Air Operations, Bonin Islands

29 30th Heavy Bomb Group B-24s based at Saipan attack shipping at Chichi Jima.

Air Operations, CBI

• 28 341st Medium Bomb Group B-25s attack Lingling and four other cities in east-central China.
• 14th Air Force fighter-bombers mount more than 150 effective sorties against numerous targets through east-central China, especially at Changsha.
• A 5th CACW Fighter Group P-40 downs an A6M Zero in an early-morning engagement near Changsha.
• An 81st Fighter Group P-47 downs a Ki-44 'Tojo' fighter over Koyiu during a late-morning engagement.
• 18 7th Heavy Bomb Group B-24s transport fuel from India to Chengkung and Liuchow.

Air Operations, East Indies

• FEAF B-24s, B-25s, and P-38s attack the Langoan airfield on Celebes and port facilities, fuel stores, bivouacs, anti-aircraft batteries throughout northeastern Celebes.
• VP-33 PBYs begin operating from Morotai, where they are serviced by the seaplane tender USS Tangier.
• During the night, V Bomber Command A-20s and V Fighter Command P-47s attack Kaoe, Halmahera.

Air Operations, Europe

100 German bombers attack Eindhoven, the only time long-range Luftwaffe aircraft are used in the fight for western Europe.

• 28 Lancasters, 27 Halifaxes and 1 Mosquito of Nos. 6 and 8 Groups are sent to attack the Domberg coastal battery but are recalled.
• 1 Halifax crashes in England.

• 6 Hudsons and 4 Stirlings fly Resistance operations and there are 8 RCM sorties.

• 227 Lancasters and 10 Mosquitos of No. 5 Group are sent to the twin towns of Mönchengladbach/Rheydt, key traffic centers behind the Siegfried Line. Bomber Command claims severe damage to both towns, but particularly to Mönchengladbach.
• 4 Lancaster and 1 Mosquito are lost.
• The Master Bomber for this raid is Wing Commander Guy Gibson, VC, DSO, DFC flying a No. 627 Squadron Mosquito from Coningsby, where he was serving as Base Operations Officer. Gibson's instructions over the target are heard throughout the raid and give no hint of trouble, but his aircraft crashes in flames - according to a Dutch eyewitness - before crossing the coast of Holland for the homeward flight over the North Sea. There are no German fighter claims for the Mosquito. It may have been damaged by flak over the target or on the return flight, or it may have developed engine trouble. It is possible it was flying too low for the crew to escape by parachute. Gibson and his navigator, Squadron Leader J. B. Warwick, DFC are both killed and are buried in the Roman Catholic Cemetery at Steenbergen-en-Kruisland, 13 km north of Bergen-op-Zoom. Theirs are the only graves of Allied servicemen in the cemetery.

• Aircraft of No. 100 Group fly 17 Mosquito and 15 RCM sorties.
• There are no losses.

Black Sea

The last 3 U-boats operating in the Black Sea are scuttled after running out of fuel and a rejection of a planned sale to the Turkish Navy.

China

Roosevelt and Churchill send a message to Chiang Kai-shek telling him of the decisions of the Quebec Conference. The message is accompanied by a letter from Roosevelt which, in far from diplomatic terms, demands that the Generalissimo stop vacillating and make good his words. Chiang Kai-shek is furious.

Diplomatic Relations

The armistice between the Finns and the Allies is signed in Moscow. Finland retains its independence within the 1940 frontiers, but Finland has to cede Viipuri to the USSR because of its proximity to Leningrad. Also ceded by the Finns, the Petsamo district in the north of the country, and control, but not sovereignty, over the Porkala peninsula south of Helsinki, important for the control of communications between the Gulf of Finland and the Baltic. The Russians restore Hanko, or rather do not press their claim to that town. The Finns will have to pay reparations in the amount of $300 million to the Soviet Union and the Allies will have the right to use the country's airfields.

Eastern Front

Bitter fighting rages near Cluj between the 2nd Ukraine Front and the North Ukraine Army Group. In Estonia Valga, on the frontier between Estonia and Latvia, falls to Ivan I. Maslennikov's 3rd Baltic Front troops. The Russian offensive here and throughout the Baltic States continues as they push on toward Tallinn and Riga.

