Air Operations, Carolines

• FEAF B-24s attack Utagal Island.
• 2 475th Fighter Group P-38s down a D3A 'Val' dive bomber and 2 A6M2-N 'Rufe' float planes over Koror Island in the Palau Islands.

Air Operations, CBI

• 8 10th Air Force B-25s attack the rail line between Hopin and Naba.
• 10th Air Force fighter-bombers attack Shwegu and a bridge near Mohnyin, and support Allied ground forces near Myitkyina and Taungni.

• 8 341st Medium Bomb Group B-25s attack the airfield at Wuchang.
• 2 B-25s attack Siangyin.
• More than 90 14th Air Force P-40s and P-51s attack numerous river targets and the airfield at Henyang.

Air Operations, East Indies

V Bomber Command B-24s attack the Namlea airfield on Boeroe.

Air Operations, Europe

• 777 aircraft are sent to bomb various V-weapons sites. Included in this total are 385 Lancasters, 324 Halifaxex and 67 Mosquitos. Only 79 aircraft bomb targets. The reason why the others do not are no reported by Bomber Command, but the most likely reason is poor weather conditions.
• No aircraft are lost.

Air Operations, Marianas

• Organized Japanese resistance on Tinian ceases.
• The 318th Fighter Group, 6th Night Fighter Squadron, and 41st Medium Bomb Group will continue to support US ground forces on Guam and conduct attacks against the bypassed Japanese bases on Pagan and Rota islands.

Air Operations, New Guinea

Most 5 Air Force aircraft are grounded by bad weather, but several B-25s and P-39s attack ground targets.

Battle of the Atlantic

The Kriegsmarine deploys radio-controlled Linsen assault boats against Allied shipping. These small vessels are packed with 600 pounds of explosives and account for the early loss of the destroyer HMS Quorn and various other vessels.

China

The Japanese still besiege Hengyang, frustrating attempts by the Chinese garrison to open a gap through the enemy lines.

The US 14th Air Force has carried out 4,454 missions since May 26 in support of the Chinese forces engaged in central east China.

Diplomatic Relations

An anti-Japanese Burmese government-in-exile is formed in India.

Eastern Front

Troops from Ivan Chernyakhovsky's 3rd Belorussian Front, heading for Königsberg in East Prussia, take Kaunas, capital of Lithuania. Elements of the 1st Baltic Front reach the Gulf of Riga about 25 miles west of the city. However, the Russians are unable to consolidate so as to capture Riga and isolate the German Army Group North from the rest of the German army. Many of the routes leading to east Prussia from the Baltic States, (described by the Germans as Ostland) are cut.

In Poland the patriots of the Home Army (Armija Krajowa), under 'General Bor' the nom de guerre of Gen Tadeusz Komorovski, begin open operations in Warsaw. This army is aligned politically with the exile government in London and, although by no means of one mind in political affairs, is generally anti-communist. The rising is timed so that when the Russians arrive in Warsaw, as they seem certain to do very shortly, they will find an established Polish government with the prestige of having liberated the national capital. However, the Russian accounts claim that because of the long rapid advance they have made during July, they are unable, for the moment, to move further.

The Russian advance halts suddenly at the suburb of Praga, the other side of the Vistula. The western position is that the Russians have stopped so that the Germans would do the job wiping out the anti-Soviet forces in Poland. The most telling point on the western side is the reluctance of the Russians to lend any help to British and American plans and, after much negotiation, attempts to drop supplies to the Poles. Needless to say, the insurgents are surrounded and virtually annihilated by the Germans. The remnants of the patriot forces surrender on October 2.[MORE]

Finland, Politics

President Risto Ryti resigns. Marshal Karl Gustav Mannerheim is chosen to replace him. The Finns hope this will facilitate negotiations with the Soviets.

Guam

US Marines and infantry pursue the enemy northwards, reaching a line that goes from the west coast north of Agana to Pago Bay on the east coast. They have taken more than half of the island.

New Guinea

Operations on Biak and on the Vogelkop peninsula continue on a small scale.

In the Aitape sector the Americans advance as far as the Niumen stream, stabilizing their advanced lines.

Occupied Poland

The Home Army in Warsaw rises against the German. Led by Gen Tadeusz Komorowski, there are 38,000 insurgents in the city. The Home Army is under the command of the government-in-exile in London, As such, it can expect little aid from the Soviets.

