September 3rd, 1944 (SUNDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM:
USAAF OPERATIONS IN THE EUROPEAN THEATER OF OPERATIONS
* Eighth Air Force: 2 missions are flown.
(1) Mission 601: 393 B-17s make a visual attack on 16 gun
batteries and defensive installations in the Brest, France area; 2 B-17s are
lost; escort is provided by 15 P-51s without loss but bad weather cancels
fighter-bomber mission by 50 P-38s against strongpoints in the Brest area.
(2) 345 B-17s are dispatched to bomb the Opau synthetic oil plant at
Ludwigshafen, Germany (325); 1 hits a target of opportunity and 5 drop leaflets;
1 B-17 is lost; escort is provided by 233 P-51s; they claim 7-0-1 aircraft; a
P-51 is lost.
(3) 125 P-47s strafe transportation targets in Tilburg, the Netherlands; Namur,
Belgium; and Cologne, Germany areas; they claim 0-0-1 aircraft on the ground; a
P-47 is lost.
(4) 40 B-24s and 4 C-47 Skytrains fly CARPETBAGGER missions during the night.
* Ninth Air Force: In France, B-26s and A-20s supporting ground troops pound strongpoints and bridges in the Brest area; fighters fly armed reconnaissance, ground support, and sweeps in northern and eastern France, Belgium, and western Germany.
In England, Lieutenant Ralph Spalding, USN, and a radio operator of the Special Air Unit, Fleet Air Wing Seven (FAW-7), takes off in a TORPEX laden PB4Y-1 Liberator from Fersfield, Norfolk, sets the radio controls and then parachutes to the ground. Ensign James M. Simpson, USNR, in a PV-1 Ventura, takes control and flies the PB4Y to attack German submarine pens on Helgoland Island. Unfortunately, the PV-1 crew loses sight of the Liberator in a rainstorm and it crashes into a barracks and industrial area on Dune Island. A second attempt is later made with Lieutenant Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr., USNR, at the controls of a PB4Y-1 but the aircraft explodes before Kennedy and the radio operator can bail out and Project APHRODITE is then cancelled.
FRANCE: Tournai and Abbeville are liberated by the 21st Army Group and
the U.S. Third Army crosses the Moselle River.
In southwestern France, 80,000 Germans of the German
First Army (von der Chevallerie) have surrendered including 20,000 to a single
platoon of the U. S. 83d Infantry Division. Many Germans quit because they fear
the murderous firepower of American fighter bombers. However, 130,000 troops
escape and rejoin Army Group B.
German Field Marshal Gerd von Rundstedt assumes command of the German armies in the West.
The U.S. First Army (Hodges) reaches the border of Luxembourg. The fleeing Germans are suffering huge losses. Hodges's troops surround and will soon capture 30,000 troops near Mons.
In southern France, the commander of the U.S. 36th
Infantry Division orders his men to halt and allow the French 1st Infantry
Division to liberate Lyons, France's third-largest city. Most of the German
Nineteenth Army have managed to withdraw northward.
BELGIUM: Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery orders the British Second Army
to drive speedily to the Rhine River and secure a crossing.
German troops evacuate Brussels, then units of the British Guards Armoured Division enter Brussels and blocks the exits from the city while the U.S. 3d Armoured Division captures Mons.
The US First Army (Hodges) reaches the border of Luxembourg. The fleeing Germans are suffering huge losses. Hodges's troops surround and will soon capture 30,000 troops near Mons.
NETHERLANDS: During the day, RAF Bomber Command dispatched 675 aircraft, 348 Lancasters, 315 Halifaxes and 12 Mosquitos, to carry out heavy raids on six airfields: 112 aircraft hit Soesterberg, 112 bomb Venlo, 112 attack Volkel, 104 hit Gilze-Rijen, 103 bomb Eindhoven and 88 bomb Deelen. All raids are successful and only one Halifax was lost from the Venlo raid.
GERMANY: In the air, 325 B-17 Flying Fortresses of the USAAF Eighth Air
Force using H2X radar to bomb the I.G. Farben synthetic oil plant at
Ludwigshafen and one hits a target of opportunity. P-47 Thunderbolts strafe
transportation targets at Cologne.
