sign the Treaty of Ciudad, forcing his abdication and handing over of power to the Revolutionaries.
21 May 1915
- The French army officially adopted the Adrian helmet.
21 May 1932
- The Do X aircraft departed New York, United States.
» In-depth article
21 May 1935
- German military required "Aryan heritage" for service.
- Werner Mölders received the Pilot's Badge of the Luftwaffe.
» In-depth article
- Zheng Xiaoxu resigned as the Prime Minister of the puppet state of Manchukuo.
» In-depth article - Zhang Jinghui was named the second Prime Minister of the puppet state of Manchukuo.
» In-depth article - Zang Shiyi was named the Manchukuo Speaker of the Legislature.
» In-depth article - Xi Qia stepped down as the Minister of Finance of the Japanese-sponsored puppet state of Manchukuo and became the Imperial Household Minister of the Aisin Gioro royal clan.
» In-depth article - Historical document written: No. 2-8: Exerpts of Hitler's Speeches on German-Polish Peace, 1935-1939
» In-depth article
21 May 1937
- As reprisal for the failed assassination of Italian Viceroy Rodolfo Graziani earlier this year, Italian troops massacred the entire community of Debre Libanos in Abyssinia, killing 320.
21 May 1938
- Gneisenau was commissioned into service.
» In-depth article
- British Ambassador Nevile Henderson met with German Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop twice in Berlin, Germany on this date in regards to the tension over Czechoslovakia. British Foreign Minister Lord Halifax likewise met with German Ambassador Herbert von Dirksen in Berlin, Germany.
» In-depth article
21 May 1939
- USS Astoria arrived at Guam, Mariana Islands.
» In-depth article
21 May 1940
- German General Rommel bypassed Arras, France and advanced west toward the English Channel. 74 British tanks spearheaded two infantry divisions in an attempt to counter Rommel's offensive, but it was defeated by Rommel's use of 8.8 cm FlaK anti-aircraft guns in an anti-tank role. Elsewhere, the French 9th Army was surrounded and destroyed; commanding officer General Giraud was captured.
» In-depth article - German bombers attacked British ports on the English Channel while RAF bombers attacked refineries near Rotterdam, the Netherlands.
- The British government announced that over 250,000 men had enrolled in the Local Defence Volunteers organization within the first 24 hours of its existance.
- British Royal Air Force 263 Squadron and 46 Squadron arrived in Narvik, Norway with 18 Gladiator and 18 Hurricane aircraft to provide additional, but still not adequate, protection for Allied warships in the area.
» In-depth article - Orion rounded Cape Horn and entered the South Pacific.
» In-depth article - Erwin Rommel was awarded the 1939 clasp to his Iron Cross First Class medal.
» In-depth article - An official British Admiralty communiqué noted that "[t]he Secretary of the Admiralty regrets to announce that as the result of damage sustained through striking an uncharted rock off the Norwegian coast, HMS Effingham (Captain JM Howson, RN), has become a total loss".
» In-depth article
- Émile Bertin completed her repairs at Brest, France.
» In-depth article
21 May 1941
- At a meeting of the Central Committee War Section in Moscow, Russia, the intelligence reports, provided by Communist sympathisers in Germany, that an attack on the Soviet Union was imminent was greeted with much apprehension. Stalin however still refused to accept the intelligence, believing that the reports must be either deliberate provocation of misinformation by the British to get the Soviet Union involved in the war. When General Proskurov, the head of Soviet Intelligence, argued personally with Stalin, he was duly arrested and shot.
» In-depth article - In the early hours of the day, 3 British cruisers and 4 destroyers intercepted and sank 11 small Axis vessels, killing 297 Germans. In the morning, 650 men of the German 5. Gebirsgäger Division landed on Crete, Greece in time to support the paratroopers already in position against a British counter attack at Maleme airfield. Many of the transport aircraft that delivered the troops would be damaged or destroyed on the airfield before they could take off. New Zealand General Freyberg held back his reserves despite German presence at Maleme, believing that the main German invasion was still to come at the beaches. At the nearby island of Milos, 19 fishing boats and 2 small passenger ships disembarked 2,331 German infantry. Out at sea, German aircraft damaged HMS Dido, HMS Orion, and HMS Ajax while Italian bombers sank HMS Juno (128 killed, 97 survived).
» In-depth article - The Women's Land Army in the United Kingdom was declared to have over 11,000 members.
- A Vichy French military court sentenced 56 enlisted soldiers who sided with de Gaulle to death or hard labor, in absentia.
- Vichy France government confiscated all property owned by Free French troops.
