Three French agents blow up the main transmitter of Radio Paris, near Melun, putting it out of action for two weeks.

The Nazis open up a new death camp just outside Minsk, near the village of Maly Trostenets. Russian PoWs and Jews have been forced to build barracks for 600 slave laborers and their German and Ukrainian guards. Tens of thousands of Austrian, German, and Czech Jews are shipped there and driven towards the village in mobile gas chambers; when the vans reach the camp, all inside them are dead. At the camp, the slave laborers bury the bodies in deep pits. Maly Trostenets remains a tight German secret.

The battle for Sebastopol rumbles on. Soviet Coastal Army fields 106,000 men, 600 guns, 100 mortars, 38 tanks, and 55 planes. The Germans hurl 204,000 men, 670 guns, 450 mortars, 720 tanks, and 600 aircraft. The Germans also move in 19 motor torpedo boats, 30 patrol boats, eight ASW boats, and a unit of 150 bombers trained in anti-shipping operations. German artillery ranges from 76mm field guns to mammoth 800-mm railway-mounted super-heavy siege mortars.

In Madagascar, the 13th Infantry Brigade goes ashore, followed by the 22nd East African Brigade, which replaces the 17th Brigade. The Vichy French brass tries to find a way to end the fighting, but the British will only agree to minor arrangements for handling PoWs, wounded men, and civilians, in a humanitarian manner. At Ambilobe, 60 miles south of Diego Suarez, British and French outposts watch each other peacefully.

Winston Churchill warns that Britain will use poison gas on Germany if the Germans do so on Russia.

In the Philippines, the last few American forces surrender, but some troops go underground as guerrillas.

In Washington, delegates of the World Women's Party council meet to approve a special message to the United Nations Council demanding the immediate establishment of equality and freedom "for women in all territory under their jurisdiction." As the image of American women is now becoming that of "Rosie the Riveter," (actually most were welders), this petition is seriously considered.

In Burma, the British continue to retreat to Akyab in India, while the Chinese do so to Fort Hertz in northern Bengal. Gen. Joseph Stilwell's group poles upriver in rafts.

A war that started with lancer-armed cavalrymen fighting over control of Danzig has now spread across the entire world, from China to the Caucasus. War-weary populations live on hope, fear, and rumors. In the Warsaw Ghetto it is rumored that the Soviets have re-taken Smolensk and Kharkov, and killed 43,000 Germans, and that FDR has given the Germans four days to surrender. At Bandung in Java, Allied PoWs hear rumors that the Hungarians, Rumanians, and Bulgarians have surrendered to Russia, and the Germans have withdrawn from the Netherlands. Only one rumor is dealt with, the Doolittle Raid on Tokyo. The Americans finally admit they did it, at an FDR press conference. Asked where the bombers came from, Roosevelt names the mythical kingdom of "Shangri-La," from the novel Lost Horizon. The US Navy promptly renames an Essex-class carrier in the construction yards USS Shangri-La so that Roosevelt's joke of Shangri-La dealing death and destruction to Japan can become a deadly reality.

May 11th, 1942...On Guadalcanal, Martin Clemens is all alone at Aola. The last beer is gone, and the only radio he can get is a BBC program aimed at West Africa. He absentmindedly puts on a lugubrious song on his Victrola, "When You're a Long, Long Way from Home." It's too much. He breaks into tears.

To retaliate for the Doolittle Raid, the Japanese attack in China, storming into the Chekiang and Yunnan Provinces, to prevent it from being used for further American air attacks.

Rain begins in Burma, heralding the monsoon season. While the Allied retreat slows, so does the Japanese advance. "We stopped for a big chow. Tea, chicken and rice, green tomatoes and jungle spinach. Off again at 10 and struggled through the night. Many snags and rafts are breaking up. I dead beat all night."

Nazi troops attack at Sevastopol, surrounding some defenders at Ak-Monay. The Luftwaffe carries out about 1,800 sorties per day.

