Aug 25-26—British motorized infantry troops begin to cross the Seine R.  Division strength Brazilian Expeditionary Force were the only Allies from South America who provided ground troops in the ETO; emblem above is a snake in 5th Army patch.  U.S. 2nd Armor fights its way into Elbeuf, then turns it over to the Canadians. Port city of Toulon in French hands, except the military port of Toulon. Soviets reach Danube River.  German escape ferry operations still in operation across Seine, near Rouen and points south.  Night flight of RAF bombards Russelsheim. A new system to bring American trucks in convoys with petrol oil lubricants from St. Lô on express road to Chartres (depot from which the armies picked up their supplies) is instituted, known as the Red Ball Express, one of the most successful cogs on the road to victory. About 75% of the soldiers in the Red Ball Express were Afro American soldiers. [Between Aug. 19 and Sept. 16, about 13,000 tons were additionally supplied by air, via Skytrains and B-24s.] 

Aug 26—Gen. Charles de Gaulle leads a victory parade in newly-freed Paris, down the Champs-Élysées.  An estimated 1,000 French citizens and 3,200 Germans were killed during the Battle for Paris. A further 12,800 German troops became POWs.  Gen. Montgomery orders Canadian First Army to clear Pas-de-Calais, the British Second Army to drive into Belgium, and for the U.S. First in support of British drive. Forward element of U.S. 45th Inf Div drives on Lyon as it chases 19th German Army in retreat. Motor torpedo boats PT-511, PT-514 and PT-520 take part in a night engagement (that lasts into the following day) that turns back the last German attempt to reinforce the besieged garrison at Le Havre; the PT boats sink German artillery ferries AFP 98 and AFP 108.  Luftwaffe planes at night, from Holland and Germany, conduct air raid over Paris, painting the sky a bright red in the southeast; 200 people killed, nearly 900 injured.  Fr. troops mop up enemy in Paris.  U.S. Third Army thrusts to the Marne and overruns Chateau-Thierry.  An American aircrew of 8 from a B-24 shot down near Hanover on Aug. 24, before reaching a POW camp by train, (9 had been captured but one was taken to a hospital on the 24th), forced to march through the town of Russelsheim--RR tracks were down--and attacked by a German mob and are beaten to death; bodies left for dead, but 2 survivors testified at war crimes in 1946. The entire German 19th Army has been moving north since circa Aug. 20 crossing the Rhône and with both sides attacking and counterattacking about 4 miles n. of Montelimar.

Aug 27—Gen. Eisenhower arrives in Paris.  Operation Reunion starts, lasts until Sept. 3, whereby 1,163 American flyers were daringly flown out and rescued out of Rumania in 56 B-17s converted into transports.  A victory parade in Toulon as German artillery guns heard in the distance from the military port of Toulon. (Today, it is the principal base of the French Navy.)  U.S. First Army crosses the Marne River. 1,207 B-17’s turned back from Berlin due to weather.  At night, 200 Halifax bombers hit oil installations in Hamburg.  The first 1944 daylight heavy bomber raid on Germany by RAF.  During the night, a German Gen. Richter and 700 of his men captured trying to dash through Montelimar.  LST-327 is damaged by mine, while en route from Cherbourg to Southampton, England.  U.S. sub Guitarro attacks Japanese convoy bound for Coron Bay, sinks merchant tanker No.25 Nanshin Maru, and damages No.3 Nanshin Maru.  U.S sub Stingray lands men and supplies on northwest shore of Luzon.  

Aug 28—In Arabian Sea, U.S. freighter John Barry, en route from Aden to the Persian Gulf, is torpedoed and sunk by German U-859.  Two members of the merchant crew are lost during the abandonment, but 39 of the 41-man merchant complement and the entire 27-man Armed Guard survive.  U.S. Third Army liberates Epernay.   Naval base at Toulon secured by Fr. forces when last of the German garrisons surrender, about 1,880 men captured; the 9-day battle cost 2,700 casualties with a total of 17,000 German POWs. Port of Marseille also falls, cost 1,800 casualties; bagged 11,000 more prisoners; both ports secured weeks ahead of schedule, although in bad shape. 97 V-1s were launched from Holland, but only 4 get through.  British 8th Army and Polish troops gain ground toward Gothic Line.       

Aug 29—Allied commanders turn over the administration of Paris to General Charles de Gaulle and the French Committee for National Liberation.  U.S. Third Army liberates Châlons-sur-Marne.  British armor crosses Seine River at Vernon. Gen. Montgomery and Gen. Eisenhower issue instruction for operations, priority for gas will be given to the North.  High point of Red Ball Express deliveries up to September 6: 89,939 tons, with the greatest 1-day delivery 12,342 tons today; in the first days of the Express, as the front lines nearly ran out of supplies, drivers set out with maps torn out of the pages of the Stars and Stripes newspaper.  Some 15,000 men of the U.S. 28th Inf Div march in large parade through Paris and then continue to the Front.  WW II GI Harold Angle was lucky to not only attend a 75th Anniversary in 2019, he was in the actual 28th Inf Division that marched in Paris in 1944; merci GlobalNews.  Generals Eisenhower and Bradley visited Paris.  U.S. 7th Army liberates Valence and in company of the French First Army advance north through the Rhône Valley from the Riviera beachhead.  Western Allies recognize Polish Home Army as a legal military force. Marine detachments from heavy cruiser Augusta and light cruiser Philadelphia accept the surrender of two German-held islands in Marseille Harbor and disarm the garrisons.  Western Allies end diplomatic meeting at Dumbarton Oaks, first step in formation of the United Nations.  Underground Slovak resistance units rise against the Germans and the indigenous fascist Slovak regime.  Dutch freighter Sanetta and U.S. freighter Benjamin Bourn between them rescue the 66 survivors from the U.S. freighter John Barry, which had been sunk by German submarine U-859 the day before. Japanese merchant cargo ship Koryu Maru is sunk by aircraft, near Kiukiang, China.  U.S. sub Jack sinks Japanese minesweeper W.28 and army cargo ship Mexico Maru n.w. of Menado, Celebes.  

