May 10th, 1944 (WEDNESDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM: Frigate HMS Loch Insh launched.
Sloop HMS Peacock commissioned.
ROMANIA: Constanza: KptLt. Helmut Rosenbaum, commander of the 30th U-Flotilla based in the Black Sea, is killed in an air crash. He is promoted posthumously to KKpt.
ALGERIA: Algiers: The Free French estimate that there are 175,000 resistance fighters in France.
CANADA:
Corvette HMCS Sudbury completed forecastle extension refit Vancouver.
Corvette HMCS Shediac arrived Esquimalt from Halifax.
Commander
and Chief, Pacific Fleet/Pacific Ocean Areas, Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, issued
the first
orders to plan the assault on the Palau Islands of Peleliu and Angaur. Peleliu
would become the primary target of the operation
code-named Stalemate II. Commanders and forces were assigned as follows:
-- Vice Admiral Theodore S. Wilkinson commanded the Third Amphibious Force.
-- Major General Roy S. Geiger commanded the III Amphibious Corps comprised of
ground troops from the 1st Marine
Division (Peleliu) and the Army's 81st
Infantry Division (Angaur).
-- Major General William H. Rupertus commanded
the 1st Marine Division. Under his command were 1st Marines
commander Colonel Lewis B. "Chesty" Puller, 5th Marines commander Colonel Harold
D. Harris, 7th Marines commander
Colonel Herman H. Hanneken and 11th Marines commander Colonel William H.
Harrison.
-- Major General Paul J. Mueller, commanded the 81st Infantry Division.
Escort carrier USS Admiralty Islands launched.
Destroyer escort USS Le Ray Wilson commissioned.