Air Operations, Carolines

5th and 307th Heavy Bomb group B-24s attack several islands in the Palau Islands.

Air Operations, CBI

• 8 10th Air Force B-25s attack two bridges and the town area at Katha.
• 8 10th Air Force P-51s attack Bilumyo.
• 5 P-47s attack Bhamo.
• 5 P-47s attack a bridge at Mainghka.

• 24 308th Heavy Bomb Group B-24s, escorted by 45 14th Air Force fighters, attack rail yards at Yoyang.
• 15 341st Medium Bomb Group B-25s attack airfields at Canton, Hankow, and Pailochi.
• 10 B-25s attack road traffic in east-central China.
• 19 P-40s attack stores and targets of opportunity at Tangyang.
• 17 P-40s attack buildings and motor vehicles between Changsha and Siangtan.
• 22 fighter-bombers attack Japanese Army troops, road traffic, and stores at or near Hengshan, Ichang, Isuho, Lungling, and Wuhu.
• In numerous engagements throughout the day, P-40s and P-51s of the 3rd CACW, 5th CACW, and 23rd Fighter groups, and the 118th Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron down 15 Japanese fighters.

Air Operations, East Indies

• V Bomber Command B-24s attack a barracks on Amboina.
• V Fighter Command P-38s attack the seaplane base at Halong, Celebes.

Air Operations, Europe

• 402 Lancasters and 1 Mosquito of Nos. 1, 3, 6 and 8 Groups are sent to Stettin. The raid is successful hitting parts of Stettin that had not been hit on previous raids.
• 23 Lancasters are lost.
• 189 Lancasters of No. 5 Group carry out one of the most successful No. 5 Group raids of the war on Königsberg at extreme range. Only 480 tons of bombs are carried because of the range of the target, but severe damage is caused around the 4 separate aiming points selected. This success is achieved despite a 20 minute delay in opening the attack because of the presence of low cloud. The bombing force waited patiently, using up precious fuel, until the marker aircraft found a break in the clouds and the Master Bomber, Wing Commander J. Woodroffe, probably No. 5 Group's most skilled Master Bomber, allows the attack to commence. Bomber Command estimates that 41 per cent of all the housing and 20 per cent of all the industry in Königsberg are destroyed.
• There is heavy fighter opposition over the target and 15 Lancasters, 7.9 per cent of the force, are lost.

• Support and 93 training aircraft make a diversionary sweep over the North Sea, 53 Mosquitos are sent to Berlin, Hamburg and 4 other targets, 31 Lancasters and 12 Halifaxes lay mines off the Baltic ports, 8 aircraft are on Resistance operations, and there are 49 Mosquito patrols and 35 RCM sorties.
• 2 OTU Wellingtons from the sweep and 1 mine-laying Lancaster are lost.

• Bad weather grounds all 8th Air Force heavy bombers and limits VIII Fighter Command to 104 effective P-38 and P-47 sorties against two airdromes and transportation targets in Belgium, France and Germany.
• 3 P-47s are lost with their pilots

• Although bad weather grounds most of the 9th Air Force, a small number of IX Bomber Command B-26s are able to attack a fuel dump, and a small number of fighter-bombers mount sweeps over northwestern France.

• XII TAC fighter-bombers attack numerous targets in the Rhone River valley.

• 12th Air Force B-25s and B-26s attack a viaduct and four bridges in northeastern Italy.
• XII TAC A-20s attack a fueling station.
• XII TAC fighter-bombers support ground forces and attack roads and bridges.
• During the night, XII TAC A-20s attack targets of opportunigy in the Po River valley.

• 15th Air Force heavy bombers attack communications, oil, and industrial targets.

• 15th Air Force heavy bombers attack communications, oil, and industrial targets.
• 31st Fighter Group P-51 escort pilots down 5 Luftwaffe fighters.

• 15th Air Force heavy bombers attack communications targets in the Po River valley.
• 15th Air Force's 82nd Fighter Group, in P-38 fighter-bombers led by a droopsnoop model, conduct a vertical-bombing attack against a rail bridge at Latisana.

Air Operations, Volcano Islands

30th Heavy Bomb Group B-24s based at Saipan attack Iwo Jima.

