Air Operations, CBI

• 3 10th Air Force B-25s attack Indaw after diverting from Bhamo because of bad weather.
• 10th Air Force P-47s attack Indaw, rail facilities, and Japanese Army ground troops.

• 27 341st Medium Bomb Group B-25s attack Chuanhsien, Kiyang, and Lingling.
• 14th Air Force P-51s and P-40s mount more than 100 effective sorties against the same targets as well as Changsha and Yiyang.

Air Operations, East Indies

• Despite bad weather, FEAF B-24s attack northeastern Celebes and the airfield at Djailolo.
• FEAF B-24s and B-25s, and V Fighter Command fighter-bombers, attack airfields on Ceram, Amboina, and Boeroe, and various targets of opportunity.
• 380th Heavy Bomb Group B-24s attack Lautem, Timor.
• During the night, FEAF B-24s attack the Menado and Sidate airfields on Celebes.

Air Operations, Europe

• 646 aircraft attack German positions around Calais. In the aircraft total are 437 Lancasters, 169 Halifaxes and 40 Mosquitos. Visibility is good and the bombing is accurate and concentrates.
• 1 Lancaster is lost.

• 5 Hudsons and 2 Lysanders are on Resistance operations and there are 7 RCM sorties.
• There are no losses.

• 2 Mosquitos and 1 Fortress of No. 100 Group take off, but are quickly recalled because of widespreag fog in England which prevents any major operation from being mounted.

Air Operations, New Guinea

V Fighter Command fighter-bombers attack the airfields at Moemi and Ransiki and a supply dump on the Orai River.

Eastern Front

GERMAN COMMAND

With its armies already fighting in the eastern provinces, the Hungarians are presented with a German ultimatum. Unless they accept integration of their forces in the German chain of command they will be disarmed and Germany will seize control of the state. Horthy has little option but to comply.

The Germans form the Volkssturm, a collection of battalion-sized units made up from men and boys between the ages of 16 and 60. The first draft calls 1,200,000 up for service. The new units are given the most basic training and sent to fight the experienced Allied and Soviet soldiers.

Italy

The 4th Indian Div, the advance of British V Corps, 8th Army, enters the Republic of San Marino.

Palaus

On Angaur the main Japanese forces have been wiped out, but a few units will hold out for some time in the northwest of the island in a wide depression near Lake Salome.

Western Front

A joint attack by the British Guards Arm Div and the US 82nd AB Div takes Nijmegen and the vital bridge over the Waal before it can be destroyed by the Germans. At Arnhem the British paratroops are driven away from the north end of the bridge despite a desperate fight.

In other attacks Polish troops of Canadian 1st Army make gains along the Scheldt estuary and US 3rd Army takes Châtel and Lunèville.

Images from September 20, 1944

British Troops Crossing Waal Bridge, Nijmegen, 20 September 1944

British Sherman tanks of the XXX Corps cross the Nijmegen bridge, the last one to Arnhem, 20 September 1944

British Tanks Crossing the Nijmegen Bridge

Bomb damage following a German air raid, Mitcham, Surrey, 20 September 1944.

Surrey Bomb Damage

Dutch civilians ride on a jeep during the advance towards Nijmegen, 20 September 1944.

Advancing Toward Nijmegen

Cromwell tanks of Guard’s Armoured Division drive along ‘Hell’s Highway’ towards Nijmegen during Operation ‘Market-Garden’, 20 September 1944

Cromwell Tanks Driving Toward Nijmegen

The bridge at Nijmegen after it had been captured by the 82nd (US) Airborne Division. A dead German SS officer lies where he fell during the attack.

The Bridge at Nijmegen

Nijmegen and Grave 17 – 20 September 1944: British engineers removing the charge which the Germans had set in readiness to blow the Nijmegen bridge.

British Engineers Removing the Charge

'Gallipoli II', a 6-pdr anti-tank gun of No. 26 Anti-Tank Platoon, 1st Border Regiment, 1st Airborne Division, in action in Oosterbeek, 20 September 1944. The gun was at this moment engaging a German PzKpfw B2 (f) Flammpanzer tank of Panzer-Kompanie 224 and successfully knocked it out.

A 6-pdr Anti-tank Gun

A convoy of Allied trucks under enemy artillery and mortar fire on the road between Son and Eindhoven, Holland, 20 September 1944. In the foreground American paratroopers shelter in a ditch

Convoy of Allied Trucks Under Fire

Operation Market Garden: Oosterbeek Resupply Drop, 20 September 1944

AEC Mk III and Staghound armored cars move forward on the road to Sint-Huibrechts-Lille (Limburg), 20 September 1944

Armored Cars Moving Forward

Carriers of 1/5th Welch Regiment, 53rd Division, crossing the Meuse into The Netherlands, 20 September 1944

Crossing the Meuse

Nijmegen Road Bridge, after its capture on 20 September 1944, littered with war debris and wrecked German vehicles

Nijmegen Road Bridge