Adolf Hitler visited Army Group South's headquarters at Poltava to confirm plans for the upcoming summer offensive.

Allied Bomber Offensive: Major night-time British air raid, 950+ aircraft attack on Essen, Germany.

The Grand Coulee Dam opened on the Columbia River.

Siege of Sevastopol, the German 11th Army began a massive five-day artillery barrage on the fortress city using 620 guns including the enormous 800mm Schwerer Gustav "Dora" gun

Allied Bomber Offensive: Major night-time British air raid, 190+ aircraft attack on Essen, Germany.

The Battle of Midway: At 09:00 Ensign Jack Reid, piloting a PBY from U.S. Navy patrol squadron VP-44, spots the Japanese Occupation Force 500 miles WSW of Midway Island. He mistakenly reported this group as the Main Force. At 12:30 9 B-17s American bombers took off to attack Japanese forces. At about 15:30 they found the Japanese transport group 570 miles W of Midway Island. They bombed the Japanese force without result

The Battle of Dutch Harbor: Japanese carrier strike force, comprising 12 Mitsubishi Zero fighters, 10 Nakajima B5N high-level bombers, & 12 Aichi D3A dive bombers from Japanese carriers Ryujo & Junyo, attack Dutch Harbor, in the Aleutian Islands. Targetting US Army & Navy facility. Oil tanks & barracks at Fort Mears

The Battle of Dutch Harbor: Japanese carrier strike force, comprising 6 Mitsubishi Zero fighters, 6 Nakajima B5N high-level bombers, & 11 Aichi D3A dive bombers from Japanese carriers Ryujo & Junyo, attack Dutch Harbor, in the Aleutian Islands. Targetting US Army & Navy facility. One wing of the hospital was damaged & barracks ship Northwestern was set on fire & sunk

The Battle of Midway: Japanese carrier strike force, comprising 36 Mitsubishi Zero fighters, 36 Nakajima B5N high-level bombers, & 36 Aichi D3A dive bombers from Japanese carriers Hiryu, Kaga, Akagi & Soryu, attack Midway Island. Targetting US Army & Navy facilities with little practical results

Reinhard Heydrich, Deputy Protector of Bohemia and Moravia dies of sepsis from wounds he received when a bomb was thrown at him by Czech SOE (Special Operations Executive) agents.

The wartime romantic drama film Mrs Miniver starring Greer Garson and Walter Pidgeon was released

The United States of America declared war on the Axis allied states of Bulgaria, Hungary & Romania

Allied Bomber Offensive: Major night-time British air raid, 180+ aircraft attack on Essen, Germany.

Japanese forces invade & occupy the island of Kiska, in the Aleutians

Allied Bomber Offensive: Major night-time British air raid, 230+ aircraft attack on Emden, Germany.

In revenge for the death of Reinhard Heydrich, Deputy Protector of Bohemia and Moravia, Adolf Hitler and Reichsfurher-SS Heinrich Himmler order the male population of the Czech village of Lidice to be murdered and all the women and children to be transported to concentration camps.

Shut Out wins the Belmont Stakes, Elmont Park, New York

English Football League (War) Cup Final: Brentford 1-1 Wolverhampton Wanderers, Stamford Bridge, London.

Japanese forces invade & occupy the island of Attu, in the Aleutians

The Chicago Tribune published a front-page article titled "Navy Had Word of Jap Plan to Strike at Sea", providing clues from which the Japanese might have figured out that the Americans had broken their codes ahead of the Battle of Midway. The Tribune was prosecuted, but once the Navy realized that the Japanese did not change their codes after the article appeared, the case was quietly dropped to avoid bringing the enemy's attention to the story.

Football International: Slovakia 1-2 Croatia, Stadion Pasienky, Bratislava

American General Douglas MacArthur suggested to Army Chief of Staff George Marshall that an offensive be taken in the Pacific with New Britain, New Ireland and New Guinea as the objective.

Allied Bomber Offensive: Major night-time British air raid, 170+ aircraft attack on Essen, Germany.

The Combined Production & Resources Board was set up to allocate the combined economic resources of the United States of America, the United Kingdom & later Canada

A German state funeral was held for Reinhard Heydrich in Berlin. He was posthumously awarded the German Order.

Eastern Front: The Germans forces crossed the Donets river near Izium.

