5 Jun 1941
- Germany announced that 15,000 British and Commonwealth prisoners of war were captured at Crete, Greece. ww2dbase [Balkans Campaign | TH]
- Japanese luxury ocean liner Hikawa Maru departed Yokohama for Vancouver, with some Jewish refugees on board. ww2dbase [Hikawa Maru | CPC]
- German submarine U-48 sank British ship Wellfield 670 miles north of the Azores at 0131 hours; 8 were killed, 30 survived. ww2dbase [CPC]
- The German Kriegsmarine issued orders for 102 new submarines to be constructed. ww2dbase [CPC]
- British submarine HMS Triumph sank Italian gunboat Valoroso and two small transports, Frieda and Trio Frassinetti, off the coast of Libya with her deck gun. ww2dbase [CPC]
- British cruiser HMS London and destroyer HMS Brilliant, using Ultra intercepts, intercepted and attacked German tanker Egerland 700 miles southwest of Cape Verde islands. Egerland's crew scuttled the ship; all 94 aboard survived. ww2dbase [London | CPC]
- Before dawn, German bombers attacked Birmingham, England, United Kingdom in the early hours of the day; the bombs mostly missed their targets and fell outside the city. ww2dbase [Battle of Britain | CPC]
- Japanese aircraft flew more than 20 sorties against Chongqing, China over a 3-hour period, dropping bombs on civilian sections of the city. In the Jiaochangkou air raid shelter tunnel, more than 1,000 Chinese died from asphyxiation. ww2dbase [Bombing of Shanghai, Chongqing, and other Cities | Chongqing | CPC]
- Libelle was recommissioned into service. ww2dbase [F1 | CPC]
Timeline Section Founder: Thomas Houlihan
Contributors: Alan Chanter, C. Peter Chen, Thomas Houlihan, Hugh Martyr, David Stubblebine
Special Thanks: Rory Curtis
Please consider supporting us on Patreon. Even $1 per month will go a long way! Thank you. Please help us spread the word: Stay updated with WW2DB: |
Change View
Desktop ViewSearch WW2DB
News
- » Wreck of M-49 Found (10 Apr 2025)
- » Japanese Emperor Visited Iwoto (Iwo Jima) (8 Apr 2025)
- » Race, Holocaust, and African-American WW2 Histories Removed from the US Naval Academy Library (7 Apr 2025)
- » US Government Plans to Purge WW2 Information (17 Mar 2025)
- » See all news
Current Site Statistics
- » 1,167 biographies
- » 337 events
- » 44,606 timeline entries
- » 1,243 ships
- » 350 aircraft models
- » 207 vehicle models
- » 376 weapon models
- » 123 historical documents
- » 261 facilities
- » 470 book reviews
- » 28,500 photos
- » 365 maps
Famous WW2 Quote
"The raising of that flag on Suribachi means a Marine Corps for the next 500 years."James Forrestal, Secretary of the Navy, 23 Feb 1945
