Air Operations, Bonin and Volcano Islands

• Carrier aircraft from Task Force 38 open a three-day offensive against Chichi Jima and Iwo Jima.
• VF-13 F6Fs down 1 Ki-46 'Dinah' reconnaissance plane, 2 B5N 'Kate' torpedo bombers, and 8 A6M Zeros over Iwo Jima at 1410 hours.

Air Operations, Carolines

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

Air Operations, CBI

• 6 10th Air Force B-25s attack Katha.
• 3 B-25s attack bridges at Bawgyo and Hsenwi.

• 12 308th Heavy Bomb Group B-24s attack the port area and shipping at Takao, Formosa.
• 14 341st Medium Bomb Group B-25s attack airfields at Canton, Hengyang, and Hong Kong.
• 8 B-25s attack road traffic near Nanyo, Sinshih, and Sintsiang, and a freighter near Sinshih.
• 60 14th Air Force fighter-bombers attack troops, river traffic, barracks, bridges, amd road traffic in east-central China.

Air Operations, Europe

• 601 aircraft including 418 Lancasters, 147 Halifaxes and 36 Mosquitos attack 9 sites in northern France where it is believed the Germans are storing V-2 rockets. 8 of the sites are found and bombed.
• 6 Lancasters are lost.
• 165 Halifaxes of No. 6 Group and 5 Pathfinder Mosquitos bomb the Île de Cezembre battery near St Malo. 1 photographic Mosquito accompanies the raid. The bombing force flies in at 3,000 feet or less and achieve a good bombing concentration on an undefended target.
• 1 Halifax is lost.

• 42 Mosquitos are sent to Düsseldorf, 6 to Cologne and 6 to Leverkusen, 24 aircraft are on Resistance operations, and there are 21 Mosquito patrols and 3 RCM sorties.
• 2 Mosquitos are lost, 1 each on the Cologne and Leverkusen raids.

li>99 IX Bomber Command B-26s and A-20s attack gun emplacements and an ammo dump.
• Fighter-bombers provide direct support for US Army ground forces.

• 12th Air Force fighter-bomber attack communications targets in support of the US 7th Army's drive on Lyon.

• 12th Air Force medium bombers attack rail bridges in the Po River valley.
• XII TAC A-20s and fighter-bombers attack communications targets north of the Arno River.
• During the night, XII TAC A-20s attack gun emplacements and targets of opportunity in the Po River valley.

• 38 15th Air Force B-17s hastily modified to serve as transports inaugurate Operation REUNION by evacuating to Bari, Italy, more than 700 of the approximately 1,100 downed USAAF aircrewmen (and some other Allied servicemen) being held in prisoner-of-war camps in and around Bucharest, Romania. Operation REUNION is the brainchild of Romanian airmen and civilian humanitarians using the chaos of fighting in Bucharest between German and Red Army forces to concentrate the Allied prisoners at a Romanian Air Force base while contacting 15th Air Force headquarters (by flying a high-ranking USAAF prisoner to Bari, Italy, in a Romanian Air Force Bf-109). Adding considerably to the general anxiety attending the hurried, makeshift operation is the requirement that the evacuation be kept as secret as possible from both German and Soviet forces.
• 48 52nd Fighter Group P-51s conduct a low-level approach and strafing attack against the crowded Axis landing ground at Reghin. An estimated 60 aircraft are destroyed on the ground, and 7 are destroyed in the air between 1010 and 1055 hours.
• 15th Air Force P-51s also strafe the Oradea Airdrome.

• 15th Air Force B-17s attack a rail bridge at Novi Sad.
• 15th Air Force P-51s strafe the Kecskemet Airdrome.

Baltic Sea

U-1000 is damaged by a mine laid by the RAF, but manages to return to Pillau. It is determined she is beyond repair.

U-1000

Britain, Command

Gen Montgomery is promoted to Field-Marshal.

Eastern Front

The troops of 2nd Ukraine Front take Bucharest, the Rumanian capital. An enormous gap has now been opened in the German front, from the Carpathians to the mouth of the Danube. The Wehrmacht has insufficient forces to be able to close it, so the Red Army occupies Walachia without opposition.

