Today in
World War II History

Publicity photo of Roy Rogers and Trigger (public domain via Wikipedia)

75 Years Ago—13 May 1944: In drive for Rome, French troops break through Gustav Line into Aurunci Hills.

In a raid off the English coast, German torpedo boat S-141 is sunk and Klaus Dönitz, the only surviving son of Adm. Karl Dönitz, is killed.

Movie premiere of Cowboy and the Senorita, starring Roy Rogers and Dale Evans, their first film together.

Monte Cassino (US Army Center of Military History)

75 Years Ago—12 May 1944: Operation Diadem: US Fifth & British Eighth Armies launch offensive on Gustav Line in Italy, crossing Rapido River and assaulting Cassino.

German Oblt. Oskar Kusch, former commander of U-boat U-154, is executed for anti-Hitler views, betrayed by his second in command—who was killed in the sinking of U-193 on April 24.

Frederick Schiller Faust, the author of 400 Western novels under the name of Max Brand, is killed in Operation Diadem.

Liberty ship SS Juliette Low is launched, named after the founder of the Girl Scouts.

British 99th Light AA Regiment, Cassino, Italy, 12 May 1944. (Imperial War Museum)

75 Years Ago—11 May 1944: Operation Diadem: Allied drive to Rome opens before midnight with artillery barrage from Cassino to the Tyrrhenian Sea.

Countdown to D-day: Allies officially begin pre-invasion bombing of German airfields in France to drive the Luftwaffe away from the invasion beaches.

In Italy, Germans release Jews of Turkish, Spanish, Portuguese, Swedish, Finnish, and Swiss citizenship under pressure from these neutral governments.

Movie premiere of The White Cliffs of Dover, starring Irene Dunne.

James V. Forrestal, US Secretary of the Navy (US Navy photo)

75 Years Ago—10 May 1944: President Roosevelt appoints James V. Forrestal as Secretary of the Navy.

At Heart Mountain relocation camp in Wyoming, 63 Japanese-Americans are indicted for resisting the draft.

Soviet soldiers crossing the Syvash into the Crimea, Dec 1943 (public domain via Wikipedia)

75 Years Ago—9 May 1944: Soviets take Sevastopol and 36,000 German POWs, securing the Crimea.

Due to a revolt and general strike, President of El Salvador Gen. Maximiliano Hernández Martinez resigns and flees to Guatemala; succeeded by Andrés Menéndez.

Maj. Gen. Edward Brooks (behind Eisenhower) demonstrating M1 Carbines to Gen. Dwight Eisenhower, Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and Gen. Omar Bradley, England, 15 May 1944 (US National Archives)

75 Years Ago—8 May 1944: Countdown to D-day: General Eisenhower sets D-day for Normandy invasion as June 5—this will be signaled to the commanders on May 23.

US Congress extends Lend-Lease to June 1945.

German Army Group G established in southern France under Col. Gen. Johannes Blaskowitz.

Poster for US Army Signal Corps, WWII

75 Years Ago—7 May 1944: Countdown to D-day: US Signal Corps holds “Exercise Pigeon” D-day training exercise.

US Eighth Air Force launches over 1000 bombers in missions to Berlin, Münster, and Osnabrück, Germany.

Pandit Nehru and Mahatma Gandhi at All-India Congress Committee, August 8, 1942, when the “Quit India” resolution was adopted, calling for the immediate dissolution of British rule. (Public domain via Wikipedia)

75 Years Ago—6 May 1944: Off Cape Verdes, destroyer escort USS Buckley and TBMs & Wildcats from escort carrier USS Block Island sink German U-boat U-66; Buckley’s sailors use small arms, hand grenades, and coffee mugs in the battle.

In India, British release Gandhi from prison on medical grounds.

Kathleen Kennedy (daughter of US ambassador to Britain Joseph Kennedy) marries the Marquis of Hartington.

The Benz Patent-Motorwagen of 1888, used by Bertha Benz for the first long-distance road trip, 106 km by automobile. (Public domain via Wikipedia)

75 Years Ago—5 May 1944: Adm. Soemu Toyoda takes command of Japanese Navy Combined Fleet.

Bertha Benz, wife of Karl Benz and the first person to drive an automobile over 100 kilometers, dies in Ladenburg, Germany, age 95.

USS Comfort is commissioned, the first hospital ship staffed by both Army and Navy personnel.

Exercise Fabius, Slapton Sands, England, May 1944. US infantry descend into an LCVP during D-day invasion practice. (US Army Center of Military History)

75 Years Ago—4 May 1944: Countdown to D-day: In Exercise Fabius, a full-scale rehearsal for D-day, Allied troops who will land on Sword, Juno, Gold, and Omaha Beaches make landings on English beaches in the largest amphibious training exercise ever.

Movie premiere of Gaslight, starring Ingrid Bergman, Joseph Cotten, Charles Boyer, and Angela Lansbury in her screen premiere.

St. Louis Browns baseball team drops segregation policy that restricted black fans to the bleachers.