August 23rd, 1944 (WEDNESDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM:
The US Eighth Air Force in England flies Mission 567:6 B-17s drop leaflets in France and Belgium during the night. During the day, 142 P-47 Thunderbolts bomb and strafe rail transportation from Saint-Omer to Reims, France.
A V1 bomb kills 211 civilians in East Barnet, in Hertfordshire, and a B-24 bomber crashes on an infants' school at Freckleton, near Blackpool, in Lancashire, killing 57 people including 35 children. The aircraft had been based at the nearby Warton airfield. (An in-depth report)
ENGLISH CHANNEL: USN motor torpedo boats PT-511, PT-514 and PT-520 take part in night engagement (that lasts into the following day) that turns back the last German attempt to reinforce the besieged garrison at Le Havre, France; the PTs sink German artillery ferries AFP 98 and AFP 108.
FRANCE: The French resistance
has largely freed Paris after fierce fighting. East of Paris Melun falls to US forces.
South of Paris French troops with the US V Corps move forward to join the advance toward
the French capitol.
Montgomery advances toward the River Seine.
Paris: German engineers begin placing explosive charges around the Eiffel Tower.
In the south French troops reach the outskirts of both Marseilles and Toulon.
In northern France, 4 US Ninth Air Force B-26s drop leaflets in the Lisieux-Bernay area; fighters fly ground forces cover, sweeps, armed reconnaissance over the battle areas and along the Seine River, and attack artillery positions; 150+ C-47 Skytrains fly supply and evacuation missions and several hundred reconnaissance aircraft fly tactical, visual, photographic, and artillery adjustment reconnaissance missions.
The German submarine U-180 is last heard from in the Bay of Biscay west of Bordeaux, France in approximate position 44.00N, 02.00W.
GERMANY: U-2341 laid down.
Ltnt. Kurt Braun, as Commander in deputise, brought U-763 from La Pallice in France via Bergen, Norway to Flensburg in Germany. He left La Pallice on 23 Aug, 1944, 4 days before his 21st birthday!
U.S.S.R.: 12 divisions of the German 6th Army are cut off by the Second and Third Ukraine Fronts. The Second Ukraine Front also takes Vaslui south of Jassy.
ITALY: The US Twelfth Air Force dispatches medium bombers to attack road and rail bridges north of the Arno River and roads leading north from Florence, and also hit bridges in the Rhone Valley of France; widespread haze in parts of France and Italy prevents accurate bombing; fighter-bombers continue to attack communications, gun positions, and road movements in the Provence battle areas.
AUSTRIA: B-17 Flying Fortresses and B-24 Liberators of the USAAF's Fifteenth Air Force in Italy bomb six targets in Austria: In Vienna, 68 bomb the Vosendorf Oil Refinery, 53 bomb the marshalling yard and 13 bomb the industrial area. Other targets hit are Markersdorf Airfield at St. Polten by 133 bombers, an aircraft engine plant at Wiener Neudorf by 94 aircraft (23 used H2X radar), and the industrial area at St. Leonhaid by 26 aircraft. Twelve aircraft are lost.
HUNGARY: One Fifteenth Air Force bomber bombs the marshalling yard at Nagykanizsa.
The US Fifteenth Air Force attacks targets at Ferrara, Italy, missing a river bridge but hitting a synthetic rubber factory.
ROMANIA: Rumanian King Michael dismisses Marshal Antonescu, who is subsequently arrested. General Sanatescu is appointed as Prime Minister. Romania then accepts Russian armistice terms. (Greg Kelley)
MEDITERRANEAN SEA: The German garrison on Isle de Proquerolles, except isolated stragglers, surrenders to Commander Task Group 86.3 (TG 86.3) in light cruiser USS Omaha (CL-4); the island will then be occupied by Senegalese troops.
BURMA: 32 USAAF Tenth Air Force P-47 Thunderbolts support British advances down the railroad in the Pinbaw area hitting gun positions, troops, and HQ buildings, immediately north of Pinbaw, and along Nansonti Creek; and 6 P-47s bomb Onsansaing, and 8 P-51 Mustangs bomb an encampment near Kadu.
CHINA: 4 Tenth Air Force P-51s hit Lungling and Mangshih; 5 others attack guns, fuel dump, and other targets of opportunity along the Burma Road from Wanling to Lungling while 7 more hit buildings and vehicles during sweeps of the general Mangshih-Chefang area; and 12 P-51s hit targets of opportunity southwest of Lungling and 2 P-40s strafe trucks at Chefang.
The Fourteenth Air Force dispatches 7 B-25s and 21 fighter-bombers to attack villages, compounds, other targets of opportunity near Hengyang, Lingyang, and Anjen; 40+ fighter-bombers hit villages, shipping, troops, supplies, and other targets of opportunity around Ichang, Yangtien, Siangtan, and Yiyang, and south of Sungpai and Siangyin.
JAPAN: The Japanese General Staff decides to abandon the central Solomons and concentrate its forces in the northern islands of the archipelago, notably Bougainville.
COMMONWEALTH OF THE PHILIPPINES: USN submarine USS Grayling (SS-209) delivers supplies to Filipino guerrilla forces on Panay Island.
NEW GUINEA: US forces are withdrawn from Noemfoor after this area is captured.
USAAF Far East Air Force B-24s pound the Galela, Halmahera Island, area; in New Guinea, B-24s hit Langgoer Airfield and Saumlakki; fighter-bombers hit the airfield at Nabire, Moemi, and Urarom, the village of Moari, and town of Manokwari; B-25s, A-20s, and fighter-bombers continue to attack barge hideouts, troops, villages, and general targets of opportunity around Wewak.
PACIFIC OCEAN: US Seventh Air Force B-24s from Saipan Island bomb Yap and Iwo Jima Islands while US Thirteenth Air Force radar-equipped B-24s attack airfields and defences in the Palau Islands.
USN submarine USS Paddle (SS-263) sinks Italian merchant passenger/cargo ship SS Ada off Hamamatsu, Japan, in position 34.37N, 137.53E.
CANADA: Destroyer HMCS St Clair paid off.
U.S.A.: The top pop song hits today
are
(1) "I'll Be Seeing You" by Bing Crosby;
(2) "Amor" by Bing Crosby;
(3) "Milkman, Keep Those Bottles Quiet" by Ella Mae Morse; and
(4) "Is You Is Or Is You Ain't (Ma' Baby)" by Louis Jordan And His
Tympany Five.
Submarine USS Toro launched.
Submarine USS Piper commissioned.
Coast Guard manned Army FS-193 was commissioned at New Orleans. The first commanding officer was LTJG G. W. Hayman, USCGR. She was assigned to and operated in the Southwest Pacific area.
Coast Guard-manned Army vessel FS-346 was commissioned at Kewaunee WI with LTJG F. J. Bell, USCGR, as commending officer. She was assigned to and operated in the Southwest Pacific area during the war. She was decommissioned 30 August 1945.
ATLANTIC OCEAN: The Canadian-built, British-registered cargo ship Fort Yale (7,134 GRT), Captain George W. Mortimer, Master, was sunk by U-480 in the English Channel, 17 miles SE of the Isle of Wight, in position 50.23N, 000.55W. On 08 Aug 44, while proceeding as part of convoy ETC-72, Fort Yale struck a mine in the English Channel, in position 49.26N, 000.33W. The ship was able to make the Normandy beachhead and was unloaded. Fort Yale was under tow by the British tug Hudson and the American tug Farallon when she was attacked by U-480. One person was lost from the 68 crewmembers and DEMS gunners onboard.
U-989 damaged SS Louis Kossuth.