Aug 30—First U.S. Army railway supply trains roll into Paris with food and supplies.  British 2nd Army liberates Rouen. U.S. 3rd Army liberates Reims. U.S. 7th Army liberates Nice on the French Riviera. Start of 3-day strafing campaign by American P-51 pilots result in a record by 15th A.F. as over 200 enemy aircraft destroyed at Reghin, Debrecen, Kecskemet, and Grosswadein, the Eastern Front.  Canadian First Army with Royal Netherlands Brigade cross Seine R.   U.S. 2nd Arm Div makes great gains from Beauvais.  U.S. tanker Jacksonville, steaming in convoy CU 36, is torpedoed by U-482 while en route to Loch Ewe, Scotland; the gasoline cargo explodes, giving little chance for the 49-man merchant complement or the 29-man Armed Guard to abandon the blazing ship, which breaks in twain at the second massive explosion.   

Aug 31—Patton’s spearhead reaches the Meuse River, when the 4th Arm Div races into the town of Commercy seizing the bridge intact before the Germans could detonate the dynamite, the last strategic river crossing before the German borders, and establishes a bridgehead near the town of Verdun, famous site of WWI.  U.S. 90th Inf Div remains in Reims area.  Patton’s spearhead comes to a temporary halt; out of gas.  In the West his troops battling at Brest temporarily suspend operations.  Advance party of WACS arrive in Paris. U.S. 3rd, 36th, and 45th divs battling up the Rhône R. Valley.  Amiens liberated by U.S. 11th Arm Div.  Following the terms of the Romanian armistice, Soviet forces occupy Bucharest, the fourth European capital to be liberated.  British 2nd Army crosses the Somme River.  British Eighth Army penetrates the German Gothic Line in Italy. U.S. Fifth Army crosses the Arno River.

Sept 1—U.S. 2nd Arm, 3rd Arm, 5th Arm divs of First Army drive rapidly on Compiegne, Cambrai and La Capelle. WACS begin pouring into Paris from Normandy and England, by plane and by truck convoy.  Philippine Islands are bombed for the first time since 1942 by 57 “Apache” 5th A.F. bombers.  U.S. 4th Arm and Polish 1st Arm divs make for the Somme R.  Aircraft, warships and artillery pound Ile de Cezembre, off St Malo.  U.S. Army Communiqué announces that the number of prisoners taken in southern France campaign had amounted to over 55,000 German troops, with 35,000 captured by the FFI.  U.S. 36th “Texas” Div surrounds city of Lyon. U.S. Coast Guard cutter Northland locates German weather ship Kehlingen off Great Koldeyey Is. Greenland, but Kehlingen scuttles ship to avoid capture.  Off Toulon YMS-21 is sunk by a mine. 

Sept 2—Belgium frontier crossed by U.S. 1st Army, as 82nd Reconnaissance Battalion crosses border at 9:30 a.m., near Tournai.  Belgium sits on a map n.e. of France, before reaching Germany; vibrant happiness projected 75 years ago just as today, it conveys a modern fabric of society.   Canadian troops also cross Belgium frontier.  U.S. 5th Army liberates Pisa, Italy.  Allied armor units from the Mediterranean make 34-mile advance in the Rhône Valley; as of date 190,565 troops, 41,534 vehicles and 219,205 tons of supplies have been put ashore through the French Riviera beaches. Two chemists of the secret Manhattan Project are killed after being sprayed with highly corrosive hydrofluoric acid while attempting to unclog a uranium enrichment device at the Philadelphia Navy yard.  For the most part, U.S. 3rd Army still immobilized for lack of fuel.  U.S. sub Finback while on patrol near Chichi Jima rescues Navy Lieutenant (jg) George H.W. Bush, of VT 51, about 600 miles s. of Tokyo; his two crew members did not survive; Bush will eventually become the 41st President of the United States.  Ile de Cézembre (St Malo) finally surrenders, to U.S 83rd Inf Div.  Home Front movie Janie released, about a free-spirited bobby-soxer teenage girl living in a small town. I swear it is v funny especially the part about the party.  Directed by Academy Award winner Michael Curtiz. A lost treasure of a film. Relatively unheralded today, Wake Is. bombarded by 3 U.S. cruisers and carrier planes, isolated Japanese outpost, but big news in 1944 because it was taken by the Japanese shortly after Pearl Harbor was bombed in 1941 and it was U.S. territory. 

Sept 3—British Guards Arm Div liberates Brussels, capital of Belgium.  Brussels parade celebrates 75th Anniversary Liberation.  A 23-year-old army scout Pvt James W Carroll of Alabama, enters Belgium village of Peruwelz on his Harley-Davidson in the midst of retreating Germans and technically becomes the first GI in this village; Peruwelz is liberated.  U.S. First Army liberates Tournai, Belgium.  So how do you pronounce Tournai?  U.S. 3rd Arm Div liberates Mons, France.  1st Free French Div, U.S. 7th Army and Fr Resistance liberate Lyon, France.  Airfield near Reims is sufficiently repaired to receive cargo planes.  U.S. 8th A.F. Thunderbolt squadron led by Maj. Frederick Lefebre and Lt. E. Reinhart destroy a twenty-mile-long vehicle convoy, marking one of the largest in the war, retreating from east Belgium outside Louvain.  U.S. 15th A.F. Communiqué reports destruction of 82 locos, 154 motor vehicles, 190 oil tankers, 110 box cars in Morava Valley, Yugoslavia.  21st Army Group commander Montgomery orders Br 2nd Army to drive speedily to the Rhine, but they encounter rough terrain with myriad water crossings.  The 68th and last transport of Dutch Jews, which included Anne Frank, left for Auschwitz. 

