Air Operations, Carolines

FEAF B-24s attack Fais Island and the Yap Atoll.

Air Operations, CBI

• 10th Air Force B-25s attack 4 bridges in the Mawhun and Naba areas.
• 10th Air Force fighter-bombers support Allied ground forces at Taungni and attack the airfield at Onbauk and bridges and targets of opportunity across northern Burma.

• A lone 308th Heavy Bomb Group B-24 sinks an Italian cargo ship in the Whangpoo River near Shanghai.
• 27 14th Air Force P-40s attack the Hengyang area.
• 21 P-40 fighter-bombers attack Changsha.
• 4 P-40s bomb the city wall and town area at Tengchung.
• 6 P-40s attack Hsiaoshuipu.

Air Operations, East Indies

V Bomber Command B-24s attack the Galela and the Lolobata airfields on Halmahera.

Air Operations, Europe

• 25 Lancasters and 2 Mosquitos are sent to bomb the U-boat pens at Lorient but are recalled before bombing. 1 Wellington flies an RCM sortie.
• There are no losses.

• 1,019 aircraft are sent to hit 5 target areas in front of Allied ground troops. Include in the aircraft total are 614 Lancasters, 392 Halifaxes and 13 Mosquitos. The attacks are carefully controlled and only 660 aircraft drop their bombs. The German strongpoints and the roads around them are left well-cratered.
• 10 Lancasters are lost.

• 4 Mosquitos are sent to the Coulommiers airfield, 18 Halifaxes and 11 Stirlings lay mines off Brest, 6 aircraft are on Resistance operations, and there are 11 Mosquito patrols and 48 RCM sorties.
• There are no losses.

Air Operations, Marianas

Massive air, artillery, and naval bombardments support what is hoped will be the final drive by US ground forces to clear Guam of Japanese forces. 16 41st Medium Bomb Group B-25s and 80 318th Fighter Group P-47s based on Saipan participate in the effort, as do 30 VC-5 TBMs from the USS Kitkun Bay.

At 0600 hours, VMF-225, in F4Us, mounts Marine Air Group 21’s first combat air patrol from the Orote airfield on Guam. As a result, US carrier aircraft are no longer required to provide general air cover for the island. VMF(N)-534, in F6F night fighters, is also declared fully operational at the Orote airfield, relieving US carrier-based night fighters of night-patrol responsibilities over the island.

Opening a long campaign aimed at neutralizing Japanese bases in the Mariana Islands that are to be bypassed, VMF-217, in F4Us, attacks targets on Rota Island.

Eastern Front

The Russians are contained by the Wehrmacht almost everywhere. In any case the Russians have to suspend their summer offensive for a time after advancing nearly 450 miles in order to reorganize their over-stretched supply lines. In 3 months the Red Army has advanced from the Dnieper to the Vistula, a distance of over 400 miles. The Russian forces advance in the Carpathian foothills to take Sambor southwest of Lvov.

Sombor falls to the 1st Guards Army of the 4th Ukrainian Front.

Guam

The 3rd Marine Div, the 77th Inf Div and the 1st Marine Bde, following a heavy barrage, launch a heavy attack against Yigo and Mount Santa Rosa. They succeed in taking Yigo, but their advance to the peaks of Mount Santa Rosa is slowed by fierce Japanese resistance and by the extremely dense vegetation in the jungle. During the night the Japanese counterattack with tanks, but are driven back.

New Guinea

On Biak Island the US 162nd Regt advances along the track from Sorido to Korim Bay to link up with the 163rd Regt, which has been operating against the Japanese in the north of the island.

Occupied France

The Resistance destroys 19 transport aircraft at the SNCAC factory, Bourges.

Occupied Poland

The Germans liquidate the Lodz Ghetto; deportations to Auschwitz concentration camp begin. Trapped Jews try to hide in the hope of surviving until the Red Army can liberate the town. However, the Germans comb the ghetto and will eventually transport 74,000 Jews from the ghetto to the gas chambers at Auschwitz.

Pacific

• The Japanese light cruiser Nagara is sunk by the US submarine Croaker (SS-246) west of Kyushu, Japan.
• The Japanese frigate Kusagaki is sunk by the US submarine Guitarro (SS-363) in the Philippine Islands area.

Western Front

The Germans begin an important counterattack, Operation LUTTICH, ordered by Hitler just east of Mortain. German armored divisions penetrate into the American positions between between VII and XIX(XIV?) Corps. The attackers are from 2nd and 116th Pzr Divs. Mortain is retaken by the Germans as they reach Le Mesnil-Tôve, but heavy Allied air attacks help to prevent any more serious loss. The VII and XIX Corps, duly reinforced, prepare to counterattack.

The 6th Arm Div, VIII Corps, reaches Brest in the evening, but it is too late for an assault on the city, and anyway the Americans do not have the equipment necessary for an operation on that scale. The Germans are thus allowed to reinforce their garrison and complete their defense. The 83rd Div continues the battle for St Malo, while on the south coast the 4th Arm Div attacks Lorient.

During the night the Canadian II Corps launches an offensive southwest of Caen in the direction of Falaise after violent bombing from the air. More that 1,000 RAF heavy bombers drop in excess of 3,000 tons of bombs on the German positions.

Images from August 7, 1944

A Sherman Firefly crew of 1st Northamptonshire Yeomanry load ammunition into their vehicle before the start of Operation TOTALISE, 7 August 1944

Loading Ammunition

A battery of 105mm guns from the US 84th Field Artillery Bn firing from positions on the edge of a Normandy field.

US Artillery in Action

Shattered German Armored Column from the Battle of Mortain.

A view from HMS Pursuer of other assault carriers in the naval task force which took part in the landings in the south of France, 7 August 1944

Naval Task Force in South of France Landings

Priest’ Kangaroo armored personnel carriers with troops of the 4th Canadian Infantry Brigade, 2nd Canadian Infantry Division aboard, on the evening of 7 August 1944 prior to the launch of Operation TOTALIZE. (Source: 1 CACR Association & Archive.)

Armored Personne Carriers

US Troops in Mortain, August 1944

Japanese-American mortar crew of 100th Infantry Battalion, US 442nd Regimental Combat Team firing into suspected German sniper positions, Montenero area, Italy, 7 August 1944

Japanese-American Mortar Crew

M3A3 Stuart light tank of the French 2nd Armored Division, enters a village near Avranches, circa 7 August 1944

M3A3 Stuart Light Tank