Air Operations, Carolines

• FEAF B-24s attacking th Yap Atoll are challenged by Japanese Navy fighters making use of phosohorous bombs.
• 28 VII Bomber Command B-24s attack the Truk Atoll.

Air Operations, CBI

• 6 10th Air Force B-25s attack rail facilities at Mohnyin, and 1 B-25 attacks Naba.

• 41 14th Air Force P-40s attack Japanese Army troops and transportation targets in the Changsha area and at Sinshih, and military targets at Hengyang.
• A 23rd Fighter Group P-40 downs an E13A 'Jake' reconnaissance plane near Changsha at 0500 hours.

Air Operations, Europe

• 52 aircraft including 45 Halifaxes, 5 Mosquitos and 2 Lancasters attack a flying bomb site at Anderbeck. Results from this raid are unknown, but there are no losses.
• 2 Mosquitos fly Ranger patrols to the airfields at Aalborg, Grove and Jagel. German aircraft seen on the ground are hit in the attack.
• There are no losses.

• 33 Mosquitos are sent to Berlin, 6 Halifaxes and 6 Lancasters lay mines in the Frisians and in the Kattegat, and there are 18 Mosquito patrols and 20 RCM sorties.
• 1 Mosquito Intruder is lost.

Air Operations, Marianas

• US Marine Corps and US Army ground forces invade Guam, and elements of the Marine Air Group 21 headquarters land with the landing force.
• From dawn until the landings, the pre-invasion air, naval, and artillery bombardment of Tinian Island is intensified. In the day’s first air attack, 9 VB-14 (USS Wasp) SB2Cs attack Japanese Army ground positions on Cabras Island at 0615 hours. Between 0715 and 0815 hours, 53 TBFs, 62 SB2Cs, and 85 F4Fs from Fleet Carrier Air Group 14 (USS Wasp) and Fleet Carrier Air Group 1 (USS Yorktown) sweep 14 miles of Guam’s western shoreline from medium altitude (no lower than 1,500 feet) while US warships bombard the same area.

Air Operations, New Guinea

• V Bomber Command B-24s attack the airfield at Manokwari.
• B-25s attack shipping around the Vogelkop Peninsula.
• A-20s attack a barracks at Nabire.
• B-25s and A-20s attack But.
• V Fighter Command P-39s attack a bridge near But, Kairiru Island, and Wewak.

Eastern Front

Troops from Ivan Maslennikov's 3rd Baltic Front take Ostrov, south of Lake Peipus in their continuing attacks. In the central sector the 1st Belorussian Front, after crossing the Bug southwest of Kovel, is split into 2 columns, one advancing towards Lublin and the other toward Brest-Litovsk.

The Soviet 32nd Army is now at the Finnish border, having inflicted heavy losses on the Finns.

The Soviet 1st Shock Army captures Ostrov.

The Soviet 2nd Tank Army is approaching the Vistula River.

Efforts by the XIII Corps to break out of the Brody Pocket fail. The Germans move three divisions to Lvov to cover the northern approach to the city.[MORE]

Germany, Command

Gen Kurt von Zeitzler resigns his post as Chief of Staff at OKH (the Army High Command), with responsibility for the Eastern Front and is replaced by Gen Heinz Guderian, the genius of tank warfare. Himmler is appointed commander of the Home Army.

Italy

At the US 5th Army headquarters plans are drawn up for the attack on the 'Gothic' Line. In the British 8th Army sector elements of the New Zealand 2nd Div and the South African 6th Arm Div replace units of the French Expeditionary Corps. The French Expeditionary Corps is taken out of line to prepare for the ANVIL/DRAGOON operation, which is to invade the south of France on August 15, 1944. After sunset the German troops begin to withdraw from the Citta di Castello salient, leaving the field open to the British X Corps.

