The Germans launched 316V-1 flying bombs at London, the highest single-day total yet. Over 100 reached the capital, hittingTower Bridge and doing great damage to the armament factories on the outskirts.[2]
German forces retreated fromFlorence after blowing up the city's medieval bridges overnight to effectively cut the city in two. Only thePonte Vecchio was spared.[6]
TheCowra breakout occurred when over 1,100 Japanese prisoners of war attempted to escape from a POW camp nearCowra inNew South Wales,Australia. Four Australian soldiers and 231 Japanese were killed, but hundreds managed to escape although they would all be recaptured within ten days.
The four-dayWola massacre began when German troops and collaborationist forces started systematically killing between 40,000 and 50,000 people in theWola district of Warsaw during the Uprising.
More than 300 Jewish refugees perished when the Turkish motor schoonerMefküre was sunk in theBlack Sea by shellfire from the Soviet submarineShch-215.
The Japanese converted troopshipKotobuki Maru (formerly the Italian ocean linerConte Verde) was sunk inShanghai by an AmericanB-24 of the 373rd Bomb Squadron.
Douglas MacArthur received a letter from PresidentRoosevelt noting that he supported the plan that MacArthur recommended to make thePhilippines the next priority in the Pacific.[9]
SS and police units began liquidating theŁódź Ghetto. From this day through August 28 more than 60,000 Jews and an undetermined number of Roma were deported toAuschwitz-Birkenau.[10]
The first poster depictingSmokey Bear, a mascot created to educate the American public about the dangers offorest fires, was released.
TheOsovets Offensive officially ended with the completion of Soviet objectives.
Canadian and Polish troops beganOperation Tractable, the final offensive of the Battle of Normandy.
TheFort Lawton Riot began atFort Lawton inSeattle. An Italian prisoner of war was killed during a violent conflict between American soldiers and Italian POWs.
German submarineU-618 was sunk in the Bay of Biscay by British ships and aircraft.
German forces launchedOperation Doppelkopf, a counter-offensive on the Eastern Front.
The Roosevelt Administration froze Argentina's gold assets in the U.S. as a consequence of the Argentinian government's failure to fully cooperate in the war against the Axis powers.[17]
Two Soviet infantry battalions under Georgy Gubkin and Pavel Yurgin reached part of the River Scheshule. Some of them were sent to raise the Red Flag on the other bank, with Sergeant Alexander Belov doing the actual raising; the Soviets had now crossed into East Prussia and thus Germany proper.[21]
The German7th Army retreated across theOrne, leaving 18,000 men behind to be captured.[22]
The Allies closed the Falaise Gap, trapping German forces to the north and west.[23]
The Red Cross enteredDrancy internment camp one day after its abandonment by German forces. 500 survivors were liberated.[7]
The French battleshipStrasbourg and cruiserLa Galissonnière were sunk at Toulon in an American air raid.
German submarinesU-107 andU-621 were both sunk in the Bay of Biscay by Allied ships and aircraft.U-129 was scuttled atLorient that same day.
A "wolfpack" of American submarines attacked Japanese convoyHi-71 in the South China Sea. The Japanese aircraft carrierTaiyō was torpedoed and sunk by the submarinesRasher andRedfish.
The Japanese cruiserNatori was torpedoed and sunk in the Philippine Sea east ofSamar by the American submarineHardhead.
The battle forHill 262 began during the final stages of the Normandy Campaign.
The American "wolfpack" submarine attack on Japanese convoyHi-71 in the South China Sea continued for a second day. TroopshipTeia Maru (formerly the French ocean linerAramis) was torpedoed and sunk byRasher andRedfish, the landing craft depot shipTamatsu Maru was sunk bySpadefish with the loss of some 4,890 lives, and fleet oilerHayasui was torpedoed and sunk byBluefish.
German submarinesU-123 andU-466 were scuttled at Lorient and Toulon, respectively.
A referendum was held in Australia asking whether the public approved of an alteration to the Constitution granting the federal government additional power to legislate on a wide variety of matters for a period of five years. 54% voted against the proposal.
PrivateNikolay Alekseevich Ignatiev (Russian: "Игнатьев Николай Алексеевич") was awarded the medal "For Courage" (За отвагу/Za Otvagu) for his actions on the last day ofOperation Bagration
German submarineU-188 was scuttled in Bordeaux to prevent capture by the Allies, one of five U-boats lost that day.U-9 was sunk atConstanța in a Soviet air raid,U-413 was lost to a naval mine in the Cornish corridor,U-984 was sunk by Canadian warships in the Bay of Biscay andU-1229 was sunk in the Atlantic Ocean by Allied aircraft.
The Royal Navy beganOperation Goodwood, a series of carrier raids against the German battleshipTirpitz anchored in northern Norway.
Nazi occupation forces in Greece began theHolocaust of Kedros. Over the next several days nine villages in theAmari Valley inCrete would be razed and looted and 164 Greek civilians killed.
Maillé massacre: 124 residents of the French commune ofMaillé, Indre-et-Loire were massacred by the Germans in reprisals for activities by the French Resistance.
TheRed Ball Express truck convoy system began operation to supply Allied forces in France.
French and American troops liberatedAvignon without opposition.[31]
The BritishEighth Army in Italy began Operation Olive, an assault on the eastern end of theGothic Line.[32]
German submarinesU-18 andU-24 were scuttled at Constanța whileU-178 was scuttled at Bordeaux.
U-667 struck a mine and sank in the Bay of Biscay.
German destroyerZ24 was bombed and sunk by Allied aircraft offLe Verdon-sur-Mer.
Japanese destroyerYūnagi was torpedoed and sunk northeast of Cape Bojeador,Luzon by American submarinePicuda.
German submarineU-1000 struck a naval mine offPillau and was rendered unserviceable.
Charles de Gaulle headed a liberation parade in Paris, laying a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and ceremonially relighting theeternal flame at theArc de Triomphe, then marching along theChamps-Élysées to attend a service atNotre Dame to give thanks for the liberation of the city. Sniper fire rang out during the parade, which de Gaulle ignored.[33]
Japanese destroyerSamidare, having run aground on Velasco Reef offPalau on August 19, was torpedoed and broken in two by the American submarineBatfish.
Soviet forces entered the important oil centre ofPloiești,Romania. The city had been heavily bombed by the British and Americans in theOil Campaign and only five refineries producing just 20 percent of normal production were active.[38]
^Weisband, Edward (1973).Turkish Foreign Policy, 1943–1945: Small State Diplomacy and Great Power Politics. Princeton University Press. p. 272.ISBN978-1-4008-7261-9.
^Ent, Uzal W. "Ploesti."War in the Balkans: An Encyclopedic History from the Fall of the Ottoman Empire to the Breakup of Yugoslavia. Ed. Richard C. Hall. ABC-CLIO, 2014. p. 231.ISBN978-1-61069-031-7.
