World war II timeline - May 1941

1 May 1941	German planes begin several nights of bombing Liverpool, England.
2 May 1941	British at Habbaniya, Iraq, launch an attack on Iraqis building up force outside the base.
5 May 1941	Italians surrender in East Africa. Haile Selassie returns to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to reclaim his throne. Soviet military intelligence reports about 105 German divisions concentrated in the east, facing the Soviet Union. Tokyo signals its embassy in Washington, warning that coded messages are being read by the Americans. (After an investigation, a reply on May 20 suggests that low-level messages amy be compromised, but not high-level diplomatic messages.) British Defence Committee transfers control of operations in Iraq to the Middle East Command under General Sir Archibald Wavell.
6 May 1941	Josef Stalin replaces Molotov as prime minister (chairman of Council of People's Commissars). Iraqi forces outside British base at Habbaniya, Iraq, disperse. British Chief of Imperial General Staff General Dill proposes to Winston Churchill that Britain abandon the Middle East, concentrating all armored forces in England against possible invasion. Churchill is opposed to the idea.
7 May 1941	French Deputy Premier Jean Darlan concludes a secret treaty with Germany, allowing German arms shipments across Syria to Iraq.
8 May 1941	HMS Bulldog captures German submarine U-110 off Iceland. An Enigma encoding machine is captured, and captain Fritz-Julius Lemp (responsible for sinking passenger liner Athenia at start of war) taken prisoner. British Bomber Command sends 359 aircraft against targets in the Hamburg-Bremen area of Germany. German planes make a seventh consecutive night bombing of Liverpool, England. Over the seven days, 870 tonnes of high explosive and 112,000 incendiary bombs were dropped on the important port city. 4,000 residents died.
9 May 1941	A submarine torpedoes Newfoundland-registered merchant ship Esmond in the North Atlantic, in convoy OB-318. A peace treaty is signed between Vichy France and Siam, granting large areas of Cambodia and Laos to Siam.
10 May 1941	Rudolf Hess, Adolf Hitler's deputy, leaves in a plane from Augsburg, landing near Glasgow, Scotland, where he is captured. (Some evidence suggests that Hitler sent Hess to a pre-arranged meeting to negotiate peace in the west, before an attack could be launched against the Soviet Union.)
11  May 1941	A British force entering Iraq from Transjordan overruns the garrison at Rutbah, 90 miles inside border.
12 May 1941	A five-ship convoy of 295 tanks and 43 Hurricane fighter planes arrives at Alexandria from England, to aid in the defense of the Suez Canal. A sixth ship struck a mine in the Sicilian Narrows and sank.
13 May 1941	Four Soviet armies of the high command reserve are ordered to move from the interior to the Western and Kiev army groups.
15 May 1941	In North Africa, British General Sir Archibald Wavell launches Operation Brevity, sending 26 Matilda tanks with the 22nd Guards Brigade against enemy positions at Sollum and Halfaya Pass along the Libya-Egypt frontier. The operation is successful, taking Halfaya Pass with the loss of seven tanks. At a diplomatic reception, a drunken Professor Karl Bömer, head of the Foreign Press Department, announces to diplomats and journalists that he was being promoted to Gauleiter of the Crimea, following the invasion of Russia on June 22. Soviet Defence Commissar Marshal Timoshenko and Chief of General Staff Georgi Zhukov submit a plan to Premier Josef Stalin for a land force of 152 divisions and 3000-4000 aircraft to destroy 100 German divisions in a pre-emptive strike in southern Poland. Stalin recognizes a lack of preparation for war, and refuses to sanction this or a general mobilization.   British scientists begin intensive work on "Oboe", the code name for a system of wireless navigation and bombing. At the chemical warfare research facility in Suffield, Alberta, Canada, metallic cadmium mixed with explosive RDX is test-fired in shells. If used against humans they would create harmless-looking smoke which would cause fibrosis of the lungs. Adolf Hitler addresses the Reichstag in the Kroll Opera House in Berlin, Germany. Part of his address states "Germany can no longer be subjugated. She is so strong that no combination of Powers could ever successfully prevail against her.".
16 May 1941	Convoy HX-127 departs Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, destined for England.
17 May 1941	Adolf Hitler issues Directive No. 29, noting that the defence of Greek territory will be an Italian responsibility.
18 May 1941	A British force entering Iraq from Transjordan arrives at Habbaniya.
19 May 1941	The German battleship Bismarck departs from Gdynia (Poland) to head for the North Atlantic with the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen. Fallujah, Iraq, falls to British forces. Soviet NKGB agent Richard Sorge in Japan warns Josef Stalin that nine German armies with 150 divisions are preparing for war with the Soviet Union. Stalin rejects the credibility of the information.
20 May 1941	Operation Mercury is launched, as German gliders and 7th Airborne Division paratroopers land near principal airports on Crete, with the mission of securing them for transport of 5th Division troops. Many gliders crash, and many paratroopers are shot in the air. A submarine torpedoes Newfoundland-registered merchant ship Rothermere in the North Atlantic, in convoy HX-126. 22 die. Japan's embassy in Washington, USA, replies to Tokyo that while its low-level coded messages may be compromised, its high-level diplomatic messages are secure. More German paratroopers land on Crete, east of Rethimnon and around Iraklion. Losses are higher than the first wave, with half of the troops killed in the air or in early ground fighting. Swedish cruiser Gotland sights Bismarck and Prinz Eugen in Skagerrak. British Admiralty is first alerted by an agent in Sweden of the sighting of German battleship Bismarck and heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen travelling north through Danish waters.
