Air Operations, Carolines

• USN carrier aircraft from Task Group 38.1, Task Group 38.2, and Task Group 38.3 opening a planned three-day preinvasion bombardment of the Palau Islands find that few worthy targets are left following several attacks by XIII Bomber Command B-24s.
• USN carrier aircraft from Task Group 38.4 attack the Yap Atoll.
• 11th Heavy Bomb Group B-24s based in the Marshall Islands attack the Truk Atroll.

Air Operations, CBI

BURMA

• 6 10th Air Force B-25s attack Indaw.
• 3 B-25s attack Katha.

• 20 341st Medium Bomb Group B-25s attack the airfields at Hengyang and Paishui, road traffic near Lingling, rail facilities at Lingkuantien, the town area at Yiyang, and Japanese Army troops at Kiyang.
• 45 14th Air Force fighter-bombers attack numerous targets over a wide area.
• 24 7th Heavy Bomb Group transport 32,000 gallons of fuel from India to Kunming.

Air Operations, East Indies

• 38th Medium Bomb Group B-25s attack defensive positions along Morotai Island’s southern coast at minimum altitude.
• V Bomber Command B-25s attack Galela.
• V Fighter Command fighter-bombers attack the Djailolo airfield and the Kaoe airfield on Halmahera.
• A 49th Fighter Group P-38 downs an A6M Zero near Celebes at 1420 hours.

Air Operations, Europe

• 344 aircraft including 311 Lancasters, 30 Mosquitos and 3 Stirlings bomb German fortifications and transportation targets at Le Havre.
• There are no losses.
• 105 Halifaxes and 76 Lancasters of Nos. 6 and 8 Groups are sent to Emden in the first raid on this city since June 1942. Escort is provided at first by Spitfires, the later by Mustangs. The bombing is accurate and Emden was seen to be a mass of flames, but no local report is available other than a brief note hich states that several small ships in the harbour have been sunk.
• Only 1 Lancaster, that of the deputy Master Bomber, Flight Lieutenant Granville Wilson, DSO, DFC, DFM of No. 7 Squadron, a 23-year-old Northern Irishman, is lost. Wilson's aircraft received a direct hit from a flak shell and he was killed instantly, together with his navigator and bomb aimer, Sergeants D. Jones and E. R. Brunsdon. The 5 other members of the crew escape by parachute.

• 32 Mosquitos are sent to Hamburg and 6 to Emden, 8 Halifaxes lay mines in the Ems River and off Texel, 6 Stirlings are on Resistance operations, and there are 33 Mosquito patrols and 17 RCM sorties.
• 1 Serrate Mosquito is lost.

• 70 8th Air Force B-24s transport fuel to France.

• VIII Figher Command fighters conduct sweeps in the Aachen and Koblenz area.

• VIII Fighter Command fighters conduct a sweep in the Rotterdam area.

• Of 706 IX Bomber Command B-26s and A-20s dispatched, 545 attack a bridge and strongpoints in the Brest area.
• IX Bomber Command bombers also attack German army batteries and defenses elsewhere in France.
• 9th Air Force fighter-bombers attack gun emplacements around Brest, an ammo dump, and other target in other battle areas.
• Making their type's world combat debut during the Brest attack are Douglas A-26 Invader light bombers being combat-tested by special crews attached to the 386th Medium Bomb Group 553rd Medium Bomb Squadron. Special features of the A-26 are that it has the payload capacityof a medium bomber combined with the agility of a light bomber. The A-26 is also longer ranged than the latest A-20 model in service.

• 15th Air Force heavy bombers attack two bridges over the Sebes Koros River, and a marshalling yard.

• 15th Air Force heavy bombers attack two marshalling yards at Oradea.
• 2 15th Air Force B-17s undertake the fourth Operation REUNION evacuation mission of USAAF airmen liberated from prisoner-of-war camps around Ploesti and Bucharest.

• 15th Air Force B-24s attack a marshalling yard at Novi Sad, a marshalling yard and German Army troop and tank concentrations at Leskovac, and a bridge at Budapest.

Air Operations, New Guinea

• V Bomber Command B-25s and A-20s, and V Fighter Command fighter-bombers attack the airfields at Manokwari, Moemi, Ransiki, Waren, and Nabire.
• P-39s attack Suain.
• P-40s attack Napido and the Soepiori Peninsula.

