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May 9, 1942: Front page of the News and Chronicle, London, England. |
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Note the headline report: "Fleets Still Fighting it Out in Coral Sea" |
(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. 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.) |
May 9, 1942: Front page of The Daily Mail, Hull, England. |
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Note the report in column 2: "Trawler Shot Down Nazi Raider - Second Plane Damaged" |
(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.) |
May 9, 1942: Front page of The Yorkshire Post and Leeds Mercury, Leeds, England. |
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May 9, 1942: Front page of the Western Mail and South Wales News, Cardiff, Wales. |
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May 9, 1942: Front page of the Evening Telegraph and Post, Dundee, Scotland. |
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Note the report in column 3: "Nazis Use Poison Gas, Says Moscow" |
(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.) |
May 9, 1942: Front page of The Examiner, Launceston, Tasmania, Australia. |
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May 9, 1942: Front page of The Sydney Sun, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. |
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May 9, 1942: Front page of The Telegraph, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. |
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Note the headline report: "Jap Fleet Disperses Invasion Aims Frustrated" |
(This headline was incorrect. The Japanese did occupy Tulagi and later Guadalcanal, but only for a short period of time. The great battle for Guadalcanal and the Solomon Islands beginning in August spelled the beginning of the end for the Japanese Empire.) |
May 9, 1942: Front page of The Lethbridge Herald, Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada. |
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May 9, 1942: Front page of the Winnipeg Free Press, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. |
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May 9, 1942: Front page of the Biddeford Daily Journal, Biddeford, Maine. |
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Note the report in column 5: "Destroyer Sends Enemy Sub To Bottom Of Ocean" |
(This could be a description of the sinking of U-85 by USS Roper DD-147 on Apr. 14th. However, the report seems to suggest that this action happened in recent days, not weeks ago. The last sentence reads; "With the action over, the destroyer picked up survivors and resumed patrol." In the action against U-85 there were no survivors. To date I have seen no reports about the sinking of U-85, which was the first U-boat sunk off the U.S. east coast. Even though the details are not exactly the same, and since no other U-boats had been sunk by U.S. surface vessels, it is likely a report about that action.) |
May 9, 1942: Front page of The Evening Star, Washington, D.C. |
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Note the report in column 3: "Rocket Motors Drive U-Boats, Navy Paper Says" |
(This report has many details, none of which are true or accurate. One wonders where did the Navy come up with such information.) |
May 9, 1942: Front page of The Evening Gazette, Xenia, Ohio. |
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Note the report in columns 7-8: "Loss Of Small Plane Carrier, 31 Aircraft Admitted By Japs" |
(This was the carrier Shoho.) |
May 9, 1942: Front page of The Port Arthur News, Port Arthur, Texas. |
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May 9, 1942: Front page of the Tucson Daily Citizen, Tucson, Arizona. |
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May 9, 1942: Front page of The Bakersfield Californian, Bakersfield, California. |
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May 9, 1942: Front page of the Teltower Kreisblatt, Kreis Teltow, Brandenburg, Germany. |
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May 9, 1942: Front page of the Völkischer Beobachter, the official newspaper of the NSDAP. |
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Page published May 9, 2023 |