Tuesday, July 4, 1944. Independence Day.

"Marine Private First Class Raymond Hubert, shakes a three-day accumulation of sand from his boondocker."  Saipan, July 4, 1944.

The U.S. Army in Normandy celebrated Independence Day with a massive, timed artillery barrage.  Progress in the hedgerow country, however, is slow, and US casualties were becoming severe.

The Canadian Army commenced Operation Windsor, designed to take Carpiquet, which by the end of the day, they did, save for the airfield.

The Red Army took Polotsk.

The Soviets commenced the Battle of Vuosalmi against Finnish positions, which they were having difficulty with.

A second parachute drop was made at Numfoor and took Kornasoren airfield with heavy casualties.

US Task Force 58 attacked Guam, Chichi Jima and Iwo Jima from the air.

The I-10 was sunk east of Saipan by the USS David W. Taylor and USS Riddle.

Last edition:

Monday, July 3, 1944. Airborne at Numfoor, Red Army in Minsk.

Labels: 1940s, 1941, 1944, Battle of Imphal, Battle of Numfoor, Clean Wehrmacht Myth, French Army, Operation Bagration, Operation Barbarossa, Paratroopers, Personalities, The roles of men and women, World War Two

Monday, July 3, 1944. Airborne at Numfoor, Red Army in Minsk.

The Red Army retook Minsk, leaving the path through Belarus and into Poland open of urban obstacles.  It had been occupied by the Germans since June 28, 1941, which means that the Wehrmacht in Barbarossa had taken it in an amazingly short amount of time.

German forces that had been defending Minsk were now trapped east of the city, a bad place to be.

Gen. Georg Lindemann was relieved as commander of Army Group North and replaced with Johannes Frießner.

Lindemann would not be returned to service until February 1945, when he was placed in command of German troops in Denmark.  Frießner would go into retirement, after being relieved from a subsequent assignment, in December 1945.  After the war, he was an apologist for the German war effort and the Waffen SS, but did advise West Germany in regard to the creation of the Bundesheer.

The US 1st Army launched an offensive with the goal of establishing a new line from Coutances to St. Lo.

Sixty-six American servicemen of the 130th Chemical Processing Company were killed by a V-1 drone at Chelsea, the largest loss of US life from a V-1.  Nine civilians were also killed.

Moroccan troops in Siena.

The French took Siena, Italy.  Well. . . French and Moroccans.  The British took Cortona.

The Germans launched the Emergency Fighter Program (Jägernotprogramm),

U.S. Paratroopers took Kamiriz Airfield on Numfoor, but with heavy casualties.

Airborne drops in the Pacific and Asia are nearly forgotten.

The Allies prevailed in the Battle of Imphal.  

The U-154 was sunk in the Atlantic by the U.S. Navy.

Filipino women working for the Office of War Information. Left to right, Adelaida Torres, Robert Kleiman, Salud Darrago, and Julie Bayona.

Last edition:

Sunday, July 2, 1944. Plots in motion and the SS Jean Nicolet

Labels: 1940s, 1944, Adolf Hitler, Army, Australian Army, Battle of Numfoor, British Army, Claus von Stauffenberg, Gerd von Runstedt, German Wehrmacht, Italy, July 20 Plot, New Guinea, Saipan, War Crimes, World War Two

Sunday, July 2, 1944. Plots in motion and the SS Jean Nicolet

The I-8 sank the SS Jean Nicolet, a liberty ship, and then engaged in what can only be the torture and murder of its survivors.  The atrocities were interrupted by Allied aircraft, allowing some men to survive as the I 8 dived away.

The I-8 had been involved in a prior atrocity.  It would be sunk near the end of the war.

Not too surprisingly, Gerd von Rundstedt was relieved of command and replaced by Günther von Kluge as Oberbefehlshaber West . The day prior, von Rundstedt had expressed the situation in the war as hopeless.   Additionally, on this day, he sought permission from Hitler to withdraw from the present German lines.

It wasn't the first time he'd been relieved, and he would be brought back.

The replacement would be a bit ironic in that von Kluge participated in the July 20 plot.

Concerning that, the prior day, July 1, Claus von Stauffenberg was appointed Chief of Staff to General Fromm at the Reserve Army headquarters.  The appointment meant that he would be in close proximity to Hitler frequently.

The British 8th Army captured Foiano, Italy.

U.S. and Australian troops landed on Numfoor Island, New Guinea.

The U-543 was sunk off of Tenerife by aircraft.

An interesting issue of Sarah Sundin's blog:

Today in World War II History—July 2, 1944

Fighting continued on Saipan, with the Japanese withdrawing to their last defensive line.

US ace and former member of the RCAF Ralph K. Hofer was killed in action over Budapest.

Last edition:

Saturday, July 1, 1944. Bretton Woods.

Labels: 1940s, 1944, Bretton Woods, Caen France, Eastern Front, Espionage, Estonian Forest Brothers, Gerd von Runstedt, Italy, J. C. Leyendecker, Lithuanian Partisans, Operation Overlord, Waffen SS, World War Two