Sept 3-4—U.S. First Army closes Mons pocket, 25,000 enemy netted.  British 8th Army suffers tremendous losses in Gemmano-Croce, Italy.   U.S. 15th A.F. begins “Rat Week” knocking out bridges all along the Eastern Front.

Sept 4—Antwerp reached by British 11th Arm Div.  Polish 2nd Arm Div drives on St. Omer.  U.S. 3rd Army opens new attack to outflank Nancy.  The last torpedo boats stationed in France and Belgium of the German Navy evacuate bases to the Netherlands.  Japanese troops capture U.S. air-base in Lingling, China. AGAIN? Stars and Stripes reveals the break up of a large Sicilian counterfeiting ring in Rome.

Sept 5—British 2nd Army enters Ghent, but enemy continues to hold out in n. sectors for some days.  U.S. 3rd Army semi-refueled crosses the Meuse R.  Field Marshall von Rundstedt returns as Commander-in-Chief German Army.  Rainbow Island released in Technicolor.  Canadian 1st Army reaches Calais area.   U.S. sub Albacore sinks Japanese merchant cargo ship Shingetsu Maru n. of Muroto Saki.  Helsinki is liberated.  German troops evacuate areas n. of Florence, Italy.  German troops evacuate Finland.  British sub HMS Tantivy sinks Japanese merchant cargo ship Shiretoko Maru off Sumatra.  Off southern France invasion beaches, French destroyer Le Malin discovers presence of something new: sneaky underwater German manned torpedoes, and opens fire; destroyer Ludlow joins Le Malin in dropping depth charges, destroy three torpedoes and capture the crews.  "Mad Tuesday" 65,000 Dutch Nazi collaborators flee like crazy to Germany.  U.S 9th Army becomes operational in Brittany. Aero-engine plant, rail yards and oil refinery in SE Germany struck by 670 bombers and 429 fighters of 8th A.F.  USSR declares war on Bulgaria.   

Sept 6—Two V-2 missiles launched at Paris, but they misfire and never fly. Bill Downs CBS War Correspondent reports from Belgium and the Netherlands.

Sept 7—U.S. 1st Army fights its way into Liège, Belgium.  Soviet spearheads do not move into Warsaw, as the city fighting enters seventh week.  Through the Polish Red Cross, a short cease fire is obtained in Warsaw, several thousand civilians allowed to leave.  From bases in China, 108 B-29s hit the Showa Steel Works in Ansan, Manchuria.

Sept 7-8—U.S. carrier planes destroy Japanese planes at Yap and Palau.  U.S. sub Paddle torpedoes transport Shinyo Maru carrying American and Filipino POWs; about 667 prisoners were lost out of 750; the Japanese had thrown grenades into the holds of the ship and those that escaped and floated at sea were being shot or wacked on the head with Japanese sabers, but 83 survivors swam to a nearby beach and were aided by friendly Filipinos; 1 died shortly; 1 survivor was Marine Sgt. O. Clem survivor of Bataan. 

Sept 8—V-2s fired at London and Paris. For the first time in history, the Germans employed rocket-propelled supersonic missiles as weapons.  Terror campaign against humanity begins; the missile arrives before the sound of the V-2 passage is heard.   These supersonic V-2 rockets represented an advanced stage of technology in humanity.  The public remains in the dark for two months. Age of supersonic flight enters the pages of history. Allies liberate Brussels.  U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff directed MacArthur and Nimitz to take Leyte and the Surigao Strait area beginning December 20.

Sept 8-9—U.S. 1st Army liberates Liège (about 11mins, too bad there is no sound.).  Red Army enters Sofia.   Musical Movieland released in Technicolor.  Allies sink Italian liner Rex near Trieste, Italy.  U.S. sub Bashaw sinks Japanese transport Yanagigawa Maru near Mindanao.  U.S. sub Spadefish sinks Japanese transport Shokei Maru, army cargo ship Shinten Maru and merchant cargo ships Nichiman Maru and Nichian Maru.

Sept 9—U.S. sub Bang sinks Japanese transport Tokiwasan Maru s. of Japan.  U.S. Seal sinks Japanese army cargo ship Shonan Maru in Sea of Okhotsk, n. of Etorofu, Kurils.  U.S. sub Queenfish sinks Japanese transport Toy_ka Maru and merchant passenger/cargo ship Manshu Maru and damages torpedo boat Manazuru n.w. of Luzon.

Sept 10—U.S. 1st Army secures small bridgehead across Moselle River.   U.S. Third Army secures small bridgehead at Crévéchamps and Bayon, and liberates the capital of Luxembourg, Luxembourg City.  Grand Duchess Charlotte stated that their love of freedom was “stronger than ever now that the victorious armies of the United States and their Allies have entered the liberated motherland.”  Churchill secretly arrives in Canada by the Queen Mary.  Eisenhower makes a secret visit to Brussels.  U.S. motor torpedo boat PT-206 in Mediterranean gives chase to German explosive boat unit consisting of a control boat and two drones; one of the latter is destroyed.  U.S. sub Sunfish sinks Japanese merchant tanker Chihaya Maru east of Quelpart Is. The Mysterious Traveler on radio, “No One On the Line” aired Sept. 10, 1944.

Sept 11—Seven synthetic oil plants and two other targets hit by 1,145 8th A.F. bombers, and for the first time since May, Luftwaffe rises in great strength.  Over Schwarzheide, east Germany, a mix-up compounds matters, when U.S. fighter protection arrives late, and 14 U.S. heavies shot down; when they do arrive, 32 enemy planes shot down.  U.S. Third Army crosses the Moselle R. and enters Germany, probes border just north of Trier, near Stalzemberg.   As of date 2,168,307 troops and 460,745 vehicles have landed via Normandy beaches.  British patrols, Scottish 15th Div, cross Dutch border, north of Leopoldsburg.  Dijon is liberated by Fr. 1st Div.  The start of the Quebec Conference (second Quebec Conference) by Roosevelt and Churchill; the agenda principally concerns the role the Royal Navy will play in the Pacific War.  Greek para-military fighters under Georgios Poulos murder 120 civilians in the city of Giannitsa, Greece in the name of an anti-communist operation.  Bulgarian communist leader Georgi Dimitrov ordered, from Moscow, to create the People's Court.  U.S. sub Finback sinks army cargo ship Hassho Maru and merchant No.2 Hak_n Maru n. of Chichi Jima.

