Significant operations took place in the eastern Mediterranean on Friday when our naval formation under the command of Admiral Sir Andrew Cunningham encountered strong Italian forces. The enemy vessels tried to escape but several of them were brought to battle. It is presumed that so far at least one battleship of the Littorio class has recieved a direct hit, and two enemy cruisers are believed to be badly damaged. The aircraft of the Royal Navy and the RAF carried out raids whose results are not yet known. Greek naval forces also took part in these operations.

MEDITERRANEAN SEA:The 'Pola' is found, partly abandoned. After taking off the remaining crew, destroyers HMS Jervis and HMS Nubian sink her with torpedoes.

The Royal Navy has lost one aircraft in the whole of the Battle of Cape Matapan.

ITALY: Rome: The Italian High Command announced:

In East Africa, the battle on the northern front continues to rage bitterly at the new positions east of Keren (Ethiopia). Our aerial formations have bombarded British motor truck columns. Our fighter planes shot down two enemy aircraft in aerial combat. In the earlu hours of Friday morning, British aircraft raided the airfield at Leece (southern Italy), opening machine-gun fire on the installations. There were a number of injuries.

FRANCE: VICHY FRANCE: Xavier Vallat is appointed to the new position of "commissioner for Jewish questions."

EGYPT: Cairo: The Middle East Air Force in Egypt announced:

Yesterday in Italian East Africa, British aircraft once again operated forcefully in the Asmara area. In Asmara itself, rail station buildings, railroad cars and motorised columns were hit be repeated bombs. Free French aircraft led an assault on an enemy base between Gondar (Ethiopia) and Asmara and destrpyed a large number of military installations with precision-aimed bomb hits.

ETHIOPIA: Diredawa is captured by South African troops of the British East Africa Command under General Cunningham. The local Italian population had appealed to the British for help because of atrocities committed by deserters from the native forces after the Italian part of the garrison withdrew. 

SOUTH AFRICA: Heavy cruiser USS Vincennes (CA-44) arrives at Simonstown to pick up gold for deposit in the U.S. 

U.S.A.: In an article in the New York Times the Governor of the French Province of Haute Garonne says :

"...we cannot count on the next harvest before mid-July. That leaves ahead of us three very bad months. ...any time after early June we may expect to be at the bottom of our larder. ...the peasants will be resentful. People in the cities will be worse. ...there is a real danger of riots in Toulouse..."

"Amapola (Pretty Little Poppy)" by Jimmy Dorsey And His Orchestra with vocals by Bob Eberly and Helen O'Connell; reaches Number 1 on the Billboard Pop Singles chart in the U.S. The song had been featured in the motion picture "First Love" starring Deanna Durbin and Robert Stack. This song, which debuted on the charts on 22 March 1941, was charted for 14 weeks, was Number 1 for 10 weeks and was ranked Number 1 for the year 1941.

The U.S. Coast Guard receives a report that the crew of Italian merchantman SS Villarperosa, interned at Wilmington, North Carolina, is sabotaging the ship. The Coast Guard investigates reports that the crews of Italian and German vessels in American ports had received orders to "sabotage and disable" them.