Air Operations, Carolines

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

Air Operations, CBI

• 4 10th Air Force P-47s support Allied ground troops near Thaikwagon.
• 4 P-47s attack troop-laden trucks between Bhamo and Myothit.

• 25 341st Medium Bomb Group B-25s attack warehouses at Puchi.
• 11 B-25s attack Sienning.
• 3 B-25s attack the airfield at Hengyang and a nearby rail line.
• More than 70 14th Air Force P-51s and P-40s attack various targets at Chaling, Changsha, Hengyang, Pengtse, Siangtan, and Yoyang.
• 23rd Fighter Group P-40s down a D3A 'Val' dive bomber and 2 Ki-43 'Oscar' fighters near Yochow at 0530 hours.

Air Operations, Europe

• 52 Lancasters of No. 5 Group attempt to bomb 2 groups of oil storage tanks at La Pallice. The targets are difficult to identify and the results of the raid are unseen.
• There are no losses.
• 1 Wellington of No. 100 Group carries out a 'signals watch' flight.

Air Operations, New Guinea

• Despite bad weather that grounds most of the 5th Air Force, V Bomber Command A-20s support Allied ground forces around Sarmi and Sawar.
• V Fighter Command P-39s support Allied ground forces near Wewak and attack targets around Geelvink Bay.
• P-40s attack port facilities at Napido.

Britain, Home Front

Sir Henry Wood, composer-conductor and founder of the annual London 'Promenade Concerts', dies at the age of 74.

Eastern Front

During the night the 2nd Ukraine Front under Rodion Malinovsky opens a powerful offensive in the area of Jassy, in which the 3rd Ukraine Front under Fyodor Tolbukhin also takes part, attacking in the area of Tiraspol, in Rumania. Their aim is to destroy the German-Rumanian 6th Army, part of the South Ukraine Army Group of Johannes Friessner. This army consists of 23 Rumanian and 21 German divisions. Marshal Ion Antonescu can foresee his own political downfall coming with the end of the big expeditionary force he sent into Russia, where it has fought valiantly in the Ukraine, the Caucasus and the Crimea.

Russian forces launch their major offensive to clear the Balkans.

The Soviet 3rd Shock Army is halted just beyond the Oger River by an assault by 3 divisions of the German 18th Army to the north.

The Soviet 2nd and 3rd Ukrainian Fronts launch probing attacks around Jassy and Tiraspol in preparation fo the Jassy-Kishinev Offensive. This will be Stavka's attempt to destroy German and Romanian forces in Romania, capture the Ploesti oil fields and then cross into Bulgaria, and threaten the rear of German forces in Greece and Yugoslavia. For this mission the two fronts have been substantially reinforced. The 2nd Ukrainian Front comprises the 4th Guards, 6th Tank, 7th, 27th, 40th, 52nd and 53rd Armis - 771,000 troops, 11,000 artillery pieces, 1,300 tanks and 900 aircraft. The 3rd Ukrainian Front deploys the 5th Shock, 37th, 46th and 57th Armies - 523,000 troops, 8,000 artillery pieces, 600 tanks and 1,000 aircraft.

Facing this massive force is Army Group South Ukraine. This group comprises the 8th Army (Romanian I, VII and LVII Corps and German XVII Corps) - 43,000 German and 112,000 Romanian troops; Romanian 4th Army (Romanian IV and VI Corps and German IV Corps) - 43,000 German and 88,000 Romanian troops; 6th Army (VII, XXX, XLIV and LII Corps) - 212,000 German and 25,000 Romanian troops; and Romanian 3rd Army (Romanian II and III and German XXIX Corps, with the 13th Panzer Div in reserve) - 14,000 German and 75,000 Romanian troops. The Luftwaffe has 318 aircraft to support the army group, which deploys a total fo 400 tanks and assault guns.[MORE]

Northern France

The XV Corps from 3rd Army reaches the Seine at Mantes Grassicoutrt. The fighting between Falaise and Argentan is still very fierce and continues to go badly for the Germans. A 5-day cease-fire is declared in the Paris area to permit German evacuation of their forces from the French capital.

Occupied France

The is an uprising in Paris led by the FFI, the Resistance. The Vichy Government is forcibly moved to Belfort by the Germans.

Occupied Poland

The Home Army in Warsaw launches counterattacks from Zoliborz, but all fail. Stalin refuses to help the rebelling Poles in Warsaw or allow Allied bombers to use Russian controlled airfields to supply the city.

Images from August 19, 1944

The French resistance uprising in Paris started on 19 August 1944. The city was liberated 6 days later. (Johan Reutenauer's photo)

French Resistance Uprising in Paris

German POWs Carry a Wounded Fellow Soldier in Brignoles, France, 19 August 1944

US Tank in Brignoles, France, 19 August 1944

French woman pouring wine for appreciative American soldiers in celebration of the liberation of her town from occupying German forces. Brignoles, France, 19 August 1944

Celebrating Liberation

Lt-Gen Mark Clark and Prime Minister Winston Churchill in Cecina, Italy,19 August 1944

Simone Segouin, an 18 year old French Résistance fighter, during the liberation of Paris. [19 August 1944]

French Resistance Fighters

Vertical photographic-reconnaissance aerial showing wrecked enemy vehicles left by the retreating German columns burning on a road in the Falaise area after coming under attack by aircraft of the 2nd Tactical Air Force.

Recon Photo Showing Wrecked Enemy Vehicles

Father Camille Folliet, a French Roman Catholic priest, lends his support and advises the French Resistance behind a barricade during the Battle for Paris, which took place from 19 August 1944 until the surrender of the occupying German garrison on 25 August 1944. The Liberation of Paris started with an uprising by the Resistance against the German garrison.

French Resistance

Trucks Carry German POWs from the Falaise Pocket, August 1944 (US Army Center of Military History)

Winston Churchill, Lt-Gen Mark Clark and American Army Nurses in Italy, 19 August 1944

Fifth Army, Castiglioncello, Area, Italy. Little Martha Fisher, an English Girl living in Italy, hands Mr. Winston Churchill a bouquet of flowers when the Prime Minister stopped at the 34th Div C.P. for lunch before continuing his tour of the Fifth Army area, 19 August 44

Churchill Receiving Flowers

Infantrymen of 'B' Company, The Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders of Canada, riding in a captured German truck with German prisoners, St. Lambert-sur-Dives, France, 19 August 1944

Canadians with German POWs