Sept 11-12—Night raid against the city of Darmstadt by RAF Bomber Command erases it from map, over 10,000 die in the resulting fire storm despite new bombing techniques.

Sept 12—888 bombers and over 500 escorts of the U.S. 8th A.F. attack German synthetic oil plants; thanks Tom Dozier.  V-2 rockets hit Chrysler plant in s.w. London; 8 killed, significant damage.  U.S. 5th Army launches major offensive in n. Italy (Appenine Mtns, Gothic Line, which contained extensive minefields and fortifications in the Po Valley.)  German garrisons evacuate Greek islands in the eastern Mediterranean. U.S. carriers begin operations against Japanese shipping and airfields in the Visayas.  Planes from all three carrier groups pound enemy installations on Cebu and shipping offshore. Ensign Thomas C. Tillar, USNR, a pilot from Hornet, is rescued by Filipinos after his F6F ditches off Apit Is, off the s.w. coast of Leyte.  Before Tillar is recovered by SOC from heavy cruiser Wichita, he learns from his rescuers that the size of the Japanese garrison on Leyte is negligible.  That fact, when combined with the lack of aerial opposition encountered PLUS the few airfields that exist on Leyte and Samar, prompts Admiral Halsey (Commander Third Fleet) to recommend that the planned attack on Yap be abandoned and more importantnly, that the date of the landings on Leyte be advanced from 20 December to 20 October 1944.  U.S. sub Growler sinks Japanese destroyer Shikinami 240 miles s. of Hong Kong, and escort vessel Hirado 250 miles east of Hainan Is.  U.S. sub Pampanito sinks merchant passenger/cargo ship Kachidoki Maru (ex-U.S. passenger liner President Harrison carried some 900 British pow’s) and tanker Zuih_ Maru. U.S. sub Pipefish sinks Japanese auxiliary vessel No.7 Hakutetsu Maru off Shiono Misaki, Japan.  U.S. sub Sealion sinks Japanese transport Nankai Maru and merchant passenger/cargo ship Rakuyo Maru in South China Sea, east of Hainan Island.

Sept 13—U.S. First Army crosses the Albert Canal.  British troops cross the Meuse-Escaut Canal.  French Navy enters Toulon harbor.  Over 700 bombers U.S. 8th A.F. pulverize synthetic oil plants in Germany (3rd day in a row).  Soviet troops reached the Slovakian border.  Liberators completely destroy the IG Farben chemical plant near Ausertz.  U.S. captures Roetgen, Germany.  Destroyer Warrington is sunk by hurricane, 175 miles east-southeast of Great Abaco Island, Bahamas Islands.

Sept 14—U.S. Navy planes pound Japanese bases at Panay and Negros.  Red Air Force drops some supplies into Warsaw, without parachutes.  Polish 1st Army and Soviet troops, 1st Belorussian Front, capture Praga, a Warsaw suburb. British forces liberate Maastrich—is the first Dutch city to be liberated—and Gulpen, and Meerssen.  800 Gypsy children, more than 100 of whom were boys between 9 and 14 years of age, were executed at Auschwitz Concentration Camp in occupied Poland.  Worst storm since 1938 sweeps the Atlantic East Coast; five ships sunk; over 350 people killed; winds over 100 mph.  Three German V-2 rockets strike Britain; one hits the center of Walthamstow, London, 7 die; the resulting crater was 50 feet wide and 10 feet deep. 

Sept 15—Nancy is liberated by Patton’s Third Army, all roads heavily mined. U.S. Army and Marines invade Morotai and Peleliu islands.  U.S. 1st Army breaks into Siegfried line near Aachen, Germany.  U.S. 3rd Army reaches the Moselle.  Brazilian soldiers of the IV Corps, 5th Army enter the line in northern Italy, to advance through the mountain ridges of Monte Castello.

Sept 16—Approximately 18,000 German troops with 754 officers commanded by General B. H. Elster traveled northeastward from the Biscayne Bay and surrender to the U.S. 83rd Inf Div near the Beaugency bridge on the Loire, s.w. of Orléans; not Sept. 17. Night of 15-16. Polish 1st Army breaches Vistula R. and seize bridgeheads in Warsaw. 

Sept 17—Operation Market Garden commences in s. Holland; the plan called for the airborne troops to be relieved by British troops, but they were left stranded; over 6,000 out of 10,000 Allied troops are captured by ther time Market Garden ends.  A 1974 book by Cornelius Ryan, "A Bridge Too Far," was based on this operation and was made into a 1977 film.  On the Italian Front, U.S. 85th Inf Div captures Monte Altuzzo, Indian 4th Div attacks San Marino, after the German 278th Inf Div had occupied that neutral country.  U.S. Navy sub USS Barb torpedoes and sinks the Japanese aircraft carrier Unyo in the South China Sea. There are over 761 survivors. 

Sept 18—110 bombers of the 8th A.F. are allowed to drop 1,284 canisters of arms, food and medical supplies (by parachute) against strong wind over Warsaw, only 30% reaches Polish Home Army. Counterstrike by Hitler’s First Army—the most powerful of Germany’s Western Front once more—and Fifth Panzer Army is initiated against Patton’s troops at Lunéville, France, forming the start of the greatest tank battles the U.S. has witnessed in the ETO.  U.S. Ninth Army captures Brest.  Pluto oil system begins pumping oil to port of Cherbourg.  Eisenhower establishes Allied Military Government for Germany.

