May 3rd, 1944 (WEDNESDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM: Aircraft carrier HMS Indefatigable commissioned.
NETHERLANDS: The Hague: In the most successful example of precision bombing of the war - and probably the most accurate since the air weapon was invented - an RAF Mosquito today lobbed two bombs through the front door of the Air Ministry in the crowded centre of the Dutch capital. Two more bombs, delivered at the same time, penetrated windows on either side of the door. The building had to be struck at the first attempt from 50 feet.
GERMANY: U-1277 commissioned.
U-927, U-1023, U-1024 launched.
SPAIN: Madrid: Pro-Nazi Spain bent under Allied pressure today and agreed to cut by a sixth its exports of Wulfram - the steel hardening element - to Germany. General Franco, the Spanish dictator, has succumbed to British and US demands for the release of Italian ships held in Spanish ports, the withdrawal from the eastern front of his "Blue" division of 14,284 men and "Blue" air squadron, and the closure of the German "spy" consulate at Tangiers.
MEDITERRANEAN SEA: U-371 was spotted recharging her batteries on the surface off Djidjelli on the Algerian coast. The area was swamped with six escorts from Convoy GUS-38 and three aircraft squadrons. At 0118, the U-boat managed to hit USS Menges with a Gnat in the stern. The explosion severely damaged the stern, blew off both propellers and the rudders. 31 men were killed and 25 wounded, but the destroyer was towed to port and repaired. The other vessels hunted the U-boat until the early morning of 4 May when Fenksi had to surface his boat and save his crew, but at 0404 he still fought back and also damaged the Senegalais (T 22) with a Gnat before scuttling the U-boat.
INDIAN OCEAN: U-852 scuttled in the Arabian Sea off the east coast of Somalia, in position 09.32N, 50.59E, after running aground during an attack by six RAF 621 and 8 Sqn Wellingtons. 7 dead and 59 survivors.
JAPAN: Admiral Soemu Toyoda is named Commander in Chief of the Japanese Combined Fleet. This appointment is to replace Admiral Mineichi Koga who was killed in an air accident on March 31.CANADA: Tug HMCS Marysville foundered on a rock, and sank. Refloated next day.
Corvette HMCS Orillia completed forecastle extension refit Liverpool , Nova Scotia.
U.S.A.: Destroyer escort USS McGinty laid down.
Escort carrier USS Windham Bay commissioned.
ATLANTIC OCEAN: U-278 shot down an RN Martlet.
USS Donnell was on her fifth transatlantic voyage, when she made a sound contact and sighted a periscope 450 miles SW of Cape Clear, Ireland. She prepared for a depth charge attack but was hit at 1200 by one torpedo that hit the after part and the explosion of her own depth charges blew of the stern. 29 men were killed and 25 wounded. The vessel was towed by destroyer escorts USS Reeves and Hopping and the tug HMS Samsonia to Dunnstaffnage Bay, Scotland, arriving on 12 May. The damage was to extensive, so the ship was placed out of commission, reclassified IX-182 and was used as accommodation ship at Lisahally. Later towed via Plymouth to Cherbourg where she supplied electric power to shore. 1945 she laid in Portland and Plymouth and was then towed back to the States and was decommissioned. 1946 she was sold for scrap.