August 15th, 1944 (TUESDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM: The US Eighth Air
Force in England flies Mission 554: 932 bombers and 443 fighters, in 4 forces, are
dispatched to attack 11 airfields in northwestern Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium in
conjunction with 1,000 RAF heavy bombers and Mosquitos raiding 9 airfields in the
Netherlands and Belgium; 16 bombers and 5 fighters are lost; numbers in parenthesis
indicate the number of bombing attacking.
(1) B-17s bomb German airfields at Cologne/Ostheim (108), Frankfurt/Eschborn (65) and
Wiesbaden (38); 3 others hit targets of opportunity; 9 B-17s are lost; escort is provided
by 112 P-51 Mustangs; 1 P-51 is lost.
(2) B-24 Liberators attack German airfields at Wittmundhaafen (91), Zwischenahn (90),
Vechta (67), Plantlunne (54) and Hopstein (10); 4 B-24s are lost; escort is provided by
163 P-38s and P-51s; 2 P-38s and 2 P-51s are lost.
(3) B-17s bomb Dutch airfields at Handorf (109), Venlo (104) and Twente/Enschede (75); 3
others hit targets of opportunity; 2 B-17s are lost.
(4) In Belgium, 59 65 B-24s hit Florennes/Juzaine Airfield and 1 hits a target of
opportunity; 1 B-24 is lost. Forces (3) and (4) are escorted by 118 P-51s.
- 33 P-47 Thunderbolts dive-bomb and skip-bomb a repair shop and locomotives in the marshalling yard at Braine-le-Comtes; 1 P-47 is lost.
- 12 B-24s fly CARPETBAGGER missions during the night.
ENGLISH CHANNEL: U-741 (German) unknown depth, Depth charged; northwest of Le Havre, in position 50.21N, 00.35W, by depth charges from the RN corvette HMS Orchis. Only one of 49 crewmen survives by self escape with Drager gear during sinking without an air lock, PoW. (Mark Horan and Jack McKillop)
U-741 damaged HMS LST 404 in Convoy FTC-69.
FRANCE: Paris:
The police go on strike, in a move to prepare an alibi by disassociating themselves from their past collaboration and so curry favour ahead of time with the FFI. Prisoners held by the French are released by the strike.
South from Tinchebray to
Argentan the US VII and V Corps attack to the north.
They have trapped the German 7th Army, the 5th Panzer Army, and Panzer Group Eberbach. A
desperate retreat to the east begins for these units.
Field Marshall Kluge attempts to visit the front and spends most of the day dodging Allied air
strikes. His unavailability increases Hitler's suspicions that Kluge is attempting to
defect to the Allies.
Hollywood actor Art Carney, who is currently serving in the US
Army's 28th Division in position around St. Lô as
part of a 30 calibre machine gun squad is hit in the right leg by mortar
shrapnel. (Drew Halevy)
In northern France, 330+ A-20 Havocs and B-26s with fighter
escort bomb Marseille-en-Beauvaisis and Foret de Chantilly ammunition and fuel dumps, rail
bridges at Auvers-sur-Oise and L'Isle-Adam, Serqueux marshalling yard, and coastal
defence at Saint-Malo; fighters fly cover for 5 infantry and armored divisions, and fly
extensive armed reconnaissance over northern and western France.
Between Toulon And Cannes, in southern France, Operation Dragoon begins.
The troops are General Alexander Patch's US 7th Army. General de Lattre's French II Corps
will be the follow on troops. The defending German troops are General Weise's 19th Army of
7 weak infantry division and 11 Panzer divisions for the whole south and southeast of
France.
The US Seventh Army stormed the beaches of the French Riviera at 8am today to open a second front in France. Three divisions of General Lucien Truscott's US VI Corps led the way, but they were backed by the French Army B under General Jed de Lattre de Tassigny, whooping for joy as they joined in Operation Dragoon.
- In the US Ninth Air Force's 50th and 53d Troop Carrier Wings, on loan to the Mediterranean Allied Air Force (MAAF), participate in the invasion of southern France as part of the Provisional Troop Carrier Air Division.
- During the night of 14/15 August, the US Twelfth Air Force based in Italy, dispatches A-20s to bomb Le Vallon, Istres, and Orange/Plan de Dieu Airfields and other Rhone Valley targets while the US Seventh Army carries out preliminary operations to isolate Operation DRAGOON invasion beaches;
The US Special Service Force invades Levant and Port-Cros Island and secures the left flank of the assault area;
French commandoes land east of Cap Negre and clear coastal defenses, the French Naval Assault Group lands southwest of Cannes and secures the right flank;
The 1st Airborne Task Force comprising the US 517th PRCT, 509th PIB and 551st PIB, drop in the rear of assault beaches and blocks off the invasion area from the interior; the main force, the US VI Corps, lands 3 divisions abreast between Nice and Toulon at 0800 hours local;
A-20s bomb barracks in the invasion area while B-25s, B-26s, P-38s, and P-47s, supporting the invasion, pound beaches, enemy concentrations, and gun positions in coastal areas and later in the day move attacks inland to interdict enemy communications lines successfully hitting numerous bridges; fighters maintain constant patrol over the convoys and invasion area.
The Germans were taken by surprise when six battleships and 21 cruisers began their barrage during the night. 5,000 tons of bombs fell on coastal gun emplacements before paratroops landed in dense fog. Three American infantry divisions were first ashore, securing a beach-head between Cannes and St. Tropez with the help of French commandos and the Resistance. Allied casualties are very light: of the 400,000 men involved in the landings, just 320 are reported killed. The Free French forces are already fanning out, heading west for the ports of Marseilles and Toulon. De Tassigny has insisted on this task - promising to take both cities within a fortnight.
Southern FRANCE: Lieutenant Audie Murphy, the 20-year-old son of a poor Texan share-cropper, captured a hill here today, single-handed. Murphy lost his temper after Germans - their hands raised in surrender - killed one of his men. He rushed the hill, hurling oaths and grenades, a captured a machine-gun post. Still mad, he grabbed the gun and wiped out the other Germans. He was recently criticized for punching a private. Said Murphy: "The regulations were too goddamned heavy to carry."
Infantry landing ships HMCS Prince David and Prince Henry participate in the landings.
GERMANY: FW Helmut Lennartz shot down a lone straggler B-17 from the 303rd BG near Stuttgart. This would be the only 'viermot' (4-motor) kill claimed by the unit. (Russ Folsom)
U-3504 launched.
U-2339 and
U-3512 laid down.
ITALY: Allied troops advance to the Gothic Line
between Pisa and Rimini.
The US Fifteenth Air Force in Italy flies its first night raid; 252 B-17s and B-24s after a predawn takeoff pound beaches in the Cannes-Toulon, France area in immediate advance of Operation DRAGOON; 28 other fighter-escorted B-17s bomb highway bridges over the Rhone River; B-17s sent against coastal gun positions abort the mission owing to poor visibility; and 166 P-51s escort Mediterranean Tactical Air Force (MATAF) C-47 Skytrains carrying airborne invasion troops.
INDIA: RAF Air Marshall William A Coryton assumes command of the Third Tactical Air Force, a major component of the Eastern Air Command; tactical air force functions remain under Coryton until it is dissolved on 4 December 44.
U.S.A.: Escort carrier USS
Kula Gulf launched.
ATLANTIC OCEAN: Submarines HMS United and Upright arrive Bermuda for ASW">ASW training.