Air Operations, Carolines

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

Air Operations, CBI

• 9 10th Air Force B-25s attack Kangon.
• 10th Air Force P-47s support British Army ground troops near Pinbaw.
• 4 P-47s attack Nankan.
• 4 P-51s attack road traffic along the Shweli River and bomb stores near Hopin.

• 8 341st Medium Bomb Group B-25s and 25 14th Air Force P-40s attack road traffic, rail traffic, and town areas at or near Chuchou, Hengyang, Siangtan, and Yangtien.
• 19 P-40s attack targets along the Yangtze River and at or near Anjen, Mangshih, and Yungcheng.

Air Operations, East Indies

• V Bomber Command B-24s attack the Lolobat airfield on Halmahera.
• 36 345th Medium Bomb Group B-25s staging through Noemfoor attack shipping in the Bangka and Lembeh straits and a bomb-storage site at Lembeh, Celebes. After this attack, bad weather prevents follow-on attacks until early September.

Air Operations, Europe

German aircraft raid Bucharest as a reprisal for Rumania's defection.

• 53 Halifaxes of No. 4 Group attack shipping in the harbor at Brest. 22 Lancasters and 1 Mosquito bomb the U-boat pens at Ijmuiden. Both raids are successful with no losses.

• 6 Halifaxes lay mines off La Pallice without a loss.
• RAF Coastal Command attacks German evacuation ships off Le Havre.

Burma-China

On the Salween front the Japanese send reinforcements to Lung-ling from Mangshih.

Eastern Front

The Russian forces in the south advance at great speed. In Rumania Johannes Freissner's Army Group South Ukraine, hotly pursued by the 2nd and 3rd Ukraine Fronts, withdraws speedily over the Danube. The Russians, after surrounding the German-Rumanian 6th Army, now overrun the Rumanian 3rd Army, many of whose units lay down their arms. The 2 armies formed part of the Dumitrescu Army Group. Kishinev is taken by the Russians.

The German 18th Army is pushed back into Tartu, while Group Narva is still fending off the 2nd Shock, 8th and 59th Armies.

The link-up between the Soviet 37th and 52nd Armies between Husi and Leov signals the encirclement of the German 6th Army. Kishinev falls to the 5th Shock Army as the 4th Guards, 5th Shock, 37th and 57th Armies begin the reduction of the German pocket. Meanwhile, the 6th Tank, 27th, 46th and 52nd Armies continue to power west. Group Meith (formally IV Corps) attempts to escape encirclement at Husi. Bucharest rises against German authority, prompting Hitler to order the 5th Flak Div (which had been defending the Ploesti oil fields) to suppress the revolt. When it comes under heavy fire and calls in Luftwaffe support, the revolt spreads rapidly to other parts of the country.[MORE]

Germany, Home Front

New mobilization measures are issued by Goebbels to put Germany on a 'total war' footing. Laborers are ordered to go on a 60-hour workweek. All theaters, music halls and cabarets are to be closed from September 1. All holidays are suspended and students are mobilized. All compassionate leaves are stopped for the armed forces. Within the military, headquarters staffs are purged of what Hitler termed 'rear area swine', who are assigned to combat units.

Indian Ocean

Adm Moody leads the carriers Victorious and Indomitable in an attack on Padang in the southwest of Sumatra. The battleship Howe is one of the escorting ships. On August 23 Adm Sir Bruce Fraser has taken over command or the British Eastern Fleet from Adm James Somerville. In addition to the forces sent against Padang there are 3 battleships and 2 fleet carriers.

Northern France

The fighting in Paris flares up again as the Germans make a final effort. Gen Philippe Leclerc leads the French 2nd Arm Div to the southwestern suburbs, running into heavy opposition. On Gen Bradley's personal orders as Commander-in-Chief of the 12th Army Group, the US 4th Div prepares to attack Paris from the south.

In the south, the XX Corps establishes 2 bridgeheads over the Seine at Melun and Montereau. Units of the US XII Corps advance eastwards toward Troyes, St Florentin and Courtenay.

Pacific

In retaliation for the previous day's loss, the USS Harder (SS-257) is sunk off the coast of Luzon by Japanese depth charges.

Southern France

Paratroopers of the US 1st Airborne Task Force enter Cannes without opposition and head for Antibes. Inland, in the drive north, Grenoble is taken in the main advance west Arles is taken, on the Rhòne south of Avignon, by the US 3rd Div.

Images from August 24, 1944

Gen Charles de Gaulle Addressing Crowds in Chartres, France, 24 August 1944

Gendarmes and a French resistance fighter keep an eye on the Seine during the Battle for Paris(AFP)

Watching the Seine During Battle for Paris

Members of the Free French Forces fight from inside the Paris Prefecture (police headquarters)

Inside Police Headquarters

Knocked out German tank, Carro Armato M13/41, near the mala PAST on ul. Piusa XI (now ul. Piekna) after the capture of the building by insurgents, 24 August 1944.

Knocked-out German Tank, Carro Armato M13/41

Torpedo Boat T-24 Under Attack, 24 August 1944

French Partisans Searching for German Soldier in Hyeres, France, 24 August 1944

Admiral Mountbatten Meets New Eastern Fleet C-in-C Adm Sir Bruce Fraser, Ceylon

Winston Churchill with General Bernard Freyberg during his visit to New Zealand troops on the 8th Army front, Italy, 24 August 1944. (Photograph by W Brodie)

Churchill with Gen Freyberg