China

The Japanese 11th Div, re-grouping after the capture of Hengyang in southeast China, advances toward Kweilin and Liuchow, the sites of 2 of the US 14th Air Force's major airfields.

Eastern Front

The Russians of the 3rd Ukraine Front take the important Black Sea port of Constanta. Buzau, east of Ploesti, also falls. The German Army Group South Ukraine is ordered to hold the Carpathian Mountains and the Transylvanian Alps.

The 6th Army is exhausted and after a last effort to break through Group Meith is destroyed. More than 106,000 men have been captured and 150,000 killed during the fighting, wiping the 6th Army off the German order of battle. Army Group South Ukraine also loses 850 tanks, 3,500 arty pieces and 35,000 motor vehicles during the battle.

Constanta falls to the 57th Army and Buzau to the 46th Army as Soviet forces close upon Bucharest and Bulgaria. The Balkan offensive has cost the 2nd Ukrainian Front 7,000 killed and 32,000 wounded and the 3rd Ukrainian 5,800 killed and 21,000 wounded.

Adm Horthy removes the pro-German Szotaj government from power and appoints the pro-Soviet Lakatos regime. He does not go so far as the break off relations with German though.

Italy

The advance of 8th Army reaches the Foglia River, just north of Pesaro. The next obstacle is the German 'Gothic' Line which lies immediately to the north.

Northern France

The Allied advance continues apace. Gen Eisenhower's orders are to push northward. Units of the British XXX Corps leads the Allied columns in the northern sector, making for Amiens with the object of crossing the Somme. To the southeast, the US 3rd Arm Div crosses the Aisne River east of Soissons on the way to Laon. The American 5th Div, XX Corps, enters Rheims. Southeast of Rheims units of XII Corps, 3rd Army, take Chalons-sur-Marne.

In Brittany, resolute defense by the German troops still holds up the efforts of the American VIII Corps to take Brest.

Occupied Czechoslovakia

The Germans move to occupy the puppet state of Slovakia, sparking off a long-planned Slovak national uprising. The Slovaks hold central Slovakia throughout September but SS units force them to retire into the Low Tatra Mountains in October.

Since the summer Slovak partisans of the Czechoslovak Army in Slovakia (18,000 in number) have been engaged in guerilla activity against German targets, mainly in the central mountains. In response, the Germans move 48,000 troops into Slovakia, prompting the outbreak of the Slovak national uprising.

Occupied Hungary

(28?) Gen Géza Lakatos forms a collaborationist government.

Adm Horthy removes the pro-Nazi Szotaj government and replaces it with the pro-Soviet Lakatos regime.

Pacific

The Japanese minesweeper No. 28 is sunk by the US submarine Jack (SS-259) off the Celebes. Jack also sinks the army cargo ship Mexico Maru (5785t) northwest of Menado, Celebes.

Poland, Resistance

The British and United States' governments declare that they recognize the Home Army (AK) as a responsible belligerent force and that it should be treated as such. The Germans officially reject this procedure. In Warsaw the fighting continues to be very fierce and brutal.

Southern France

While the American 3rd Div concentrates at Voiron, northwest of Grenoble, the 36th and 45th Divs continue their advance on Lyons.

War Crimes

The Russians and the Polish communists jointly announce that they have discovered evidence that the Germans have murdered around 1,500,000 people in the former Majdanek concentration camp. This is the first of a series of such dreadful discoveries.

Images from August 29, 1944

US 28th Infantry Division on the Champs Elysees

American Troops Parading down the Champs-Elysées

Luftwaffe Pilot Posing with B-17 Wreckage

67th Evacuation Hospital

US Signalmen Confiscating German Wire

British Troops Enjoy the Attention of French Girls

Romanians Greet Soviets

Barracudas from Aircraft Carrier Indefatigable

28th Infantry Division March down the Champs Elysees

Canadians Advance on the Gothic Line

German Snipers Fire on Parade

Taking Cover from Sniper Fire

Snipers Atop the Arc de Triomphe

Snipers Atop the Arc de Triomphe

Taking Cover from Snipers

German Tank in Old Town Warsaw