Air Operations, Carolines
Air Operations, CBIBURMA
Air Operations, EuropeRAF BOMBER COMMANDEvening Ops:
Air Operations, New Guinea
Burma-IndiaChinese forces launch a major offensive aimed at retaking northern Burma. On the Salween River front, Force Y, the Yunnan Force consisting of the Chinese 116th and 190th Divs with American stiffening, begins to cross the river at Mengta Ferry. On the Indian front the British IV Corps re-groups. The 23rd Indian Div is given the task of manning the Palel-Tamu road, the 20th Indian Div moves toward Ukhrul in 2 columns. [ | ]Eastern FrontThe German High Command announces: 'The ruins of Sevastopol were evacuated in the course of a disengaging move.' SOUTHERN SECTORSoviet forces launch a ferocious attack upon the Khersonnes Peninsula but are repulsed. As fighting rages on the cliff tops, 15,000 soldiers are evacuated by sea. [ | ]ItalyAllied military commanders at Caserta put the finishing touches to the plan for the next day's offensive at Cassino. The operation is based on breaking through the enemy front on the right wing of the German 10th Army so as to be able to reach the Via Casilina. The Allies are deploying the US 5th Army on the left, with the American II Corps in the south and French Expeditionary Corps further north covering the Tyrrhenian coast sector at the confluence of the Liri and Gari Rivers. The US 36th Div is in reserve. On the right of the Allied line there are deployed, from south to north, the British XIII Corps, with the Canadian I Corps further to the rear, the Polish II Corps, the British X Corps and lastly, on the Adriatic coast, the British V Corps. A total of 16 Allied divisions are drawn up on the Cassino front opposite 7 German divisions. Kesselring has completed the construction of a series of defensive positions along the Italian peninsula. Behind the 'Gustav' Line they include the 'Hitler' Line, later re-named the 'Senger Bold', the 'Caesar' Line, protecting Rome, and finally the 'Gothic' Line, the final defense to hold up the Allied advance to Florence. [ | ]MarshallsA US naval base is opened on Eniwetok. [ | ]New GuineaAfter bombing, carried out by Australian aircraft, the American units at Nyaparake advance on the village of Marubian and take it without opposition. [ | ]Occupied FranceThe Free French announce there are 175,000 resistance fighters in France. [ | ]PacificThe Japanese destroyer Karukaya is sunk by the US submarine Cod (SS-224) in the Philippine Islands area. [ | ]United States, Politics(19th?) James V. Forrestal becomes Secretary to the US Navy. He has been under-secretary since June 1940 under James Knox. Forrestal will prove himself a tough and capable naval administrator, and even experience combat by landing under fire on Iwo Jima when visiting US forces in April 1945. [ | ]Images from May 10, 1944
|
||||||
[May 9th - May 11th] |