- Mission 569: 1 B-17 drops leaflets on Brest, France during the night.

In northern France, weather cancels a US IX Bomber Command mission against 4 fuel dumps north of the Seine River; fighters give air cover to ground forces, mainly for 3 armoured and 2 infantry divisions, bomb Seine River bridges, and fly armed reconnaissance along the Seine and around Troyes, Orleans, and Tours; about 270 C-47 Skytrains fly supply and evacuation missions.

The USAAF's Twelfth Air Force in France and Italy TACTICAL OPERATIONS (Twelfth Air Force): During the night of 23/24 August, USAAF Twelfth Air Force A-20 Havocs hit motor transport and targets of opportunity in the Rhone Valley of France and at Genoa, Milan, and Turin, Italy; medium bombers bomb bridges at Montpellier, Avignon, and Lunel, France and Solignano Nuovo, and Castel del Rio, Italy, and score direct hits on gun positions in the Marseille, France area; and fighters bomb and strafe gun positions, vehicles, roads and bridges throughout south-eastern France.

In the south, US forces liberate Cannes and Antibes on the Riviera and Arles on the Rhone River while the Germans evacuate Bordeaux however, the Germans occupy fortified bunker positions on the Gironde estuary west of the city.

The first shipments of gasoline, ammunition, food and other military equipment begin streaming across France on the "Red Ball Express," a highway supply line using thousands of American trucks. Using two roads restricted to military traffic, Red Ballers hotrod from St. Lo in Normandy to advanced supply dumps of the U.S. First and Third Armies. The Red Ball rolls 24 hours a day, seven days a week. 

GERMANY: Rastenburg: Hitler orders the building of a new "west wall" charging party officials to do the work because he no longer trusts the army.

U-779 commissioned.
U-2519 and U-2520 laid down.

NORWAY: The aircraft carriers HM Ships Formidable, Furious and Indefatigable launched an air strike against the great German battleship Tirpitz sheltering in Altenfjord. Fleet Air Arm Barracuda dive-bombers attacked escorted by Seafires, Hellcats, Fireflies and Corsairs. Tirpitz was hit, though not seriously damaged.

FINLAND: President Mannerheim and the cabinet unanimously decide to seek peace with Soviet Union. It is agreed that the decision can't be postponed even if Germany is continuously providing Finland with war material and Hitler hasn't reacted to Mannerheim's message to Keitel that Finland will stay in the war only as long as it is in her interest to do so.

Submarine Iku-Turso tries to attack Lavanaari harbour but in shallow water it hits a net obstacle and is damaged by explosion. Boat returns to Helsinki.

CZECHOSLOVAKIA: B-17 Flying Fortresses of the USAAF's Eighth Air Force in England visually bomb two targets in Brux: 132 aircraft bomb the synthetic oil refinery while seven others bomb the industrial area; two aircraft are lost. The USAAF's Fifteenth Air Force in Italy bombs three targets: 158 bomb the airfield at Pardurice while 110 hit the oil refinery in the same city; another 100 bomb the oil refinery at Kolin; 13 bombers are lost.

U.S.S.R.: The German Army Group South Ukraine, under Freissner, has been shattered by Russian attacks and the defection of the Rumanian forces attached. Kishinev falls to the Soviets.

HUNGARY: Forty nine heavy bombers of the USAAF's Fifteenth Air Force in Italy visually bomb the railroad bridge at Szeged without loss. 

ITALY: The US Fifteenth Air Force dispatches 530+ B-17s and B-24s to bomb 3 oil refineries at Kolin and Pardubice, Czechoslovakia; marshalling yard at Vinkovci, Yugoslavia; Szeged, Hungary; and Ferrara, Italy railroad bridge and several targets of opportunity; around 70-80 fighters escort the Czechoslovakian missions; US bombers and escorting fighters claim nearly 40 air victories. 

During the day, medium bombers of the USAAF's Twelfth Air Force bomb bridges at Solignano Nuovo, and Castel del Rio. Heavy bombers of  the USAAF's Fifteenth Air Force hit four targets: 62 bomb the railroad bridge at Ferrara; individual bomber hit the railroad at Bordeno and Formignana and a target of opportunity at Polesella; two aircraft are lost.  During the night of 23/24 August, USAAF Twelfth Air Force A-20 Havocs hit motor transport and targets of opportunity at Genoa, Milan, and Turin while 74 RAF Liberators of No. 205 (Heavy Bomber) Group bomb the Main marshalling yard at Bologna.

During the night of 23/24 August, USAAF Twelfth Air Force A-20 Havocs hit motor transport and targets of opportunity at Genoa, Milan, and Turin; during the day, medium bombers bomb bridges at Solignano Nuovo, and Castel del Rio.

