June 22nd, 1944 (THURSDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM: The Eighth Air Force in England flies four missions from England.
Mission 431: In a morning mission 85 B-17s and 132 B-24 Liberators attack 12 CROSSBOW (V-weapon) installations in the Pas de Calais area; one B-17 is lost. Escort is provided by 165 P-47 Thunderbolts and 97 P-51 Mustangs; some of the support fighters strafe coastal defenses; a P-51 is lost.
Mission 432: During the afternoon 797 bombers are dispatched to attack 22 targets in France and Belgium; nine bombers are lost:
1. Of 319 B-17s dispatched, 76 hit Lille/Fimes marshalling yard, 69 hit Ghent/Maritime marshalling yard, 35 hit Rouen oil depot, 13 hit La Vaubaliers, 13 hit Furnes Airfield, 13 hit Tingry, 12 hit Abbeville, 12 hit a tank area north of Rouen, 12 hit Douai railroad, 11 hit Mazingarbe, ten hit Pont a Vendin and one hits Douai railroad; three B-17s are lost. Escort is provided by 108 P-47s; they claim 1-0-0 Luftwaffe aircraft.
2. Of 149 B-24s, 46 hit Guyancourt/Caudron Airfield, 43 hit St Cyr Airfield, 36 hit Buc Airfield, 13 hit targets of opportunity and five hit Tours/La Riche bridge; they claim 1-0-0 Luftwaffe aircraft. Escort is provided by 187 P-38s and 36 P-47s; they claim 1-0-0 Luftwaffe aircraft; five P-38s are lost.
3. Of 216 B-17s, 70 hit Nucourt V-weapon site, 38 hit Brie-Comte-Robert Sug, 33 hit Etampes Airfield, 11 hit Lieusant railroad, 11 hit Melun bridge and 11 hit Melun marshalling yard; they claim 1-0-0 Luftwaffe aircraft; four B-17s are lost. Of 113 B-24s, 101 hit an oil dump at Paris and one hits Dreux Airfield; two B-24s are lost. Escort is provided by 78 P-51s; three P-51s are lost.
4. Nine B-24s use Azon glide bombs against the Samur Bridge; escort is provided by 41 P-51s.
Mission 433: A B-17 flies a daylight leaflet mission to La Glacrie, France.
Mission 434: Nine B-17s drop leaflets in France and the Low Countries during the night.
Ten B-24s fly CARPETBAGGER missions in France during the night.
Personal Memory: Today we are again doing tactical (No Ball) targets trying to slow the Buzz Bomb attacks. My diary for this date reads: "St. Omar, France, (Calais Area) robot plane installations. Flew low squadron lead. Flak meager but VERY accurate. Lost two ships, one was leader. three tenths CAVU. Only 14 went out. Rough!"I have no idea why we were carrying two, two thousand pound bombs for such a small target. Perhaps it was a mission changed from a bridge busting sortie. My own idea would have been to carry a bunch of smaller bombs. Of course I had no say in the matter and anyhow all we did was dig ponds for some farmer. My diary was wrong about the loss of two B-17s that morning as only one didn't return. That was our leader 1st Lt. R.W. Erickson who had Capt. R.J. Lynch flying as mission commander in his plane named "Mary Cary." Deputy lead was also hit by flak but managed to get to Grafton Underwood for an emergency landing. The original lead plane was last seen headed for the English coast at Beachy head but they never made it after the runaway number two engine exploded.The crew was ordered to bail out but the plane exploded before they all got out and half were killed. The other half were rescued by naval vessels. Score: Milk runs 13, others: 7 Afternoon mission: This afternoon we are loaded with twelve 500 pound bombs to try to bust a railroad yard at Lille, France. Beiser and I were assigned position 8 which made us the leader of a three-plane element. Our old "Buzz Blonde" that was severely damaged at Hamburg a few days ago was trying to fly this mission but had to abort because it couldn't keep up. Just after bombs away the airplane in the eleventh position was hit by flak in the right wing just behind the number 3 engine causing a gasoline explosion. Only the radio operator, Tech. Sgt R. H. Johnson survived. He was able to evade capture and return to American control. All the rest of the crew died in the explosion. Score:
Milk runs 13, Others 8 (Dick Johnson)
Rescue tug HMS Enigma launched.
