Air Operations, Carolines

5th and 307th Heavy Bomb group B-24s attack the airfield on Peleliu.

Air Operations, CBI

• 8 10th Air Force B-25s attack Indaw.

• 25 341st Medium Bomb Group B-25s attack Hengyang, the airfield there, and Kiyang.
• 6 B-25s attack a ferry crossing at Siangtan and other nearby targets.
• 2 B-25s attack a shipyard at Kowloon.
• 26 14th Air Force P-40s attack troops, horses, and river traffic around Kiyang and Wangyang.
• Fighter-bombers mount numerous small missions against various targets in east-central China.
• 23rd Fighter Group P-51s down a Ki-43 'Oscar' fighter and an unidentified bomber near Chaling at 0930 hours.

• 21 7th Heavy Bomb Group B-24s transport fuel from India to Kunming, China.

Air Operations, Central Pacific

Light Carrier Air Group 28 (USS Monterey) attacks Wake Island.

Air Operations, East Indies

• 380th Heavy Bomb Group B-24s mount several small pre-dawn attacks against the Kendari airfield on Celebes.
• 60 V Bomber Command B-24s attack the Langoan airfield on Celebes.
• B-25s attack Djailolo airfield, anti-aircraft batteries at the Kaoe airfield on Halmahera, and several occupied villages elsewhere in the Molucca Islands.
• V Fighter Command fighter-bombers attack the Galela airfield on Halmahera.

Air Operations, Europe

• 348 aircraft of Nos. 1, 3 and 8 Groups carry out the first in a series of heavy raids on German positions in the Le Havre area which is still holding out after being bypassed by the Allied advance. Included in the aircraft total are 313 Lancasters, 30 Mosquitos and 5 Stirlings. This is an accurate raid in good visibility without a loss.
• 60 Lancasters and 6 Mosquitos of No. 5 Group bomb gun positions outside Brest whose garrison is still holding out.
• There are no losses.

• 43 Mosquitos are sent to Hannover and 12 to Steenwijk, 19 aircraft are on Resistance operations, and there are 23 Mosquito patrols and 8 RCM sorties.
• There are no losses.

Air Operations, New Guinea

V Fighter Command fighter-bombers attack the airfields at Moemi and Waren, and occupied villages on the Soepiori Peninsula.

Air Operations, Volcano Islands

20 30th Heavy Bomb Group B-24s based at Saipan attack Iwo Jima.

Diplomatic Relations

The Benelux Customs Union (between Belguim, Netherlands and Luxembourg) is established by agreement of the exile governments. This is one of the first moves which will lead eventually to the establishment of the European Economic Community.

The Bulgarian attempts to stay out of the war prove unsuccessful. The Soviet Union today declares war. 5 and 1/2 hours later Bulgaria requests an armistice. The Bulgarian prime minister broadcasts and declares war in turn on Germany on September 8.

Under heavy US pressure, Argentina announces all war criminals will be denied asylum.

Eastern Front

The Red Army captures Brasov, in the middle of the Carpathians, and starts to penetrate the so-called 'Carpathian Trench'. The Russians reach Turnu Severin, south of the Iron Gates gorge on the Danube River. The Hungarian 2nd Army attacks the Rumanian 4th Army.

Moscow broadcasts calls on Poles in Warsaw to stage an uprising: 'Fight the Germans. No doubt Warsaw already hears the guns of the battle with the Germans, this time for the decisive action.'

CENTRAL SECTOR

Group Panev, operating alongside the 65th and 70th Armies, cross the Narew near Pultusk.

The 2nd Hungarian Army counterattacks with 5 divisions south of Cluj toward Sibiu, forcing back the newly committed 4th Rumanian Army that is now fighting alongside the Soviet Army. The Rumanians fall back, compelling Malinovsky to move the 6th Tank Army up toward Sibiu to provide support. The main part of the 6th, together with the 27th Army, reach Pitesti.

The Soviet Union declares war on Bulgaria, the Bulgarian goverment surrendering the same day.

Italy

Units of the American 1st Arm Div, IV Corps, enter Lucca. 8th Army's attacks continue but they are now up against the strong German positions on the Coriano and Gemmano ridges. Tank units have been brought forward but cannot break through.

Secret War

In Operation ZEPPELIN a KG-200 plane carrying saboteurs crashes near Moscow.

Western Front

Major successes for the Allied armies on the whole front: in the north, units of the Canadian II Corps take Boulogne and approach the Calais area; Hodges' divisions take Namur and Charleroi and approach Liè and across the Meuse at Sedan; in the south, the 3rd Army crosses the Moselle near Nancy. The American 9th and 3rd Arm Divs cross the Meuse, near Sedan and Dinant. Stiff German resistance halts the US XII Corps at the Moselle River.

Images from September 5, 1944

German Prisoners Being Paraded through the Streets of Antwerp, 5 September 1944

Disconsolate German prisoners locked in the lion's cage at Antwerp zoo, 5 september 1944

German POWs in Antwerp Zoo

Men of the King's Royal Rifle Corps collecting prisoners north of Oudenarde, 5 September 1944

Collecting Prisoners North of Oudenarde

Corporal Charles H. Johnson of the 783rd Military Police Battalion waves on a 'Red Ball Express' motor convoy near Alenon, France, 5 September 1944

'Red Ball Express' Motor Convoy

German prisoners being paraded through the streets of Antwerp, 5 september 1944

German POWs in Antwerp

Unidentified man observes destruction of a railroad station in Avignon, France on 5 September 1944

Railroad Station Damage in Avignon

Germans Packing to Leave Amsterdam

German soldiers are loading their belongings in a truck at the Centraal Station in Amsterdam on September 5, 1944. This day marked the alleged surrender of Germany forces because allied forces were approaching. Panic breaks out among the German military and NSB nazi symphatizers. A large number of them evacuated to the East of the country in confiscated transportation vehicles. It took till May 7, 1945 before Canadian troops liberated Amsterdam

LST-72 and LST-325 unloading directly onto trucks after being left 'high and dry' by the tide at Morlaix, France. September 5, 1944

LSTs Unloading Directly onto Trucks