Sept 19—A fierce 3-month battle begins at Huertgen Forest on the Belgium-German frontier.  Near Lunéville, France in heavy fog, the 111th German Brigade opens an attack on U.S.lines, but at a cost of 50 tanks, and driven off.  Matched against the U.S. 4th Arm Div were the veteran 11th Panzer Div with beat up tanks and the 111th and 113th Panzer Brigades with fresh crews and the newest tanks, but no combat experience; fierce battles continue for 4 days between all armor near Arracourt.  Luftwaffe bombs Eindhoven: 200 killed.

Sept 20—British Guards Arm Division and 82th Airborne Division have taken Nijmegen. British 8th Army enters San Marino.  U.S. petitions Soviet authorities to continue U.S. air drop over Warsaw; denied.  Frenchman's Creek released in Technicolor.

Sept 21—Virtually all Allied air operations on Western Front cease because of bad weather except near Driel, Holland where 750 Polish paratroopers make a drop.  U.S. 7th Army crosses Moselle R. and the Meuse R.  15th A.F. B-24 Liberators destroy gigantic Baja railroad bridge across Danube, 90 miles s. of Budapest.  Excluding probable, 405 Imperial Army and Navy airplanes are destroyed in the Philippines by U.S. Navy airplanes and over 21 Japanese vessels destroyed in Subic and Manila Bays.   British 8th Army liberates Rimini, Italy, actually the Greek 3rd Mtn Div, attached to the 1st Canadian Div, with the New Zealand 20th Arm Div in support.  The last British paratroopers at bridge of Arnhem surrender; story kept under wraps at the time.

Sept 22—As of date over 380,000 Allied troops have landed through French Riviera.  U.S. 65th Infantry Regiment, consisting of Puerto Ricans, arrives in France.   U.S. First Army goes on the defensive along most of its line.  Fog lifts over Western Front, P-47’s support Patton by destroying and damaging sizable German armor formations in Juvelize-Arracourt.  XIX TAC of U.S. 9th A.F. destroy 120 vehicles and cut 21 R.R. lines. First RaLa test with a radioactive source is secretly performed at Los Alamos. Boulogne secured by Canadian 1st Army.  Soviet forces seize Baltic prize of Tallinn. End of Summer. {Note: Autumnal Equinox in 2019 is Sept. 23, in 1944 it was a date earlier.} 

Sept 23—Allies sink Italian liner Taranto near La Spezia, Italy. Radio Tokyo reports Premier J. Laurel of the Philippines has declared war on the United States as a result of air attacks on the islands.  Ulithi Atoll is invaded; secured by 323rd Regiment of 81st Inf Div; becomes a huge secret naval anchorage on the Carolines; O casualties but, the daughter of King Ueg received mortal wound. The island was abandoned by the Japanese the month before. Battleship West Virginia reaches Pearl Harbor and rejoins the Pacific Fleet, was under reconstruction since Dec. 7, 1941. Republic of San Marino declares war on Germany. German U-859 is sunk by British submarine HMS Trenchant off Penang, Malaya.  U.S. sub Apogon sinks Japanese guardboat No.6 Choyo Maru east of Honshu.

Sept 24—Germans launch counterattack around Lunéville-Arracourt in extremely bad weather, principally hitting CCA of 4th Arm at Chateau-Salins.  

Sept 25—Recounterattack mounted with reinforced German Ghost Division under cover of rainstorm, veteran U.S. 4th and 6th Arm Divisions hold around Lunéville-Arracourt. Final evacuation of some 2,000 Allies from Arnhem.  Warsaw situation, frantic and grave.  The Germans ruthlessly suppressing the rebellion.   Soviet troops surround and disarm Polish detachments serving with the Red Army, e. of the Vistula, Warsaw. The gains of the 16th over the west bank were lost due to intense German counterattacks.

Sept 26—394 B-17s bombard Borgward tank and truck plants in Breman.  The Council of the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration ends its second session in Montreal, and allocates $50 million to Italy, primarily for medical supplies.  This is the first extension of assistance by the United Nations to a former enemy country.  The largest nuclear reactor, the B reactor, goes critical at the Hanford Site.

Sept 27—Hitler recounterattacks again at Arracourt-Lunéville.  The 445th Bomb Group suffers the greatest loss of any 8th A.F. unit in a single air mission: 25 are shot out of the sky, 5 more crash on landing.  This means 300 Americans did not return to England.  U.S. sub Flasher sinks Japanese transport ship Ural Maru. German garrisons evacuate western Greece so that they would not be cut off in the Balkans by the advancing Soviet Army.  Greenwich Village premieres in Technicolor in NYC.   G.I Journal, a radio show inserted into history and filmed as "Strictly G.I." produced by the Armed Forces Radio Service but on film produced by The Army-Navy Screen Magazine.  At its peak, the Armed Forces Radio Service was generating about 20 hours of original programming each week (thanks historycomestolife for providing an educational tidbit).

Sept 28—RAF bombers drop 909 tons of bombs on Kaiserslautern, Germany, destroying 36% of the town. U.S. sub Bonefish sinks Japanese tanker Anjo Maru in South China Sea.

Sept 29—U.S. Third Army and XIX TAC 9th A.F. fight back counterattack under full power, Nazis forced to retreat from Lunéville-Arracourt sectors.  Canadian troops captured the last remaining gun batteries in the Calais area, which had been hammering at Dover since the start of the war.  U.S. sub Narwhal rescues 81 Allied survivors of the Shinyo Maru in the Philippines.  Under SS-Major Reder, retreating Germans began a 6-day massacre of some 1,000 women, children and elderly in the village of Marzabotto, Italy.  PB4Ys sink German submarine U-863 in South Atlantic. 

