Air Operations, Asia

B-29 Superfortresses of the US XX Bomber Group carry out their first bombing mission against Bangkok.

Air Operations, Carolines

VII Bomber Command B-24s based at Eniwetok photograph and bomb Guam, then proceed to the Momote airfield on Los Negros.

Air Operations, CBI

• 9 10th Air Force B-25s attack Bhamo.
• 4 B-25s attack a bridge at Ledan Chaung.
• 50 fighter-bombers attack the Myitkyina area.
• More than 20 fighter-bombers attack Loilaw, Mogaung, Namti, and Tagwin.
• 18 308th Heavy Bomb Group B-24s and 12 14th Air Force B-24s attack Lashio.
• 7 308th Heavy Bomb Group B-24s attack barracks and warehouses at Namhkam.

• 29 14th Air Force P-40s attack oil barges near Yuankiang.
• 12 P-40s support Chinese Army ground troops on the Salween River front.
• 8 P-40s attack tanks at Taying.

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

• 77 of 98 58th Very Heavy Bomb Wing B-29s dispatched from bases in the Karachi area mount the first B-29 attack of the war against rail targets at Bangkok between 1052 and 1232 hours. Due to heavy undercast, 48 B-29s employ radar guidance to drop their bombs. 5 B-29s are lost in operational accidents in which 15 crewmen are killed or missing.

Air Operations, Europe

• In preparation for D-Day, Allied Air Forces have flown 200,000 sorties delivering 200,000 tons of bombs in only 2 months. 200 planes have been lost. The French railway system is virtually immobilized. All the bridges over the Seine River between Paris and the Channel have been destroyed. The final strike is a saturation bombing of 10 coastal batteries by 1,136 RAF heavy bombers during the night dropping 5,267 tons of bombs.
• In Operation TAXABLE 5 RAF Bomber Command squadrons and 18 naval vessels carry out diversionary operations in the Pas de Calais area.

• 1,012 aircraft are sent to bomb coastal batteries at Fontenay, Houlgate, La Pernelle, Longues, Maisy, Merville, Mont Fleury, Pointe du Hoc, Ouisterham and St Martin de Varreville. Included in this total are 551 Lancasters, 412 Halifaxes and 49 Mosquitos.
• 946 aircraft carry out their bombing tasks. Only two of the targets, La Pernelle and Ouisterham, are free of clouds and all the other bombing is entirely based upon Oboe marking. At least 5,000 tons of bombs are dropped, the greatest tonnage on one night thus far in the war.
• 2 Halifaxes of No. 4 Group on the Mont Fleury raid and 1 Lancaster of No. 6 Group on the Longues raid are lost.
• 110 aircraft of Nos. 1 and 100 Groups carry out extensive bomber-support operations: 24 'Airborne Cigar' (ABC)-equipped Lancasters of No. 101 Squadron patrol all likely night-fighter approaches, so that their German-speaking operators can jam the German controllers' instructions; No. 100 Group flies 34 RCM sorties and 27 Serrate and 25 Intruder Mosquito patrols.
• 2 Intruders and 1 ABC Lancaster are lost.
• 58 aircraft of Nos. 3 and 5 Groups carry out a variety of operations to conceal the true location of the invasion for as long as possible. 16 Lancasters of No. 617 Squadron and 6 G-H fitted Stirlings of No. 218 Squadron drop a dense screen of Window, which advances slowly across the Channel, to simulate a large convoy of ships approaching the French coast between Boulogne and Le Havre, north of the real invasion coast. These flights require exact navigation; both squadrons had been practising for this operation for more than a month. The second diversion is carried out by 36 Halifaxes and Stirlings of Nos. 90, 138, 149 and 161 Squadrons. These aircraft drop dummy parachutists and explosive devices to simulate airborne landings over areas not being invaded.
• 2 Stirlings of No. 149 Squadron were lost while carrying these operations.
• 31 Mosquitos bomb Osnabrück without a loss.

Air Operations, New Guinea

• At 0115 hours, 4 Japanese Navy torpedo bombers attack the US-Australian surface battle force east of Biak Island, but no hits are scored.
• V Bomber Command B-24s attack targets near the airfield at Sorido.
• B-24s based at the Nadzab airfield undertake fruitless missions against a Japanese Navy convoy rumored to be in the western New Guinea area.
• V Fighter Command P-39s and RAAF aircraft attack the Wewak area.
• Throughout the night, Japanese aircraft mount harrassment raids against the airfield at Wakde, where several USAAF and RAAF aircraft are destroyed on the ground and many others are damaged.

Burma-China-India

20,000 men of the Chinese 71st Army have now crossed the Salweeen River.

On the Indian front, in the XXXIII Corps sector, the battle of Kohima ends in an Allied victory; the British 2nd Div finishes off the Japanese resistance on the Aradura Spur, south of Kohima, but the road from here to Imphal has still to be reopened. From the south, from Imphal, the 20th Indian Div and the remaining divisions of the IV Corps are still moving north.

Italy

The Allied forces make their triumphal entry into Rome, who are given a rapturous welcome by the population, and then push on beyond in pursuit of the retreating Germans. There are problems of traffic congestion on the few good roads which prevent the Allied forces using their full strength. As usual the German retreat is accompanied by skillful rearguard actions and demolitions. The German 14th Army is now being commanded by Gen Joachim Lemelsen. Alexander orders the US 5th and British 8th armies to advance to the Rimini-Pisa Line.