- German submarine U-69 sank unarmed American freighter Robin Moor by torpedo and gunfire 800 miles off the coast of British West Africa at 0525 hours; Robin Moor was the first American merchantman to be sunk by a German submarine in WW2. All 46 aboard survived. US President Roosevelt protested the sinking and unsuccessfully demanded compensation from Germany. At midnight at the very end of the day, U-69 struck again, sinking British ship Tewkesbury; all 42 aboard survived.
- The German fleet containing Bismarck was spotted by a British Coastal Command Spitfire aircraft at 1315 hours in the Korsfjord. It departed Korsfjord at 2000 hours.
» In-depth article - The German fleet containing Prinz Eugen was spotted by a British Coastal Command Spitfire aircraft at 1315 hours in the Korsfjord. It departed Korsfjord at 2000 hours.
» In-depth article - German battleship Bismarck and cruiser Prinz Eugen stopped in Grimstadfjord, Norway to refuel Prinz Eugen. At 1315 hours, RAF Flying Officer Michael Suckling, flying a Spitfire fighter, spotted the warships. British Home Fleet commander Admiral John Tovey dispatched all available warships to prevent the Germans from breaking out to the North Atlantic. The German ships completed refueling at 1900 hours and began moving westwards. After dark, British bombers attacked the empty Grimstadfjord.
» In-depth article - German submarine U-93 sank Dutch tanker Elusa off Greenland; 5 were killed, 49 survived.
- German submarine U-98 sank British ship Marconi; 22 were killed, 56 survived and rescued by US Coast Guard patrol boat General Greene.
- 8 I-15 fighters of the Chinese 29th Squadron intercepted 27 Japanese G3M bombers over Lanzhou, Gansu, China, shooting down one and damaging another.
» In-depth article
- Kaga was made the flagship of Carrier Division 1 of the Japanese Navy First Air Fleet at Sasebo, Japan.
» In-depth article
» Tabular Record of Movement
21 May 1942
- The US Navy established the North Pacific force, initially with 2 heavy cruisers, 3 light cruisers, 4 destroyers, 9 destroyer escorts, 5 submarines, and 107 aircraft.
- Northrop P-61 Black Widow night fighter took flight for the first time.
» In-depth article - USS Pollack fired four torpedoes at a Japanese carrier off Kyushu, Japan; all torpedoes missed.
» In-depth article - Aleksandr Vasilevsky was awarded the Order of Lenin for the first time.
» In-depth article - German submarine U-103 sank US ships Clare at 0348 hours (all 40 aboard survived) and Elizabeth at 0415 hours (6 were killed, 36 survived) 40 miles west of Cuba. A few minutes later, at 0421 hours, U-106 sank Mexican tanker Faja de Oro to the north; 10 were killed, 27 survived. German submarine U-69 sank Canadian ship Torondoc 60 miles northwest of Martinique at 0753 hours; all 21 aboard survived as observed by the Germans, but none would be seen again. 40 miles northwest of Jamaica, U-558 sank Canadian ship Troisdoc by the deck gun at 1917 hours; all 18 aboard survived. U-156 sank Dominican ship Presidente Trujillo off Fort de France, Martinique at 1829 hours; 24 were killed, 15 survived.
» In-depth article - German submarine U-159 sank British ship New Brunswick (3 were killed, 59 survived) and damaged British fleet oiler Montenol (3 were killed, 61 survived) of Allied convoy OS-28 140 miles east of the Azores islands at 0323 hours.
» In-depth article - The US Navy cryptanalytic team in Melbourne, Australia belatedly voiced its agreement that the Japanese Navy was likely targeting Midway Atoll. In Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii, Joseph Rochefort furnished the official report noting that Midway Atoll was confirmed as the Japanese target. Chester Nimitz, who had already began to prepare for such an attack, ordered his carriers to exercise radio silence to prevent the Japanese from learning of his attempt to gather Pacific Fleet carriers at Pearl Harbor.
» In-depth article - Allied convoy QP-12 departed Murmansk, Russia; it was consisted of 17 merchant ships, escorted by 1 catapult aircraft merchantman, 6 destroyers, 4 trawlers, and 1 anti-aircraft vessel. From the other end of the Arctic convoy route, PQ-16 departed Reykjavík, Iceland with 35 merchant ships, 1 minesweeper, and 4 trawlers.
» In-depth article
- Destroyer Yuzuki departed Truk, Caroline Islands for Saipan, Mariana Islands.
» In-depth article
- Destroyer Yukikaze departed Kure, Japan.
» In-depth article
- Japanese troops occupied Leyte and Samar in the Philippine Islands unopposed.
» In-depth article
- German 6th Army and 1st Panzer Army continued to threaten the Soviet troops near Izium, Ukraine with encirclement.
