Air Operations, Carolines

• V Bomber Command B-24s based at Nadzab pass through Hollandia on their way to attack the Palau Islands.
• During the night, VII Bomber Command B-24s attack the Truk Atoll.

Air Operations, CBI

• 7th Heavy Bomb Group B-24s sow mines off Mergui.
• 9 10th Air Force B-25s attack the Imphal-Tiddim road.
• A small number of P-51s and A-36s attack Japanese Army ground forces in the Mogaung Valley.

• 19 14th Air Force P-40s attack Ichang and Shasi, and strafe Japanese Army cavalry at Nanying.
• 4 P-51s attack rail traffic between Chengting and Singtai.

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

• 7th Heavy Bomb Group B-24s sow mines off Bangkok.

Air Operations, Europe

• 483 aircraft attack railways at Alençon, Fougères, Mayenne, Pontabault and Rennes to prevent German reinforcements from the south reaching Normandy. All of the raids appear to have been successful.
• 2 Lancasters from the Pontabault raid and 1 Lancaster and 1 Mosquito from the Rennes raid are lost.
• The first 12,000lb Tallboy bombs developed by Barnes Wallis are used on this night by No. 617 Squadron in a raid on a railway tunnel near Saumur, 125 miles south of the battle area. The raid is prepared in great haste because a German Panzer unit is expected to move by train through the tunnel. The target area is illuminated with flares by 4 Lancasters of No. 83 Squadron and marked at low level by 3 Mosquitos. 25 Lancasters of No. 617 Squadron then drop their Tallboys with great accuracy. The huge bombs explode under the ground to create miniature 'earthquakes'. One bomb actually pierces the roof of the tunnel and brings down a huge quantity of rock and soil. The tunnel is blocked for a considerable period and the Panzer unit is badly delayed.
• No aircraft are lost on this raid.

The huge, distinctive blast-holes caused by Tallboys. The tunnel entance can be seen on the right, and the tracks outside have been ripped apart in the attck by No 617 Squadron.

Tallboy Blast-holes

Air Operations, New Guinea

• V Bomber Command B-24s, B-25s, and A-20s attack Manokwari, Efman Island, targets in the Schouten Islands, and artillery positions at Kamiri.
• A-20s attack the Wewak area.
• V Fighter Command P-40s attack occupied villages and supply dumps in the Sarmi area.
• Beginning at 1245 hours, 10 17th Reconnaissance Squadron B-25s based at Lake Sentani and escorted by 475th Fighter Group P-38s locate and attack a Japanese supply convoy on its way to Biak Island. 1 of 6 destroyer-transports is sunk and 3 are damaged. During the air attack, 3 B-25s are lost with their crews and most of the other airplanes are damaged. The remaining B-25s are so badly damaged that the 17th Reconnaissance Squadron must be withdrawn to Finschafen to draw new equipment and retrain.
• The convoy continues on toward Biak, but when a G4M 'Betty' search plane finds at 1440 hours that a USN-RAN surface battle force is poised to intercept, the 5 remaining destroyer-transports withdraw. At about 2200 hours, a VB-115 PB4Y relocates the Japanese convoy and is thus instrumental in an interception by US destroyers that results in the sinking of another destroyer-transport by gunfire.
• 475th Fighter Group P-38s down 3 Japanese fighters over the Japanese convoy between 1335 and 1345 hours.

Atlantic

Mines are responsible for sinking two US ships in the Normandy area: the destroyer escort Rich (DE-695) and LST-499.

Burma-China

On the Salween front the Chinese 88th Div achieves a limited penetration into the defenses of Lungling. The Chinese 87th Div reaches the north gate of the town and cuts the Japanese supply route between Lungling and Tengchung.

Eastern Front

As a prelude to the big summer offensive the Russian 23rd and 21st Armies of the Leningrad Front of Govorov, after a three-hour-long artillery preparation, attack the Finnish positions in the Mannerheim line in the isthmus of Karelia, between Lake Ladoga to the east and the Gulf of Finland to the west. Russian diplomacy has tried to get Finland out of the war with a negotiated peace, but the conditions demanded by Moscow have so far been unacceptable to the Finns.

English Channel

The British netlayer Minister is sunk by a mine in Seine Bay with the loss of 57 of her crew.

Italy

The advance of the US VI Corps is slowed down south of Tarquinia by German resistance. The US II Corps comes within 6 miles of Viterbo. In the British sector the British V Corps, manning the Adriatic coast, continues its march north as the German troops retire. In the center of the Allied line the South African 6th Arm Div makes rapid progress in the direction of Orvieto.

The British 6th Arm Div is halted at Corese Pass, west of Monte Maggiore.

Badoglio and his government arrive in Rome.

