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.

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The Germans attack the Old Town only to fine the Poles have withdrawn.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

Images from August 31, 1944

Soviet Tanks Advancing through the Streets of Bucharest, 31 August 1944

Sherman Tank of Guards Armored Division Enters Beauvais, 31 August 1944

Sherman tanks of 11th Armoured Division advance across open fields near Les Thillers-en-Vexin, Normandy, 31 August 1944

Sherman Tanks Advance across Open Fields

Warsaw Uprisng – Stuka Dive Bombers over the Old town, August 1944

Railroad Yard Destroyed by Germans in Valence, France, 31 August 1944

Sherman Tanks of Guards Armored Division, Les Thilliers-en-Vexin, 31 August 1944

FFI Cheer as a Sherman Firefly of Guards Armored Division, near Beauvais, 31 August 1944

A union flag hangs in the main street of Les Andelys in Normandy as British forces arrive, 31 August 1944. The woman in the foreground is Madame Scarlett, wife of an expatriate Englishman and owner of the Hotel des Fleurs

Main Street of Les Andelys in Normandy

Cromwell tank of 2nd Welsh Guards, Guards Armoured Division, in Trie-Chateau, near Gisors, 31 August 1944

Cromwell Tank in Trie-Chateau

An M5A1 shepherds a mechanised infantry company in half-tracks on the fields near Buchet, France, 31 August 1944. The tank is from Company A, 66th Armored Regiment, which means the infantry company is probably from 41st AIR, also in 2nd Armored Division

Mechanised Infantry Company in Half-tracks

Sherman Firefly Tank of 2nd Irish Guards, 31 August 1944

Sherman Firefly leads a column of Sherman tanks of Guards Armoured Division near Beauvais, 31 August 1944

A Column of Sherman Tanks