World war II chronology - May 1944

3 May 1944	360 British bombers attack a German military camp at Mouilly-le-Camp. 42 planes are shot down.
6 May 1944	Off Cape Race, Newfoundland, German submarine U-548 torpedoes Royal Canadian Navy frigate Valleyfield, sinking it.
7 May 1944	Adolf Hitler gives Erwin Rommel control of three panzer divisions in northern France, the 2nd, 21st, and 116th.
8 May 1944	Supreme Commander of Operation Overlord Dwight Eisenhower tentatively sets June 5 as D-Day for the invasion of Europe.
9 May 1944	British Bomber Command makes its first major attack on coastal batteries in the Pas de Calais region of northern France.
11 May 1944	Operation Diadem is launched in Italy. About 1600 Allied guns open fire on Monte Cassino. The British 4th Division and the Indian 8th Division attack the Gustav Line.
12 May 1944	The Soviet Red Army liberates the Crimea area. 935 US 8th Air Force bombers attack several fuel plants in central and eastern Germany. This results in a reduction of daily output from 5850 metric tons to 4820.
14 May 1944	A French corps in Italy under General Alphonse Juin breaks through German mountain defenses into the valley of Ausente River, forcing the German 71st Division to fall back.
15 May 1944	British General Bernard Montgomery holds the final dress rehearsal for Operation Overlord, at the St. Paul's School headquarters. The French Committee of National Liberation changes its name to Provisional Government of the Republic of France, under the leadership of Charles de Gaulle. Wreckage of a German pilotless bomb with wings (V-1) is recovered from a Swedish island. American battleship California, torpedoed at Pearl Harbor, returns to active duty.
16 May 1944	In Germany, Adolf Eichmann gives Joel Brand of the Zionist Relief and Rescue Committee a ransom demand to convey to British and American governments: 1 million European Jews would be released in exchange for food and 10,000 trucks for use on the Eastern Front against the Soviet Union. Adolf Hitler issues a Führer Order for the employment of long-range weapons against England to commence mid-June. The weapons include Fzg. 76 (later known as the V-1 bomb) directed at London, long-range artillery directed at British towns, and bomber planes. In Italy, the 1st Canadian Corps receives orders to advance on the Hitler Line.
17 May 1944	Dwight Eisenhower selects June 5 as tentative D-Day for Operation Overlord. German paratroops at Monte Cassino withdraw.
18 May 1944	In Italy, Polish troops take the monastery at the summit of Monte Cassino.
20 May 1944	A German A-4 rocket, test launched from Blizna, Poland, lands nearly undamaged in swampy ground on the bank of the River Bug, near Klimczyce. The Polish Home Army quickly locates and covers the rocket, preventing German recovery of it. A few days later they transport and begin disassembly of the rocket, informing London of their discoveries, including that the rocket is partly radio-controlled, and uses hydrogen peroxide.
23 May 1944	In Italy, the 1st Canadian Corps begins an attack on the Hitler Line. In Italy, American 3rd Division forces at Anzio break out of German encirclement, and launch a drive on Rome.  In Italy, the Carleton and York Regiment of the 1st Canadian Division, with the 25th British Tank Brigade, break through the Hitler Line, one kilometre south of Aquino. Tanks of the Canadian 5th Armoured Division race through the breach toward the Melfa River. In Italy, the West Nova Scotia and Royal 22nd regiments of the Canadian 1st Division drive nearly a mile through the Hitler Line, reporting that they have met their division's final objective. German forces in Italy counterattack the American breakout from Anzio, with eight Tiger tanks. The German counterattack on Americans from Anzio, Italy, is broken up.
25 May 1944	US 1st Armored and 3rd Infantry Division link up with 2nd Corps at Cori, Italy.
27 May 1944	331 British bombers attack a German military camp at Bourg Leopold, Belgium. British bombers attack targets in Aachen.
28 May 1944	400 US Air Force bombers make a second attack on fuel plants in Germany, and US 15th Air Force strike refineries in Romanian oil fields Ploesti. Fuel production is completely halted. British Air Chief Marshal Sir Trafford Leigh-Mallory argues that the airborne operation of the D-Day attack be cancelled, due to high projected losses of men and aircraft.
30 May 1944	The US 36th Division pierces the Caesar line of German defenses at Velletri, Italy, on Route 7. The USSR issues two postage stamps promoting the Day of the Nations United Against Germany, June 14, 1944.
31 May 1944	In Italy, retreating Germans burn two ships in a special museum near Lake Nemi outside Rome. The ships had been used in the lake as floating entertainment palaces in time of Caligula, about year 12-41. In Italy, Canadian forces occupy Frosinone. 245 minesweepers begin clearing the English coast, and clearing paths to the landing sites on the French coast.