Air Operations, Bonin and Volcano Islands

• US carrier aircraft from Task Group 58.1 and Task Group 58.2 attack the Japanese bases at Chichi Jima and Iwo Jima.
• VF(N)-75 F4Us on a reconnaissance/nuisance mission down 7 A6M2-N 'Rufe' floatplanes s over Chichi Jima at 0530 hours.
• VF-13, VF-14, and VF-31 F6Fs down 31 A6M Zeros and 1 Ki-61 'Tony' fighter over the Iwo Jima area between 0600 and 0635 hours.
• A VF-2 F6F downs an H8K 'Emily' flying boat at sea at 0715 hours.
• A VF-13 F6F downs a B5N 'Kate' torpedo bomber near Iwo Jima at 0855 hours.
• The gunner of an observation plane from the cruiser USS Santa Fe downs an A6M Zero at sea at 1500 hours.

Air Operations, Carolines

• VII Bomber Command B-24s attack the Truk Atoll.
• FEAF B-24s attack the Yap Atoll and airfields at Peleliu Island and the Sorol and Woleai atolls.

Air Operations, CBI

• 4 10th Air Force B-25s attack bridges and rail lines around Hopin and Naba.
• More than 30 10th Air Force P-40s support Allied ground troops near Myitkyina.
• More than 20 P-47s and P-51s sweep the Lashio area and the Mogaung Valley.

• 38 341st Medium Bomb Group B-25s and 74 14th Air Force fighter-bombers attack targets along the Yangtze and Yellow rivers, throughout the Tungting Lake region, and in the Canton area.
• B-25s airdrop supplies to Chinese Army ground troops at Hengyang and attack the airfield there.
• An 81st Fighter Group P-47 downs a Ki-46 'Dinah' reconnaissance plane at about 0912 hours. This is the group’s first victory (of four) in the theater, and the first victory by a P-47 over China.

Air Operations, East Indies

380th Heavy Bomb Group B-24s attack airfields and shipping in the Molucca Islands.

Air Operations, Europe

• 328 aircraft of Nos. 4, 6 and 8 Groups attack 3 flying bomb sites. In this total are 307 Halifaxes, 15 Mosquitos ahd 6 Lancasters. Some cloudes are present but at least 2 of the raids are assessed as accurate.
• There are no losses.
• 17 Lancasters, 1 Mosquito and 1 Mustang of No. 617 Squadron attack a flying bomb store in a large cave at St Leu d'Esserent north of Paris. The site is accurately bombed without a loss.
• 4 Mosquitos make uneventful Ranger raids.

• 231 Lancasters and 15 Mosquitos, mostly of No. 5 Group with some Pathfinders, attack the underground flying bomb store in the limestone caverns St Leu d'Esserent with 1,000 pound bombs in order to cut communications to the site. The bombing is accurate, but 13 Lancasters are lost when German fighters engage the force.
• 282 Lancasters and 5 Mosquitos of Nos. 1, 6 and 8 Groups attack the railway yards at Orléans and Villeneuve. Both targets are accurately bombed.
• 11 Lancasters are lost on the Villeneuve raid and 3 on the raid to Orléans.

• 13 Mosquitos are sent to the Scholven/Buer oil facility, 6 Stirlings and 5 Halifaxes lay mines off Brest and St Nazaire, 16 aircraft are on Resistance operations, and there are 61 Mosquito patrols and 25 RCM and 30 OTU sorties.
• 1 Halifax RCM is lost.

Air Operations, Marianas

• For the first time since June 19, carrier aircraft from Task Group 58.3, freshly arrived from Eniwetok sweep Guam.
• 318th Fighter Group P-47s attack Japanese Army troops on Aguijan, Rota, Saipan, and Tinian islands.

Air Operations, New Guinea

• V Bomber Command A-20s support US Army ground troops on Noemfoor Island.
• B-24s attack Efman Island.
• V Fighter Command P-47s attack targets of opportunity on Biak Island.
• Various 5th Air Force aircraft attack the Maffin Bay area, But and Dagua airfields, and barges at Wewak.
• US Army ground troops capture the Kornasoren airfield on Noemfoor without opposition.
• 317th Troop Carrier Group C-47s airdrop 400 US Army paratroopers at the Kamiri airfield on Noemfoor. When casualties from accidents and enemy fire exceed 8 percent, it is decided to fly the rest of the parachute-infantry regiment to the island as soon C-47s are able to land at the Kamiri airfield.
• During the night, V Bomber Command A-20s and V Fighter Command fighter-bombers attack barges and dumps in the Dagua area.

Allied Command

The Allied Joint Chiefs of Staff send a message to Roosevelt suggesting that he should put pressure on Chiang Kai-shek to give Gen Joseph Stilwell command of all the Chinese armed forces and the Gen Sultan should be put at the head of the Chinese forces in Burma in succession to Gen Stilwell. Sultan's positions as Deputy Supreme Commander in Southeast Asia, under Adm Mountbatten, should go to Gen Raymond A. Wheeler.

