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• Willis Lee was born. ww2dbase [Willis Lee | CPC]

• Anton Mussert was born. ww2dbase [Anton Mussert | CPC]

• Rear Admiral Tokutaro Nakamizo was made the commanding officer of Maizuru Naval Arsenal in Kyoto Prefecture, Japan. ww2dbase [Maizuru Naval Arsenal | Maizuru, Kyoto | CPC]

11 May 1905 Interactive Map

• Jacqueline Cochran was born. ww2dbase [Jacqueline Cochran | CPC]

• Prince Hiroyasu was made the executive officer of armored cruiser Naniwa. ww2dbase [Hiroyasu | CPC]

• Rear Admiral Sango Obana was named the Chief of Staff of the Mako naval port at Pescadores islands, Taiwan. ww2dbase [Mako Guard District | Mako, Hoko | CPC]

11 May 1906 Interactive Map

• Rear Admiral Kanshiro Haji was named the chief of staff of Vice Admiral Takeshi Takarabe (Ryojun Military Port, northeastern China). ww2dbase [Ryojun Guard District | Lushunkou, Liaoning | CPC]

11 May 1916 Interactive Map

• USS Arizona arrived at Izmir, Turkey, and the Marine detachment was disembarked to protect American interests in this Greek-occupied Turkish city; elements of the Turkish population resisted the Greek occupied with violence. ww2dbase [Arizona | CPC]

• Oswald Mosley married Lady Cynthia Curzon, the daughter of British Foreign Secretary George Curzon, at St James's Palace in London, England, United Kingdom. Their guests included King George V of the United Kingdom and King Leopold III of Belgium. ww2dbase [Oswald Mosley | London, England | CPC]

• Semyon Timoshenko was awarded the Order of the Red Banner for the second time. ww2dbase [Semyon Timoshenko | CPC]

• USS S-31 was commissioned into service with Lieutenant William A. Heard in command. ww2dbase [S-31 | CPC]

• Josias was promoted to the rank of SS-Standartenführer. ww2dbase [Josias | CPC]

• The Credit-Anstalt (Austria's biggest bank; owned by the Rothschild family) went bankrupt, which ultimately would contribute to Adolf Hitler's rise to power in Germany. ww2dbase [AC]

• F9 was launched at the Kriegsmarinewerft shipyard in Wilhelmshaven, Germany. ww2dbase [Kriegsmarinewerft | F9 | Wilhelmshaven, Weser-Ems | CPC]
• F10 was launched at the Kriegsmarinewerft shipyard in Wilhelmshaven, Germany. ww2dbase [Kriegsmarinewerft | F10 | Wilhelmshaven, Weser-Ems | CPC]

11 May 1936 Interactive Map

• Grom was commissioned into service. ww2dbase [Grom | CPC]

11 May 1937 Interactive Map

• Japanese troops captured the Hulishan and Baishi forts at Xiamen, China. ww2dbase [Battle of Xiamen | Xiamen, Fujian | CPC]

• The US Navy placed an order for the Curtiss SB2C Helldiver carrier-borne dive-bomber. ww2dbase [SB2C Helldiver | AC]

• Small Mongolian and Manchukuo cavalry units clashed near the village of Nomonhan in the border region. ww2dbase [Battle of Khalkhin Gol | Nomonhan, Mongolia | CPC]
• A Chinese man shot a Japanese citizen on Gulangyu island, an international settlement off Xiamen, China, giving the Japanese to dispatch a Special Naval Landing Force detachment near Gulangyu. ww2dbase [Xiamen, Fujian | CPC]
• American gunboat USS Asheville departed Gulangyu island, an international settlement off Xiamen, China. ww2dbase [Fujian, Xiamen | CPC]

