May 30th, 1943 (SUNDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM: Torquay: German raiders bomb a church, killing 20 children and 5 adults.
FRANCE: Vichy broadcast announcement that French naval squadron at Alexandria had gone over to the Allies.
GERMANY: Rühr: More than 90% of the Barmen district of Wuppertal, the hub of the Rühr's chemical industry was obliterated by 1,900 tons of bombs last night. Civilian casualties included 3,400 dead (German figures); 118,000 lost their homes.
The raid was notable both for the accuracy of the Pathfinders, the vanguard of pilots who mark the targets for the main wave, and for the light flak over the target. Only 33 of the 719 bombers are missing, many shot down during the 20-mile run through the guns of the Kammhuber Line, ground-controlled "boxes" patrolled by Luftwaffe fighters. The attack is part of an air war of attrition promised as Casablanca.
U-921 commissioned.
TERRITORY OF HAWAII: The first new aircraft carrier to arrive in the Pacific in a year, USS Essex (CV-9) with Carrier Air Group Nine (CVG-9) arrives at Pearl Harbor.
TERRITORY OF ALASKA: The American North Pacific Island of Attu, seized by the Japanese in June 1942, is back in American hands. American assault troops of the US 7th Infantry Division swept ashore against light resistance on 11 May. The 20-day campaign that followed ended with howling groups of cornered Japanese breaking out of their final positions in a wild charge towards the American lines, where they were mown down by murderous automatic fire.
In a final weak attack yesterday, all the Japanese who were not killed appear to have committed suicide. Total Japanese deaths were 2,622, with just 29 who had been taken prisoner earlier. Of the 15,000 Americans in the campaign, 549 lost their lives and 1,148 were wounded. About 2,100 Americans are taken out of the action by disease and non-battle injuries. Trench foot is the most common affliction. Most of the non-battle cases are exposure, victims of the weather and inadequate clothing and boots.
The men of the 7th Infantry Division were issued standard field jackets and leather boots which got wet and froze during the cold nights on the island. For the upcoming invasion of Kiska Island, the assault troops would be equipped with clothing and footwear better suited for the cold weather, i.e., parkas instead of field jackets and arctic shoes instead of leather boots. The landing force would consist of combat veterans of Attu or troops trained at Adak in the type of fighting encountered on Attu.
The USAAF's Eleventh Air Force dispatches two B-24s and twelve P-38 Lightnings to fly air cover missions over Attu and patrol the area. On Kiska Island, three air-ground support missions to Attu by seven B-24 Liberators and twelve B-25 Mitchells drop no bombs there and instead bomb Kiska installations while three F-5A Lightnings fly photo reconnaissance and eight P-40s attack and strafe tents and troops and blast the runway at Kiska. Later in the day, eight P-40s fly four reconnaissance missions to Kiska. The Japanese submarine I-21 lands nine tons of weapons and ammunition and six tons of food and evacuates 44 sailors and 16 soldiers.
U.S.A.: Submarines USS Hackleback and Devilfish launched.
ATLANTIC OCEAN: At 2157, the Flora MacDonald, escorted by armed trawler HMS Fandango, was hit by one torpedo from U-126. The torpedo struck on the port side in the engine room, killing the third assistant engineer and a fireman. The explosion opened a large hole that immediately flooded the engine room, stopped the engines and caused the ship to settle by the stern. A fire started in the #3 hold and flames, shooting 40 feet in the air, quickly trapped some of the men in their quarters. The surviving crewmembers of the eight officers, 36 men, 24 armed guards (the ship was armed with one 5in and nine 20mm guns) and two passengers abandoned ship in six lifeboats and two rafts. Five of these men suffered severe burns. The fire raged out of control and spread to the #2 and #4 holds and the entire midships house. The armed trawler picked up the survivors and decided to head to Freetown, so the badly burned men could be treated. Three of them died on board and the other two died in the hospital in Freetown from their burns. 20 men were hospitalized. At 1430 the next day, tug HMS Zwarte Zee, escorted by sloop HMS Milford and corvettes HMS Woodruff and Tamarisk, took the still burning vessel in tow for Freetown at 5.5 knots. At 1800 on 1 June, they beached the ship in Freetown Harbor where the cargo of rubber was salvaged. The Liberty ship burned for 16 days and was later declared a total loss.
U-418 fought off an RAF 210 Sqn Catalina aircraft. The aircraft made it home but was so "holed" that she sank on landing. Later salvaged. The boat was most probably U-418, which was lost shortly afterwards.