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• American troops landed on Tinian, Mariana Islands. ww2dbase [Mariana Islands Campaign and the Great Turkey Shoot | CPC]
• The British bombing of Kiel, Germany that began on the previous date ended before dawn. The damage was extensive, causing the city to have no running water for 3 days, the trains and buses were out of commission for 8 days, and gas service was out for nearly 3 weeks. ww2dbase [Bombing of Hamburg, Dresden, and Other Cities | CPC]

• Matthew Urban arrived at his former unit at the front in Normandie, France after having left the hospital, where he had been convalescing, without authorization. On the same day, finding that a US tank was temporarily halted with the crew did not know what to do after the loss of the tank commander, he took command of the tank and led it forward to attack German positions. ww2dbase [Matthew Urban | Basse-Normandie | JR]
• The USAAF 306th Bomb Group flying from RAF Thurleigh launched a bombing raid against targets around Saint-Lô, France. ww2dbase [RAF Thurleigh | Normandy Campaign, Phase 2 | La Chapelle-en-Juger | DS]

• In Bremen, Germany, the equipping work of Z44 was halted, and her parts were to be removed to repair destroyer Z39. ww2dbase [Deutsche Schiff- und Maschinenbau AG | Z44 | Bremen, Weser-Ems | CPC]
• In Bremen, Germany, the construction of Z45 was halted, and her parts were to be removed to repair destroyer Z39. ww2dbase [Z45 | Deutsche Schiff- und Maschinenbau AG | Bremen, Weser-Ems | CPC]

• USS Permit sank a Japanese transport off Yap, Caroline Islands, hitting her with 1 of 3 torpedoes fired. ww2dbase [Permit | CPC]

• Majdanek Concentration Camp became the first concentration camp to be liberated by Soviet troops (and the first to be liberated overall). ww2dbase [Majdanek Concentration Camp | Discovery of Concentration Camps and the Holocaust | Lublin | CPC]
• As Soviet units crossed the River San north of Lublin, Poland, German troops began evacuating that city. ww2dbase [Operation Bagration | Lublin | TH]

• In the early morning five aircraft-launched German V-1 flying bombs impacted on London, England, United Kingdom, the most serious being in Canterbury Terrace in the borough of Kilburn at 0440 hours, killing 16 residents. III KG/3 had launched 11 in total; the other six blew up in the counties of Essex and Hertfordshire. The Tempest V fighters of the Fighter Interception Unit (FIU) of the RAF brought down seven bombs after dark two of which fell onto the military camp at Offham in Mereworth Woods and Gravelly Bottom; No service personnel were hurt but damage to vehicles and offices was severe. ww2dbase [Vergeltungswaffe 1 | V-Weapons Campaign | London, England | HM]

24 Jul 1944 Interactive Map