American infantrymen, supported by heavy artillery, have advanced to the outskirts of the Atlantic port city of Cherbourg, penetrating the outer ring of German defenses.
French refugees say the Germans have been blowing up port installations there for the past four days.
Meanwhile, French resistance fighters have conducted coordinated attacks on French rail lines and canals which the Germans have used to transport supplies.
US Air Force heavy bombers have struck the V-1 launch site at Pas-de-Calais, which began firing rockets into London two days ago, as well as German oil facilities and tank and aircraft depots.
Twenty-one US aircraft involved in the mission crashed or made forced landings in neutral Sweden, bringing the total number of Americans interned there to near six hundred.
Hints but no details have emerged regarding an ongoing Allied naval engagement with the Japanese fleet in the Philippine Sea triggered by last week’s US amphibious invasion of Japanese-occupied Saipan.
[The US Fifth Fleet will later claim victory in this engagement, the largest naval battle in history, which will eliminate Japan’s ability to engage in future carrier-based actions.]
The Navy and Marine Corp Medal was presented to the family of Coast Guardsman Charles W. David, Jr., age 26, a Negro mess attendant assigned to the Coast Guard cutter USS Comanche, an Atlantic convoy escort vessel.
When a German U-boat struck a ship in the Comanche’s convoy near Greenland, David climbed into a lifeboat to pull freezing survivors from the icy waters and dived into the water to rescue the Comanche’s executive officer and another seaman after they had fallen overboard.
David succumbed to pneumonia weeks after his rescue effort.
I’ll see you on Monday.
— Brenda
Share this post