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http://homepage.ntlworld.com/andrew.etherington/month/thismonth/13.htm

May 13th, 1941

UNITED KINGDOM:
Westminster: Homeless members of the House of Commons met today in Church House, Westminster, normally the assembly hall of the Church of England. Their own chamber is a heap of rubble. Only the scorched walls remain - the Speaker’s chair, the table and its despatch boxes all perished. A small bomb struck Big Ben, denting and blackening the clock face, but is it still chiming the hours.

The hammerbeam roof of Westminster Hall (built c.1100) was saved, but the member’s lobby lost its roof.

‘Parliamentary business will not be interrupted by enemy action,” Churchill declared at Question Time in the subsitute chamber.

Other London landmarks that are casualties of the great raid include Westminster Abbey, whose lantern roof collapsed in stream of molten lead - lack of water made the Abbey firewatch powerless.

The Deanery was destroyed. Lambeth Palace, Scotland Yard, the War Office, St James’s Palace, Victoria Station, the Law Courts, Gray’s Inn and Lincoln’s Inn were damaged. At the Royal College of Surgeons, pickled bodies were rescued from the debris. Fire destroyed 250,000 books at the British Museum. the Tower of London was hit by 100 incendiaries and Tower Pier was demolished, taking a naval vessel with it.

The luckiest escape was at the London Palladium Theatre, where a parachute mine fell through the roof and dangled from the ropes of the flies above the stage until it could be safely removed and exploded. St Thomas’s and Charing Cross were among 15 hospitals hit.

London:

Churchill decrees that Hess should be treated as a prisoner of war but, “...This man ... is potentially a war criminal, and he ... may well be decalred outlaw at the close of the war...”

Destroyer HMS Lance commissioned.
Corvette HMS Clover commissioned. (Dave Shirlaw)

GERMANY:
Martin Bormann is appointed to the position formerly held by Rudolf Hess.

The media depict Hess as a true idealist wanting to further the Fuhrer’s sincere desire for peace.

General Keital issues the following directive on behalf of the Fuhrer:

‘Persons [Russian civilians] suspected of criminal action will be brought at once before an officer. This officer will decide whether they are to be shot.

With regard to offences committed against enemy civilians by members of the Wehrmacht, prosecution is not obligatory...’

IRAQ: Baghdad: The exiled mufti of Jerusalem urges Islamic nations to rise up against Britain.

AUSTRALIA: Minesweeper HMAS Townsville launched. (Dave Shirlaw)

CANADA:

Patrol vessel HMCS Elk arrived Halifax from RN America and West Indies Station Bermuda.
Patrol vessel HMCS Vison returned to Halifax from operations in Trinidad. (Dave Shirlaw)

U.S.A.: The British motion picture “Dangerous Moonlight” is released in the U.S. Directed by Brian Desmond Horst, the film is about an American newswoman who falls in love with a Polish concert pianist serving as an RAF fighter pilot. (Jack McKillop)

ATLANTIC OCEAN: Armed merchant cruiser HMS Salopian on passage to Halifax after escorting convoy SC30 is torpedoed a total of six times by U-98 at 56 43N, 38 57E. She remains afloat for over three hours after the first hit. Eventually she goes down southeast of Cape Farewell, the southern tip of Greenland. There are 278 survivors. The explosion also damages the submarine. (Alex Gordon)(108)

At 0748, the Benvrackie, dispersed from Convoy OB-312, was torpedoed and sunk by U-105 about 700 miles SW of Freetown. On 9 May, the ship had picked up 25 survivors from the Lassell, which had been sunk by U-107 on 30 April. 13 crewmembers and 15 survivors were lost. The master, 40 crewmembers, four gunners and ten survivors were rescued after 13 days in lifeboats by HMHS Oxfordshire and landed at Freetown. The master, William Edward Rawlings Eyton-Jones, was awarded the Lloyds War Medal for bravery at sea.

SS Sombersby sunk by U-111 at 60.39N, 26.13W in Convoy SC-30. (Dave Shirlaw)