The War: May -September 1944

1944: May 12 German Forces in Crimea surrender; 13 Allies break through Gustav Line into Liri Valley - Italy; 18 Polish troops capture Monte Cassino; 23 U.S 5th Army breaks out of Anzio beachhead; 10 U.S.-Chinese army crosses Salween River (Burma); 17 Merrill's Marauders take Myitkina airfield; 18-20 U.S. forces seize Wadke Island, New Guinea; 29 U.S. forces land on Biak Island, New Guinea; U.S. shoots down Japanese observation aircraft, hampering Japan's efforts to defend Marianas; June 4 U.S. troops enter Rome; 6 D-Day Allies land in Normandy (Operation Overlord); 13 Germans fire first V-1 into England; 20 Soviets take Viipuri (Finland); 22 Soviets launch Operation Bagration main summer offensive; 27 U.S. troops liberate Cherbourg; 14-15 First B-29 raid on Japan from China; 15 U.S. forces land on Saipan; 19-20 Battle of the Philippine Sea (The Great Marianas Turkey Shoot); July 13-18 Battle of Saint Lo (France); 13 Soviets take Vilnius; 20 Bomb Plot: German Generals try to kill Hitler; 25 U.S. forces launch Operation Cobra; breakout from Normandy; 27 Soviets take Lvov, liberate Western Ukraine; 8 Japanese withdraw from Imphal; 18 Tojo resigns as Japanese Prime Minister; 21 Marines land on Guam, Marine infantry, supported by tanks, take three weeks of heavy fighting to defeat 19,000 Japanese defenders of Guam (to Sept 6); 24 U.S. troops land on Tinian; 24 U.S. carrier aircraft raid Bonin Islands; August 1 Polish Home Uprising begins in Warsaw; 15 Allies land in S. France; 19 Paris Resistance rises against Germans; 21 Falaise Pocket closed; defeat of Germans in W. France. (Continued)