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• The German synthetic fuel plants at Brüx in southern Germany (post-war Most, Czechoslovakia) and Lüna-Merseburg, Lützkendorf, and Zeitz in eastern Germany were hit by 800 US bombers. ww2dbase [Bombing of Hamburg, Dresden, and Other Cities | TH]
• Kamal Ram of Indian 8th Punjab Regiment single-handedly took out two German defensive positions and joined another against a third near the Gari River in Italy. Later in the same day, he charged at a house held by the Germans, capturing two and killing one. He was later awarded the Victoria Cross, with King George VI pinning the medal onto his uniform in Jul 1944. ww2dbase [CPC]
• Anglo-Indian troops counterattacked at Tengnoupal, India, regaining territory lost during the Japanese attacks between 6 and 8 May 1944. ww2dbase [Battle of Imphal-Kohima | CPC]

• Togo arrived in the Gulf of Finland. ww2dbase [Togo / Coronel | Gulf of Finland | CPC]

• USS Nicholas, escorting a convoy of transport ships, arrived at Pavuvu Island, Solomon Islands. Nicholas immediately joined destroyers USS Radford, USS Hopewell, USS O'Bannon, USS Fletcher, and USS LaVallette and departed for Nouméa, New Caledonia. ww2dbase [Nicholas | Pavuvu, Solomon Islands | DS]
• USS Honolulu, USS Birmingham, and USS St. Louis departed Tulagi, Solomon Islands bound for exercises in the northern Solomon Islands. ww2dbase [St. Louis | Honolulu | Walden Ainsworth | Tulagi, Solomon Islands | DS]

• Shokaku departed Lingga Roads, Dutch East Indies for the Tawi-Tawi anchorage in the Philippine Islands. ww2dbase [Shokaku | Lingga Roads | CPC]
• Destroyer Yukikaze departed Lingga Roads, Dutch East Indies. ww2dbase [Yukikaze | Lingga Roads | CPC]

• U-2501 was launched at the Blohm und Voss shipyard in Hamburg, Germany. ww2dbase [Blohm und Voss | U-2501 | Hamburg | CPC]
• The USAAF 306th Bomb Group flying from RAF Thurleigh launched a bombing raid against aircraft facilities at Merseburg, Germany but could not drop their bombs because a lower flying squadron flew under them at the drop zone. ww2dbase [Bombing of Hamburg, Dresden, and Other Cities | RAF Thurleigh | Merseburg | DS]

• Destroyers USS Waller, USS Saufley, USS Pringle, and USS Philip, and later USS Renshaw separately, arrived at Pearl Harbor, Hawai'i. ww2dbase [Renshaw | Pringle | Waller | Saufley | Philip | Pearl Harbor, Oahu | DS]

• Near Cassino, Italy, engineers of Indian 8th Division successfully established a bridge to allow tanks of Canadian 1st Armoured Brigade to cross the Rapido River, while Polish troops engaged in fierce fighting with troops of German 1st Parachute Division at Point 593. ww2dbase [Battle of Monte Cassino | Cassino, Lazio | CPC]

• Landing ship No. 129 was completed. ww2dbase [No. 101/103-class | CPC]
• The keel of landing ship No. 157 was laid down by Hitachi Zosen. ww2dbase [No. 101/103-class | CPC]

• 39 German Sinti children, 20 boys and 19 girls, arrived at Auschwitz Concentration Camp. They were separated from their parents as a part of Eva Justin's dissertation "The fate of Gypsy children and their offspring raised in alien environments". She became a professor at Berlin University in 1943 and the paper was published in 1944. ww2dbase [Auschwitz Concentration Camp | Discovery of Concentration Camps and the Holocaust | Oswiecim | CPC]

• The remains of German 17.Armee surrendered in the Crimea in Russia. ww2dbase [Krym | TH]

• USS Wake Island arrived at Norfolk, Virginia, United States. ww2dbase [Wake Island | Norfolk, Virginia | CPC]

12 May 1944 Interactive Map