http://homepage.ntlworld.com/andrew.etherington/month/thismonth/05.htm
May 5th, 1940
UNITED KINGDOM: London: The Norwegian defence and foreign ministers arrive for talks.
Light cruiser HMS Fiji commissioned. (Dave Shirlaw)
FRANCE: Paris: The newspaper of the exiled German Social Democratic Party, ‘Neuer Vorwarts’ [New Way Forward], closes down after key members flee to London.
GERMANY: Fall Gelb is put back one more day to May 8.
NORWEGIAN CAMPAIGN:
German forces continue their advance north from Trondheim, Norway.
Submarine HMS Seal successfully lays mines in the southern Kattegat on the 4th before being damaged by a German mine herself. Trying to make for neutral Sweden on the surface, she is attacked and captured off the Skaw by German air and sea patrols. Lt Gunther Mehrens, piloting an Ar 196A-3 from Ku.Fl.Gr.706, spotted HMS Seal. Mehrens attacked with his cannon and bombs, forcing the suubmarine’s surrender. Mehrens then alighted, picked up the commander Lieut-Cdr R. Lonsdale and flew him to Aalborg, the Seal being towed into Frederikshavn. There are no casualties, the entire crew being made PoWs. Two escape during captivity and reach Switzerland. HMS SEAL is recommissioned as U-B and put into service for the Kriegsmarine. (Alex Gordon)(108)
French Foreign Legion troops land at Tromsø .
The German commander, Major General Valentin Feurstein, begins marching the 2nd Division northward without even waiting for all his troops to reach Trondheim.
Greenock: HMS Ark Royal proceeding to Norway, HMS Glorious and Furious embarking provisions, ordnance, stores, and supplies form the two RAF Squadrons. (Mark Horan)
http://worldwar2daybyday.blogspot.com/
Day 248 May 5, 1940
HMS Seal comes to the surface at 1:30 AM with no power or steering. 2 Arados & a Heinkel attack at 2:30 and Seal surrenders using a white table-cloth. All 60 crew are taken prisoner 3 hours later but fail to scuttle Seal, which is towed to the new German base at Frederikshavn, Denmark. She will be repaired & commissioned into the Kriegsmarine November 30 as UB. http://www.naval-history.net/WW2Ships-Seal.htm
http://www.uboat.net/boats/ub.htm
To support the landings of British Independent Companies (intercepting 2nd Gebirgsjäger advance towards Narvik), destroyers HMS Juno & Veteran arrive at Mosjöen while HMS Nubian & Firedrake go to Bodö.
At 5.25 AM, Hegra Fortress surrenders (under siege since April 12, resisting infantry and artillery attack plus Luftwaffe bombing), following Allied evacuation around Trondheim and the surrender of Southern Norway. 190 volunteer soldiers and civilian nurse Anne Margrethe Bang become POWs. 150-200 Germans have been killed or wounded attacking the Fortress while 6 Norwegians died (14 wounded).
(The next day, 6 May, the prisoners from Hegra were marched 50 kilometres to Berkåk where a PoW camp was established. At Berkåk the prisoners were set at work at building an improvised road from the river Orkla near Berkåk across the woods to Brattset, to help the German logistic system that had been severely hampered by the numerous blown bridges. Due in part to the poor physical condition of the prisoners after the harsh siege they had just experienced the road was never completed. At the end of May, Adolf Hitler personally ordered their release as an act of recognition of the defense they had put up under difficult conditions. The release happened in groups and by mid-June the last PoWs had been let go.)
Submarine HMS Seal successfully lays mines in the southern Kattegat on the 4th before being damaged by a German mine herself. Trying to make for neutral Sweden on the surface, she is attacked and captured off the Skaw by German air and sea patrols. Lt Gunther Mehrens, piloting an Ar 196A-3 from Ku.Fl.Gr.706, spotted HMS Seal. Mehrens attacked with his cannon and bombs, forcing the suubmarine’s surrender. Mehrens then alighted, picked up the commander Lieut-Cdr R. Lonsdale and flew him to Aalborg, the Seal being towed into Frederikshavn. There are no casualties, the entire crew being made PoWs. Two escape during captivity and reach Switzerland. HMS SEAL is recommissioned as U-B and put into service for the Kriegsmarine. (Alex Gordon)(108)
Some interesting details on the incident involving the HMS Seal.
First of all, he Captain, Lt. Cmdr R. Lonsdale will be courtmarshalled for "needlessly surrendering his boat". But more importantly is this bit from The Atlantic Campaign on what the Germans discovered as a result of this capture.
German intelligence experts swarmed over his 1,520-ton boat [HMS Seal]. It became clear to them from the radio log and messages that the British were locating German submarines by radio direction-finding. Dönitz's War Diary records that a comparison between actual positions and those reported to the Seal revealed that the 'fixes' thus obtained by the enemy at this stage were poorer the further they lay from the British coasts. The unparalleled opportunity to seach through the boat's signals and ocmmunications material was of great interest and value to the B-dienst. - The Atlantic Campaign, Dan Van der Vat, p.172.