2 May 1941 | World War II Database

2 May 1941

Sandstorms at Tobruk, Libya limited the offensive capabilities of German tanks on this date. 100 kilometers to the west, British gunboat HMS Ladybird bombarded Axis positions at Derna. ww2dbase [Siege of Tobruk | CPC]
British ship Parracombe, with 21 crated Hurricane fighters on board for Malta, hit a mine and sank off Cape Bon, Tunisia. ww2dbase [CPC]
At 0500 hours, during Muslim morning prayers, 33 British aircraft from RAF Habbaniya and 8 Wellington bombers from RAF Shaibah attacked the Iraqi artillery positions which had been threatening RAF Habbaniya for the past two days. Iraq troops responded by shelling RAF Habbaniya, killing 13 and wounding 29. Elsewhere, RAF aircraft attacked the Rashid airfield near Baghdad, Iraq, destroying 22 aircraft on the ground. The RAF lost 5 aircraft in Iraq on this date. ww2dbase [Campaigns in the Middle East | CPC]
After sundown, German bombers attacked Liverpool, England, United Kingdom for the second consecutive night. ww2dbase [Battle of Britain | CPC]
British minesweeping trawler HMT Alberic and destroyer HMS St. Albans collided in Pentland Firth between the Orkney Islands and Britain. HMT Alberic sank with the loss of 13 crew. The HMS St. Albans sailed to Southampton, England, United Kingdom for repairs to her bow. ww2dbase [CPC]
British aircraft sank German anti-submarine trawler Vp 808 off the island of Borkum near the Dutch-German border. ww2dbase [CPC]
British destroyer HMS Jersey hit a mine and sank off Grand Harbour, Malta, killing 35 and wounding 48. ww2dbase [CPC]
A German memorandum noted that the plan to remove large quantities of food out of Eastern Europe to feed German civilians and military personnel would likely result in the starvation of millions of Eastern Europeans especially through the winter. The plan would continue to be implemented, however. ww2dbase [CPC]

Libya

Hans-Joachim Marseille was promoted to the rank of Unteroffizier while stationed in Libya. ww2dbase [Hans-Joachim Marseille | CPC]

United Kingdom

British Minister of Labour Ernest Bevin spoke on BBC about German plunder of French food. ww2dbase [Ernest Bevin | CPC]

United States

The British Royal Navy commissioned convoy escort ship HMS Lulworth, a former US Coast Guard Cutter, into service at New York, United States. She was manned by former crew members of battleship HMS Resolution, which was under repair in the US at the time. ww2dbase [New York | CPC]

Timeline Section Founder: Thomas Houlihan
Contributors: Alan Chanter, C. Peter Chen, Thomas Houlihan, Hugh Martyr, David Stubblebine
Special Thanks: Rory Curtis

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