The Navy reports that two medium-sized US merchant ships were torpedoed and sunk off the lower Atlantic coast on May 6, and that a damaged British merchant ship was towed to port, after being torpedoed a mile and a half off the Florida coast. The Germans claim 21 kills in US waters, including a sinking that day in Canada's St. Lawrence River.

Lt. Ski York and his crew from the Doolittle Raid that was interned in the Soviet Union finally makes their escape from the Urals to Iran, where a British consul guides them to India. York goes on to write a book on his exploits, "Guests of the Kremlin."

President Franklin D. Roosevelt approves the award of the Navy Cross to Steward Dorie Miller of Waco, Texas, for "distinguished devotion to duty, extraordinary courage and disregard for his personal safety" aboard USS West Virginia during the Pearl Harbor attack. Miller, a mess attendant, untrained in weapons, manned a .50-caliber machine gun during the raid, and assisted Capt. Mervyn Bannion when he was struck by Japanese bullets.

May 12th, 1942...In Iceland, USS Washington gets word that German battleships have sortied from Trondheim. The dreadnought heads to sea. After three hours, she turns back. False alarm.

Martin Clemens gets words from his scout, Andrew Langebea, that the Japanese may be coming. Time to pack up from Aola. Chief clerk Daniel Pule packs every last form and voucher, including the carbon copies.

The US 8th Air Force's first large detachments arrive in Great Britain.

Joe Stilwell reaches the Burmese town of Homalin, expecting to find help and instead the place, including the telephone exchange, is shut. The party hikes three miles away from town and camps for the night in a temple.

Deciding that the best defense is a good offense, the Soviets launch a two-pronged offence out of the Barvenkovo Salient, designed to cut off and surround Kharkov. Southwest Front punches through the German 6th Army, which is commanded by the tall, ascetic, Col. Gen. Friedrich Paulus. This drive forestalls a German offensive to liquidate the salient.

A good day for RAF fighters as they shoot down 12 German Ju52s over the North African coast. Otherwise, things are quiet, as both sides build up to their next offensives. Gen. Erwin Rommel takes time to write his wife, "We're all hoping that we'll be able to bring the war to an end this year. It will soon have lasted three full years."

In Rastenburg, East Prussia, Adolf Hitler draws the floor plan for a new art gallery in Linz, and sketches out the rough plans for his postwar mansion to be built above the Danube, with grand entrance hall, pavilion terrace and, upstream from the house, special architectural garden. The house will have two studios, one for him, one for Albert Speer. "How pleasant it will be," he says to Speer, "to sit back and watch the power-handlers fade away."

Recognizing Norway's resistance to the Germans, US diplomatic representation is upgraded from legation to embassy, and Anthony Biddle is promoted from Minister to Norway to Ambassador to the Norwegian government in London. The House of Representatives votes to raise basic pay for buck privates and Seamen Recruits to $50 a month, from $21 a month. The Senate approves a bill to establish a Women's Auxiliary Army Corps of 150,000, all volunteers. The WACs will lead the drive to making the Army co-ed. All across the East Coast, automobile owners register their cars for rationing. 'A' cards give you three gallons a week. 'B' cards give you more. Those in essential public service, such as doctors and government officials, get 'X' cards for unlimited rationing.

May 13th, 1942...USS Washington lies parked in Hvalfordur, Iceland, and Sailors get liberty. Not much to see, 1,000-foot cliffs, tiny fishermen's huts, and kitchen gardens. A ferry service is organized to take Sailors to Reykjavik, the capital.

As Martin Clemens is ready to leave, Brother James Thrift, a Catholic missionary on Guadalcanal, sails in with two American aviators from USS Yorktown, Lt. Leonard Ewoldt and RM1 Ray Machalinski, who ran out of gas over Tulagi. Ewoldt asks, "Could you please get us back to Pearl Harbor?" Clemens replies, "I'll see what can be done."

