Air Operations, Carolines

• Carrier aircraft from Task Group 58.2 and 58.3 attack various targets in the Palau Islands.
• Carrier aircraft from Task Group 58.1 attack and photograph Fais Island, Ngulu Island, and the Sorol, Ulithi, and Yap atolls.
• FEAF B-24s attack the Woleai Atoll.

Air Operations, CBI

• 9 10th Air Force B-25s attack stores at Mohnyin. 42 10th Air Force P-40s attack the Myitkyina area.
• 16 P-51s attack the Kamaing and Mogaung areas.
• 20 fighter-bombers attack Bhamo, Hopin, Mandalay, Myothit, and Wuntho.

• 27 341st Medium Bomb Group B-25s and 3 14th Air Force P-40s attack the city walls at Tengchung in support of an attack by Chinese Army ground forces.
• 32 P-38s and P-40s attack targets of opportunity in and around Lungling, Mangshih, and Tengchung.
• 97 P-40s attack numerous targets in eastern China, including the airfield at Hengyang, Changsha, Leiyang, and other cities.

Air Operations, East Indies

During the night, 63rd Heavy Bomb Squadron SB-24s attack targets on Ceram and Halmahera.

Air Operations, Europe

Fighter-bombers of the US 5th Air Force, on the shuttle between USSR and Italy, make a successful attack on enemy installations in the area between Ploesti and Bucharest, in Rumania.

• 178 Lancasters and 9 Mosquitos of No. 5 Group carry out an accurate attack on the railway yards at Givors.
• 4 Lancasters and 2 Mosquitos are lost.

• 30 Mosquitos are sent to Hamburg, 11 to Somain and 2 to Saarbrücken, 6 Lancasters lay mines off Heligoland, 6 aircraft are on Resistance ops, and there are 23 Mosquito patrols and 6 RCM sorties.
• 1 Mosquito is lost on the Hamburg raid.

Air Operations, Marianas

• 41st Medium Bomb Group B-25 gunships and 318th Fighter Group P-47s support US Marine Corps ground forces on Tinian.
• US Marines capture the 4,700-foot Ushi Point airfield on Tinian.

Air Operations, New Guinea

• V Bomber Command B-24s attack Babo and Ransiki.
• B-25s attack Langgoer.
• B-25s, A-20s, and V Fighter Command fighter-bombers attack many coastal targets.

Burma-China

Preceded by aerial bombing, the Chinese forces attack Teng-chung, east of the Salween, and take the Lai-feng, a rocky peak that overlooks the access roads to the town. They also mount an assault from the southest, but are driven off.

Eastern Front

Units of 1st Ukraine Front reach the Vistula west of Lublin and east of Radom and capture Deblin. Farther north Narva, in Estonia, is taken by troops of the Leningrad Front, detached from the relatively quiet Finnish front.[MORE]

Germany, Home Front

Goebbels makes a radio announcement on the attempted assassination of Hitler: 'Never again will the Almighty reveal Himself to us as He has just done in saving the Führer. His intention was to let us know that it is for us now to work for victory. Let us go to it.'

Some 7,000 suspected plotters against Hitler's life will be rounded up across Germany and questioned by the Gestapo. Many are tortured and killed.

Guam

Supported by 8 battalions of artillery, the US Marines and infantry begin mopping up on the Orote peninsula, advancing a mile through very difficult marshy jungle. Strong Japanese attacks on the northern beachhead are driven off by the 3rd Marine Div.

New Guinea

The fighting in the Aitape sector continues. On Biak and Numfoor also the Japanese resistance still goes on.

Pacific

• The US submarine Golet (SS-361) is reported as presumed lost in the Pacific Ocean area.
• The US submarine Robalo (SS-273) sinks off western Palawan, Philippine Islands, due to unknown causes.
• The Japanese submarine I-29 is sunk by the US submarine Sawfish (SS-276) in the Luzon Strait, Philippine Islands.

South Africa, Home Front

The exiled Shah of Iran, Riza Khan Pahlavi, dies at the age of 67.

Tinian

The 4th and 2nd Marine Divs, who have now completed their landing, advance toward the south end of the island meeting slight resistance.

United States, Planning

Roosevelt meets MacArthur and Nimitz in Honolulu. MacArthur argues for an attack on the Philippines, but the navy suggests that they can be passed by and instead advocate Formosa as the next major strategic target. This debate is to become very heated and controversial.

Western Front

In the American VIII Corps sector the 8th Div cuts the road linking Lessay, on the west coast of the Cotentin peninsula, with Périers and the 90th Div establishes a bridgehead across the Sèves. The 1st Div of VII Corps captures Marigny and the 2nd Arm Div takes St Gilles and Canisy. East of St Lô the V Corps' offensive gets underway.

Images from July 26, 1944

An RAF Typhoon landing at a forward airstrip, as supply lorries pass in the foreground, 26 July 1944

Typhoon Landing at a Forward Airstrip

German Prisoners Being Issued Rations, 26 July 1944

Reconnaissance for 2nd Armored Division in Canisy (5.5 miles from St. Lô) after American artillery bombardment on 26 July 1944

2nd Armored Division Recon

King George VI Knights Gen Oliver Leese in the Field, Italy, 26 July 1944

King George VI is driven past cheering Indian troops on his way to a ceremony to invest Sepoy Kamal Ram with the Victoria Cross, Italy, 26 July 1944

King George VI Passing Indian Troops

The 2015th Fire Fighters at Nuthampstead spray foam on 42-102553 LIL 8 BALL (398th Bomb Group) after it crashed on take-off on a non-mission orientation flight. It overran the runway, hit a tractor, and caught fire

Fighting Fire on Crashed Take-off

Lt-Gen Crerar arrives in his Jeep for inspection on 26 July, 1944 - three days after his promotion to lead the 1st Canadian Army

Lt-Gen Crerar Arriving for Inspection

New Zealand Sherman tank, of the 20th Armoured Regiment, during the advance towards Florence, Italy, 26 July 1944. (Photo - George Kaye)

During the Advance toward Florence

75mm Howitzer Motor Carriage M8 Going through Marigny, 26 July 1944

'The Bottisham Four', four US Army Air Force North American P-51 Mustang fighters from the 375th Fighter Squadron, 361st Fighter Group, from RAF Bottisham, Cambridgeshire (UK), in flight, 26 July 1944

US Army Air Force North American P-51 Mustang Fighters

Jeeps (including a press vehicle) in the town square, Marigny (Manche), Normandy, 1944. (LIFE) Note: This would be on or just after 26 July 1944 (during Operation Cobra) when Marigny was liberated

In the Town Square, Marigny

Building in Yap town burning fiercely as result of bombing by TG 58.1. Aerial taken by plane from USS Yorktown (CV-10). TBF in foreground. 26 July 1944

Building in Yap Town Burning