Air Operations, Carolines

• FEAF B-24s attack the Yap Atoll.
• During the night, 868th Heavy Bomb Squadron SB-24s attack Japanese airfields and defenses in the Palau Islands.

Air Operations, CBI

• 10th Air Force fighter-bombers support Allied ground forces around Sahmaw and Taungni, and attack Tagwin and a bridge near Hopin.

• 6 341st Medium Bomb Group B-25s attack rail targets near Hengyang.
• 36 P-51s and P-40s attack targets between Hengyang and Siangtan.
• 21 P-51s and P-40s attack a pontoon bridge and river traffic at Changsha and along the Yangtze River.

Air Operations, East Indies

V Bomber Command B-24s attack the Boela airfield on Ceram and the Liang airfield on Amboina.

Air Operations, Europe

Capt Antoine de Saint-Exupéry disappears during a reconnaissance flight from Corsica over occupied France. He was 44.

•   172 aircraft of Nos. 4 and 8 Groups attack 7 launch sites. Included in this total are 114 Halifaxes, 35 Mosquitos and 23 Lancasters. Visibility is clear and all attacks are successful.
• 3 Halifaxes are lost.
• 147 Halifaxes, 8 Lancasters and 5 Mosquitos of Nos. 4 and 8 Groups attack a fuel storage dump at Forêt de Mormal. A large column of thick smoke is seen rising from the target area at the end of the raid.
• There are no losses.
• 17 Lancasters and 1 Mosquitos of No. 5 Group are sent to hit an oil dump and 12 Lancasters of No. 617 Squadron and 1 Mosquito attack the U-boat pens at La Pallice. Smoke and haze at both sites prevent the results to be determined.
• There are no losses.
• 2 Halifaxes and 2 Wellingtons make RCM sorties without a loss.

• 311 aircraft of Nos. 1, 3, 6 and 8 Groups attack 4 launch sites and the storage site at Fort d'Englos. Included in the aircraft total are 171 Lancasters, 115 Halifaxes and 25 Mosquitos. All targets are accurately bombed with no aircraft losses.
• 176 Lancasters and 14 Mosquitos of Nos. 1 and 5 Groups successfully attack an oil storage facility at Forêt de Chatellerault.
• 2 Lancasters are lost.

• 3 Mosquitos are sent to Osnabrück, 16 Mosquitos lay mines in the Dortmund-Ems canal, 10 Lancasters lay mines off the Biscay ports, 20 aircraft are on Resistance operations, and there are 40 Mosquito patrols and 21 RCM and 15 OTU sorties.
• There are no losses.

Air Operations, New Guinea

• V Bomber Command B-25s attack Waigeo Island.
• A-20s attack the airfield at Nabire and Asap Island.
• A-20s and V Fighter Command fighter-bombers attack bypassed areas.
• Fighters strafe villages near Manokwari.

Atlantic

The US torpedo boat PT-509 is sunk by naval gunfire off the Isle of Jersey in the English Channel.

Burma-China

On the Salween front the Japanese carry out a successful raid against artillery emplacements and supply dumps in the Chinese 8th Army sector of Sung Shan.

In China, following the defeat at Hengyang, Marshal Li Chi-shen, President of the Military Consultative Committee, tells an American consul that the Eastern Chinese 'war lords' are about to set up a provisional government of national unity to drive out the Japanese invader. The new government will demand Chiang Kai-shek's resignation. The American reaction to this is anxiously awaited.

Eastern Front

The Russians assess their losses as the Finnish offensives wind down. The 7th and 32nd Armies have lost 17,000 killed and 46,700 wounded, while the 21st and 23rd Armies have lost 6,000 killed and 24,000 wounded.

France, Politics

An ordinance is issued by the Free French in Algiers declaring the Vichy government null and void.

Guam

The Americans continue mopping up in the northern part of the island. The Japanese units isolated in the extreme north will fight to the death rather than surrender.

New Guinea

All Japanese action ceases in the Aitape area.

Western Front

The Canadian II Corps continues to attack along the Caen-Falaise road but it is bogged down 8 miles north of Falaise. US 1st Army forces wheel to the northeast toward Argentan to join up with the Canadian troops in an attempt to close the Falaise gap.

The offensive by the divisions of the American VIII Corps, 3rd Army, continues throughout Brittany - the 6th Arm Div at Brest, the 83rd Div at St Malo, where German resistance is by now confined to the citadel, and the 4th Arm Div at Lorient. From Le Mans the divisions of the XV Corps move south toward Alençon.

In the Avranches sector the German counteroffensive loses some of its impetus, though there is still violent fighting.

Images from August 9, 1944

Men of the Durham Light Infantry Move Up during the Fighting South of Mont Pincon, Normandy, 9 August 1944

A British Infantryman Prepares to fire a PIAT Anti-tank Weapon, Normandy, 9 August 1944

Priest Infantry Carriers Move Up to the Front, 9 August 1944

German 75mm Anti-tank Gun Captured at Mont Pincon, 9 August 1944

REME fitters prepare to install a new engine into a Sherman tank at 8th Armoured Brigade workshops, 9 August 1944.

Installing a New Tank Engine

Saint-Malo, 9 august 1944. A French prostitute follows here former clients, German soldiers, out of town to avoid the anger of civilians.

German Soldiers Leaving Town

The Guam Operation Over

The Guam assault by the Third Marine Division and the First Marine Provisional Brigade came 20 July 1944, after a 17-day aerial and naval bombardment which established a record tonnage of explosives dropped on a Japanese position. Opposition on the beaches, as at Saipan, was vigorous and Marines in this wave leap from their LVT(1) amphibious tractor for the shelter of the sand dunes. The Marine advance was steady and the former American possession, captured by the Japs on 10 December 1941, was completely won by 9 August 1944.

Unidentifed member of Les Fusiliers Mont-Royal, May-sur-Orne, France, 9 August 1944