American troops made advances in operations in Italy and New Guinea in the latter part of May 1944. Read more about these World War II operations in the next section. Key World War II events of the latter part of May 1944 include Allied captures in Italy and New Guinea. May 5: Ailing Indian Congress Party leader Mohandas Gandhi leaves prison nearly two years after his incarceration for impeding Britain’s war effort. Allies break out from the Normandy beaches: The Allied seaborne and airborne landings in Normandy by General Montgomery’s 21st Army Group on June 6, 1944, were the culmination of years of operational and logistic joint planning and preparation. Americans break through the German line at Saint-Lô, France: In mid-June 1944, the Germans’ defense stiffened in the hedgerows of Normandy. May 12: The Allies engage in heated battles with German troops across much of Italy, and manage to make steady gains. Valuables locked in a car or checked in on an airline, train or bus may not be covered. May 13: Klaus Dönitz, son of the German Kriegsmarine commander, dies when the Allies sink the ship he is on. May 13: The Allies finally break through the German Gustav Line, the western segment of the Winter Line, and begin their march northward through Italy.
May 15: The Nazis begin the process of deporting Hungarian Jews to labor and death camps with the assistance of the local Hungarian police. May 10: President Roosevelt appoints James Forrestal secretary of the Navy following the death of Forrestal’s predecessor, W. Franklin Knox. President Roosevelt emphasized in a news conference that the invasion did not mean the fighting was almost over. News of the invasion of France is released: At about 3:30 a.m. Most Americans were anxious for news. June 6, 1944, the following news was released: “Allied naval forces . . . began landing Allied armies this morning on the northern coast of France.” This landing had been much anticipated in the Allied and Axis nations. British forces seize Bayeux, France: A British soldier fires a Bren gun over debris in Bayeux, France. This soldier is using a Bren Gun — a light machine gun popular in the British Army during World War II. It used magazine- instead of belt-fed ammunition like other machine guns. It doesn’t come across as genuine or honest and sounds like the author is kissing up to get something they want.
Another is wave table synthesis, which uses samples of real instruments to replicate musical sounds. The cylinders are arranged in a V configuration with a 45-degree angle to the V. The engine uses dry sump lubrication, and the external tank for the oil mounts above the transmission. About 20 are returned to the camp to serve as a warning to other inmates. May 6: Nazi Germany orders an additional 1,800 laborers from France to help staff the Mittelbau-Dora slave labor camp near Nordhausen, Germany. May 8: Supreme Allied Commander Eisenhower confirms June 5 as the date for Operation Overlord, the invasion of France. Meanwhile, Hitler and the German high command believed that the main invasion was still to come at the Pas de Calais, with Normandy merely a diversion. The resultant uncertainty and delay in deploying the reserve panzer divisions held in readiness for this very task meant that by dawn on June 7 the only chance the Germans had possessed to repel the invasion was lost irretrievably. The delayed Allied breakout meant that many German troops escaped encirclement in the Falaise Pocket.
U.S. general George Patton’s newly formed Third Army threatened to encircle the German force still deployed across Normandy. As a huge fleet of cargo- and troop-carrying vessels plied steadily from ports in England to the newly established beachheads and artificial “Mulberry” harbors, Allied strength in Normandy increased with each week that passed, and was soon unstoppable. Hitler called for a retreat from Normandy on August 16, leaving 50,000 dead and about 200,000 captured. The 50th came closer than any other Allied unit to its June 6 objective, as Bayeux was captured by the British the day after the landing. Although the U.S. Fifth Corps landing on Omaha Beach at first encountered severe difficulties, Anglo-Canadian-U.S. A member of the British 50th Division, he landed on Gold beach. One of the gun’s benefits was that it fired the same ammunition as the standard British rifle, the bolt-action Lee Enfield. Rangers, British Commandos, Free French, and other specialist units — quickly set about consolidating and exploiting the bridgeheads. Units from the U.S. However, the U.S. commanders had declined to use these vehicles on their beaches. However, the Germans had few tanks in the American sector at Saint-L’99, allowing U.S.
