Liverpool: The city's worst night of bombing leaves the city centre a field of brick and rubble, killing over 400.

An ammunition ship, the Malakand, loaded with 1,000 tons of bombs and shells intended for the Middle East, was set on fire by a blazing barrage balloon which fell onto her decks. The resulting explosion blew Huskisson Dock to pieces and sank six other ships. Parts of the ship's plates were found over two miles away. An ammunition train also caught fire and was shunted to a siding by railwaymen as the ammunition was exploding.

SS Europa (10,224 GRT), Canadian Government passenger-freighter an ex-Danish registered ship, was sunk by Luftwaffe bombers while alongside in Liverpool, England. There were no casualties. Europa was being employed as a troopship at the time of her loss. The vessel was raised and moved to a dry-dock for repairs. A few days after entering the dock, she was hit by bombers again and totally destroyed, along with the dock. The ship was buried when the dock was filled in with rubble and abandoned. Luftwaffe night raids on Liverpool began on 01 May and continued for the next seven nights. Seventy-six thousand people are made homeless and 3,000 were killed or injured, leading to charges of terror bombing and retaliation by the RAF. However, the docks, which were the actual target, did suffer extensive damage. Sixty-nine out of 144 deep water berths were put out of action, and the total tonnage of cargo landed was down by 75 percent by the end of the seventh night, an impressive result considering the accuracy of such attack at the time. German naval analysis of the British economic dependence on imported goods had identified port infrastructure and distribution systems as critical vulnerabilities, in addition to the shipping itself. The Luftwaffe did assign some assets to attack these targets early in the war and scored some significant successes. The pressure was not maintained and the effects were only transient. Herman Göring had a strong dislike for the Kriegsmarine and resisted any efforts at joint target co-ordination. Luftwaffe support to Kriegsmarine operations was poor throughout the war, despite the obvious accuracy of naval staff assessments.

RAF Bomber Command: 2 Group: Two Blenheims of 101 Sqn are lost attacking shipping off Boulogne for no result.

The Daily Express editorial berates the 'fairy tales' circulating the popular press, i.e. '1. The German army is rotting in Holland; 2. there is mutiny among U-boat crews; 3. Russia is going to fight Germany.'

Minesweeping trawler HMS ALBERIC sunk in collision off Scapa Flow.

Minesweeping trawler HMS ROSALIND launched.

Submarine HMS P-32 commissioned.

GERMANY: U-205 and U-451 are commissioned.

U-116 and U-654 are launched.

MALTA: Submarine HMS USK sailed for a patrol off the northwest coast of Sicily on 19 April 1941. ASW activity was intense and USK was ordered to alter her position. What happened to Usk is not known but she is most likely mined in the vicinity of Cape Bon some time after 25 April 1941. She was reported overdue today.

ETHIOPIA: Heavy fighting between the Allies and the Italians breaks out in Amba Alagi.

IRAQ: British troops attack on Iraqi positions around the Habbaniya Airfield.

Air attacks are mounted against the Rashid airfield.

The German ambassador in Baghdad received his orders. He was to obtain permission from the Vichy French government to transport aircraft and equipment to Iraq via Syria. The Vichy government not only gave transit permission but immediately transported almost all the French war material stored in Syria, to Iraq.

The American United Press News Agency reported:

A reliable source confirmed tonight in London that Rashid Ali al Gailani has asked Hitler for help against the British troops in Iraq, but he is believed to have initiated hostilities prematurely so that he is unlikely to play a role in future German war plans. The special military significance of Iraq lies in its oil, which supplies the British Mediterranean fleet and the Mediterranean based units of the Royal Air Force with a large part of their fuel.

AUSTRALIA: Minesweeper HMAS BROOME is laid down.

U.S.A.: The motion picture "Meet John Doe" is released in the U.S. Directed by Frank Capra, the film stars Gary Cooper, Barbara Stanwyck, Edward Arnold, Walter Brennan, Spring Byington, James Gleason and Gene Lockhart. Cooper plays a naïve man who is hired to head a national goodwill drive that will promote Arnold, a corrupt politician. The film was nominated for a Best Writing Academy Award.

ATLANTIC OCEAN: SS WRAY CASTLE is sunk by U-103 at 06.48N, 13.55W, off Sierra Leone.

MS Taranager sunk by U-95 at 61.07N, 25.20W in the North Atlantic southwest of Iceland. On May 5 the Icelandic motor boat Sigurfari MB 95 saved 17 men of the Norwegian freighter that had been torpedoed 2 days before. The men had manned two lifeboats that and all survived except the captain who had been hit during the attack.