Today in
World War II History

US soldiers practicing for D-day at Slapton Sands, Lyme Bay, England, 27 April 1944 (Library of Congress: LC-USZ62-132795)

80 Years Ago—April 27, 1944: Countdown to D-day: in Exercise Tiger, a rehearsal for D-day, US 4^th Infantry Division begins landing at Slapton Sands in Dorset, England.

US Ninth Air Force in England flies its first mission with Douglas A-20 Havoc light bombers.

Federal troops seize Montgomery Ward plant after Sewell Avery refuses to sign with CIO as ordered by War Labor Board; Avery is carried out by soldiers.

US Ninth Air Force Douglas A-20 Havocs over France, WWII (USAF photo: 051118-F-1234P-071)

Southwick House, England, September 2017 (Photo: Sarah Sundin)

80 Years Ago—April 26, 1944: Countdown to D-day: Allied Naval Command Expeditionary Force staff move to Battle Headquarters for D-day at Southwick House, Hampshire, England. To learn more about Southwick House and see pictures from my tour, please see “The Sea Before Us—Tour of Southwick House.”

Pre-invasion Bombing of Pointe du Hoc by US Ninth Air Force A-20 light bombers, spring 1944. (US Army Center for Military History)

80 Years Ago—April 25, 1944: Countdown to D-day: due to damage from a US Ninth Air Force raid, German gun crews at Pointe du Hoc move surviving guns 0.8 miles south of the battery site and place telegraph poles in original positions. Read more “The Land Beneath Us – Tour of Pointe du Hoc.”

A helicopter is used for combat air rescue for the first time—a Sikorsky YR-4B helicopter of the US 1^st Air Commando Group rescues four downed airmen in the Burma jungle, one at a time over two days.

Sikorsky YR-4B at NACA Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory, Hampton, VA, 29 March 1945 (NASA Langley photo: EL-2003-00296)

Tadji Airstrip at Aitape, New Guinea, April 1944 (US Army Center of Military History)

80 Years Ago—April 24, 1944: US secures Aitape, New Guinea, and opens Tadji Airstrip at Aitape.

US Seventh Air Force B-24s make first land-based air attack on Guam.

Map of the Allied air plan for the landings in Normandy, 6 June 1944 (From Saunders, Hilary St. George. Royal Air Force 1939-1945, Volume III: The Fight Is Won. London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1954. Public domain via Hyperwar website).

80 Years Ago—April 23, 1944: Countdown to D-day: Air Plan for Operation Overlord is issued. Read more: “The Sky Above Us Tour – D-Day in the Air.”

US Sixth Army secures Hollandia, New Guinea.

US Signal Corps cameramen Carl Weinke and Ernest Marjoram at Hollandia, New Guinea, 22 Apr 1944 (US National Archives: 111-SC-189623)

80 Years Ago—April 22, 1944: US Sixth Army lands at Hollandia and Aitape, New Guinea with little opposition.

In the US, typewriters are removed from rationing. Read more: “Make It Do—Metal Shortages in World War II.” 

US poster, WWII

Gen. Hans-Valentin Hube with the 16th Panzer Division outside Stalingrad, 23 August 1942 (Public domain via Wikipedia)

80 Years Ago—April 21, 1944: German Gen. Hans-Valentin Hube is killed in a plane crash at Berchtesgaden; Gen. Erhard Raus replaces him over German First Panzer Army.

US Navy Task Forces 58 and 78, with 20 aircraft carriers, begin bombing and bombardment of Hollandia, Wakde, Sawar, and Sarmi areas of New Guinea in preparation for the next day’s landings.

Hawker Hurricane of RAF No.42 Squadron piloted by Flying Officer “Chowringhee” Campbell, attacking a bridge in Burma on the Tiddim Road near Imphal (Imperial War Museum: CF 175)

80 Years Ago—April 20, 1944: British relieve siege at Kohima, India, but Japanese retain town of Kohima and maintain siege of the critical Imphal area.

W. Somerset Maugham’s best-selling novel The Razor’s Edge is published.

US poster about food rationing, 1943 (US Office of Price Administration)

80 Years Ago—April 19, 1944: Japanese launch Ichi-Go offensive in China to open a corridor to Indochina (Vietnam) and to capture US airbases.

British Eastern Fleet & US Task Group 38.5 aircraft hit Sabang, Sumatra, as diversion from upcoming Hollandia operation, the first joint UK/US action in the Indian Ocean.

In the US, shortening, salad & cooking oils are removed from rationing, but butter & margarine are still rationed. Read more: “Make It Do—Rationing of Butter, Fats & Oils in World War II.” 

Japanese ships and harbor facilities after Allied carrier strike on Sabang, Sumatra, 19 Apr 1944 (Imperial War Museum: 4700-01 A 23249)

Scraggy Hill at Imphal, India, April 1944 (Imperial War Museum: IND 3714)

80 Years Ago—April 18, 1944: Last air raid on London, the end of the “Little Blitz”; in the Little Blitz, on the eve of D-day, the German Luftwaffe lost over 500 aircraft, while the RAF lost only 8 aircraft.

Allies begin air supply to besieged British and Indian troops at Imphal, India.

Jerome Robbins’s ballet Fancy Free debuts at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York, the inspiration for the musical On the Town.