June 1944

June

• 02

  • Operation FranticOn 2 June 1944 American bombers from Italy struck Debrecen and landed in Ukraine, beginning shuttle-bombing missions through bases in the USSR.
• 03

  • The Provisional Government of the French RepublicOn 3 June 1944 de Gaulle's committee in Algiers renamed itself the Provisional Government of the French Republic. The United States refused to recognise it.
• 04

  • Key eventThe Allies in RomeOn 4 June 1944 the US Fifth Army entered Rome, which the Germans had left without fighting in the city – the first Axis capital taken by the Allies.
  • The invasion postponedOn 4 June 1944 a stormy forecast led Eisenhower to postpone the Normandy invasion by a day. The convoys turned back; the final decision came on 5 June.
  • The capture of U-505On 4 June 1944 a US carrier group led by USS Guadalcanal forced U-505 to surface off Africa. A boarding party seized the boat, its Enigma and codes.
• 05

  • The night before the invasionOn the night of 5/6 June 1944 over 1,000 RAF bombers struck batteries on the Bay of the Seine and three airborne divisions dropped into Normandy.
• 06

  • Key eventD-Day: the Normandy landingsOn 6 June 1944 some 156,000 Allied troops landed in Normandy by sea and air. Five beachheads were taken, but Caen remained in German hands.
• 07

  • The liberation of BayeuxOn 7 June 1944 the British 50th Division from Gold Beach took Bayeux almost without a fight – the first major French town liberated after D-Day.
• 09

  • The Soviet offensive on the Karelian IsthmusOn 9 June 1944 the Leningrad Front opened its offensive against Finland with guns and air raids. Next day its infantry broke the Finnish line at Valkeasaari.
• 10

  • The Oradour-sur-Glane massacreOn 10 June 1944 a company of the 2nd SS Panzer Division Das Reich murdered 642 people at Oradour-sur-Glane near Limoges and burned the village.
  • The Distomo massacreOn 10 June 1944 troops of the 4th SS Polizei Panzergrenadier Division murdered 218 inhabitants of the Greek village of Distomo and burned it down.
• 12

  • Strikes on the MarianasOn 11–14 June 1944 Mitscher's carriers and US battleships hit Saipan, Tinian and Guam ahead of the landings. Admiral Toyoda began readying his fleet for battle.
• 13

  • Key eventThe first V-1 flying bombsOn the night of 12/13 June 1944 the Germans fired the first V-1s at England. The flying-bomb offensive killed about 6,000 people in Britain.
• 15

  • Key eventThe landing on SaipanOn 15 June 1944 two US Marine divisions landed on Saipan. That evening American submarines sighted the Japanese fleet heading for the Marianas.
• 17

  • The landing on ElbaOn 17 June 1944 French troops from Corsica landed on Elba in Operation Brassard. By 19 June the island was in Allied hands.
• 19

  • Key eventThe Battle of the Philippine SeaOn 19–20 June 1944 the US Task Force 58 shattered Ozawa's carrier air groups west of the Marianas. Japan lost three carriers and several hundred aircraft.
  • The Channel stormThe storm of 19–22 June 1944 wrecked the American Mulberry A artificial harbour off Omaha and almost halted the unloading of supplies in Normandy for days.
• 20

  • The capture of PerugiaOn 20 June 1944 the British 6th Armoured Division entered Perugia, which the Germans had abandoned. Three days earlier the Allies had entered Assisi.
• 22

  • Key eventOperation Bagration beginsOn 22 June 1944, the third anniversary of Germany's attack on the USSR, four Soviet fronts opened an offensive in Belarus against Army Group Centre.
  • The end of the siege of ImphalOn 22 June 1944 the British 2nd Division from Kohima and the 5th Indian Division from Imphal met at Milestone 109. The siege of Imphal was over.
• 23

  • The declaration of the National Committee of the Estonian RepublicThe manifesto “To the Estonian people”, dated 23 June 1944, proclaimed Estonia's continuity as a state. Issued in Stockholm in July, in Estonia in August.
• 25

  • The Battle of Tali-IhantalaOn 25 June 1944 the Red Army struck the Finnish VKT line from Viipuri. By 9 July the Finns, with German help, had halted the attack at Tali and Ihantala.
• 26

  • The liberation of CherbourgOn 26 June 1944 General von Schlieben surrendered at Cherbourg. The Allies took the port, wrecked by the Germans, after three weeks of fighting on the Cotentin.
  • The bombing of San MarinoAt the end of June 1944 Allied bombers attacked neutral San Marino in the belief that Germans were stationed there. Several dozen people were killed.