Air Operations, Bonin and Volcano Islands30th Heavy Bomb Group B-24s based on Saipan attack Iwo Jima and shipping off Chichi Jima. [ | ]Air Operations, Carolines
Air Operations, CBIBURMA
Air Operations, East Indies
Air Operations, EuropeThere is an explosion in Chiswick and 3 people are killed and 10 are injured. A supersonic boom is heard all over London announcing the first V-2 rocket attack on London. The rocket was launched from Wassenaar, a suburb of The Hague still in German hands. At this point the threat from the V-1 has been chiefly removed by the capture of the launch sites in France, but now the new projectile, fired from mobile launchers, poses a new problem. Its 192-mile flight is completed in 5 minutes and brings devastation to 6 houses in Stavely Road and much additional damage. This was not the intended target, of course, but those witnessing the event cannot explain the cause of the explosion because the speed of the projectile is such that it arrives before the sound of its passage is heard. Press statements are minimal and the public remains in the dark for 2 months. The Allies will find it difficult to fly raids against the mobile launch vehicles even though they quickly trace the area in which they are operating. The V-2 program will have minimal effect on the war as a whole, the daily bombardment barely equalling the effect of a single Allied bomber over Germany. The luxury liner Rex (51,062t) is set on fire by the RAF at Trieste. RAF BOMBER COMMANDDaylight Ops:
Minor Ops:
Air Operations, Far EastChina-based B-29 Superfortress bombers make their first daylight raid against Japanese industrial targets at Anshan, Manchuria. [ | ]Air Operations, New Guinea
BelgiumThe Belgian government of premier Hubert Pierlot, which took refuge in London when Belgium capitulated in May 1940, returns to Brussels. [ | ]Burma-ChinaOn the Salween front the Japanese have received substantial reinforcements and open an offensive against the Chinese positions north of Lung-ling. In China, the Japanese advance from Hengyang toward the south and occupy Ling-ling from which the US 14th Air Force has withdrawn. The US air bases at Kweilin and Liuchow are also threatened by 2 divisions and 1 brigade of the Japanese 23rd Army, advancing northward from Canton. [ | ]Eastern FrontThe Russians complete the occupation of Bulgaria and continue their advance into the eastern Carpathians. The German South Army Group of Johannes Friessner, after the loss of the German-Rumanian 6th Army and the Rumanian 3rd Army now consists of no more than the German 8th Army, the Rumanian 4th Army and German XVII Corps. It is quite unable to stand up to the 8 armies, including 1 armored and 1 air army, that make up Rodion Malinovsky's 2nd Ukraine Front, which is supported by a large part of Fedor Tolbukhin's 3rd Ukraine Front with its 4 armies, one motorized corps and one air army. With these 2 Fronts the Russians have 929,000 men in the line, the Germans only half that number.[MORE] [ | ]ItalyAfter two days of rain 8th Army continues its attacks on the Gemmano and Coriano ridges without success. Consequently the Allied advance on Rimini is stalled. [ | ]V-WeaponsThe first German V-2 rocket weapon lands in the Chiswick area of London. These are quite different and a great deal more deadly that the slow V-1s, which the British fighters could pursue and shoot down. The construction of the main launching bases near St Omer, south of Dunkirk, has been halted by the massive Allied bombing raids. More easily constructed ramps are then put up on the Dutch islands. The range of the V-2s is about 230 miles and their accuracy is remarkable. The main target is England, and particularly London, but after the Germans lose Antwerp that city also becomes a constant target for the new weapon in order to prevent the Allies from making use of the harbor. Hitler's objective, the breaking down of the morale of the British, is not achieved. Instead, the V-Waffen increase Britain's determination to crush Germany. The last V-2 lands on London on March 27, 1945. By that date some 1,115 have been launched at Britain, resulting in 2,724 dead and 6,467 seriously wounded. By the end of the war, the total number of British civilians killed in air raids amounts to 60,000. Up to April 5, 1945, more than 2,050 V2s are fired at Antwerp, Brussels and Liège. [ | ]Western FrontIn the northern sector of the front, the Canadian 2nd Div attacks Dunkirk, while the 4th Div reaches the outskirts of Bruges. In Brittany, after a heavy bombardment, the VIII Corps begins a general offensive against Brest. The German 106th Panzer Brigade is decimated in a futile counterattack between Landres and Mairy, northwest of Metz, losing 30 tanks and 60 halftracks. The VII Corps from the US 1st Army takes Liège. The Albert Canal is crossed opposite Gheel by British XXX Corps units and at Maastricht by US XIX units. Troops from Canadian 1st Army capture Nieuport and Ostend. In southern France Besançon falls to US VI Corps. French troops of the II Corps enter Beaune and Autun, southwest of Dijon. [ | ]Images from September 8, 1944
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
[September 7th - September 9th] |