HUNGARY: USAAF Fifteenth Air Force heavy bombers visually bomb three rail targets: 58 bomb railroad bridge at Szeged while one bombs a marshalling yard in the same city and 54 bomb the railroad at Szajol.
FINLAND: U-370 helps evacuate a German radio station.
ITALY: The British 46th Division cross the River Conca River while the Canadian 5th Armoured Division clears Misano.
USAAF OPERATIONS IN THE MEDITERRANEAN THEATER OF OPERATIONS
* Twelfth Air Force: In Italy, medium bombers pound railroad and road bridges in the western Po Valley while fighter-bombers blast motor transport and rolling stock in the Turin area; and on the night of 2/3 September A-20s on armed reconnaissance, start fires in Genoa harbor. In France, fighter-bombers blast German vehicles retreating up the Rhone Valley
* Fifteenth Air Force: 300+ B-17s and B-24s hit key escape routes of retreating German forces in the Balkans, and bomb rail communications and supply lines south from Budapest, Hungary; 3 bridges in the Belgrade, Yugoslavia, area; bridges at Szajol and Szeged, Hungary; and badly damage ferry docks at Smederovo, Yugoslavia. Three B-17s evacuate interned airmen from Bucharest, Romania; 40 P-38s divebomb the Smederovo ferry and strafe Kovin and Baviniste, Yugoslavia airfields and a landing ground, destroying many parked aircraft, motor transport, vehicles, and fuel tanks; and 75 P-51s strafe roads, railroads, vehicles, bivouac areas, railroad repair shops, and miscellaneous targets in the Skoplje-Nish-Krusevac-Belgrade, Yugoslavia, areas.
USAAF OPERATIONS IN THE CHINA-BURMA-INDIA THEATER OF OPERATIONS
* Tenth Air Force: In Burma, 4 B-25s attack and slightly damage the Tabpalai Bridge northeast of Hsipaw; a B-25 knocks out the center span of a railroad bridge in the area and another causes considerable damage at Indaw.
* Fourteenth Air Force: In China, 12 B-24s pound marshalling yards at Nanking; 7 B-25s destroy at least 45 trucks and damage about 100 others during armed reconnaissance from Hengyang to Tungting Lake and Yoyang; 2 others bomb Hengyang Airfield; 100+ P-40s, P-51 Mustangs, and P-38s attack troops, railroad targets, bridges, and other targets of opportunity in areas around Changning, Hengyang, Sungpai, Chuki, Yangtien, Hengshan, and in French Indochina, near Haiphong, and in the Red River Valley.
PACIFIC OCEAN: On Wake Island, the USN's Task Group 12.5 (Rear Admiral Allen E. Smith), comprising the light aircraft carrier USS Monterey (CVL-26), three heavy cruisers, and three destroyers, pound Japanese installations.
USAAF OPERATIONS IN THE PACIFIC OCEAN AREA (Seventh Air Force): Saipan-based B-24s bomb Iwo Jima Island, Volcano Islands. In the Mariana Islands, P-47s hit Pagan and Maug Islands with rockets. A lone B-24 on armed reconnaissance bombs Yap in the Caroline Islands.
USAAF OPERATIONS IN THE SOUTHWEST PACIFIC AREA (Far East Air Forces): On Celebes Island, B-24s pound Langoan Airfield and Lembeh Strait warehouses and shipping. B-25s hit the village of Tobelo on Halmahera Island.
Fighter-bombers hit oil tanks and a radio station at Boela on Ceram Island.
In New Guinea, fighter-bombers hit Babo, Warren and Nabire Airfields, Manokwari storage and personnel areas, strafe areas along MacCluer Gulf, and fly coastal sweeps in the Wewak area, strafing troops, supplies, and occupied areas. Meanwhile, RAAF Kittyhawks conduct another strike against Babo Airfield and for the first time, carry a 1,500 pound (680 kilogram) bombload. The 50 percent increase in bombload was made possible by the sturdier build of the Kittyhawk Mk. IV (= USAAF P-40N) with which the squadron was equipped.
U.S.A.: Destroyer USS Drexler is launched. Anti-aircraft cruiser USS Tucson is launched.
ATLANTIC OCEAN: U-541 sinks SS Livingston.
U-482 sinks SS Fjordheim.