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• Operation Overlord, the Allied invasion of Normandy, France, was postponed due to weather. Meanwhile, RAF bombers struck German coastal fortifications along the French coast. ww2dbase [Normandy Campaign, Phase 1 | TH]
• USS Pintado helped in the wolfpack attack against a Japanese convoy in the Philippine Sea, but did not earn any sinkings during the attack. ww2dbase [Pintado | CPC]
• USS Cabrilla sank a Japanese coastal patrol boat with her deck gun off Borneo. ww2dbase [Cabrilla | CPC]

• USS Guadalcanal's anti-submarine hunter-killer group with Captain Daniel V. Gallery in command captured the German U-505 in-tact, including all code books, two Enigma machines, and two Zaunkönig acoustically-guided torpedoes. One German crew member was killed in the initial attack but all others, including the U-Boat commander Oberleutnant-zur-See Harald Lange, were captured. The U-Boat was taken under tow bound for Bermuda. This was the US Navy's first capture of an enemy warship on the high seas since the War of 1812. The US leader of the initial boarding party, Lieutenant (jg) Albert L. David, was awarded the Medal of Honor. ww2dbase [The Capture of the U-505 | U-505 | DS]

• USS Honolulu and USS St. Louis departed Tulagi, Solomon Islands bound for Roi at Kwajalein, Marshall Islands, joining carriers USS Corregidor and USS Coral Sea while at sea. ww2dbase [St. Louis | Corregidor | Anzio | Honolulu | Walden Ainsworth | Tulagi, Solomon Islands | DS]

• By this date, most of the men of 2nd Battalion of US 5307th Composite Unit (Provisional) had been evacuated from Myitkyina, Burma for India. A few were left behind to train the two freshly arrived replacements, coming directly from the United States, not yet acclimatized and inexperienced in combat. ww2dbase [Battle of Myitkyina | Myitkyina | AC]

• Landing ship No. 128 was sunk by US aircraft off Morotai, Moluccas, Dutch East Indies. ww2dbase [No. 101/103-class | Morotai, Maluku Islands | CPC]

• The USAAF 306th Bomb Group flying from RAF Thurleigh launched a bombing raid against shore batteries at Boulogne-sur-Mer, France. ww2dbase [Bombing of Cities in France and Low Countries | RAF Thurleigh | Boulogne-sur-Mer | DS]

• Barbers Point Naval Air Station: Part of CASU-48 departed. ww2dbase [Barbers Point Naval Air Station | Ewa, Oahu | DS]

• Mark Clark and the US 5th Army entered Rome, Italy unopposed; Clark immediately held a press conference on the steps of the Town Hall on the Capitoline Hill. Some fellow Allied generals thought Clark had failed to trap the German 10th Army. Nearby, the Italian motor torpedo boat base at Terracina was evacuated. ww2dbase [Battle of Anzio | Rome, Lazio | AC, CPC]

• Japanese hospital ship Hikawa Maru arrived at Sasebo, Japan. ww2dbase [Hikawa Maru | Sasebo, Nagasaki | CPC]
• The work to construct two prototypes of the J7W1 Shinden short-range interceptor fighter commenced at the aircraft factory at Zasshonokuma in Fukuoka, Japan. ww2dbase [J7W Shinden | Fukuoka | AC]

• USS Flier attacked a Japanese convoy in the South China Sea, sinking transport Hakusan Maru and damaging another ship; 6 torpedoes were expended in this attack, 3 of which scored hits. ww2dbase [Flier | South China Sea | CPC]
• A group of United States and Australian cruisers came under Japanese air attack off Biak Island northwest of New Guinea. USS Nashville sustained serious hull damage from a near-miss aerial bomb off her starboard quarter. There were no serious personnel injuries but two compartments were flooded and the ship began bleeding oil. USS Phoenix sustained damage from two near-miss bombs that killed one sailor and injured four others while causing internal flooding and damage to her propellers. ww2dbase [New Guinea-Papua Campaign, Phase 3 | Nashville | Phoenix | Bismarck Sea | DS]

• Escort carrier USS Card departed Norfolk bound for Quonset Point, Rhode Island. ww2dbase [Card | Norfolk, Virginia | DS]

4 Jun 1944 Interactive Map