King Victor Emmanuel III, in accordance with his undertaking, leaves his kingdom in the hands of his son, Umberto of Savoy, who is desigated 'Lt-Gen of the Realm'.

New Guinea

Gen Walter Krueger, commander of the US 6th Army, urges the invasion force on Biak to capture the airfields quickly, since the Japanese are still able to use them for attacks against the American beachheads at Hollandia and Aitape. On Biak the 162nd Regt and 186th Regt both continue to advance breaking down pockets of Japanese resistance. The 186th Inf advances as far as the biggest hill on the island, northeast of Mokmer airfield. In the Ibdi area the 162nd Inf succeeds in wiping out the Japanese on the track leading to the interior of the island and making contact with the 186th Regt, but although naval ships give supporting fire the Japanese resistance is unbroken.

Near Aitape the Americans are forced to evacuate one of their outlying beachheads in the Yakamul area because of the Japanese attacks. Other units are sent inland from Aitape so as to get behind the Japanese advancing from the east and take them from the rear. The beachhead cannot be considered secure, but the Japanese are paying dearly for any progress they succeed in making.

Operation OVERLORD

The German 15th Army's radio monitor intercepts the second half of Verlaine's verse, the second part ot the message to the Resistance, which according to Canaris is to be given not more than 48 hours before the invasion: 'Blessent mon ca'ur | D'une langeur | Monotone.' ('Wound my heart with a monotonous langor'). The 15th Army - but still only the 15th - is put on a state of maximum alert.

Just after 10:00p.m. the paratroopers and glider-borne infantry take off. A little after midnight the sky over Normandy, bright as day with the flares, is filled with the rumble of aircraft and of German anti-aircraft guns, as Allied night bombers open the assault. The main mission of the airborne troops is to seize vital ground behind the German forces on both flanks of the Normandy invasion front and block German reinforcements from reaching the beachhead.

A vast fleet approaches the French coast. 2,727 ships of every kind including merchant ships, cross-Channel steamers, hospital ships, small Transatlantic liners, tugs, and tankers, carry or tow more than 2,500 landing craft. They are escorted by over 700 warships including 23 cruisers, 5 battleships - the British Ramillies and Warspite and the American Texas (BB-35), Arkansas (BB-33) and Nevada (BB-36), back in action after being sunk in the shallow waters of Pearl Harbor - and 104 destroyers. To oppose this armada, the equal of which has never been seen on the seas, the Germans have a total of 3 destroyers, 36 motor torpedo-boats and 34 submarines. The US minesweeper Osprey (AM-56) sinks when it hits a mine.

There are 21 American convoys and 38 British and Canadian. Sailing from almost the entire south coast of England, they carry men and equipment for the first wave of the invasion on the Normandy coasts. The Americans are heading for the beaches code-named 'Utah', at the base of the Cotentin peninsula, and 'Omaha', between Vierville sur mer and Ste Honorine. The British and Canadians are heading for 'Gold' and 'Juno', between Arromanches and St Aubin, and 'Sword', between Lion and the mouth of the Orne.

Images from June 5, 1944

Paratroops of 6th Airborne Division Blackening Their Faces in Front of an Albemarle Aircraft at RAF Harwell, 5 June 1944

Dwight D. Eisenhower speaks with US Army paratroopers of the 101st Airborne Division at Greenham Common Airfield in England on June 5, 1944

Eisenhower Speaks to the Troops

Paratroops of 22 Independent Parachute Company, British 6th Airborne Division, waiting to board the Armstrong Whitworth Albemarle Mk V that will drop them over Normandy, RAF Harwell, 5 June 1944.

Paratroops Waiting to Board

A Convoy of LCTs Carrying Troops and Vehicles of 13th/18th Royal Hussars to Normandy, 5 June 1944. View from LCT-610.

US LCIs underway across the channel on the evening of June 5 1944

Weymouth, Dorset. 1-5 June 1944. American troops being ferried to larger ships in preparation for the allied invasion of Normandy.

Americans Being Ferried to Larger Ships

Short Stirlings of Nos. 196 and 299 Squadrons RAF lining the runway at RAF Keevil on the evening of 5 June 1944 before emplaning paratroops of the 5th Parachute Brigade Group for the invasion of Normandy

Aircraft Lining the Runway at RAF Keevil

Four 'stick' commanders of 22nd Independent Parachute Company, 6th Airborne Division, synchronising their watches in front of an Armstrong Whitworth Albemarle at about 11 pm on 5 June 1944, just prior to take off from RAF Harwell in Oxfordshire. They were among the first troops to land in France.

Commanders Synchronising Their Watches

Paratroopers of the 508th PIR, 82nd Airborne Division, adjust their parachutes prior to their jump behind enemy lines near Utah Beach - 5 June 1944

Adjusting Parachutes

Glider pilots of 6th Airborne Division and RAF crews are briefed at RAF Harwell for the D Day invasion, 5 June 1944.

Glider Pilots and Crews Briefing

Lieutenant Harrie W. James, USNR, of New York, N.Y., briefs officers and men who participated in landing operations during the invasion of Southern France June 5, 1944 on the day before D-Day. (AP Photo)

Briefing Officers and Men

105mm Howitzer Set Up in Rome Outskirts, 5 June 1944