May 1941

May

• 01

  • The Liverpool May BlitzFrom 1 to 7 May 1941 the Luftwaffe bombed Liverpool and Merseyside every night. Some 1,700–1,900 people died and an ammunition ship blew up in Huskisson Dock.
• 02

  • The Anglo-Iraqi War beginsAt dawn on 2 May 1941 training aircraft from Habbaniya and Wellingtons from Shaibah struck the Iraqis above the base. Within five days the siege collapsed.
• 05

  • Haile Selassie returns to Addis AbabaOn 5 May 1941, five years to the day after the Italians marched in, Haile Selassie returned to Addis Ababa and urged Ethiopians not to take revenge on Italians.
• 09

  • The Treaty of Tokyo ends the Franco-Thai WarOn 9 May 1941 France and Thailand signed a peace dictated by Japan in Tokyo. Vichy ceded land in Laos and Cambodia, and Japan guaranteed the settlement.
  • The capture of U-110On 9 May 1941 the escort of convoy OB 318 forced U-110 to the surface. The British boarded her and carried off an Enigma machine and secret cipher documents.
  • The fatwa of the Mufti of JerusalemOn 9 May 1941 the Mufti of Jerusalem, Amin al-Husseini, proclaimed in Baghdad a fatwa calling on Muslims to wage holy war against Britain.
• 10

  • Key eventRudolf Hess’s flight to ScotlandOn 10 May 1941 Hitler’s deputy Rudolf Hess flew alone to Scotland to make peace with Britain. He bailed out by parachute and was taken prisoner.
  • Key eventThe last night of the BlitzOn the night of 10–11 May 1941 bombs killed 1,436 people in London and destroyed the House of Commons chamber. It was the Blitz's last great raid.
  • The strike of the 100,000On 10 May 1941, the anniversary of the invasion, a strike began at the Cockerill works in Seraing and spread to 60,000–70,000 workers in occupied Belgium.
• 12

  • RAF raids on Hamburg and BerlinOn the night of 8–9 May 1941 the RAF sent over 350 bombers against Germany, its largest force yet, then returned to Hamburg, Bremen and Berlin.
  • The USSR recognises Rashid Ali’s governmentOn 12 May 1941 the Soviet Union recognised Rashid Ali al-Gaylani’s government, then ten days into its war with Britain – a gesture by Stalin towards Berlin.
• 13

  • Mihailović on Ravna GoraOn 13 May 1941 Colonel Dragoljub Mihailović and a few soldiers who rejected the capitulation reached Ravna Gora in Serbia – the birth of the Chetniks.
  • Fliegerführer Irak at MosulOn 13 May 1941 the core of Fliegerführer Irak, a German air group sent via Vichy Syria to aid Rashid Ali’s government, reached Mosul.
• 14

  • The RAF against Vichy airfields in SyriaOn 14 May 1941 London let the RAF attack German aircraft on Vichy Syria’s airfields. Bombs fell on Palmyra and Rayak – a prelude to war in the Levant.
• 15

  • The first Civilian Public Service campOn 15 May 1941 the first Civilian Public Service camp opened near Baltimore. American conscientious objectors were to work there unpaid instead of in the army.
• 16

  • Operation BrevityOn 15–16 May 1941 Brigadier Gott’s British retook Halfaya Pass and Fort Capuzzo, but fell back after a German counter-attack. On 27 May they lost the pass too.
• 17

  • The Battle of FallujahOn 19 May 1941 British troops from Habbaniya took the Euphrates bridge at Fallujah, opening the road to Baghdad, and on 22 May repulsed an Iraqi counter-attack.
• 18

  • The surrender at Amba AlagiIn May 1941 British, Indian and South African troops and Ethiopian patriots surrounded Amba Alagi. The Viceroy, the Duke of Aosta, surrendered with honours.
• 19

  • The Gabès pogromOn 19–20 May 1941 a pogrom in Gabès, Vichy Tunisia, left seven Jews dead and about twenty wounded.
• 20

  • Key eventThe airborne invasion of CreteOn 20 May 1941 Germany struck at Crete from the air. Paratroopers suffered huge losses, but at night the New Zealanders gave up the hill above Maleme airfield.
• 21

  • The sinking of the Robin MoorOn 21 May 1941 U-69 stopped and sank the American freighter Robin Moor far from the war routes. Her survivors spent almost three weeks in the lifeboats.
• 22

  • Fourth deportation from the eastern landsOn 21 May 1941 the NKVD began the last deportation from the Kresy. It came in waves until the German attack on the USSR and took tens of thousands of people.
• 23

  • Directive No. 30On 23 May 1941 Hitler’s Directive No. 30 named the Arab freedom movement a natural ally against England and granted Iraq modest aid. It came too late.
• 24

  • The sinking of HMS HoodOn 24 May 1941 in the Denmark Strait a shell from the battleship Bismarck blew apart the British battlecruiser Hood. Of her crew of 1,418, three survived.
• 27

  • Key eventThe sinking of the BismarckOn 27 May 1941 British battleships wrecked the Bismarck in the Atlantic, crippled the day before by a Swordfish torpedo. More than 2,000 Germans died.
  • The miners’ strike in Nord-Pas-de-CalaisOn 27 May 1941 a strike began at the Dourges mine that spread to over 100,000 miners in northern France. The Germans replied with arrests and deportations.
• 28

  • The evacuation from CreteOn 28 May 1941 the Royal Navy began taking the defeated garrison off Crete. By 1 June it had lifted some 17,000 men, losing ships and almost 2,000 sailors.
• 31

  • The bombing of DublinDuring the night of 30–31 May 1941 four German bombs fell on Dublin. In North Strand 28 people were killed and some 300 houses were destroyed or damaged.
  • Baghdad surrendersOn 31 May 1941 an armistice ending the Anglo-Iraqi War was signed outside Baghdad. Rashid Ali and the Mufti had fled to Iran; the Regent returned on 1 June.