"...danger of Syria being captured by ... Germans. ... In face of your lack of resources we can see no other course open that to furnish General Catroux with the necessary transport and let him and his Free French do their best... the RAF acting against German landings."

London: The Air Ministry announced:

Like all great powers, Great Britain formed a paratroop corps shortly after the outbreak of war. We now have a large number of paratroops who have completed their training and are ready for action. The paratroops consist exclusively of volunteers who are carefully selected and trained; most of them are aged between 23 and 27 years.

It is also announced that in last nights raids on the east Midlands two cows and a few chickens had been killed.

Hull has been badly hit leaving 40,000 people homeless and 1,000 dead out of a population of 330,000. Dock warehouses burst open and thousands of tons of burning grain slid into the river Humber.

GERMANY: Berlin: Radio reports that last night German bombers had inflicted heavy damage in the towns of Derby and Nottingham, especially the Rolls-Royce aircraft-engine manufacturing plant.

MEDITERRANEAN SEA: A transport of the Tiger Convoy in the Mediterranean is sunk by a mine.

SYRIA: German aircraft begin to stage through Syrian airfields to support Iraqi nationalists in revolt against British rule. As a result, Churchill"> Churchill instructs Wavell to allow Free French under General Catroux to invade Syria. Free French consist of only five battalions (mostly African) and some artillery. Wavell demurs – he has just despatched his only (fully-equipped) cavalry brigade across the desert to Iraq, he is expecting the German assault on Crete to begin soon, AND dealing with axis forces in the western desert, so cannot support such an operation. (Michael Alexander)

EQUATORIAL AFRICA: Brazzaville: de Gaulle receives a telegram from General Spears:

"...it will be impossible to provide transport for the Free French troops (for an attack on Syria) for a month... [Wavell] sees no necessity for you coming to Cairo now or in the near future. There would in fact be some disadvantage in your doing so."

Later that day de Gaulle receives a telegram from Churchill:

"The question of Jibuti was discussed at a meeting of the defence Committee which we held this afternoon, when it was decided:

1. That a strict blockade of Jibuti should be maintained.

2. That you should be requested not to remove General Catroux from Palestine.

3. That you go to Cairo...

Gratified at this sudden about face de Gaulle replies to Churchill in English:

"1) Thank you. 2) Catroux remains in Palestine. 3) I shall go to Cairo soon. 4) You will win the war.

JAPAN: Tokyo: French Indochinese-Thai peace treaty signed at Tokyo, with Japanese guaranty of new borders.

COMMONWEALTH OF THE PHILIPPINES: USAT Republic and Washington depart Manila with dependents. (Marc Small)

CANADA: Minesweeper HMCS Ungava commissioned.

Corvette HMCS Matapedia commissioned.

ATLANTIC OCEAN: U-110 is captured by HMS Aubrietia, Bulldog and Broadway.

South of Iceland U-110 (Lt-Cdr Lemp of the 'Athenia' sinking) attacks Liverpool out convoy OB318 protected by ships of Capt A. J. Baker-Crewsswell's escort group. Blown to the surface by depth charges from corvette HMS Aubretia, U-110's crew abandon ship, but she fails to go down. A boarding party from destroyer HMS Bulldog, led by twenty-year-old Sub-Lt David Balme, manages to get aboard. In a matter of hours they transfer to safety U-110's entire Enigma package - coding machine, code books, rotor settings and charts. the destroyer HMS Broadway stands by.

Sub-Lt Balme later recalls vividly the details of the dangerous descent into the bowels of the crippled submarine but admits he had no idea how crucial his discovery would be.

"We didn't know what Enigma was. We thought it was a funny looking typewriter -- an interesting bit of kit," he told Reuters.

"It was only when we got back to Scapa Flow (naval base) 10 days later that the senior intelligence officer came aboard and told me what we had got and how hard they had been looking for one."

