Air Operations, Carolines
- FEAF B-24s attack the Woleai Atoll.
- VII Bomber Command B-24s attack the Truk Atoll.
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]Air Operations, CBI
BURMA- 9 10th Air Force B-25s attack Japanese Army troops at Hopin.
- 20 10th Air Force fighter-bombers attack the Kamaing and Mogaung areas.
- 14 fighter-bombers support Allied ground troops near Myitkyina.
- 11 fighter-bombers attack a bridge at Mohnyin.
- 11 fighter-bombers attack various targets of opportunity.
- 12 308th Heavy Bomb Group B-24s attack rail yards at Wuchang.
- 341st Medium Bomb Group B-25s mount individual and two-plane attacks against airfields at Canton, Hengyang, and Wuchang, and town areas at Hankow, Hengshan, and Siangtan.
- More than 60 P-51s and P-40s attack lines of communication in and around Changsha, Hengyang, Kaishowkiao, Liling, Luchi, and Liuchow.
| ]Air Operations, East Indies
- V Bomber Command B-24s attack the Galela and Lolobata airfields on Halmahera.
- 345th Medium Bomb Group B-25s mount two anti-shipping sweeps around Halmahera.
- During the night, 63rd Heavy Bomb Squadron SB-24s attack targets on Ceram and Halmahera.
| ]Air Operations, Europe
RAF BOMBER COMMANDDaylight Ops:
- 127 Lancasters and 4 Mosquitos of Nos. 1 and 5 Groups carry out an accurate raid on the railway yards at Joigny La Roche in clear conditions.
- 1 Lancaster is lost.
- 97 Lancasters and 6 Mosquitos of Nos. 5 and 8 Groups attack the ends of a railway tunnel Rilly La Montage being used as a flying bomb storage facility. No. 617 Squadron caves in both ends of the tunnel with their Tallboy bombs and the other part of the bombing force craters all the approach areas.
- 2 Lancasters are lost, including the No. 617 Squadron aircraft of Flight Lieutenant William Reid, who had won a Victoria Cross in 1943 in a raid on Düsseldorf while flying with No. 61 Squadron. Flight Lieutenant Reid does survive.
- 52 Lancasters and 5 Mosquitos of Nos. 1 and 8 Groups bomb the port area at Le Havre, but the target soon becomes smoke-covered and the results are uncertain. 1 U-boat is believed to have been hit.
- 1 Lancaster is lost.
- 202 aircraft including 104 Lancasters, 76 Halifaxes and 22 Mosquitos of Nos. 1, 6 and 8 Groups attack 2 launch sites and 2 storage sites, but only the storage site at Forêt de Nieppe receives effective damage.
- 1 Halifax and 1 Lancastera are lost.
| ]Air Operations, Marianas
- 41st Medium Bomb Group B-25s gunships and 318th Fighter Group P-47s support US Marine ground forces on Tinian.
- US Marine ground troops on Guam are supported by extremely powerful air, naval, and artillery bombardments.
- C-47s of the 7th Air Force’s 9th Troop Carrier Squadron return to their base at Eniwetok with many wounded Marines aboard after flying emergency supplies to Tinian.
| ]Air Operations, New Guinea
- V Bomber Command A-20s support Australian Army forces in the Hansa Bay area.
- V Fighter Command P-39s attack villages on Geelvink Bay.
- 5th Air Force aircraft continue to attack targets throughout the bypassed coastal regions of northern New Guinea.
| ]Britain, Command
Adm Bruce Fraser takes command of the British Eastern Fleet in succession to Adm Sir James Somerville.
[ | ]Burma-India
The Japanese are in retreat along the Tiddam road, closely pursued by the divisions of the British IV Corps, which has been given the task of driving the enemy back across the Chindwin.
On the Arakan front the British XV Corps has during this period been engaged in actions designed to hinder Japanese troop movements into India.
