The BBC broadcast a coded message based on the Paul Verlaine poem Chanson d'automne to inform the French Resistance that the invasion of France was imminent. The Germans understood the intent of the message but failed to bring up sufficient forces.[3]
Two K-class blimps of the United States Navy completed the first transatlantic crossing by non-rigid airships, from the United States to French Morocco, in 80 hours.[4]
First mission of Operation Frantic: Frantic-Joe, shuttle raid from Italy to Russia by the 15th AF
Representatives of the Soviet Union and Romania secretly met in Stockholm to discuss conditions for Romania's withdrawal from the war.[5]
The Soham rail disaster occurred in the small town of Soham, Cambridgeshire, England when the cargo of an ammunition train exploded and killed two people.
The Italian capital of Rome fell to the Allies. There was little fighting in the city itself as American tanks rolled along the Appian Way. The Germans ignored Hitler's order to blow up the Tiber bridges before retreating and the city's historic sites were left intact.[6]
Royal Air Force meteorologist Group Captain James Stagg recommended that Overlord be postponed one day from June 5 to the 6th because of bad weather. Dwight D. Eisenhower followed his advice and postponed D-Day by 24 hours.[10]
German submarine U-505 was captured off Río de Oro by ships of the U.S. Navy. The sub's codebooks, Enigma machine and other secret materials found on board would be of assistance to Allied codebreakers.
The D-Day naval deceptions began. Allied ships and aircraft made deceptive movements in an attempt to deceive the Germans into believing that the Allied invasion force would land in the Calais region.
Operation Tonga began at 10:56 p.m. when an Allied force of bombers, gliders and transport aircraft took off from RAF Tarrant Rushton to begin an airborne operation near the city of Caen.
D-Day: Operation Overlord commenced with the crossing of nearly 160,000 Allied troops over the English Channel to land on the beaches of Normandy, France.
Adolf Hitler was awoken at the Berghof around noon and informed of the Normandy landings. He displayed no outward signs of distress and appeared to be confident that the invasion would be repulsed.[12]
Winston Churchill announced the Normandy landings in an address to the House of Commons. "I cannot, of course, commit myself to any particular details," Churchill said. "Reports are coming in in rapid succession. So far the Commanders who are engaged report that everything is proceeding according to plan. And what a plan! This vast operation is undoubtedly the most complicated and difficult that has ever occurred ... Nothing that equipment, science or forethought could do has been neglected, and the whole process of opening this great new front will be pursued with the utmost resolution both by the commanders and by the United States and British Governments whom they serve."[13]
President Roosevelt went on national radio at night to address the nation about the Normandy invasion. The president's address took the form a prayer. It began: "Almighty God: Our sons, pride of our Nation, this day have set upon a mighty endeavor, a struggle to preserve our Republic, our religion, and our civilization, and to set free a suffering humanity. Lead them straight and true; give strength to their arms, stoutness to their hearts, steadfastness in their faith."[14]
Operation Rösselsprung concluded. Although the activities of the Yugoslav Partisans were temporarily disrupted by the operation, it failed in its objective of capturing or killing Marshal Josip Broz Tito.
Japanese destroyer Hayanami became the second ship to be torpedoed and sunk in the Sibutu Passage by USS Harder in as many days.
American destroyer Meredith struck a mine in the English Channel and was severely damaged. Salvage efforts would be abandoned on June 9 when Luftwaffe bombing broke the ship in two.
Actress Judy Garland divorced her husband of three years, songwriter David Rose, on grounds of general cruelty.[15]
A B-24 of No. 224 Squadron RAF sank German submarine U-373 in the Bay of Biscay and then sank U-441 only some 20 minutes later in the English Channel.[17][18]
The Battle of Ushant was fought off the coast of Brittany between German and Allied destroyer flotillas. The result was an Allied victory as the Germans lost 2 destroyers.
Waffen-SS forces in Greece carried out the Distomo massacre, killing a total of 214 residents of the village of Distomo in retaliation for a partisan attack upon the unit.
German submarine U-821 was depth charged and sunk in the Bay of Biscay by British aircraft.
Pitcher Joe Nuxhall became the youngest player to ever appear in a modern major league baseball game when he made his debut for the Cincinnati Reds at the age of 15 years, 10 months and 11 days. Although Nuxhall had a difficult outing, giving up five runs to the St. Louis Cardinals in two-thirds of an inning, he went on to have a good big-league career as a two-time All-Star with a lifetime record of 135–117.[20]
U.S. Task Force 58 attacked Japanese facilities and shipping in preparation for the landings on Saipan, sinking one torpedo boat and twelve merchant ships of Japanese convoy CD-4.[22]
U.S. and British forces in Normandy linked up near Carentan, forming a solid 50-mile (80 km) battlefront with 326,000 men and 54,000 vehicles.[1]
German submarine U-490 was depth charged and sunk in the Atlantic Ocean by American warships.
President Roosevelt gave his 30th and final fireside chat, on the subject of the opening of the Fifth War Loan Drive.
The Germans launched the first V-1 flying bombs at England. Of the ten fired on this day four reached England, killing six people and destroying a railroad bridge.[7]
RAF Bomber Command sent 221 aircraft to bomb Le Havre in its first daylight raid since May 1943. Three torpedo boats, fifteen S-boats, nine minesweepers and eight patrol boats were among the many German ships sunk in the raid.[23]
The British destroyer Boadicea was bombed and sunk off Portland Bill by the Luftwaffe.