It was terrifying. We knew there must be scuttling charges which could go off at any time. I had been in action before, but nothing quite like that,"

"For 20 years I would regularly wake up at night thinking about that climb down into the conning tower," he added. The precious Enigma machine was rushed back to England, the crew sworn to secrecy, and given to the British cryptographers and math genius Alan Turing at Bletchley Park to get to work.

Within two years, with the help of Turing's Colossus -- the world's first computer -- the Allies were reading Axis coded radio traffic like an open book. (Reuters 2003)

USS Hunt (DD-194), was commissioned as HMS Broadway (H-90) on 8 Oct. 1940, part of the destroyers-for-bases deal. (Ron Babuka)

Armed Merchant Cruiser HMS CILICIA stops and captures the SS CRITON, and escorts her into Freetown, Sierra Leone. CRITON was carrying a cargo of shells to replenish the garrison shore-batteries at Dakar following de Gaulle's abortive raid. CRITON's captain has her extensively sabotaged en route for Freetown, and even tries to ram HMS CILICIA in Freetown Roads. Some of CRITON's French crew are pro-British, but most are very anti, including her captain, Captain Illisbule. (Bernard de Neumann)

At 2309, the City of Winchester, dispersed on 28 April from Convoy OB-313, was torpedoed and sunk by U-103 about 400 miles SSW of the Cape Verde Islands. Six crewmembers were lost. The master, 84 crewmembers and seven gunners were picked up by the Norwegian merchantman Herma and landed at Takoradi.

At 1158, U-110 attacked Convoy OB-318 SE of Cape Farewell and sank Bengore Head and Esmond, but was then captured after being heavy damaged in the counterattack of the escort ships and foundered later. One crewmember from Bengore Head was lost. The master, 35 crewmembers and four gunners were rescued - 16 survivors by the Norwegian merchantman Borgfred and landed at Sydney on 18 May and 24 survivors by HMS Aubretia and landed at Reykjavik. The master, 44 crewmembers and five gunners from the Esmond were rescued. 22 survivors were picked up by Borgfred, 27 by the British merchantman Aelybryn and landed at Sydney on 18 May. One survivor was picked up by Aubretia and landed at Reykjavik.

The Newfoundland-registered Anglo-Newfoundland Steamship Co. merchantman Edmond (4,976 GRT), was torpedoed and sunk by U-110, KptLt. Fritz-Julius Lemp, Knight's Cross, CO, in the North Atlantic, in position 60.45N, 033.02W. Edmond was proceeding from Liverpool to sea as part of convoy OB-318. There was no loss of life in this incident. The OB series of convoys was instituted early in the war and only took ships to seaward from Liverpool before they dispersed, whereupon the ships proceeded independently to their destinations. The last OB convoy sailed on 21 July 1941. Convoy OB-318 lost five of its 38 ships and had another two damaged. Many stories surround the death of KptLt. Lemp. He has been reported as being rendered unconscious by the depth charging of his boat and drowned when he was thrown out the boat by his escaping crewmembers; drowned while trying to reboard the boat when he realized it was not sinking; and shot by the British boarding party. The truth will probably never be known.

At 1426 and 1428, U-201 attacked Convoy OB-318 ENE of Cape Farewell in grid AK 2181 (61°00N/32°30W), sank the Gregalia and badly damaged the Empire Cloud. The very heavily listing Empire Cloud was abandoned and ASW trawler HMS St Apollo protected the drifting ship. The Dutch tug Thames was sent out from Reykjavik, arriving on the 13 May and took the vessel in tow. With a speed of six knots they arrived at Greenock, where she was repaired and returned to service. ASW trawler HMS Daneman picked up the master, 57 crewmembers and eight gunners from the Gregalia. Later the master and 51 survivors were transferred to the British merchantman Aelybryn and 14 survivors to the Norwegian merchantman Borgfred and landed at Sydney on 18 May. 

U-107 was supported by the German support ship Egerland with 14 torpedoes and some food. The Egerland was camouflaged as an American ship. This is one reason for some rumors after the war that American ships supported U-boats.