French partisans, August 1944 (US Army Center of Military History)
75 Years Ago—June 24, 1944: French Resistance blows up hydroelectric plant near Limoges.
Free French forces begin to leave Italy to prepare for Operation Anvil, the invasion of southern France.
B-17 used as guided missile in Project Aphrodite (US Army Air Force photo)
75 Years Ago—June 23, 1944: US Eighth Air Force establishes Project Aphrodite, which will attempt to use remote control to guide unmanned, war-weary planes loaded with bombs to targets.
German Field Marshal Albert Kesselring proclaims Florence an open city to protect its history and art.
Nazis give a tour of carefully staged Theresienstadt concentration camp to the International Red Cross and a Danish delegation.
Gurkha troops on the Imphal-Kohima Road, 1944 (US Library of Congress)
Northrop P-61 Black Widow night fighter (US Air Force photo)
75 Years Ago—June 22, 1944: President Roosevelt signs GI Bill of Rights.
Soviets launch Bagration offensive in Byelorussia, which will lead to the heaviest German losses in the war (nearly 500,000 men).
In India, British and Indian troops open the Imphal-Kohima Raod, breaking the siege of Imphal.
US Northrop P-61 Black Widow night fighter is first flown in combat, from Saipan.
B-17s en route to Poltava, USSR, June 1944 (US Air Force photo)
75 Years Ago—June 21, 1944: US Eighth Air Force flies first shuttle mission to USSR; B-17 bombers leave bases in England, bomb targets in Germany, and land at Poltava. That night the Luftwaffe bombs Poltava, destroying 47 of 72 B-17s.
US 79th Infantry Division using 155-mm howitzer in assault on Cherbourg, June 1944 (US Army Center of Military History)
Patch of the US Tenth Army, WWII
75 Years Ago—June 20, 1944: US First Army besieges Cherbourg, France.
Soviets take Viipuri, Finland, opening Gulf of Finland to Soviet ships.
US Tenth Army is activated under Lt. Gen. Simon Buckner; will fight on Okinawa.
Battle of the Philippine Sea, 19 Jun 1944, photographed from light cruiser USS Birmingham (US National Archives)
Broached landing craft during the Normandy storm, probably at Omaha Beach, 21 June 1944; USS LST-543 in background (US National Archives)
75 Years Ago—June 19, 1944: The Battle of the Philippine Sea begins—US Fifth Fleet sinks three Japanese aircraft carriers, and the Japanese lose over 450 aircraft in the “Great Marianas Turkey Shoot.”
In a great storm off Normandy, Allied Mulberry harbor A is wrecked, Mulberry harbor B is damaged, and hundreds of vessels are grounded, hampering the Allied build-up.
Free French secure Elba.
US Marine First Sgt. Neil Shober feeding bananas to a native goat, Saipan, Mariana Islands, June 1944 (US Marine Corps photo)
75 Years Ago—June 18, 1944: German V-1 buzz bomb hits the Guards Chapel in London during a service, killing 121.
Ivanoe Bonomi replaces Pietro Badoglio as Prime Minister of Italy.
On Saipan, US Marines drive to the east coast, cutting the island in two, while Army forces take Aslito AF, renamed later Isley Field.
Japanese take Changsha, China, in drive to open land corridor to Hanoi in French Indochina.
Flag of Iceland
75 Years Ago—June 17, 1944: In Normandy, US First Army cuts off the Cotentin Peninsula, trapping Germans in Cherbourg.
Free French troops land on Elba off the coast of Italy.
Iceland becomes an independent republic with Sveinn Björnsson as the first president.
Tank of Company A of the 746th Tank Battalion supported the 325th Glider Infantry entering St. Sauveur-Le Vicomte, France, 16 June 1944 (US Army Center of Military History)
75 Years Ago—June 16, 1944: In drive across the Cotentin Peninsula in Normandy, US First Army takes Ste. Colombe and St. Sauveur-le-Vicomte.
US Navy Seabees finish the first pier of Mulberry A harbor at St. Laurent-sur-Mer off Omaha Beach and the first ship unloads; Mulberry B at Arromanches in the British sector opens two more piers.
US Army 27th Infantry Division lands on Saipan, joining the Marines who landed the day before.
US troops landing on Saipan, 15 June 1944 (US Army Center of Military History)
75 Years Ago—June 15, 1944: US Marine 2nd and 4th Divisions land on Saipan in the Mariana Islands.
US B-29 Superfortress bombers fly first mission to Japan, to Yawata steel works on Kyushu.
“Another masterful installment in Sundin’s roster of WWII novels.”—Booklist starred review for Embers in the London Sky