Allied forces broke through German defenses in the Liri Valley in Operation Diadem with the first attacks being by the British 4th Infantry Division and the 8th Indian Infantry Division, with fire support from the 1st Canadian Armoured Brigade. All the Allies fighting in Italy would participate in the offensive.
Allied air forces raided the French coast, with Calais particularly hard hit.
Oberst Walter Oesau (123 victories) was shot down and killed over the Eifel Mountains.
Oesau had been goaded into flying by Luftwaffe chief Hermann Göring on that day even though he'd been sick in bed with the flu, Göring calling his command to see if he was flying. Göring had been turning his ire on unit commanders who were not regularly flying, and upon learning that Oesau was in bed he basically accused him of cowardice. He did skillfully fight three P-38s but was killed by cannon fire from one of the aircraft attempting to make an emergency landing.\
Oesau had fought in the Spanish Civil War, but there's little known about him overall. He was not a flamboyant figure and included no special markings on his aircraft.
The RAF Lancaster "S for Sugar" completed its 100th mission.
Today in World War II History—May 11, 1944 In Italy, Germans release Jews of Turkish, Spanish, Portuguese, Swedish, Finnish, and Swiss citizenship under pressure from these neutral governments.Movie premiere of The White Cliffs of Dover, starring Irene Dunne.
Social Security Administration ruling reflecting a marriage on this date, and a complicated set of relationships.
SSR 60-9. STATUS OF CHILD IN THE WOMB
A child conceived during its mother's marriage to her first husband, but born after her re-marriage to her second husband is the stepchild of the second husband from the date of such marriage.
M was divorced from F on March 25, 1944. She married P on May 11, 1944. A child, C, was born to M on July 13, 1944. P died on May 20, 1945. An application for child's benefits on P's social security account was filed September 23, 1959, on behalf of C.
Section 216(e) of the Social Security Act defines the term "child" as including a stepchild of a deceased individual who has been a stepchild "for not less than one year immediately preceding the day on which such individual died."
In view of the general principle that when justice or convenience requires, the child in the womb is dealt with as a human being even though physiologically it is part of the mother, the marriage of P and M created a steprelationship between P and M's child, C, even though C was unborn at that time. Since the marriage of P and M occurred more than one year prior to P's death, and C had been conceived and was in existence at the time of the marriage, it is held that C was P's stepchild for one year prior to his death as required by section 216(e) for becoming entitled to benefits on his earnings record.
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