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• Yamato departed Batjan, Halmahera at 2200 hours to rendezvous with the Mobile Fleet. ww2dbase [Yamato | CPC]
• German troops launched a counter attack on Carentan, France. Meanwhile, near Villers-Bocage, Hauptsturmführer Michael Wittmann's lone Tiger tank destroyed 25 tanks and vehicles of the British 7th Armoured Division. ww2dbase [Normandy Campaign, Phase 1 | TH]
• Lieutenant Commander Everett Hartwell Steinmetz was named the commanding officer of USS Pollack. ww2dbase [Pollack | CPC]
• USS Iowa bombarded Saipan and Tinian, Mariana Islands. ww2dbase [Iowa | CPC]

• British carrier HMS Illustrious and the escort carrier HMS Atheling, with covering forces, completed a series of diversionary raids on Sabang, Sumatra, Dutch East Indies, with the goal of tying down Japanese forces during the American Operation Forager attack on the Mariana Islands. ww2dbase [Illustrious | Mariana Islands Campaign | Sabang, Sumatra | HM]
• Submarine USS Narwhal spent the day making a submerged reconnaissance survey of Bula on Ceram Island in the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia). At dusk, Narwhal surfaced and fired 59 rounds from her two 6-inch deck guns at the town's docks, petroleum storage tanks on the hill above the town, and at the town's powerhouse. The petroleum storage tanks were left burning and smoking furiously. ww2dbase [Narwhal | Bula, Ceram | DS]

• USS Sterlet arrived at Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii. ww2dbase [Sterlet | Honolulu, Oahu | CPC]

• Japanese hospital ship Hikawa Maru departed Sasebo, Japan. ww2dbase [Hikawa Maru | Sasebo, Nagasaki | CPC]
• USS Luce bombarded Matsuwa (Matua), Kurile Islands. ww2dbase [Luce | Matsuwa, Hokkaido | CPC]
• The keel of landing ship No. 111 was laid down by Osaka Zosen. ww2dbase [No. 101/103-class | CPC]

• USS Alabama bombarded Japanese positions on Saipan, Mariana Islands. ww2dbase [Alabama | Saipan | CPC]
• USS Wasp's aircraft attacked Japanese positions on Saipan and Tinian in the Mariana Islands. ww2dbase [Wasp (Essex-class) | CPC]

• USS Flier attacked a Japanese convoy in the South China Sea, damaging a tanker with 2 of 4 torpedoes fired; she was subjected to a heavy counterattack. ww2dbase [Flier | South China Sea | CPC]

• Shokaku, Zuikaku, Taiho, Ryuho, Haguro, Myoko, Yahagi, Asagumo, Isokaze, Urakaze, Hatsuzuki, Wakazuki, Akizuki, and Shimotsuki departed Tawi-Tawi, Philippines toward Saipan, Mariana Islands in anticipation of an American attack. At 1830 hours, Japanese Combined Fleet leadership ordered the preparation of A-Go Operation. ww2dbase [Taiho | Mariana Islands Campaign | Ryuho | Myoko | Asagumo | Haguro | Yahagi | Zuikaku | Shokaku | Tawi-Tawi | CPC]

• Stefanica Paunescu was killed in combat when his aircraft was shot down by Soviet fighters over Poland. ww2dbase [Stefanica Paunescu | CPC]

• An A4 rocket fired from Peenemünde, Germany to test radio-control gear for an anti-aircraft rocket veered off course and landed 200 miles away in neutral Sweden. Considerable amounts of the rocket were salvaged by the Swedish authorities and later passed on to the British. ww2dbase [V-Weapons Campaign | Vergeltungswaffe 2 | AC]

• The first ten V-1 flying bombs were launched from France between 0330 and 1400 hours. Two blew up shortly after take off, two crashed into the English Channel, two landed and exploded in rural areas and another in a garden destroying the house and greenhouses. Only one reached the target, London, England, United Kingdom. It exploded at Bethnal Green on the railway bridge across Grove Road, killing six people, the first of 6,200 such fatalities that would be caused in the coming months. ww2dbase [V-Weapons Campaign | Vergeltungswaffe 1 | England | CPC]

• After exercises at sea, Casablanca-class escort carrier USS Sargent Bay arrived at San Diego, California. Composite Squadron 79 (VC-79) disembarked. ww2dbase [Sargent Bay | San Diego, California | DS]

13 Jun 1944 Interactive Map