Search examples: Microsoft | 2015 | 2014/10 | 4.12 | 04/20 | 05/26/1980 | Galileo Galilei

History on the 13th of May

History
Date Text
13 May 1665 RELIGIOUS A statute was enacted in Rhode Island, offering freemanship with no specifically Christian requirements, thus effectively enfranchising Jews.
0
13 May 1839 RELIGIOUS Birth of William P. Mackey, a Scottish physician who later in life became a Presbyterian pastor. Mackey wrote several hymns during his life, including "Revive Us Again."
0
13 May 1911 WW2 Henry Arnold made his first solo flight. 
0
13 May 1912 WW2 The Air Battalion of the British Royal Corps of Engineers became the Military Wing of the Royal Flying Corps. 
0
13 May 1917 RELIGIOUS Near Fatima, Portugal, three shepherd children reported that Mary, the mother of Jesus, had appeared to them. Since 1930, this appearance has come to be known as Our Lady of Fatima.
0
13 May 1925 WW2 The Turkmen Soviet Socialist Republic was formed. 
0
13 May 1925 RELIGIOUS In Tallahassee, Florida, the State legislature passed a bill requiring daily Bible readings in all public schools.
0
13 May 1930 WW2 Japanese luxury ocean liner Hikawa Maru commenced her maiden voyage from Kobe for Seattle. 
0
13 May 1935 WW2 In Russia, the Central Committee ordered a purge to be carried out to investigate the illicit use of Party membership cards. 
0
13 May 1939 WW2 American destroyer USS Bulmer arrived at Gulangyu island, an international settlement off Xiamen, China in response to the arrival of a Japanese Special Naval Landing Force detachment nearby. 
0
13 May 1939 WW2 Mongolian cavalry forces occupied the area near Nomonhan, Mongolia Area, China. 
0
13 May 1940 WW2 UK Prime Minister Churchill made the famous "Blood, Sweat, Tears, and Toil" speech. 
0
13 May 1940 WW2 At midnight, which was light due to the latitude, British cruiser HMS Aurora, cruiser HMS Effingham, and battleship HMS Resolution bombarded Narvik, Norway in preparation of the 0100-hour amphibious operation at Bjerkvik, which was the first of the European War. French Foreign Legion and light tanks came ashore at Bjerkvik in landing craft, suffering 36 casualties, then reached and captured Øyjord unopposed. Many Norwegian civilians died during the attack. 
0
13 May 1940 WW2 While on the previous day the inferior German tanks suffered against their French counterparts in Belgium, German tank commanders amassed their tanks (while the French commanders decided to divide their tanks to cover a wider front) and punched a hole in the French lines; French troops began falling back toward Gembloux; the Battle of Hannut ended with the French losing 105 tanks and the Germans 160. Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands departed for London at 1200 hours aboard HMS Hereward, while the Dutch government would leave at 1720 hours aboard HMS Windsor; meanwhile, the German 9th Division reached the outskirts of Rotterdam, which was a part of the final Dutch defensive line, Amsterdam-Rotterdam-Utrecht. In France, Germany Army Group B established bridgeheads at the Meuse River near Dinant and Sedan after penetrating a 50-mile gap in French defensive lines; by the evening, pontoon bridges were set up for tanks to cross. 
0
13 May 1940 WW2 American river gunboat Tutuila, stranded on a reef in the Yangtze River off Chongqing, China since 8 May, was refloated. 
0
13 May 1940 WW2 James Lacey shot down a German He 111 bomber, a Bf 109 fighter, and a Bf 110 fighter over Sedan, Ardennes, France. 
0
13 May 1940 WW2 The Dutch Royal Family and the Dutch government arrived in London, England, United Kingdom. 
0
13 May 1940 WW2 Winston Churchill appointed Leo Amery as Secretary of State for India and Burma. 
0
13 May 1941 WW2 Battleship Bismarck and heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen conducted refueling exercises. 
