September 6th, 1944 (WEDNESDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM: Blackout and other civil defence measures in Britain are relaxed. The blackout is to be replaced by a "dim-out" in which windows other than skylights can be curtained normally, except during air raids. Street lighting is to be stepped up and diffused car headlight allowed. The blackout will be abolished completely if circumstances permit. Fire-watching is to be abolished except at night in London and south-east England, and Civil Defence will become part-time only.
Compulsory training and drills for the British Home Guard are ended by the war office.
USAAF OPERATIONS IN THE EUROPEAN THEATER OF OPERATIONS
* Eighth Air Force: Mission 607: 49 P-38 Lightnings and 165 P-47s strafe rail and highway traffic in the Rotterdam, the Netherlands, and the Aachen and Koblenz, Germany areas; a P-38 and 3 P-47s are lost to flak. 70 B-24s fly TRUCKIN' missions (carrying cargo to airfields in France).
* Ninth Air Force: In France, B-26s and A-20s hit Brest area strongpoints, a coastal battery at Pointe du Grand Gouin, defenses at Saint-Pierre-Quilbignon, and a Brest area bridge; fighters hit Brest area gun positions and ammunition dump and fly cover for several armored and infantry divisions.
HMS Whitethroat (later HMCS/CNAV Whitethroat) launched Beverly. (AE - surely some mistake, Beverley, East Ridings is far inland with no large river or shipbuilding, unless this is a yacht. )
Corvette HMCS Humberstone commissioned.
Submarine HMS Tabard laid down.
NETHERLANDS: Three RAF Bomber Command Halifaxes lay mines off Texel Island.
FRANCE: The Red Ball Express ceases operation. It has delivered 89,929 tons of supplies and consumed 300,000 gallons of gasoline per day.The Canadian II
Corps reaches the English Channel north of Calais and just south of Boulogne
while the U.S. Third Army crosses the Moselle River. British forces capture
Armentieres
In southern France, the French II Corps enters
Chalons-sur-Saòne while the U.S. VI Corps
advances towards Besancon.
In southern France, during the day, weather grounds the USAAF Twelfth Air Force’s XII Tactical Air Command aircraft except for a few fighters based in France which fly armed reconnaissance over the Belfort, Dijon, and Colmar areas, destroying or damaging numerous motor transport and railroad cars and several locomotives, field guns, trailers, and a tank.
BELGIUM: British forces capture Namur, Ghent and Courtrai while the U.S. VII Corps advances on Liège.
GERMANY: During the day, RAF Bomber Command dispatches 181 aircraft, 105 Halifaxes and 76 Lancasters, to bomb Emden; 180 aircraft bomb the target. This is the first large raid to Emden since June 1942; it is also the last Bomber Command raid of the war on this target. The force is provided with an escort, first of RAF Spitfires and then of USAAF P-51 Mustangs. The bombing is accurate and Emden is seen to be a mass of flames, but no local report is available other than a brief note which states that several small ships in the harbour are sunk.
During the night of 6/7 September, RAF Bomber Command dispatches 32 Mosquitos to Hamburg and six to Emden; 29 bomb Hamburg and six bomb Emden. Four Halifaxes lay mines in the River Ems.
U-929 and U-1304 commissioned.
U-2523, U-2524 and U-3016 laid down.
HUNGARY: USAAF Fifteenth Air Force B-24 Liberators attack two targets: 111 hit the marshalling yard at Nyiregyhaza and one bombs Kiskun Airfield. During the night of 6/7 September, ten RAF Liberators of No. 205 (Heavy Bomber) Group mine the Danube River.
POLAND: Soviet troops capture Ostroleka only 25 miles (40 kilometers) from the border of East Prussia.
ROMANIA: The Soviet advance through Rumania reaches
the border with Yugoslavia at Turnu-Severin on the Danube and they link up with
Tito's partisans.
In the air, USAAF Fifteenth Air Force B-24 Liberators bomb three rail targets at Oradea: 56 attack the East marshalling yard, 55 bomb the West marshalling yard, and 28 bomb the Sebes Koros River railroad bridge. Meanwhile, two bombers, with fighter escort, evacuate interned U.S. airmen from Bucharest.
YUGOSLAVIA: During the day, USAAF Fifteenth Air Force B-24 Liberators visually bomb five targets: 77 bomb tactical targets at Leskovac; 59 bomb the East marshalling yard at Novi Sad and 57 bomb the South marshalling yard; 54 bomb the East railroad bridge in Belgrade; and 25 bomb the marshalling yard at Leskovac.
During the night of 6/7 September, seven RAF Liberators of No. 205 (Heavy Bomber) Group mine the Danube River while another aircraft drops leaflets.
ITALY: The Japanese ambassador to Italy reports back to Tokyo that partisan activity, especially around Turin and the Franco-Italian border, has widened, despite German purges. This information is intercepted by British intelligence and decoded, reassuring the British forces fighting within Italy that they were not alone in fighting the Germans. By war's end, Italian guerrillas controlled Venice, Milan, and Genoa, but at considerable cost. All told, the resistance lost some 50,000 fighters.
