World War II As It Happened
A MaritimeQuest Daily Event Special Presentation
Tuesday May 20, 1941
Day 628

May 20, 1941: Front page of the Nottingham Evening Post, Nottingham, England.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)
 
Note the report in column 4: "120 Jewish Firms Taken Over In France"


May 20, 1941: Front page of The Daily Mail, Hull, England.
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May 20, 1941: Front page of the Birmingham Gazette, Birmingham, England.
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May 20, 1941: Front page of the Western Mail and South Wales News, Cardiff, Wales.
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May 20, 1941: Front page of the Press and Journal, Aberdeen, Scotland.
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Note the report in column 4: "Ambulance Ship Safe"
(A report from the U.S. counsel in Alexandria (unnamed) that Zamzam had not been sunk and was safe, but he did not know exactly where it was currently. This was of course wrong. The Zamzam was sunk by the German Hilfskreuzer [auxiliary cruiser] Atlantis on Apr. 17, 1941. All on board were picked up by Atlantis, but one man, an American, Ned Laughinghouse, died of wounds in Atlantis on Apr. 29th.)


May 20, 1941: Front page of The Examiner, Launceston, Tasmania, Australia.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)
 
Note the report in column 6: "Slaughter Of Serbians"
(The Istanbul correspondent of The Times writes that the Germans, Hungarians and Bulgarians are competing in a massacre of the Serbs in Yugoslavia. They estimate that at least 50,000 have been executed so far.)
Also note the report in column 3: " Czechoslovak State Jewel Mystery"


May 20, 1941: Front page of the Daily Telegraph, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)
 
Note the report in columns 2-3: " Mrs. And Miss Quisling Wear Slovakia's Jewels"


May 20, 1941: Front page of The Telegraph, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.
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Note the report in column 6: "Jap. Press Says U.S. in War Soon"


May 20, 1941: Front page of The Lethbridge Herald, Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada.
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May 20, 1941: Front page of The Winnipeg Tribune, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.
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May 20, 1941: Front page of the Biddeford Daily Journal, Biddeford, Maine.
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May 20, 1941: Front page of The Evening Star, Washington, D.C.
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Note the report at top right: "322 Aboard Zamzam Safe, Germans Say, In Reich-Held Area"
Also note the report in columns 6-7: "Thanksgiving Date Restored To Last November Thursday"


May 20, 1941: Front page of The Evening Gazette, Xenia, Ohio.
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May 20, 1941: Front page of The Port Arthur News, Port Arthur, Texas.
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May 20, 1941: Front page of The Nevada State Journal, Reno, Nevada.
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May 20, 1941: Front page of the San Mateo Times, San Mateo, California.
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May 20, 1941: Front page of the Hamburger Neueste Zeitung, Altona, Hamburg, Germany.
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1. U-Boot versenkt britische Tanker mit 33000 BRT.
(U-boat sinks 33,000-ton British tanker.)
[If that were true, it would have been the second largest merchant ship sunk in World War II, the Empress of Britain being the largest. Kapitänleutnant Heinrich Lehmann-Willenbrock and U-96 had not sunk any such ship. The most recent ship sunk by U-96 was the freighter Empire Ridge, which was only 2,922 tons.]


May 20, 1941: Front page of the Völkischer Beobachter, the official newspaper of the NSDAP.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)
1. Harte Schläge der Luftwaffe - Bombenangriffe vom Nordatlantik bis zur Ägäis.
(Hard hits from the Luftwaffe - Bombing raids from the North Atlantic to the Aegean.)



   
Page published May 20, 2022