World war II chronology - July 1944

1 July 1944	A the headquarters of Gerd von Rundstedt in Paris, France, he receives orders from Adolf Hitler that present positions are to be held. Rundstedt replies to a staff officer at Hitler's headquarters that this cannot be done, and says "Make peace, you fools"
2 July 1944	Field Marshal Günther von Kluge replaces Field Marshal Gerd von Rundstedt as commander of German forces in the west.  Field Marshal Erwin Rommel arranges the exchange of badly wounded prisoners with US forces in Europe.   In the English Channel, Royal Canadian Navy motor torpedo boat 460 strikes a mine and sinks.
3 July 1944	Troy Middleton leads the US 8th Corps in a drive down the west coast of the Cotentin peninsula, but fails.
4 July 1944	In France, Operation Windsor begins, with Canadian 3rd Infantry Division beginning an attack on Carpiquet village and airport, west of Caen. Allied field guns and naval cannon begin a bombardment of the airfield. J. Lawton Collins leads the US 7th Corps in a drive down the west coast of the Cotentin peninsula, but fails. The Blitzmaedel (German Women's Army Corps) evacuates the Hotel Moderne in Paris, France.
5 July 1944	Canadian Chiefs of Staff recommend that scorched earth plans for Canada be cancelled.
6 July 1944	German Colonel Count Klaus von Stauffenberg carries a bomb in a briefcase to a conference with Adolf Hitler, but does not detonate it due to lack of other important Nazi leaders. British air forces drop a 12,000-pound "Tallboy" bomb on the Watten rocket launch site. In the English Channel, Canadian destroyers HMCS Ottawa and Kootenay sink German submarine U-678.
7 July 1944	467 British bombers drop 2561 tons of bombs on the area north of Caen, France. (400 civilians are killed, few Germans are killed.) In Normandy, France, British artillery fires on German-held villages around Caen in preparation for Operation Charnwood. 221 British bombers attack V-1 and V-2 rocket storage tunnels at St. Leu d'Esserent, France. They successfully block the tunnels. 31 planes are shot down by German night-fighters.
8 July 1944	Soviet troops under Marshal Rokossovsky capture Baranovichi, midway between Minsk and Brest-Litovsk. In the English Channel, Royal Canadian Navy motor torpedo boat 463 strikes a mine and sinks. Operation Charnwood begins near Caen, France. British 1st Corp begins an attack along an eight-mile front to clear Caen. Phase II of Operation Charnwood begins. Canadian troops begin to move on their objectives around Caen, France. Canadian troops capture Gruchy, north-west of Caen. Canadian forces in France seize Authie, north-west of Caen, and Château de St. Louet. British troops in France capture St. Contest, north-west of Caen.
9 July 1944	In France, Rommel orders German forces to withdraw heavy weapons at Caen moved south across the Orne River. American forces complete the capture of Saipan. Raoul Wallenberg arrives in Budapest, Hungary, as a member of the Swedish embassy. (Wallenberg was recruited a month earlier by the American Office of Strategic Services, to save Jews and help break Budapest's alliance with Berlin.) In France, Canadian forces capture the airfield at Carpiquet. A joint Anglo-American Oil Targets Committee is established. Canadian and British troops enter Caen, France. (The city was a first-day objective of the June 6 landing.) Field Marshal Erwin Rommel arranges a second exchange of badly wounded prisoners with US forces in Europe.
10 July 1944	Operation Jupiter commences, as the Canadian 43rd Wessex Division begins an attack on Hill 112, 3km south of Carpiquet, France.
11 July 1944	Soviet army reaches the outskirts of Vilna in Poland. The United States recognizes Charles de Gaulle and his committee as de facto representatives of the French people.
12 July 1944	Count Klaus von Stauffenberg again carries a bomb in a briefcase to a conference with Adolf Hitler, but with Heinrich Himmler not also present, he does not detonate it. Soviet forces commence a great new summer offensive against German Army Group North, opening a huge gap in the German front line. Field Marshal Günther von Kluge returns from a tour of the front line in the west, agreeing with Field Marshal Erwin Rommel that the Allies will crack the German defences and the entire front will crumble within a month. The Swedish government promises to cut exports to Germany by sixty percent for four months, in return for compensation from Allied countries.
