Today in
World War II History

US Marines in Garapan, Saipan, 2 July 1944 (US Marine Corps photo)

75 Years Ago—July 2, 1944: US Army troops land on Noemfoor Island in Geelvink Bay, New Guinea.

US Marines take Garapan, Saipan; Japanese fall back to final defensive line on northern Saipan.

Lt. Grace Hopper reports for duty, as a member of the WAVES, at the US Navy’s Bureau of Ordnance Computation Project at Harvard, to work on Mark 1 Automatic Sequence Controlled Calculator (ASCC); in 1947 she will discover a moth stuck in a relay, leading to the term “computer bug.” 

Lt. Grace Hopper at Harvard, 1940s (public domain via WW2 Database)

Bocage country of the Cotentin Peninsula, France, 1944 (public domain via WW2 Database)

75 Years Ago—July 1, 1944: US First Army secures the Cotentin peninsula in Normandy, France.

United Nations Monetary Conference begins in Bretton Woods, NH; will establish International Monetary Fund and International Bank for Reconstruction & Development.

Map showing Allied advances in Normandy from June 6 to July 1, 1944 (US Army Center of Military History)

75 Years Ago—June 30, 1944: Adm. Sir Bertram Ramsay declares the conclusion of Operation Neptune, the naval portion of Operation Overlord, the invasion of Normandy.

US secures island of Biak off New Guinea.

Abandoned vehicles of German 9th Army at Bobruysk, Byelorussia, July 1944 (public domain via Wikipedia)

75 Years Ago—June 29, 1944: Soviets take Bobruysk in Byelorussia, capturing 70,000 troops of German Army Group Center.

Gen. Friedrich Dollmann, commander of German 7^th Army in Normandy, dies of a heart attack after Hitler threatens to court-martial him for the loss of Cherbourg.

In Nazi campaign against Italian partisans, Germans execute all 73 men in San Pancrazio, Tuscany.

Thomas Dewey, 1948 (US Library of Congress)

75 Years Ago—June 28, 1944: At the Republican convention in Chicago, Thomas Dewey is nominated for president.

Last Japanese planes leave New Guinea as Allies advance.

Glenn Miller’s Army Air Forces Band arrives in Scotland on HMT Queen Elizabeth.

US infantry captain with German prisoners in Cherbourg, France, June 1944 (US National Archives)

75 Years Ago—June 27, 1944: US First Army liberates Cherbourg, France, but the Germans have destroyed the vital port facilities.

Movie premiere of musical Bathing Beauty, starring Esther Williams and Red Skelton.

Frances Green, Margaret (Peg) Kirchner, Ann Waldner and Blanche Osborn leaving their B-17, “Pistol Packin’ Mama,” at the four-engine school at Lockbourne AAF, Ohio, during WASP ferry training (USAF photo)

75 Years Ago—June 26, 1944: Germans institute curfew in Copenhagen, Denmark after a wave of sabotage; citizens begin massive civil strike.

In Normandy, British launch Operation Epsom in attempt to take Caen.

US Army Air Force orders WASP (Women’s Airforce Service Pilots) program dissolved in December; women aren’t notified until October.

German coast artillery shell falling between battleships USS Texas (background) and USS Arkansas (foreground) off Cherbourg, France, 25 June 1944 (US National Archives)

French Maquis receiving supplies from US B-17s (US Air Force photo)

75 Years Ago—June 25, 1944: US battleships, cruisers, and destroyers bombard Cherbourg, France, in support of US troops besieging the port city.

US Eighth Air Force flies first “Zebra” mission: B-17s drop supplies and arms to French resistance fighters.

On Saipan, US Marines take Mt. Tapotchau, which dominates the island.

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.