Today in World War II History—24 May 1944
75 Years Ago—24 May 1944: US II Corps takes Terracina in Italy unopposed, opening Highway 7 to Anzio.
75 Years Ago—24 May 1944: US II Corps takes Terracina in Italy unopposed, opening Highway 7 to Anzio.
75 Years Ago—23 May 1944: In Italy Allies launch assault to break out at Anzio and cut Highway 7 below Cisterna.
In breakout from Anzio, US 3rd Division suffers 1000 casualties, among the costliest days for any US division of the war.
75 Years Ago—22 May 1944: In the Solomons, destroyer escort USS England sinks RO-106, the second of six Japanese submarines sunk in twelve days, the most successful antisubmarine operation by a single ship in history.
French Resistance blows up hydroelectric station in Bussy.
75 Years Ago—21 May 1944: US Eighth and Ninth Air Forces conduct first “Chattanooga” strafing mission against Nazi railroad targets.
At Pearl Harbor, ammunition explosion on landing craft USS LST-353 kills 163, destroys 8 other ships.
75 Years Ago—20 May 1944: US troops secure Wakde Island off New Guinea.
Iceland holds referendum: 99.5% will vote to sever ties with Denmark and establish a new republic.
Polish resistance captures an intact German V-2 rocket and will ship the parts to England in July.
75 Years Ago—19 May 1944: Final German U-boat victory in the Mediterranean as U-453 sinks British freighter Fort Missanabie off Taranto, Italy.
On US Eighth Air Force mission to Berlin, B-17 Miss Donna Mae II of the 94th Bomb Group is lost when a bomb falls on her from above.
75 Years Ago—18 May 1944: Polish troops take Monte Cassino and the abbey; British take Cassino town.
First air evacuation from Myitkyina Airfield in Burma: Japanese planes strafe the C-47 cargo planes on the ground, many are wounded, but two flight nurses are unharmed.
US secures Manus—the Admiralty Islands in the Pacific are now in Allied hands.
75 Years Ago—17 May 1944: Countdown to D-day: Allied Expeditionary Air Force approves “invasion stripes” for Allied aircraft for D-day, not announced yet to maintain security (black & white stripes to prevent friendly fire).
Chinese troops and Merrill’s Marauders (US guerillas) take Myitkyina airfield, the only hard-surfaced field in northern Burma.
US 879th Engineer Aviation Battalion arrives at Myitkyina Airfield by gliders and opens airstrip that night.
75 Years Ago—16 May 1944: US, Britain, USSR, and the governments-in-exile of Belgium, Norway, and the Netherlands sign an agreement concerning the administration of countries as they are liberated.
75 Years Ago—15 May 1944: Countdown to D-day: General Dwight Eisenhower accepts the final mission plans for Overlord and a conference is held in London for all the top commanders with King George VI and Prime Minister Winston Churchill in attendance.
Nazis begin the deportation of Hungary’s 440,000 Jews to Auschwitz.
“Another masterful installment in Sundin’s roster of WWII novels.”—Booklist starred review for Embers in the London Sky