13 July 1944	Adolf Hitler moves his headquarters to the Wolf's Lair near Rastenberg in East Prussia.
15 July 1944	Field-Marshal Günther von Kluge and Field-Marshal Erwin Rommel meet with Adolf Hitler, and recommend negotiating for peace. German Colonel Count Klaus von Stauffenberg meets with Adolf Hitler in the Wolf's Lair, but does not detonate his bomb briefcase. The British Meteor jet fighter is first put into service. The German Messerschmitt Me 262A is first put into service. Quote by Soviet President Josef Stalin at a dinner party in Moscow to a Yugoslav communist leader Milovan Djilas: "This war is not as in the past; whoever occupies a territory also imposes on it his own social systems as far as his army can reach". The USSR issues five postage stamps depicting and honoring Soviet war heroes. American battleship West Virginia, sunk by nine torpedoes at Pearl Harbor, returns to active duty.
16 July 1944	German Colonel Count Klaus von Stauffenberg carries a bomb in a briefcase to a conference with Adolf Hitler, but does not use it due to lack of other important Nazi leaders.
17 July 1944	Field Marshal Erwin Rommel's staff car is attacked near Livarot by British fighter planes. Rommel is severely wounded and hospitalized. Adolf Hitler removes him from command of Army Group B, replacing him with Field Marshal Günther von Kluge. Convoy HXS-300, with 167 ships, sails from New York bound for Ireland, under Canadian escort. It is the largest convoy of the war, and no ships are lost in transit.
18 July 1944	German General Alexander Falkenhausen is dismissed as military commander in Belgium and northern France. In the cabinet War Room in London, the Crossbow Committee meets. Dr. R.V. Jones reveals that the Germans have perhaps 1000 production rockets ready for use. Prime Minister Winston Churchill orders the highest priority be given to bombing nine major German hydrogen peroxide plants. If the US and the Soviet Union agree, Britain would threaten Germany with large-scale gas attacks in retaliation for rocket attacks. Operation Goodwood begins, a British air and armored attack on Caen, France. 863 American bombers and 1056 British bombers attack positions between Caen and Falaise. Three British armoured divisions begin an assault to poke a hole in the German defence line via the Orne River bridgehead. Canadian forces in France begin Operation Atlantic, part of Operation Goodwood. Giberville is captured, east of Caen. 64 British bombers attack synthetic oil plants at Wesseling and Scholven-Buer, Germany. Great damage is inflicted. Five planes are shot down.
19 July 1944	Canadian 2nd Infantry Division captures Louvigny, France, south of Caen. British and American governments turn down Adolf Eichmann's ransom demand of May 16. German Panther and Panzer tanks launch a counterattack on British and Canadian positions south of Caen, France. Canadian 2nd Infantry Division captures Cormelles, France, south-east of Caen.
20 July 1944	A joint Canadian-American scientific report on potential use of chemical-warfare in taking Japanese-held islands refuses to recommend the use of gas over conventional high explosives. In France, Bernard Montgomery calls a halt to Operation Goodwood, with the loss of 4,000 men and 500 tanks. In Germany, Count Fritz-Dietlof von der Schulenburg is arrested. He was vice-president of Berlin Police, and participant in coup attempts since 1938. German Colonel Count Claus von Stauffenberg, Major General Helmuth Stieff and his aide Major Röll, and Navy Lieutenant Bernd von Haeften arrive at Rastenburg for a meeting with Adolf Hitler. Stauffenberg and Haeften carry identical bomb briefcases intended to assassinate Hitler. In Rastenburg, East Prussia, in Adolf Hitler's war headquarters, Claus von Stauffenberg sets the ten-minute detonator fuse of a two-pound home-made bomb briefcase designed to assassinate Adolf Hitler and many of his senior staff. Stauffenberg and Haefton are unable to combine their two briefcase bombs into one due to someone urging them to hurry to the meeting. In Rastenburg, East Prussia, Claus von Stauffenberg and Field-Marshal Wilhelm Keitel enter the Gästebaracke conference room, where Adolf Hitler is being briefed on the situation on the Eastern Front. The conference room is made of wood with large open windows, 18 x 40 feet with a massive oak table and thick oak supports. Stauffenberg allows Major Ernst John von Freyend of OKW General Staff to put his briefcase bomb in the conference room as close to Hitler as possible. Stauffenberg tells Keitel he had to make an urgent phone call to Berlin. Colonel Brandt moves the briefcase from the inside of a table support to the other side, away from Hitler. In Rastenburg, East Prussia, a bomb explodes in the Gästebaracke of Adolf Hitler's war headquarters. Hitler receives only minor injuries. Hitler's double, Heinrich Berger, dies a few hours later. Three others die later of injuries: Hitler's