Air Operations, CBI

• 12 10th Air Force B-25s attack Indaw, Onbauk, and targets in the Thabeikkyin area.
• Nearly 40 10th Air Force P-47s attack supply dumps at Kyungyi, ammunition stores at Manwing, Japanese Army positions near Man Naung and Mohnyin, and buildings near Muse.

• 28 308th Heavy Bomb Group B-24s, 33 51st Fighter Group P-51s, and 18 14th Air Force P-40s attack the White Cloud airfield at Canton and shipping near Hong Kong.
• 2 B-24s attack Amoy.
• 6 fighter-bombers attack targets of opportunity in the Mangshih area.
• 51st Fighter Group P-51s down 4 Ki-44 'Tojo' fighters in an afternoon engagement over Canton.

Air Operations, East Indies

• V Bomber Command A-20s attack oil stores and airfields on Ceram.
• FEAF P-38s attack the Amahai airfield on Ceram, shipping around Flores Island in the Sunda Islands, and the Kaoe airfield on Halmahera.

Air Operations, Europe

• 18 Lancasters of No. 9 Squadron are sent to attack the dam at the Sorpe reservoir, the second most important supply of water for the Ruhr and one of the targets for the original Dams Raid by No. 617 Squadron in 1943. 16 aircraft drop Tallboys or other bombs from 15,000ft and hits are seen on the face of the earth dam but no breach is made.
• There are no losses.

• 4 Hudsons are on Resistance operations and there are 3 RCM sorties.
• There are no losses.

• ;257 Halifaxes, 241 Lancasters and 8 Mosquitos from all groups except No. 5 Group are sent on the last of 14 major Bomber Command raids on Wilhelmshaven that began in early 1941. Bomber Command claims 'severe damage' to the business and residential areas.

• 44 Mosquitos are sent to Hamburg, 6 to Saarbrücken, and 2 each to Düsseldorf and Kassel, 22 Halifaxes and 15 Lancasters lay mines off Denmark, 2 aircraft are on Resistance operations, and there are 42 Mosquito patrols and 33 RCM sorties.
• 2 Halifaxes and 2 Lancasters are lost laying mines.
• There is a daylight raid on the Sorpe Dam. Lancasters score direct hits on the vast earthwork-concrete structure with 12,000-lb Delayed Action bombs.

Air Operations, Formosa

• US carrier pilots from Task Group 38.1, Task Group 38.2, and Task Group 38.3 continue to attack airfields on Formosa and battle Japanese aircraft over Formosa and between Formosa and Luzon. The Japanese mount 199 combat sorties from Formosa bases during the day.
• In all during the Formosa strikes, US carrier aircraft losses are 76, of which only 13 are operational losses. 64 pilots and crewmen are also lost.
Japanese losses for the day:

• A VF(N)-41 F6F downs 1 H8K 'Emily' flying boat over the Philippine Sea at 0250 hours.
• A VF-13 F6F downs 1 P1Y 'Galaxy' bomber at sea at 0745 hours.
• 2 VF-51 F6Fsdown 1 A6M Zero near Task Group 38.4 at 0830 hours.
• VF-14 F6Fs down 2 G4M 'Betty' bombers, 4 Ki-49 'Helen' bombers, 2 D4Y 'Judy' dive bombers, and 20 A6M Zeros between 50 and 20 miles from the carriers between 0830 and 0930 hours.
• 2 VF-51 F6Fs down 1 P1Y 'Galaxy' at sea at 0900 hours.
• VF-28 F6Fs down 2 P1Y 'Galaxys', 1 G4M 'Betty', 1 D4Y 'Judy', and 3 A6M Zeros 25 miles from the carriers at 0914 hours.
• A VF-11 F6F and VF-51 F6Fs down 1 P1Y 'Galaxy', 1 A6M Zero, and 2 Ki-43 'Oscar' fighters at sea at 0915 hours.
• A VF-29 F6F downs 1 P1Y 'Galaxy' at sea at 0945 hours.
• A VF-28 F6F downs 1 G4M 'Betty' 35 miles from the carriers at 1008 hours.
• 4 VF-28 F6Fsdown 1 P1Y 'Galaxy' 40 miles from the carriers at 1030 hours.
• Between 1115 and 1710 hours, Task Force 38 F6Fs down 18 bombers and 22 fighters between the Luzon coast and Task Force 38.

Air Operations, New Guinea

V Fighter Command P-47s attack the airfield at Sagan.

Air Operations, Pacific

The Japanese attempt to break the US build-up against the Philippines. A large air strike is launched against a carrier task force in Manila Bay, but does insignificant damage while losing 30 aircraft to US fighters and anti-aircraft fire.

Air Operations, Philippines

In support of the impending invasion of the central Philippines at Leyte and to cover the withdrawal of crippled US warships from off Formosa, Task Group 38.4 closes on Luzon from the direction of Formosa and launches aircraft to neutralize Japanese air power in the region. Between 1015 and 1100 hours, Task Group 38.4 F6Fs and several carrier-based bomber crews down 47 Japanese fighters over Manila.

Air Operations, Volcano Islands

27 30th Heavy Bomb Group B-24s based at Saipan attack Iwo Jima.

Burma

British and Chinese-American forces go over to the offensive to free the north of the country and re-establish land communications between India and China. The Chinese and Americans move down from south of Myitkyina as far as the line Katha-Shwegu-Bhamo meeting little or no resistance. The British 36th Div advances in the area or Namma along the Myitkyina-Mandalay railway, supported by the Chinese 50th Div. The Chinese 22nd Div moves southeast of Kamaing toward the area between the railway and the Myitkyina-Bhamo road, with the intention of establishing a bridgehead ad Shwegu, across the Irrawaddy. The Allied command in north Burma can now call on the Chinese 1st and 6th Armies, newly formed, and 2 American regiments.