New Guinea

The islets south of Biak have all been occupied by the Americans, and today a motor torpedo-boad base on one of them is activated. On Biak the US 186th Inv consolidates its positions in the Mokmer airfield area. The US 162nd Inf Regt, whose forces are spread out between the east coast and the west coast of the island, runs into strong opposition by the enemy in the area of the 'eastern caves', the fortifications in caves east of Mokmer airfied. In the area of the Parai Defile the Japanese put up a strong resistance to the combined forces of the US 163rd, 186th and 162nd Regts. From Parai advance guards of the 162nd Regt reach the outskirts of the village of Mokmer, near the airfield.

Near the Aitape beachhead the Americans go over to the counterattack and succeed in getting within a mile of the river Tirfoam, from which they had been forced to retire. During the night an Allied naval squadron commanded by the British Rear-Adm Crutchley intercepts 5 Japanese destroyers off the Schouten Islands, the group to which Biak belongs, carrying reinforcements and supplies for the Biak garrison, and puts them to flight. Another destroyer has been sunk by an American bomber the previous day.

Occupied France

The 2nd SS Das Reich Panzer Div men hang 99 hostages in Tulle, France.

Pacific

• The Japanese destroyer Harusame is sunk in the Biak area of New Guinea by US Army aircraft.
• The US submarine Hake (SS-256) sinks the Japanese destroyer Kazagumo near Mindanao, Philippine Islands.

Western Front

With the capture of Port-en-Bessin by British Marines the link between Omaha, the American 1st Army, and Gold, the British 2nd Army, is complete. Units of the 82nd Airborne Div of the US VII Corps and the US 4th Div begin to advance toward Cherbourg. Efforts by the 22nd Regt, of the 4th Div, to cross the line of fortifications from Azeville to Crisbecq are fruitless. Along the bank of the Merderet River the 82nd Airborne Div is severely engaged with the German 243rd Div. On the southern flank of the VII Corps sector the 101st Airborne Div begins the battle for Carentan, trying to link up with the American V Corps as quickly as possible. The V Corps reaches the target set for it on Day 1 and the following night, Isigny, in complete calm; its 115th Regt pushes on south of the Aure River passing across Longueville. In the sector where the 1st Div is operating the 26th Regt, trying to trap the enemy between the American and British beachheads, takes Tour-en-Bessin and, during the night, Ste Anne. The 16th Regt tries to cut off the Germans retreating from Port-en-Bessin, but they manage to keep a corridor open and during the night they get most of their forces away. In the British XXX Corps sector, the 47th Regt Royal Marine Marines enters Port-en-Bessin in the early hours of the morning.

Images from June 8, 1944

A group of paratroopers in a French village at St. Marcouf, Utah Beach, France. From here they will move on into the continent, accomplishing their assigned objectives. 8 June 1944. (Photo by Werner. SC 189921-S)

US Paratroopers in a French Village

Men of 1st Duke of Wellington's Regiment March into Rome, 8 June 1944

Canadian soldiers who were wounded in the Normandy beachhead being carried off a Landing Ship Tank (LST), Southampton, England, 8 June 1944

Wounded Canadian Soldiers Being Evacuated

General Sir Bernard Montgomery passes German POWs while being driven along a road in a jeep, shortly after arriving in Normandy, 8 June 1944.

Montgomery Passes German POWs

Jeeps landing at Omaha Beach from a Landing Craft Tank, 8 June 1944

Jeeps Landing at Omaha Beach from a Landing Craft Tank, 8 June 1944

Rangers on Pointe du Hoc, 8 June 1944. The American flag was used to identify the position, preventing incoming Allied fire.

Rangers on Pointe du Hoc

American paratrooper, among the first to make successful landings on the continent, holds a Nazi flag captured in a village assault, Utah Beach, St. Marcouf, France, 8 June 1944

Holding a Captured Nazi Flag

Utah Beach, 8 June 1944

German POWs Sharing a Meal on Omaha Beach While They Wait for Transport to England, 8 June 1944

Marines of 46 Commando RM Advancing through La Delivrande from Sword Beach to Caen, 8 June 1944

A view looking down from the church as a pair of Sherman Firefly tanks pass through Douvres-la Delivrande, 8 June 1944.

Looking Down from a Church

A Universal Carrier crosses Bénouville Bridge on the 8th June, heading away from the 6th Airborne Division's area.

Universal Carrier Crosses Bénouville Bridge

M5 HST (high-speed tractor) pulling two M10 ammunition trailers, Biak Island, New Guinea, 8 June 1944.

Tractor Pulling Ammo Trailers

Utah Beach, 8 June 1944

General Montgomery Sets Foot on the Beach, after Coming Ashore in a DUKW, 8 June 1944

Men of 46 (RM) Commando, 4th Special Service Brigade, entering the village of Douvres-la-Delivrande, 8 June 1944, watched by French civilians.

Commandos Entering Douvres-la-Delivrande