Air Operations, Bonin Islands

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

Air Operations, Carolines

During the night, 868th Heavy Bomb Squadron SB-24s are prevented by bad weather from attacking Japanese airfields and defenses in the Palau Islands.

Air Operations, CBI

• 16 10th Air Force B-25s attack Indaw.
• 37 10th Air Force P-40s and P-51s attack ground positions and artillery positions in the Pinbaw area.
• 20 P-51s attack airfields at Anisakan, Lashio, Nawnghkio, Onbauk, and Shwebo.
• 19 P-47s and P-51s attack an ammunition dump at Pegu (Thailand), a bridge near Bhamo, the rail line between Hopin and Naba, and targets of opportunity at Katha.
• 14th Air Force P-40s attack the Hsenwi area.
• 18 341st Medium Bomb Group B-25s attack the Wanling area.

• 12 341st Medium Bomb Group B-25s attack Chaling and warehouses at Sangtan.
• 90 P-40s and P-51s attack numerous targets on the Salween River front and the Yangtze River and Tungting Lake regions.

Air Operations, East Indies

• V Bomber Command B-24s and B-25s attack the Lolobata and Miti airfields on Halmahera and other targets in the Molucca Islands.
• B-25s sink a vessel in the Sunda Islands.

Air Operations, Europe

For the first time Me-163 rocket fighters intercept B-17s near Leuna, Germany, but there are no casualties.

• 25 Lancasters and 1 Mosquito of No. 5 Group are sent to attack the U-boat pens at La Pallice. The target is covered in cloud and only 3 aircraft drop their bombs. 1 Wellington flies an RCM sortie.
• There are no losses.

• ;461 Lancasters are sent to hit the port and industrial areas of Stettin. It is claimed to be an accurate attack with much damage to the port and industrial areas.
• 5 Lancasters are lost.
• 348 aircraft including 195 Lancasters, 144 Halifaxes and 9 Mosquitos are sent to Kiel. The raid is only partially successful.
• 3 Halifaxes and 2 Lancasters are slost.

• Support and 145 planes from training units make a diversionary sweep over the North Sea, 23 Mosquitos are sent to Berlin, 5 to the airfield at Deelen, and 3 each to Dortmund, Kamen and Sterkrade, 89 aircraft lay mines in the Baltic and in Kiel Bay and 4 in the Gironde River, and there are 47 Mosquito patrols and 33 RCM and 24 OTU sorties.
• 3 Halifaxes are lost laying mines in Kiel Bay, 2 Lancasters off Swinemünde and 1 OTU Wellington.

Air Operations, New Guinea

• V Bomber Command A-20s support Allied ground forces around Maffin Bay.
• V Fighter Command P-39s attack the airfield at Ransiki, Moemi, Waren, and Japanese Army troops and positions between Manokwari and Windissi.

Burma

All organized Japanese resistance ends along the Burma-India border.

Diplomatic Relations

In a note to Britain, the Soviet Government condemns the Warsaw Rising as 'a reckless, appalling adventure' and declares that the Soviet High Command 'must dissociate itself' from same.

Eastern Front

The Russian attacks reach Ossow only seven miles northeast of Warsaw but they are pushed back by a German counterattack.

The XXXIX and XL Panzer Corps attack north od Siauliai, joining the attack force already in action south of Dobele. Reinhardt had wanted to attack closer to Riga but Hitler orders the attack from the Siauliai area.

Reinhardt is appointed to command Army Group North and Harpe Army Group North Ukraine. Raus takes over the 3rd Panzer Army and Heinrici the 1st Panzer.

Mediterranean

Two US torpedo boats, PT-202 and PT-218, are both victims of mines in the Southern France area.

Northern France

Canadian troops from II Corps enter the ruins of Falaise and a bitter battle develops, but the German force was pulling out before the trap could be entirely closed. To their right Polish units of British I Corps begin to move west over the Dives River. To the south Chartres falls to the advance of US XX Corps as the XV Corps reaches Dreux.

Occupied France

The Resistance take control of large parts of central and southern France.

Southern France

While units of the American VI Corps under Gen Lucian Truscott consolidate the beachhead in Provence, Gen Jean De Lattre de Tassigny's French II Corps passes through the American units to lead the advance.

Images from August 16, 1944

Captured German Panzerkampfwagen V Panther Ausf G Somewhere In France, 16 August 1944

Soviet soldiers of the 1st Baltic Front advance on German troops of Army Group North through the war-torn streets of Jelgava in German-occupied Latvia. Jelgava, Zemgale, Latvia. 16 August 1944.

Soviet Soldiers in Jelgava, Latvia

Portable water filter is being tested by Royal Canadian Army Medical Corps (R.C.A.M.C.) members, Falaise, France, 16 August 1944

Testing Portable Water Filter

Soldiers of the Free French Forces (Forces françaises libres), military units who joined 'Free France' (la France libre), the Resistance organisation founded by Charles de Gaulle in 1940, assist in mopping up pockets of the German garrison in Paris just prior to Germany’s capitulation and withdrawal from the city. Paris, Île-de-France, France. 16 August 1944

Soldiers of the Free French Forces

7th Medium Regiment, 12th Battery, 'A' Troop, fire on Germans with 5.5inch guns, Bretteville-Le-Rabet, Normandy, 16 August 1944.

Artillery in Action in Normandy

An M4 of 743rd Tank Battalion at Domfront, France, 16 August 1944

Central Square of Falaise, 16 August 1944

Polish Tank Crew of the 1st Armoured Division in the Chaos of the German Retreat

Soviet Soldiers Lead German POWs through the Streets of Kiev, 16 August 1944

German Prisoners in Le Muy, France, 16 August 1944

An American soldier checks out the gouge that a German armor-piercing projectile made on the front hull of this M4 Sherman medium tank. The cities of Orleans and Dreux fell to Patton’s Third Army on August 16, 1944

Assessing the Damage to an M4 Sherman

Warsaw in Flames 1944 - Stalin Turns His Back on Warsaw