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• US submarines detected two large Japanese fleets near the Philippine Islands, headed towards the Mariana Islands. ww2dbase [Mariana Islands Campaign and the Great Turkey Shoot | CPC]
• USS Tunny sank a small sampan with gunfire in the Philippine Islands. ww2dbase [Tunny | CPC]

• Additional German troops began arriving in Finland to counter the recent Soviet offensive. ww2dbase [Battle of Tali-Ihantala and Battle of Vuosalmi | CPC]

• In France, the Mulberry harbour off Omaha beach, completed the night before, received its first tank landing ship (LST). Although there were still doubts that the pontoons would not be able to take the weight of a 38-ton Sherman tank without sinking or collapsing this task would, thankfully, be achieved with just a small margin of safety. ww2dbase [Normandy Campaign, Phase 1 | AC]
• Before dawn, 300 Lancaster bombers attacked Boulogne, France, sinking the minesweeper tenders Von der Gröben, Brommy, and Von der Lippe. Seven motor minesweepers and two patrol boats were sunk with others badly damaged. Combined with the raid on Le Havre on the previous night, the two raids caused much damage to the harbour facilities including fuel storage and loading equipment. ww2dbase [Normandy Campaign, Phase 1 | HM]

• British Eighth Army captured Foligno and Spoleto, Italy. ww2dbase [Advance to the Gothic Line | TH]
• Unfinished Italian aircraft carrier Aquila, an abandoned conversion from trans-Atlantic passenger liner SS Roma, was damaged by Allied air attack on Genoa, Italy. ww2dbase [HM]

• USS Yorktown (Essex-class) launched a raid on Iwo Jima, Bonin Islands before heading back to the Mariana Islands and joining in the Battle of the Philippine Sea. ww2dbase [Mariana Islands Campaign and the Great Turkey Shoot | Yorktown (Essex-class) | DS]

• USS Bluefish sank a Japanese transport in the Celebes Sea, hitting her with 1 of 3 torpedoes fired. ww2dbase [Bluefish | CPC]

• For two days after the first V-1 flying bomb exploded in London, none were fired, leading the defence and intelligence committees in the UK to believe that those of the 13 August 1944 had been rangefinders and experiments. To-day this idea was shattered by 224 being fired from their launch sites across the British Channel. The Germans did still have guidance and reliability problems but over twenty-two exploded in South London. Due to the nature of the bomb gliding down the blast damage was greater than bombs dropped at altitude by bombers. In Mayplace Avenue, Crayford, nine people were killed and many seriously injured and in Beckenham seven bombs hit within a couple of hours killing over ten, the worst incident at Maple Grove. In all the Borough had over 200 houses badly damaged, together with gas mains and electricity supplies cut. Other V-1 flying bombs exploded throughout the south-eastern counties. Some of the Germans called it "Day of Vengeance". ww2dbase [V-Weapons Campaign | Vergeltungswaffe 1 | TH, CPC]
• Admiral George Thompson, the British Chief Press Censor, ordered that the press should refuse to report the locations of any V-1 incidents, which were to be kept deliberately unspecific. In addition no mention was to be made regarding any enemy plane (either manned or unmanned) which was shot down over England, Air raid warnings over London were also not to be reported, and obituary notices about civilian deaths caused by German bombing were to be limited to no more than three per postal district. ww2dbase [V-Weapons Campaign | AC]

• USS Hawkbill departed New Orleans, Louisiana, United States for the Panama Canal Zone. ww2dbase [Hawkbill | CPC]

• USS New Mexico bombarded Guam. ww2dbase [Mariana Islands Campaign and the Great Turkey Shoot | New Mexico | CPC]

16 Jun 1944 Interactive Map