Yugoslavian Front: Axis forces (German, Hungarian & Croatian) launched the Kozara Offensive against the Yugoslav Partisans of the National Liberation Army (Communist) in northwestern Bosnia.

The Czech village of Lidice is destroyed by German forces in reprisal for the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich. All men older than 15 years were executed. About 192 men, 60 women and 88 children died. Only 1 man, 153 women and 17 children returned to the village after the war.

North African Campaign: The Battle of Bir Hakeim ends with German & Italian forces capturing Bir Hakeim although most of the defending British & Free French forces had been evacuated.

The Siege of Malta: British forces launch two simultaneous convoys Operation Harpoon from Gibraltar to Malta & Operation Vigorous from Alexandria to Malta.

Operation Pastorius: German submarine U-202 landed four saboteurs on American soil at Amagansett, New York, the first of many intended operations to sabotage economic targets within the United States.

Anne Frank received a diary for her thirteenth birthday.

North African Campaign: British & South African forces of the Eighth Army began to evacuate the Gazala Line, taking heavy losses. This day became known as Black Saturday

North African Campaign: American President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9182, creating the Office of Strategic Services and Office of War Information.

Mexico and the Philippines sign the Declaration by United Nations.

Football International: Hungary 1-1 Croatia, Üllői úti Stadion, Budapest

Exiled Greek King George II addressed the US Congress in Washington.

Operation Pastorius: German Spy George John Dasch tries to contact the FBI New York Office by phone to give himself up & betray the operation. He gave up when he was disbelieved

The Siege of Malta: British forces from Operation Vigorous failed to reach Malta after a battle with Italian warships

Allied Bomber Offensive: Major night-time British air raid, 100+ aircraft attack on Essen, Germany.

Japanese Prime Minister Hideki Tojo was slightly wounded when a Korean nationalist shot him in the left arm outside the old war ministry building in Tokyo. Japanese police shot and killed the man identified as 31-year old Park Soowon. The incident was not revealed to the public for two months.

North African Campaign: Axis forces gain control of the coastal road to Bardia, cutting off Tobruk. The British forces withdrew from Sidi Rezegh, Ed Duda and El Adem.

British Minister Winston Churchill arrives in Washington, DC for talks with American President Roosevelt.

Leader of the Free French forces Charles de Gaulle gives a speech at the Royal Albert Hall in London praising the unity of the Resistance movements.

Eastern Front: German forces besieging Sevastopol captured Fortress Maxim Gorky.

Operation Pastorius: German submarine U-584 landed four more saboteurs South of Jacksonville, Florida

The Second Washington Conference: The conference discussed how the Western Allies could best aid the Soviet Union. The Americans were keen to open up the Second Front in France, but the British did not think that it was yet a feasible option. Roosevelt and Churchill also held discussions with members of the Pacific War Council, King Peter II of Yugoslavia and his Foreign Minister, and Soviet and Chinese Nationalist representatives with whom they discussed strategic problems.

Eastern Front: A Germans light aircraft carrying Major Joachim Reichel crashes behind Soviet lines, killing the major. The major was carrying the plans for the upcoming German offensive into the Caucasus & towards Stalingrad. The German High Command OKH. The Germans altered very little of the plans, but it did not matter as Soviet Premier Joe Stalin believed the plans had been planted to deceive them and ordered them to be ignored

Allied Bomber Offensive: Major night-time British air raid, 190+ aircraft attack on Emden, Germany.

Operation Pastorius: German Spy George John Dasch walks into the FBI Office in Washington DC eventually persuading Assistant Director DM Ladd, showing his operation budget of $84,000 cash.

World Featherweight Boxing Title Chalky Wright (USA) beat Harry Jeffra (USA) Ko 10, Oriole Park, Baltimore.

The Second Washington Conference: British Minister Winston Churchill and American President Roosevelt develop a joint campaign in the Mediterranean Theater leading to an attack on Italy as the "soft underbelly" of the Axis. An agreement was reached to start preparations for an invasion of the North African Colonies of Vichy France (Operation Torch).

Allied Bomber Offensive: Major night-time British air raid, 180+ aircraft attack on Emden, Germany.