stenographer General Schmundt, Chief of Staff of the Luftwaffe General Korten, and Colonel Brandt, aide to General Heusinger. As Adolf Hitler's meeting room explodes, Claus von Stauffenberg and Wernere von Haeften escape by car. They pass the first checkpoint, but are held at the second checkpoint until the guard calls the Camp Commandant, receiving authorization to allow them to pass. Haeften throws away the second bomb briefcase, which is later found by the side of the road. In Rastenburg, Claus von Stauffenberg and Wernere von Haeften board a waiting Heinkel H-111 dive bomber to fly to Berlin. As part of Operation Atlantic, Canadian forces advance south of Caen toward Verrières Ridge. In Berlin, Lieutenant General Thiele calls the Wolf's Lair, learning of the explosion, but not specifically if Hitler is alive or dead. He reports this to General Friedrich Olbricht and Ludwig Beck. They assume either Hitler is dead, or the plot would soon be discovered, so they should proceed with the coup. In Berlin, General Friedrich Olbricht informs General Erich Fromm that Adolf Hitler has been killed. Fromm calls Field-Marshal Wilhelm Keitel for confirmation, who tells him the attempt was a failure. Fromm orders that the military coup is not to be put into effect. In Berlin, Commandant Colonel-General Paul von Hase receives instructions to put Operation Valkyrie into effect. German Colonel Eberhard Finckh, Deputy Chief of Staff for German Army West in Paris receives code words indicating Adolf Hitler had been successfully assassinated. At the Wolf's Lair, Adolf Hitler lifts the communications blackout imposed following the failed assassination attempt. They learn from message traffic that a military coup is underway. Heinrich Himmler calls the Gestapo headquarters to have them find out who is involved. In General Erich Fromm's office in Berlin, Fromm is overpowered by General Friedrich Olbricht and Mertz von Quirnheim, and placed under guard. At the German command headquarters in Paris, von Witzleben (as Commander-in-chief of the Wehrmacht) gives orders to eliminate the SS and SD. Berlin Radio reports Adolf Hitler is alive. In Germany, Major Otto Ernst Remer (commander of the Grossdeutschland Battalion in Berlin) speaks with Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels and Adolf Hitler over the phone. Hitler places Remer under the orders of Reichminister Heinrich Himmler, and orders him to suppress all resistance in Berlin, and arrest anyone involved in the coup. In France, Field-Marshal Gunther von Kluge tells Paris Military Governor that he will not go along with Operation Valkyrie, and he will remain loyal to Adolf Hitler. In Berlin, Joseph Goebbels summons Lieutenant General Paul von Hase, and has him arrested. Von Hase had ordered the Berlin garrison to surround buildings during the coup attempt. In Berlin, Captain Ulrich Wilhelm Schwerin von Schwanenfeld, adjutant to Witzleben, is arrested. He was an active member of coup plans, and was to serve in the post-Nazi cabinet. At the Bendlerstrasse in Berlin, Peter Yorck von Wartenburg is arrested. Major General Helmuth Stieff is arrested. He had obtained and stored explosives for the bomb to kill Hitler. Adolf Hitler dismisses Army Chief of Staff Kurt Zeitzler, replacing him with General Heinz Guderian. General Erich Fromm is released. Coup leaders are overpowered; Klaus von Stauffenberg is shot in the shoulder. Ludwig Beck is allowed to shoot himself. He takes two shots, but remains alive; another shoots and kills him. In France, General von Boineburg orders his 1st Motorized Rifle Regiment to arrest or overtake SS and SD personnel in Paris. Similar arrests of Gestapo officers take place in Vienna, Prague, Bohemia, Moravia, etc. 166 British bombers attack oil plants at Bottrop, Germany. Great damage is inflicted. Eight planes are shot down. 147 British bombers attack oil plants at Homberg, Germany. Great damage is inflicted. Twenty planes are shot down.
21 July 1944	In Berlin, on orders from General Erich Fromm, a firing squad shots and kills Colonel of the General Staff Mertz von Quirnheim, General Friedrich Olbricht, Colonel Klaus von Stauffenberg, and Lieutenant Wernere von Haeften. Adolf Hitler broadcasts a speech throughout occupied Europe. He tells of the unsuccessful attempt on his life, naming Klaus von Stauffenberg as the intended assassin. Hitler appoints Heinrich Himmler Commander-in-Chief of the Replacement Army, and in charge of punishing the coup conspirators. (As a result of the failed coup, between 600 and 1000 Germans are are killed for their roles in Nazi resistance between now and the end of the war.) The five coup leader bodies are taken to the cemetary at the Matthaus churchyard and buried. SS personnel in Paris are released, as the failed Operation Valkyrie coup collapses. Japanese premier Hedeki Tojo resigns. In Germany, Major General Hans Oster is arrested. American Marines land on Guam.