0
13 May 1941 WW2 Battleship Bismarck and heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen conducted refueling exercises. 
0
13 May 1941 WW2 British troops began gathering for the Operation Brevity offensive in the Libyan-Egyptian border region. Axis aircraft discovered and bombed one tank concentration. 
0
13 May 1941 WW2 German submarines U-98 and U-111 attacked Allied convoy SC-30 off Greenland in the morning, sinking British ship Somersby (entire crew of 43 survived and rescued by Greek ship Marika Protopapa) and armed merchant cruiser HMS Salopian (3 were killed, 287 survived). Also in the morning, U-105 sank British ship Benvrackie at 0748 hours 700 miles off Sierra Leone, British West Africa; 28 were killed, 55 survived. 
0
13 May 1941 WW2 British gunboat HMS Gnat shelled the German airfield at Gazala, Libya 30 miles west of Tobruk after sundown in an attempt to disrupt the German aerial campaign against the besieged Tobruk. 
0
13 May 1941 WW2 A shipment of Vichy French weapons arrived in Mosul, Iraq from French Mandate of Syria, containing 15,500 rifles, 6 million rounds of ammunition, 200 machine guns, 4 75-mm field guns, and 10,000 shells. Meanwhile, a British mobile column from Palestine reached Rubah, Iraq, finding it already abandoned by Iraqi forces. 
0
13 May 1941 WW2 The Red Army commenced the movement of substantial forces to the western frontier, but out of the thirty-three divisions deployed only four or five were fully equipped by the outbreak of war. 
0
13 May 1941 WW2 In Germany, a new Decree on wartime military jurisdiction was published, which removed crimes against civilians from the sphere of courts martial and suspended any obligation to punish offences against "hostile civilian persons" committed by soldiers. 
0
13 May 1942 WW2 The British Chiefs of Staff approved a major raid against the French port of Dieppe. 
0
13 May 1942 WW2 German submarine U-69 damaged American cargo ship Norlantic with two torpedoes at 0338 hours and deck gun at 0347 hours en route between Pensacola, Florida, United States and Venezuela; Norlantic's crew signaled for a ceasefire so the crew could board lifeboats, but U-69 continued to fire sinking the ship at 0411 hours; 12 men were killed during this attack. South of New Orleans, Louisiana, United States, U-507 damaged US tanker Gulfprince while U-506 sank US tanker Gulfpenn (killing 13 of 38 aboard). 
0
13 May 1942 WW2 Destroyer Yuzuki arrived at Ocean and Nauru Islands area. 
0
13 May 1942 WW2 Lardner was commissioned into service. 
0
13 May 1942 WW2 USS Astoria departed Nouméa, New Caledonia. 
0
13 May 1942 WW2 King George VI of the United Kingdom became Commander-in-Chief of the Home Guard. 
0
13 May 1942 WW2 USS Skipjack sank a Japanese ship in the South China Sea, hitting her with one of four torpedoes fired. 
0
13 May 1942 WW2 German armed merchant cruiser Stier, escorted by torpedo boats Iltis, Kondor, Falke, and Seeadler, attempted to break out into the Atlantic Ocean by running the English Channel. The British attacked with motor torpedo boats, sinking Iltis (115 were killed) and Seeadler (85 were killed) with the loss of MTB 219), but they were not able to stop Stier from reaching Boulogne, France. 
0
13 May 1942 WW2 German submarine U-94 sank Swedish ship Tolken and British Batna of Allied convoy ONS-92 in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. To the south, U-128 sank British ship Denpark of Allied convoy SL-109; 21 were killed, 25 survived. 200 miles east of Barbados, U-162 sank US tanker Esso Houston and U-156 sank British ship City of Melbourne and Dutch ship Koenjit. 
