MAY 1, 1961: 415 Maritime Patrol Squadron is formed at Summerside, P.E.I. The unit will fly the Argus anti-submarine/marine patrol aircraft.
MAY 2, 1957: The Royal Canadian Air Force receives its first delivery of the Canadair CP-107. The Argus is the most advanced anti-submarine aircraft of the day.
MAY 3, 1942: Dutch Jews are required by the Nazis to wear a Jewish star.
MAY 4, 1945: General H.D.G. Crerar orders all planned assaults to be called off as a German surrender is imminent.
MAY 5, 1945: German General Johannes Blaskowitz formally surrenders his remaining 117,000 troops in the Netherlands to Canadian Lieutenant-General Charles Foulkes.
MAY 6, 1994: French President Francois Mitterrand and the Queen of England open the Chunnel Tunnel running between the two countries under the English Channel.
MAY 7, 1945: German forces surrender to General Dwight D. Eisenhower, the Supreme Allied Commander.
MAY 8, 1945: VE-Day.
MAY 9, 1955: West Germany joins the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
MAY 10, 1940: Churchill becomes British prime minister.
May 11, 1944: Allied forces launch new offensive on the Gustav Line in Italy.
MAY 12, 1944: In Italy, the Allied offensive to breach the Gustav Line anchored on Monte Cassino in Italy commences with an assault across the Rapido-Gari River.
MAY 13, 1954: United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower signs legislation authorizing the U.S. to join Canada in building the St. Lawrence Seaway.
MAY 14, 1994: Jeanne Sauvé is sworn in as Governor General of Canada.
MAY 15, 1917: Prime Minister Robert Borden returns to Canada following the imperial war conference in England.
MAY 16, 1951: Chinese forces in Korea launch part 2 of spring offensive.
MAY 17, 1944: First Canadian Infantry Division faces sharp fighting against strong German delaying forces as it advances towards the Adolf Hitler Line in Italy.
MAY 18, 1944: Polish troops take Monte Cassino in Italy.
MAY 19, 1980: A cloud of ash rises 24 kilometres into the air following the eruption on May 18 of Mount St. Helens in Washington State.
MAY 20, 1941: German airborne forces invade the island of Crete in the Mediterranean.
MAY 21, 1991: A bomb hidden in a bouquet of flowers explodes and kills former Indian prime minister Rajiv Gandhi.
MAY 22, 1942: Mexico announces it has declared war on Germany and Japan.
MAY 23, 1944: Canadian soldiers break through the Hitler Line in Italy.
MAY 24, 1943: U-boats begin a withdrawal from the North Atlantic.
MAY 25, 1982: Argentine missiles strike a container ship and the British destroyer HMS Coventry off the Falkland Islands. Two Argentine planes are shot down. Dozens of men are feared dead.
MAY 26, 1940: The evacuation of Dunkirk begins.
MAY 27, 1941: The German warship the Bismarck is sunk.
MAY 28, 1940: Belgian army surrenders to the Germans.
MAY 29, 1943: Royal Air Force bombers conduct a raid on Wuppertal, Germany. One of the targets is a large chemical factory.
MAY 30, 1942: Cologne, Germany, is hit by a massive Allied bombing raid.
MAY 31, 1942: Japanese launch a midget submarine attack on Sydney Harbour, Sydney, N.S.W.
