Sunday, June 25, 1944. The Battle of Tali–Ihantala commences.

The Battle of Tali–Ihantala, the largest battle ever fought by Nordic nations, commenced between Finland and the Soviet Union.

The battle followed a continued series of contacts between Finland and the USSR about Finland leaving the war.  On June 21 the Finish government asked for peace conditions.  The reply came on June 23 which demanded a signed statement from Finland that it was ready to surrender as a precondition for talks. The Finns rejected this.  The day prior to that, German Foreign Minister Ribbentrop demanded that Finland would promise that it would continue to fight as a precondition for ongoing military support, which Finland gave.  The Soviet offensive commenced today, even as recent events had shown that Finnish resistance to Red Army attacks was strengthening.

"Combat engineers kneel in prayer at a Sunday mass conducted by Chaplain (1st Lt.) Paul J. McGovern, Boston, Mass., former pastor of St. Mary's Catholic Church, Danvers, Mass. The first American cemetery to be constructed in France is in the center background." 

U.S. and Royal Navy ships bombarded shore fortifications at Cherbourg.

Operation Martlet, the initial stage of Operation Epsom, a British operation to take Caen, commenced.  60,000 Canadian and British troops  were involved in the assault against the 12th SS Panzer Hitlerjugend Division.

As a matter of pure trivia, the German Tiger tank in the movie Kelly's Heroes bears the insignia of the 12th SS Panzer Division.

The Battle of Osuchy began in Poland between German forces and the Polish resistance.

The U-269 was sunk off of Torquay by the HMS Bickerton.

Last prior edition:

Saturday, June 24, 1944. The sinking of the Derrycunihy.

Labels: Battle of the Atlantic, Belarus, boats and ships, Cherbourg France, German Wehrmacht, Operation Bagration, Operation Overlord, Red Army, Royal Navy, Saipan, United States Marine Corps, World War Two

Saturday, June 17, 1944. A stateside tragedy.

B-24J 42-100023 piloted by 2nd. Lt. Richard Zorn of Connecticut crashed on top of Casper Mountain, south of Casper, Wyoming, at about midnight, killing all on board.

The US 7th Corps advanced markedly on this day.  The British, however, were having trouble near Caen.

The 41 Commando, Royal Marines, took the German surrender at Douvres-la-Délivrande.

Royal Marines in Douvres-la-Délivrande.

Iceland declared independence from Denmark.  Large celebrations broke out in the country.

South Dakota suffered a horrific tornado outbreak, killing 13 people and injuring 550.

Last prior edition:

Friday, June 16, 1944. Executions.

Labels: 1940s, 1944, Aircraft, Army, British Army, Chichijima, Crime, French Resistance Movements, Gestapo, Guam, Haha Jima, Italy, Iwo Jima, Operation Overlord, Saipan, World War Two, Yugoslav Partisans, Yugoslavia

Wednesday, June 14, 1944. Flag Day

 

By the President of the United States of America

A Proclamation

For many years June 14 has been set aside as Flag Day, observed throughout the Nation as a day of earnest rededication to those high principles of humanity and civilization which constitute the foundations of the Republic.

It is not necessary to recite that the stars and stripes of our flag symbolize the patriotic and loyal unity of one hundred and thirty-five million people in a widely diversified land. Nor is it necessary to dwell on the struggles through which we have marched, under that flag, to our present great part in the world's affairs. What we are, and what we do, speak of these things far more eloquently than any words.

Ours is a flag of battles. On the ships of our Navy, in the vanguard of our soldiers and marines, it is carrying liberation and succor into stricken lands. It is carrying our message of promise and freedom into all comers of the world.

Ours is also a flag of peace. Under its protection, men have found refuge from oppression. Under its promise, men have found release from hatreds and prejudice, from exploitation and persecution. It is the flag under which men and women of varied heritage, creed, and race may work and live or, if need be, fight and die together as only free men and women can.

Let us then display our flag proudly, knowing that it symbolizes the strong and constructive ideals—the democratic ideals—which we oppose to the evil of our enemies. Let us display our flag, and the flags of all the United Nations which fight beside us, to symbolize our joint brotherhood, our joint dedication, under God, to the cause of unity and the freedom of men.

Now, Therefore, I, Franklin D. Roosevelt, President of the United States of America, do hereby ask that on Flag Day, June 14, 1944, the people of our Nation honor especially the members of the armed forces—men and women equally—whose unfaltering devotion to our national ideals has given the Nation's flag a new and hopeful meaning for those struggling against oppression in lands still held by our enemies.

I direct the officials of the Federal Government and I request the officials of the State and local governments to have our colors displayed on all public buildings on Flag Day, and I urge the people of the United States on that day to fly the American flag from their homes, and to arrange, where feasible, for joint displays of the emblems of the freedom-loving United Nations without whose staunch collaboration we could not have hoped for victory.

In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States of America to be affixed.

Done at the city of Washington this 3rd day of May, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and forty-four, and of the Independence of the United States of America the one hundred and sixty-eighth.

Signature of Franklin D. Roosevelt

FRANKLIN D ROOSEVELT

By the President:

CORDELL HULL

Secretary of State.

Operation Perch concluded in failure.

The U.S. 9th Infantry Division, moving north from Utah, took Quinéville, where the regional German command had been located.

Charles de Gaulle visited the Normandy beachhead.  His touring of French cities proved to be a problem as the large gatherings were signals to the Germans of his presence.

The provisional French government located itself at Bayeux.

A RAF Mosquito shot down a V-1 over the English Channel, the first such victory.

The Battle of Porytowe Wzgórze between Polish and Soviet partisans and the Germans took place, leading to a partisan breakout of a surrounded position, but at high cost.

The British 8th Army captured Orvieto, Terni and Todi in Italy.

