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• Spain ceased export of Tungsten to Germany in exchange for American oil. ww2dbase [CPC]
• The Japanese Navy 14th Air Fleet was reorganized to contain only one seaplane tender. ww2dbase [CPC]
• The order for food transport ship Kusumi, the planned sister ship to Irako, was canceled. ww2dbase [CPC]
• Hartwig von Ludwiger stepped down as the deputy commanding officer of 22nd Mountain Corps. ww2dbase [Hartwig von Ludwiger | CPC]

• USS New Mexico departed Sydney, Australia. ww2dbase [New Mexico | Sydney, New South Wales | CPC]

• Six US Marine Corps PBJ bombers attacked Tobera, New Britain; one bomber was shot down by anti-aircraft fire. ww2dbase [New Guinea-Papua Campaign, Phase 3 | Tobera, New Britain | CPC]

• K Force of US 5307th Composite Unit (Provisional) reached the trail junction one mile south of Japanese-held Ritpong, Burma. ww2dbase [Battle of Myitkyina | Ritpong | CPC]

• Japanese hospital ship Hikawa Maru arrived at Balikpapan, Dutch Borneo. ww2dbase [Hikawa Maru | Balikpapan, Borneo | CPC]

• Harold Alexander ordered for the preparation of Operation Buffalo, which called for an assault on Cisterna, Italy; Mark Clark, however, would modify this plan so that he could strike at Rome, Italy. ww2dbase [Battle of Anzio | CPC]

• Settsu was assigned to the Japanese Navy Combined Fleet. ww2dbase [Settsu | CPC]
• Landing ship No. 132 was launched. ww2dbase [No. 101/103-class | CPC]

• Arthur Liebehenschel was named the commandant of Majdanek Concentration Camp in occupied Poland, succeeding Martin Gottfried Weiss. ww2dbase [Discovery of Concentration Camps and the Holocaust | Majdanek Concentration Camp | Lublin | CPC]

• Soviet Army began its assault on Sevastopol, Russia destroying German 17.Armee and taking 36,000 prisoners. ww2dbase [Sevastopol | TH]
• Lavrentiy Beria was named the deputy chairman of the Soviet State Defense Committee (GKO) and the chairman of the Operational Bureau of the GKO. ww2dbase [Lavrentiy Beria | Moscow | CPC]

• Kamoi entered dock No. 1 at Singapore for repairs. ww2dbase [Kamoi | Singapore | CPC]

• USS Franklin departed Norfolk, Virginia, United States. ww2dbase [Franklin | Norfolk, Virginia | CPC]
• Battleships USS Maryland, Colorado, Washington, and California escorted by destroyers USS Mugford, Bagley, Sterett, Wilson, Shaw, Helm, Ross, and Selfridge departed San Francisco, California bound for Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. ww2dbase [Maryland | Washington | Colorado | Helm | Mugford | Shaw | California | San Francisco, California | DS]
• Composite Squadron VC-69 came aboard escort carrier USS Bogue with their FM-2 Wildcats and TBF-1c Avengers. Bogue and her escorts put to sea on an offensive Hunter-Killer anti-submarine mission along the Atlantic convoy routes between North America and Africa. ww2dbase [Norfolk Navy Yard | Bogue | Norfolk, Virginia | DS]

5 May 1944 Interactive Map