Sept 30—The 442nd Regimental Combat Team, composed of Japanese-Americans from the mainland and Hawaii, disembarks on the 2,600 year old port of Marseille, France and joins the U.S. Seventh Army; 442nd motto, Go For Broke (merci armylawjag).  In the 7th Army sector, U.S. 45th Inf Div and Fr 2nd Arm attack Rambervillers.  Mission Bay sinks U-1062, the last U-boat sunk in the Atlantic by a U.S. carrier battle group.  German garrison in Calais surrenders to Canadian troops.   Balikpapen “Ploesti of the East Indies” first time bombed.  Angaur, Ngesebus, Kongauru and Peleliu declared occupied; Japanese that were killed, over 10,000, U.S. Marines killed 1252 and 5274 wounded. On Peleliu, some Japanese survivors refuse to surrender.   Soviet troops cross the Danube R. through the Transylvanian Alps at Turnu-Severin.  

Oct 1—Battle of Aachen starts, U.S. First Army begins siege of Aachen, Germany; pre-war pop: 165,000—bigger than El Paso, Texas—Gene Roddenberry, science fiction writer and creator of Star Trek was born in El Paso and was a B-17 pilot in the Pacific; received a Distinguished Flying Cross and the Air Medal. Those white triangle-type blocks were called dragon's teeth—part of the Siegfried Line.  U.S. sub Cabrilla attacks a Japanese convoy in the South China Sea and sinks tankers Kyokuho Maru and Zuiyo Maru.  U.S. sub Trepang  sinks Japanese supply ship Takunan Maru.  U.S. sub Hammerhead sinks merchant Higane Maru n. of Borneo. 

Oct 2—After killing men, women, and children without mercy, Warsaw uprising ends with 15,000 treated as soldiers under the Geneva Convention and sent to POW camps, total of 150,000-250,000 Polish Resistance persons died; German losses were 16,000 killed or missing, 9,000 wounded, over 15,000 buildings destroyed, 340 trucks, cars and 310 tanks, self-propelled artillery, armored cars destroyed; 14 libraries including the National Library, 64 high schools, the Warsaw University, 25 churches and 923 historical buildings were destroyed and by war's end, block after block will be leveled. U.S. sub Aspro sinks Japanese cargo ship Azuchisan Maru in So. China Sea, w. of Luzon.  U.S. sub Pomfret sinks transports Tsuyama Maru and Makassar Maru, s. of Formosa.  Japanese army vessel Ryochi Maru is sunk by aircraft off Bantayan Island, n. of Cebu.  LST-129, LST-278, and LST-661 damaged by storm, Palau.

Oct 3—The first Messerschmitt Me 262 fighter unit, with 30 lethal jets, was established at Achmer and Hesepe near Osnabrück, Germany led by ace Maj. Walter Nowotny.  U.S. 8th A.F. visits motor vehicles plant at Gaggenau, and knocks it out for two months. U.S. Third Army begins a 10-day attack on fortress at Driant, Metz.  A V-2 hits the Hellesdon Golf Course near Norwich, England, damage minimal; 1 acre of sugar beets damaged.  USAAF aircraft sink Japanese merchant No.14 Nanshin Maru off Zamboanga. U.S. destroyer Shelton is sunk by Japanese submarine RO-41 off Morotai.  Destroyer escort Richard M. Rowell, unaware of the proximity of friendly submarines, accidentally sinks Seawolf, which is transporting U.S. Army personnel to the e. coast of Samar.  Destroyer escort Samuel S. Miles sinks Japanese submarine I-177, 60 miles north-northeast of Angaur, Palau; an archipelago of over 500 islands.  Destroyer Niblack destroys a MAS boat, damages 3 in San Remo, Italy, harbor, and bombards Oneglia harbor.  Then after receiving fire from German 88s, she shifts target to those guns and knocks them out.

Oct 4—Large German counterattack around Aachen sector halted by U.S. 1st Army.  PBYs sink Japanese cargo ship Tateishi Maru and auxiliary sailing vessels Kigen Maru and Kiku Maru, Jolo, Philippines. U.S. sub Flasher sinks Japanese army cargo ship Taibin Maru in So. China Sea n. of Luzon. LCT-579 is sunk by mine off Palau.  British sub HMS Rover damages Japanese auxiliary sailing vessel Mie Maru. A German V-2 rocket hits Rockland St. Mary 6 miles s.e. of Norwich, England.  It hits the village school directly, injuring 2 adults and 34 children, and the blast damaged 23 houses nearby. It was the worst attack on the Norwich region during the war.  All V-rocket attacks still censored to the public. British troops land at Crete.  U.S. troops from Coast Guard Eastwind capture a German weather station at Little Koldeyey, Greenland. Anti-fascist partisan army, the ELAM, led by Communists, controls much of Greece's countryside; ELAM soldiers number about 50,000.

Oct 4-9—Baseball World Series, St. Louis Cardinals and St. Louis Browns at Sportsman's Park; third and final time in World Series history in which both teams from same city had the same home field. The Cardinals won.  Between Sept 25-Oct 5, final stage of the Japanese resistance on the Palaus Islands added 336 U.S. killed and 1707 wounded; the Japanese death toll on Angaur and Peleliu up to the 5th: 2755. Hold-outs remain in caves.

Oct 5—Pluto to Cherbourg abandoned.

Oct 6—German recounterstrikes with reserves at Aachen but is halted by U.S. 1st Army.  Dr. Ernest Charlton, GE scientist, announces X-ray machine that can take pictures through a foot of steel has been perfected.  U.S. sub Whale sinks transports Akane Maru and Kinugasa Maru in the South China Sea.  British sub HMS Tally Ho sinks Japanese auxiliary submarine chaser Cha 2, 110 nautical miles w. of Penang, Malaya.  U.S. sub Seahorse sinks Japanese Coast Defense Vessel No. 21, n.w. of Cape Bojeador, Luzon. Dutch sub Zwaardvisch sinks German submarine U-168 in Java Sea.  8th A.F. deals a death blow on Arado aircraft assembly plant at Neubrandenburg.  First Air Force Night fighters land on Chengtu, China.  

