Air Operations, Bonin and Volcano Islands

• Carrier aircraft from Task Group 58.1 and Task Group 58.3 attack Chichi Jima and Iwo Jima.
• 2 VF-13 F6Fs down a G4M 'Betty' bomber at sea at 0645 hours.
• A VF-2 F6F downs an H8K 'Emily' flying boat at sea at 0845 hours. A VF-2 F6F downs another H8K 'Emily' flying boat at sea at 1129 hours.
• A VF-8 F6F downs an H8K 'Emily' at sea at 1520 hours.

Air Operations, Carolines

FEAF B-24s attack the Yap Atoll.

Air Operations, CBI

• 14 10th Air Force B-25s attack Taungni and stores at Bilumyo. 50 10th Air Force P-51s attack the Taungni area.
• 21 P-47s attack many targets in the Bhamo area.
• 15 14th Air Force B-25s attack Wanling and 3 B-25s attack the airfield at Lashio.

• 36 14th Air Force P-40s attack Tengchung.
• More than 50 P-40s attack numerous targets in the Tungting Lake area.
• A 23d Fighter Group’s 75th Fighter Squadron P-40 downs a D3A 'Val' dive bomber over Hengyang at 0700 hours.
• 2 other 75th Fighter Squadron P-40s each down a Ki-43 'Oscar' fightr in an engagement over Sinshih at 0820 hours.

Air Operations, East Indies

• V Bomber Command B-24s attack oil facilities at Boela.
• B-25s attack occupied villages and small craft on the Celebes coast and in the Sunda Islands.
• VB-101 PB4Ys reconnoitering Celebes drop their bombs on various targets of opportunity.

Air Operations, Europe

Between June 14 and August 5 the Finnish 'ace', Maj Eino A. Luukkanen with 54 victories total, shoots down 20 Russian planes in his Me-109.

• 741 aircraft of Nos. 4, 5 6 and 8 Groups attack the flying bomb storage sites at Forêt de Nieppe and St Leu d'Esserent. Included in this total are 469 Halifaxes, 257 Lancasters and 16 Mosquitos. The bombing conditions are good, but 1 Halifax is lost on the St Leu d'Esserent raid.
• 31 Lancasters and 8 Mosquitos of No. 8 Group attempt to carry out small 'Oboe leader' raids on 4 launch sites, but only 9 aircraft succeed in bombing.
• There are no losses.
• 306 Lancasters of Nos. 1, 3 and 8 Groups attack oil storage targets on the Gironde River at Blaye, Bordeaux and Pauillac with excellent results. 1 Lancaster is lost on the Pauillac raid. 30 Mosquitos of No. 100 group escort these bombers without a loss.
• 15 Lancasters and 2 Mosquitos of No. 617 Squadron attack the U-boat pens at Brest and score 6 direct hits with 12,000-lb tallboys.
• 1 Lancaster is lost to flak.
• 14 Lancasters of No. 5 Group again attack the railway bridge at Étaples, but the target is soon covered in smoke and dust and no results are observed.
• There are no losses.

•   35 Mosquitos attack the synthetic oil plant at Wanne-Eickel without a loss. The markers appear to be well-placed and 2 fires are observed.

• 3 Halifaxes lay mines off Brest, 6 aircraft are on Resistance ops and there are 2 RCM and 5 OTU sorties.
• There are no losses.

Air Operations, Marianas

41st Medium Bomb Group B-25s attack ground targets in northern Guam. 1 B-25 is downed and all aboard are killed. This is the only USAAF airplane lost in the 24 tactical missions mounted over Guam between August 3 and August 8.

Air Operations, New Guinea

• V Bomber Command B-24s attack a seaplane base at Kokas.
• V Fighter Command P-39s attack barges near Geelvink Bay and artillery positions and an ammunition dump at Luain.
• A 419th Night Fighter Squadron P-61 crew downs a Ki-21 'Sally' bomber near Noemfoor Island at 0204 hours.

Air Operations, Philippines

During the night, 1 63rd Heavy Bomb Squadron SB-24 attacks the Sasa airfield on Mindanao. This is the first in a series in minor nuisance night raids against targets on Mindanao.