Air Operations, Philippines

• 45 V Bomber Command B-24s attack the dock area at Santa Ana, Mindanao.
• Several B-24s attack Rainis on the return flight.
• 11 345th Medium Bomb Group B-25s attack the Buayoan airfield on Mindanao at low level.
• The B-24s are escorted by 29 475th Fighter Group P-38s, and the B-25 are escorted by 35 347th Fighter Group P-38s that also strafe Buayaon airfield. As a result of this and earlier attacks, the Japanese withdraw nearly all their aircraft to unreachable bases in northern Mindanao and the central Philippines.
• A 347th Fighter Group P-38 downs a Ki-57 'Topsy' transport plane over the Buayoan airfield on Mindanao at 1300 hours.

Air Operations, Volcano Islands

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

Balkans

In Serbia the German-backed government under Milan Neditch is still in power. The government was set up by the German on August 30, 1941. But Neditch has been in secret contact with Draja Mihailovic, leader of the Croatian monarchists, the 'Chetniks'. However, both Neditch and Mihailovic have steadily lost influence, as the initiative in a long and courageous struggle against the Germans has been taken by the Communist partisans led by Tito, Secretary-General of the Croat Communist party.

Britain, Home Front

The Minister for Home Security, Herbert Morrison relaxes blackout and other civil defense duties. The War Office ends compulsory training and drills for Home Guard units.

Burma-China

On the Salween front the commander of the Japanese forces in the Sung Shan sector is killed in action. Chinese forces from Burma and western Yunnan in China link up at the Kaolingkung Pass, the first opening of a land route between the 2 countries since 1942.

Carolines

Over the next 3 days all four groups, 16 carriers in all escorted by cruisers and destroyers, of Vice-Adm Marc A. Mitscher's TF 38 attack Japanese airfields and other installations in the Palau Islands and Yap and Ulithi Islands in the western Carolines. The attacks cause tremendous damage. The targets are also shelled from the sea. Adm William F. Halsey, commanding 3rd Fleet, is present aboard the battleship New Jersey (BB-62).

Diplomatic Relations

A Finnish delegation flies to Moscow to negotiate an armistice.

Eastern Front

The Russian advance, with the 3rd Ukraine Front leading, through Rumania reaches the Yugoslavian border on the Danube at Turnu-Severin. Nearer the opposite end of the Russian front Ostroleka is taken only 25 miles from the East Prussian border.

The loss of Rumania and its oilfields has the most serious consequences for Germany. Any attempt to hold the Carpathian-Hungarian line must now fail for the lack of fuel, manpower and equipment.

The German 20th Mountain Army, commanded by Col-Gen Lothar Rendulic, begins to withdraw to a new defensive line across northern Finland from Lyngen through Ivalo to Petsamo. This operation is codenamed BIRKE.

Soviet attacks north of Warsaw gain ground slowly as the Germans put up a strong defense. Ostroleka falls to the 48th Army as the Narew is crossed again.

Inside Warsaw, the Germans clear the Vistula banks of Polish forces, forcing the Poles back into the city center.

The 53rd Army crosses the Danube and enters Yugoslavia. With the situation on the southern wing fluid, The Germans commit the LVII Panzer Corps to support the new 6th Army's efforts to halt the Soviet attacks into Hungary.

The 2nd Hungarian Army is brought to a halt south of Cluj. To the east the 40th and 7th Guards Armies hit Wohler's 8th Army on the Hungarian border.

Italy

Units of the British V Corps prepare an offensive on a huge scale to capture Coriano. Patrols from the Canadian I Corps reach the Marano River.

Pacific

• The US submarine Albacore (SS-218) sinks the Japanese auxiliary minesweeper No.3 Eguchi Maru at the entrance to Kii Suido, Japan.
• The Japanese army cargo ship Eiji Maru (6968t) sinks on a mine.

United States, Home Front

The army is able to announce that it will demobilize 1,000,000 men when the war with Germany is over.

Western Front

The Canadian forces reach the Channel north of Calais and just south of Boulogne. The US 1st Army crosses the Meuse at several points south of Namur. The US VII Corps pushes on toward Liège. Ghent, Courtrai and Armentières all fall to the 21st Army Group. Units of the 3rd Army cross the Moselle. In southern France Chalons-sur-Saone is taken by the French II Corps. The American VI Corps moves rapidly toward Belançon.

Images from September 6, 1944

Entering Lannoy, France

Planning an Attack

Daylight Raid near Le Havre, France

Destroyed German Tank in Meximieux

Self-propelled Gun near Mondaino, Italy

US Soldiers Crossing Destroyed Bridge

B-24J Unloading Fuel

Armored Car in Ramillies, Belgium