August 11th, 1944 (FRIDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM: The US Eighth Air Force in England flies 3 missions today (numbers in parenthesis indicate number of bombers attacking the target).
- Mission 541: 660 bombers and 300+ fighters, in 5 forces, are dispatched to attack 13
marshalling yards, fuel dumps, airfields, and targets of opportunity, in northeastern
France and the Paris area; 4 bombers are lost
(1) B-17 Flying Fortresses attack Belfort (76) and Mulhouse (76) marshalling yards and 1
B-17 hit a target of opportunity.
(2) B-24s bomb Coulommiers Airfield (47), Pacy-sur-Armancon (36) and St Florentin (34).
(3) 76 B-17s bomb the Villacoublay aircraft depot; 1 B-17 is lost.
(4) 45 B-24s attack Toussus le Noble Airfield; 9 others hit Saran Airfield at Orleans. (5)
B-24s, bomb the Strasbourg fuel dump (66); marshalling yards at Strasbourg (65) and
Saarbrucken (60); Nivelles Airfield (10) and 1 hits a target of opportunity; 3 B-24s are
lost.
- Mission 542: 275 B-17s attack 23 arsenal areas, barracks, concrete emplacements and heavy artillery posts in and around Brest, France; 1 B-17 is lost. Mission 541 and 542 are escorted by 356 P-38s and P-51 Mustangs; 1 P-51 is lost.
- Mission 543: 1 B-17 flies a Micro H test against La Chenaie rail bridge. Escort is provided by 7 P-47 Thunderbolts.
- Mission 544: 6 B-17s drop leaflets in Franc during the night.
- 165 P-47s fly a fighter sweep of the Paris area; they claim 5-0-0 Luftwaffe aircraft.
- 28 B-24s fly CARPETBAGGER missions in France.
The following Canadian corvettes departed with the 102-ship Londonderry to New York City convoy ON-248S: HMCS Dauphin, Sackville, Halifax and Huntsville. Submarine HMS Scythian commissioned.
FRANCE: Operation Totalize, the Canadian First Army offensive towards Falaise, has failed to break out and is called off.
The 2nd Armoured Battalion Irish Guards are part of a major southward thrust by the Guards Armoured Division to cut the main Vassy-Vire road. Captain 'Tinker' Taylor is in command of two troops of tanks which are supporting the Prince of Wales Company, 1st Battalion Welsh Guards, in an attack near the village of Houssemagne, east of Vire.
The tanks rolled forward under heavy shell and mortar fire, keeping pace with 1 Welsh Guards; but as they climbed a long spur towards the Vassy-Vire road, Taylor realised that there were too few infantry to hold the ground unless they were given time to dig themselves in.
He therefore ordered his tanks forward into the orchards on top of the ridge; but the German anti-tank guns were already in position covering the crest, and Taylor's tank was the first to be knocked out.
Sergeant Garland, one of his troop commanders, accelerated ahead to engage the anti-tank gun and give Taylor and his crew a chance to escape. Garland was now in a very exposed position, so Taylor jumped into the next tank, and immediately ordered it forward to support him.
He duly engaged and destroyed the anti-tank gun, but not before it had hit and crippled Garland's tank. But Garland's crew continued fighting until all their ammunition had been expended; they then escaped under cover of a smoke screen.
The enemy, which had infiltrated the surrounding orchards with Panther tanks and self-propelled guns, had knocked out six of eight tanks when Taylor's became bogged down in a stream.
For two hours he stayed with the immobilised machine, in full view and under heavy enemy fire while directing his remaining tanks and preventing all further attempts to penetrate the position.
Only when the Welsh Guards had reported that they were firmly established and he had been given a direct order to withdraw, did Taylor abandon his tank and bring his crew safely back. He was awarded an immediate MC. (Daily Telegraph 5th June, 2003) (Peter Kilduff)
US forces cross the River Loire.
The US Ninth Air Force sends A-20 Havocs and B-26 Marauders to attack bridges at Montrichard, Oissel, Fismes, and Creil/Saint-Maximin, gun defences at Ile de Cezembre and Saint-Malo, and an ammunition dump at Foret de Roumare; fighters cover the assault area, escort IX Bomber Command aircraft, and fly armed reconnaissance in the battle area and extensively over northern France.
