At sea
SprueStack Zero Hour: WW2 day by day
2 May 1941
What happened on this day in the Second World War, from 1939 to 1945, with a source for every entry.
About this page
Each day we list events from the Second World War that happened on that date, from 1939 to 1945. Every entry names its source and links to it, so you can read further. Entries are sourced and machine-screened before they go up, a subset is human-reviewed, and we add more over time.
8 sourced entries for this date.
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Entries
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At sea
Fifth "Lake"-class Coast Guard cutter, authorized for transfer on 10 April under Lend-Lease, is turned over to the Royal Navy. Chelan becomes HMS Lulworth (see 12, 20 and 30 May).
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2 May: British forces at RAF Habbaniya launch pre-emptive air strikes against Iraqi forces besieging them and the Anglo-Iraqi War begins.
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Following the coup d'état against Iraq Crown Prince 'Abd al-Ilah earlier that year, the United Kingdom launches the Anglo-Iraqi War to restore him to power.
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Diplomatic record
Memorandum of Conversation, by the Assistant Secretary of State (Long)
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Diplomatic record
Memorandum by the Secretary of State
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Diplomatic record
The Minister in Egypt (Kirk) to the Secretary of State
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Theater not recorded
THOR mission records show at least 205 Allied sorties (3 recorded unit missions) in the Theater not recorded on 1941-05-02, flown by RAF. Targets included IRAQ.
Source US Air Force THOR (opens external site)
THOR is a secondary compilation with known gaps, not a complete record.
Sources listed with each entry. Spotted an error? Tell us.
2 May in other years 19401942194319441945
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