0
13 May 1942 WW2 USS Drum sank Japanese cargo ship Shonan Maru 20 miles south of Japan. 
0
13 May 1942 WW2 HMS Trinidad departed Murmansk, Russia after receiving temporary repairs. 
0
13 May 1942 WW2 Tenryu departed Rabaul, New Britain. 
0
13 May 1942 WW2 Adolf Hitler gave Erich Raeder the permission to continue with the construction of Graf Zeppelin. 
0
13 May 1942 WW2 Chester Nimitz, based in Pearl Harbor in US Territory of Hawaii, informed Ernest King that the next Japanese offensive would likely be aimed at Nauru and Ocean Islands, but it was also possible that the following offensive might be targeting the Hawaiian Islands or even the west coast of the United States, thus King should allow the two carriers currently in the South Pacific to move to the Central Pacific. In the evening, he secretly ordered William Halsey to conduct a show of force with his carrier force in the Tulagi, Solomon Islands area to deter the Japanese from moving against Nauru and Ocean Islands. 
0
13 May 1942 WW2 Joseph Rochefort's cryptanalytic team in Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii intercepted a radio message of Japanese warships requesting navigation charts of the Oahu, Hawaii area. Some time later, the team intercepted a message ordering aircraft transport ship Goshu Maru to embark the seaplane unit at Emidj island, Jaluit Atoll, Marshall Islands and sail to Saipan, Mariana Islands to join the AF campaign. Realizing that AF must already have a seaplane base or was a good location for a future seaplane base, Rochefort further confirmed that AF was Midway Atoll. Later in the evening, he sent this report to Chester Nimitz and the naval leadership in Washington DC, United States. 
0
13 May 1942 WW2 Isoroku Yamamoto was granted audience with Emperor Showa, who congratulated him on the success in the Battle of Coral Sea. Knowing that the tactical victory was not as glorious as it appeared, Yamamoto was notedly ambiguous on his responses to the emperor. 
0
13 May 1942 WW2 Hans-Joachim Marseille shot down two Australian P-40 fighters, Sergeant Colin McDiarmid at 1010 hours and Flying Officer H. G. Pace at 1015 hours, near Ain el Gazala, Libya, raising his kill score to 58. Marseille's aircraft was damaged during this engagement, but he was able to fly his fighter back to base, overheated (from loss of engine oil) and with unbalanced propeller. His fighter would be out of action for two days for repairs. 
0
13 May 1942 WW2 USS S-31 completed her second defensive patrol off the Panama Canal Zone. 
0
13 May 1942 WW2 HMS Trinidad departed Murmansk, Russia, escorted by 4 destroyers. 
0
13 May 1942 WW2 Soviet troops advanced 10 kilometers toward Kharkov, Ukraine. 
0
13 May 1942 WW2 German Luftwaffe III./KG 55, flying He 111 bombers, departed from Sarabuz Russkiy Airfield in Krym, Russia for Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine. The transfer was in response to the Soviet counter-offensive toward Kharkov, Ukraine. 
0
13 May 1943 WW2 The remaining Axis troops surrendered in Tunisia. For the first time in the war, the British claimed more German prisoners than the number of British captives in Germany. 
0
13 May 1943 WW2 British Royal Navy warships bombarded Pantelleria Island near Sicily, Italy. 
0
13 May 1943 WW2 Danish resistance damaged a railway installation at Tønder, Denmark. 
0
13 May 1943 WW2 USS Snook sank a Japanese freighter with 1 of 2 torpedoes fired. 
0
13 May 1943 WW2 The false documents found on the body of Glyndwr Michael/William Martin was returned by the Spanish to the British, apparently unopened but actually shared with and copied by the Germans. 
0
13 May 1943 WW2 B-17 bomber 'Hell's Angels' of US 303rd Bomb Group became the first aircraft to complete 25 combat missions. 