Light cruiser HMS Swiftsure commissioned.
FRANCE: A two hour air raid begins the final battle for Cherbourg in which 1,000 tons of bombs are dropped. The divisions of VII Corps then attack and meet fierce resistance.Gnr Elmer Schauer of the 78th Battery, Canadian Army, showed particular Courage while in the OP (Observation Post) at Putot-en Bessin as a signaller. The OP was established in a slit trench on an exposed flank of the Company Area with the tank parked about 50 yards to the rear. The Company position came under heavy mortar and artillery fire during which time the enemy attacked and succeeded in infiltrating in and around the position. As the OP was in as exposed position, the enemy subjected it to heavy machine gun fire. Gnr. Schauer saw the predicament and on his own initiative climbed up on the tank and into the turret. With the help of Gnr's Braham and Toy brought down direct fire with the 75mm gun of the tank onto the enemy, succeeding in completely neutralizing the enemy fire from this sector. He then provided further covering fire for the OP Officer, who was able to direct artillery fire on other enemy troops.
For this action Gnr. Elmer Schauer was awarded the Croix-de-Guerre. (Daniel Ross)(Link)
Around 600 B-26 Marauders and A-20 Havocs and 1,200+ fighters of the USAAF's Ninth Air Force fly missions during the day; the main effort consists of an attack on the tip of the Cherbourg Peninsula in support of the US VII Corps assault on the port of Cherbourg; beginning one hour before the ground attack and continuing until the attack begins fighters and fighter-bombers pound the whole area south of the city from low level; as the ground assault begins, B-26s and A-20s strike a series of strongpoints selected by the US First Army, forming a 55-minute aerial barrage moving north in advance of ground forces; later in the day B-26s attack marshalling yards, fuel dumps and a German headquarters; fighter-bombers fly armed reconnaissance over various railroads and bomb rail facilities, trains, road traffic and gun emplacements; 25 fighter-bombers are lost during the day's operations.
GERMANY: U-1064 launched.
DENMARK: Saboteurs of the Danish Resistance wreck a rifle manufacturing plant in Copenhagen.
FINLAND: German Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop">Ribbentrop arrives in Finland to negotiate about military aid to be given Finns to keep them in the war. The Red Army renews its offensive west of Viipuri. Soviet forces try to cross the narrow straits just west of the center of the city but are repelled by Finnish artillery fire. Maj. Gen. Alonzo Sundman's 17th Division relieves Col. Kai Savonjousi's 10th Division west of Viipuri.
POLAND: Chelm: The USSR sets up a puppet "Polish Committee for National Liberation."
U.S.S.R.: The Red Army has chosen today, the third anniversary of the German invasion, to launch a massive assault on the Nazi forces occupying Byelorussia. It is called Operation Bagration, after the Czarist general who was mortally wounded fighting Napoleon at Boridino in 1812, and its object is nothing less than to destroy Hitler's Army Group Centre.
Last night, partisans blew up railway lines, bridges and telephone cables in 10,500 separate places, effectively severing the Germans' supply and communications lines. Then the huge weight of the Red Army crashed into the German defences. The Russians have assembled nearly 1.2 million men in 124 divisions, 5,200 tanks and assault guns, and 6,000 aircraft to smash a German force of 400,000 men supported by just 900 tanks and heavy guns and 1,300 aircraft.
German intelligence reports had given General von Busch, the commander of Army Group Centre, clear warning of the Russian buildup, but Hitler, relying on his "intuition", has been deceived by a Russian maskirova (disinformation) operation into believing that the Red Army was planning a double thrust in the south to the Romanian oilfields and Warsaw He was so sure that he had outguessed the Russians that he sent 48 infantry divisions and three Panzer divisions to Galicia, leaving von Busch's forces dangerously thin on the ground. The man and tanks he switched to the south have now been bypassed and are playing no part in the battle.