The 2nd Shock Army, moving up from Tartu, links up with the 8th Army at the northwest tip of Lake Peipus. Valk falls to the 1st Shock Army as other attacks threaten to isolate the left wing of the 18th Army in Estonia.

Fierce battles rage aroung Cluj as the 8th and 2nd Hungarian Armies pound the 2nd Ukrainian Front.

Morotai

The enormous superiority of MacArthur's 7th Amphibious Force gives the Americans an easy victory over the few hundred Japanese manning this little island, which is soon turned into a big air base less the 400 miles from Mindanao in the Philippines.

Pacific

The Japanese frigate Ioshima is sunk by the US submarine Shad (SS-235) off Honshy, Japan.

Palaus

The heavy fighting on Peleliu around Mount Umurbrogol goes on where the Japanese have the 1st and 7th Marines pinned down. Elements of the latter regiment, advancing from the east, capture the village of Asias. Because of Mount Umurbrogol, The American U-shaped advance is held up at both extremities.

US Marines capture Ngardololok and flush out most Japanese resistance on the eastern coast of Peleliu. They also take Peleliu airfield, capturing 77 fighter aircraft, 36 bombers and 4 transport planes although most are badly damaged. However, the Japanese are deeply embedded in fortified positions and are well armed, and the advance is painfully slow. US estimates now put the Japanese death toll on Peleliu at 8792.

On Angaur the fighting is also intense.

Western Front

In the morning the continuing XXX Corps attacks link up with the 82nd AB Div at Grave. Together these formations move toward Nijmegen. At Arnhem the main body of the British paratroops still cannot reach the battalion which continues to hold its position at the north end of the bridge.

Back in Brittany the last resistance of the German garrison in Brest comes to an end when the 8th Div takes the Crozon peninsula and takes Gen Hermann Bernhard Ramcke, the garrison commander, prisoner.

Images from September 19, 1944

RAF aerial reconnaissance photo of the Arnhem road bridge on 19 September, showing signs of the British defence on the northern ramp and the wrecked German vehicles from the previous day’s fighting.

Reconnaissance Photo of the Arnhem Road Bridge

The tanks were on their way – but not making the progress expected. Cheering Dutch civilians gather around a Sherman OP tank of ‘C’ Troop, 55th Field Regiment RA, Guards Armoured Division, as Eindhoven is liberated, 19 September 1944. Sitting on the front of the tank is Sgt Herbert Frederick Jones.

Tanks Are Moving Up

German Self-propelled anti-aircraft guns of the 9th SS Panzer Division during the battle. The presence of the II SS Panzer Corps would have a significant effect on the battle

German Self-propelled Anti-aircraft Guns

Operation MARKET III: air re-supply of British airborne forces in the Arnhem area, 19 September 1944. Burnt-out Douglas Dakota Mark III, KG401, of No. 48 Squadron RAF based at Down Ampney, Gloucestershire, which crash-landed in a field near Kessel, Holland, after parachuting supplies over Arnhem. The aircraft had just dropped its supplies from 700 feet when it was met with intense anti-aircraft fire.

Air Re-supply of British Airborne Forces

Men of 1st Airborne Division Moving Forward into Arnhem, 19 September 1944

Men of the King’s Own Scottish Borderers (KOSB) Moving Up, Holland, 19 September 1944

Cheering Dutch civilians swarm onto a universal carrier and trailer as Eindhoven is liberated, 19 September 1944.

Dutch Civilians Cheering in Eindhoven

Dutch nurses wave at passing British vehicles during the liberation of Eindhoven, 19 September 1944.

Liberation of Eindhoven

Troops examining the wreck of a German PzKpfw IV tank knocked out in the village of San Savino, 19 September 1944

Troops Examining a Wrecked Tank

In the night of 19 September 1944, the center of Eindhoven was bombed by 85 bombers of the Luftwaffe. More than 200 people were killed.

Bombing of Eindhoven

Cromwell Tanks, 2nd Welsh Guards, Eindhoven, 19 September 1944

The transport column of the Arnhem branch of the Dutch Red Cross in action at St. Elisabeths Gasthuis. 19 September 1944 (Photo: Bundesarchiv collection)

Dutch Red Cross in Arnhem