Air Operations, Bonin and Volcano Islands

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

Air Operations, CBI

• 17 341st Medium Bomb Group B-25s attack Pingnam and road and river traffic around Canton, Samshui, and Wuchou.
• 6 B-25s mount individual attacks through the day against the Tienho and White Cloud airfields at Canton.
• 14th Air Force fighter-bombers mount more than 100 effective sorties against numerous targets over a vast area south of the Yangtze River.

Air Operations, East Indies

• 39 5th and 307th Heavy Bomb group B-24s based at or staging through the Kornasoren airfield on Noemfoor attack oil refineries at Balikpapan, Borneo.
• FEAF B-24s and B-25s attack the Taka airfield in the Molucca Islands, and barges and targets of opportunity along the Amboina and Ceram coasts.
• B-25s attack the Galela and Kaoe airfields on Halmahera, and Sanana (Molucca Islands).
• FEAF fighter-bombers attack the seaplane base at Halong (Celebes), the Haroekoe airfield on Ceram and the Namlea airfield on Boeroe.
• 7 B-24s are downed by Japanese fighters over Balikpapan.

Air Operations, Europe

The German bombardment of Britain with V-2 long-range heavy rockets has resumed from new launch sites dotted across Holland.

The Me-262 jet fighter becomes operational as 40 of the aircraft are based near Osnabruck.

• 252 Lancasters and 7 Mosquitos begin to attack the sea walls of Walcheren island. Coastal gun batteries at Walcheren dominate the approaches to the port of Antwerp, whose facilities could handle 40,000 tons per day of much needed supplies when ships could safely use the approaches. The intention is to flood the island, most of which is reclaimed polder below sea level. The flooding will submerge some of the gun batteries and also hamper the German defence against eventual ground attack. The target for this first raid is the sea wall at Westkapelle, the most western point of Walcheren. The main bombing force is composed of 8 waves, each of 30 Lancasters, with marking provided by Oboe Mosquitos and Pathfinder Lancasters, with the whole operation being controlled by a Master Bomber. The attack goes well and a great mass of high-explosive bombs, mainly 1,000- and 500-pounders but with some 4,000-pounders, force a gap during the fifth wave of the attack. Later waves widen the breach until the sea is pouring in through a gap estimated to be 100 yards wide. 8 Lancasters of No. 617 Squadron which were standing by are not needed and carry their valuable Tallboy bombs back to England.
• There are no losses from this successful operation.

• 5 Hudsons are on Resistance operations and there are 6 RCM sorties.  In minor ops,
  • There are no losses.

• 43 Mosquitos are sent to Kassel, 6 each to Aschaffenburg and Pforzheim, 5 to Münster and 4 to Kamen, and there are 19 Intruder patrols and 1 RCM sortie.
• There are no losses.

The crew of a Lancaster of No 218 Squadron chat with an unknown visitor, October 1944.

Lancaster of No 218 (Gold Coast)

Air Operations, New Guinea

V Fighter Command fighter-bombers attack Fak Fak and Otawiri.

Eastern Front

In Estonia troops of the Leningrad Front land on the island of Hiiumaa, at the entrance to the Gulf of Riga, and begin the destruction of the German garrison. The 3 Baltic Fronts continue their pressure on the German Army Group North which is being slowly driven back toward Riga. German forces seize control of communications facilities in Hungary after learning of secret peace talks with Moscow.[MORE]

Germany, Strategy

Hitler approves OKW's plan for the 20th Mountain Army in Norway to withdraw to the Lyngen position: Operation NORDLICHT. The units involved are XIX, XXVI and XVIII Mountain Corps.

Pacific

• The US submarine Seawolf (SS-197) is accidentally sunk by US forces off Morotai Island, Netherlands East Indies.
• The US destroyer escort Shelton (DE-407) is sunk by a submarine torpedo in the Netherlands East Indies area.
• The Japanese submarine I-364 is sunk by the US destroyer escort Samuel S. Miles (DE-183) in the Palau Islands area.

Palau Islands

On Peleliu the US 7th Marine Regt makes some progress against the Japanese positions on the east side of Mount Umurbrogol pocket.

United States, Planning

The Joint Chiefs of Staff agree with MacArthur in the difference of opinion on strategy between him and Nimitz. The American Pacific forces will give precedence to the capture of bases in the island of Luzon, in the Philippines. The operation will be directed by MacArthur.

Western Front

The American 3rd Div, XIX Corps, 1st Army, having penetrated into the Siegfried Line, reaches Ürbach, where it is overtaken by the 2nd Arm Div which has crossed the Wurm at Marienberg.

There is a truce at Dunkirk as civilians are evacuated.

In the XX Corps sector, attacks are resumed for the capture of Metz. Early in the afternoon 247 bombers of RAF Bomber Command attack the Westkapelle dyke on the island of Walcheren, Holland. The mission is a complete success: over a hundred yards of the dyke are demolished and the sea floods thousands of acres of land.

Images from October 3, 1944

German Citizens Prepare the Defenses in the Vosges Region, Overseen by the Wehrmacht

German Grenadiers in a Defense Position on the Adriatic Front, October 1944

German Troops Ended in a Counterattack near Memel on the Eastern Front, October 1944

'Nothing should be allowed to fall into Soviet hands' – livestock is driven back to German held territory in the east, October 1944.

Moving Livestock to German-held Territory

A German V-2 Rocket Is Readied for Launch from a Site in Holland

Home Army Soldiers fighting on Kredytowa-Królewska Street, 3 October 1944

Polish Sherman Tank Crossing the Belgian-Dutch Frontier, 3 October 1944

Seabees Create a Voting Area out of a Tent, October 3, 1944