August 8th, 1944 (TUESDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM: The USAAF's Eighth Air Force in England continues to fly shuttle missions as 78 B-17s with 55 P-51 Mustang escorts, leave bases in the USSR to hit airfields in Romania; 38 hit Bizau and 35 hit Zlistea; no Luftwaffe fighters are encountered during the mission and the force flies to Italy.
- Mission 530: 414 B-24s and 265 fighters are dispatched to attack airfields and V-weapon sites in France; 115 hit V-weapons sites in the Pas de Calais; 91 hit Clastres Airfield, 53 hit Romilly air depot, 50 hit La Perthe Airfield, 12 hit Athies Airfield at Laon, 14 hit railroad bridges, 13 hit targets of opportunity and 11 hit Bretigny Airfield; 1 B-24 is lost. Escort is provided by 265 P-47 Thunderbolts and P-51s; 2 P-51s are lost.
- Mission 531: 681 B-17s and 100 P-51s are dispatched to bomb enemy troop concentrations and strongpoints south of Caen; 25 Canadian soldiers are killed and 131 wounded by short bombing; 231 hit Cauvincourt, 99 hit Bretteville-sur-Laise strongpoint, 99 hit St Sylvain strong point, 67 hit targets of opportunity and 1 hits Gouvix strongpoint; ; 7 B-17s are lost. Escort is provided by 91 P-51s; 3 are lost.
- 41 P-51s escort RAF Coastal Command Beaufighters on a convoy strike in Norway; 3 P-51s are lost.
- 175 P-38s, P-47s and P-51s fly a fighter-bomber mission against the railroad north and west of Dijon, France; 2 P-47s and 2 P-51s are lost.
Personal Memory: Today we will be doing tactical work to support the troops on the ground in an area eleven miles south of Caen, France. I was assigned to "Tail-end Charlie" for this raid which was also "Purple Heart Corner" today since there was nobody behind or below me. I had the same crew as on yesterday's raid, but with two different gunners on make-up missions. This 41st "B" Combat Wing, Lead Group with twelve B-17s did an assembly at 5000 feet over the Harrington Buncher Beacon and departed the English coast at Portland Bill at 14,000 feet which would be our bombing altitude. The combat wing ahead of us didn't turn at the briefed IP and we had to follow them around to avoid flying a collision course. There were no clouds over the target, but haze was so bad that we could not see the bright red and yellow markers that the ground troops had put out to show us the target. We made a bomb run but the lead bombardier didn't drop because of this problem. The high group
was the only one of our three groups to bomb the target but they missed by over a half mile. Luckily their bombs still fell in German territory, destroying a large group of apple trees where a large number of vehicle tracks were visible. Our secondary target had a cloud bank over it at 12,000 feet so we finally bombed a rail road siding and made a five minute bomb run and did a fairly good hit on it.
According to the mission summary, the flak was "Moderate and inaccurate at the primary." But that was from Captain Bob Sheets at the lead, while I was a quarter mile back and at least 500 feet lower. My diary reads: "Caen, France. German front line defences. Flak was rough as we were at 14,000 feet. Didn't drop on primary and finally dropped on railway yard, but good. CAVU. I'd rather go to Berlin. Finis. DFC." Mine was the only B-17 in the entire wing that was damaged. At one time the flak was bursting all around our plane but a few hundred feet away most of the time. I could see the angry, red centre of many of these explosions and even hear a few of them. I often wondered if I was being overly sensitive because it was my last mission and that they were determined to get me on their last chance. I thought at the time that one of those bursts might actually have my name on it. "Miss Lace" the airplane I was flying had a few extra holes on this trip. Score: Milk runs, 14.
Others,18. During my 32 missions I flew twelve different B-17s in combat. I flew "Buzz Blonde" 12 times, "Betty Jane" 5 times, "Sweet Rosie O-Grady" 2 times, "Tiny Angel" 2 times, "Miss Lace" 2 times, "Queenie" 2 times, "Jigger Rouche, Kraut Killer 1 time, "Full House" 1 time and 5 other un-named planes. The first and third of my "students" that I took on their first missions were killed in action just weeks later. I took H. C. Clark on his first mission on July 17. He and the other three officers and two enlisted gunners were killed on August 14, 1944 in the Jigger Rouche, Kraut Killer when they were shot down by fighters overWiesbaden. "Tiny Angel" that I flew on my 24 and 30th missions was shot down at the same mission with the deaths of the pilot, engineer and one waist gunner. On January 10, 1945, "Buzz Blonde collided with "Iza Vailable 2" over Bonn, Germany, destroying the tail gun position and killing gunner, M. M. Mooney. The nose of "Buzz Blonde" was badly damaged and the bombardier and navigator bailed out thinking that they were out of control. They had little choice as their oxygen system was destroyed in the collision. Both aircraft survived and the pilot and co-pilot of "Iza Vailable" each received a DFC for landing their plane with much of the tail missing. The "Betty Jane that I flew five times including the glide bomb attack on Cologne was shot down on September 13, 1944 with the pilot being the only one killed when his parachute failed to open. "Full House," the only "new" B-17 that I flew was in a collision with another 427th squadron B-17 which killed seventeen men with only one survivor. On November 21st 1944 my third "Student" was killed by German farmers, with his entire crew except the radio operator when they were shot down and bailed out over Mersberg. "Miss Lace" that I flew on my last mission was on a shuttle mission to Russia when it was hit by flak near the Russian lines. It was abandoned in Poland where it had
made an emergency landing.. "Queenie" later made a crash landing in England, but was salvaged. During my 32 missions the 303rd Bomb Group lost 20 bombers to enemy action, and 80 crewmen lost their lives. Not a single 303rd bomber went to Sweden during the entire war. One landed in Switzerland with disabling damage including over 60 flak holes. (Dick Johnson)(281)
- Mission 532: 5 B-17s drop leaflets in France during the night.
