Air Operations, CBI

• 8 10th Air Force B-25s attack bridges at Hsenwi.
• More than 20 10th Air Force P-47s attack a bridge at Seywa and Japanese Army ground troops at Bilumyo and Mawlu.

• 12 341st Medium Bomb Group B-25s attack Wuchou and targets of opportunity around Canton.
• More than 50 14th Air Force fighter-bombers attack targets of opportunity south of the Yangtze River.

Air Operations, East Indies

• FEAF B-25s and P-38s attack Amahai on Ceram, Namlea on Boeroe, and Waai on Celebes.
• P-38s attack the Kaoe airfield on Halmahera and shipping near Djailolo Island.

Air Operations, Europe

• 254 Halifaxes of No. 4 Group and 46 Lancasters and 20 Mosquitos of No. 8 Group attack the synthetic oil plants at Sterkrade and Scholven/Buer. Both raids take place in clear conditions and the bombing is considered to be accurate.
• 4 Halifaxes and 2 Lancasters are lost on the Scholven raid and 3 Halifaxes on the Sterkrade one.

• 4 Liberators and 3 Wellingtons fly signals investigation patrols without a loss.

• 523 aircraft of Nos. 3, 6 and 8 Groups are sent to Dortmund. Included in the aircraft total are 248 Halifaxes, 247 Lancasters and 28 Mosquitos. No. 6 Groups provides 293 aircraft, the greatest effort by the Canadian group during the war. This raid opens a phase which some works refer to as 'The Second Battle of the Ruhr'. The Pathfinder marking and the bombing are both accurate and severe damage is caused, particularly to the industrial and transportation areas of the city, although residential areas also suffer badly.
• 2 Halifaxes, 2 Lancasters and 1 Mosquito are lost.
• 246 Lancasters and 7 Mosquitos of Nos. 1 and 5 Groups carry out the last of 32 major Bomber Command raids on Bremen during the war. The raid, based on the No 5 Group marking method, is an outstanding success. Severe damage is caused to the AG Weser shipyard, the two Focke-Wulf factories, the Siemens Schuckert electrical works and other important war industries. The 'transport network' is described as being seriously disrupted. It is interesting to note the increased efficiency and hence destructive power of Bomber Command at this time. Bremen, with its shipyards and aircraft factories, had been the target for many carefully planned Bomber Command raids earlier in the war and was the target for one of the much publicized 1942 1,000-bomber raids. Now this raid by no more than a quarter of the total strength of Bomber Command, hardly mentioned in the history books, has finished off Bremen and this city need not be attacked by Bomber Command again.
• 5 Lancasters are lost.

• 22 Mosquitos are sent to Berlin, 11 to Ludwigshafen and 2 to Saarbrücken, 19 aircraft lay mines off Texel and Heligoland and in the Weser River, 6 aircraft are on Resistance operations, and there are 76 Mosquito patrols and 35 RCM sorties.
• 1 Mosquito is lost on the Berlin raid and 1 on a Serrate patrol.

Air Operations, New Guinea

V Fighter Command P-47s attack Kaimana.

Air Operations, Volcano Islands

During the night, 30th Heavy Bomb Group B-24s mount harrassment attacks against Iwo Jima.

China

As a result of the breach between Chiang Kai-shek and Roosevelt, Gen Stilwell is relieved of the post of Chief of Staff to the Generalissimo. He is now only to command the Chinese troops in Burma and those, trained and equipped by the Americans, in the province of Yunnan. Stilwell is also relieved of his responsibility for supplies to China under the Lend-Lease Act.

Eastern Front

Units of the Leningrad Front land on Saaremaa Island, south of Hiiumaa Island, in the Gulf of Riga. Russian forces cross into Czechoslovakia over the Tisca River from Hungary.

The 3rd Panzer Army is reeling as the Soviet 4th Shock, 5th Guards Tank, 6th Guards, 39th, 43rd and 51st Armies join the offensive and the weather allows the Soviet 1st Air Army to fly ground-support missions. Hitler forbids the abandoment of Riga.

The Soviet Debrecen Offensive opens. The 2nd Ukrainian Front (Group Pliev, the 7th Guards, 6th Guards Tank, 27th, 40th, 46th and 53rd Armies) attacks between Oradea and Arad, smashing the Hungarian 3rd Army. In the northeast of the country, the Soviet 1st Guards and 18th Armies (4th Ukrainian Front) engage the 1st Panzer and Hungarian 1st Armies. Pancevo falls to the Soviet 46th Army.[MORE]

Pacific

• The Japanese gunboat Saga is sunk by a mine off Hong Kong.
• The Japanese coastal defense vessel No. 21 is sunk by the US submarine Seahorse (SS-304) in the South China Sea.

Palau Islands

Operations on Peleliu come to a standstill again. On Angaur, artillery fire is resumed against the Japanese at the extreme northwest of the island.

Western Front

The Canadian II Corps begins attacks to eliminate the German forces holding out south of the Scheldt between the Leopold Canal and the south bank of the river around Breskens. The ground conditions are very difficult with many wet and flooded areas. The extreme west of the Dutch mainland has already been evacuated by the Germans; there is just one division left, manning the small port of Breskens, south of Flushing. The attack makes a little progress. This attack is called the 'battle of the polders', fought in mud and water. North of the Leopold Canal they are able to set up 2 small bridgeheads. German reaction is extremely violent and forces the Canadians to send substantial reinforcement to the bridgeheads they have won.

The XIX Corps of the US 1st Army continues the battle around Aachen and at Geilenkirchen, on the Siegfried Line.

Images from October 6, 1944

Father C V Murphy Carries Out Mass in a Dutch Field in the Front Line, 6 October 1944

Sgt H.A. Marshall (left) and Corp S. Kormendy, both of The Calgary Highlanders, observing terrain from a concealed firing position during a scouting, stalking and sniping course, Kapellen, 6 october 1944.

Sniper Training

An infantryman has fallen and a medic is right there to help him. Working swiftly, under the enemy fire, the medic applies an emergency dressing on the soldier wounded in the head

Saving lives at the Italian front!

Captured by Soviet troops at Luostari airfield, Finland, Messerschmitt Bf 109 G, 6 October 1944

Captured German Fighter

Belgium

Sergeant H.A. Marshall of The Calgary Highlanders cleans the telescopic sight of his No.4, MkI(T) rifle during a scouting, stalking and sniping course, Kapellen, Belgium, 6 October 1944. He wears a Dennison smock and a camouflaged head scarf

At Sniper Training

She was torpedoed by USS Hake (SS-256) 5 September 1944. The explosion almost severed her bow. Photo taken in Takao, 6 October 1944.

Heavily Damaged Japanese Destroyer Hibiki

MTBs OF the 21st Flotilla under the command of Lt George J. Macdonald, Felixstowe, 6 October 1944

With an MTB Flotilla