May 22nd, 1942 (FRIDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM:
Escort carrier HMS Hunter (ex-HMS Trailer ex-USS Block Island) launched.
GERMANY:
U.S.S.R.: Kharkov: A titanic struggle is going on south of Kharkov where the Russians and Germans have launched offensives at the same time. Marshal Timoshenko was quicker off the mark and his men, breaking the German line, have advanced 30 miles in three days.
The Germans have retaliated by striking at Izyum, at the south-eastern base of the bulge created by the Russian advance. Timoshenko's forces are in danger of being cut off, with the Sixth Army of von Bock's Army Group South coming down from the north to meet von Kleist's group (Seventeenth Army and 1st Panzer Army), thus tying to neck of the sack south of Balakleya. There are signs that Timoshenko has realised he is in danger and is trying to reinforce the bulge while pulling his vanguard back to safety. His problem is to persuade the reluctant Stalin to allow him to retreat. The battle grows fiercer every day, with tanks, guns, aircraft and men locked in combat while smoke rises from tanks burning on the Ukrainian steppes.
PORTUGESE TIMOR: With supplies arriving, the moral of the Australian troops of Sparrow Force on this island improves and they go on the offensive against the Japanese occupiers.
The Japanese, fed up with the lack of progress had had brought in an Army
Major known as the "Singapore Tiger" a legend among his troops. He was soon in
pursuit of a group of Australians who had raided Dilli. The Australians took
their time setting up a good ambush next to a noisy waterfall along a narrow
track. the Japanese Major almost caused the ambush to fail, but not however due
to any of his renowned tactical skill; as Corporal Aitken of the 2/2nd describes
the ambush --
"The (Japanese) formation was four forward scouts, a gap of 20 yards, four more, another gap and then the main body led by a nuggety lad with crossed straps and a sword. Naturally enough when fire opened the scouts and the boy with the sword copped most of the attention. Those uninjured in the van flopped to the track, disconcerted by the noise of the waterfall and evidently thinking the fire was coming from up the track rather than from above..... Five or six Japanese soldiers took cover under a flame tree in a rock hole on the uphill side of the track. They would have been perfectly safe had not Norm Thorton been expecting this and was sitting on top of the hole, and he proceeded to kill them with systematic machine gun fire. The main body did the only possible thing, which was to run like hell back down the track. " (William L. Howard)(188, 189, 190, 191)
AUSTRALIA: A US unit mutinies at Townsville, Queensland. The 96th Battalion US Army Corps of Engineers, an African-American unit, mutiny against their white officers.
Article by Ray Holyoak and Peter Dunn
U.S.A.: Last year, Ted Williams batted .406. Today, after the Red Sox return to Boston from a road trip, Williams enlists in the U.S. Navy Air Corps to train to become a fighter pilot.
He passes the complete physical examination (his eyesight is 20-15) and is sworn into the service, immediately becoming Seaman Williams, second class. Upon his call to active duty, he will automatically become Air Cadet Williams.
Behind him are the months of wonder and indecision that followed his deferment from the draft by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in February on the grounds that he is the sole support of his mother.
The $32,000-a-year ballplayer will become a cadet at the salary of $106 a month. This won't happen for a while, though. Williams won't be called to active duty until after the baseball season ends.
He will win the Triple Crown, leading the American League with a .356 average, 36 homers and 137 RBI. He will miss the next three seasons as well as most of the 1952 and 1953 seasons, serving as a fighter pilot in World War II and the Korean War. (Rodney Sanders)
He was initially classified 3-A because his mother was totally dependent on him. After we got into the war, he was reclassified 1-A. He appealed this to his draft board and they agreed that his status should not have been changed and he made a public statement that as soon as he had built up his mother's trust fund, he would enlist. (234)
Destroyer USS Kimberly laid down.
Escort carrier USS Altamaha launched.
Maine's director of civilian defenses, Col. Francis H. Farnum, announces that foreign agents both male and female have already landed on the coast of Maine and are investigating shipping prospects. Others, he warns, have come into the state from Canada. (Scott Peterson)
MEXICO: MEXICO City: Mexico declares war on the Axis from 1 June.
CARIBBEAN SEA: German submarine U-558 torpedoes an unarmed US tanker south of Jamaica, but the ship makes port under her own power.
ATLANTIC OCEAN: At 2010, the unescorted and unarmed Plow City was hit by one torpedo from U-588 about 200 miles off Cape May, New Jersey. The ship had spotted at 1500 hours a lifeboat with a sail from the Peisander, which had been sunk by U-653 on 17 May, but the master suspected an U-boat and fled the area on a zigzag course at eight knots. The U-boat had noticed the smoke, chased the ship for four hours before firing a spread of two torpedoes. The first missed by about five feet ahead and the second struck on the port side aft of the #2 hold at the waterline. The second mate was blown overboard by the explosion and drowned. The watch below secured the engines and the most of the eight officers and 23 crewmen abandoned ship in two lifeboats, while the radio operator stayed behind to send distress messages. At 2022, a coup de grāce hit the engine room on the starboard side and caused the ship to sink by the stern within three minutes. One survivor was taken aboard the U-boat for questioning and returned him along with rations of cigarettes and rum. The Germans also righted one of the boats that capsized during launching before leaving the area. The survivors were picked up after five days by patrol yacht USS Sapphire.
At 0730, U-753 stopped the sailing vessel EP Theriault with gunfire and placed demolition charges on board. The vessel was heavily damaged but did not sink.
The Canadian Upper Lakers and St. Lawrence Transportation bulk laker Frank B Baird (1,748 GRT), CS Tate, Master, was sunk SE of Bermuda in position 28.03N, 58.50W, by gunfire from U-158, Kptlt. Erwin Rostin, Knights Cross, CO. The ship was sailing independently from St. Lucia for Sydney, Cape Breton, with a load of bauxite. The Master, who had abandoned ship by jumping overboard, was unable to reach the two lifeboats and was in danger of drowning when he was sighted by U-158 and rescued. Kptlt. Rostin apologized for "sinking such a small ship so far from shore," provided both boats with food, cigarettes and matches, and transferred Captain Tate to one of the lifeboats before departing. All 23 crewmen were rescued a few hours later by SS Talisman. They were landed in the Belgian Congo and, after a considerable period in West Africa, managed to return home to Canada and Barbados.