Air Operations, Carolines

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

Air Operations, CBI

• 10th Air Force B-25s attack Indaw and Mohnyin.
• 18 10th Air Force P-51s attack the Myothit area.
• 46 fighter-bombers attack numerous targets in northern Burma.
• 4 14th Air Force P-40s attack a bridge near Hsenwi.

Air Operations, East Indies

V Bomber Command B-24s and B-25s attack Ternate Island and other targets in the Molucca Islands.

Air Operations, Europe

RAF aircraft have begun dropping supplies and ammunition for the Polish insurgients in Warsaw.

• 805 aircraft including 411 Lancasters, 352 Halifaxes and 42 Mosquitos attack 7 German troop positions facing the Canadian 3rd Division which is advancing on Falaise. A careful plan is prepared with Oboe and visual marking, and with a Master Bomber and a deputy at each of the 7 targets. Most of the bombing is accurate and effective but, about half-way through the raids, some aircraft start to bomb a large quarry in which parts of the 12th Canadian Field Regiment are positioned. This mistake may have been caused by the yellow identification flares which are ignited by the Canadians. It is unfortunate that the target indicators being used by the Pathfinders are also yellow. Bomber Command crews claim that the Canadians used the yellow flares before any bombs fell in the quarry. The history of the Canadian units says the bombs fell first. The Master Bombers tries hard to stop further crews bombing in the wrong area, but approximately 70 aircraft bomb the quarry and other nearby Allied positions over a 70-minute period. The Canadians take shelter in their slit trenches and most emerge unscathed though shaken, but 13 men are killed and 53 injured and a large number of vehicles and guns are hit. This is believed to have been the first occasion on which Bomber Command aircraft hits friendly troops during the Battle of Normandy. The Canadian artillery regiment is machine-gunned by RAF Spitfires and USAAF Mustangs the following day.

Details of the Canadian side of the bombing come from Into Action with the 12th Field by Captain TJ Bell (published privately in Canada} and from the personal reminiscences of former Lance-Corporal George R Carter of the 12th Canadian Field Regiment. George Carter's brother, Flying Officer Roy E Carter of No 431 Squadron, was a Bomber Command navigator whose Halifax had been shot down over Holland on the Sterkrade raid of 16/17 June 1944. Roy Carter baled out successfully but, while he was being hidden by Dutch civilians in a house at Tilburg, he was discovered by Germans on 8 July and shot, together with a Pathfinder pilot and an Australian airman. The bloodstained Dutch flag which covered the bodies after their death was brought to England in 1983 and placed in the No 83 Squadron Memorial Chapel in Coningsby parish church.

• 155 Lancasters and 4 Mosquitos of No. 5 Group make 2 separate attacks on ships in Brest harbor. The Clemenceau and the cruiser Gueydon are both hit and are believed sinking in 'safe' positions which will not hinder Allied use of the port when American troops take possession. The Allied forces are anxious to capture a good port to which supplies and reinforcements for the land battle can be brought in directly from the United States.
• 2 Lancasters are lost.
• 1 Wellington flies an RCM sortie.

• 32 Mosquitos are sent Berlin, 2 to the Sterkrade oil plant and 2 to the St Trond airfield, 8 Halifaxes and 6 Lancasters lay mines off Biscay ports, 4 aircraft are involved on Resistance operations, and there are 1 RCM and 7 OTU sorties.
• There are no losses.

Air Operations, New Guinea

• V Bomber Command B-24s attack the airfield at Babo.
• A-20s, V Fighter Command fighter-bombers, and RAAF aircraft attack Japanese Army ground troops at Kaiten, Terabu, and Wewak.

Air Operations, Volcano Islands

30th Heavy Bomb Group B-24s attack Iwo Jima.

Battle of the Atlantic

The US LST-921 is damaged by the German submarine U-667 in the English Channel.

Eastern Front

Red Army troops resume their offensive toward Warsaw.

The 3rd Panzer Army begins a relief attack toward Riga from south of Dobele with a force of 180 panzers and assault guns. After bitter fighting the Germans advance 10 miles along the road to Jelgava. The 51st Army is forced to pull back steadily as it is hit from both the west and east.

The 47th Army attacks north of Warsaw and the 2nd Tank Army to the south, but are both held by powerful German counterattacks. The IV SS Panzer Corps, newly committed to this sector, inflicts heavy losses upon the Russian armies.

Mediterranean

The convoys for Operation DRAGOON, after a stopover in Corsica, leave for the south coast of France.

Pacific

The Japanese transport No. 129 is sunk by the US submarine Cod (SS-224) in the Netherlands East Indies area.

Western Front

The Canadian advance has reached to within about 5 miles of Falaise from the north. RAF heavy bombers drop 3,723 tons of bombs in supporting attacks as the Canadian drive continues.

In Brittany, the resistance of the German garrisons in St Malo and Dinard persists. All of St Malo has been cleared except for the ancient citadel in the port area. The US XV Corps begins to move east from around Argentan toward Dreux. Other units are taking post at Argentan.

The 7th Arm Div and the 5th Div, XX Corps, move in the direction of Chartres, and the XII Corps continues its advance toward Orléans.

Images from August 14, 1944

French Civilians Welcome US Troops in Normandy, 14 August 1944. (US National Archives)

A Recovery Crew Works on a Disabled Churchill tank, 14 August 1944

Captured German Sd.Kfz. 251 from the 5th SS Panzer Division Wiking, and pressed into service with the 8th 'Krybar' Regiment. The soldier holding a MP40 submachine gun is commander Adam Dewicz 'Gray Wolf', 14 August 1944

Captured German Sd.Kfz. 251

Canadian Forces Moving toward Falaise, 14 August 1944

Aircrews of No. 16 Squadron SAAF and No. 227 Squadron RAF sitting in a dispersal at Biferno, Italy, prior to taking off to attack a German headquarters building in Dubrovnik, Yugoslavia. A Bristol Beaufighter Mark X, armed with rocket projectiles stands behind them.

Aircrews in Italy Before a Mission

A squad of infantrymen from First Army catch a ride on an M4 Sherman Tank as they moved through the French town of La Ferte-Mace, 14 August 1944

Infantry Riding a Sherman

5.5-inch gun firing near Vallee, 14 August 1944

The British Army in Normandy, August 1944- the Advance Towards Aunay-sur-odon. A breakdown gang with their Ward Lafrance Truck (6-ton, 6 x 6, 'Heavy Wrecker' M1) working on wrecked vehicles in the centre of Cahagnes. A battered Bren Carrier was blocking the roadway.

Breakdown Bang Working on Wrecked Vehicles

Near Bretteville-le-Rabet, 14 August 1944 - Canadian armor preparing for the great attack towards Falaise. In the foreground is a British 'Flail' tank.

Preparing To Attack Toward Falaise

Half-tracks of the 2nd US Armored Division slowly navigate a narrow street surrounded by the dangerously unstable ruins of Saint-Michel, France, 14 August 1944

Half-tracks in Saint-Michel

Infantry soldiers and US armoured vehicles of the 41st Armored Infantry Regiment, 2nd Armored Division come down the Rue Saint Michel in the village of Lonlay l’abbaye, Normandy. On the 14th of August 1944.

In the Village of Lonlay l’abbaye, Normandy

Tank concentration of the Fort Garry Horse ready to leave for noon attack from Bretteville-Le-Rabet, Normandy, during Operation Tractable, 14 August 1944. Photo by Donald I. Grant. Department of National Defence/National Archives of Canada

Tank Concentration of the Fort Garry Horse