Oct 7—The first and only time in the war a pilot scores two jet victories in one mission: pilot Lt.Urban Drew in a P-51 hits two Me 262s over Achmer Airfield.  In South China Sea, U.S. subs Cabrilla and Baya sink a transport each.  Flying Fortresses hit German oil centers and find enemy resistance surprising over Germany, in fierce air combat the 8th A.F. looses forty-one aircraft; Germany over 20.  Three famous WW II popular songs connected to the air corps: Bing Crosby sings The Army Air Corps and The Bombardier’s Song; Coming in on a Wing and a Prayer.  B-17s land on Letisko Tri Duby airfield bringing supplies and OSS operatives, led by naval Lieutenant James H. Green, to aid the anti-Nazi resistance in Slovakia and bring out 15 downed Allied pilots. German oil installations hit by U.S. 8th AF.  In Auschwitz, Jewish prisoners go on revolt and escape, but revolt was put down. Navy beats Penn State 55-14.

Oct 8—Elements of U.S. Ninth Army reached Aachen, Germany.   Project Pigeon/Project Orcon cancelled, a U.S. Navy secret project working with the Univ. of Minn. to design and deploy missiles piloted by pigeons.  Debut of "The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet" on CBS Radio.  Czechoslovakian 1st Armored Brigade deployed to the British 2nd Army in France.  U.S. sub Hoe sinks army transport Kohoku Maru in South China Sea. 

Oct 9—U.S. sub Croaker sinks freighter Shinki Maru.  U.S. sub Sawfish sinks merchant tanker Tachibana Maru.  Churchill and Stalin meet in Moscow.  Refit U.S. carrier Yorktown departs Puget Sound.  Initial secret plan prepared by Gen. Alfred Jodl, Chief of the Operations Staff of the German Armed Forces High Command and deputy to Field Marshal Keitel, for a counterattack in Belgium given to Hitler, later adopted as Wacht Am Rhein, ie. the Battle of the Bulge.

Oct 10—U.S. carriers Franklin and Wasp launch strikes against Okinawa. 24-hour surrender ultimatum sent to Aachen, Hitler refuses.  U.S. Navy carrier strike force TF38 destroys 93 airplanes and 12 ships of more than 500 tons near Manila. U.S. sub Barb sinks transport Gokuku Maru n.w. of Hirado Jima, Kyushu.   U.S. sub Lapon sinks transport Ejiri Maru in South China Sea w. of Luzon.  The first Black-American armored unit to battle in the ETO (the 761st) arrives in France.  British troops capture Corinth, Greece.  German Army Group E starts its final retreat from Greece. German Army puts down the anti-Tiso rebellion in Slovakia; Josef Tiso was pro-Nazi, led Slovakia and was a Roman Catholic priest, not to be confused with Josip B. Tito who fought the Nazis in Yugoslavia and led his country to independence from the Soviet Union. 

Oct 11—Heavy air and artillery bombardment on Aachen.  U.S. sub Tang sinks merchant cargo ships Joshu Go and Oita Maru in Formosa Strait.  Soviet troops capture Cluj, capital of Transylvania.  An American Romance premieres in Technicolor in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Oct 12—U.S. 3rd Fleet, as part of a 5-day campaign, delivers 1,378 aircraft attack on the installations on Formosa (Taiwan), regarded as the strongest and best-developed base south of Japan, 396 enemy aircraft and 70 ships destroyed; almost 50 U.S. planes are shot down.  U.S. Home Front built aircraft carriers Intrepid, Hornet, Franklin, Lexington, Bunker Hill, Wasp, Hancock, Enterprise, and Essex, plus light carriers Independence, Princeton, Belleau Wood, Cowpens, Monterey, Langley, Princeton, Cabot, and San Jacinto compose U.S. 3rd Fleet, alongside battleships Alabama, Iowa, Massachusetts, New Jersey, South Dakota, and Washington and 17 cruisers and 63 destroyers.  From China, first B-29’s land on Guam.  U.S. sub Ray sinks transport Toko Maru off Mindoro.  British sub HMS Strongbow sinks cargoship Manryo Maru in Strait of Malacca.  Light cruiser Miami shoots down 2 Japanese aircraft off Okinawa.  Port of Boulogne opens for service. U.S. 92nd Inf Div the "Buffalo Soldiers" hit the Gothic Line in n. Italy.   British airborne troops land in Greece and advance on Athens.  German troops evacuate city.  Liberation of Athens breaks with a huge crowd and parade, but today, it and the end of WW II goes almost unnoticed in Greece.

Oct 13—Germans launch first V- bomb against Antwerp, which, next to London, becomes the primary target for these weapons.  U.S. sub Bergall sinks merchant tanker Shinshu Maru off Nha Trang, French Indochina.  Carrier Franklin is damaged when a kamikaze slides across her flight deck and crashes nearby.  Heavy cruiser Canberra is damaged by aerial torpedo.  Main U.S. amphibious force departs Hollandia sails for Philippines.

Oct 14—103 B-29’s strike Okayama; 0 losses, 50 Japanese airplanes destroyed.  U.S. sub Bonefish sinks merchantman Fushimi Maru in South China Sea.  U.S. sub Dace sinks merchant tankers Eikyo Maru and Nittetsu Maru off N. Borneo. U.S. carrier Hancock, light cruiser Reno, destroyer Cassin Young, light cruiser Houston, sustain damages by Japanese attacks. U.S. sub Angler sinks transport Nanrei Maru.  WASP pilot Ann G. Baumgartner of Georgia test flies the Bell YP-59A at Wright Field, and becomes the first American woman to fly a jet aircraft.  Carrier Saratoga and destroyer escort Howard F. Clark damaged in collision during maneuvers off Oahu.  British sub HMS Sturdy sinks Japanese Communication Vessel No.128 in Gulf of Boni.  Army beats Pitt in football 69-7.