B-29s raided Japan for the first time. Four of the aircraft were lost on a 48 plane, ineffective, raid on the Yawata steel works.

The U.S. Navy continued to bombard Saipan and Tinian.

After an extended and costly period of time leading up to it, the U.S. 6th Infantry Division took Lone Tree Hill in New Guinea.

The USS Golet was sunk by ships and aircraft off of Honshu.

Eleanor Roosevelt opened the White House Conference on How Women May Share in Post-War Policy-Making.

Last prior edition:

Tuesday, June 13, 1944. D+7. Heavy fighting in Normandy.

Labels: 1940s, 1944, Armor, Battle of Bloody Gulch, Bernard Law Montgomery, Caen France, Carentan France, German Army, Operation Overlord, Operation Perch, Russo Ukrainian War, Waffen SS, Weapons, World War Two

Tuesday, June 13, 1944. D+7. Heavy fighting in Normandy.

The first V-1 rockets were launched on London.

V-1s are, basically, a pulse jet drone, and therefore heralded an advance in weaponry which we're only now seeing the full application of in combat.  One of a variety of late war German "Wunderwaffe", they were primitive in their category and while they affected terror, they stood no chance of being war altering.  The same can not be said of the V-2, which was a ballistic missile and truly revolutionary.

Armed drones would be revolutionary, but it would not really be until the advent of cruise missiles that they'd become effective.  With advances in targeting, they're now a massive dangerous weapon which has been one of the things which has allowed Ukraine to disproportionately take on Russia in the ongoing Russo Ukrainian War.

Gen. Montgomery strengthened his positions and basically regrouped in a fashion, which was typical for the careful planner, Montgomery.  The 7th British Armoured Division reached Villers-Bocage, where they were attacked by German armor, including Tigers.  The British were forced to retreat.

The tank battle is a famous one.

Ambush at Villers-Bocage

Apparently, however, the "lone Tiger" commanded by Michael Wittmann of the SS, who gave a German radio interview that very night, destroying 25 British tanks is a bit of a myth.

Wittmann, who had just turned 30 years old, died the way you'd expect.  The Waffen SS Hauptsturmführer (Captain) and "panzer ace" died that August at the hands of British armor.

The Germans followed up with an attack on Tilly-sur-Selles and Lingèvres which was successfully resisted, scattering the Panzer Lehr Division.

Montgomery, who was facing fierce and effective resistance, cannot really be faulted for his careful approach, something that was the hallmark of his combat strategy.  Having fought the war with thin resources carefully, his economy of planning tended to be effective, and was frankly here, in spite of constant American criticism, then and now.

The Battle of Bloody Gulch took place around the Manoir de Donville Hill southwest of Carentan involving the German 17th SS Panzergrenadier Division and 6th Fallschirmjäger Regiment, and the American 501st, 502nd and 506th Parachute Infantry Regiments (PIR) of the 101st Airborne Division, reinforced by elements of the 2nd Armored Division and the 29th Infantry Division.  The Airborne prevailed and released the whole of Carentan.

Grateful French civilians lay flowers on the body of a dead American soldier at Manoir de Donville.

The US 90th Division took Pont-l’Abbé. The 1st Infantry Division took Caumont, fighting the 2nd SS Panzer Division in the process.

Last prior edition:

Monday, June 12, 1944. D+6. Linking at Carentan.

Labels: 1940s, 1944, Battle of the Atlantic, boats and ships, Carentan France, Franklin Roosevelt, Home Front, Operation Overlord, Paratroopers, Radio, Saipan, St. Mere Eglise France, the spoken word, World War Two

Sunday, June 11, 1944. D+5. Carentan taken.

Photograph taken the moment the No. 1 Cannoneer fires a M3 105 howitzer at Carentan, June 11, 1944.

The U.S. 1st Army captured Carentan and Lison.  The British and Canadians experienced heavy fighting in their effort to take Caen, including the deployment of the most recent German armor. The 46 Royal Marines Commando took Cairon after heavy fighting against the 12th SS Panzer Division Hitlerjugend.  They then took Lasson, Rots and Rosel.

The HMS Halstand was torpedoed and rendered a loss by E-boats off of Normandy.

Gooseberry 1, an artificial breakwater formed from sunken obsolete ships, was in palce.

The French Expeditionary Corps captured Montefascone, Italy.

The US 15th Air Force raided Axis airfields at Focsani, Romania and flew on to Ukraine.

Task Force 58 began raids on Saipan and Tinian, causing the Japanese to lose 36 aircraft, three warships and 30,000 tons of merchant transport.

The USS Missouri was commissioned.  She is now a museum ship at Pearl Harbor.

USS Missouri, Pearl Harbor Hawaii

 USS Missouri viewed from the USS Arizona Memorial.

 Small trailed mortar, probably of a Japanese pattern.

 Dual Bofars 40mm Anti Aircraft guns formally on the USS Missouri.

 The "tears" of the USS Arizona.  Oil slick from oil leaking from the bunkers of the Arizona.

 The spot on which World War Two came to an end on the decks of the Missouri.

 The instrument of surrender.

 Oil from the USS Arizona alongside the USS Missouri.

 Tomahawk Missile platform.

 The location on the USS Missouri where she was hit by a Kamikaze aircraft.  The result was this dent in the side.  The Japanese pilot was buried in a formal burial at sea the following day.

 While not labeled on the ship, these are powder bags for 16 in guns.

Last prior edition:

Saturday, June 10, 1944. D+4. The Oradour-sur-Glane and Distomo Massacres.

Labels: 1940s, 1944, baseball, Distomo Massacre, Eastern Front, French Resistance Movements, German SS, Greek Partisans, Italy, Operation Overlord, Oradour-sur-Glane Massacre, Waffen SS, War Crimes, World War Two