Portal:World War II/Selected anniversaries/May

Selected anniversaries in May

Portal:World War II/Selected anniversaries/May 1
MAY 2

• 1945 - Fall of Berlin – The Soviet Union announces the capture of Berlin and Soviet soldiers hoist their red flag over the Reichstag building. German forces surrender in Italy. German forces surrender to the New Zealand Army in Trieste.
  

MAY 3

• 1942 - Japanese naval troops invade Tulagi Island in the Solomon Islands during the first part of Operation Mo that resulted in the Battle of the Coral Sea between Japanese forces and forces from the United States and Australia.
• 1945 - Sinking of the floating-jails Cap Arcona, Thielbek and Deutschland by the RAF in Lübeck Bay.
• 1946 - The International Military Tribunal for the Far East begins in Tokyo against 28 Japanese military and government officials accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
  

MAY 4

• 1942 - Battle of the Coral Sea – The battle begins with an attack by aircraft from the United States aircraft carrier Yorktown on Japanese naval forces at Tulagi Island in the Solomon Islands. The Japanese forces had invaded Tulagi the day before.
• 1945 - Liberation of the Neuengamme concentration camp near Hamburg by the British Army.
• 1945 - Surrender of the North Germany Army to Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery.
  

MAY 5

• 1940 - In London, a Norwegian government-in-exile is formed.
• 1945 -
  • German troops in the Netherlands and Denmark capitulate to Canadian and British forces, liberating these countries from Nazi occupation.
  • Prague uprising against the Nazis.
  • Mauthausen concentration camp is liberated.
  • Admiral Karl Dönitz, leader of Germany after Hitler's death, orders all U-boats to cease offensive operations and return to their bases.
    

MAY 6

• 1941 - At California's March Field Bob Hope performs his first USO show.
• 1942 - On Corregidor, the last American forces in the Philippines surrender to the Japanese.
• 1945 - Axis Sally delivers her last propaganda broadcast to Allied troops (first was on December 11, 1941).
• 1945 - The Prague Offensive, the last major battle of the Eastern Front, begins.
  

MAY 7

• 1945 - General Alfred Jodl signs unconditional surrender terms at Reims, France, ending Germany's participation in the war. The document will take effect the next day, V-E Day.
  

MAY 8

• 1942 - The Battle of the Coral Sea comes to an end. This is the first time in the naval history where two enemy fleets fight without visual contact between warring ships.
• 1942 - Gunners of the Ceylon Garrison Artillery on Horsburgh Island in the Cocos Islands rebelled in the Cocos Islands Mutiny. Their mutiny was crushed and three of them were executed, the only British Commonwealth soldiers to be executed for mutiny during the Second World War.
• 1945 - VE Day. German forces agree to an unconditional surrender.
  

MAY 9

• 1940 - The German submarine U-9 sinks French coastal submarine Doris near Den Helder.
• 1941 - The German submarine U-110 is captured by the Royal Navy. On board is the latest Enigma cryptography machine which Allied cryptographers later use to break coded German messages.
• 1942 - Belgrade becomes the first Axis-conquered city to murder or eliminate its Jewish population, largely with the help of Serbian collaborators.
• 1942 - German SS murder 588 Jewish residents of the Podolian town of Zinkiv (Khmelnytska oblast, Ukraine). The victims were shot with machine gun in ravine on the order from Gebietskomissar Eggers and Chief of Gendarmerie Busse.
• 1945 - The final German surrender to Marshal Georgy Zhukov at Berlin-Karlshorst is signed by Colonel-General Hans-Jürgen Stumpff as the representative of the Luftwaffe, Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel as the Chief of Staff of OKW, and Admiral Hans-Georg von Friedeburg as Commander-in-Chief of the Kriegsmarine.
• 1945 - Hermann Göring is captured by the United States Army.
• 1945 - Vidkun Quisling is arrested in Norway.
• 1945 - The Red Army enters Prague (capitulation of Nazi occupation troops).
• 1945 - The Soviet Union marks Victory Day.
• 1945 - The Channel Islands are formally liberated by the British.
  

