Air Operations, CBI

• 7 10th Air Force B-25s attack Man Mawn and 1 B-25 attacks Indaw.

• 27 341st Medium Bomb Group B-25s attack Kiyang, Lingling, Yungming, and targets near Chuanhsien.
• 14th Air Force P-51s and P-40s mount more than 100 effective sorties against numerous targets in east-central China.
• 5th CACW Fighter Group P-40s, 23rd Fighter Group P-40s, and an 81st Fighter Group P-47 down 8 Japanese fighters during a morning engagement over Sinshih.
• 21 7th Heavy Bomb Group B-24s transport fuel from India to Liuchow.

Air Operations, East Indies

• FEAF B-24s attack Piroe Bay, the Kairatoe airfield and Laha on Ceram.
• FEAF B-25s and P-38s attack small craft off Belang (Sunda Islands), Kairatoe (Ceram), Kakas (Celebes), barges off Kaoe (Halmahera), Menado (Celebes), the Namlea airfield on Boeroe, and Tomohon (Celebes).

Air Operations, Europe

• 12 Stirlings and 1 Hudson are on Resistance operations, and 2 Fortresses and 2 Wellingtons make RCM sorties. There are no losses. Bad weather in the form of rain and low cloud prevents any major operation during the next 48 hours.

• More than 80 8th Air Force B-24s transport fuel to France.

• 151 1st Bomb Division B-17s attack a marshalling yard at Mainz.
• 144 2nd Bomb Division B-24s attack a marshalling yard at Koblenz.
• 147 3rd Bomb Division B-17s attack an oil-industry target at Ludwigshafen.
• 2 B-24s are lost

• 90 VIII Fighter Command fighter patrol over the MARKET-GARDEN battle area between 1500 and 1630 hours.

• 79 9th Bomb Division B-26s and A-20s attack marshalling yards at three locations.
• IX TAC fighter pilots cover the withdrawal of the US V Corps from around Wallendorf and down 10 Luftwaffe fighters over Germany between 1630 and 1645 hours.

• 15th Air Force heavy bombers attack marshalling yards at two locations and bridges at three locations.

• 15th Air Force heavy bombers attack a marshalling yard at Brod and a rail bridge at Novi Sad.
• 42 15th Air Force P-38s dive-bomb a marshalling yard at Osijek.
• 2 C-47s evacuate downed 15th Air Force airmen from Yugoslavia to bases in Italy.

Air Operations, New Guinea

• V Fighter Command fighter-bombers attack targets of opportunity on the Orai River and at Ransiki and Windissi.
• During the night, V Fighter Command fighter-bombers attack the Geelvink Bay and Bentoni Bay areas.

Air Operations, Philippines

Task Force 38 carrier-based aircraft undertake punishing strikes against shipping and airfields in the Manila area and airfields in the central Philippines. US Navy fighter pilots (and 2 SB2C crews) down 147 Japanese aircraft over and near Luzon in two actions from 0740 to 1115 hours and from 1500 to 1700 hours.

Allied Command

Gen MacArthur tells the US Chiefs of Staff that he is in a position to launch a big operation against Luzon, in the Philippines, following the advance deadline for the landing on Leyte. He also declares that there will be no point in landing on Formosa once Luzon has been captured.

Eastern Front

The Polish 1st Army is forced to withdraw from its bridgeheads in Warsaw.

The last air drop by Western aircraft to the Home Army in Warsaw takes place.

Italy

8th Army's advance reaches Rimini. The Canadians of the I Corps and the Greek 3rd Mountain Bde enter the town which the Germans have evacuated. Since the beginning of operations against the 'Gothic' Line, the British 8th Army has lost 14,000 men killed, wounded and missing.

Occupied Denmark

The general strike in Denmark is crushed by the Germans.

Pacific

• The US submarine Haddo (SS-255), while lifeguarding TF-38, sinks the Japanese surveying ship Katsuriki 80 miles southwest of Manila.
• In action off the east coast of Luzon, the US submarine Picuda (SS-382) sinks the Japanese transport Awaji Maru (1948t) and Redfish (SS-395) sinks the transport Mizuho Maru (8506t).

• The US submarine Searaven (SS-196) sinks the Kurils-bount Japanese army transport Rizan Maru (4747t).
• The US submarin3 Shad (SS-235) sinks the Japanese auxiliary minesweeper No.2 Fumi Maru (230t) east of Shinto.

Palaus

On Peleliu the stalemate continues for the US Marines in the face of the powerful Japanese defense from the caves on Mount Umurbrogol.

Philippines

Over the next 4 days 12 carriers from Vice-Adm Mitscher's TF 38 attack targets on Luzon, especially near Manila and in Manila Bay on September 21 and 22. On the 23rd there are no attacks, but on Sept 24 the Visayan islands are hit once again. Japanese ships sunk in the day's operations include the destroyer Satsuki, the tanker Sunosaki, the surveying ship Katsuriki by the submarine Haddo (SS-255), the coast defense vessel No. 5, the auxiliary submarine chaser No. 39 and the minesweeper No. 7. In the operations since August 31 TF 38 had destroyed at least 1,000 Japanese aircraft and sunk 150 ships of all types. The Americans have lost 72 aircraft which includes 18 in accidents.

Southwest Pacific

Based on the approval of the JCS for the invasion of Leyte on October 20, SWPA headquarters orders 6th Army to seize and secure Dinagat and Homonhon Islands as a preliminary action to bringing a landing force into Leyte Gulf. Upon landing, Krueger's 6th Army will have 60 days to defeat enemy forces and establish airbases necessary for future operations. The 8th Army (to be established on September 25 under Lt-Gen Robert L. Eichelberger) will take over all former 6th Army missions in New Guinea, New Britain, the Admiralties, and Morotai. The Australian 1st Army will take the combat missions of XIV Corps in the Solomon s and 6th Army in New Guinea. Gen Kenney's Far East Air Force will attack targets on Mindanao and in the Netherlands East Indies from bases in New Guinea and Morotai.

Western Front

The British XXX Corps continues to attack northward from Nijmegen but can only make very slow progress because the advance must go along or very near to the roads and rail lines which are raised above the marshy surrounding ground and consequently exposed. It is, therefore, comparatively simple to meet these attacks. The British paratroopers have been driven out of Arnhem and are now holding a permiter west of the town but still north of the Rhine. A Polish Parachute Bde or 750 men is dropped 2 miles south of this position on the opposite side of the river.

Yugoslavia, Politics

The partisan chief Marshal Tito meets the Soviet leader Joseph Stalin. They reach agreement on the 'temporary entry of the Red Army into Yugoslavia.'

Images from September 21, 1944

Airborne Artillery Near Arnhem

Mortar Crew in the Oosterbeek Perimeter

Waiting for the Enemy

Searching for Snipers

Wounded Man Being Carried Away

Cromwell Tanks at Nijmegen

A Vickers Machine-gun Team

Tanks Carrying Infantry

17 Pounder Anti-tank Gun Guarding the Bridge

A New Zealand Anti-aircraft Gun

Germans Captured in the Herqulingue Hill

Tanks in the Village of Veghel