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• US troops captured St. Mére-Eglise, France, cutting major road and rail links to the Cherbourg Peninsula. ww2dbase [Normandy Campaign, Phase 1 | TH]
• In an attempt to push Finland out of the war, Soviet forces launched a major assault against Finnish troops on the Karelian Isthmus. ww2dbase [TH]
• USS Gar reported damaging a Japanese ship with her deck gun. ww2dbase [Gar | CPC]
• The Avro Lincoln bomber took its first flight. Originally known as the Lancaster IV, the Lincoln was produced to meet an Air Ministry requirement for a Lancaster replacement, but in 1943 the requirement was changed to developing a long-range bomber for operations in the Pacific Theatre (Tiger Force). The first Lincoln bombers would reach RAF Squadrons in Aug 1945, just too late to see service in World War II. They were however later used in operations against communist guerrillas in Malaya and against Mau Mau bandits in Kenya. ww2dbase [AC]
• The Japanese frontal-attack on Gurkha positions on Scraggy Hill was met with heavy losses, particularly to superior British firepower and air support. ww2dbase [Battle of Imphal-Kohima | CPC]
• Fahnenjunker-Feldwebel Willi Braun and Fahnenjunker-Feldwebel Gerhard Dietrich of the German Kampfgeschwader 55 wing were awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross. ww2dbase [CPC]
• Soviet Stavka ordered a general offensive against Finland. ww2dbase [Battle of Tali-Ihantala and Battle of Vuosalmi | Moscow | CPC]
• The Fortitude South cover plan, which used double agents to feed false information to the Germans, was expanded to further convince the Germans that the Western Allies were imminently intending to launch an invasion in the Pas de Calais region of France. ww2dbase [Normandy Campaign, Phase 1 | AC]

• Charles Lindbergh, as an employee of the firm United Aircraft, flew a F4U fighter ostensibly as an observer, accompany other combat aircraft over Rabaul, New Britain. ww2dbase [New Guinea-Papua Campaign, Phase 3 | Rabaul, New Britain | CPC]

• No. 617 Squadron RAF (The Dambusters) dropped Barnes Wallis' new 12,000-lb "Tallboy" bomb for the first time on the Saumur railway tunnel in central France, which was being used by German reinforcements moving towards Normandie, France. ww2dbase [Saumur, Pays de la Loire | AC]
• German 8th Destroyer Flotilla (destroyer Z32, destroyer Z24, destroyer ZH1, and torpedo boat T24) departed Brest, France, sailing for Cherbourg. They were surprised and attacked by eight Allied destroyers. British destroyer HMS Ashanti sank ZH1 with torpedoes; ZH1 had previously been the lead ship of Dutch Gerard Callenburgh-class destroyers, captured by the Germans in 1940. Canadian destroyers HMCS Haida and HMCS Huron damaged Z32, forcing her to run aground on ÃŽle de Batz on the Brittany coast of France, wrecking Z32 in the process. Z24 and T24 successfully escaped the Allied attack. British destroyer HMS Tartar was damaged. ww2dbase [Z24 | Z32 | T24 | Bretagne | HM]

• Destroyer USS Shaw arrived at Kwajalein in the Marshall Islands and departed right away for Eniwetok in the Marshall Islands. ww2dbase [Shaw | Kwajalein | DS]

• The American submarine USS Swordfish (SS-193) fired four torpedoes at a Japanese convoy 55 miles east of Chichi Jima, Bonin Islands (Ogasawara Islands), Japan. Two torpedoes struck and sank the Kamikaze-class destroyer Matsukaze, 55 miles east of Chichi Jima. ww2dbase [Swordfish | HM]

• USS Harder attacked two Japanese destroyers between Tawi-Tawi and Jolo in the Philippine islands with 4 torpedoes, sinking Tanikaze with 2 hits and sinking another with 1 hit; 4 torpedoes were expended in this attack. ww2dbase [Harder | CPC]
• Tanikaze departed Tawi-Tawi, Philippine Islands. ww2dbase [Tanikaze | Tawi-Tawi | CPC]

• Roza Shanina was featured on the front page of the Soviet newspaper Unichtozhim Vraga. ww2dbase [Roza Shanina | CPC]

9 Jun 1944 Interactive Map