British, British Empire & Disputed World Light-Heavyweight Boxing Title Corporal Freddie Mills RAF (GB) beat Pilot Officer Len Harvey RAF (GB) Ko 2, White Hart Lane, London. The RAF had to wave the rules forbidding fights between officers & ranks, for these serving RAF men & professional boxers

North African Campaign: The Battle of Gazala ends in Axis victory. Tobruk fell to Axis forces, completing victory in the Battle of Gazala. The Germans claimed 25,000 prisoners. The Eighth Army under General Ritchie decided to fall back to Mersa Matruh and ordered XIII Corps to delay the enemy.

Vichy French Prime Minister Pierre Laval made a radio broadcast in which he stated, "I wish for a German victory, because, without it, Bolshevism tomorrow would settle everywhere." This speech shocked many of the French people who were still holding out hope that the Vichy regime was playing a waiting game with the Germans until France could be liberated in an Allied victory.

German General Erwin Rommel was promoted to the rank of field marshal as a reward for his victory in the Battle of Gazala.

Allied Bomber Offensive: Major night-time British air raid, 220+ aircraft attack on Emden, Germany.

North African Campaign: German and Italian forces crossed the border from Libya into Egypt.

Reich Ministry of Armaments and War Production Albert Speer told Adolf Hitler that nuclear science would reap benefits in the distant future, but no superbomb could be produced in time to affect the war. The German military decided to abandon nuclear research as a result. That same day, Werner Heisenberg almost died when his experimental reactor at Leipzig suffered a leak that started a fire. Heisenberg and his assistant Robert Döpel extinguished the fire but noticed the sphere was beginning to swell, and both men ran outside before the reactor exploded and the lab was destroyed. Rumour spread that the scientists had been killed in a uranium bomb explosion, and when word of it reached the scientists working on the Manhattan Project, they assumed that the Germans had achieved a sustained nuclear chain reaction and were considerably further ahead in their research than they were.

American President Roosevelt appoints General Dwight D. Eisenhower as the Commander-in-Chief of American Forces in the future European Theater of Operations

North African Campaign: British Minister Winston Churchill appoints General Claude Auchinleck as Commander of the British Eighth Army replacing General Neil Ritchie

Pacific Campaign: American Admiral Ernest King, after studying General MacArthur's plan to invade the Philippines first, rejects it as too ambitious and suggested that the Solomon and Santa Cruz Islands be taken first.

Allied Bomber Offensive: Major night-time British air raid, 960+ aircraft attack on Bremen, Germany. Targets Focke-Wulf factory, AG Weser Shipyard, the Atlas Works & the Korff Oil refinery were all damaged

Eastern Front: German forces open their assault on the inner defences of Sevastopol.

American President Roosevelt signed a new law prohibiting the making of unauthorized photographs or sketches of military property such as bases or ships.

Allied convoy PQ 17 left Iceland bound for Arkhangelsk in the Soviet Union.

Ramón Castillo became the 25th President of Argentina, replacing the ailing Roberto María Ortiz.

Allied Bomber Offensive: Major night-time British air raid, 270+ aircraft attack on Bremen, Germany.

British Prime Minister Winston Churchill arrived back in England. A joint Anglo-U.S. statement on the Washington Conference was issued reporting that subjects discussed included war production, shipping and plans to help China.

Operation Pastorius: The FBI announced the arrest of eight conspirators who planned to carry out Operation Pastorius.

European Flyweight Boxing Title Enrico Urbinati (Italy) beat Fortunato Ortega (Spain) Rsf 13, Circo Massimo, Rome.

German Heavyweight Boxing Title Adolf Heuser (Germany) draws with Heinz Lazek (Germany) Pts 12, Union Sportplatz, Hamburg.

Eastern Front: Germans forces launch Operation Case Blue. The operation involved a two-pronged attack: one from the Axis right flank against the oil fields of Baku, known as Operation Edelweiss, and one from the left flank to protect the first attack, moving in the direction of Stalingrad along the Don River, known as Operation Fischreiher. The summer offensive opened with the Battle of Voronezh.

Football International: Denmark 0-3 Sweden, Parken Stadium, Copenhagen

Benito Mussolini flew to Derna, Libya in anticipation of leading a triumphal entry of Axis forces into Cairo.

Allied Bomber Offensive: Major night-time British air raid, 250+ aircraft attack on Bremen, Germany. Damage to the Focke-Wulf factory & AG Weser Shipyard

All remaining Jewish schools were closed in Germany.