May 21st, 1943 (FRIDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM: The USAAF's VIII Bomber Command in England flies Mission Number 60: 98 B-17 Flying Fortresses are dispatched against the U-boat yards at Wilhelmshaven, Germany; 77 hit the target at 1244-1245 hours local and claim 47-5-17 Luftwaffe aircraft; seven B-17s are lost. A second, smaller strike of 63 B-17s is dispatched against the U-boat yards at Emden, Germany; 46 bomb the target at 1244-1246 hours local and claim 31-6-6 Luftwaffe aircraft; five B-17s are lost. At Wilhelmshaven German fighters are reported firing rockets.
The VIII Fighter Command dispatches 105 P-47 Thunderbolts on a fighter sweep in the Ostend/Ghent area; they claim 0-0-1 Luftwaffe aircraft; three P-47s are lost.
Submarine HMS Utsira laid down.
Minesweeper HMS Ready commissioned.
GERMANY:
MEDITERRANEAN SEA: The French naval Squadron at Alexandria, Egypt under Rear Admiral Rene Emile Godfroy decides to join the Allies.Submarine HMS Sickle attacked U-755 but missed. Sickle then torpedoed and sank U-303 south of Toulon.
JAPAN: Tokyo: The Japanese announce the death of Admiral Yamamoto, shot down last month over Bougainville; the US has remained silent until to avoid revealing that it intercepted a Japanese coded message giving details of his itinerary.
TERRITORY OF ALASKA: The USAAF's Eleventh Air Force dispatches ten B-24 Liberators, 12 B-25 Mitchells, and 24 P-38 Lightnings to Attu but only three missions, totalling six P-38s and a B-24, are able to bomb and strafe troops and installations. Four other missions, after vainly waiting for a break in the overcast over Attu, bomb the Kiska Island submarine base through the overcast.
The Japanese Navy issues Directive No. 246 ordering that "at the last possible moment, every effort will be made to evacuate the Attu Island defence Force, or even part of it, by submarines." Eight submarines are detailed to make supply and evacuation runs.
CANADA: Fairmile B Type ordered - HMC ML 122, 123, 124, 125, 126, 127, 128, 129.
U.S.A.: Washington: The Allies agree to stage a cross-channel landing by 1 May 1944.
The U.S. 32d Infantry Regiment takes Point Able, a high point on Prenoesgast Ridge.
The motion picture "The Ox-Bow Incident" is released in the U.S. Based on Walter Van Tilburg Clark's novel, this western drama is directed by William A. Wellman and stars Henry Fonda, Dana Andrews, Anthony Quinn, Harry Morgan and Jane Darwell. The plot concerns a lynch mob taking the law in their own hands despite protests from level-headed citizens. The film is nominated for the Best Picture Academy Award but loses out to "Casablanca."
Frigate USS Stoddert laid down.
Minesweeper USS Impeccable launched.
Destroyer escort USS Hopping commissioned.
Escort carrier HMS Puncher (ex-USS Willapa) laid down Tacoma, Washington.
ATLANTIC OCEAN: During support/assistance by U-459 the boat lost one man overboard from U-129 briefly from the rubber dinghy, but he was soon rescued. (Other sources say that the man was missing).
U-381 listed as missing south of Greenland. There is no explanation for its loss. 47 dead (all hands lost).