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• 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 Bailey arrived at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. ww2dbase [Bailey | DS]

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

• K Force of US 5307th Composite Unit (Provisional) departed Ritpong, Burma toward Tingkrukawng. ww2dbase [Battle of Myitkyina | Ritpong | 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 Roads, Dutch East Indies for Tawi-Tawi, Philippine Islands with Mobile Fleet under Vice Admiral Jisaburo Ozawa. ww2dbase [Yamato | Lingga Roads | CPC]
• Patrol Boat No. 102 departed Kau at 0652 hours and stopped at nearby Wasile Bay, Halmahera, Dutch East Indies at 0816 due to problems with her No. 1 boiler. ww2dbase [Stewart | Wasile Bay, Halmahera | CPC]

• The USAAF 306th Bomb Group flying from RAF Thurleigh launched a bombing raid against rail facilities at Saarbrücken, Germany. ww2dbase [RAF Thurleigh | Bombing of Hamburg, Dresden, and Other Cities | Saarbrücken | DS]

• 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]

• Destroyers USS Waller, USS Saufley, USS Renshaw, USS Pringle, and USS Philip spent the day searching for the Japanese submarine believed to be in this area. Several sound contacts were made but no targets could be developed. Due to fuel shortages, Waller, Saufley, Pringle, and Philip resumed course for Pearl Harbor, Hawai'i while Renshaw remained until relieved by USS McCalla 7 hours later. ww2dbase [Waller | Saufley | Pringle | Philip | Renshaw | DS]

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

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