Thursday, June 8, 1944. D+2

 

The No. 47 (Royal Marine) Commando of the 4th Special Service Brigade took Port-en-Bessin.  The victory connected Utah and Gold beaches.  Utah and Omaha beaches remain unliked, although the 5th Corps takes Isigny.

British troops entered Bayeux.

The Germans launched a violent counter-attack at Bréville.

The 4th Infantry Division attacked Montebourg and engaged in heavy fighting at Azeville.

Sherman being off loaded on Omaha Beach, June 8, 1944.

The destroyer USS Rich hit a mine and sank off of Normandy.

An RAF B-24 sank two German submarines within 20 minutes, one in the Bay of Biscay and another in the English Channel.

The RAF used a 12,000 lbs "Tallboy" bomb for the first time, the target being the Saumur rail tunnel was the sole operational north-south route on the Loire.  The successful raid was a nighttime one.

The Italian government returned to Rome.

The Japanese attempt to ship reinforcements to Biak but are intercepted.

The USS Hake sank the Kazagumo in the Davao Gulf.

Last prior edition:

Wednesday, June 7, 1944. D+1.

Labels: 1940s, 1944, Army, Combat Engineers, Infantry, Myths, Operation Overlord, Weapons

Monday, May 29, 1944. Memorial Day.

Today was Memorial Day for 1944.  

The Japanese mounted aggressive counterattacks on Biak and Arare, using tanks on Biak.

The Germans gave up the four-month strategic bombing campaign against Southern England.

The U-549 sank the USS Block Island off of the Canary Islands. Six crew members died, but 951 were picked up.  The U-549 was sunk in the same engagement.  All 57 hands went down with her.

German graveyard and unburied dead at Cori, Italy. Germans evacuated so quickly that they failed to bury their dead, May 29, 1944. 

The Allies took Campoleone and Carroceto.

The U.S. Army Air Force attacked the synthetic fuel factories at Polits.

Field Marshal Busch, Army Group Center, presented evidence of a major Soviet buildup. Hitler emphasized improving the defensive fortifications at Vitebsk, Polotsk, Rosh, Mogilev and Bobriusk and to defend them at all costs, as if stemming the Red tide was really possible.

Last prior edition:

Sunday, May 28, 1944. A Memorial Day Weekend.

Labels: 1940s, 1944, actors and actresses, Aircraft, Artillery, Battle of Biak, Canadian Army, Douglas MacArthur, entertainment, Holidays, Italy, Memorial Day, New Guinea, Old Age, Personalities, World War Two

Sunday, May 28, 1944. A Memorial Day Weekend.

It was a Sunday on a Memorial Day weekend in the US. What did that look like in Wyoming, I wonder?  

It wasn't a day off for SHAEF, as Sarah Sundin reports; Today in World War II History—May 28, 1944

The 1st Canadian Corps took Ceprano.

German 220 mm howitzer knocked out near Anzio.

The 8th Air Force attacked Leuna and Magdeburg

The 41st Infantry Division advanced against heavy Japanese opposition on Biak. At the same time, Gen. MacArthur declared the New Guinea campaign strategically won, while acknowledging that hard fighting remained.

Rudy Giuliani was born in Brooklyn.  His rise and fall demonstrates, in a way, how politicians born in the 1940s have been eclipsed by age, and should really no longer be seriously considered for office.

Gladys Knight was born in Atlanta.  

The late Sandra Locke was born in Tennessee.

Last prior edition:

Saturday, May 27, 1944. Landing at Biak.

Labels: 1940s, 1944, Army, Battle of Biak, Battle of the Atlantic, boats and ships, Indonesia, Infantry, New Guinea, Royal Air Force, World War Two

Saturday, May 27, 1944. Landing at Biak.

 The Battle of Biak in Indonesia (then part of New Guinea, which it is just off of) began with the landing of the U.S. Army's 41st Infantry Division.

If you are like me, and I'm well-informed on World War Two, you've never heard of this battle, which occured just before the Allied capture of Rome and the Allied landings in Normandy.

Today it is a tropical tourist destination.

The U-292 was sunk by a British B-24.

Last prior edition:

Friday, May 26, 1944. Striking out for the airbases.

Labels: 1940s, 1944, Advertising, Aircraft, boats and ships, Daily Living, Food, Italy, Operation Ichi-Go, Personalities, The family, The Holocaust, World War Two