This day in 1944, Some 80 Luftwaffe bombers attacked the Soviet-American Poltava Air Base in Ukraine. The bombs ignited 450,000 gallons of fuel and destroyed or damaged dozens of aircraft. The disaster infuriated many Americans because Soviet air defenses were completely ineffective. #WW2

This day in 1944, British troops of the 22nd Armoured Brigade were ambushed near Villers-Bocage by German Tiger tanks. In a devastating attack lasting only minutes, numerous British tanks, vehicles and anti-tank guns were destroyed, many by Michael Wittmann. German forces later attempted to seize the town itself but were ultimately repulsed. #WW2 #DDay

This day in 1944, US forces captured Rome, Italy. Rome had been declared an open city by the German Army so no resistance was encountered. However, US General Mark Clark ignored the opportunity to cut off and destroy a large part of the German 10th Army. #WW2

This day in 1942, the Battle of Midway began, fought almost entirely with aircraft, in which the US destroyed Japan's first-line carrier strength and most of its best trained naval pilots. The Battle of Midway is widely considered a turning point in the Pacific War. #WW2

This day in 1941, the Massacre of Kondomari. Fallschirmjäger of Luftlande-Sturm-Regiment 1 executed male civilians from the village of Kondomari as a reprisal following the Battle of Crete. The massacre was ordered after Cretan civilians had participated in the fighting and, in some cases, killed German paratroopers using knives, axes, scythes, and other improvised weapons. #WW2

This day in 1941, the German parachutists and glider-borne troops who led the invasion managed to secure the island of Crete, Greece. The battle ended with the evacuation to Egypt of the bulk of the Allied force. The remaining 5,000 defenders surrendered. #WW2

This day in 1943, the "Zoot Suit Riots" erupted between military personnel and Mexican American youths in Los Angeles. Servicemen and many other people saw the oversized Zoot suits a flagrant and unpatriotic waste of resources. Those who wear it were attacked and stripped. #WW2

This day in 1943, after 19 days of fighting, American forces recaptured Alaska's Attu Island from the Japanese Army, annihilating the remaining fighters. Many Japanese commited suicide or died in a final banzai charge. Of the 2,500 Japanese defenders, only 28 survived. #WW2

This day in 1941, Soviet spy Richard Sorge, a reporter in the German Embassy in Tokyo, informed Moscow that the Germans planned to attack in June. Stalin and other top leaders ignored Sorge's warnings, as well as those of other sources, including early false alarms. #WW2

This day in 1940, prototype XF4U-1, later known as the F4U Corsair, made its first test flight. The flight proceeded normally until a hurried landing was made when the elevator trim tabs failed because of flutter. #WW2

This day in 1935, the German Messerschmitt Bf 109 fighter aircraft flew its first successful test flight. Through constant development, the Bf 109 remained competitive with the latest Allied fighter aircraft until the end of the war. #WW2

This day in 1942, the Second Battle of Kharkov, Ukraine, ended in an overwhelming Axis victory. Some 240,000 Soviet soldiers ended in captivity, over 1200 tanks and 1800 guns and howitzers were destroyed. #WW2

This day in 1940, Le Paradis massacre, German soldiers of SS Division Totenkopf massacred 97 British POWs by machine gun fire. Two survivors of the massacre would later provide testimony against SS commander Knöchlein (sentenced to death by hanging). #WW2

This day in 1941, German battleship Bismarck was sunk by the combined effects of shellfire, torpedo hits and deliberate scuttling. The ship was sighted and crippled by British aircraft the day before. Out of a crew of over 2,200 men, only 114 survived. #WW2

This day in 1940, Operation Dynamo, the evacuation of Dunkirk, began. Over the next 9 days, more than 338,000 British, French, and other Allied troops were rescued from the beaches of Dunkirk. Meanwhile, tens of thousands of French soldiers fought desperate delaying actions against advancing German divisions to hold the perimeter. #WW2

American soldiers inspect a German Jagdtiger tank destroyer from Schwere Panzerjäger-Abteilung 653, 1945. #WW2

This day in 1944, German forces launched Operation Rösselsprung, a combined airborne and ground assault on the headquarters of the Yugoslav Partisans with the goal of capturing or killing Partisan leader Marshal Tito. Tito and his staff escaped. #WW2

Footage of German battleship Bismarck firing her guns on the British battlecruiser HMS Hood during the Battle of the Denmark Strait, 24 May 1941. Recorded from German cruiser Prinz Eugen. #WW2

This day in 1941, the pride of the Royal Navy, HMS Hood, exploded and sank after being hit during battle with German battleship Bismarck. Hood sank with 1418 men aboard, only 3 survived. The loss stunned Britain and launched the hunt to “Sink the Bismarck.” #WW2

This day in 1945, members of the Flensburg Government, including Albert Speer and the successor of Adolf Hitler, Reichspräsident Karl Dönitz, are arrested by the Allies, the end of Nazi Germany. #WW2