Air Operations, Carolines

• VII Bomber Command B-24s attack the Truk Atoll.
• XIII Bomber Command B-24s attack the Truk Atoll and shipping in the Palau Islands.

Air Operations, CBI

• 11 14th Air Force fighter-bombers attack Japanese Army cavalry, barracks, and river traffic at Hengshan and Siangtan.

• 34 10th Air Force B-24s airlift ammunition to Imphal.

Air Operations, Europe

• The US 8th Air Force makes its first 'shuttle raid' between Britain and bases in Russia, bombing oil refineries in Ruhland, south of Berlin.
• In a massive raid on Berlin 1,000 Allied bombers, escorted by 1,200 fighters, inflict heavy damage on the German capital and nearby areas.
• In Britain RAF fighters are beginning to have more success against the flying bombs and bombing has knocked out some of the launching ramps in France. The fighter pilots locate, chase and destroy the rockets in mid-flight. The target can only fly in a straight line so presents an easy, but fast, target.

• 322 aircraft of Nos. 3, 6 and 8 Groups attack 3 flying-bomb sites. In this total are 165 Halifaxes, 142 Lancasters and 15 Mosquitos. Because of cloud, 2 of the raids are abandoned after only 17 aircraft have bombed. The third target, at St Martin l'Hortier, is bombed throught 10/10ths cloud. There are no losses.

• 133 Lancasters and 6 Mosquitos attack the synthetic oil plant at Wesseling. All the aircraft are from No. 5 Group except for 5 Lancasters from No. 1 Group. The weather forecast for the target area predicts clear conditions but the bombing force encounters 10/10ths low cloud. The planned No. 5 Group low-level marking method can not be used and the reserve method, in which the Lancasters bombed on H₂S, is used instead. German night fighters make contact with the bomber force and 37 Lancasters are lost, Nos. 44, 49 and 619 Squadrons each losing 6 aircraft. Post-raid reconnaissance shows that only slight damage is caused to the oil plant but a secret German report quoted in the British Official History records a 40 per cent production loss at Wesseling after this raid. It is possible that the loss was only of short duration.
• 123 Lancasters and 9 Mosquitos of Nos. 1, 5 and 8 Groups attack the synthetic oil plant at Scholven/Buer. The target is also cloud-covered and the No. 5 Group marking method can not be used, the Pathfinder aircraft present provides Oboe-based skymarking instead. Post-raid photographs appear to show no new damage but a German report indicates a 20 percent production loss.

• 32 Mosquitos are sent to Berlin, 13 Stirlings lay mines off Guernsey, St Malo and St Nazaire, 10 Halifaxes are on Resistance operations, and there are 41 Mosquito patrols.
• 1 Mosquito of No. 100 Group is lost.

Air Operations, Marianas

• Throughout the day, Task Force 58 undertakes a fruitless chase after the retiring Japanese Navy's 1st Mobile Fleet, then turns back toward Saipan at 2030 hours. Fighter sweeps mounted by Task Force 58.4 against Guam airfields are not opposed by Japanese aircraft, and even antiaircraft opposition is light.
• A VF-24 F6F downs a G4M 'Betty' bomber at sea at 0755 hours.
• 2 VF-28 F6Fs down an A6M Zero at sea 30 miles from Task Force 58 at 0815 hours.
• A VF-31 F6F downs a G4M 'Betty' bomber at sea 25 miles from the task force at 0950 hours.
• A VF-35 F6F downs a G4M 'Betty' bomber at sea at 1440 hours.

Air Operations, New Guinea

• V Bomber Command B-24s attack the Kamiri airfield on Noemfoor.
• B-25s attack occupied villages in the Maffin Bay area.
• A-20s attack targets of opportunity around Paniai Lake.
• V Fighter Command P-39s and RAAF aircraft attack dumps, bivouacs, and other targets in the Wewak area.

Eastern Front

Gen Alexei N. Krutikov's 7th Army begins a new phase of the Russian attacks against Finland. The advance is now against the Finnish VI Corps between Lake Ladoga and Lake Onega. The Russians also begin to occupy the islands off the Karelian Isthmus. This operation is complete in 3 or 4 days.

The Soviet Karelian Front begins its offensive on the Svir River, the 7th and 32nd Armies leading the assault. The Soviets immediatlely lance 10 miles into the Finnish positions.[MORE]

Italy

In the British 8th Army sector, advance guards of the Polish II Corps reach the Chienti River and manage to establish a bridgehead there, despite the enemy's prepared defenses. The South African 6th Arm Div captures the heights overlooking Chiusi but cannot get into the town. The 36th Div of the US IV Corps continues its slow advance along Highway 1 and comes within 8 miles of Grosseto.

Marianas

On Saipan, slight progress by the US 27th Div in the south towards Point Nafutan.

