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May 6th, 1941

UNITED KINGDOM: The Luftwaffe bombs Belfast with incendiaries.
Submarine HMS Sea Nymph laid down. (Dave Shirlaw)

FRANCE: VICHY FRANCE: The vice-premier, Admiral Darlan, agrees to let Hitler send German troops to Iraq via Syria.

GERMANY: U-613, U-614 laid down. (Dave Shirlaw)

U.S.S.R.: Stalin succeeds Molotov as chairman of the council of people’s commissars, adding to his authority.

Moscow: The Soviet military attache in Berlin warns Soviet High Command that Germany is preparing to invade the USSR.

MEDITERRANEAN SEA: Tiger Convoy: With the Afrika Korps driving through North Africa towards the Suez Canal, pushing the Western Desert Force before them and British forces close to collapse and strategic locations threatened, the British High Command risks sending a reinforcement convoy across the Mediterranean to Alexandria. The convoy consists of five large transport ships, escorted by Ark Royal, the battleships HMS Renown and HMS Queen Elizabeth, the cruisers HMS Sheffield, HMS Naiad, HMS Fiji, and HMS Gloucester, and screened by destroyers of the 5th Destroyer Flotilla. Prior to Ark Royal’s departure, Captain Holland left to recuperate from stress and poor health, and was replaced by Captain Loben Maund. The convoy left Gibraltar on 6 May, and was detected by Italian aircraft. The convoy, limited to 14 knots (26 km/h) and escorted by so many capital ships, is such a tempting target that Italian and German aircraft are mobilised.

IRAQ: After four days of non-stop British air raids, the Iraqi troops were forced to leave the high ground around Habbaniya and retreat to Baghdad on the night of Tuesday 6 May.
The British 21st Indian Brigade arrives at Basrah.

COMMONWEALTH OF THE PHILIPPINES: Philippine Department Air Force established; Clagett assumes command. (Marc Small)

U.S.A.: The Republic XP-47B-RE Thunderbolt (40-3051) makes its first flight at Republic Field, Farmingdale, Long Island, New York. Originally ordered as the XP-47-RE, this aircraft is the first of 15,579 P-47s accepted by the USAAF.

Igor Sikorsky sets a new helicopter endurance records when he flies his VS-300 helicopter for 1 hour, 32 minutes and 26 seconds. (Jack McKillop)

The Douglas XB-19 four-engined bomber begins taxi tests. It has a length of 132.25 feet (40,34 meters), a wingspan of 212 feet (64,62 meters), an empty weight of 86,000 pounds (39 009 kilograms), normal range of 5,200 miles (8 369 kilometer) and a maximum range of 7,710 miles (12 408 kilometers).

Although not delivered with armament, it was designed to have one 37 mm cannon and one .30 calibre (7.62 mm) machine gun in the nose and forward dorsal turret; a .50 calibre (12.7 mm) machine gun in the tail, rear dorsal turret, ventral turret, left and right waist positions; and a .30 calibre machine gun on each side of the bombardier’s position and on each side of the fuselage below the horizontal stabilizer. A normal crew consisted of 16-men but two additional flight mechanics and a six-man relief crew could be accommodated in a special compartment fitted with eight seats and six bunks. To feed this mob, a complete galley was included. The government paid Douglas $1.4 million ($17.32 million in 2006 dollars) but Douglas had spent an additional $4 million ($49.47 million in 2006 dollars) of their own money.

The aircraft was used as a flying laboratory and provided valuable data that was used to develop the Boeing B-29 and the Convair “Aluminum Overcast,” aka, the B-36. During these tests, the plane had many engine-cooled problems and in 1943, the four 2,000 hp Wright R-3350 air-cooled radials engines were replaced with four 1,600 hop Allison XV-3420-1 liquid-cooled engines and the aircraft was redesignated XB-19A. This increased its maximum speed and eliminated the cooling problems. During the next 2-1/2 years, it was transferred from Wright Field, Dayton, Ohio, to Patterson Field in Dayon, to Lockbourne AAAB in Columbus, Ohio, and finally to Clinton County AAFld, Wilmington, Ohio. Finally, it was placed in storage at Davis-Monthan Field, Tucson, Arizona on 17 August 1946 and was scrapped in 1949. (Jack McKillop)

