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• Hitler announced in a speech to Reichsleiters and Gauleiters that submarine warfare was to be stepped up as the surest way to cut enemy supply lines, even as the German submarine fleet was being pounded in the Atlantic Ocean. ww2dbase [Black May | TH]
• Allied naval forces began the Operation Retribution blockade, sealing off Tunisia, Italian North Africa from the sea. ww2dbase [Conclusion of the Desert War | CPC]
• Japanese troops captured Buthidaung, Burma. ww2dbase [CPC]
• USS Gar reported sinking a Japanese sampan in daylight with her deck gun. ww2dbase [Gar | CPC]
• USS Snook attacked a Japanese convoy off China and sank Hosei Maru, hitting her with 1 of 4 torpedoes fired. ww2dbase [Snook | CPC]
• The keel of submarine Pintado was laid down. ww2dbase [Pintado | CPC]
• Lydia Litvyak shot down a German Bf 109 fighter while flying a Yak-1 fighter. ww2dbase [Lydia Litvyak | CPC]
• USS Nicholas rendezvoused with oiler USS Patuxent off New Caledonia and set off for Espiritu Santo, New Hebrides. ww2dbase [Nicholas | DS]

• Jaguar, Greif, and Möwe completed their escort mission for minelayers in the North Sea. ww2dbase [Greif | Jaguar | Möwe | Black May | North Sea | CPC]

• Shortly after midnight, cruisers USS Honolulu, USS St. Louis, and USS Nashville with destroyers USS O'Bannon, USS Taylor, USS Strong, and USS Chevalier made one circuit through Vella Gulf in the Solomon Islands covering minelayers laying mines in Blackett Strait. ww2dbase [Nashville | St. Louis | Honolulu | Walden Ainsworth | Solomon Islands Campaign | Vella Gulf, Solomon Islands | DS]

• Japanese hospital ship Hikawa Maru departed Truk, Caroline Islands. ww2dbase [Hikawa Maru | Truk | CPC]

• Japanese troops captured Anxiang, Hunan Province, China. ww2dbase [Battle of Exi | Anxiang, Hunan | CPC]

• Kamoi departed Surabaya, Java, Dutch East Indies. ww2dbase [Kamoi | Surabaya, Java | CPC]

• German television began broadcasting from studios in Paris, France. ww2dbase [Paris | CPC]

• Barbers Point Naval Air Station: Parts of British Fighter Squadrons 882, 896, and 898 departed. ww2dbase [Barbers Point Naval Air Station | Ewa, Oahu | DS]

• USS Wahoo sank freighter Tamon Maru No. 5 off Iwate Prefecture, Japan, hitting her with 1 of 6 torpedoes. Later on the same day, she attacked a military convoy consisted of two escort vessels and a naval auxiliary in the same region, Japan; all 3 torpedoes missed. ww2dbase [Wahoo | CPC]

• Italians scuttled captured French minelayer Castor at Bizerte, Tunisia. ww2dbase [Bizerte | CPC]

• George Washington Carver was launched at Yard No. 1 of Kaiser Richmond Shipyards, Richmond, California, United States, sponsored by actress and civil rights activist Lena Horne. ww2dbase [George Washington Carver | Kaiser Richmond Shipyards | Richmond, California | CPC]

• Submarine USS Tinosa departed Midway on her first war patrol. ww2dbase [Tinosa | Midway Bases | Midway | DS]

7 May 1943 Interactive Map