21 May 1941	Allied forces withdraw from Maleme airfield on Crete. The heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen stops at Bergen, Norway, to refuel; the battleship Bismarck does not. On Crete, German transport planes begin landing at airport near Maleme. On Crete, several companies of German paratroopers land near Maleme airport. On Crete, German 5th Mountain Division troops begin landing at the Maleme airport. British ships sink most of 25 small vessels north of Crete carrying heavy weapons and some 5th Mountain Division troops. Operation Rheinübung begins, as German battleship Bismarck and heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen head out to the Atlantic Ocean.
22 May 1941	British battle cruiser Hood, battleship Prince of Wales, and six destroyers leave Scapa Flow off Scotland, to join the Norfolk and Suffolk cruisers in the Denmark Strait. The battleship Bismarck and the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen leave Norwegian waters, heading north-west around Britain. British ships attack a convoy of small ships carrying men and supplies to Crete. German Stuka dive-bombers destroy three cruisers and six destroyers, damaging thirteen other ships, including two battleships and the only aircraft-carrier in the Mediterranean fleet.
23 May 1941	Adolf Hitler issues Directive No. 30: Middle East. Hitler orders support of Iraq against British forces. The battleship Bismarck and the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen enter the Denmark Strait. British cruisers Norfolk and Suffolk sight the battleship Bismarck and heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen in the Denmark Strait between Iceland minefields and pack-ice of Greenland. Bismarck opens fire on the Norfolk, which escapes. The British trail the German ships with the help of radar.
24 May 1941	Cruiser Suffolk regains sight of the Bismarck. British warships Hood and Prince of Wales sight the Bismarck and Prinz Eugen. The Hood opens fire on the Bismarck. The Bismarck and Prinz Eugen fire on the Hood. The second shot from the Prinz Eugen hits the upper deck, setting anti-aircraft ammunition on fire. The fifth shot from the Bismarck hits the Hood, penetrating the deck to the main ammunition magazine and explodes, destroying the ship. Only three of a crew of 1422 survive. The Prince of Wales scores a hit on the bow of Bismarck, causing over 1000 tons of fuel forward of the damage to be unavailable. The Bismarck and the Prinz Eugen hit the Prince of Wales, which then withdraws back to the Norfolk and Suffolk. The battleship Bismarck and the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen split up, the Prinz Eugen continuing into the North Atlantic, and the Bismarck heading for St.-Nazaire, France, for repairs. British carrier Victorious arrives at about 100 miles from Bismarck, in place to launch an air attack. Vctorious launches nine Swordfish biplanes to attempt to torpedo the Bismarck. Eight Swordfish biplanes from the Victorious attack the Bismarck with torpedoes, scoring one hit amidships, but doing little damage.
25 May 1941	The Bismarck and the Prince of Wales exchange a few shots at a range of ten miles, neither scoring a hit. Cruiser Suffolk loses contact with the Bismarck. German forces launch a full-scale attack on Crete, capturing Galatas temporarily.
26 May 1941	A reconnaissance plane from Northern Ireland spots the Bismarck. A Royal Air Force Coastal Command Catalina flying boat out of Loch Erne sights the Bismarck. British carrier Ark Royal arrives within fifty miles of the Bismarck, ready to launch aerial torpedo attacks. Fourteen Swordfish planes from the Ark Royal launch torpedoes on a ship which turns out to be the British cruiser Sheffield. All torpedoes miss or detonate early. British carrier Ark Royal launches 15 Fairey Swordfish torpedo-bomber floatplanes against the Bismarck. Swordfish planes from Ark Royal contact the Sheffield, receiving visual signal of the position of the Bismarck. Swordfish planes launch torpedo attacks on the Bismarck. Two hits are scored, one knocking out the steering gear, jamming the rudder at 15 degrees to port. Another torpedo strikes amidships, doing little damage. Crete commander Major General Bernard Freyberg of New Zealand reports by radio to Cairo, Egypt, that his forces can no longer hold the island. (An evacuation of 17,000 British and Greek troops soon begins.)
27 May 1941	British ships knock out the Bismarck's fire control system, then the main turrets. All main armament guns of the Bismarck are out of commission. Commander of the Bismarck orders the ship scuttled. All secondary armament guns of the Bismarck are out of commission. British destroyer Dorsetshire strikes the Bismarck with three torpedoes, two starboard, one port. The German battleship Bismarck sinks, either from British shells and torpedoes, or from the German sailors scuttling it. 115 survive from a crew of over 2200. In North Africa, German General Erwin Rommel launches a counterattack on Halfaya Pass, recapturing it. On Crete, German forces reach Khania. US President Franklin Roosevelt declares an unlimited state of national emergency. US President Franklin Roosevelt orders 25,000 US troops readied to sail for the Portuguese Azores within a month. General Archibald Wavell authorizes the evacuation of Crete.   Josef Stalin calls up 800,000 reserve forces.
28 May 1941	On Crete, German forces occupy Suda Bay. British ships evacuate 3500 British and Greek troops from Iraklion, Crete. (A further 13,000 are rescued over four nights from Khora Sfakion.)
29 May 1941	The British Royal Navy evacuates the garrison at Heraklion, Crete.
30 May 1941	British forces reach Baghdad, Iraq, forcing Prime Minister Rashid Ali and the grand mufti to flee to Persia.
31 May 1941	German planes unintentionally drop bombs on Dublin, Ireland. Their target was Belfast, but British radar defense distorted their direction-finding beam to change their course. In convoy HX-127 from Canada to England, merchant ship Gravelines is torpedoed and half sunk; 11 die. Commodore L.W. Murray of the Royal Canadian Navy is appointed commander of the Newfoundland Escort Force.