The Germans attack the Old Town only to fine the Poles have withdrawn.

Bucharest falls to the 53rd Army.

Since Operation BAGRATION began at the end of June the Ostheer has suffered 916,000 casualties. Despite the commitment of 1 SS panzer grenadier and 10 Volksgrenadier divisions the German armies in the east remain extremely weak, having lost 12 infantry and 1 Volksgrenadier division in the fighting. Paper strength now stands at 10 panzer, 9 panzer grenadier and 105 infantry divisions.

Italy

In the east the Polish II Corps continues the battle for Pesaro and elements of the Canadian I and British V Corps penetrate into the defenses of the 'Gothic' Line. As the Germans retire, patrols of the US IV Corps pushes forward from some positions along the Arno.

New Guinea

Operations on Numfoor and the Sansapor area in the Vogelkop peninsula are officially declared closed. On Numfoor the American casualties have been 63 killed, 343 wounded and 3 missing, while they have killed 1,730 Japanese and captured 186. At Sansapor the American losses have been minute, 14 dead, whereas the Japanese, including some units from Formosa, have lost 385 killed and 215 taken prisoner.

Northern France

The British XXX Corps reaches Amiens and crosses the Somme River. In the American XX Corps sector the 7th Arm Div succeeds in establishing a bridgehead across the Meuse near Verdun. In Britain the operations ov the VIII Corps against Brest are temporarily suspended. The Meuse is also crossed by units of the 4th Arm Div of XII Corps which establish a bridgehead in the vicinity of Commercy. Since D-Day, German losses are staggering. In a 3-month period total losses on the eastern and western fronts are 1,200,000 dead, wounded and missing. 50 divisions have been destroyed in the east and 28 in the west. In addition, 230,000 German troops are surrounded in pockets in France. Together with the defection of 2 Rumanian armies and the Bulgarians to the Russians, the German High Command faces its bleakest outlook of the war. Berlin is further vexed by the presence of 555 Soviet divisions advancing from the east.

The provisional government of France is transferred to Paris.

Occupied France

The FFI liberate Bordeaux.

Pacific

• Aircraft from a carrier squadron of Task Force 38, a new number allocated to Task Force 58, under the command of Read-Adm Ralph E. Davison, begin an attack lasting 3 days against the Japanese installations on Iwo Jima and the Bonin Islands. During the next 2 days a naval bombardment carried out by cruisers and destroyers make life even more unpleasant for the Japanese defenders.
• The Japanese minelayer Shirataka is sunk by the US submarine Sealion (SS-315) in the Luzon Strait, Philippines Islands area.

Southern France

The US VI Corps is racing up the Rhône valley toward Lyon.

Southwest Pacific

The Vogelkop operation is completed. US casualties between April and August in SWPA total 9,500, with an estimated 110,000 Japanese casualties. Over 30,000 Japanese soldiers are isolated in New Guinea, and over 96,000 Japanese soldiers and sailors are trapped in Rabaul. The Far Eastern Air Force (FEAF) has 2,629 first-line combat aircraft and 633 transport aircraft.

Gen MacArthur's headquarters issues instructions to Lt-Gen Walter Krueger's 6th Army to be ready for operatins to seize airfields on Mindanao Island, gain control of Leyte, the Surigao Strait, and the island of Samar in the Philippines. The operations is set for mid-November or December.

Images from August 31, 1944

Soviet Tanks in Bucharest

Sherman Tank Enters Beauvais

Sherman Tanks Advance across Open Fields

Stuka Dive Bombers over the Old Town

Railroad Yard Destroyed by Germans

Sherman Tanks of Guards Armored Division

FFI Cheer as a Sherman Firefly Nears Beauvais

Main Street of Les Andelys in Normandy

Cromwell Tank in Trie-Chateau

Mechanised Infantry Company in Half-tracks

Sherman Firefly Tank of 2nd Irish Guards

A Column of Sherman Tanks