World War II Database

• Home
• » Events
• » WW2 Timeline
• » 24 Jun 1944

• Hitler ordered all but one division of LIII Korps, encircled near Vitebsk, Byelorussia, to break out. ww2dbase [Operation Bagration | TH]
• Chinese troops, supported by heavy artillery, attacked Mogaung, Burma in support of the British Chindit operation. ww2dbase [Operation Thursday | CPC]
• British Lieutenant General Geoffrey Scoones, due to poor intelligence, failed to pursue retreating Japanese troops from northeastern India, thinking that the Japanese might be planning a counterattack from Tamu and Bishenpur. ww2dbase [Battle of Imphal-Kohima | CPC]
• USS Parche sank a Japanese patrol vessel with her deck gun. ww2dbase [Parche | CPC]
• Saburo Sakai mis-identified a group of 15 F6F Hellcat fighters as friendly, but he was able to escape from their attacks unscathed. ww2dbase [Saburo Sakai | CPC]
• Alexander Novikov was awarded the Legion of Merit by the United States. ww2dbase [Alexander Novikov | CPC]

• Acting on intelligence intercepts, Hunter-Killer carrier USS Bogue attempted to intercept the meeting between German submarine U-530 and Japanese submarine I-52 in the mid-Atlantic as I-52 was transiting to Germany with 21,000kg of precious metals and other intelligence cargo. A TBM Avenger from Bogue located I-52 on the surface but not U-530. Launching Mark 24 FIDO acoustic homing torpedoes against the submarine, I-52 was sunk with all 109 aboard. ww2dbase [Mark XXIV | Bogue | TBF Avenger | DS]
• Flight Lieutenant David Hornell, on a routine patrol in a Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) Catalina aircraft, sighted a surfaced German U-Boat in the North Atlantic, but a hail of anti-aircraft fire came up to meet the Catalina as it made its bombing run. Although two large holes appeared in the starboard wing and oil was seen to be pouring from the burning starboard engine, Hornell managed to hold the blazing aircraft on course, and from low-level was able to straddle the enemy submarine with depth charges; which was then seen to thrust its bows abruptly into the air while the crew abandoned ship. The Catalina aircraft's engine tore itself away from the burning wing and Hornell needed all his skill to put the machine down on the heavy swell. Blazing furiously it began to sink immediately. The survivors had to wait 21 hours before they were picked up, by which time two men had already died of exposure and Hornell himself succumbed soon after being rescued. For his outstanding gallantry David Hornell would be awarded a posthumous Victoria Cross. ww2dbase [AC]
• Acting on intelligence intercepts, Hunter-Killer carrier USS Bogue attempted to intercept the meeting between German submarine U-530 and Japanese submarine I-52 in the mid-Atlantic as I-52 was transiting to Germany with 21,000kg of precious metals and other intelligence cargo. A TBM Avenger from Bogue located I-52 on the surface but not U-530. Launching Mark 24 FIDO acoustic homing torpedoes against the submarine, I-52 was sunk with all 109 aboard. ww2dbase [Conclusion of the Battle of the Atlantic | I-52 | DS]

• US Vice President Henry Wallace departed Chongqing, China. ww2dbase [Henry Wallace | Chongqing | CPC]

• British No. 617 Squadron attacked the 20-foot thick concrete dome containing V-2 rockets at Wizernes, France with "Tallboy" bombs. The bombs caused extensive damage to buildings, roads and railway lines. ww2dbase [V-Weapons Campaign | Vergeltungswaffe 2 | La Coupole | Bombing of Cities in France and Low Countries | Wizernes, Nord-Pas-de-Calais | AC]

• Barbers Point Naval Air Station: Parts of ARGUS-15, ARGUS-17, and ARGUS-23 departed. ww2dbase [Barbers Point Naval Air Station | Ewa, Oahu | DS]

• Troops of British XIII Corps linked up with Indian troops of British X Corps in Italy. ww2dbase [Advance to the Gothic Line | CPC]

• USS Tang attacked a Japanese convoy in the East China Sea off the coast of Japan and reported sinking two ships. Post war Japanese records showed that four ships of that convoy, Tamahoko Maru, Tainan Maru, Nasusan Maru, and Kennichi Maru, were attacked and sunk on that date. ww2dbase [Tang | CPC]
• Landing ship No. 131 was completed. ww2dbase [No. 101/103-class | CPC]
• USS Yorktown (Essex-class) launched raids on Iwo Jima, Bonin Islands. ww2dbase [Yorktown (Essex-class) | Iwo Jima, Bonin Islands | DS]
• The Mobile Fleet, including Yamato, arrived at Hashirajima island in Hiroshima Bay, Japan. ww2dbase [Yamato | Hashirajima, Yamaguchi | CPC]
• Light carrier Ryuho arrived at Hashirajima, Japan. ww2dbase [Ryuho | Hashirajima, Yamaguchi | CPC]
• USS Yorktown (Essex-class) launched raids on Iwo Jima, Bonin Islands. ww2dbase [Mariana Islands Campaign and the Great Turkey Shoot | Iwo Jima, Bonin Islands | DS]

• Prisoners Edward Galinski and Mala Zimetbaum escaped from Auschwitz Concentration Camp in occupied Poland but they would be re-captured in Jul 1944. ww2dbase [Discovery of Concentration Camps and the Holocaust | Auschwitz Concentration Camp | Oswiecim | CPC]

• During the morning, a V-1 flying bomb, shot down by a fighter, crashed on the Newlands Military Camp at Charing, near Ashford, Kent, England, United Kingdom. Forty-seven men were killed and twenty-eight seriously injured. ww2dbase [V-Weapons Campaign | Charing, England | AC]
• Belgian pilot Flight Officer Joseph Brosteaux of No. 350 Squadron RAF had to make a forced landing after being hit by anti-aircraft fire over Sussex, the crash landing wrecked his Spitfire Vb aircraft but he was unhurt. ww2dbase [England | CPC]
• 56 Squadron at RAF Newchurch in Kent, England, United Kingdom received its first Tempest aircraft and underwent intensive training on flying them. ww2dbase [Tempest | Newchurch, England | CPC]
• The British government issued a statement saying 756 people had died and 2,697 badly injured since the V-1 flying bomb assault started. ww2dbase [V-Weapons Campaign | England | HM]

• Composite Squadron VC-12 reported aboard escort carrier USS Card at Norfolk, Virginia with their compliment of TBF Avengers and FM-2 Wildcat aircraft. ww2dbase [Card | Norfolk, Virginia | DS]

24 Jun 1944 Interactive Map