YUGOSLAVIA: Fifty one heavy bombers of the USAAF's Fifteenth Air Force in Italy visually bomb a marshalling yard at Vincovici. 

CHINA: Town areas, river and road traffic, railroad targets, and other targets of opportunity in or near Hengyang, Chuchou, Siangtan, and Yangtien are attacked by 8 B-25s and 25 P-40s of the USAAF's Fourteenth Air Force; 19 other P-40s hit similar targets of opportunity at Yungeheng, Anjen, along the central Yangtze River, and south of Mangshih.

BURMA: 9 USAAF Tenth Air Force B-25s bomb Kangon; 3 P-47 Thunderbolt flights support British troops northeast of Pinbaw, hitting forces and gun emplacements near Namyin Te and Nansankyin; 4 P-47s bomb Nankan; and 4 P-51 Mustangs strafe vehicles along the Shweli River and bomb a storage area south of Hopin.

NETHERLANDS EAST INDIES: A British air and naval force under Admiral Sir Bruce Fraser, including carriers HMS Victorious and Indomitable, and battleship HMS Howe, under Admiral Moody, attack Padang in SW Sumatra.

The USAAF's Far East Air Forces dispatches B-25s to attack shipping in Lembeh Strait, Celebes Island, while B-24s bomb Lolobata Airfield on Halmahera Island.  

CAROLINE ISLANDS: US Seventh Air Force B-24s based in the Marshall Islands bomb Truk Atoll.

MARIANA ISLANDS: The advanced air echelon of Brigadier General Emmett O'Donnell Jr's HQ 73d Bombardment Wing (Very Heavy) arrives in the  with B-29s, the first Twentieth Air Force contingent to arrive; the ground echelon arrives by ship on 16 September.

SAIPAN: Saipan Island-based P-47s of the USAAF Seventh Air Force pound Aguijan and Pagan Islands. Marshall Island-based B-24s bomb Truk Atoll while B-25s hit Nauru Island.

PACIFIC OCEAN: The USN submarine USS Harder (SS-257) is sunk by Japanese Coast defence Vessel No. 22 off the west coast of Luzon.  In a four day period the USS Harder under the command of Samuel Dealey sank three Japanese destroyers and damaged two more, most with short range down the throat shots, a dangerous tactic. In all Dealey sank 16 Japanese ships and was awarded the Medal of Honor before being lost, along with all of his crew to a Japanese Minesweeper today. (Jack McKillop and Dave Shirlaw)

USN submarines sink four Japanese merchant ships. (1) USS Ronquil (SS-396) attacks a Japanese convoy, sinking an army cargo ship off Keelung, Formosa, and a merchant cargo ship off Sankaku Island; (2) USS Sailfish (SS-192) attacks Japanese convoy in Luzon Strait, sinking a transport; and (3) USS Seal (SS-183) sinks a merchant cargo ship off the southeast coast of Hokkaido, Japan. 

CANADA: ASW towing vessel HMCS Kirkwood assigned to HMCS Somers Isles.

U.S.A.: The USN establishes its first night carrier air group, Night Light Carrier Air Group Forty Three [CVLG(N)-43] at NAAS Charlestown, Rhode Island. The air group consists of 2 squadrons, Night Fighting Squadron Forty Three [VF(N)-43] and the first night torpedo squadron, Night Torpedo Squadron Forty Three [VT(N)-43].

Destroyer escort USS Woodson commissioned.
Minesweeper USS Murrelet laid down.

Submarine USS Requin laid down.

Coast Guard-manned Army vessel FS-264 was commissioned at New York with LTJG E. F. Warner, USCGR, first commanding officer. On 27 September 1944 she departed New York towing P-751 for the Southwest Pacific where she operated during the war at Leyte, Manila, etc. She was decommissioned on 24 September 1945.

Fleet Marine Forces, Pacific and Admin Command, Fleet Marine Forces, Pacific are combined to become Provisional HQ, Fleet Marine Force. (Gordon Rottman)

ATLANTIC OCEAN: Three German submarines are sunk:

- U-354 is sunk in the Barents Sea northeast of North Cape, in position 72.49N, 30.41E, by depth charges from the RN sloops HMS Mermaid and HMS Peacock, the frigate HMS Loch Dunvegan and the destroyer HMS Keppel. All hands on the U-boat, 51-men, are lost.

- U-445 is sunk in the Bay of Biscay west of St. Nazaire, France, in position 47.21N, 05.50W, by depth charges from the RN frigate HMS Louis.  All 52 crewmen of the U-boat are lost.

- U-925 is last heard from today. She and her 51 crewmen are lost in the North Atlantic or Arctic Sea north of Britain.