Joseph Stalin published a message on International Workers' Day in which he stated that the Soviet Union was fighting a "patriotic war of liberation" and had no aim of "seizing foreign countries" or "conquering foreign peoples.

The British forces evacuate Mandalay, Burma

Japanese forces Invade Tulagi, British Solomon Islands

Thorvald Stauning Prime Minister of Denmark, head of the Unity Government, under German Occupation, dies

Japanese forces take Mandalay, Burma

Kentucky Derby won by Shut Out

Colombia's Presidential elections won by Alfonso López Pumarejo of the Liberal Party.

Japanese forces capture Bhamo, Burma.

Allied Bomber Offensive: Major night-time British air raid, 80+ aircraft attack on Hamburg, Germany. The 100th anniversary of the Great Fire of Hamburg. Limited success

Baedeker Blitz: Heavy German Luftwaffe air raid on Exeter. Causing heavy damage to the city centre, considerable damage to the south side of the Cathedral

Football International: Hungary 3-5 Germany, Üllői úti Stadion, Budapest

Start of the Battle of the Coral Sea

Vilhelm Buhl becomes Prime Minister of Denmark, head of the Unity Government, under German Occupation. died two days after Thorvald Stauning died in office.

Hungary broke off diplomatic relations with Uruguay

Allied Bomber Offensive: Heavy night-time British air raid, 120+ aircraft attack on Stuttgart, Germany. The target was the Robert Bosch aircraft factory. Target missed

European Welterweight Boxing Title Marcel Cerdan (France) beat Omar Kouidri (France) Rtd 6, Oran, Algeria.

Battle of Madagascar: British & Free French forces invade Vichy French Madagascar

Battle of Corregidor: Japanese forces attack American & Phillippine forces on the island

Eastern Front: Geman forces relieve Germans encircled in the Kholm Pocket

Allied Bomber Offensive: Major night-time British air raid, 80+ aircraft attack on Stuttgart, Germany. The target was the Robert Bosch aircraft factory. Target missed

Battle of Corregidor: Japanese forces take the island & capture 10,000 troops

Allied Bomber Offensive: Major night-time British air raid, 70+ aircraft attack on Stuttgart, Germany. The target was the Robert Bosch aircraft factory. Target missed

British forces capture Diego Suarez in northern Madagascar

Japanese forces took the northern Burmese city of Myitkyina.

Allied Bomber Offensive: Major night-time British air raid, 70+ aircraft attack on Warnemunde, Germany. The target was the Heinkel aircraft factory. Target missed

Japanese forces took Dalirig on Mindanao

Wartime Football International: Wales 1-0 England, Ninian Park, Cardiff

Operation Bowery: British & American forces deliver Supermarine Spitfires to besieged Malta

Winston Churchill gave a radio broadcast on the second anniversary of his being appointed British Prime Minister. Churchill warned the Germans that "we shall treat the unprovoked use of poison gas against our Russian ally exactly as if it were used against ourselves and if we are satisfied that this new outrage has been committed by Hitler we will use our great and growing air superiority in the West to carry gas warfare on the largest possible scale far and wide against military objectives in Germany. It is thus for Hitler to choose whether he wishes to add this additional horror to aerial warfare."

Eastern Front: Start of theSecond Battle of Kharkov. German forces encircle Soviet forces around Kharkov

Japanese forces crossed the Salween River and headed for Kengtung, Burma

American intelligence partially decoded a Japanese message indicating that a large force was preparing to invade "AF". Cryptanalyst Joseph Rochefort suspected that AF represented Midway Island, but officials in Washington believed it stood for the Aleutians. The matter was settled by planting an easily readable message from Midway saying that their desalination plant had broken down. When a Japanese message was then transmitted reporting that "AF" was short of water, Rochefort's belief was confirmed.

British forces withdrew from Burma reaching Tamu.

American Gas rationing along the U.S. eastern seaboard starts

European Lightweight Boxing Title Ascenzo Botta (Italy) beat Bruno Bistezo (Italy) Pts 15, Rome.

Costa Rica broke off diplomatic relations with Hungary and Romania.