Bob Hope does his first remote show from March Field, Riverside, California. Initially reluctant to leave the studio, he found an audience of servicemen so primed and ready to laugh that he was forever hooked. The roar of laughter and applause was so loud, he would recall, that he “got goose pimples” during the broadcast. (Jack McKillop)

ATLANTIC OCEAN: At 1717, the Dunkwa, dispersed from Convoy OB-310, was torpedoed and sunk by U-103 216 miles WNW of Freetown. Five crewmembers and three gunners were lost. The master, 37 crewmembers and one gunner were picked up by Dutch merchantman Polydorus and landed at Oban.

MS Surat sunk by U-103 at 08.23N, 15.13W.

At 1052, the Oakdene, dispersed from Convoy OG-59, was hit by one torpedo from U-105 and sank NW of St. Paul Rocks. HMS Dorsetshire picked up the master, 31 crewmembers and three gunners.

U-556 sank steam trawler Emanuel with gunfire.

At 0240, HMS Camito was hit aft of amidships by one torpedo from U-97 WSW of Cape Clear, while escorting the Sangro to the UK. The Italian tanker had been taken as prize on 20 April, while sailing from Brazil to France. The U-boat had spotted the two ships at 1745 on 5 May and had problems to keep contact in heavy seas and bad visibility. Camito was missed at 0202 with a spread of two torpedoes and three minutes later with a stern torpedo before being hit, but continued at slow speed. The U-boat first chased the tanker, which caught fire after being hit by one torpedo at 0353 hours and then returned to the first vessel. Heilmann thought that she is a Q-ship and left the badly damaged ship, which sank the next day in 50°15N/21°16W. (Dave Shirlaw)

http://worldwar2daybyday.blogspot.com/

Day 614 May 6, 1941

Overnight, Iraqis withdraw from the plateau overlooking RAF Habbaniya having suffered 1000 casualties from RAF attacks. They abandon 6 Czech 3.7 inch howitzers, 1 field gun, 1 Italian tank, 10 Crossley armoured cars, 79 trucks, 3 anti-aircraft guns, 56 machineguns, 340 rifles and 500,000 rounds of ammunition. They are pursued by King’s Own Royal Regiment which leaves RAF Habbaniya in armoured cars (carrying 2 WWI-era 4.5 inch howitzers, previously used as ornaments at the entrance to the officers’ mess). KORR routs the retreating Iraqi troops at the village of Sinn El Dhibban on the road back to Baghdad (433 Iraqis taken prisoner). British casualties are 7 killed and 14 wounded. 21st Infantry Brigade, 10th Indian Infantry Division, disembarks at Basra to reinforce the British presence in Iraq.

In Paris, senior German diplomat Otto Abetz and French Foreign Minister Admiral Darlan negotiate a preliminary agreement to send Vichy French war materiel in Syria to the Iraqis (in return, French “occupation costs” are reduced from 20 million to 15 million Reichsmarks a day). Although later rejected by the French government and never ratified, the Paris Protocols also allow Germany use of airbases in Syria to transport aircraft to Iraq. Luftwaffe Colonel Werner Junck is ordered to establish Fliegerführer Irak with 12 Messerschmitt Bf110 fighters and 12 Heinkel He111 bombers.

Allied commander on Crete, General Freyberg, receives accurate intelligence (Ultra intercepts of poorly-coded Luftwaffe signals) on German plans for an airborne invasion of Crete by 2 divisions on May 17. Freyberg does not believe a parachute attack is likely and continues to focus on the threat of amphibious landings with tanks.

U-103 and U-105 sink 3 more British freighters off Sierra Leone (12 killed, 100 survivors). U-103 rights a swamped lifeboat to accommodate more survivors from one steamer. 500 miles West of Ireland, U-97 sinks British ocean boarding vessel HMS Camito and Italian tanker SS Sangro which she is escorting to Britain (28 killed, survivors picked up by corvette HMS Orchis). Off the coast of Italy, British submarines HMS Taku and HMS Truant sink Italian steamers Cagliari and Bengasi.