Evacuation of Crete. Overnight 29th-30th, British cruisers HMS Phoebe, Perth, Calcutta & Coventry, destroyers Janus, Hasty & Jervis and assault ship Glengyle (with landing craft) embark 6029 troops at Sphakia. RAF fighters protect the convoy returning to Alexandria, Egypt, keeping most German and Italian bombers at bay, but HMS Perth is hit by a bomb in the engine room (4 crew, 2 Marines, 7 troops killed). During the day, Luftwaffe aircraft strafe and bomb thousands of Allied troops waiting to evacuate in the cliffs above Sphakia. Destroyers HMS Kelvin, Kandahar, Napier & Nizam depart Alexandria in the morning for another evacuation run but Kandahar breaks down and Kelvin is damaged by a bomb (1 killed, 4 wounded). HMS Napier & Nizam can only embark 1510 troops at Sphakia overnight 30th-31st.
Iraqi government of Rashid Ali collapses. British forces reach the outskirts of Baghdad from Falluja in the West and 2 Indian brigades are advancing from the South. Rashid Ali, the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem and members of the National Defence Government flee to Persia and then on to Germany.
At 0.36 AM near Cape Verde Islands, U-106 sinks British MV Silveryew (1 killed, 50 crew and 3 gunners reach San Antonio, Cape Verde Islands). At 2.07 PM off Sierra Leone, U-38 sinks British SS Empire Protector (5 killed, 30 crew and 3 gunners picked up by Dutch steamer Arundo and landed at Freetown).
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