May 10

• 1940 - The first German bombs of the war fall on England at Chilham and Petham, in Kent.
• 1940 - Germany invades Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg.
• 1940 - Winston Churchill is appointed Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
• 1940 - Iceland invaded by the United Kingdom.
• 1941 - The House of Commons in London is destroyed by the Luftwaffe in an air raid.
• 1941 - Rudolf Hess parachutes into Scotland in order to try and negotiate a peace deal between the United Kingdom and Nazi Germany.
  

MAY 11

• 1943 - American troops invade Attu in the Aleutian Islands in an attempt to expel occupying Japanese forces.
• 1944 - The Allies start a major offensive against the Axis Powers on the Gustav Line.
  

MAY 12

• 1942 - Second Battle of Kharkov – In the eastern Ukraine, the Soviet Army initiates a major offensive. During the battle the Soviets will capture the city of Kharkov from the German Army, only to be encircled and destroyed.
• 1942 - 1,500 Jews are sent to gas chambers in Auschwitz.
  

MAY 13

• 1940 - Germany's conquest of France begins as the German army crosses the Meuse River. Churchill makes his "blood, toil, tears, and sweat" speech to the House of Commons.
• 1940 - Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands flees the Nazi invasion in the Netherlands to Britain. Princess Juliana takes her children to Canada for their safety.
• 1941 - Yugoslav royal colonel Dragoljub Mihailović starts fighting with German occupation troops, beginning the Serbian resistance.
• 1943 - German Afrika Korps and Italian troops in North Africa surrender to Allied forces.
  

MAY 14

• 1940 - Rotterdam is bombed by the German Luftwaffe.
• 1940 - The Netherlands surrender to Germany.
• 1943 - Sinking of the Australian Hospital Ship Centaur off the coast of Queensland, by a Japanese submarine.
  

MAY 15

• 1940 - After fierce fighting, the poorly trained and equipped Dutch troops surrender to Nazi Germany, marking the beginning of 5 years of occupation.
• 1945 - Last skirmish of the Second World War in Europe fought near Prevalje, Slovenia
  

MAY 16

• 1943 - The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising ends.
• 1943 - The Dambuster Raids by No. 617 Squadron RAF on German dams.
  

MAY 17

• 1940 - Germany occupies Brussels, Belgium.
• 1940 - The old city centre of the Dutch town of Middelburg is bombed by the German Luftwaffe, to force the surrender of the Dutch armies in Zeeland.
  

MAY 18

• 1944 - Battle of Monte Cassino - Germans evacuate Monte Cassino and Allied forces take the stronghold after a struggle that claimed 20,000 lives.
• 1944 - SS troops burn down six villages in the Brkini hills in south western Slovenia.
  

MAY 19

• 1943 - World War II: British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt set Monday, May 1, 1944 as the date for the cross-English Channel landing (D-Day would later be delayed over a month due to bad weather).
  

MAY 20

• 1940 - The first prisoners arrive at a new concentration camp at Auschwitz.
• 1941 - Battle of Crete – German paratroops invade Crete.
  

MAY 21

• 1941 - 950 miles off the coast of Brazil, the freighter SS Robin Moor becomes the first United States ship sunk by a German U-boat.
  

MAY 22

• 1939 - Germany and Italy sign the Pact of Steel.
  

Portal:World War II/Selected anniversaries/May 23
Portal:World War II/Selected anniversaries/May 24
Portal:World War II/Selected anniversaries/May 25
Portal:World War II/Selected anniversaries/May 26
Portal:World War II/Selected anniversaries/May 27
Portal:World War II/Selected anniversaries/May 28
Portal:World War II/Selected anniversaries/May 29
Portal:World War II/Selected anniversaries/May 30
Portal:World War II/Selected anniversaries/May 31