Hitler's mistake became apparent at 5am today when the Red Army opened up with its customary overwhelming barrage from guns which were virtually wheel to wheel along the front. When the barrage lifted, hordes of T-34tanks scurried towards the German defences, each followed by a tight group of infantry. Sturmoviks lurked overhead to pounce on strongpoints. The speed and punching power of the assault soon tore gaping holes in the attenuated German lines.
The Russians are racing west through these gaps, heading for Minsk. General Bagramyan's First Baltic Front has made a double breakthrough against General Reinhardt's 3rd Panzer Army to isolate Vitebsk, and some 30,000 Germans are in danger of being surrounded. As the hammer blows descend the whole German position in Byelorussia is under threat.
Poltava: The Luftwaffe made a devastating attack on this Ukrainian airfield last night, killing 26 crewmen of the US Eighth Army Air Force, and destroying 47 and severely damaging 26 Flying Fortresses, which have landed here after attacking a German synthetic oil plant. They had flown on to Poltava, one of three airfields made available by the Russians. But they had been shadowed by a German plane, and later 75 He-111s and Ju88s attacked. A fuel dump containing over two million litres of fuel exploded and the aircraft burst into flames.
Because of the attack on USAAF Eighth Air Force B-17s at Poltava, USSR, on yesterday's shuttle mission, the B-17s at Mirgorod and P-51s at Piryatin are moved farther east; they are to be returned to Mirgorod and Piryatin to be dispatched to bases in Italy as soon as the weather permits; the move is fortunate as German bombers strike both Piryatin and Mirgorod during the night of 22/23 June.
ITALY: Following 5 consecutive days of bad weather, the USAAF's Fifteenth Air Force in Italy dispatches 600+ B-17s and B-24s to bomb targets in northern Italy; B-17s hit marshalling yards at Fornova di Taro, Modena and Parma; B-24s hit six marshalling yards and two bridges in Italy, an automobile factory at Turin and an automobile depot at Chivasso; fighters fly 250+ sorties in support of the missions.
INDIA: The siege of Imphal is raised as advance units of
the British 2nd Indian Division link with the British 5th Indian Division at mile 107 of
the Imphal-Kohima road.
The Japanese Fifteenth Army which invaded India in Operation U-Go has
failed. Of the 100,000 Japanese who marched from Burma, 30,502 are dead and
23,003 wounded, at a total loss to the Allies of 2,700 killed and 10,000
wounded.
Imphal was under siege for three months. General Renya Mutaguchi sent three divisions of the Fifteenth Army against the Allies: the 33rd drove north from Tiddim, and the 15th and 31st attacked the Allied bases at Imphal and Kohima from the east. Against this the Allies mustered four Indian divisions under Lt-Gen Geoffrey Scoones. The 17th and 20th held the Imphal perimeter, and the 5th and 23rd hunted out the overstretched Japanese on the Imphal plain, hammering them against Imphal's anvil.
Allied control of the Imphal plain and the skies above it was backed by secure communications. Imphal has been supplied by air since April. Mutaguchi, however, refused to admit defeat at Imphal or Kohima, ignoring the realities of the field.
Lt-Gen Kotoku Sato withdrew his 31st Division from Kohima on 3 June with no prospect of supply, it ran out of ammunition and food rations; he had refused Mutaguchi's demand to regroup and attack Imphal without even finding food. Sato's withdrawal freed two more Allied divisions for Imphal.
Mutaguchi has been ordering the 15th Division to mount ever more ambitious operations, simultaneously stripping its commander Lt-Gen Masafumi Yamauchi, of manpower until today he commands a mere battalion and a half. No wonder Yamauchi has spent much of his time writing despairing haiku poetry.
The fighting has been close and bloody, with the besieging Japanese crawling over their dead to reach the trenches surrounding Imphal. Outside, the battle swayed to and fro, the highest casualties on both sides suffered on the Ukhrul road and the Shenam Saddle. Conditions are appalling: heavy rain, mist and thick jungle have made transport and observations difficult. The Imphal to Kohima road itself is a single track overlooked by high ridges from which the Japanese launched a series of deadly attacks and stubborn defences.