The US assumes responsibility for defending Fiji, relieving New Zealand troops. The same day, the rear echelon of the US 41st Division arrives in Australia.

The siege of Leningrad is still rolling along. Tanya Savicheva, a young girl, writes in her address book, "Mummy May 13 at 7:30 morning 1942. The Savichevs are dead. All dead. Only Tanya remains." Her book also lists the death of her brothers, grandmother, and two uncles. Evacuated to Gorky on the Volga, Tanya herself dies of chronic dysentery in the summer of 1943.

While American civilians get 'A' cards for their cars, more than 250 US Congressmen get 'X' Cards, giving them unlimited gasoline. About 20 return their cards and get 'B' cards for limited rations after newspapers and rationed citizens protest. The Office of Price Administration promises an investigation. Filipino President Manuel Quezon arrives in Washington to establish his provisional government. He and his family meet with FDR at the White House.

May 14th, 1942...New Zealand ground forces in the Pacific are grouped into the title and command of 3rd New Zealand Division. This outfit will fight in the Solomons, invading two islands, but be disbanded in 1944, due to manpower shortages and the need to maintain 2nd New Zealand Division in Italy. Thus 3rd Division will never get the glamour 2nd Division gets.

The US 32nd Division's lead elements arrive in Australia.

US and local French authorities agree on measures to form Allied bases in Martinique, and three French warships, including the carrier Bearn, are immobilized. Bearn, too small and slow to function as a fleet carrier, will enjoy an unglamorous but important second life as an aircraft transport.

The Luftwaffe sinks the cruiser HMS Trinidad west of Bear Island, as it escorts Allied merchant ships enroute to Murmansk. 80 Sailors are killed, 20 of whom are injured men taken off the cruiser Edinburgh, when she was sunk on that same run two weeks earlier.

Joe Stilwell's team reaches Kawlum in the Burmese afternoon. "Heavy rain caught us just as we arrived. Soaked. Well,we were met at Kawlum by the British from Imphal. Food, doctor, ponies and everything. Quite a relief. Had chow with the British. Canned sausages, while our people had pig. Jones, Sibert and I struggled up the mountain and back to be polite. Rained like hell." They still have a week of gruelling slogging through the Manipur Hills.

Meanwhile, the monsoon kicks in, drenching Burma with pouring rain for the next few months, turning the country into a malaria-ridden quagmire. The Japanese offensive halts on the Indian border. The British and Chinese defenders have time to retreat and regroup.

In Washington, the US Senate debates a bill that would waive the Senate's right to special privileges in gasoline rationing. Sen. Bob La Follette of Wisconsin urges his brethren to ration. Sen. Alben Barkley of Kentucky defends the rights of Senators to use all the gas they want. The Senate decides to keep its privileges, and blames the media for the fuss. The War Department announces the US Army will soon take over and control operation of all domestic airlines, and transfer most of their equipment to the Army Air Force.

May 15th, 1942...The Navy reveals that a submarine slipped into Manila Bay on February 3rd to bring in anti-aircraft shells and take out Filipino gold, silver, and securities. The OPA orders gasoline-rationing boards to make public the names of persons receiving gas rationing cards. The Senate votes 66 to 2 to keep its gas privileges. 28 Senators facing re-election abstain from voting. Sen. Claude Pepper, D-Fla., says, "I think we will regret this vote."

In the Crimea, German troops occupy the town of Kerch, forcing the Soviets to evacuate their troops across the straits, in extremely difficult conditions, and under heavy casualty. For five days, Russian ships haul troops out, pulling out 86,000 men, including 23,000 wounded. The Crimea front has collapsed.

At Kharkov, the German 6th Army fights the Soviet Southwest Front to a standstill.

May 16th, 1942...Hawaii cuts snap orders to USS Enterprise and USS Hornet: expedite return to Hawaii.

Martin Clemens packs off his two American aviators in a launch manned by Chinese volunteers to San Cristobal, where they switch to a schooner and head to New Hebrides and ultimately to their squadron.