Air Operations, Carolines

5th Heavy Bomb Group B-24s are weathered in at Momote airfield on Los Negros, but 15 307th Heavy Bomb Group B-24s are able to attack the Truk Atoll, as planned.

Air Operations, CBI

• 12 7th Heavy Bomb Group B-24s are unable to locate their primary target at Yenangyaung, but they do attack secondary targets in the area.

• More than 80 14th Air Force P-51s and P-40s attack numerous sampans on Tungting Lake and Japanese Army ground troops and motor vehicles at Chungyang and Tengchung.
• 3rd CACW Fighter Group P-40s down 7 Japanese fighters over and near Chenghsien in an early-morning engagement.

• 10th Air Force B-25s airlift ammunition to Imphal.

Air Operations, Europe

The first 'shuttle' raid by 130 B-17s of the 15th Air Force takes place as Operation FRANTIC. Italian-based bombers attack the Debrecen railway yard in Hungary, then fly on to the Ukraine escorted by Marauders and Yak fighters. The 8th Air Force attacks V-1 sites in Pas de Calais. RAF Typhoons attack the Dieppe-Caudecote radar statsion.

• 128 aircraft attack the railway yards at Trappes. Included in this total are 105 Halifaxes, 19 Lancasters and 4 Mosquitos of Nos. 1, 4 and 8 Groups. Most of the bombs fall on the eastern half of the target area.
• 15 Halifaxes and 1 Lancaster are lost.
• 103 Lancasters and 4 Mosquitos of Nos. 1 and 8 Groups attack a radar-jamming station at Berneval with great accuracy and without a loss.
• 271 aircraft including 136 Lancasters, 119 Halifaxes, and 16 Mosquitos, attack 4 coastal gun positions. In only 1 area is the bombing accurate, but not a concern because this is part of the invasion deception plan. All of the targets are in the Pas de Calais, not in the Normandy area.

• 23 Mosquitos are sent to Leverkusen, 4 to Laval and 3 to Lison, 53 aircraft lay mines from Dunkirk to Brest, 36 aircraft are on Resistance operations, and there are 9 Serrate and 6 Intruder patrols and 16 RCM and 11 OTU sorties. 1 Stirling is lost on a Resistance operation.

Air Operations, New Guinea

• V Bomber Command B-24s attack the Mokmer airfield on Biak.
• 17th Reconnaissance Squadron B-25s and 3rd Light Bomb Group A-20s attack targets of opportunity on Biak Island.
• B-24s and B-25s attack bivouacs near Sawar and the Wiske River, and roads along the Orai River.
• B-25s attack the Kaukenau and Timoeka areas.
• B-24s, V Fighter Command P-39s, and RAAF aircraft attack the Wewak area.
• At 1640 hours, a large formation of Japanese Navy aircraft based at Sorong attack 8 US Navy LSTs off Biak Island. There are no USAAF fighters in the area due to bad weather over their bases, so the Japanese are able to strafe the LSTs. The attacks continue in piecemeal fashion for 65 minutes, but intense antiaircraft fire from the LSTs and shore batteries down 12 of an estimated 54 attackers, and very little damage is sustained by the LSTs.

Allied Planning

The British and American Chiefs of Staff reach a compromise agreement on the strategy to be followed in Southeast Asia. The airlift between India and China is to be further strengthened so as to play a part in the Pacific operations as well as in China. Land operations are to be undertaken and maintained to the extent that they can help to increase the volume of supplies from India to China; to the end the capture of Myitkyina area in northern Burma and the reopening of the land route from India to Burma, including the construction of an oil pipeline into China, are of the first importance.

Britain, Home Front

The Cambridgeshire railway station is wrecked by an explosion on a munitions train.

Burma

The final siege of Myitkyina begins. The Chinese dig tunnels to get inside the enemy lines. On the Salween River front the Chinese 36th Div captures the village of Kaitou and surrounds Chiaotou, in the valley of the Shweli. On the Arakan front the Indian divisions have re-established contact and resumed the initiative against the Japanese, advancing towards Akyab. On the Indian front, where there is bloody fighting around Imphal, the British-Indian forces can now call on 100,000 effectives. The 7th Indian Div brought back from the Arakan, succeeds in breaking through the lines of the Japanese 31st Div north of Kohima. The Japanese begin to withdraw slowly.

China

Japanese units win all their objectives in Honan Province and halt offensive action.

France, Politics

The French Committee of National Liberation restyles itself the Provisional Government of the French Republic.

Italy

As Kesselring's forces gradually pull back the Allies are able to advance all along the front. The US forces reach Route 6 at Valmontone, which they take, and also in other sectors. They also make good progress in the Alban Hills.

In the US II Corps sector, units of the 85th Div capture Maschio d'Ariano, Monte Fiore and Monte Ceraso, pushing on as far as Highway 6, though this is 'cut' beyond San Cesareo by troops of the 88th Div. The 7th and 30th Regts of the US 3rd Div continue to advance in the Palestrina and Valmontone areas - the latter recently abandoned by the Germans.

Alexander calls on the people of Rome to save the Eternal City from destruction.

New Guinea

The fighting on Biak continues. The US 186th Inf Regt is doing the bulk of the attacking supported by the 162nd. The objective is to reach and capture the airfields in the center of the island plateau. These airfields have been used as the base for attacks on Wadke. The battalion of the US 162nd Inf that has succeeded in joining up with the 186th Regt is integrated in the latter. In the coastal sector the other battalions of the 162nd block a track that leads to the interior and force the Japanese out of one of their positions.

Operation OVERLORD

After receiving the first part of what is believed to be a coded message to alert the Resistance of imminent invasion, the German 15th Army is alerted. By an ommission due to a misunderstanding between the Army Supreme Command, Jodl, Western General Headquarters, von Rundstedt, and the headquarters of Army Group B, Rommel, the 7th Army, which guards the Normandy coast, never gets the warning.

In England, from a caravan in a wood near Portsmouth, Gen Eisenhower issues orders for the invasion. The has under him 3 million men - 1,700,000 Americans, 1,000,000 British and Canadians and 300,000 Free French, Poles, Belgians, Dutch, Norwegians and Czechs.

Pacific

The Japanese frigate Awaji is sunk by the US submarine Guitarro (SS-363) off Formosa.

Images from June 2, 1944

A line-up of German and Italian AFVs during a display of captured enemy equipment, 2 June 1944. In the foreground can be seen StuG IV and Stug III assault guns with two Marder tank destroyers behind. In the background two Italian Semovente SP guns can be seen

Captured Enemy Equipment

A Sherman BARV and Sherman tanks of 13th/18th Royal Hussars during the regiment's move from Petworth to Gosport, 2 June 1944

Armor of the 13th/18th Royal Hussars

First 'Shuttle' Mission to the USSR

The first 'shuttle' mission to the USSR was flown on 2 June 1944 by the Fifteenth Air Force with 130 B-17s and a Mustang escort. The target was the marshalling yards at Debrecen, and, after bombing, the Fortresses continued on to land at Poltava and Mirgorod in the Ukraine. Russian officers were present at Poltava as the 97th Bomb Group's contingent landed. The B-17G about to touch down is 2102918, Idiot's Delight, of the 342nd Bomb Squadron. It fell to flak at Munich on 19 July 1944. (USAAF)

Troops of US 3rd Division Entering Valmontane, Italy, 2 June 1944

After an Allied bombing of Hungary on June 2, 1944, the damaged railroad station of Kolozsvar (Cluj)

Damaged Railroad Station

General Leese and other officers ride on a captured German PzKpfw V Panther tank during a display of enemy equipment, 2 June 1944

Displaying Enemy Equipment