» In-depth article
- George Marshall and Henry Stimson met in Washington DC, United States, concluding that there was a risk that the Japanese fleet suspected of sailing for Midway Atoll could actually be planning on conducting a major air raid against cities on the west coast of the United States.
» In-depth article
21 May 1943
- One month after the death of Isoroku Yamamoto, the news was finally revealed to the Japanese public.
» In-depth article - Mineichi Koga replaced Isoroku Yamamoto as the Commander-in-Chief of the Japanese Navy Combined Fleet.
» In-depth article - Luftwaffe fighter-bombers attacked Malta.
» In-depth article - The Royal Navy submarine HMS Sickle "torpedoed" the world famous Monte Carlo Casino. While attacking shipping in the harbour one of the torpedoes ran up the beach and exploded, blowing out the windows of the casino which was being occupied, at the time, by German officers.
- Japanese 39th Division began to cross the Yangtze River near Pianyan, Hubei Province, China. In Hunan Province, the Japanese 3rd Corps attacked at dawn from Chayuansi, advancing northward toward Changyang in Hubei Province.
» In-depth article
- Shokaku arrived at Yokosuka, Japan with Cruiser Division 7 from Tokuyama, Japan.
» In-depth article
» Tabular Record of Movement - Yamato was drydocked at Yokosuka, Japan for inspection and repairs.
» In-depth article
» Tabular Record of Movement
- The Soviet GKO issued a secret order for the construction of a railroad from Komsomolsk, Khabarovsk Krai, eastern Russia to Sovetskaya Gavan 200 kilometers to the southeast, in preparation for a war against Japan.
21 May 1944
- USS Pintado departed Midway Atoll.
» In-depth article - Adolf Hitler ordered downed Allied airmen to be shot without trial.
» In-depth article - Anglo-Indian troops captured Kanglatongbi, India.
» In-depth article - USS Ray began pursuing a nine-ship Japanese convoy south of the Philippine Islands.
» In-depth article - USS Flier completed her repairs and resumed her first war patrol.
» In-depth article - USS Cero damaged a Japanese transport north of Dutch New Guinea, hitting her with 1 of 4 torpedoes fired.
» In-depth article
21 May 1945
- Heinrich Himmler arrested by British troops near Bremen, Germany as he attempted to disguise himself as refugee "Heinrich Hitzinger" and flee with the masses.
» In-depth article - Japanese traditional and special attacks damaged five Allied ships off Okinawa, Japan.
» In-depth article - USS Charr arrived at the naval base at Subic Bay, Luzon, Philippine Islands, ending her second war patrol.
» In-depth article - USS Wake Island departed Guam, Mariana Islands for Okinawa, Japan.
» In-depth article - USS Missouri departed Guam, Mariana Islands.
» In-depth article - USS Chub sank a Japanese ship in the Java Sea, hitting her with one of five torpedoes fired.
» In-depth article
- Prince Kotohito passed away in Odawara, Kanagawa, Japan.
» In-depth article
- USS Hackleback departed Midway Atoll for her second war patrol.
» In-depth article
21 May 1946
- Canadian Manhattan Project Louis Slotin accidentally set of a prompt critical reaction when he allowed two beryllium hemispheres to touch with a plutonium core in the center. He realized his mistake immediately and lifted the upper hemisphere with his left hand, averting disaster, but not before he received 2,100 rems of radiation. He was rushed to the hospital. The plutonium core involved in this accident was the same one in the accident with physicist Harry Daghlian in 1945.
» In-depth article - Charles J. Badger was decommissioned from service.
» In-depth article - LST-1 was decommissioned from service.
» In-depth article
- Rudolf Hess' attorney Dr. Alfred Seidl visited Soviet prosecutor office in Nürnberg, Germany and spoke with Major General of Justice Nikolai Zorya.
» In-depth article
21 May 1951
Photo(s) dated 21 May 1951
Photo(s) dated 21 May 1951
21 May 1953
Japan
Japan
- Shigeru Yoshida became the 51st Prime Minister of Japan.
» In-depth article
21 May 1957
United States
United States
- USS Saint Paul arrived at Long Beach, California, United States.
» In-depth article
21 May 1966
Photo(s) dated 21 May 1966
Photo(s) dated 21 May 1966
21 May 1973
- Ivan Konev passed away.
» In-depth article
21 May 2004
Photo(s) dated 21 May 2004
Photo(s) dated 21 May 2004
21 May 2007
Photo(s) dated 21 May 2007
Photo(s) dated 21 May 2007
Timeline Section Founder: Thomas Houlihan
Contributors: Alan Chanter, C. Peter Chen, Thomas Houlihan, David Stubblebine
Special Thanks: Rory Curtis
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"We no longer demand anything, we want war."Joachim von Ribbentrop, German Foreign Minister, Aug 1939