American Women's Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC) was created.

World Lightweight Boxing Title Sammy Angott (USA) beat Allie Stolz (USA) Pts 15, Madison Square Garden, New York City.

Eastern Front: The start of theSoviet guerrilla campaign known as the Defense of the Adzhimushkay quarry began.

Sobibór extermination camp became operational in occupied Poland.

Eastern Front: Germans forces began a counteroffensive against the Barvinkove salient.

European Bantamweight Boxing Title Gino Bondavalli (Italy) beat Arnaldo Tagliatti (Italy) Pts 15, Ferrara.

French Cup Final: Red Star Olympique Paris 2-0 FC Sete, Stade de Colombes, Paris

Japanese forces in Burma reached Pantha on the Chindwin River.

German Flyweight Boxing Title Hans Schiffers (Germany) drew with Heinz Goetzke (Germany) Pts 12, Weser Stadium, Bremen.

German Featherweight Boxing Title Ernst Weiss (Germany) beat Kurt Bernhardt (Germany) Pts 12, Alerthalle, Leipzig.

Eastern Front: The Battle of the Kerch Peninsula ends in a German victory

Allied Bomber Offensive: Heavy night-time British air raid, 190+ aircraft attack on Mannheim, Germany. Target various factories. Targets missed

Eastern Front: German forces relive The Demyansk Pocket

Allied convoy PQ 16 departed Iceland for the Soviet Union.

Japanese forces capture the Philippine city of Bacolod

Mexico declared war on Germany, Italy and Japan.

Townsville Mutiny: About 600 African-American servicemen were mutinied in Townsville, Australia in reaction to being regularly subjected to racial abuse by some of their white officers. At least one person was killed and Australian troops were called to roadblock the rioters.

Eastern Front: During the Second Battle of Kharkov, German forces trapped the Soviet 6th and 57th Armies in a pocket at Izium.

Adolf Hitler gave an address to senior Nazis in which he said that concentration camps were the main bulwark against an uprising

Vacant European Middleweight Boxing Title Jupp Besselmann (Germany) beat Mario Casadei (Italy) Pts 15, Stadhalle, Stuttgart.

Football International: Argentina 4-1 Uruguay, Estadio Monumental, Buenos Aires

The Anglo-Soviet Treaty was signed in London, pledging twenty years of alliance and mutual assistance between the United Kingdom and the Soviet Union.

North Africa: The Battle of Gazala and the Battle of Bir Hakeim began in North Africa.

Five cargo ships of Allied convoy PQ 16 were sunk in a single day by the Luftwaffe.

Japanese Prime Minister Hideki Tojo address the Japanese Diet, reviewing the state of the war and encouraging India to attain independence by rising against British and American forces

Operation Anthropoid: Reinhard Heydrich, Deputy Protector of Bohemia and Moravia is attacked and seriously injured by a bomb thrown by Czech SOE (Special Operations Executive) agents.

All Jews in Nazi-occupied Belgium were ordered to wear the yellow badge.

Eastern Front: The Second Battle of Kharkov ended in Axis victory. When the Izium pocket was destroyed, the Soviet 6th and 57th Armies as well as the 21st Tank Corps were annihilated.

Allied Bomber Offensive: Major night-time British air raid, 70+ aircraft attack on Gennevilliers, France. Target various factories. Targets missed

Jews in Nazi-occupied Paris were ordered to wear the yellow badge starting June 7.

Allied Bomber Offensive: Operation Millennium. Large night-time British air raid, 1,100+ aircraft attack on Cologne, Germany. 3,300 buildings were damaged, fires across the city

Fred Korematsu was arrested on a street corner in San Leandro, California after being identified as being of Japanese ancestry, despite plastic surgery on his eyelids in an attempt to pass for Caucasian. The legality of his internment would be taken to the Supreme Court in the landmark case Korematsu v. the United States.

PGA Championship is won by Sam Snead

European Featherweight Boxing Title Gino Bondavalli (Italy) beat Lucian Popescu (Romania) Pts 15, Piazza San Prospero, Reggio Emilia.