Eastern Front

In Finland, the Russians' Karelia Front deliver the Germans from the port of Petsamo. The 2nd and 3rd Baltic Fronts take Riga. In northern Rumania the Russians capture Clug and advance westward.

The 14th Army secures the Petsamo mining region after a brief struggle with the XIX Mountain Corps. The Germans pull back into Norway, having lost more than 6,000 killed in the fighting.

Riga falls after a bloody struggle.

The Stavka disbands the 3rd Baltic Front, allocating the 1st Shock and 14th Air Armies to the 2nd Baltic Front and the 61st Army to the 1st Baltic Front.

Greece

The British, Gen Scobie's III Corps make up of Greek units, land in force in the harbor of Piraeus and prepare to eliminate 'with bloodshed if necessary', according to Churchill's instructions, the armed wing of the Greek Communisit Party, ELAS.

Hungary

Adm Nicolaus Horthy, the Regent, already faced by a desperate situation, the whole of Transylvania is on the point of being overrun by the Russians, makes a speech on the radio in which he proposes to ask the Russians for an armistice. Under pressure from the Germans who have kidnapped his son, Horthy repudiates his message to the country, but next day he is taken off to Germany. The head of the pro-Nazi movement, Ferenc Szálasi, takes office as Prime Minister. He collaborates fully with the Germans, but enjoys no sort of following among the people. On October 21 Horthy is arrested and interned in a castle in Bavaria.

Italy

The Polish 2nd Div takes Gambettola. American and South African units make some ground near Livergnano and Grizzana.

Philippines

On Luzon the carrier forces of TG 38.4 under Adm Davison send attacks against targets north of Manila. The aircraft carrier Franklin (CV-13) is hit again, this time by a Japanese high-level bomber. The attacks are repeated on the next 2 days and more heavily on the 18th, when 2 other task groups and 13 aircraft carriers take part. In the operations of the whole of TF 38 between October 10 and 15 the Japanese have lost about 370 planes and the Americans less than 100.

Western Front

The Canadian 1st Army, operating in the north to liberate the port of Antwerp, is reinforced by the US 104th Div, detached for the occasion from Gen William Simpson's 9th Army, 12th Army Group, engaged in Luxembourg. No change at Aachen, where the garrison is still holding out against units of the 29th Div, US XIX Corps, and the 1st Div, US VII Corps. A battalion of the 1st Div, the 3rd Battalion of the 26th Regt, succeeds in taking a good part of Observatory Hill, north of the city, but is driven out again by a swift German counterattack.

The US VI Corps (7th Army) begins to mover from the northwest and the south toward Bruyères, between Epinal and St Dié.

Images from October 15, 1944

American and British troops meet at a mobile bath and laundry unit, 15 October 1944.

Mobile Bath and Laundry Unit

A Sherman tank of 13/18th Hussars, 8th Armoured Brigade keeps watch over the River Waal at Nijmegen, 15 October 1944.

Sherman Tank at Nijmegen

Field Marshal Montgomery with King George VI after an investiture at 21 Army Group Headquarters, Holland, 15 October 1944.

Montgomery with King George VI

A sniper demonstrates the superior ‘Hawkins’ prone firing position (right) next to another in the standard position, at the 21st Army Group sniping school near Eindhoven, 15 October 1944.

Sniper Demonstration

The flak ship Vp1605 MOSEL, escorting the Norwegian freighter INGER JOHANNE off Lillesand, engulfed in a torrent of fire from Beaufighters of No 404 Squadron, one of which can be seen passing overhead at mast height, 15 October 1944. The ships were attacked by 21 Beaufighters and 17 Mosquitos of the Banff and Dallachy Wings. The MOSEL eventually blew up and sank.

Ships Under Attack

Buda Castle, Budapest, Hungary. Sunday, 15 October 1944, after the Arrow Cross (Hungarian Nazi) takeover

Buda Castle, Budapest

On the retreat, the KMS Prinz Eugen rammed the light cruiser KMS Leipzig, north of Hela, Poland

Prinz Eugen Hits Leipzig

On the retreat, the KMS Prinz Eugen rammed the light cruiser KMS Leipzig, north of Hela, Poland

Prinz Eugen Hits Leipzig

GI M1919 machine gun crew in action against German defenders in the streets of Aachen on 15 October 1944

Machine Gun Crew In Action

1st Lt. Lawrence DeLancey's crippled B-17 at Nuthampstead October 15, 1944

Crippled B-17

B-17s In Formation on a Bomb Run (384th Bomb Group)

King Tiger '213' from Schwere Panzer-Abteilung 503 in the inner courtyard of the Buda Castle, Budapest on 15 October 1944

King Tiger Tank at Buda Castle

USS Houston (CL 81) Burial at sea for crewmen killed when the ship was torpedoed off Formosa on 14 October 1944. Photographed while Houston was under tow on 15 October

Burial At Sea

The USS HOUSTON (CL-81) under tow by USS BOSTON (CA-69), 15 October 1944

M2A1 Halftrack with its towed M1 57mm Antitank Gun, Aachen, Germany, 15 October 1944. The squad is unlimbering the antitank gun to prepare for action

Preparing for Action

A clear view of the angular front of the 'Henschel' production turret, taken during Operation Panzerfaust in Budapest, 15 October 1944

'Henschel' Production Turret