Today in
World War II History

American tank destroyers at the Colosseum, Rome, June 1944 (US Army photo)

B-29 Superfortress (USAF photo)

75 Years Ago—June 5, 1944: Countdown to D-day: at 4:15 am, a more favorable weather report leads Gen. Dwight Eisenhower to order the invasion of Normandy to proceed for June 6: “Okay, let’s go.”

At night, RAF Bomber Command flies 1200 sorties, hitting ten gun batteries in Normandy before dawn on D-day.

US Fifth Army secures Rome; Gen. Mark Clark gives victory speech on Capitoline Hill, and Pope Pius XII addresses GIs in St. Peter’s Square.

First combat mission is flown with B-29 Superfortresses: US 20th Bomber Command sends 98 B-29s from India to bomb Japanese-held Bangkok.

US Navy boarding party on captured German U-boat U-505, 4 June 1944 (US National Archives)

75 Years Ago—June 4, 1944: Countdown to D-day: at 5:15 am, Gen. Dwight Eisenhower postpones D-day from June 5 to June 6 due to unfavorable weather: Force U, ships already en route to Utah Beach, return to ports in England.

US Fifth Army enters Rome and secures bridges over the Tiber.

Off West Africa, escort carrier USS Guadalcanal and 5 US destroyer escorts capture German submarine U-505 and its Enigma machine, the first intact ship captured by the US since 1815. Read more about the capture of the U-505 and see pictures of the U-boat from my visit to the Museum of Science and Industry, Chicago: U-Boat Tour, Part 1 and Part 2.

No. 4 Squadron RAAF pilots posing in front of Boomerang aircraft, Nadzab, New Guinea, 5 Oct 1943 (Australian War Memorial)

75 Years Ago—June 3, 1944: Countdown to D-day: Loading of all troops for D-day is complete; Force U (bound for Utah Beach) departs ports in Devon for Normandy.

Germans declare Rome an open city and evacuate as the Allies advance.

Last major air combat by Royal Australian Air Force in WWII as Australian fighters shoot down nine Japanese planes off New Guinea.

The actual wooden wall map used on D-day, showing the landing beaches, set for D-day at H-hour, in the map room at Southwick House, England, September 2017 (Photo: Sarah Sundin)

75 Years Ago—June 2, 1944: Countdown to D-day: Gen. Dwight Eisenhower moves his headquarters to a trailer at Southwick House in Hampshire. (To read about Southwick House and see photos from my tour: Tour of Southwick House)

US Fifteenth Air Force flies first shuttle mission to Russia: 130 B-17s & 70 P-51s from Italy bomb Debreczen, Hungary then fly to Poltava.

US troops on Hwy 6 to Rome. (US Army Center of Military History)

75 Years Ago—June 1, 1944: Countdown to D-day: BBC sends first coded message to warn French resistance of the coming invasion.

US Fifth Army opens final offensive for Rome.

Bob Hope’s best-selling book about his USO tour, I Never Left Home, is published.

USS Thurston (AP-77) boarding staff 5th ESB (Engineer Special Brigade) for Omaha. In the background the Weymouth Pavilion; June 1944 (US National Archives)

Destroyed commissioner’s bungalow and tennis court, Kohima, India, Mar-Jul 1944 (Imperial War Museum)

75 Years Ago—31 May 1944: Countdown to D-day: In England, the loading of assault forces for Operation Overlord (D-day) begins for Force O (Omaha Beach).

At 0700, first “Corncob” blockships that will be sunk for “Gooseberry” breakwaters depart Britain, the first ships to sail for D-day.

Japanese Lt. Gen. Sato Kotoku orders withdrawal from Kohima, India against orders.

Army Rangers of the US 5th Ranger Battalion in an LCA landing craft about to board their troopship for D-day, Weymouth, England, 1 June 1944 (US National Archives)

75 Years Ago—30 May 1944: Countdown to D-day: In England, the loading of assault forces for Operation Overlord (D-day) begins for Force U (Utah Beach).

Germany approves the summary execution of downed Allied airmen who strafed passenger trains or civilians (“Terrorflieger”).

USS Block Island (CVE-21) off Norfolk, VA, 15 Oct 1943, with 9 FM-1 Wildcats and 12 TBF-1C Avengers (US Navy photo)

75 Years Ago—29 May 1944: Off Canary Islands, German U-boat U-549 sinks escort carrier USS Block Island, the only US carrier sunk in the Atlantic (6 killed); US destroyer escorts Ahrens and Eugene E. Elmore sink U-549 in return.

First tank battle is fought in the Southwest Pacific, on Biak Island off New Guinea (US defeats Japanese).

British Adm. Sir Bertram Ramsay, Allied Naval Commander for D-day, and US Navy Rear Admiral John Hall, commander of amphibious operations, aboard command ship USS Ancon, 25 May 1944 (US National Archives)

75 Years Ago—28 May 1944: Countdown to D-day: Gen. Dwight Eisenhower sets H-hours for each force.

At 1800, Adm. Sir Bertram Ramsay orders “execute Operation Neptune,” announcing D-day (June 5) and H-hour for each force.

Allied naval units for D-day go into lockdown with no one permitted to leave ships or bases.

US LSTs and LVT(A)s unloading at Biak, May 1944 (US Center of Military History)

75 Years Ago—27 May 1944: Countdown to D-day: at night, the German Luftwaffe bombs Portland and Weymouth harbors, where Allied D-day forces are assembling; destroyer USS McCook is lightly damaged, but is repaired in time for D-day.

US 41^st Infantry Division lands on Biak Island in Geelvink Bay of New Guinea and faces heavy resistance.