The First Canadian Army captured Dieppe.
The Red Army took Călărași, Romania and reached the Bulgarian frontier. The Soviet Union asked for permission for the Red Army to enter Bulgarian territory. The Bulgarian prime minister, Ivan Bagrianov, resigned and. Constantine Muraviev took his place.
The Battle of Lone Tree Hill, in Dutch New Guinea, ended in American victory.
The battle had been fought since May 17.
Lone Tree Hill. Not One Tree Hill. The latter was the name of a horrifically bad television series that featured, for some weird reason, basketball as the center of the universe.
The U-247 was sunk in the English Channel by the Canadian Navy.
Arsenic and Old Lace premiered.
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Allied (British, Canadian and Polish) and German flotillas fought off the coast of Brittney in what started as a nighttime action. The German effort was to relocate their remaining destroyer fleet to a port with better anti-aircraft protection following the invasion in Normandy. The message was intercepted, and accordingly the flotilla was as well. The Germans lost two destroyers.
The 7th Corps took Azeville. The 5th Corps took Trevieres. The British and Canadians were engaged in heavy fighting around Caen, which the Germans were reinforcing.
Actions resulting in Medals of Honor to two of the airborne, one a glider infantryman and the other a paratrooper, occured.
PFC CHARLES N. DEGLOPPER
Medal of Honor Action: June 9, 1944
On 9 June 1944 DeGlopper was advancing with the forward platoon to secure a bridgehead across the Merderet River at La Fiere, France. Shortly after penetrating the outer line of defense, the platoon was surrounded by German forces. DeGlopper volunteered to support his comrades by fire from his automatic rifle while they attempted a withdrawal. He leveled his heavy weapon against the enemy fire upon them, killing many until he was cut down.
PVT JOE GANDARA
Parachuted into France as part of the 507th Parachute Infantry Regiment
Medal of Honor Action: June 9, 1944
Gandara distinguished himself during combat operations against an armed enemy in Amfreville, France on June 9, 1944. Gandara’s detachment was pinned under heavy German fire for four hours. Gandara voluntarily advanced alone and destroyed three hostile machine guns before he was fatally wounded.
The Germans killed 99 civilians in Tulle in reprisal for attacks by the French Resistance.
The Fifth Army took Tarquinia and Viterbo.
Regrouping, partially in contemplation of Operation Dragoon, commenced for Allied forces in Italy.
A new Italian government was formed.
The Soviets launched a massive assault on the Finnish front, but did not achieve a first day breaktrough.
The Matsukaze was sunk by the USS Swordfish and the Tanikaze by the USS Harder.
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In Normandy on 6th June, 1944, during the assault on the beaches and the Mont Fleury Battery, C.S.M. Hollis's Company Commander noticed that two of the pill-boxes had been by-passed, and went with C.S.M. Hollis to see that they were clear. When they were 20 yards from the pillbox, a machine-gun opened fire from the slit and C.S.M. Hollis instantly rushed straight at the pillbox, firing his Sten gun. He jumped on top of the pillbox, re-charged his magazine, threw a grenade in through the door and fired his Sten gun into it, killing two Germans and making the remainder prisoner. He then cleared several Germans from a neighbouring trench. By his action, he undoubtedly saved his Company from being fired on heavily from the rear and enabled them to open the main beach exit.Later the same day, in the village of Crepon, the Company encountered a field gun and crew armed with Spandaus at 100 yards range. C.S.M. Hollis was put in command of a party to cover an attack on the gun, but the movement was held up. Seeing this, C.S.M. Hollis pushed right forward to engage the gun with a P.I.A.T. from a house at 50 yards range. He was observed by a sniper who fired and grazed his right cheek, and at the same moment the gun swung round and fired at point-blank range into the house. To avoid the fallen masonry C.S.M. Hollis moved his party to an alternative position. Two of the enemy gun crew had by this time been killed, and the gun was destroyed shortly afterwards. He later found that two of his men had stayed behind in the house and immediately volunteered to get them out. In full view of the enemy who were continually firing at him, he went forward alone using a Bren gun to distract their attention from the other men. Under cover of his diversion, the two men were able to get back.Wherever fighting was heaviest, C.S.M. Hollis appeared and in the course of a magnificent day's work, he displayed the utmost gallantry and on two separate occasions his courage and initiative prevented the enemy from holding up the advance at critical stages. It was largely through his heroism and resource that the Company's objectives were gained and casualties were not heavier, and by his own bravery he saved the lives of many of his men.
