WESTERN FRONT German Panzers counter-attack US forces in Mortain-Vire sector (begins night August 6- 7). AIR WAR: PACIFIC B-24 Liberators bomb Davao (Philippines). Related articles Missed Opportunities: The Allies in Europe from Mortain to Market Garden BRE integral to… learn more
WESTERN FRONT US armour reaches Redon (Brittany). British capture Villers Bocage. AIR WAR: EUROPE RAF blast open U-boat pens at Brest, using 12,000-lb bombs. AIR WAR: RUSSIAN FRONT Finnish ace, Major Luukkanen (54 victories) shoots down 20 Russian planes in… learn more
WESTERN FRONT British 2nd Army tanks reach Villers Bocage, for second time since ‘D-Day’. AIR WAR Gloster Meteor jet fighter in combat debut against V-1s. ITALY South African units of British 8th Army reach outskirts of Florence. HOME FRONT: FINLAND… learn more
WESTERN FRONT US tanks reach Rennes (Brittany). BURMA Chinese capture Myitkyina (Northeast Burma). SEA WAR: PACIFIC US carrier planes attack shipping in Bonin Islands (August 3 and 4). NEUTRALS: SPAIN Death of General Count Jordana, the moderate Foreign Minister; Succeeded… learn more
WESTERN FRONT Americans reach Vire, south of Caumont. SEA WAR ‘Linse’ (‘Lentil’) ‘explosive boats’ sink destroyer ‘Quorn’ (night August 2-3) DIPLOMACY Turkey breaks off diplomatic and commercial relations with Germany. learn more
OCCUPIED POLAND WARSAW RISING: Polish ‘Home Army‘ (Armija Krajawa) begins heroic 53-day struggle against German garrison. RUSSIAN FRONT 3rd Beylorussian Front captures Kaunas (Lithuania). WESTERN FRONT US 12th Army Group formed, under Bradley: including 1st Army (Hodges) and 3rd Army… learn more
WESTERN FRONT US 1st Army breaks through at Avranches. RUSSIAN FRONT Red Army 1st Beylorussian Front reaches outskirts of Warsaw. 3rd Beylorussian Front reaches Gulf of Riga, thereby cutting off German Army Group North. 2nd Beylorussian Front reaches East Prussian… learn more
SEA WAR: PACIFIC Operation Globe Trotter: Americans land at Sansapor, to complete , occupation of New Guinea northern coastline. learn more
Russian Front 3rd Byelorussian Front crosses river Niemen. learn more
Russian Front 1st Byeloruusian Front establishes 2 bridgeheads over river Vistula, south of Warsaw (July 28-August 2). Panzers and Luftwaffe carry out repeated, furious counter-attacks, north and south of Warsaw, throughout August. Brest-Litovsk captured by 1st Byeloruusian Front. New Guinea… learn more
Russian Front 2nd Byelorussian Front captures Rezekne rail junction; 1st Byelorussian Front captures Daugavpils (Latvia). learn more
Marianas Heavy artillery barrage heralds successful US attack on jungle-covered Orote Peninsular on Guma. Marines smash Japanese counter-attack on northern beachhead. Home Front USA Roosevelt, MacArthur and Nimitz confer in Honolulu. MacArthur argues successfully for liberation of Philippines, against Formosa… learn more
Air War Europe 8th and 9th USAAFs drop 4,000 t. bombs on German defences in small area near St Lo. Western Front Operation Cobra: 7th Corps of US 1st Army attacks across Periers-St Lo road and advances up to 3… learn more
Italy Americans reach Pisa. Sea War Pacific Americans land on Tinian (Mariana Islands). Home Front Germany Wehrmacht ordered to use Nazi salute. Related articles Battle of Tinian: Marine Corps Wins Home for Enola Gay learn more
Russian Front 3rd Byelorussian Front captures Pskov. 1st Byelorussian Front captures Lublin and Maidanek extermination camp. Occupied France Resistance sets fire to Engelbert tyre factory at Choisy-au-Bac. learn more
Occupied France SS destroy village of St. Gingolph. learn more
Sea War Pacific AMERICANS LAND ON GUAM (Mariana Islands). Home Front Germany Himmler appointed commander of Home Army; Guderian, COGS. Von Stülpnagel, anti-Nazi commander in Paris, commits suicide. Home Front Russia Moscow-based Union of Polish Patriots renamed Polish Committee of… learn more
Home Front Germany: HITLER NARROWLY ESCAPES ASSASSINATION. Colonel Count von Stauffenberg leaves bomb in conference room at Wolfsschanze (‘Wolfs Lair‘), Rastenburg, East Prussia. He then flies to Berlin to organize military coup, but this is badly bungled. Goebbels’and Fromm, commander… learn more
Italy Leghorn captured by 5th US Army. learn more
Home Front Japan TOJO RESIGNS, General Koiso and Admiral Yonai appointed Co-Premiers, July 19; General Umezu appointed COAGS. Western Front Americans capture St. Lo, south of Cotentin Peninsular. Operation Goodwood: British 2nd Army attacks east of Caen (July 18-21). Italy… learn more
