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• Roosevelt urged Italy to stay out of the European War; Mussolini's response noted that Germany could not be defeated. ww2dbase [CPC]
• Swiss intelligence learned of a potential attack on France to be launched soon and informed the French military attaché, who promptly reported this to Paris. Meanwhile in Germany, Adolf Hitler pushed the invasion decision date to 5 May 1940. ww2dbase [Invasion of France and the Low Countries | CPC]
• Orion crossed the Equator. ww2dbase [Orion | CPC]
• Otto Skorzeny was promoted to the rank of Unterscharführer. ww2dbase [Otto Skorzeny | CPC]
• King Haakon VII and the Norwegian government established the provisional government at Tromsø, Norway. ww2dbase [Haakon VII | CPC]

• Japanese troops began to march toward Yichang, Hubei Province, China. ww2dbase [Battle of Zaoyang-Yichang | Hubei | CPC]

• Norwegian troops in Lillehammer surrendered. En route to Ã…ndalsnes, Norway for evacuation, the train carrying troops of the British 15th Brigade crashed into a bomb crater at 0115 hours, killing 8 and wounding 30; the surviving troops marched 17 miles through deep snow, arriving at Ã…ndalsnes at 0900 hours. British Vice Admiral Layton's task force consisted of cruisers Manchester and Birmingham and destroyers Inglefield, Diana, and Delight arrived at Ã…ndalsnes, Norway to evacuate the British 148th and 15th Brigades; they embarked 5,084 men overnight and departed at 0200 hours on the next day. Joining the British evacuation was Norwegian General Ruge, who departed Ã…ndalsnes aboard British destroyer HMS Diana to join the Norwegian government at Tromsø. Four British destroyers arrived at Namsos to evacuate the British 146th Brigade and other Allied troops in the area; heavy fog delayed the operation, and only 850 French troops were embarked overnight. In the Kattegat, British submarine HMS Narwhal fired six torpedoes at a German merchant convoy carrying parts of 2nd Gebirgsjager Division to Norway; German steamer Buenos Aires was hit by one of the torpedoes and sank, killing 62 men and 240 horses; another transport, Bahia Castillo, was hit but did not sink, killing 10 men and 26 horses. ww2dbase [Invasion of Denmark and Norway | CPC]

• Rudolf Höss was appointed the first Commandant of Auschwitz Concentration Camp in German-occupied Poland. ww2dbase [Auschwitz Concentration Camp | Rudolf Höss | Oswiecim | CPC]

• The US Navy established the Naval Air Station Isla Grande in San Juan, Puerto Rico as a part of the Tenth Naval District. The first commanding officer of the base was Captain Virgil C. Griffin, Jr. ww2dbase [Isla Grande Naval Air Station | San Juan | CPC]

• British government passed a trade union agreement which allowed women to work in munitions factories. ww2dbase [London, England | TH]
• A German bomber crashed in Essex, England, United Kingdom, killing the crew and two civilians, wounding a further 150 people. ww2dbase [Battle of Britain | England | TH]

1 May 1940 Interactive Map