Oct 15-17—At the foot of the Vosges Mtns in e. France is Bruyères, surrounded on 3 sides by forested hills. A cluster of 4 prominent hills stick-out geographically n.n.e of the little village.  U.S. 7th Army begins drive to clear woods n. of Bruyères; 45th Inf Div hits northern sector, 36th western sector with 143rd Battalion along road from Fays.  The 442nd Regimental Combat Team (RCT) composed of Japanese-Americans spearheaded, and on the 18th liberated  Bruyères.  Hungary's ruler, Horthy, asks for a non-aggression treaty with the Soviet Union.  He is seized by German commandos. German army occupies Budapest. Count Szalasi becomes prime minister.  Adolf Eichmann arrives in Budapest and orders 50,000 able-bodied Jews to be marched to Germany, on foot, to serve as laborers. 

Oct 16—U.S. Liberators and Mitchells raid Japanese shipping in Hong Kong Harbor and Mindanao Harbor.  Nasty typhoon hits Philippines.  Field Marshal Montgomery halts offensive operations except those to primarily open Antwerp port.  104th Inf Div aids British in opening port of Antwerp.  For past 3 days, U.S. sustains heavy casualties in battle over Aachen, Germany's most westerly city.  U.S. 5th Army begins another phase of attack toward Bologna. Soviet troops cross German border into East Prussia.

Oct 17-18—500 U.S. Rangers of Col. H. Mucci, 6th Ranger Battalion, tear apart Japanese radio-radar broadcasting stations at the entrance of Leyte Gulf, night is calm no typhoon.  The Rangers proceeded to erect navigation lights for the amphibious transports to follow three days later.

Oct 17-21—Allied aircraft shoot down over 90 aircraft in air over the Philippines.

Oct 18—U.S. Navy ships begin to pound Leyte beach areas.  Russians cross border into Czechoslovakia.  Greek Prime Minister, George Papandreou, arrives in Athens.  USS Yorktown arrives at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.

Oct 19— The 442nd, mainland Nisei-Americans and also Hawaiians of Japanese ancestry, hit the line stretched some 90 miles across the Vosges Mountains eastern France (great information by John Suzuki; follows the historic trail.)  The 442nd Regimental Combat Team (3mins actual vets), who fought their way into Bruyères (2.56min ceremony).  It included the 100th Battalion of Japanese-Americans from Hawaii; reflections of an untold story of a brave Hawaiian.  Peliliu Island declared secured.  Irish Eyes Are Smiling premieres in Technicolor in Los Angeles. Nazis evacuate Belgrade. Hollywood star Marlene Dietrich at the Front. As of date, over 3,000 WACS are in France.  The Transportation Corps shortly sent picked personnel from the United States to form a traffic regulating group entirely composed of WACS; many of the map tracings for routing combat supplies were made by this group. The Signal Corps organized an all-WAC battalion, composed of switchboard teams, message center teams, and teletype teams. This could not be called a WAC battalion because its tables called for combat equipment, and WACS were noncombatants; Signal Corps authorities therefore called it the % 3341st Signal Service Battalion, with the % mark indicating, to the initiate, WACS.  WAC telephone operators worked French switchboards abandoned by the German army; office workers operated with captured German office supplies; cooks and mess sergeants assumed supervision of French cooks and waitresses in the various messes; and the WACS themselves moved into and gradually filled a number of hotels in Paris.  German Army in Greece and Yugoslavia evacuate to avoid a total cut-off by Russian advance.  Adolf Hitler ordered the complete and total destruction of the city of Warsaw, Poland.  U.S. Navy announces that black women would be allowed into the WAVES. 

Oct 20—After a two-day bombardment on Leyte Is., Philippines, the first of 132,000 U.S. troops of U.S. Sixth Army and 1,528 Marines storm 25 miles of beaches. Some 3,000 Filipino guerrillas aided MacArthur. Volcanic Leyte and a fantastic video by historical Filipina Pea; my deep gratitude.  Leyte, some 115 miles long and 15-45 miles wide, has a heavily forested mountain range.  The invasion convoy consisted of 750 transports and landing craft, supported by a 700 ship armada.  Total invasion force​ about 425,000 men; video about 7 mins, my gratitude to Don Tiburcio.  Two GI's from the 24th Inf Div raise the U.S. and Philippine flags on the beach around 10 a.m.  Gen. Douglas MacArthur lands with the 3rd beachhead wave, steps onto the beach and makes his celebrated return “People of the Philippines.  I have returned!  By the grace of Almighty God, our forces stand again on Philippine soil, soil consecrated in the blood of our two people.  We have come, dedicated and committed to the task of destroying every vestige of enemy control….”  He then said, “the hour of your redemption is here.”  Japanese shore batteries damage destroyer Bennion.  Escort carrier Sangamon, light cruiser Honolulu, salvage vessel Preserver damaged in invasion.  Moreover, Tokyo seemed to accept reports from their pilots that they had sunk many Allied ships, later exaggerated to 11 U.S. carriers and some 1,200 aircraft.  Admiral Kurita’s battleship force reaches Brunei Bay, Borneo; 789 miles from Leyte.  U.S. sub Hammerhead sinks transport Oyo Maru and army cargo ship Ugo Maru, off Borneo.  U.S. 88th Inf Div captures Monte Grande (near Bologna) and then everything stalls in the mtns of Italy.  Belgrade, capital of Yugoslavia freed.  The Climax premieres in Technicolor in both Boston and San Francisco.  Gen. Douglas MacArthur and officers on board USS Nashville; on MacArthur's right is Philippine President Sergio Osmeña returning to the Philippines; some 2,000 Filipino natives literally walked into the American lines following the invasion of Leyte, pitifully starving, some had not eaten for two or three days and were in bad condition.  U.S. forces had more than adequate supplies and food, and in a story rarely told, the Filipinos were right away supplied with food.