11 May 1939 Interactive Map

• King George VI of the United Kingdom signed the proclamation canceling the Whitsun holiday. ww2dbase [George VI | CPC]
• Switzerland mobilized its military forces in response to the German invasion of the neutral Low Countries on the previous day. Civilians in towns near the German-Swiss border fled south. ww2dbase [CPC]
• British troops landed on Dutch islands of Aruba and Curaçao in the Caribbean Sea. US President Roosevelt announced that these actions were not contrary to the Monroe Doctrine. ww2dbase [Start of the Battle of the Atlantic | CPC]
• Germany occupied Luxembourg. In Belgium, German airborne troops captured the "impregnable" Fort Eben Emael while tanks crossed Albert Canal bridges in an attempt to move behind Belgian defensive lines. Troops of the German 9th Panzer Division crossed the Meuse River; at 1200 hours, they found an undefended bridge over the Zuid-Willemsvaart canal 50 miles from Rotterdam, where airborne troops of the German 22nd Flieger Division held on to bridges along the Nieuwe Maas River, awaiting the arrival of ground troops. Seven German armored divisions began to spearhead into the Ardennes Forest, brushing aside the few French cavalry units guarding this route into France. ww2dbase [Invasion of France and the Low Countries | CPC]
• Winston Churchill named Lord Beaverbrook the head of the Ministry of Aircraft Production. This ministry reported to the War Cabinet, and was responsible for setting aircraft production priorities. ww2dbase [Beaverbrook | CPC]
• US President Roosevelt announced that the US was now officially recognizing the state of war between Germany and the Low Countries and reaffirmed American neutrality in that conflict. He restricted submarines of any of the nations involved in that conflict to use American ports and territorial waters, exclusive of the Panama Canal Zone. ww2dbase [Franklin Roosevelt | CPC]
• British Prime Minister Winston Churchill appointed Anthony Eden as Secretary of State for War. ww2dbase [Anthony Eden | AC]

• Isaac Sweers arrived at the Thorneycroft shipyard in Southampton, England, United Kingdom by tow. ww2dbase [Isaac Sweers | Southampton, England | CPC]
• Sir Archibald Sinclair replaces Sir Samuel Hoare as the British Secretary of State for Air. ww2dbase [London, England | AC]

11 May 1940 Interactive Map

• German forces completed the occupation of the Greek islands in the Aegean Sea. ww2dbase [Balkans Campaign | TH]
• British Brigadier Kingstone departed Haifa, Palestine with a column of horse cavalry and armored cars to reinforce RAF Habbaniya, Iraq. Meanwhile, the first 3 German Luftwaffe aircraft from Greece landed at Mosul, Iraq. ww2dbase [Campaigns in the Middle East | CPC]
• The first combat mission by the RAF's new four-engine Halifax bombers failed to succeed when the bombers failed to find their French targets. ww2dbase [Halifax | AC]
• Adolf Hitler summoned top Nazi Party officials to discuss how to handle Rudolf Heß's unauthorized flight to the United Kingdom. ww2dbase [Adolf Hitler | CPC]

• South African 1st Brigade arrived at Amba Alagi, Abyssinia. ww2dbase [Invasion of Italian East Africa | Amba Alagi | CPC]

• German submarine U-103 sank British ship City of Shanghai with the last torpedo 750 miles southwest of Sierra Leone, French West Africa at 0130 hours after tracking her for 16 hours; 6 were killed, 67 survived. ww2dbase [CPC]

• RAF bombers attacked Hamburg and Bremen in Germany. ww2dbase [Bombing of Hamburg, Dresden, and Other Cities | Hamburg | CPC]
• Adolf Galland was ordered by Hermann Göring to dispatch his pilots to search for and shoot down Rudolf Hess' Me-110 aircraft somewhere over the North Sea. ww2dbase [Adolf Galland | CPC]

• The US Coast Guard South Greenland Survey Expedition completed a survey of the future Bluie West Eight airfield site in Greenland. ww2dbase [Bluie West Eight | South Greenland | CPC]

• John Colville, secretary to Winston Churchill, observed great fires burning on the southern shore of River Thames in London, England, United Kingdom, result of the previous night's bombing. During the day, German Luftwaffe aircraft bombed RAF Feltwell in England. ww2dbase [Battle of Britain | England | CPC]

11 May 1941 Interactive Map

• Shokaku, Yugure, and Sazanami was ordered to sail to Kure, Japan instead of Yokosuka. ww2dbase [Shokaku | Yugure | CPC]
• 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, damaging 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. At 0640 hours, Okinoshima sank in the St. George's Channel. ww2dbase [S-42 | CPC]
• USS Yorktown sailed for Tongatapu, Tonga, British Western Pacific Territories for temporary repair for the damage incurred during the Battle of Coral Sea. ww2dbase [Yorktown (Yorktown-class) | CPC]
• USS Enterprise arrived near New Hebrides. ww2dbase [Enterprise | CPC]
• USS Hornet arrived near New Hebrides. ww2dbase [Hornet (Yorktown-class) | CPC]
• Upon the loss of minelayer Okinoshima, destroyer Yuzuki temporarily assumed the role of Rear Admiral Kiyohide Shimazui's flagship. ww2dbase [Yuzuki | CPC]
• Bailey was commissioned into service. ww2dbase [Bailey | CPC]
• 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 Neosho with gunfire. ww2dbase [Battle of Coral Sea | AC, CPC]
• US Marine Barracks, Fleet Air Base, Naval Operating Base, Iceland, was established. ww2dbase [CPC]
• German pilot Eduard Neumann was awarded the German Cross in Gold. ww2dbase [Eduard Neumann | CPC]
• 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 Germany military prepared for a defense. ww2dbase [Second Battle of Kharkov | CPC]
• Panamanian tanker Lubrafol, damaged by German submarine U-564 3 miles east of Hillsboro Inlet, Florida, United States two days prior, finally sank after two days of burning. On the same day, in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean 400 miles northeast of Barbuda island, U-502 sank British ship Cape of Good Hope; 37 survived. ww2dbase [Second Happy Time | CPC]
• British 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 aircraft attacked, sinking HMS Lively 120 miles north of Sidi Barrani, Egypt at 1530 hours (76 were killed). Just before sundown, 7 Ju 88 aircraft attacked again, sinking HMS Kipling (25 were killed) and damaing HMS Jackal (15 were killed) 60 miles north of Sidi Barrani. HMS Jervis rescued 630 survivors and took HMS Jackal, afire, in tow. ww2dbase [CPC]