Whilst
escorting convoy EBC.66, corvette HMCS Regina is attacked and sunk by U-667
(Oberleutnant zur See Karl-Heinz Lange). Location: English Channel off Trevose
Head, Cornwall at 50 42N 05 03W. (Alex Gordon)(108)
Frigate HMS Whitesand Bay laid down.
Minesweeper HMS Orcadia launched.
U-667 sinks SS Ezra Weston.
Corvette HMCS Regina (K234), Lt. Jack Wiles Radford RCNR, Commanding Officer, was sunk by U-667, KptLt. Karl-Heinz Lange, Commanding Officer, off Trevose Head, Cornwall. Regina sank with the loss of 30 crewmembers (one officer, 29 ratings). Regina was a revised Flower-class corvette (1940-41 Program), built by Marine Industries Ltd. at Sorel, Province of Quebec. She arrived in Halifax on 06 Jan and was commissioned there on 22 Jan. After service in the western Atlantic she was assigned to Operation Torch, the North African landings. During her service in the Mediterranean she sank the Italian submarine Avorio on 08 Feb 43. She returned to duty in the North Atlantic, which was interrupted in Mar 44, when she fouled her screw during refuelling operations, while escorting convoy SC-154 as part of Escort Group C-1. She had to be towed into Horta, Azores, by the rescue ship Dundee, escorted by HMCS Valleyfield. She was assigned to Operation Neptune, the Normandy landings, and was engaged in escorting channel convoys at the time of her sinking. The ship sank in only 30 seconds, a trait for which Flower-class corvettes were notorious. At the time of Regina’s sinking, the cause of her loss was a mystery. In was not until after the war ended that record reconstruction determined an acoustic-homing torpedo fired by U-667 had hit Regina. U-667 was a medium-range Type VIIC submarine built by Howaldtswerke AG, at Hamburg. She was commissioned on 20 Oct 42. U-667 conducted five patrols and compiled a record of four ships sunk for a total of 10,000 tons. U-667 also recorded a success against an aircraft on 25 Sep 43, when she shot down a British ‘Wellington’ patrol aircraft from RAF 179 Squadron in the Straits of Gibraltar, one of many aerial attacks against this boat. U-667 was finally sunk by a mine on 25 Aug 44 in the Bay of Biscay near La Rochelle, in position 46.00N, 001.30W. All 45 crewmembers were lost. U-667 was returning from its first patrol under the command of KptLt. Lange when she was lost. Karl-Heinz Lange was born in 1918, at Stralsund. He joined the navy in 1937. His first operational service was from Dec 39 to Dec 40 as a Watch Officer with the 12th Minesweeping Flotilla. He also served with 7th R-boat Patrol Flotilla, WACHSHIFF 1 (Watch or Guard ship), the survey ship Meteor and the 2nd Minesweeping Flotilla, until Jan 43. He was appointed as the commander of the 26th Minesweeping Flotilla in Mar 43. In Aug 43 he transferred to the U-boat force and underwent both conversion and command preparatory training until Apr 44. After three months with the 7th U-Flotilla, he was appointed to command U-667 on 10 Jul 44, at the age of 26. The exact date of his promotion to KptLt. in 1944 is not recorded. Karl-Heinz Lange was among those lost when U-667 was sunk in the Bay of Biscay on 25 Aug 44.
FRANCE: Paris:
The remaining captured British agents are taken from Compiégne to Buchenwald, 31 men in
all and at least four women. The women are shot in Ravensbrück. A few of the men escape
from Buchenwald or manage to save their lives in a last-minute uprising, but the majority
are hanged.
The German attacks around Mortain continue as they attempt to recapture Avranches. The US
3rd Army continues its advance in Brittany. The US 79th Division enters Le Mans. The newly
activated XX Corps advances toward Nantes and Angers.