Over the night of June 15/16 the United States Army Air Force conducted the Bombing of Yawata, the first air raid on the Japanese home islands since the Doolittle Raid in April 1942.
RAF Bomber Command sent 297 aircraft to attack Boulogne, sinking three German minesweeping tenders, nine minesweepers, two patrol boats, three tugs and five harbour defense vessels.[27]
The British frigate Blackwood was torpedoed and damaged off Brittany by German submarine U-764 and foundered the next day off Portland Bill.
The Treaty of Vis was signed in Yugoslavia, in an attempt by the Western Powers to merge the Yugoslav government in exile with the Communist Partisans fighting on the ground. The agreement provided for an interim government until the people could decide the postwar form of government in democratic elections.
Died:Marc Bloch, 57, French historian (shot by the Gestapo for his work in the French Resistance); George Stinney, 14, African-American youth convicted of murder and the youngest person in 20th century U.S. history to be sentenced to death and executed (death by electric chair)
In a massive coordinated sabotage operation, in preparation of Operation Bagration, 100,000 Soviet partisan guerrillas detonated over 10,000 explosions to the rear of German Army Group Centre positions. Supply and communications were rendered inoperable for days.[24]
The Battle of the Philippine Sea ended in American victory. Japanese aircraft carrier Hiyō sunk after fuel vapours ignited from previous damage caused by USS Belleau Wood's air wing, bringing total Japanese losses for the two-day battle to three carriers, two oilers and around 600 aircraft.
British Minister of Production Oliver Lyttelton departed from the prepared text of a speech to the American Chamber of Commerce in London and stated, "Japan was provoked into attacking the Americans at Pearl Harbor. It is a travesty on history to ever say that America was forced into the war. Everyone knows where American sympathies were. It is incorrect to say that America was ever truly neutral even before America came into the war on an all-out fighting basis." These remarks were instantly controversial; U.S. Secretary of State Cordell Hull released a statement that same day calling Lyttelton's comment "entirely in error as to the facts and fails to state the true attitude of the United States both during the earlier stages of military preparation for world conquest by Germany and Japan and during the later aggressions by those two countries. This government from the beginning to the end was actuated by the single policy of self-defense against the rapidly increasing danger to this nation."[29][30]
A V-2 rocket become the first man-made object in space during a test launch MW 18014.
The British Eighth Army reached the German defensive Trasimene Line in Italy.[31]
The British destroyer Fury struck a mine off Sword Beach, Normandy and was declared a total loss.
Oliver Lyttelton rose in the House of Commons to give an "explanation" for his remarks of the previous day. "I was trying, in a parenthesis, to make clear the gratitude which this country feels for the help given to us in the war against Germany, before Japan attacked the United States," Lyttelton said. "The words I used, however, when read textually, and apart from the whole tenor of my speech, seemed to mean that the help given us against Germany provoked Japan to attack. This is manifestly untrue. I want to make it quite clear that I do not complain of being misreported, and any misunderstanding is entirely my own fault. I ask the House to believe, however, that the fault was one of expression and not of intention. I hope this apology will undo any harm that the original words may have caused here or in the United States."[32]
Japanese submarine I-185 was sunk near Saipan by American destroyers.
The Appalachians tornado outbreak began in the Midwest and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. Over 100 people were killed over the next two days, with Shinnston, West Virginia hit particularly hard as 66 fatalities were recorded in the town and surrounding area.
Died:Josef Wurmheller, 27, German fighter ace (killed in an air collision during an aerial battle near Alençon, France)
The Adelaide Mail in Australia published an article revealing that Ern Malley, supposedly a poet who had died as a complete unknown in 1943 but whose poems had recently been published in the avant-garde magazine Angry Penguins to great acclaim, never existed at all. Ern Malley's entire biography and body of work was a hoax created in a single afternoon by the writers James McAuley and Harold Stewart, calculated to embarrass Angry Penguins editor Max Harris by demonstrating how easy it was to write meaningless poetry in the modernist style and get intellectuals to praise it.[35][36]
German submarine U-719 was depth charged and sunk northwest of Ireland by British destroyer Bulldog.
All three New York baseball teams (the Yankees, the Giants and the Dodgers) squared off at the Polo Grounds in an experimental round-robin exhibition game to raise money for war bonds. Each team would play in the field and bat for two consecutive innings, then sit for an inning until they had played a total of nine innings. The final score was Dodgers 5, Yankees 1, Giants 0.[39]
The Veterans' Preference Act was enacted in the United States, requiring the federal government to favor returning war veterans when hiring new employees.
Died:Milan Hodža, 66, Prime Minister of Czechoslovakia from 1935 to 1938
The Republican National Convention ended with the nomination of New York Governor Thomas E. Dewey in a quick first-ballot nomination. Ohio Governor John W. Bricker accepted the nomination for vice president. Dewey, who had not attended the convention, flew in that evening to give a speech accepting the nomination and vowing to "bring an end to one-man government in America."[42][43]
Died:Philippe Henriot, 55, French poet, journalist and Vichy official (assassinated by the French Resistance); Robert Martinek, 55, Bohemian artillery officer of the Austro-Hungarian Army and the Wehrmacht (killed in an air attack near Berezino)