[ | ]Eastern Front
In Latvia the 1st Baltic Front takes Jelgava, near the Gulf of Riga. If they reach the Gulf the Russians will cut off the German Army Group North. Forces of the 3rd Belorussian Front press on toward East Prussia and fight in the streets of Kaunas (Kovno), the capital of Lithuania. The 2nd Belorussian Front is also approaching East Prussia, while the 1st, making for Warsaw, takes Siedlice and Otwock only 12 miles southeast of the city. Russian troops reach positions within 10 miles of Warsaw as street fighting develops inside the city. Marshal Konstantin Rokossovsky's 1st Belorussian Front halts its drive toward warsaw. The Russians fear a German counterattack from the south and decide not to extend their bridgeheads over the Vistula. By now the Germans have rushed the SS Viking and the SS Totenkopf divisions, plus elements of the Hermann Göring and 19th Panzer divisions, to the Warsaw defense line.
FINLANDThe Soviet Karelian and Leningrad Fronts advance to the Finnish border.
LATVIAThe Soviet 51st Army reaches the Baltic west of the city of Riga, thus cutting off the German 16th and 18th Armies.
LITHUANIAThe Soviet 5th Army captures Kaunas, inflicting losses of more than 40,000 dead on the defending German IX Corps.
POLANDThe Soviet 47th Army takes Siedlce. The Soviet 2nd Tank Army enters Praga suburb of Warsaw but is then counterattacked by XXXIX and IV SS Panzer Corps (Totenkopf and Wiking Panzer Divisions), forcing it to retire.[MORE]
[ | ]Germany, Home Front
Guderian is to combine his existing duties as Inspector-General of Armored Troops with his new position as Chief of the Army General Staff.
[ | ]Guam
The 3rd Marine Div and 77th Inf Div follow up the enemy to the north, reaching a line running from Agana on the west coast to Yona on the east. The installations and the big airport build by the Americans are recaptured.
[ | ]New Guinea
With scarcely any opposition, the Americans extend their beachhead on Cape Sansapor, in the Vogelkop peninsula. In the Aitape sector, 4 American battalions cross the Driniumor and reach the Niumen stream, engaged by Japanese rearguard actions. There is also fighting near the village of Afua, where it is believed that at least 500 Japanese have been killed in the past 2 weeks.
[ | ]Soviet Union, Armed Forces
The stunning victories achieved by the Red Army thus far during Operation BAGRATION have, as usual, been bought at a heavy price in casualties: 1st Baltic Front, 41,000 killed and 125,000 wounded; 1st Belorussian Front, 65,000 killed and 215,000 wounded; 2nd Belorussian Front, 26,000 killed and 90,000 wounded; and 3rd Belorussian Front, 45,000 killed and 155,000 wounded.
[ | ]Tinian
The Marines continue their drive to liquidate the last enemy forces in the extreme south of the island. The American actions are supported by the usual fire from artillery, aircraft and warships.
[ | ]United States, Home Front
Pres Roosevelt's personal secretary, Marguerite A. Le Hand, dies at the age of 46.
[ | ]Western Front
The 6th Arm Div, after taking Granville on the coast, advances quickly southeast toward Avranches, where it takes over from the 4th Arm Div, which moves on south of the city, crossing the Selune near Pantaubault, The units of the VII Corps advance toward Brecey, while in the area of Tessy the Germans still hold up the advance of the XIX Corps.
Since June 6 the Allies have lost 122,000 men killed, wounded and missing, against German losses of 114,000 to which must be added 40,000 prisioners.
[ | ]Images from July 31, 1944
6th Armored Division near Sartilly Northwest from Avranches, 31 July 1944 |
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A Marine Column Advances Toward the Front |
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Men of 6th Airborne Division Signals Have a Game of Cricket, 31 July 1944 |
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US Troops Just Back from the Front Relax at a French Farmhouse, 31 July 1944 |
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A Sherman Firefly Passes a Scout Car crew during the Advance towards Aunay-sur-Odon, 31 July 1944 |
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A Column of Sherman Tanks of 2nd Irish Guards |
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Elements of the 25th Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron |
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The First LST Train Ferry (LSD-21) Arrives and Unloads the First Train, Cherbourt, 31 July 1944 |
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Medics of the 4th Armored Division |
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Cromwell Tanks Engage the Enemy during the Advance towards Aunay-sur-Odon, 31 July - 1 August |
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A Camouflaged Sherman DD Tank Advances along a Road during the Offensive South of Caumont, 31 July 1944 |
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M2 Radio Halftrack, with Generator on Trailer |
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