The Polish resistance - the 'Home Army' - in Warsaw rises as the Soviets approach. Commanded by Gen Tadeusz Bór-Komorowski, the Warsaw corps of 50,000 troops attacks the relatively weak German force and within three days gains control of most of the city. The Germans send in reinforcements and force the Poles into a defensive position, bombarding them with air and artillery attacks for the next 63 days. Meanwhile, the Red Army, which had been detained during the first days of the insurrection by a German assault, occupies a position at Praga, a suburb across the Vistula from Warsaw, and remains idle. In addition, the Soviet government refuses to allow the Western Allies to use Soviet airbases to airlift supplies to the beleaguered Poles.

Without Allied support, the Home Army is split into small, disconnected units. It was forced to surrender when its supplies gave out (October 2). Bór-Komorowski and his forces were taken prisoner, and the Germans then systematically deported the remainder of the city's population and destroyed the city block by block.

Tinian

All organized resistance by the Japanese comes to an end after the failure of their last counterattack. As usual the garrison has been completely wiped out. There are over 6,000 Japanese dead and 250 prisoners, an unusually large proportion. The Americans have lost 390 killed and 1,800 wounded.

United States, Home Front

Manuel Quezon, President of the Filipino Government-in-Exile, dies at the age of 65. Sergio Osmena is sworn-in.

Western Front

Gen Patton's 3rd Army becomes operational and takes position on the Allied right flank. The US forces are now organized as 12th Army Group (Bradley), 1st Army (Hodges) and 3rd Army. Patton has 4 Corps under his command - the VIII, XII, XV and XX. The VIII Corps, transferred from 1st Army, is commanded by Gen Troy Middleton, and consists of 4 divisions - the 4th Arm, 6th Arm, 8th and 79th. Miles Dempsey's British 2nd Army and Harry Crerar's 1st Canadian Army for 21 Army Group which Montgomery commands. As well as this post he still etains overall direction of the ground forces.

Patton's main task initially is to overrun Brittany, but some of his troops will head for Le Mans from the beginning. US 1st Army will advance on Mortain. The British and Canadians will continue to attack between Caumont and Caen. In this sector the British XXX Corps is at the moment advancing on Villers Bocage.

The XV Corps, under Gen Wade H. Haislip, consists of 2 infantry divisions, the 83rd and 90th, and the 5th Arm. The other 2 corps in the 3rd Army, the XII and XX, still being formed, are commanded by Gen Manton S. Eddy and Gen Walton H. Walker.

In the 1st Army sector, now commanded by Gen Hodges, as Gen Bradley has moved up to command the 12th Army Group, the VII and XIX Corps ocntinue their advance in the area of Vire, northeast of Avranches, which has been taken.

In the British sector the XXX Corps is advancing in the direction of Villers-Bocage.

Images from August 1, 1944

A Soldier Fires a PIAT near St Martin-des-Besaces, Normandy, 1 August 1944

Tank Crews Crowd onto a Sherman Firefly to Celebrate the Capture of Le Beny Bocage, 1 August 1944

The remains of Sherman tanks and carriers waiting to be broken up at a vehicle dump in Normandy, 1 August 1944. All salvageable parts have been removed and the remaining components are shipped back to Britain to be smelted down and used in the production of new vehicles

Normandy Salvage Yard

The commander of the French 2nd Armored Division (2e Division Blindée) comes ashore (left) and is welcomed by his Corps commander and immediate superior Maj. General Walton H Walker, Commander of XX US Corps.

Welcome Ashore

Four 1,000-lb bombs from a US Ninth Air Force B-26 Marauder bomber fall towards their target, the railway bridge over the Loire at Les Ponts-de-Ce, Angers, France, 1 August 1944. The attack was part of the Allied plan to disrupt the Germans’ ability to reinforce their forces in Normandy.

Bombs for Railway Bridge over the Loire

US Soldiers Taking Shelter

US Army soldiers take shelter and rest in the cellar of a building following heavy combat with German forces at Tessy-sur-Vire. On 1 August 1944, a company of the 120th Infantry Regiment advanced cautiously through the fields along the Vire river, meeting no resistance, it reached Tessy-sur-Vire in the afternoon. They were the first Americans to enter Tessy-sur-Ville and found themselves exposed and under fire from German soldiers who remained in the village to defend the bridge. The Americans were forced to retreat into the ruins, basements and fields stretching towards the railway station.

With its rocket rails empty, a No 175 Squadron Typhoon taxies between the trees at Le Fresne-Camilly (B-5) after returning from a close-support sortie, 1 August 1944. By this date communications with the ground forces had been improved, and standing patrols of Typhoons (‘cab ranks’) could be called down when needed by forward controllers manning mobile ‘visual control posts’ in the front line.

Typhoon After a Sortie

Carriers of the Queen’s Regiment drive through a cornfield as a German Panther tank burns in the background, during the advance towards Aunay-sur-Odon, 31 July – 1 August 1944

Carriers of the Queen’s Regiment