Jimmie W. Monteith won a posthumous Medal of Honor.
For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity above and beyond the call of duty on 6 June 1944, while serving with 16th Infantry Regiment, 1st Infantry Division, in action near Colleville-sur-Mer, France. First Lieutenant Monteith landed with the initial assault waves on the coast of France under heavy enemy fire. Without regard to his own personal safety he continually moved up and down the beach reorganizing men for further assault. He then led the assault over a narrow protective ledge and across the flat, exposed terrain to the comparative safety of a cliff. Retracing his steps across the field to the beach, he moved over to where two tanks were buttoned up and blind under violent enemy artillery and machinegun fire. Completely exposed to the intense fire, First Lieutenant Monteith led the tanks on foot through a minefield and into firing positions. Under his direction several enemy positions were destroyed. He then rejoined his company and under his leadership his men captured an advantageous position on the hill. Supervising the defense of his newly won position against repeated vicious counterattacks, he continued to ignore his own personal safety, repeatedly crossing the 200 or 300 yards of open terrain under heavy fire to strengthen links in his defensive chain. When the enemy succeeded in completely surrounding First Lieutenant Monteith and his unit and while leading the fight out of the situation, First Lieutenant Monteith was killed by enemy fire. The courage, gallantry, and intrepid leadership displayed by First Lieutenant Monteith is worthy of emulation.
Reports are coming in in rapid succession. So far the Commanders who are engaged report that everything is proceeding according to plan. And what a plan! This vast operation is undoubtedly the most complicated and difficult that has ever occurred ... Nothing that equipment, science or forethought could do has been neglected, and the whole process of opening this great new front will be pursued with the utmost resolution both by the commanders and by the United States and British Governments whom they serve.
Almighty God: Our sons, pride of our Nation, this day have set upon a mighty endeavor, a struggle to preserve our Republic, our religion, and our civilization, and to set free a suffering humanity. Lead them straight and true; give strength to their arms, stoutness to their hearts, steadfastness in their faith.
The 8th Air Force conducted a 1,500 plane raid on Berlin. The 15th Air Force and Bomber Command attacked railway sites in Bucharest. The 9th Air Force attacked the railway yards at Mezieres-Charleville with B-26s and P-38s.
The 46th Infantry Division occupied Cape Hopkins Airfield on the Bismark Archipelago. The Japanese offered no resistance.
The Red Army carried out an assault on Sapun Mountain May 7, 1944 in the Battle of Sevastopol.
Polish Gen. Anders visited the 15th Vilnius Rifle Battalion "Wilków" and attended Mass with them.
The RCN Valleyfield was sunk by the U-548 off of Cape Rice. 129 out of 167 crewmembers died in the attack.
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Sarah Sundin, on her entry Today in World War II History—May 7, 1944 notes that another D-Day exercise, Exercise Pigeon, commenced.
A B-25 crashed in bad weather and one mile north of West Chester, Pennsylvania, killing all seven on board.
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Just a few days after U.S. ships shelled US Army troops at Slapton Sands in Operation Tiger in a friendly fire incident, the PT-346 was sunk, killing nine sailors and wounding nine, by Marine Corps Corsairs.
Lieutenant James Burk ordered medic John Frkovich to take his Burk's life jacket so he could survive and treat the wounded. Wilbur Larsen, USNR, received the Navy Marine Corps medal for saving wounded non-swimmer Forrest May's life.
An American air raid on Truk destroyed most of the island's Japanese aircraft.
On New Guinea, the captured Japanese airfields at Hollandia and Aitape become operational for Allied aircraft.
The HMCS Athabaskan was sunk in the English Channel by the T24, once again showing active Kriegsmarine activity in the Channel. The T24 picked up 83 men as prisoners, 44 were rescued by the Allies, and 123 went down with the ship.
The I-183 was sunk off the Bungo Strait by the USS Pogy.
The U-421 was sunk at Toulon in an American air raid.
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The HMHS Newfoundland, a hospital ship, was hit by a German glide bomb in the Mediterranean, while the HMS Uganda was hit by a guided German bomb.
The new German areal munition technology was taking quite a toll.
The Newfoundland had to be scuttled. The Uganda was heavily damaged, but returned to service in 1944 as a Canadian ship. She'd see service again during the Korean War as the HMCS Quebec.