Australia, Home Front

Japanese PoWs attempt a mass break-out from a camp in Coworra, New South Wales. 334 Japanese manage to escape, but Australian machine gun fire kills 234 Japanese and wounds 108 others. 3 guards are killed in the incident.

Eastern Front

The Russians bring a new army group, Ivan E. Petrov's 4th Ukraine Front into their line south of the 1st Ukraine Front in southern Poland and northern Hungary.

The fighting in Latvia intensifies as the 4th Shock Army attacks from Krustpils in an effort to drive along the Dvina to Riga. The right wing of the 18th Army absorbs the attack, slowing Soviet progress to a crawl.

The Luftwaffe arrives over Warsaw and bombs the Wola suburb, killing thousands of civilians. The Home Army goes onto the defensive, having gained control of three-fifths of the city. German troops launch a fierce attack and after a bloody battle, capture the Saxon Gardens and Bruehl Palace. This splits the Polish pocket in two. An immediate Polish counterattack forces the Germans onto the defensive but they remain between the two groups.

Hitler makes it clear that he wants Warsaw wiped from the map. the army and SS being given a free hand against the Poles. In just 5 days' fighting the Poles have lost 15,000 killed, The Germans launch a strong counterattack against the Magnuszew bridgehead, hitting the 8th Guards Army with the redeployed Herman Göring Para Panzer Division. Despite heavy fighting the Germans are halted after little progress.

Guam

Fighting intensifies as US Marines and infantry push about 3 miles up the island against fanatical Japanese resistance. By this point in the fighting, the Japanese have lost more than 8,100 men. Some 22,000 civilians are sheltering behind US lines.

Italy

South African troops enter Florence to find it badly damaged despite Kesselring declaring it an open city.

Occupied Poland

The Home Army in Warsaw has suffered 15,000 casualties as it tries to hold out against heavy German land and aerial assaults. It controls three-fifths of the city, but the Germans have split the Polish-occupied territory in two.

Pacific

2 squadrons of US aircraft carriers under Rear-Adms Joseph J. Clark and Alfred E. Montgomery, with a squadron of cruisers and destroyers under Rear-Adm Laurence T. DuBose, bomb and shell military installations on Cuchi Jima and Haha Jima, in the Bonin Islands. The day before, Montgomery's squadron has attacked airfields on Iwo Jima, and DuBose's squadron has intercepted a Japanese convoy near Chichi Jima, sinking transport No. 2.

Western Front

In Brittany Gen Troy Middleton's VIII Corps attacks simultaneously to the west, southwest and south. While the 6th Arm Div continues to advance westward toward Brest and the 83rd Div attacks the outer defenses of the fortress of St Malo, units of the 4th Arm Div liberate Vannes. Further east the 90th Div of Gen Wade Haislip's XV Corps seizes Mayenne and the 79th Div approaches Laval.

In the US 1st Army sector, the advance of the VII Corps southeast of Mortain continues, while the 29th Div of XIX Corps pushes on toward Vire and the V Corps prepares to seize the region between Tinchebray and St Jean-du-Bois.

Images from August 5, 1944

Pierre Lefevre, a Free French war correspondent, making a broadcast as a Sherman Firefly tank moves up to the battle area, 5 August 1944.

War Correspondent Making a Broadcast

Mosquito FB Mark XVIII, NT225 'O', of No. 248 Squadron RAF Special Detachment based at Portreath, Cornwall, in flight. This version is sometimes referred to as the 'Tsetse'.

Mosquito FB Mark XVIII

Wrecked German Tiger tanks in the rubble of Villers Bocage after the British had captured the town, 5 August 1944.

Wrecked German Tiger Tanks

A Knocked-out Cromwell of the 7th Armored Division, 5 August 1944

Battalion Zoska soldiers during the Warsaw Uprising in Gesiówka, 5 August 1944. The men are dressed in stolen German uniforms and armed with confiscated German weapons

Zoska Soldiers during the Warsaw Uprising

Polish Resistance Righter during the Warsaw Uprising, August 1944

Nazis use 'Ukrainians' to massacre civilians in Warsaw - A German picture of members of the 'Dirlewanger Brigade', criminals enlisted by the Germans and associated with numerous atrocities.

Members of the 'Dirlewanger Brigade'