Air Operations, Carolines

18 XIII Bomber Command B-24s attack the Yap Atoll.

Air Operations, CBI

• More than 60 10th Air Force fighter-bombers attack Hopin, Mawlaik-Kin, Mogaung, Myitkyina, and Pinbaw.
• 11 7th Heavy Bomb Group B-24s airlift fuel to Kamaing.

• 4 341st Medium Bomb Group B-25s and several 14th Air Force P-40s attack a bridge near Chenghsien.
• More than 60 P-38s and P-40s attack Japanese Army cavalry near Hengyang, a pontoon bridge near Tengchung, and two occupied towns.

• 35 10th Air Force B-25s airlift ammunition to Imphal.

Air Operations, Europe

• 321 aircraft including 200 Halifaxes, 106 Lancasters and 15 Mosquitos, of Nos. 1, 4, 6 and 8 Groups attack 3 flying bomb sites in clear weather conditions. All targets are accurately bombed and there are no losses.
• 16 Lancasters and 2 Mosquitos of No. 617 Squadron bomb the Wizernes site and score several hits with their Tallboy bombs.
• 1 Lancaster is lost to flak fire.

• 739 aircraft from all groups attack 7 flying bomb sites causing fresh damage to all the targets. Included in the aircraft total are 535 Lancasters, 165 Halifaxes and 39 Mosquitos. The flying bomb sites have now become so cratered by RAF, 8th Air Force and 2nd Tactical Air Force bombing that results for individual raids are becoming difficult to determine.
• 22 Lancasters are lost from these raids. It is a clear, moonlit night and most of the bomber casualties are caused by German night fighters, often operating with the help of searchlights.

• 27 Mosquitos are sent to Berlin, 13 aircraft lay mines off French ports and in the Kattegat, and there are 34 Mosquito patrols and 7 RCM sorties.
• 1 Mosquito is lost on the Berlin raid.

Air Operations, Marianas

• Between midnight and 0100 hours, 1 of 7 G4M 'Betty' bombers sent from Iwo Jima drops a stick of bombs in the wake of a US cruiser and the others damage several vessals in the anchorage off Guam.
• 318th Fighter Group P-47s attack Japanese Army ground troops on Saipan, and 7 rocket-armed P-47s attack artillery positions on Tinian that are firing on US ground troops on Saipan. 1 P-47 and its pilot are lost over Tinian.
• 6th Night Fighter Squadron P-61s, in their first use in the campaign, are unable to score any victories against Japanese hecklers—4 Japanese Navy torpedo bombers from Peleliu that attack and miss a ship off Saipan.

Air Operations, New Guinea

• V Bomber Command B-25s, A-26s, and A-20s attack the airfields at Kornasoren and the Kamiri on Noemfoor, and shipping near Babo.
• 12 38th Medium Bomb Group B-25s mount a pinpoint attack with 1,000-pound bombs against Japanese Army-held caves near the Mokmer airfield on Biak.
• 5th Air Force and RAAF aircraft attack numerous targets in the Wewak area.
• V Bomber Command B-24s assigned to attack Noemfoor Island are grounded by bad weather over the Nadzab-area bases.

Air Operations, Volcano Islands

Task Group 58.1 carrier aircraft attack airfields, fuel supplies, and barracks at Iwo Jima. Of more than 140 Japanese Navy fighters and bombers sent from the island in three separate waves to challenge the attackers, 116 are claimed by F6F pilots. Antiaircraft fire downs additional attackers over the carriers.

Battle of the Atlantic

The Japanese submarine I-52 is sunk by aircraft (VC-69) from the US escort carrier Bogue in the Atlantic Ocean area.

Bonin Islands

The Japanese bases on Iwo Jima and Chichi Jima are attacked by American carrier aircraft. The Japanese lose 66 planes. The carriers involved are Hornet (CV-8), Yorktown (CV-10), Bataan (CVL-29) and Belleau Wood (CVL-24). Adm Joseph J. Clark is in command.

Britain, Home Front

Sidney Keyes, a war poet who was killed in Tunisia, is posthumously awarded the Hawthornden Prize.

Eastern Front

The Leningrad Front continues its offensive in the isthmus of Karelia. Already, on the second day of the Soviet offensive, the strain on the German defenders in Army Group Center is considerable. The advance is as much as 25 miles deep in some places and the Orsha-Vitebsk rail line has been cut.