Mediterranean

British and Italian human torpedoes sink the cruiser Bolzano at La Spezia.

New Guinea

Although they attack with tanks and flame-throwers, the Americans are unable to make any progress in the area of the western caves on Biak Island.

In the area of the Sarmi beachhead the advance of the Americans to the west is halted by heavy and acurate enemy fire a little beyond the Tirfoam River. The units of the 6th Div are forced to retire behind the Snaky River.

Soviet Union, Strategy

The Red Army is ready to launch Operation BAGRATION: 2.5 million troops, 5,200 tanks, 31,000 artillery pieces, 2,300 Katyushas, 70,000 motoer vehicles and 5,300 aircraft will be involved in the attack. On the northern flank is the 1st Baltic Front (4th Shock, 6th anr 43rd Armies - 359,000 troops and 582 tanks and self-propelled guns, supported by 1,094 aircraft of the 3rd Air Army); to the south stands the 3rd Belorussian Front (5th, 5th Guards Tank, 11th Guards, 31st and 39th Armies - 579,000 troops and 1,500 tanks and self-propelled guns, supported by 1,991 aircraft of the 1st Air Army); in the center is the 2nd Belorussian Front (33rd, 49th and 50th Armies - 319,000 troops and 251 tanks ans self-propelled guns, supported by 593 aircraft of the 4th Air Army); to its south the 1st Belorussian Front (3rd, 28th, 48th, 61st and 65th Armies - front total of 1,071,000 troops and 896 tanks and self-propelled guns, supported by 2,033 aircraft of the 16th Air Army).

The 1st Baltic and 3rd Belorussian Fronts will annihilate the flanks of the 3rd Panzer Army. The 3rd Belorussian Front will strike toward Minsk, the 1st Belorussian Front will encircle the German 9th Army at Bobruisk and then link up with the 3rd Belorussian at Minsk. Both fronts will then advance to the Russo-Polish border. As they do so the 2nd Belorussian Front will engage and hole the German 4th Army. The 1st Baltic and 3rd Belorussian Fronts are under the command of Marshal Zhukov, the 1st and 2nd Belorussian Fronts under Marshal Vasilevsky.

German Army Group Center totals 580,000 troops: 3rd Panzer Army in the north (VI, IX and LIII Corps, plus 2 reserve divisions - 160,000 troops); 4th Army (XII, XXVII and XXXIX Corps plus 1 reserve division - 165,000 troops); 9th Army (XXXV, XLI and LV Corps plus 1 reserved division - 170,000 men); and 2nd Army (VIII, XX and XXIII Corps - 85,000 troops). The army group has 9,500 artillery pieces and 900 tanks, the 6th Air Fleet deployin g 775 aircraft.

Western Front

The divisions of the American VII Corps, the 9th, 79th and 4th, prepare for the final attack on Cherbourg. At sundown Gen Lawton Collins, the Corps Commander, invites the Commander of the Cherbourg garrison, Gen Karl Wilhelm von Schlieben, to surrender. No reply comes from Cherbourg.

Images from June 21, 1944

Carentan, Normandy, 21 June 1944

German Prisoners of War in Portoferraio, Elba, Italy, 21 June 1944

US GI, 21 June 1944

Panzer V 'Panther' on the Battlefield, Poland, 21 June 1944

German Paratrooper with a MG 42, Normandie, France, 21 June 1944

German Troops and Destroyed English Cruiser Tank VIII Cromwell, Villers-Bocage, France, 21 June 1944

British POWs Captured by the Hitlerjugend, 21 June 1944 (Possibly 46th Commando)

M-20 Armored Utility Car in use by the Company Commander of Co. A, 801st Tank Destroyer Bn., Montebourg, France, 21 June 1944

M-20 Armored Utility Car

Two German Fallschirmjäger (paratroopers) pull a handcart loaded with equipment while running through the brush following the Allied Invasion of Normandy. Near Bayeux, Calvados, Lower Normandy, France. 21 June 1944. (Image-Toni Schneiders)

Paratroopers Pulling a Handcart

A Panzer IV of the 12th SS Panzer Division at Rouen, 21 June 1944

German Boy-Soldier with an Ofenrohr (Anti-tank Rocket Launcher) and Hand Grenades, France, 21 June 1944

German Soldiers with a Captured American Jeep, Northern France, 21 June 1944

Marines Fire Captured Mountain Gun during the Attack on Garapan, Saipan, 21 June 1944

US Army jeep named 'Always Ruth' in the town of Valognes, France, heavily damaged during the drive on Cherbourg, 21 June 1944

US Army Jeep Named 'Always Ruth'

Marauders of the 9th Air Force bombardment group fly over units of the Allied fleet as they approach landfall on the French coast on June 21, 1944

Marauders of the 9th Air Force

Panther on the Eastern Front, June 21, 1944