• Japanese hospital ship Hikawa Maru departed Rabaul, New Britain. ww2dbase [Hikawa Maru | Rabaul, New Britain | CPC]

• German Luftwaffe aircraft sank Soviet gunboat Rion and barge Anakriya in the Black Sea, killing 400, most of whom were wounded troops being evacuated from southern Ukraine. ww2dbase [CPC]

• 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. ww2dbase [Battle of Midway and the Aleutian Islands | Pearl Harbor Navy Base and Ford Island Naval Air Station | Honolulu, Oahu | CPC]

• 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. ww2dbase [CPC]

• 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 3. ww2dbase [Malta Campaign | CPC]

• 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. ww2dbase [Amon Göth | Szczebrzeszyn, Lublin | CPC]

• Light cruiser Voroshilov bombarded German troop positions near Tash-Alchin, Russia. ww2dbase [Voroshilov | Tash-Alchin, Krym | CPC]

11 May 1942 Interactive Map

• 26 girls were killed in an Auxiliary Territorial Service (ATS) hostel in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, England, United Kingdom during a German bombing raid. ww2dbase [CPC]
• The United Kingdom to Lisbon, Portugal air service, previously operated by the Dutch airline KLM, was taken over by the British airline BOAC using Douglas DC-3 aircraft on the route. ww2dbase [AC]

• US 7th Infantry Division landed on Attu, Aleutian Islands. ww2dbase [Aleutian Islands Campaign | Attu | CPC]

• US B-17 and B-24 bombers attacked Lakunai Airfield and Vunakanau Airfield at Rabaul, New Britain. ww2dbase [Rabaul, New Britain | CPC]

• US Army Air Forces 390th Bombardment Squadron of 42nd Bombardment Group, equipped with B-25 medium bombers, was assigned to Henderson Field on Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands. ww2dbase [Henderson Field | Lunga Point, Guadalcanal | CPC]

• Katori arrived at Truk, Caroline Islands. ww2dbase [Katori | Truk | CPC]
• Katori arrived Truk, Caroline Islands. ww2dbase [Katori | Truk | CPC]

• The keel for U-1234 was laid down at Deutsche Werft Hamburg, Germany. ww2dbase [Deutsche Werft Hamburg | U-1234 | Hamburg | CPC]

• Barbers Point Naval Air Station: Planes of Air Group 12 on board. ww2dbase [Barbers Point Naval Air Station | Ewa, Oahu | DS]

• Subhash Chandra Bose arrived in Tokyo, Japan. ww2dbase [Subhash Chandra Bose | Tokyo | CPC]
• Nachi departed Yokosuka, Japan. ww2dbase [Nachi | Yokosuka, Kanagawa | CPC]

• USS Permit attacked a Japanese convoy east of the Mariana Islands, sinking two transports with 4 torpedo hits and damaging a third with 1 hit; a total of 6 torpedoes was expended. ww2dbase [Permit | CPC]
• USS Grayback attacked a six-freighter Japanese convoy escorted by three armed vessels after dark in the South Pacific, sinking freighter Yodogawa Maru with 1 of 6 torpedoes. ww2dbase [Grayback | CPC]

• Allied convoy SC 130 (37 ships) departed Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada for Liverpool, England, United Kingdom. ww2dbase [Black May | Liverpool, England | CPC]

• Winston Churchill arrived in Washington DC, United States for the Trident Conference scheduled to start on the next day. ww2dbase [Trident Conference | Washington | CPC]