22 July 1944	Battalions of the US 90th Infantry Division begin an assault on village of St. Germain-sur-Seves in Normandy. In St. Germain-sur-Seves, German Major von der Heydte of the 6th Paratroop Regiments gives orders to counterattack the American forces there. German SS men dig up the five coup leader bodies buried in the cemetary at the Matthaus churchyard. The bodies are photographed, then cremated. The Polish Committee of National Liberation is set up in Lublin. German paratroopers at St. Germain-sur-Seves launch an attack on American 358th's 1st Battalion.
23 July 1944	German paratroopers attack American positions on the north flank near St. Germain-sur-Seves. Adolf Hitler appoints Colonel General Schörner as Commander-in-Chief of Army Group North. German Admiral Wilhelm Canaris is arrested by the SS. Colonel Wessel von Freytag-Loringhoven kills himself. He was head of the Army Affairs Section of Army High Command and part of the anti-Nazi resistance. 612 British bombers attack Kiel, Germany, dropping 3000 tons of bombs in 25 minutes. Four planes are shot down.
24 July 1944	Otto John escapes Berlin, flying to Madrid, Spain. He was an Abwer agent and legal advisor to Lufthansa Airline. He had attempted contact with the Allies, and knew of the July 20 coup attempt. American Marines land on Tinian in the Mariana Islands. In France, Operation Cobra is started, but soon postponed due to cloud cover. About 400 bombers from Britain are not informed, and drop their bombs, some on US positions, killing 25, wounding 131. In Germany, Wolf Heinrich von Helldorf is arrested. He was Berlin Police President, part of conspiracy against Adolf Hitler since 1938. British 1st and 8th Corps break through to south of Caen in France. 1600 US bombers attack German positions on front lines in France. However, some drop bombs far to the German rear, and some drop early on Allied positions. US Lieutenant General Lesley McNair, commander of the Army Ground Forces, is killed, the highest-ranking American officer ever killed in action. He was on an inspection tour from Washington, DC, to observe the effect of the carpet-bombing.
25 July 1944	In France, Operation Spring begins, by British and Canadian forces against German-held Verrières Ridge. The Canadian Royal Highland Regiment (The Black Watch) attempts to bypass May-Sur-Orne and capture Fontenay-le-Marmion. 300 of 315 men are killed in the disastrous attack. In France, the Canadian North Nova Scotia Regiment (Highlanders) signals success in reaching their objective of Tilly-la-Campagne. In France, near Verrières Ridge, Canadian reserve forces are sent in to finish off German resistance. In France, the Canadian Royal Hamilton Light Infantry seizes Verrières village from German occupation. In France, the Canadian 2nd Division reports the capture of Verrières. The European Advisory Committee agrees on a draft of unconditional surrender of Germany, including the transfer of political authority to American, British, and Soviet authorities. In France, Canadian forces attack both sides of the Caen-Falaise Road. In France, Operation Cobra begins, with eight squadrons of the US 8th Air Force bombers attacking an area south of the St.Lô-Périers highway, in preparation for a breakout operation by the US 1st Army. 1500 heavy bombers, 380 medium bombers, and 550 fighter-bombers drop 4000 tons of bombs and napalm. Short bombing kills 111 Americans, and injures 490. The operation is incredibly effective. In France, American ground forces begin moving in operation Cobra. In Germany, Lieutenant Colonel Caesar von Hofacker is arrested. In France, the U.S. 1st Army breaks through enemy positions near St. Lô.
27 July 1944	Germans abandon their rocket research facility at Blizna, Poland. Colonel Hans Otfreid von Linstow, Chief of Staff to Heinrich Stulpnagel, is arrested.
28 July 1944	The US 1st Army breaks through German lines near Coutances. In Germany, Ulrich von Hassell is arrested. He was to serve as Foreign Minister in a post-Nazi government. 307 British bombers attack Hamburg, Germany. About 22 planes are shot down.
29 July 1944	Former German Military Governor of Belgium, General Alexander Falkenhausen is arrested by the Gestapo, under suspicion of involvement in the plot to kill Adolf Hitler.
30 July 1944	The 1st Polish Armoured Division arrives in Normandy, France. American troops capture Avranches, France. In France, southwest of Bayeux, Operation Bluecoat begins. British Bomber Command and US 8th Air Force support the British 2nd Army on the American flank in Flanders.
31 July 1944	American forces break through German lines at Avranches, France. In Warsaw, Poland, the Polish Home Army of about 2500 attempts to seize control of the city against 15,000 Germans.