Air Operations, Europe

RAF BOMBER COMMAND
Daylight Ops:

• 213 Lancasters and 10 Mosquitos of Nos. 1, 3 and 8 Groups attack a flying bomb storage dump at Nucort, but the target is covered in cloud and the bombing is scattered.
• There are no losses.
• 6 Mosquitos carry out Ranger patrols without a loss. 1 Ju-88 is claimed to be destroyed near Oldenburg.

• 35 Mosquitos are sent to Berlin, 8 Halifaxes and 6 Lancasters lay mines in the Kattegat and in the Frisians, 13 Halifaxes and 9 Stirlings are on Resistance operations, and there are 4 OTU sorties.
• 1 Mosquito is lost on the Berlin raid.

• On a day with most missions canceled because of bad weather, 9th Air Force fighters and fighter-bombers attack targets of opportunity and lines of communication in the battle area.

• 12th Air Force B-25s and B-26s attack bridges, viaducts, and marshalling yards in north-central Italy.
• XII TAC fighter-bombers attack gun emplacements, rail lines, roads, and the Modena Airdrome.

Burma-China-India

On the Salween front the Chinese persevere with their costly eforts to dislodge the Japanese from Sung Shan.

On the Assam front, in India, the British XXXIII Corps has succeeded in driving the Japanese out of the immediate vicinity of the road junction at Ukhrul

Eastern Front

Model, commanding Army Group Center, asks for Army Group North to be moved south behind the Dvina to bolster his front and to prevent them being cut off by the Russian drive to the Baltic. As usual, Hitler refuses to allow this sensible step. In a great Russian offensive into the Baltic States, the 2nd Belorussian Front attacks northwest of Vitebsk.

A week later the 3rd Belorussian Front will attack near Pskov and the Leningrad Front will attack at Narva 9 days after that. Army Group Center has lost almost the whole of the 9th and 4th Armies. The 3rd Belorussian Front, under Gen Ivan Chernyakhovsky, surrounds Vilna in Lithuania. In the middle of Model's sector Slonim is taken.

Soviet forces reach the Suvilahti and Lormada Rivers, taking Pitkjuaranta.

The German 16th Army is assaulted by the 3rd Shock and 10th Guards Armies, while to the south the 2nd Guards and 4th Shock Armies advance to link up with the 6th Guards Army at Daugavpils. Hitler forbids any retreat of Army Group North to the Dvina.

The 2nd Baltic Front attacks the southern wing of the 16th Army with its 10th Guards and 3rd Shock Armies. The 2nd Guards and 4th Shock Armies launch new attacks aimed at meeting up with the 6th Guards Army at Daugavpils. With Army Group North now also threatened, Field Marshal Model requests that Friessner be allowed to withdraw behind the line of the Dvina, shortening his line and creating a reserve that can be committed to reinforce the shattered armies of Army Group Center. Hitler categorically refuses.

Utena falls to the 43rd Army and Slonim to the 65th Army of the 1st Belorussian Front.

Italy

In the Tyrrhenian sector the divisions of the American IV Corps make negligible progress northwards toward Leghorn.

New Guinea

Maj-Gen Hall orders a battalion of the 128th Infantry and a squadron of the 112th Cavalry to conduct a reconnaissance across the Driniumor River to locate Japanese forces. In the Aitape sector a series of Japanese attacks starts along the line of the Driniumor River inflicting heavy casualties on the US 128th Regiment. At the same time over 10,000 Japanese attack XI Corps positions at the river where only an infantry battalion and a cavalry squadron remain to defend the line. The enemy breaks through, isolating the reconnaissance force and other units of the 128th Infantry. Heavy artillery fire slows the Japanese.

Lt-Gen Krueger designates the 6th Infantry Division as the Sansapor Task Force. Maj-Gen Franklin C. Sibert will command 20,500 men in this operation. The 20th RCT of the 6th Infantry Division will serve as the task force reserve at Wakde. D-day is set for July 30. Task Force 77, under Rear-Adm William M. Fechteler, will consist of 24 LSTs, 15 LCIs, 5 APDs and 19 destroyers. Task Force 78, under Rear-Adm Robert S. Berkey, will consist of 1 heavy cruiser, 2 light cruisers, and 9 destroyers.

Pacific

The US submarine Tinosa (SS-283) sinks the Japanese merchant fishing boat No.5 Shosei Maru 30 miles west of Danjo Island.

United States, Policy

After visiting China, Vice President Henry Wallace writes scathing report very critical of Chiang Kai-shek. Among other things, he proposes Roosevelt assign someone to mediate differences between the Chinese Nationalists and Communists.

Western Front

Gen Montgomery, Commander-in-Chief of the 21st Army Group, issues directives for Operation COBRA, the American 1st Army's offensive to penetrate the defenses of the Germans west of St ô and take Coutances.

In the VIII Corps sector the American troops advanced south of La Haye-du-Puits. The 3 divisions of the VII Corps, the 4th, 9th and 83rd, continue their offensive from the west.

The British VIII Corps opens an offensive southwest of Caen in the area between the Odon and Orne Rivers. The 43rd Div captures Eterville and Height 112 on the road to Evrecy. In the Caen sector the Canadian II Corps under Gen Simonds, grouped with British II Army, goes into action.

Images from July 10, 1944

Sherman Tanks of the Sherbrooke Fusiliers

A Sherman Tank Crew from 27th Armored Brigade

Highland Light Infantry of Canada

British Sherman Tanks and a 6pdr Anti-tank Gun

A British Soldier Carries a Little Girl

Looking Out for Snipers

Canadian Troops of the 3rd Infantry Division

A Cheerful Group of Soldiers

Moving through the Ruins of Caen

Infantrymen of the 43rd (Wessex) Division

Celebrating the Liberation of Caen

Unidentified Sappers Examining Unexploded Shell

Firing into a Battered House

Troops of 1 Kings Own Scottish Borderers

British Army Infantryman in Caen

Canadian Infantrymen of the Regina Rifle Regiment