GERMANY: Rastenburg: Hitler allows von Kluge's men to retreat
from Mortain, recognizing the failure of his planned counter-attack.
U-2329
launched.
U.S.S.R.: The Red Army begins a new offensive south of Lake
Peipus.
The Soviet High Command had announced the opening of a new offensive in the Baltic. It
began at dawn yesterday with a heavy artillery barrage in the south-east corner of
Estonia. The tanks and infantry of General Maslennikov's Third Baltic Front
attacked as the
barrage lifted, and quickly breached the German defences in the Pskov area. The Russians
have advanced some 15 miles and have captured the railway town of Pechory, sealing the
fate of the 30 German divisions trapped in the Baltic states. These trapped divisions were
"doomed to extermination owing to the strategy of the irresponsible Hitler",
according to the captured German Generals von Kurowski and Lindemann who today called on
the German people and military command to end the war.
ITALY: The Pope has allowed his concern for the
fate of the Polish patriots fighting in Warsaw to be reflected tonight in the Vatican
newspaper Osservatore Romano.
In a powerful commentary, the newspaper says: "The Russian advance is meeting no
obstacles. When the news indicates there is a battle near some town, it is invariably
followed by the entry into its suburbs and its occupation within a few hours. It is only
in Warsaw that this does not happen.
"In Warsaw, Poles of the resistance movement have fought and are fighting. It is
necessary to ask whether there is any connection between these two facts. Is this a
division of the war effort?" The article goes on to ask why it is necessary for the
fighters to say "we ask for help from those who owe us help", and comments
bitterly: "This help is not forthcoming ... Why for the past few days have the
Russian bulletins ignored the fight in Warsaw?"
Naples: The sight of a familiar figure wearing a homburg hat and a siren suit and waving a
big cigar, did much to cheer up British troops here today. Morale has not been good here in
the US Fifth and British Eighth Armies, particularly with the headlines at home dominated
by events in Normandy and thousands of their comrades taken from the Italian front for the
planned operation in the south of France. Churchill has flown here to meet Tito, with
whose help he hopes to salvage earlier British plans for a Balkan campaign which the US
rejected. He will also learn of a new plan by General Alexander to break through the
Gothic line.
KURILE ISLANDS: 4 Eleventh Air Force B-24s and 2 F-7
Liberators bomb Suribachi Airfield on Paramushiru Island. They are attacked by 15-20
Japanese fighters and the Americans claim 3 fighters shot down.
Radar-equipped B-24s of the US Thirteenth Air Force based on Los Negros Island, attack
Japanese airfields and defences in the Palau Islands during
the night of 11/12 August.
18 B-24s of 30th Bombardment Group leave their airbase at Saipan to bomb Chichi Jima in the Bonin Islands.
CANADA: Tugs
HMCS Glenella, Glenfield and Glenvalley launched Kingston Ontario.
Frigate HMCS Loch Achamalt (ex HMS Loch
Achamalt) commissioned.
U.S.A.: An electric-powered rescue hoist is installed on a USCG HNS-1 helicopter at CGAS Floyd Bennett Field, New York. During the ensuing 4-day test period, in which flights are conducted over Jamaica Bay, the feasibility of rescuing personnel from the water and of transferring personnel and equipment to and from underway boats is demonstrated. In late September, a hydraulic hoist, which overcomes basic disadvantages of the electric hoist, is installed and successfully tested, leading to its adoption for service use.
Destroyer USS Lofberg launched. Destroyer escort USS George E Davis commissioned. Destroyer USS Leary laid down.
ATLANTIC OCEAN: Two German submarines are sunk:
- U-385 is sunk in the Bay of Biscay west of La Rochelle, France, in position 46.16N, 02.45W, by depth charges from the RN sloop HMS Starling and depth charges from an RAAF Sunderland Mk III of No. 461 Squadron based at Pembroke Dock, Wales. 42 of the crew of 43 survive.
- U-967 is scuttled in Toulon, France. 2 crewmen die.