World War II As It Happened
A MaritimeQuest Daily Event Special Presentation
Sunday May 10, 1942
Day 983

May 10, 1942: Front page of The People, London, England.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)
Note the headline report: "Sweeping Victory Of The Coral Sea Puts Enemy On The Road To Naval Exhaustion"
(During the Battle of the Coral Sea the Japanese lost only one small aircraft carrier, Shoho, which was the first Japanese aircraft carrier sunk in World War II. An air attack against the Japanese invasion force bound for Tulagi in the Solomon Islands by aircraft from USS Yorktown CV-5, resulted in the loss of one destroyer and two small minesweepers. One cruiser-minelayer was damaged and it was sunk on May 11 by USS S-42 SS-153. The Japanese admit to the loss of 5 merchant ships between May 6 and May 8, but none lost to aircraft. Keep this in mind when you read the headlines below claiming from ten to seventeen ships sunk.

On the Allied side the U.S. lost the carrier Lexington CV-2 and two hundred and sixteen men. This was the first American aircraft carrier sunk in World War II. [Not including Langley, which had been converted into a seaplane tender before it was sunk.] The destroyer Sims DD-409 and two hundred and twenty-five men were also lost. The fleet oiler USS Neosho AO-23 was sunk with the loss of one hundred and seventy-eight men. Finally, USS Yorktown CV-5 was seriously damaged, sixty-six men had been killed. In total almost 70 aircraft had been lost. The Japanese claimed that they had sunk two American aircraft carriers, a California class battleship and had badly damaged a British battleship, HMS Warspite, and an Australian heavy cruiser.)
[On a personal note, this project is a learning experience for me as well. I am learning so much that sometimes it is hard to keep up. But I have to say that even I am surprised at the level of propaganda printed in Allied newspapers. The Battle of the Coral Sea was the first major battle between the Allied and Japanese fleets, and the misinformation coming from Allied sources about how heavy the Japanese losses were and how little the Allied forces had suffered is astonishing.]
Also note the report in columns 5-6: "Trawler Fights Off Six ME's, Destroys One"
(HM Trawler Horatio, while still under the command of Lt. Charles A. Lemkey, RNR, was sunk off the Dodecanese Islands, Greece by the German schnellboot S-58 on Jan. 7, 1943. Lemkey and thirty-one other men were lost in the ship.)
Also note the report in columns 7-8: "Huns Have A New Terror - Nerve Gas Against Russia"
(A Soviet News Agency claimed that the Germans used poison gas in Crimea. The Germans did not use poison gas in combat in World War II.)
Over the wireless:


May 10, 1942: Front page of the Sunday Pictorial, London, England.
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May 10, 1942: Front page of The Sunday Post, Glasgow, Scotland.
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Note the statement in columns 1-2: "No U.S. Capital Ship Lost"


May 10, 1942: Front page of The Sunday Sun, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)
Note the photos in column 5: :The Japs Lost-"
(This list of losses would have been most impressive, had it been true.)


May 10, 1942: Front page of The Sunday Star, Washington, D.C.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)
Note the report in column 3: "Von Spiegel Believed Directing Nazi Subs In Gulf of Mexico"
(The former commanding officer of SMS U-32 and SMS U-93 and the former German Consul General for the U.S. Gulf Coast, was not directing U-boats, and was certainly was not on a U-boat in the Gulf of Mexico.)


May 10, 1942: Front page of The Sunday Star-News, Wilmington, North Carolina.
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May 10, 1942: Front page of the Detroit Times, Detroit, Michigan.
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May 10, 1942: Front page of The Kingsport Times, Kingsport, Tennessee.
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May 10, 1942: Front page of The Port Arthur News, Port Arthur, Texas.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)


May 10, 1942: Front page of The Montana Standard, Butte, Montana.
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May 10, 1942: Front page of The Ogden Standard Examiner, Ogden City, Utah.
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May 10, 1942: Front page of the Nevada State Journal, Reno, Nevada.
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May 10, 1942: Front page of the Oakland Tribune, Oakland, California.
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May 10, 1942: Front page of the Völkischer Beobachter, the official newspaper of the NSDAP.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)
1. Die Schlacht im Korallenmeer geht erfolgreich weiter.
(The Battle of the Coral Sea continues successfully.)



   
Page published May 10, 2023