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THE DAY IN HISTORY · JUNE 4

June 4 in history

What happened on June 4: 3 moments from the Maps of History atlases, in 1928, 1940 and 1942, each linked to the map that shows it.

— Huanggutun Incident

4 Jun 1928 — Japanese Kwantung Army officers dynamite Zhang Zuolin’s train under his own capital, gambling his death will deliver Manchuria. His son Zhang Xueliang instead raises the Nationalist flag. Tokyo punishes no one — the army has learned it can make policy by murder.

READ THIS MOMENT → · SEE IT ON THE CHINA IN REVOLUTION MAP → · THE FULL STORY →

— Dunkirk evacuation

26 May–4 Jun 1940 — 338,000 Allied soldiers are lifted off the beaches. An army escapes; France falls.

READ THIS MOMENT → · SEE IT ON THE WW2 MAP → · THE FULL STORY →

Midway: in five minutes of dive-bombing, three Japanese fleet carriers are set ablaze. The Pacific war pivots in a morning.

READ THIS MOMENT → · SEE IT ON THE WW2 MAP →

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