Air Operations, Carolines

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

Air Operations, CBI

• More than 70 10th Air Force fighter-bombers attack numerous targets throughout northern Burma.
• 12 14th Air Force B-25s attack Kutkai.

• Nearly 100 14th Air Force P-51s and P-40s attack shipping, motor vehicles, troops, horses, artillery, warehouses, dumps, and targets of opporunity across east-central China.
• 35 P-40s attack Hsenwim (Burma), Lungling, Tengchung, and Tingka.

• 4 14th Air Force P-40s attack shipping off Hongay and Nam Dinh.

Air Operations, Europe

• 1,004 aircraft attack 9 airfields in Belgium and Holland in preparation for a night offensive against German troops. Included in the aircraft total are 599 Lancasters, 385 Halifaxes, 19 Mosquitos and 1 Lightning. Visibility is good and all raids are classified as successful.
• 3 Lancasters are lost.
• 1 Wellington flies and RCM sortie.

One of the Enemy Airfields Attacked during This Day's Raids Was at Brussels-Holsmoek

Greater Damage at St Trond-Brustem

• 32 Mosquitos are sent to Berlin, 8 to the Venlo airfield and 9 to various Ruhr targets, 6 Halifaxes lay mines off La Pallice, and there are 7 Mosquito patrols and 1 RCM sortie.
• There are no losses.

Air Operations, East Indies

• V Bomber Command B-24s attack the Lolobata airfield on Halmahera.
• B-25s attack shipping near Ternate Island.
• Various 5th Air Force aircraft attack targets of opportunity on Ceram and Tanimbar islands.

Eastern Front

German defenders block the Russians attempting to break through the Carpathian mountain passes.

New Guinea

On Numfoor Island the main Japanese garrison manages to break off contact with the American paratroopers and takes refuge in the area of Pakriki, on the central south coast.

Occupied France

There is an uprising against the Nazi occupation of Paris as 20,000 gendarmes go on strike and capture 700 Germans.

Southern France

Allied forces land in southern France between Toulon and Cannes. This is Operation DRAGOON, originally and for the most of the planning stage, known as ANVIL. The code name has been changed because it is believed that the Germans have discovered it and its significance. The landing forces are from Gen Alexander M. Patch's US 7th Army. Lucian Truscott's VI Corps provides the 3 divs that make up the bulk of the assault force. The follow-up formation is Gen Jean de Lattre's II French Corps. French commando units also land from the sea in the first wave and there is also an airborne attack. This involves 5,000 men from a composite parachute group and they drop inland near Le Muy. Before these or the seaborne force go in there are attacks by 1,300 land-based aircraft and naval shelling. Adm Hewitt is in command of the naval forces.

The largest group of special force troops land on the island of Levante with cover from the battleship Lorraine and other vessels. Gen John Daniels' 3rd Inf Div lands in the Baie de Cavalaire and among the bombardment group here is the battleship Ramillies. The fire support for Gen William W. Eagles' 45th Inf is provided by the battleships Texas (BB-35) and Nevada (BB-36). This landing is in the Baie de Bugnon. The left flank div is the 36th Inf, Gen John E. Dahlquist, with support from the Arkansas (BB-33). As well as the land-based air cover, 5 British and 2 American escort carriers add fighter support (216 aircraft). In addition to the battleships mentioned fire support is also provided by 20 cruisers and 31 destroyers. A further 4 cruisers and 60 destroyers perform escort duties. There is almost no resistance to the landing and only 183 casualties are taken. One US ship, LST-282, is sunk by a radio-controlled bomb. Churchill has come to observe the operation from aboard a destroyer and, from his account in his memoirs, seems to have been bored by the lack of action. The German force in the south of France is Gen Friedrich Weise's 19th Army. This formation has only 7 poor quality infantry divs and the better trained and equipped 11th Pzr Div to cover the whole of the south and southeast of the country.

Southwest Pacific

The Allied High Command issues directives for the invasion of Morotai Island in the northern Moluccas, northwest of New Guinea and south of the Philippines. The island can be made into an ideal jumping-off place for operations against the Philippines themselves. 2 divisions and a regimental combat group under the command of Gen Charles P. Hall will carry out the operation.

The US 3rd Amphibous Force, having completed its operations in the Marianas earlier than expected, is ordered to get ready for the invasion of the Palau Islands.

Western Front

In northern France the British VIII Corps enters Tinchebray from the north, about 12 miles northeast of Mortain. Other British and Canadian units are attacking fiercely along a line from here to east of Falaise. In the Canadian 1st Army sector, the 4th Arm Div of II Corps advances in the direction of Falaise, east of the road between Falaise and Caen. Northeast of Falaise the Polish 1st Arm Div manages to secure a bridgehead on the east bank of the Dives River. In the Avranches-Mortain sector the Germans have evacuated the Mortain salient and it is immediately reoccupied by the American VII Corps. From just south of Tinchebray to Argentan the US VII Corps and V Corps are attacking northward and trapped as meat in the sandwich are the divs of the German 7th Army and units of 5th Pzr Army and Pzr Group Eberbach. These forces are now beginning a desperate retreat to the east. Field Marshal von Kluge is forced to take cover from Allied air attacks for most of the day while attempting to visit the front. His long absence from HQ increases Hitler's supicions that von Kluge is disloyal and attempting to defect to the Allied side. He waits until twilight hidden in a cornfield, then manages to return to headquarters.

In Brittany, units of the 83rd Div enter Dinard, while the position of the German garrison at St Malo grows increasingly critical.

In the US 1st Army sector, units of the V Corps reach the hills that dominate Tinchebray from the south.

Images from August 15, 1944

US Douglas C-47 Skytrains Carrying Paratroopers to the Invasion

US 551st Parachute Infantry Regiment invading Southern France on 15 August 1944 - Airborne troops jumping into Southern France as part of the Operation Dragoon invasion, 15 August 1944

Airborne Troops Jumping into Southern France

3rd Infantry Division Disembarking from LCI(L)

36th Infantry Division Landings at Saint Raphael - Operation DRAGOON, August 15, 1944

US and UK Paratroopers Take Break on DRAGOON D-Day, Southern France, 15 August 1944

Landing Craft on the Beaches of Southern France, 15 August 1944

Red Beach, Cavalaire Bay, Operation Dragoon, 15 August 1944. A view taken from a British-manned landing craft.

View from a Landing Craft

Landing Ship, Tank Unloading on Beach in Toulon, France, 15 August 1944

A Cromwell tank of 2nd Northamptonshire Yeomanry, 11th Armoured Division, driving through Vassy, France, 15 August 1944

Cromwell Tank in Vassy, France

German Prisoners Board US Landing Craft, Infantry in Cavalaire-sur-Mer, France, 15 August 1944

Men of the King’s Shropshire Light Infantry resting next to a Sherman tank of 3rd Royal Tank Regiment, 15 August 1944. of 3rd Royal Tank Regiment, 15 August 1944.

Resting Next to a Sherman Tank

A Sherman tank moves through Bois Holbout, during the advance to Falaise, 15 August 1944

Sherman Tank Moving through Bois Holbout

A Nurse Attends to Wounded Soldiers in a Field Hospital, 15 August 1944

Maj-Gen George 'Pip' Roberts (right), commanding 11th Armored Division, with Brigadier Roscoe Harvey of 29th Armored Brigade, and a Sherman command tank, Normandy, 15 August 1944.

11th Armored Division Commanders

US Troops Wading to Shore from Landing Craft, Infantry in St. Tropez, France, 15 August 1944

LCT-1141 Unloading at Saint-Raphaël in Southern France during Operation Dragoon, August 15, 1944