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• Weather data for 8 May 1941

• 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 [Main Article | CPC]
• German aircraft conducted the last of the two consecutive nightly raids on Hull, England. ww2dbase [Main Article | TH]
• German submarine U-97 sank British ship Ramillies in the North Atlantic; 29 were killed, 12 survived. ww2dbase [CPC]

• Indian troops attacked Amba Alagi, Abyssinia 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 [Main Article | CPC]

• 359 British RAF bombers attacked Hamburg and Bremen in Germany. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]

8 May 1941 Interactive Map