August 1944

Eastern Front

The 16th Army launches a fierce counterattack in Latvia, hitting the 51st Army south of Jelgava. Heavy fighting ensues but the German progress is slow.

In Warsaw the Poles gain control of the Mokotow, Czerniakow, Powisle, Old Town and Zoliborz districts but come under increasingly heavy German counterattack. More and more German units, mainly SS, are poured into the city. Some of these units are of the worst type, made up of criminals and murderers, an example being the infamous Dirlewanger Brigade, Elements of the 19th Panzer Divison fight their way across the city from the Praga suburb but encounter fierce resistance.

To the south the 1st Ukrainian Front commits the 5th Guards Army to the fighting at Sandomierz.