• USS Flying Fish arrived at Midway Atoll, ending her fifth war patrol. ww2dbase [Midway Bases | Flying Fish | Midway | CPC]

11 May 1943 Interactive Map

• Pressured by the respective governments, German authorities in Italy released from captivity Jews of Turkish, Spanish, Portuguese, Swiss, Swedish, and Finnish citizenship. ww2dbase [CPC]
• Chinese troops crossed the Salween River in Burma. ww2dbase [Salween Offensive | CPC]
• Japanese Navy devised Operation A-Go for the defense of the Mariana Islands; it would be launched in Jun 1944. ww2dbase [Mariana Islands Campaign and the Great Turkey Shoot | CPC]
• USS Tunny arrived in the Mariana Islands. ww2dbase [Tunny | CPC]
• Light carrier Ryuho departed Saeki, Japan for Tawi-Tawi, Mindanao, Philippine Islands. ww2dbase [Ryuho | CPC]

• USS Seahorse arrived at Brisbane, Australia, ending her fourth war patrol. ww2dbase [Seahorse | Brisbane, Queensland | CPC]

• Tan Kun, flying a P-40N fighter, shot down one Ki-43-II aircraft and damaged another near Tanchu, Guangxi Province, China. ww2dbase [Tan Kun | Tanchu, Guangxi | CPC]

• Yamato departed from Lingga, Dutch East Indies for Tawi-Tawi, Philippine Islands with Mobile Fleet under Vice Admiral Jisaburo Ozawa. ww2dbase [Yamato | Lingga | CPC]

• Barbers Point Naval Air Station: Composite Squadron 5 (VC-5) and Composite Squadron 10 (VC-10) on board. ww2dbase [Barbers Point Naval Air Station | Ewa, Oahu | DS]
• USS Yorktown (Essex-class) entered Pearl Harbor, Hawaii for the next 18 days conducted training operations in the Hawaiian Islands. ww2dbase [Yorktown (Essex-class) | Pearl Harbor, Oahu | DS]

• Operation Diadem, the fourth Allied attempt at attacking Cassino, Italy, was launched at 2300 hours with 1,660 artillery pieces firing on German defensive positions. Troops of US Fifth and British Eighth Armies advanced toward German positions behind the artillery barrage. ww2dbase [Battle of Monte Cassino | Cassino, Lazio | TH, CPC]

• USS Franklin transited through the Panama Canal. ww2dbase [Panama Canal | Franklin | CPC]

• German SS Sturmbannführer Richard Baer was appointed the commandant of Auschwitz I after his predecessor Liebehenschel was transferred to Majdanek Concentration Camp. ww2dbase [Discovery of Concentration Camps and the Holocaust | Auschwitz Concentration Camp | Oswiecim | CPC]

• German Luftwaffe units I./KG 55 and II./KG 55 were sent to Focsani, Romania; they would cover the evacuation by sea of the last German ground forces fighting in the Crimea region of Russia for the subsequent five days. ww2dbase [Focsani, Vrancea | CPC]

• The Soviet State Defense Committee in Moscow, Russia issued Decree 5859ss, ordering the deportation of Crimean Tatars to Central Asia within the next 20 days. ww2dbase [Deportation of Crimean Tatars | Moscow | CPC]

• In an address delivered to both Houses of Parliament in the Palace of Westminster in London, England, United Kingdom, Mackenzie King, Prime Minister of Canada, stated that Canada's fight would be a fight to the finish and that the Canadian people would not relax until the monstrous conspiracy of the Fascist Powers to dominate and enslave the world had been eliminated. He further declared that once the war in Europe was ended, Canadian forces would join the other Allies for the final assault on Japan. ww2dbase [Mackenzie King | London, England | AC]

