19 May 1941
  • Battleship Bismarck departed Gotenhafen at 0200 hours and made rendezvous with heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen and destroyers Z-16 Friedrich Eckoldt and Z-23 off Rügen Island at 1200 hours. At 2230 hours, destroyer Z-10 Hans Lody joined the group. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]
  • Heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen made rendezvous with battleship Bismarck off Rügen Island at 1200 hours. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]
  • Iraqis surrender the town of Fallujah after it was subjected to aerial and artillery bombardment by the British; 300 Iraqi troops were taken prisoner. On the same day, German bombers attacked RAF Habbaniya in Iraq. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]
  • German aircraft attacked British airfields on Crete, Greece. To prevent destruction, the British RAF evacuated all aircraft from Crete to Egypt. ww2dbase [Main Article | TH]
  • Vichy France announced the repatriation of 100,000 French prisoners of war. ww2dbase [TH]
  • German submarine U-96 sank British ship Empire Ridge 50 miles northwest of Ireland at 0324 hours; 31 were killed, 2 survived and rescued by destroyer HMS Vanquisher. ww2dbase [CPC]
  • "Guidelines for the behaviour of the troops in Russia" demanded that German troops use "ruthless and energetic action against Bolshevik agitators, guerrillas, saboteurs (and) Jews" and approved the complete liquidation of any "active or passive resistance". ww2dbase [AC]
Abyssinia
  • 4,777 Italian and colonial troops formally surrendered at Amba Alagi, Abyssinia at 1115 hours, parading out of the fortress with rifles on their shoulders. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]
  • British Army Sergeant Nigel Leakey was awarded a posthumous Victoria Cross after being killed in action single-handedly knocking out Italian tanks in Abyssinia. ww2dbase [AC]
Photo(s) dated 19 May 1941
Bismarck at sea, seen from Prinz Eugen, 19 May 1941, photo 3 of 3Bismarck at sea, seen from Prinz Eugen, 19 May 1941, photo 1 of 3Bismarck at sea, seen from Prinz Eugen, 19 May 1941, photo 2 of 3

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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