Tuesday, May 19, 1942. Kerch falls, Doolittle decorated, a day for submarines.

On this day in 1942 the Battle of the Kerch Peninsula ended with an Axis victory as active campaigning very much resumed on the southern Eastern Front.

Red Army soldiers going into what would prove to be a grim captivity after surrendering at Kerch.  CC BY-SA 3.0 de File:Bundesarchiv B 145 Bild-F016237-0022A, Krim, russische Soldaten bei Gefangennahme.jpg Created: May 1942date QS:P571,+1942-05-00T00:00:00Z/10

The effort had been going on for four months.  Germany and Romania took 38,000 losses in the battle, the Soviets took 570,000.

Sarah Sundin reports the following for this Tuesday in May of 1942:

Today in World War II History—May 19, 1942: Lt. Col. James Doolittle receives the Medal of Honor, revealing who led the US air raid on Tokyo. New York City discontinues night baseball games.

The Italian submarine Cappellini sank the Swedish ship MV Tisnaren which was clearly marked as a Swedish vessel.  It was carrying Scotch whiskey from Manchester England to South America.

The U-751 sank the US SS Isabela in the Caribbean.  The U-103 sank the SS Orgontz off of Mexicao.  The U-506 sank the SS Heredia off of Guatemala.

The HMS Thrasher sank the Italian merchant ship Penelope.

The RAF ineffectively raided Mannheim Germany in a night raid while the Luftwaffe attacked Hull.