0
13 May 1943 WW2 Italian torpedo boats stationed at Yalta, Ukraine conducted their last sortie from this base. 
0
13 May 1943 WW2 Yamato departed Yokosuka, Japan for Kure, Japan. 
0
13 May 1943 WW2 Japanese hospital ship Hikawa Maru arrived at Yokosuka, Japan. 
0
13 May 1943 WW2 USS Wahoo damaged a Japanese transport east of Japan, hitting her with 2 of 4 torpedoes. 
0
13 May 1943 WW2 Squadron X of the No. 5 Group of the British Royal Air Force, led by Wing Commander Guy Gibson, received water-skipping "Upkeep" bombs for the upcoming mission against German dams in the Ruhr region. 
0
13 May 1943 WW2 The keel of Bergall was laid down by the Electric Boat Company in Groton, Connecticut, United States. 
0
13 May 1944 WW2 US destroyer escort USS Francis M. Robinson of Task Group 22.2 sank Japanese submarine RO-501, formerly German submarine U-1224, off the Cape Verde islands, killing the entire crew of 52 including Lieutenant Commander Norita Sadatoshi. RO-501 had a cargo of mercury, lead, steel, aluminum drawings, optical glass, IXC-type submarine blueprints, and Me 163A Komet jet fighter blue prints on board. USS Francis M. Robinson would later receive the Presidential Unit Citation for this action. 
0
13 May 1944 WW2 Major Wolfgang Späte, in a Me 163 jet aircraft launched from Bad Zwischenahn in northern Germany, pursued two USAAF P-47 fighters. Mechanical problems with the aircraft cause Späte to eventually lose contact with the US fighters. 
0
13 May 1944 WW2 Japanese troops attacked Luoyang, China. 
0
13 May 1944 WW2 Japanese hospital ship Hikawa Maru arrived at Surabaya, Java. 
0
13 May 1944 WW2 By this date, Anglo-Indian troops had control of Jail Hill, GPT ridge, and FSD ridge near Kohima, India. 
0
13 May 1944 WW2 Allied troops captured Ponte Sant'Angelo and Castelforte, Italy. 
0
13 May 1945 WW2 The Red Army eliminated the last pockets of German resistance in Czechoslovakia. 
0
13 May 1945 WW2 Gurkha Rifleman Lachhiman Gurung and two comrades manning a forward observation post ar Taungdaw, Burma, were attacked by more than 200 Japanese. Twice Gurung threw back grenades that were lobbed into their trench but a third went off in his hand blowing away his fingers, shattering his arm and causing other severe wounds to his body. His two comrades were also badly injured. Nevertheless, Gurung fought on, loading his rifle with his good left hand and propping the gun against the parapet to take aim. He held off the enemy for four hours, inflicting heavy casualties on the enemy. For his outstanding bravery, Gurung was awarded the Victoria Cross. 
0
13 May 1945 WW2 USS Baya attacked a Japanese convoy in the South China Sea, sinking three ships, hitting them with 7 of 10 torpedoes fired. 
0
13 May 1945 WW2 USS Cero sank a Japanese transport east of Japan, hitting her with 1 of 3 torpedoes fired. 
0
13 May 1945 WW2 US Navy carrier aircraft attacked airfields at Kyushu, Japan in an attempt to stop or slow to launch of Japanese special attack missions. 
0
13 May 1945 WW2 The British Royal Family and Allied military leaders attended a thanks-giving service at St. Paul's Cathedral, London, England, United Kingdom. 
0
13 May 1946 WW2 Adelaide was decommissioned from service. 
0
13 May 1948 WW2 Chen Cheng was relieved from all of his military positions including his position as the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. 
0
13 May 1949 WW2 The English Electric Canberra, Britain's first Jet bomber, took its first flight. 
0
13 May 1949 WW2 He Yingqin resigned his government postings and would soon depart China for Hong Kong and later Taiwan. 
0
13 May 1981 RELIGIOUS In St. Peter's Square, Rome, Turkish terrorist Mehmet Ali Agca, 23, shot and seriously wounded Pope John Paul II in an assassination attempt. Following a long convalescence, however, John Paul resumed his world travels.
0
12th May 14th May
© 2016 OnThisDay.net All rights reserved.
Loaded in 0.0399s.