Air Operations, Carolines

• 30th Heavy Bomb Group B-24s based at Saipan 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

• 6 10th Air Force B-25s attack three bridges at Hsipaw and in the Mu area.
• 36 10th Air Force P-51s support Allied ground troops around Ingyingon, Nansankyin, and Pinlon.
• 8 P-51s attack a bomb depot at Chyahkan.

• 8 341st Medium Bomb Group B-25s attack Anjen and nearby targets of opportunity.
• 7 B-25s attack Nanyo, the airfield at Hengyang, and nearby targets of opportunity.
• More than 90 14th Air Force fighter-bombers attack numerous targets across east-central China and the Salween River front.

Air Operations, East Indies

• V Bomber Command B-24s attack supply dumps and antiaircraft batteries at Wasile Bay.
• B-25s attack Kaoe, the Kaoe airfield on Halmahera, and Karakelong Island.

Air Operations, New Guinea

• V Bomber Command A-20s and V Fighter Command fighter-bombers attack supply dumps and coastal troop concentrations, and support Allied ground forces in the Sarmi and Sawar areas.
• Fighter-bombers attack Manokwari.

Battle of the Atlantic

U-480 sinks the Canadian corvette Albierni southeast of the Isle of Wight with the loss of 59 of her crew. 31 survivors are picked up by the British motor torpedo boats MTB-469 and MTB-470.

Eastern Front

The German Army Group North continues its counteroffensive in the area of Siauliai, in Lithuania, and also counterattacks in Estonia. In Rumania the pincer formed by the 2nd and 3rd Ukraine Fronts is about to close on the German-Rumanian 6th Army in the area of Kishinev, between Jassy and Tiraspol.

The Soviet 52nd Army captures Jassy as the commander of the 2nd Ukrainian Front, Marshal Rodion Malinovsky, unleashes his 6th Tank Army against retreating Axis forces. As the German 8th Army is attacked, its Romanian units flee, while to the south the 6th Army is facing annihilation (for the second time in its career): the 46th and 47th Armies are hammering the XXX Corps and the 13th Panzer Div has lost all its tanks. The army group commander, Freissner, orders a general withdrawal to the Prut River.[MORE]

Northern France

All the Allied armies begin a rapid advance to the northeast in pursuit of the broken and retreating German forces. The Canadian II Corps is advancing in the north toward Rouen, the British XIX and XXX Corps and American XV Corps in the center to the north of Paris and the American V, XX and XII Corps south of the French capital. In the area of Mantes-Gassicourt the US 79th Div of XV Corps widens its bridgehead across the Seine. In the south the US 4th Arm Div enters Sens. Although at this stage, the invasion of France is behind the schedule set out in the OVERLORD plan, this will be corrected by the speed of the advance in the next few weeks.

Field Marshal Model informs Berlin the German 7th Army is no longer an effective fighting force. The 7th, as well as the 5th Panzer and 15th Armies, had adhered to Hitler's orders to stand and fight. Instead of withdrawing and regrouping, the Germans suffered enormous losses while obeying Hitler and exposed the entire western front.

Southern France

Aix-en-Provence is taken by units of the 3rd Div of Gen Truscott's US VI Corps. Columns from the 45th Div adv in the directon of Avignon, and the 36th Div makes for Grenoble. In the French sector, on the left of the Allied line, the units of the French II Corps make progress toward Toulon and Marseilles, and other units of the 1st Div and of the 3rd Algerian Div reach Aubagne, a little east of Marseilles.

World Affairs

Over the next 9 days senior Allied representatives meet at Dumbarton Oaks to discuss plans for maintaining post-war security. This meeting is called the International Peace and Security Conference. They agree that there sould be an assembly of all nations backed up by a council of leading states. There should be an International Court of Justice. The leader of the American delegation is Edward Stettinius, of the British team, Sir Alexander Cadogan, and for Russia, Andrei Gromyko.

Images from August 21, 1944

A Sherman tank crew, smoking a variety of pipes, awaits the order to advance near Argentan, 21 August 1944

Ready to Advance

British infantry aboard Sherman tanks wait for the order to advance, near Argentan, 21 August 1944

Waiting for Orders to Advance

Bombs Falling on the Center of Warsaw, August 1944

Barricade with a Flag at Marszalkowska Street, Warsaw 1944

Soldiers of 2nd NZEF, 4th Armoured Brigade, loading ammunition on to Honey Tanks during the advance towards Florence, Italy, 21 August 1944

Loading Ammunition

US Soldiers in Aix en Provence, France, 21 August 1944

A German Panther Tank Lies among the Ruins of Argentan, 21 August 1944

Knocked-out German StuG III assault gun and soft-skin vehicles shot up by Allied fighter-bombers, 21 August 1944 Normandy

Knocked-out German Assault Gun