The US began to distribute residents of the Tule Lake Relocation Center, which was being converted to a maximum security detention center for Nisei regarded as a significant threat.
Hitler told his aid Karl Wolff that he wanted Pope Pius XII deported to Germany. On the same day, German emissary to the Vatican Ernst von Weiszacker delivered Hitler's assurances to the Vatican that its sovereignty would be respected.
German counterattacks at Salerno came within one mile of the beaches before being stopped by naval gunfire. Units from the 82nd Airborne were parachuted in as reinforcements.
In Greece, the Italian Acqui Division resisted German efforts to disarm it.
American actor David Bacon was murdered in Santa Monica. Surviving a knifing long enough to attempt to drive off, he was found barely alive in his car, wearing only a swimsuit. He left a pregnant wife. Twenty-nine years old at the time, the mystery has never been solved.
A lot of Twitter is junk, but this comment hit me a bit:
The death of any man diminishes me but, beyond a quick yet sincere Requiescat for them, my main question now is how many public tax dollars were spent trying to rescue the super-rich from their super-dangerous escapades.
Not that they asked for it.
And not that there isn't an effort to rescue any who are, in the words of the hymn, "in peril on the sea".
But there's just something existentially different about this.
Many will say that nobody has a right to tell other people what to do with their money, but that is in fact wrong, and we do it all the time. There are plenty of things that are illegal that people spend their money on, and we aren't inclined to make them legal on this basis.
To have cash to such a surplus level that $250,000 can be spent for a single instance of amusement, no matter how profound the experience, raises moral questions of all sorts, and not just for those who are that well funded, but also for the societies allowing this to occur.
And the Titanic is the site of a mass loss of human life. To spend that amount of money to dive on what is essentially a grave is problematic.
There's a public duty to try to rescue those imperiled, irrespective of their wealth or lack of it. An interesting thing here is that the effort was undertaken when those in the know, already knew these individuals were dead. The U.S. Navy knew at the instant it occurred. Those on location did as well. It sounds as if those on location distributed the news within thirty minutes of it occurring.
I'm not saying that "expend any effort" shouldn't be attempted. That was done, and no doubt that cost at least the United States and Canada millions.
I'm saying that this shouldn't have been allowed in the first place, and that in this era of vast wealth, something should be reassessed.
The SS Caribou was sunk by a German submarine in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, leading to the loss of 137 lives. It was one of the most significant shipping losses in Canadian waters during World War Two.
Today in World War II History—October 14, 1942: Hitler orders halt in east except in Stalingrad and the Caucasus to prepare for winter defense. Australians and Japanese battle for Templeton’s Crossing.
So notes Sarah Sundin.
Also noted, the Ukrainian Insurgent Army was formed on this day. The UPA was thought of by its organizers, the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalist, as a national Ukrainian Army.
Originally, it was loosely aligned with the Germans, and the OUN offered its services, before it was formed, to the Germans and it was formed as a reaction to Soviet partisans in Ukraine. In February 1943, however, it also went to war with the Germans. Ultimately it would fight the Soviets, the Germans, and the Poles, the latter of which it committed terrible atrocities against.
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The thought that an insurgent army of this type could prevail against the Germans and the Soviets was naive. That the UPA also thought that it had to reengage in a sometimes genocidal war with the Poles was inexcusable.
From Sarah Sundin's blog
Today in World War II History—July 31, 1942: Germans cross River Don in Ukraine. Women’s Royal Canadian Naval Service is established; 7000 will serve in the WRCNS as Wrens.
Canada had been reluctant to bring women into naval service.
FWIW, a relative of mine served in the Wrens during the war, even though it had already taken women into the army and the RCAF. For that reason, the Wrens were actually established slightly after the WAVES.
As a perhaps slightly salacious side note, starting in 1943 the Wrens started publishing their own newspaper, the Tiddly Times. The name came from a British seams nickname for something extra to decorate uniforms, but that was an odd choice of titles for more than one reason.
As a note, it's interesting the extent to which we're reading of the Germans as aggressors trying to conquer the same lands that the Russians are now attempting to conquer 80 years later.
Regarding Case Blue, Hitler reversed his recent order which had taken the 4th Panzer Army away from the attack on Stalingrad and reassigned it, reversing its direction, and creating additional confusion.
The 1st Marine Divisions embarked on US and Australian ships for the invasion of Guadalcanal. US aircraft bombed Japanese airfields on the island.