During the night of 6/7 September, 51 RAF Liberators of No. 205 (Heavy Bomber) Group bomb the North marshalling yard at Bologna with the loss of one aircraft.
During the night of 5/6 September, USAAF Twelfth Air Force A-20s attack targets of opportunity in the Savona and Milan areas.
CHINA: Twenty four USAAF Tenth Air Force B-24 Liberators fly about 34,000 US gallons (28,311 Imperial gallons or 128,7 kiloliters) of fuel from India to Kunming.
Twenty USAAF Fourteenth Air Force B-25 Mitchells bomb Yiyang, Lingkuantien railroad yards, trucks north of Lingling, troops and occupied areas around Kiyang and Paishui, and Hengyang Airfield; 45 P-40s and P-51 Mustangs on armed reconnaissance attack troops, shipping, and communications targets in the Yiyang area, bomb warehouses at Hukow, destroy a fuel barge at Pengtse, hit railroad yards, trucks, troops, and sampans at Kweiyang and Lingkuantien, and attack general targets of opportunity at Yangtien.
BURMA: Six USAAF Tenth Air Force B-25 Mitchells hit Indaw while three bomb Katha
PHILIPPINE ISLANDS: On Mindanao Island, USAAF Fifth Air Force B-24 Liberators bomb Santa Ana port and B-25 Mitchells bomb Buayan Aerodrome in the first medium bomber raid in the Philippine Islands since early 1942; several B-24s, turning back from the Santa Ana strike, bomb Rainis in the Talaud Islands.
EAST INDIES: In the Netherlands East Indies, USAAF Fifth Air Force B-25 Mitchells hit Galela on Halmahera Island and the south coast of Morotai Island. Fighter-bombers attack Kaoe (Kaoe I, Kaoe II) Aerodrome and bomb a Djailolo (Djailolo No. 1, No. 2) Aerodrome.
NEW GUINEA: In Dutch New Guinea, USAAF Fifth Air Force A-20 Havocs, B-25 Mitchells, and fighter-bombers hit airfields at Manokwari, Moemi, Ransiki (Moemi North) and Waren, and stores and personnel area at Nabire Aerodrome; P-40s attack southern Soepiori Island and Napido; and P-39 Airacobras strafe barges and huts at Suain.
CAROLINE ISLANDS: In the western Pacific, carrier-based aircraft of the USN's Task Groups 38.1, 38.2 and 38.3 (13 aircraft carriers) begin a 3-day preinvasion bombardment of the Palau Islands; a fighter sweep discloses no aerial opposition and reveals much damage caused by prior USAAF and USN strikes.
Meanwhile, aircraft of Task Group 38.4 (3 aircraft carriers) attack Yap Atoll in the Caroline Islands.
Aboard the light aircraft carrier USS Independence (CVL-22), assigned to Task Group 38.2, is Night Light Carrier Air Group Forty One [CVLG(N)-41] trained for night operations. CVLG(N)-41 is composed of Night Fighting Squadron Forty One [VF(N)-41) with 9 F6F-5N Hellcats and Night Torpedo Squadron Forty One (VTN-41) with 13 TBM-1D Avengers. The Independence is the first fully equipped night carrier operating with a fast carrier task force.
Eniwetok Atoll USAAF Seventh Air Force B-24 Liberators bomb Truk Atoll. Meanwhile, aircraft of Task Group 38.4 (three aircraft carriers) attack Yap Atoll.
MARCUS ISLAND: USAAF Seventh Air Force B-24 Liberators on armed reconnaissance bomb the island. The island is located in the North Pacific about 768 nautical miles (1 422 kilometers) west-northwest of Wake Island and is used as a refueling point for Japanese aircraft en route to the Central Pacific.
MARIANA ISLANDS: USAAF Seventh Air Force P-47 Thunderbolts make strafing and rocket runs on antiaircraft positions on Pagan Island.
VOLCANO ISLANDS: USAAF Seventh Air Force B-24 Liberators strike Iwo Jima.
PACIFIC OCEAN: Two USN submarines sink five Japanese ships. USS Bashaw (SS-241) sinks a transport west of Mindanao, Philippine Islands, while east of Formosa, USS Spadefish (SS-411) sinks a transport, an army cargo ship and two merchant cargo ships.
CANADA: Corvette HMCS Humberstone commissioned.
U.S.A.: The USN awards a contract to
McDonnell Aircraft Corporation for the development of the Gargoyle or LBD-1, a
radio controlled low-wing gliding bomb fitted with a rocket booster and designed
for launching from carrier-based dive-bombers and torpedo planes against enemy
ships.
The motion picture "Double Indemnity" is
released today. This film-noir crime drama was written by Raymond Chandler and
directed by Billy Wilder and stars Fred MacMurray, Barbara Stanwyck and Edward
G. Robinson. The plot has smooth talking insurance representative MacMurray
meeting Mrs. Dietrichson (Stanwyck) which results in an affair. The wife then
convinces him to murder her husband but all does not go to plan. The film is
nominated for seven Academy Awards including Best Picture, Best Director and
Best Actress (Stanwyck). The American Film Institute ranks this film Number 38
on its list of the 100 Greatest Movies.
Submarine USS Torsk launched.