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• Yamato departed Tawi-Tawi for Batjan, Halmahera at 1600 hours for Operation KON; this was reported by American Submarine USS Harder. Shortly after, the Japanese fleet spotted a periscope and carried out evasive maneuvers that nearly resulted in a collision between Yamato and Musashi. ww2dbase [Yamato | CPC]
• The town of Oradour-sur-Glane in central France was destroyed. Nearly all of its 652 inhabitants were killed by troops of the SS Division Das Reich; only 10 survived the massacre with fire and machine gunning. ww2dbase [TH]
• USS Mingo arrived at Manus, Admiralty Islands for training. ww2dbase [Mingo | CPC]
• German SS troops massacred 218 civilians at Distomo, central Greece, in revenge for losing seven men in a partisan ambush. ww2dbase [AC]
• USS Hawkbill arrived at New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. ww2dbase [Hawkbill | CPC]
• Former Chinese light cruiser Pinghai was renamed Yasoshima. ww2dbase [Pinghai | CPC]
• Kittyhawk fighters of No. 80 Squadron RAAF shot down a Japanese Ki-61 aircraft over New Guinea island. This was the last Commonwealth Kittyhawk fighter victory of the war. ww2dbase [P-40 Warhawk | CPC]

• General Wei Lihuang's Chinese Expeditionary Force having crossed the rugged 10,000-foot Gaoligong Mountains (Postal Map: Kaolikong) captured Longling (Postal Map: Lungling), Yunnan Province, China on the Burma Road, but would soon be driven out again by a counter-attack by the Japanese 56th Division. ww2dbase [Salween Offensive | Wei Lihuang | Longling, Yunnan | AC]

• British carrier HMS Illustrious and the escort carrier HMS Atheling, with covering forces, began 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 and the Great Turkey Shoot | Sabang, Sumatra | HM]
• UIT-25 departed Surabaya, Java, Dutch East Indies. ww2dbase [Luigi Torelli | Surabaya, Java | CPC]

• RAF Lancaster and Halifax bombers attacked four airfields in France. At Leval, where German fighter-bombers were operating in attacks on the invasion beaches, the runway was cratered in several places, interrupting sorties for 48 hours. ww2dbase [Normandy Campaign, Phase 1 | Leval, Pays de la Loire | AC]
• Johannes Hähle passed away in La Biljude, Calvados, Basse-Normandie, France. ww2dbase [Johannes Hähle | La Biljude, Basse-Normandie | CPC]
• The vehicle in which Violette Szabo traveled was stopped by a German roadblock outside of Salon-la-Tour, Limousin, France. Wounded in the ankle, she held off advancing Germans, allowing a fellow agent to flee. After running out of ammunition, she was captured. ww2dbase [Violette Szabo | Salon-la-Tour, Limousin | CPC]
• U-821 was sunk by aircraft off Ushant, France. ww2dbase [U-821 | Ushant, Bretagne | CPC]

• The German High Command commended Italian "Folgore" parachute regiment. ww2dbase [CPC]

• Barbers Point Naval Air Station: Parts of Air Group 19 on board. ww2dbase [Barbers Point Naval Air Station | Ewa, Oahu | DS]

• Vice-Admiral Arthur Power carried out another raid on Port Blair in the Nicobar Islands with carrier HMS Illustrious, battleship HMS Renown, and French battleship Richelieu, with light covering forces. Eight Corsair and 15 Barracuda aircraft attacked the Japanese airfield and harbour. Two British aircraft were lost. ww2dbase [Illustrious | Port Blair, Andaman and Nicobar Islands | HM]

• The keel of landing ship No. 159 was laid down by Hitachi Zosen. ww2dbase [No. 101/103-class | CPC]

• Destroyer USS Shaw arrived at Eniwetok in the Marshall Islands. ww2dbase [Shaw | Eniwetok | DS]

• The Soviet combined operation RV-5 against German convoy traffic off the Polar coast started with the Soviet submarine laying a minefield near Rolvsøy, northern Norway and staying in the area to reconnoitre. Four more submarines would soon join her. ww2dbase [Rolvsøy, Finnmark | HM]

• USS Harder detected a Japanese fleet in the Celebes Sea consisted of three battleships, four cruisers, and a number of destroyers, but was in turn spotted by a Japanese aircraft. As destroyers approached her position, she moved forward and fired three torpedoes before diving, hitting one destroyer with 2 hits. She survived a two-hour depth charge attack. ww2dbase [Harder | Celebes Sea | CPC]

• The US Eighth Army was activated in the United States under the command of Lieutenant General Robert Eichelberger. ww2dbase [Robert Eichelberger | AC]

10 Jun 1944 Interactive Map