Chronology of World War II

September 1944

Sunday, September 3

Air Operations, CBI

BURMA

5 10th Air Force B-25s attack two bridges near Hsipaw.

CHINA

12 308th Heavy Bomb Group B-24s attack marshalling yards at Nanking.
2 B-25s attack the airfield at Hengyang.
More than 100 14th Air Force fighter-bombers attack numerous targets in east-central China.
During the evening, 8 11th Medium Bomb Squadron B-25s sweep the road between Hengyang and Yochow. Many motor vehicles are destroyed and a ferry crossing and bivouac area are set on fire.
A 23rd Fighter Group’s 74th Fighter Squadron P-51 downs 2 D3A 'Val' dive bombers near Tsienshan during the early afternoon.

FRENCH INDOCHINA

14th Air Force fighter-bombers attack targets near Haiphong and in the Red River valley.

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Air Operations, Carolines

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

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Air Operations, East Indies

22 90th Heavy Bomb Group B-24s attack the Langoan airfield on Celebes.
37 22nd and 43rd Heavy Bomb group B-24s attack warehouses and shipping in the Lembeh Strait area.
B-25s attack Tobelo Island.
V Fighter Command fighter-bombers attack oil installations at Boela, Ceram.
1 90th Group B-24 is shot down by Japanese Army fighters.

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Air Operations, Europe

RAF BOMBER COMMAND
Daylight Ops:

675 aircraft carry out heavy raids on 6 airfields in southern Holland. In the aircraft total are 348 Lancasters, 315 Halifaxes and 12 Mosquitos. All raids are successful.

1 Halifax is lost on the Venlo raid.

Minor Ops:

There are 2 Mosquito Ranger patrols and 1 RCM sortie.

There are no losses.

US 8th AIR FORCE
BELGIUM:

125 VIII Fighter Command P-47s strafe transportation targets.
55th Fighter Group P-51 pilots down 7 FW-190s near Antwerp between 1300 and 1330 hours.

FRANCE:

393 3rd Bomb Division B-17s attack 16 German Army artillery batteries and other defensive positions in and around Brest.
More than 50 'war-weary' 8th Air Force B-24s transport supplies from bases in England to the Orleans/Bricy Airdrome as part of an ongoing effort known as Operation TRUCKING.

GERMANY:

325 1st Bomb Division B-17s attack a synthetic-oil plant at Ludwigshafen.

US 9th AIR FORCE
FRANCE:

181 IX Bomber Command B-26s and A-20s attack defensive positions and bridges in the Brest area.
IX TAC fighters and fighter-bomhers supporting the US 1st Army's pursuit of German Army forcees set a one-day record for the war when they destroy 919 motor vehicles, 757 horse-drawn vehicles, and 58 armored vehicles.

US 12th AIR FORCE
FRANCE:

12th Air Force fighter-bombers harass German Army ground forces retreating up the Rhone River valley.

ITALY:

12th Air Force medium bombers attack bridges in the Po River valley.
During the night, XII TAC A-20s attack motor vehicles around Milan and Turin.

US 15th AIR FORCE
HUNGARY:

15th Air Force heavy bombers attack roads and supply lines south of Budapest.

ITALY:

15th Air Force B-24s attack bridges throughout northern Italy.

ROMANIA

3 15th Air Force B-17s complete the third REUNION evacuation mission of USAAF airmen liberated from prisoner-of-war camps around Ploesti and Bucharest.

YUGOSLAVIA

15th Air Force heavy bombers and P-38 dive-bombers attack the ferry installation at Smederevo, the heavy bombers attack numerous bridges, and P-51s strafe several airfields and numerous transportation targets.

Air Operations, New Guinea

V Fighter Command fighter-bombers attack airfields at Babo, Nabire, and Waren, troops and stores at Manokwari, and coastal targets around MacCluer Gulf and Wewak.

Air Operations, Volcano Islands

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

Eastern Front

CENTRAL SECTOR

Elements of the 70th Army cross the Bug River north of Warsaw.

Italy

Canadian units cross the Conca and continue their advance.

Mediterranean

The US tank landing craft LCT-151 is sunk by storm.

Occupied Holland

Prince Bernhard is appointed commander of underground forces.

Secret War

Retreating Germans abandon hundreds of thousands of intelligence dossiers at Brussels. These are subsequently discovered and examined by British investigators and found to contain street maps of every town and village in the UK and Ireland, maps of the entire British and Irish coastlines and innumerable photographs, ranging form 1890s postcards to 1940 views of the Battersea Power Station. All these data were to have been used during Operation SEA LION.

Wake Island

Adm William W. Smith(or Rear-Adm A. E. Smith?) leads 3 heavy cruisers and 3 destroyers to bombard the Japanese positions on the island. The light carrier Monterey (CVL-26) provides air cover.

Western Europe

Brussels is entered by the British Guards Arm Div. Other towns take by the 21st Army Group are Tournai and Abbeville. The US 3rd Army has advance units across the Moselle. Mons is taken by US 1st Army.

At this point the Allied front in the north runs from the mouth of the Somme in the north to Troyes in the south, following the line Lille-Brussels-Mons-Sedan-Verdun-Commercy.

In the south the French 1st Inf Div enters Lyons. Wiese has managed to withdraw most of the German 19th Army. The German 1st Army under Gen Kurt von der Chevallerie, manning the Bay of Biscay, has also withdrawn from southwest France, 130,000 German soldiers succeed in rejoining Army Group B, but 80,000 others are taken prisoner.