Today in
World War II History

Finnish Army sergeants Kaarlo Niemelä and Heino Nikulassi near Tali-Ihantala, Finland, late June to early July 1944 (public domain via WW2 Database)

75 Years Ago—July 15, 1944: Finnish forces stop the Soviet advance in the Karelian Isthmus.

US Navy PB4Y Liberators bomb Iwo Jima, Chichi Jima, and Haha Jima.

B-17 of US 94th Bomb Group drops supplies to French Resistance in Vercors region, 14 July 1944. (USAAF photo)

75 Years Ago—July 14, 1944: On Bastille Day, US Eighth Air Force B-17s make supply drop to resistance forces in southern France.

Glenn Miller’s first performance at an airfield in England: at Thurleigh for the 306^th Bombardment Group in a hangar with 3500 in attendance.

Japanese conscript women ages 12-40 for war work.

In California, Shasta Dam opens.

Native litter bearers evacuate an American casualty across the Driniumor River in New Guinea, 1944. (US Army Center of Military History)

75 Years Ago—July 13, 1944: On New Guinea near Aitape, US troops push back to Driniumor River, dividing the Japanese 18^th Army.

German Ju 88 night-fighter mistakenly lands at RAF Woodbridge in England, revealing secrets of Luftwaffe FuG Flensburg equipment which homed in on British radar.

Mayo Clinic announces that cigarettes may harm wounded men due to vasoconstriction.

Gen. Theodore Roosevelt Jr. in Normandy, July 1944 (US National Archives)

75 Years Ago—July 12, 1944: Gen. Theodore Roosevelt Jr., son of the former president, dies of a heart attack in Normandy; he had landed with his troops on Utah Beach on D-day.

Captured German Fourth Army being paraded through Moscow, 17 July 1944 (Russian Archives)

75 Years Ago—July 11, 1944: Soviets capture the surrounded German Fourth Army near Minsk in Byelorussia and take 37,000 POWs.

Raoul Wallenberg, June 1944 (public domain via Wikipedia)

75 Years Ago—July 10, 1944: Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg reports to the Swedish embassy in Budapest, Hungary as a secretary; he will issue protective passports and save the lives of thousands of Jews.

US Marines in northern Saipan, 8 Jul 1944 (US Marine Corps)

British soldier in Caen, France, 9 July 1944 (Imperial War Museum)

75 Years Ago—July 9, 1944: US secures Saipan in the Mariana Islands.

British Second Army and Canadian II Corps take crucial city of Caen in Normandy.

In Hungary, Prime Minister Miklós Horthy temporarily stops deportation of the Jews, an attempt to curry favor with the Allies in case of the need to negotiate for surrender.

Barrage balloons over Buckingham Palace in London during WWII (RAF photo)

British Sherman tanks in the assault on Caen, France, 8 July 1944 (Imperial War Museum: 4700-29 B 6642)

75 Years Ago—July 8, 1944: In Normandy, British & Canadians launch assault on Caen and enter the city.

British launch 1750 barrage balloons south of London to combat German V-1 buzz bombs.

US Army commands all Post Exchanges, theaters, and transportation to be open to all races.

Ruins of Caen, France, including Église Saint-Pierre, 10 July 1944 (public domain via WW2 Database)

75 Years Ago—July 7, 1944: Japanese launch final banzai charge on Saipan; 500 US troops killed, 2000 Japanese.

RAF sends 467 bombers to Caen, France; over the next three days, most of the city will be destroyed by bombing.

Princess Elizabeth with B-17G Rose of York of the US 306th Bombardment Group, Thurleigh, England, 6 July 1944 (US Army Air Forces photo)

75 Years Ago—July 6, 1944: A fire erupts in the Barnum & Bailey big top in Hartford, CT; 169 are killed, including 80 children.

King George VI and Princess Elizabeth visit US 306^th Bomb Group at Thurleigh and christen B-17 Rose of York in honor of the princess’s 18^th birthday. Read more: “The Royal Family in World War II.”

Future baseball star Lt. Jackie Robinson refuses to give up a bus seat at Camp Hood, TX; he is arrested, court-martialed, and later acquitted.