Marianas

Troops of Gen Roy Geiger's III Amphibious Corps land on Guam. The naval force is commanded by Rear-Adm Richard L. Connolly and among the vessels in his TF 53 are 6 battleships and 5 escort carriers. Three groups of TF 58 also send their carrier aircraft to attack on July 21 and 22. Gen Allen H. Turnage's 3rd Marine Div is landed west of Agana at Asan and the 1st Marine (Lemuel C. Shepherd) lands near Agat. Eventually in the campaign 54,900 American troops are landed. The Japanese defense is 19,000 strong under the command 29th Inf Div (Hyo Takashima). Gen Hideyoshi Obata who commands the 31st Army is also on the island.

When the landings go in there is only moderate resistance on the beaches. The Marines establish a beachhead more than 2 miles wide and 1 mile deep. Infantry of the 77th Div land near Agat to reinforce the southern beachhead. The island was seized from the Americans on December 23, 1941 and re-christened by the Japanese 'Bird Island'.

New Guinea

In the Aitape sector the Americans reinforce their positions on the Driniumor River. The Japanese send in another violent attack over the Driniumor River near Aitape which lasts until morning. To begin with they achieve some success in surrounding some units of the US 112th Cav, but later are held.

Occupied France

Gen Otto von Stülpnagel, the anti-Nazi commander is Paris, commits suicide.

Soviet Union, Home Front

The Moscow-based Union of Polish Patriots are renamed the Polish Committee of National Liberation. They are officially recognized as the 'legitimate' Polish Government on August 15. (by the Soviet Union?).

The Soviets form the Polski Komitet Wyzwolenia Narodowego (PKWN - Polish Committee of National Liberation) from the NKVD-controlled Union of Polish Patriots. It will later be known as the Lublin Committee and will become the official legal authority, according to the Soviets, in liberated territory.

In January 1945, the Lublin Committee became a provisional government recognized by the Soviet Union. The Lublin Committee was opposed to the Polish Home Army, the military arm of the Polish government-in-exile in London.

Today the PKWN is flown into the town of Helm, and tomorrow it will issue its pro-Soviet political manifesto.

Images from July 21, 1944

US Officers Plant Flag Eight Minutes after Troops Begin Landing on Guam, 21 July 1944

Light cruiser USS St Louis bombarding Guam, 21 July 1944. Note camouflage Measure 32, Design 2c.

Light Cruiser USS St Louis Bombarding Guam

Jeeps in the Flooded Village of Bretteville l’Orgueilleuse, Normandy, 21 July 1944

Marines on Guam Move Up behind M4 Sherman Tank, July 1944

US Marines with Third Marine Division and the First Marine Provisional Brigade during the Guam assault, 21 July 1944

US Marines during Guam Assault

ATS girls operate a rangefinder at a 3.7-inch anti-aircraft gun site firing against V1 flying bombs, 21 July 1944

ATS Girls Operate a Rangefinder

(L to R) Lt Gen Omar Bradley 1st Army, Maj. Gen Leonard Gerow V Corps Gen Dwight Eisenhower Supreme Commander Allied Expeditionary Force Lt Gen Lawton Joseph "Lightning Joe" Collins VII Corps on 21 July 1944

US Commanders

Marine M-3 75mm Gun Motor Carriage halftracks blast away at Japanese positions on a Guam ridge, 21 July 1944. The 75mm guns cleared a patch at the center of the ridge, enabling the Leathernecks to capture this position.

Marine M-3 75mm Gun Motor Carriage Halftracks Blast Away

A Canopy of Smoke Rises from the Shores of Guam as Navy Guns and Planes Hammer the Japanese Base, 21 July 1944

Guam Invasion - 21 July 1944

US Marines Use LVT AMTRACs to Land on Coral Reefs, Guam, Mariana Islands, 21 July 1944

Third Division Marines come ashore at H-Hour on Guam, 21 July 1944. Infantrymen at right are running forward off the beach

Marines Come Ashore at H-Hour