11 May 1944 Interactive Map

• Kiyoshi Ogawa passed away. ww2dbase [Kiyoshi Ogawa | CPC]
• Various German units in Czechoslovakia, Dunkirk in France, and the Aegean Sea islands surrendered. ww2dbase [Germany's Surrender | TH]
• USS Bunker Hill was hit by two Japanese special attack aircraft off Okinawa, Japan, killing 373. ww2dbase [Bunker Hill | CPC]
• A Japanese Navy Ohka combat sortie by 4 G4M bombers off Okinawa, Japan heavily damaged American destroyer USS Hugh W. Hadley. On the island, US troops launched an offensive toward Naha. ww2dbase [Okinawa Campaign | CPC]
• 92 American B-29 bombers attacked the Kawanishi aircraft factories near Kobe, Japan. ww2dbase [Bombing of Tokyo and Other Cities | CPC]
• The Australians launched their final assault on the last Japanese strongpoint on the northern coast of Wewak, New Guinea. Cut off from support and defending a backwater that had been by-passed in the Pacific War, the Japanese nevertheless fought on fanatically until the 23 May when the surviving sick, starving and broken force retreated into the mountains. ww2dbase [New Guinea-Papua Campaign, Phase 3 | AC]
• The Target Committee of the Manhattan Project, led by Robert Oppenheimer, decided the best targets of the atomic bomb were Kyoto, Niigata, Hiroshima, Yokohama, and Kokura. ww2dbase [Atomic Bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki | CPC]
• German President Karl Dönitz ordered all promotions and awards to cease. ww2dbase [Karl Dönitz | CPC]
• HMS Cumberland detached with FS Richelieu and destroyers to be in position 50 miles ahead of main body of TF61 in 6 Degree Channel. ww2dbase [Richelieu | Cumberland | DS]

• Submarine I-369 departed Woleai, Caroline Islands with 60 evacuees and 2 boxes of ashes of killed servicemen. ww2dbase [I-369 | Woleai | CPC]

• The Soviet Prague Strategic Offensive in Czechoslovakia concluded. On the same day, SMERSH agents arrested many Russian émigrés in Prague; in 2003, the Czech government would name this day "the day of the destruction of Russian intellectuals". ww2dbase [Prague Strategic Offensive | Prague | CPC]

• Military medical doctor Lieutenant Colonel Faust Shkaravsky of Soviet 1st Byelorussian Front concluded that one of the two bodies Soviet SMERSH agents retrieved near the Chancellery in Berlin, Germany was that of Adolf Hitler's. ww2dbase [Reich Chancellery | Adolf Hitler | Berlin | CPC]
• Soviet counterintelligence official Pavel Meshik reported to the Soviet high command in Berlin, Germany that Soviet discipline was poor, and that lootings and rapings continued to occur in and around the German capital. ww2dbase [Battle of Berlin | Berlin | CPC]

• USS Yorktown (Essex-class) departed the Ruykyu Islands for Ulithi, Caroline Islands for upkeep, rest, and relaxation. ww2dbase [Yorktown (Essex-class) | Okinawa | DS]
• USS New Mexico sank eight Shinyo special attack boats off Okinawa, Japan. ww2dbase [Okinawa Campaign | New Mexico | Okinawa | CPC]

• USS Shamrock Bay departed waters off Okinawa, Japan, sailing for Guam, Mariana Islands. ww2dbase [Shamrock Bay | CPC]
• Fumihiro Mitsuyama (born Tak Kyonghyong), flying a Ki-43 aircraft, died in battle off Okinawa, Japan as a special attack pilot. ww2dbase [Tak Kyonghyong | CPC]

• Kamikaze set sail for Singapore. ww2dbase [Kamikaze | Singapore | CPC]

• Four PV-1 aircraft of US Navy VPB-137 squadron attacked Kagi butanol plant, Taiwan. ww2dbase [Kagi, Tainan | CPC]
• US Far East Air Force B-25 bombers based in the Philippine Islands attacked targets in the towns of Kagi (now Chiayi) and Koshun in Taiwan. ww2dbase [Kagi, Tainan | CPC]

• Sergeant Jack Hinton of New Zealand 2nd Division received the Victoria Cross from King George VI at the Buckingham Palace in London, England, United Kingdom for bravery exhibited while fighting in Kalamata, Greece on 28 Apr 1941. ww2dbase [London, England | CPC]

11 May 1945 Interactive Map

• USS Pompon was decommissioned from service at New London, Connecticut, United States and placed in the New London Group of the US Atlantic Reserve Fleet. ww2dbase [Pompon | New London, Connecticut | CPC]

• USS Chub arrived at Izmir, Turkey. ww2dbase [Chub | CPC]

• Siam was renamed to Thailand for the second time. ww2dbase [CPC]

• The final execution of Japanese war criminals condemned by the Saigon Permanent Military Tribunal took place. ww2dbase [Tokyo Trial and Other Trials Against Japan | Saigon, Cochinchina | CPC]

• USS Wasp arrived off Bermuda to serve as a backup recovery ship for the Mercury space capsule recovery. ww2dbase [Wasp (Essex-class) | CPC]

• John Crace passed away. ww2dbase [John Crace | CPC]

• Maynard Smith passed away in St. Petersburg, Florida, United States. ww2dbase [Maynard Smith | St. Petersburg, Florida | HM]

• Tsuneyoshi passed away. ww2dbase [Tsuneyoshi | CPC]