The turning-point in the battle came on 17 June, when the Japanese abandoned Mao Songsan ridge, the first time that they had given up a position without a fight in the entire campaign.
NEW GUINEA: The fighting for the island of Biak Guinea is essentially finished after the US attacks today.
MARIANAS ISLANDS, SAIPAN: The 2nd Marines take Mount Tipo Pale and move on to Mount Tapotchau. The 4th Marines are fighting east on the Kagman Peninsula.
USS NATOMA BAY launches 25 P-47 Thunderbolts for delivery to Saipan.
CANADA: Frigate
HMCS Prestonian launched Lauzon, Province
of Quebec.
Minesweeper HMS Seabear commissioned.
U.S.A.: Washington: US President Roosevelt">Roosevelt signs the "GI Bill". This will give a range of various benefits to returning veterans. Education and home loans are among the benefits included.
CINCPAC COMMUNIQUÉ NO. 59, 1. During the attack by enemy carrier-type aircraft on our ships on June 18 (West Longitude Date), 353 enemy aircraft were shot down of which 335 were destroyed by our carrier aircraft and 18 by our own antiaircraft fire. This is a revision of the estimate contained in communiqué No. 56.
Two of our carriers and one of our battleships received superficial damage. We lost 21 aircraft in combat.
2. The following information is now available concerning the attack of our carrier aircraft upon units of the Japanese fleet in the late afternoon of June 19 (West Longitude Date).
The enemy forces attacked consisted of: Four or more battleships, five or six carriers, five fleet tankers, and attached cruisers and destroyers.
On the basis of information presently available, our planes inflicted the following damage One carrier, believed to be the Zuikaku, received three 1,000-pound bomb hits. One Hayataka Class carrier was sunk. One Hayataka Class carrier was severely damaged and left burning furiously. One light carrier of the Zuiho or Taiho Class received at least one bomb hit. One Kongo Class battleship was damaged. One cruiser was damaged. Three destroyers were damaged, one of which is believed to have sunk. Three tankers were sunk. Two tankers were severely damaged and left burning. Fifteen to 20 defending aircraft were shot down.
Our losses were 49 aircraft, including many which landed in the water at night and from which an as yet undetermined number of pilots and aircrewmen have been rescued. Search for others is continuing.
3. The engagement was broken off by the Japanese fleet which fled during the night toward the channel between Formosa and Luzon The Pacific Fleet units in these two actions were commanded by Admiral R. A: Spruance. The carrier task force was under the immediate tactical command of Vice Admiral M. A. Mitscher.
CINCPAC COMMUNIQUÉ NO. 60, Our troops on Saipan Island have made further advances of more than a mile along the shoreline of Magicienne Bay to the town of Laulau and have advanced about a mile up Mount Tapotchau. The pocket of enemy resistance tat Nafutan Point has been reduced by one half, and our forces have gained the heights of Mount Nafutan on the east coast. Heavy pressure is being maintained night and day against enemy troop concentrations and defence works by our aircraft, Army and Marine artillery, and Naval gunfire.
At night on June 20 (West Longitude Date) several enemy aircraft dropped bombs near our transports and along shore but did no damage.
Sporadic fire has been directed against our ships by shore batteries but the enemy emplacements have been quickly knocked out.
JUNE 22, 1944 STATEMENT BY SECRETARY OF THE NAVY JAMES FORRESTAL
"Under the circumstances our Fleet did a magnificent job, but the Navy is not going to be satisfied until the Japanese Fleet is wiped out.
"The Japanese were extremely cautious and never came very far to the eastward so that the bulk of our forces could engage them. As a result, we were able to send home but one air attack at very long range from our carriers just before dark.
"Some of the Japanese vessels which were damaged may be able to make port and eventually return to the fight. This is especially true of the war-ships, only one of which is reported as definitely sunk." (Denis Peck)
The first Boeing B-17G-80-B0, with the Cheyenne Turret, is delivered.
Destroyer USS Haynsworth commissioned.
Minesweepers USS Facility and Execute launched.