26 Jun 1944
  • USS Tang attacked a Japanese cargo ship with four torpedoes without success. ww2dbase [Tang | CPC]
  • Red Army captured Vitebsk, Byelorussia. ww2dbase [Operation Bagration | TH]
  • General von Schlieben, commander of the German garrison in Cherbourg, France, was captured by US troops. ww2dbase [Normandy Campaign, Phase 1 | TH]
  • Germans instituted a curfew in Copenhagen, Denmark in response to a wave of sabotage. In retaliation, the people of Copenhagen underwent a massive civil strike. ww2dbase [TH]
  • Major General James Doolittle authorized Operation Aphrodite. ww2dbase [Operation Aphrodite and Operation Anvil | James Doolittle | CPC]
Australia
  • HMS Cumberland deployed on patrol in Indian Ocean and called at Fremantle, Australia. ww2dbase [Cumberland | Fremantle | DS]
Australian New Guinea Burma
  • Gurkha troops of the Chindits and Chinese troops captured Mogaung, Burma. ww2dbase [Operation Thursday | Mogaung | CPC]
  • Brigadier-General Theodore F. Weasels took over command of the Myitkyina Task Force from the sick Brigadier-General Haydon Boatner following another bout of malaria. ww2dbase [Battle of Myitkyina | Myitkyina | AC]
  • Brigadier General Theodore Wessels relieved Haydon Boatner as the commanding officer of American and Chinese troops in the Myitkyina, Burma region. ww2dbase [Battle of Myitkyina | Myitkyina | CPC]
China
  • Japanese troops reached Hengyang, Hunan Province, China, site of an important US air base, but were checked by the 15,000-strong Chinese 10th Army supported by US 14th Air Force's B-25 Mitchell and P-47 Thunderbolt aircraft which made constant attacks on the Japanese supply lines. ww2dbase [Operation Ichigo | Hengyang, Hunan | AC]
Czechoslovakia Finland
  • Finnish troops counterattacked Soviet troops west of Lake Leitimojärvi near Tali (Paltsevo), Finland, destroying the Soviet 27th Tank Regiment and pushing the Soviets back to the line the Soviets held one day prior. ww2dbase [Battle of Tali-Ihantala and Battle of Vuosalmi | Tali | CPC]
  • Lennart Oesch was awarded the Mannerheim Cross. ww2dbase [Lennart Oesch | CPC]
Germany
  • Alexander Löhr was mentioned in the Wehrmachtbericht daily radio report. ww2dbase [Alexander Löhr | CPC]
Hawaii Japan Poland
  • The crematoria in Auschwitz-II Birkenau in occupied Poland received four sieves for sifting bones out of human ashes. Up above, Allied aircraft took photographs of the Auschwitz camps complex at the altitude of about 30,000 feet (about 10,000 meters). ww2dbase [Auschwitz Concentration Camp | Discovery of Concentration Camps and the Holocaust | Oswiecim | CPC]
  • 72 B-17s departed Poltava and Myrhorod, Ukraine, rendezvoused with 55 P-51s from Pyriatyn, bombed the oil refinery and railway marshalling yard at Drohobycz (Drohobych), Poland (1 returned to the USSR because of mechanical trouble), and then proceeded to Italy as part of Operation Frantic’s shuttle-bombing plan. ww2dbase [B-17 Flying Fortress | P-51 Mustang | Operation Frantic | Drohobycz | DS]
  • Togo's repairs at Gotenhafen, Germany (occupied Gdynia, Poland) was completed. ww2dbase [Togo / Coronel | Gdynia, Pomorskie | CPC]
United Kingdom
  • The first V-1 bomb to drop on London, England, United Kingdom on this day hit Elfin Road in Camberwell at 0130 hours, killing three and demolishing 18 houses. The US Naval Armed Guard Service vessel William A. Jones brought down a bomb whilst on patrol off the French Normandie coast. One US Naval Officer said "We never could get used to those buzz bomb attacks. Kinda like an artillery shell: as long as you can hear them you know that you are OK. When the noise of the buzz bomb stopped you had an instant cure for haemorrhoids." The Mosquito XIII night fighters of 96 Squadron from RAF Ford were getting used to the method of attacking the bombs and brought down six between 0030 and 0334 hours. ww2dbase [V-Weapons Campaign | London, England | HM]
United States Photo(s) dated 26 Jun 1944
A US Army major looked over Cherbourg from one of the concrete pillboxes above the city, 26 Jun 1944British Wildcat fighter of the No 846 Squadron Fleet Air Arm in flight over the coast of Northern Ireland, United Kingdom, 26 Jun 1944Lance Corporal Lodge of 278th Field Company, British Royal Engineers holding a captured German 3 HL shaped charge, near Caen, France, 26 Jun 1944Plan view, forward, of Drayton taken from a crane at the Mare Island Navy Yard, California, United States, 26 Jun 1944
See all photos dated 26 Jun 1944

26 Jun 1944 Interactive Map

Timeline Section Founder: Thomas Houlihan
Contributors: Alan Chanter, C. Peter Chen, Thomas Houlihan, Hugh Martyr, David Stubblebine
Special Thanks: Rory Curtis




Did you enjoy this article or find this article helpful? If so, please consider supporting us on Patreon. Even $1 per month will go a long way! Thank you.

Share this article with your friends:

 Facebook
 Reddit
 Twitter

Stay updated with WW2DB:

 RSS Feeds

Search WW2DB
Famous WW2 Quote
"With Germany arming at breakneck speed, England lost in a pacifist dream, France corrupt and torn by dissension, America remote and indifferent... do you not tremble for your children?"

Winston Churchill, 1935


Support Us

Please consider supporting us on Patreon. Even $1 a month will go a long way. Thank you!

Or, please support us by purchasing some WW2DB merchandise at TeeSpring, Thank you!