here. - Lancaster ND424 of 12 Squadron

Lancaster ND4246th June 1944On D-Day 6th of June an Allied force of morethan 150,000 troops, 5,000 ships and 800aircraft assault 50 miles of northern France'sNormandy coastline. More than 4,000 Alliedtroops died and 6,000 were wounded, butthe Allies succeeded in breaching Hitler'scoastal defences known as the Atlantic Wall.Right: Aerial photo of the D-Day landings. From:http://www.raf.mod.uk/bombercommand/jun44.html13th June 1944On this day the Germans launched the firstof their ‘V weapons’ (V = Vergeltungswaffen,in English: retaliatory weapons or reprisalweapons) when four V1’s, also known as‘Doodlebugs’, hit London. Around 30,000 V-weapons would bombard south-east Britainbefore the end of the war in May 1945. Forthe rest of the summer of 1944 RAF BomberCommand and the US Army Air Force added the V1 ‘ski-site’ launch platforms and storage depotsto their list of targets they were attacking daily: barracks, airfields and marshalling yards.14th to 15th June 1944Two daylight raids were made on E-Boat pens and the E-Boats themselves at Le Havre (June 14)and Boulogne (15 June). In these two attacks almost all German light naval forces in the EnglishChannel are put out of action so protecting the ongoing invasion.27th to 29th June 1944This period saw the battle for the Cotentin peninsula and the port of Cherbourg to the west of theAllied landings in Normandy. The port installations were extensively damaged by the GermanArmy. The German Army is on the retreat. The map on the next page shows the area occupied bythe Allies at the end of June 1944.20th July 1944Adolf Hitler wounded by a bomb in a conference room at his Wolf's Lair field headquarters nearRastenburg in East Prussia. The bomb was planted by Lieutenant Colonel Count Claus SchenkGraf von Stauffenberg. Between 12:40 and 12:50 the bomb detonated, demolishing theconference room. Three officers and the stenographer were seriously injured and died soon after.Hitler survived, as did everyone else who were shielded from the blast by a conference table leg.For details see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/20_July_plot#Stauffenberg_joins_the_conspirators.30th July 1944US General George S. Patton breaks out of the beachhead in Normandy and penetrates deep intoFrance.15th August 1944The Allies land in southern France so open up a new front.25th August 1944Allied troops, with the help of the French resistance led by General Charles de Gaulle, liberateParis after four years of German occupation.34