1st Canadian Army launches Operation Totalize down the Falaise Road. (David R. O'Keefe)
GERMANY: Berlin: Eight German officers, including Field Marshal Erwin von Witzleben, were hanged at the Ploetzenzee prison today for their part in the plot of July 20 to assassinate Hitler. They died by slow strangulation hanging by thin hemp ropes looped on hooks ('meathooks') attached to a cross-beam, after having been dragged before the sadistic Roland Freisler, the president of the People's Court. Dressed in old clothes without braces or belts for their trousers, they were given a humiliating show trial.
The small death chamber was cordoned by a black curtain between the entrance and the hanging beam. The condemned were brought in singly, handcuffed, and stripped of their shirts. The executioner and his two assistants were fortified by a bottle of schnapps on a table.
The noose was put around their necks and the other end hung on the hook. The condemned, held aloft by the two assistants, are then dropped and strangulated for at least 10 minutes before losing consciousness. After 20 minutes they are pronounced dead. During this process the condemned's trousers fall off as they are not allowed belts.
The proceedings and the hangings were filmed on Hitler's orders, and the developed film has been dispatched to the Fuhrer for viewing in his private cinema.
Goebbels was behind the filming of the executions. He had a film crew set up klieg lights and stationary newsreel cameras focused on the death-chamber. He began with the filming of the trials of Friesler's "People's Court" and ended with the execution sequences. A total of ca. 205 cinematic minutes, which included ca. 25 minutes of the actual execution sequences were filmed. He named the feature "‘Verräter vor dem Volksgericht.’('Traitors face the Peoples Court') and sent the raw footage of the executions to Hitler at the "Wolfschanze" in East Prussia. Noted Hitler historian Prof. Peter Hoffmann has acknowledged that Hitler probably viewed the execution sequences provided by Goebbels, but that he also quickly put a lock on such footage to the general public, fearing a backlash. Which might explain why after sixty some odd years, only the "Volksgericht" trial of the conspirators is extant on film, but not the executions. Albert Speer testified that sometime in August of 1944, he saw photos of the hanged conspirators on the map-table of Hitler's headquarters. I doubt that "troop units" were ever shown the fabled "execution sequences" but might perhaps have been shown the "Volksgericht" portions where the Generals were humiliated before Freisler's court. To this day the missing 20-25 minutes of the Plötzensee execution footage of Witzleben, Hoeppner, et al. remains a mystery. (Russ Folsom)
In what might be the actual *first* confirmed aerial combat victory in a jet fighter, Lt.Joachim Weber, (of Ekdo262),downed a Mosquito of 540Sqn.over Ohlstadt, southwest of Munich. (Russ Folsom)
U-2517 launched.
U-1107 commissioned.
POLAND: Most of Warsaw is now controlled by forces
of the Polish resistance. SS General Bach-Zelewski is appointed to lead the defending
German forces.
For the past three days, in Wola, units of the Dirlewanger and Kaminski brigades, alongside SS-Polizei and Cossack mercenaries, have unleashed a wave of terror and indiscriminate slaughter, murdering an estimated 40,000 to 100,000 civilians, including women, children, elderly, and the sick in hospital in a gruesome bloodbath. They openly killed all prisoners, and basically raped and looted their way through the district, leaving it in a smoking heap of unsalvageable ruins.
Word was that Dirlewanger, ever the loose-cannon, would not take orders from Reinefarth, and even threatened the overall operational CO, SS-Gen Erich v.dem Bach's executive officer with death over a minor matter.
Kaminski, purported to be on a drunken bender throughout the whole of the operation, was no easier to direct, and after an incident where German DRK (German Red Cross) nurses were raped by his Russian troops, he was summoned to a meeting outside of Warsaw and quickly "liquidated" on RFSS Himmler's orders.[*2] [*2] Kaminski's demise was explained to his followers as an assassination by Polish Home Army troops. Himmler's actual reason for taking him out had little to do with his troops excesses in Warsaw, but rather a power shift between the contingents of RONA and Vlassov's ROA, which Himmler was considering cultivating as a new source of manpower for his W-SS legions] (Russ Folsom)
Bulgaria and Romania break off diplomatic relations with Germany. (Mike Yared)
CHINA: Japanese forces occupy the strategic railway junction at Hengyang, after bitter fighting lasting nearly eight weeks.
GUAM: US troops capture Mount Santa Rosa.
CANADA: Ordered for RCN: Passenger Craft HC 324, HC 325, HC 326, HC 327, HC 328. Frigate HMCS Hallowell commissioned
U.S.A.: Destroyer escort USS Alvin C. Cockrell launched.
Minesweeper USS Reproof launched. Destroyer escort USS Tills commissioned.
Coast Guard-manned Army vessel FS-392 was commissioned at Los Angeles with LT J. A. Small, USCG, as her first commanding officer. He was succeeded by LT Philip G. Adams, USCGR. He was succeeded by LT E. R. Holden, USCGR, on 15 October 1945. She was assigned to and operated in the Southwest Pacific and Western Pacific areas. She was decommissioned 19 October 1945.