The Soviet 6th Guards and 43rd Armies cross the Dvina River, brushing aside a counterattack by the German IX Corps. the German VI Corps is largely annihilated by the Soviet 39th Army, and LIII Corps is not isolated in Vitebsk. The 39th anr 43rd Armies then link up on the road to Mogilev. The Soviet 11th Guards Army batters the German XXVII Corps. The 1st Belorussian Front opens its offensive with the 3rd and 8th Armies, which quickly overwhelm XXXV Corps. Soon the junction of the 4th and 9th Armies is being prised apart by the Soviet 3rd Army, prompting a counterattack by the 20th Panzer Div. To the south XLI Corps is forced to retreat. Hitler orders the 5th Panzer Div from the Ukraine to renforce Army Group Center - a single division to stop BAGRATION!.[MORE]

Italy

The 1st Motorized Div of the French Expeditionary Corps leaves Italy to take part in Operation ANVIL, the landing projected for the south of France.

In the US 5th Army sector, the IV Corps continues its advance north, meeting firm opposition from the German rearguards.

The Groupe Guillaume of the French Expeditionary Corps crosses the Omborne River and advances northward to meet the 1st Arm Div of the US IV Corps.

Marianas

The 27th Div has completed the clearance of the southern part of the island and most of the component parts of the division join the main advance of the Marines to the north. The fighting here is fiercest, still, on Mount Tapotchau and in 'Death Valley'. Gen Ralph Smith, Commander of the 27th Inf Div, is accused of inefficiency and replaced by Gen Sanderford Jarman.

New Guinea

On Biak the 186th and 163rd Inf Regts cut off considerable Japanese forces in the central sector of the island, north of the western caves.

In the area of the Sarmi beachhead, the Americans land small units west of the Snaky River and try to get around to the rear of the Japanese forces which have cut off the 2 American battalions in the sector.

Occupied France

The Resistance blows up the hydroelectric station near Limoges.

Western Front

Fighting continues around Cherbourg, where the Germans continue to fight with what Allied correspondents call 'the courage of despair'. Elements of the 9th Div press on the city from the northwest while in the center the regiments of the 79th Div reach and capture La Mare-à-Canards and Hameau-Gringer and advance toward Forte-du-Roule.

The garrison commander in Cherbourg, Gen Karl von Schlieben, reports to his superiors that the ability of his troops to hold out is rapidly diminishing. He is doubtful whether another attack can be repulsed.

Images from June 24, 1944

24 June 1944, the US 79th Infantry Division while taking Fort du Roule near Cherbourg, had to storm the strong points. Here they blew the door of a bunker to clear the place.

US Troops Storm Strong Points

27th Division Troops Advance behind Tanks on Saipan. (National Archives)

Ellerslie Square, Brixton, 1944 - A Flying bomb incident, showing damaged houses and air raid shelters in the foreground, 24 June 1944. The photograph shows the extensive damage caused by the single warhead, close to the centre is the entrance to an underground shelter, which appears to be undamaged.

Flying Bomb Damages

From launching platforms mounted on IH M-2-4 one ton 4x4 trucks, Marine crews fire a hail of rockets at Japanese positions on a Saipan ridge, 24 June 1944.

Firing Rockets at Japanese Positions

'S' class destroyer HMS Swift, mined and sunk off Sword Beach, Normandy, whilst supporting the D Day landings on 24 June 1944.

Destroyer Sinks Off Sword Beach

Finnish Army Maj-Gen Kääriäisen and His Pet Bear near Syväri, 24 June, 1944

Field Marshal JC Smuts (Prime Minister), Major-General Poole (GOC) and Lieutenant-General Sir Pierre van Ryneveld (SA Chief of Staff), in Chiusi, Italy, 24 June 1944. The visit was to discuss the implications of the surrender of A Coy, First City/Cape Town Highlanders.'

Discussing Implications of a Surrender

24 June 1944: The 79th Infantry Division up in Cherbourg, Avenue de Paris before the Public Garden

With everyone properly in formation, 13 491st Liberators head out across the channel for the morning mission of 24 June 1944. (Photo - Winston)

13 491st Liberators Head Out Across the Channel

Leading Aircraftman (LAC) L. J. Hardcastle of Tamworth, NSW (left) and LAC J. C. Howarth of Peelwood, NSW, checking the forward guns of a Catalina aircraft of No. 43 Squadron RAAF, 24 June 1944

Checking the Guns

Navy Chaplain O. David Herrmann, of Omaha, Neb., attached to a Marine unit on Saipan, uses a destroyed Japanese tank for an altar as he holds services for the dead - Saipan, 24 June 1944

Holding Services for the Dead

US Navy General Motors FM-2 'Wildcat' fighters from the escort carrier USS White Plains (CVE-66) fly an escort mission, probably during air strikes on Japanese facilities on Rota Island, Marianas, 24 June 1944.

Navy Fighters During Air Strikes in the Marianas