The USAAF's Eighth Air Force in England flies Mission 471: 1,043 bombers and 609 fighters in three forces are dispatched to bomb targets in Germany; ten bombers and five fighters are lost:

1. Of 399 B-17s, 356 bomb Munich, six bomb the railroad at Munich and three hit targets of opportunity; four B-17s are lost. Escort is provided by 292 P-38 Lightnings, P-47 Thunderbolts and P-51 Mustangs; they claim 2-1-2 Luftwaffe aircraft; a P-38 and a P-47 are lost.

2. Of 278 B-17s, 139 bomb Munich, 100 hit an aircraft engine plant at Munich and three hit targets of opportunity; they claim 11-4-8 Luftwaffe aircraft; five B-17s are lost. Escort is provided by 170 P-38s, P-47s and P-51s; a P-51 is lost.

3. Of 366 B-24s, 298 hit Saarbrucken marshalling yards and three hit targets of opportunity; a B-24 is lost. Escort is provided by 81 P-51s; a P-51 is lost.

Twenty eight B-24s fly CARPETBAGGER missions during the night.

RAF Woodbridge, Suffolk: A Ju88G nightfighter landed on the runway here today. It was based at Deelen in Holland, but apparently the crew made a navigational error after a sortie. On board were three different radar sets, all designed to counter systems used by RAF bombers. The FuG 220 is impervious to "Window"; the FuG 227 Flensburg was found to be tuned to "Monica", used by bombers to warn of German fighters on their tails; and the FuG Naxos was tuned to H2S, which gives a downward radar scan. This will give British scientists food for thought.

Minesweeper HMS Coquette commissioned.

FRANCE: The US offensive toward St. Lo has ground to a halt. Plans for operation Cobra are being formed.

Bad weather prevents Ninth Air Force bomber operations and restricts the fighters; fighters fly armed reconnaissance in the Sens-Montargis area, hitting rail and highway traffic, warehouses, barracks, and armored cars and tanks; rail lines and bridges are hit in the Saint-Florentin-Dreux-Evreux-Chartres-Mamers-Gassicourt areas; IX Tactical  Air Command fighters furnish area cover, bomb troop concentrations, vehicles, and gun positions in the Lessay-Coutances area, and attack rail traffic west of Angers, a landing field west of Alencon, a marshalling yard at Vendome, and a bridge at Tours.

GERMANY:

U-2512, U-3010 laid down

U-2325 launched.

ITALY: The French Corps is attacking 20 miles south of Florence, Italy.

The Fifteenth Air Force in Italy dispatches 581 bombers to attack targets in   northeastern Italy; B-17s hit marshalling yards at Mestre and railroad bridges at Latisana, Pinzano al Tagliamento and Venzone; B-24s bomb marshalling yards at Brescia, Mantova and Verona, and oil storage at Porto Marghera and Trieste; P-38s and P-51s fly escort; other P-51s carry out a sweep over the Po River Valley.

Aegean Sea: The Allies take Symi island, north of Rhodes.

LITHUANIA: Vilna falls to the Soviet Army. Once part of Poland, the Lithuanian capital has been occupied by German troops since June 1941; now its garrison, prevented from surrendering by SS troops, has been annihilated. Among the casualties were paratroopers dropped into the city to "stand or die". Many were killed on the way down, others died as they landed on the city's roofs; the rest were wiped out in combat in the ancient streets. The way is now open for the Russians to cut off the Baltic states and advance into East Prussia. The indications are that the Wehrmacht is falling back to a new defence line on the Polish border just 55 miles from Warsaw.

U.S.S.R.: Moscow: The Red Army, demonstrating that it is powerful enough to strike anywhere along the eastern front, has launched a two-edged drive from the Ukraine aimed at crossing the river Bug and capturing Lwow, one of the principal cities of pre-war Poland. The Russian forces, commanded by Marshal Konev, are advancing on the town of Brody where they aim to trap some 40,000 Germans in a "cauldron" where they could be systematically annihilated.

Task Group (TG) 58.1:

- USS Cabot (CVL-28) with Light Carrier Air Group Thirty One (CVLG-31)

- USS Hornet (CV-12) with Carrier Air Group Two (CVG-2)

- USS Yorktown (CV-10) with CVG-1

TG 58.2

- USS Franklin (CV-13) with CVG-13

- USS Wasp (CV-18) with CVG-14

TG 58.3

- USS Bunker Hill (CV-17) with CVG-8

- USS Lexington (CV-16) with CVG-19

- USS Jacinto (CVL-30) with CVLG-51

TG 58.4

- USS Essex (CV-9) with CVG-15

- USS Langley (CVL-27) with CVLG-32

- USS Princeton (CVL-23) with CVLG-27

U.S.A.: The 21-minute U.S. Army documentary "Liberation of Rome" is released in the U.S. This short film depicts the successful Allied advance into Rome, freeing it from German control during World War II.