Eastern Front

There is a new series of attacks toward Riga by the 1st Baltic Front against the positions of Army Group North. The German armies here are in a very dangerous situation because of the Soviet advances to the south toward their right flank and rear. Polotsk, northwest of Vitebsk, is very quickly taken. Army Group North, after the Russians' huge breakthrough in the center, is now in a highly critical position.

The 4th Shock Army of the 1st Baltic Front takes Polotsk, threatening the southern flank of the German 16th Army.

There is heavy fighting around Minsk as the 4th Army tries to escape. Despite repeated attacks, the XXVII, XXXIX and XII Corps faile to break out. By dusk the Germans have been contained around Pekalin.

Italy

In the Tyrrhenian sector the 34th Div of the US IV Corps drives on towards Rosignano. On the right flank of the IV Corps, units of the 361st Regt of the 1st Arm Div penetrate into Casole d'Elsa before dawn. They are now only about 25 miles south of Siena. There are some troop movements both in the American and the French formations. The 361st Regt, after taking Casole d'Elsa is moved from the 1st Arm Div to the 91st Div and the 3rd Algerian Div hands over its positions to the 4th Mountain Div and is sent to Naples for a rest period.

The 8th Army continues its advance in the central-eastern sector of the front. The XIII Corps, with the South African 6th Arm Div on the right, makes rapid progress towards Arezzo meeting negligible enemy resistance. The 6th Arm Div takes Castiglion Fiorentino.

Marianas

On Saipan the US 27th Inf Div, after skirmishing with the retreating enemy, reaches the Tanapag plain. A regiment of the same division reaches a seaplane base at Point Flores and, with a Marine regiment, wipes out a Japanese cave strongpoint. About 100 Japanese who have infiltrated into the American lines are eliminated.

New Guinea

On Numfoor the Kornasoren airfield is captured as well as the village of Kamiri. A second parachute battalion of the 503rd Parachute Regt is flown in and loses heavily because of inexperience. The losses are so high that it is decided that the rest of the regiment must be air-lifted instead of being dropped by parachute. Kamiri airfield is quickly reactivated to meet this requirement.

On the mainland, in the Wadke-Sarmi area the US 63rd Inf makes a little progress to the west.

Occupied France

The Resistance destroys fuel stocks at the Lievin refinery in the Pas de Calais.

Pacific

• Two groups of TF 58 send their carrier aircraft against the Japanese bases on Iwo Jima and Chichi Jima. 4 destroyers and several transport vessels are sunk. Among the Japanese ships sunk are the auxiliary submarine chaser No. 16, the coastal minelayer Sarushima and transports Nos. 103 and 130. The other 2 groups of the task force similarly attack Guam. The Guam attacks continue on July 5.
• The US submarine S-28 sinks during training exercises off Hawaii due to unknown causes.
• The Japanese submarine I-10 is sunk by the US destroyer David W. Taylor (DD-551) and the destroyer escort Riddle (DE-185) in the Marshall Islands area.

Western Front

On the right flank of the American 1st Army the VIII Corps continues it slow advance southward. To the east the VII Corps's offensive begins.

In the British sector, in preparation fo the general offensive against Caen, the Canadian 3rd Div of the British I Corps takes Carpiquet just west of Caen, but is halted a little way from the local airfield by the German defenses.

Images from July 4, 1944

A knocked-out German gun emplacement, showing graphic evidence of dozens of shell hits, now in use by a Royal Navy beach party, on Sword Beach between Lion-sur-Mer and Ouistreham, 4 July 1944

A Knocked-out German Gun Emplacement

16 inch shell Marine PFC Raymond Hubert using an unexploded 16-inch naval shell for a resting place while shaking a 3-day accumulation of sand from his boot. Saipan, Marianas Islands; July 4,1944.

Resting on a 16-inch Naval Shell

Sherman Dozer Tank, 4 July 1944

Canadian M4 Sherman Grizzly Tank, Italy, July 1944

Bailey bridge being built by 72nd Field Company Royal Engineers at St Loup Hors nr Bayeaux, Normandy, 4 July 1944

Building a Bailey Bridge

Flag Raising Ceremony in Rome, Italy, 4 July 1944

42-32000 - B-17 Flying Fortress - Assigned to the 524th Bomb Squadron, 379th Bomb Group, Kimbolton. On mission to attack French airfields 4/7/44 crash landed Felpham, Sussex, UK. where householder gave crew tea and coffee 4/7/44.

B-17 Crash Landing at Felpham, Sussex

Fires and explosions on Iwo Jima Air field, Bonin Is. Caused by heavy bombardment from U S heavy cruisers of Cru. Div.10. – 4 July 1944

Fires and Explosions on Iwo Jima Air field

Soldiers And M4 Sherman Tank March Through St Fromond, Normandy, July 1944

Technicians Repair Radar on P-61, Saipan, 4 July 1944

Crash site of Bill North's Lancaster, 61 Squadron's EE186, QR-D, near Harquency, France where it made a nighttime crash landing after being shot down the night of 4-5 July 1944.

Lancaster Crash Site near Harquency, France

Combat Weary American Soldiers in La Haye Du Puits, France, July 4, 1944