Air Operations, Carolines

• FEAF B-24s attack the Woleai and Yap atolls.
• VII Bomber Command B-24s attack the Truk Atoll.

Air Operations, CBI

• 10th Air Force B-25s attack Wanling, rail bridges between Myitkyina and Naba, and a road bridge at Panghkam.
• 10th Air Force P-47s and P-51s support Allied ground troops near Sahmaw and Taungni, and attack Mosit and Shwegu, a factory at Mohnyin, and Japanese Army artillery positions and ground troops at Maingna and Myitkyina.

• 23 308th Heavy Bomb Group B-24s attack Yoyang.
• 6 341st Medium Bomb Group B-25s attack Mangshih.
• Nearly 150 14th Air Force fighter-bombers attack targets of opportunity over a broad area, including the Salween River front.

Air Operations, East Indies

V Bomber Command B-25s attack oil-drilling facilities at Boela, Ceram.

Air Operations, Europe

• 1,114 aircraft carry out major raids on the Bois de Cassan, Forêt de Nieppe and Trossy St Maxim flying bomb storage sites. In the aircraft total are 601 Lancasters, 492 Halifaxes and 21 Mosquitos. 1 Lightning and 1 RCM aircraft accompany the raids. The weather is clear and all raids are successful.
• 5 Lancasters are lost on the Trossy St Maxim raid and 1 on the Bois de Cassan raid.

Air Operations, Marianas

41st Medium Bomb Group B-25 gunships and 318th Fighter Group P-47s, all based on Saipan, undertake their first mission in direct support of USMC and US Army infantry on Guam.

Air Operations, New Guinea

• Most of the 5th Air Force is grounded by bad weather, but V Bomber Command B-25s are able to support US Army ground troops on Biak and attack Urarom, MacCluer Gulf, and Japanese ground troops at Bira.
• A-20s and V Fighter Command fighter-bombers attack bypassed areas.

Battle of the Atlantic

Linse ('Lentil') explosive boats, or human torpedoes, sink the destroyer Quorn. 4 officers and 126 ratings are killed.

Burma-China

Units of the Chinese 50th Div take Mytkyina, capturing 187 Japanese, almost all sick or wounded. The rest of the Japanese garrison has either escaped or been killed. The long struggle, which has cost the Chinese 972 and the Americans 272 killed and 3,189 Chinese and 955 Americans wounded, is a most valuable victory for the Allies, since it reopens land communications between India and China.

On the Salween front the Chinese 8th Army attacks Teng-chung and Sung Shan.

Eastern Front

Ivan Konev's troops, the 1st Ukraine Front, seize crossings over the Vistula just south of Sandomierz itself 110 miles south of Warsaw.

Army Group North has been struggling to concentrate its forces near Riga to re-establish contact with the 3rd Panzer Army. The Soviet High Command begins to move the 5th Guards Tank Army up to support the 1st Baltic Front.

At Wolomin the Germans commit yet another division, the 5th SS Panzer Division Wiking hitting 2nd Tank Army. With heavy fighting inside Warsaw, the Red Army continues to throw forces across the Vistula. Heavy fighting rages around the Sandomierz and Baranow bridgeheads.

Guam

The US 77th Inf Div advances on the right flank, but the Japanese have evacuated the fortified positions in the jungle and retired to the north. The Americans take the village of Barrigada. On the left flank, the 3rd Marine Div goes ahead quickly, occupying Finegayan and pushing on towards Tumon Bay. American naval vessels shell Mount Santa Rosa, which overlooks the northern part of the island and on which the Japanese have concentrated.

English Channel

The British destroyer Quorn is sunk by a German explosive boat off the Normandy beaches. 130 of the crew are lost. The British naval trawler Gairsay is also sunk in the same way off the Normandy beaches with the loss of 5 of her crew.

New Guinea

In the Aitape area the Americans attack along the Niumen stream toward the Torricelli Mountains.

Offensive activity by the Japanese near the village of Afua dies down.

Pacific

Over the next 2 days US carrier planes attack shipping in the Bonin Islands. In the two days, at least 5 destroyers, 1 cruiser, 5 cargo vessels and 12 other vessels are sunk.

Spain

The death of Gen Count Jordana, the moderated Foreign Minister, is reported. He is succeeded by Sr Lequerica on August 11.

Western Front

In the 3rd Army sector, units of Middleton's VIII Corps begins the attack on Rennes while other units bypass the city. The assault on Rennes is opened by units of the 8th Div, while the 4th Arm Div moves on south of the city.

Mortain falls to the VII Corps of the 1st Army while further north the XIX and V Corps advance southeasward in the Vire River area.

In the British sector the 50th and 53rd Divs of the VII Corps take positions along the road between Villers-Bocage and Caen.

Images from August 3, 1944

Royal Scots Fusiliers, Supported by Churchill Tanks, Push Forward towards St Pierre Tarentaine, 3 August 1944

Churchill Tanks Carrying Infantry Advance towards St Pierre Tarentaine, 3 August 1944

US Artillery Firing on Enemy Positions in Ponsacco, Italy, 3 August 1944

Infantry Moving Cautiously through the Ruined Streets of Impruneta, Tuscany, 3 August 1944

US Artillery Crew Loads Weapon in Ponsacco, Italy, 3 August 1944

M8 Greyhound 82 Recon Battalion, 2nd Armored Division, St Sever Calvados, 3 August 1944

A British Sherman Tank Advancing through Impruneta, Tuscany, 3 August 1944

Churchill Tank Carrying Infantry in Saint-Pierre-Tarentaine, Normandy, 3 August 1944