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• In India, Mahatma Gandhi was released from imprisonment due to health reasons. ww2dbase [CPC]
• British Army junior officer John Randle took out a Japanese machine gun position in Burma, then purposefully sacrificed himself to take out a bunker with a grenade. He was posthumously awarded a Victoria Cross. ww2dbase [CPC]
• The A7M1 Reppu fighter took its first flight. ww2dbase [A7M Reppu | CPC]
• During the day, 25 Japanese Zero fighters attacked Bishenpur, India. After sundown, Japanese troops attacked Tengnoupal, India. ww2dbase [Battle of Imphal-Kohima | CPC]
• Rudolf Höss received orders to travel to Auschwitz Concentration Camp in occupied Poland. ww2dbase [Rudolf Höss | CPC]

• Khaki Combat Team of US 5307th Composite Unit (Provisional) began hacking through jungle northwest of Ritpong, Burma; they encountered a Japanese field kitchen and captured braised buffalo mean, canned fish, and other foods. Meanwhile, two companies of Chinese 88th Regiment moved into position to attack the village. ww2dbase [Battle of Myitkyina | Ritpong | CPC]

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

• The order for the construction of U-3538, U-3539, U-3540, U-3541, and U-3542 was issued. ww2dbase [U-3542 | U-3538 | U-3539 | U-3540 | U-3541 | CPC]

• Destroyers USS Waller, USS Saufley, USS Renshaw, USS Pringle, and USS Philip departed Funafuti, Ellice Islands (now Tuvalu) bound for Pearl Harbor, Hawai'i and they crossed the 180th meridian later that day. ww2dbase [Saufley | Philip | Waller | Pringle | Renshaw | Funafuti | DS]

• USS Pompon departed Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii for her fifth war patrol. ww2dbase [Pearl Harbor Navy Base and Ford Island Naval Air Station | Pompon | Honolulu, Oahu | CPC]
• Barbers Point Naval Air Station: Part of ARGUS-17 departed. ww2dbase [Barbers Point Naval Air Station | Ewa, Oahu | DS]
• USS Miami arrived at Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii. ww2dbase [Miami | Honolulu, Oahu | CPC]

• In the East China Sea, submarine USS Spearfish detected a Japanese convoy of about ten cargo ships with three escorts. Spearfish fired four torpedoes into the pack of ships and four more at the merchant ship Toyoura Maru, whose cargo of high explosives disintegrated the ship with a brilliant flash. The first torpedo salvo also damaged the munitions ship Mamiya. Spearfish then endured a depth charge attack that considerably shook the boat with each of the eleven explosions. Once Spearfish evaded the counter-attack, she circled back to find Mamiya dead in the water. Spearfish executed another torpedo attack that further damaged the ship and subjected Spearfish to another boat-jarring depth charge attack. ww2dbase [Spearfish | East China Sea | DS]

• USS Yorktown (Essex-class) underway from Majuro, Marshall Islands bound for Oahu, Hawaii. ww2dbase [Yorktown (Essex-class) | Majuro | DS]

• USS Gurnard spotted a large Japanese convoy in the Celebes Sea at about 0800 hours. At about 1400 hours Japan Time, fired two 3-torpedo spreads. Destroyer Fujinami observed the wakes and reported to other escorts. The torpedoes hit Tajima Maru (sank, killing 58 soldiers, 3 crewmen, and 9 gunners), Aden Maru (sank, killing 499 soldiers, 12 crewmen, and 4 gunners), and Amatsusan Maru (started fire); the Americans claimed all six torpedoes hit. The Japanese escorts (Patrol Boat No. 102 (former USS Stewart), Patrol Boat No. 104, netlayer Korei Maru, Submarine Chaser No. 38, minelayer Shirataka, destroyer Fujinami, and destroyer Shiratsuyu) dropped 98 depth charges, but USS Gurnard survived this counterattack. At midnight, USS Gurnard attacked the burning Aden Maru with her 4-inch deck gun; still unable to sink the transport, the submarine fired a torpedo to finally sink her; 95 soldiers were killed in this sinking. ww2dbase [Gurnard | Stewart | Celebes Sea | CPC]

• Younger workers in the Łódź ghetto in Poland began a hunger strike in protest of the watery soup that made up the bulk of their daily food intake. ww2dbase [Łódź | CPC]

• Soviet troops bombarded Sevastopol, Russia with Katyusha rocket launchers. ww2dbase [BM-13/8/31 Katyusha | Sevastopol | CPC]

• Allied convoy RA-59 arrived at Loch Ewe, Scotland, United Kingdom. ww2dbase [Arctic Convoys | Loch Ewe, Scotland | CPC]

• Casablanca-class escort carrier USS Steamer Bay arrived at San Diego, California. ww2dbase [Steamer Bay | San Diego, California | DS]
• Casablanca-class escort carrier USS Sargent Bay shifted to San Pedro, California. ww2dbase [Sargent Bay | San Pedro, California | DS]

• USS Pollack departed Midway Atoll for her tenth war patrol. ww2dbase [Pollack | Midway Bases | Midway | CPC]

6 May 1944 Interactive Map