September 7th, 1944 (THURSDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM: Submarine HMS Solent commissioned.
BELGIUM: The British Second Army and the U.S. First Army reach the Albert Canal and elements of the U.S. 113th Cavalry Group (Mechanized) cross the canal near Hasselt while elements of the U.S. VII Corps approach Liege.
FRANCE: In northern France, the U.S. Third
Army's second attempt to take Metz in is thwarted by hard-fighting Germans.
In southern France, troops of the U.S. 3d Infantry
Division enter Besancon.
GERMANY: U-2345 laid down.
U-2512 launched.
U-2330 commissioned.
HUNGARY: The Hungarians declares war on Romania.
USAAF OPERATIONS IN THE EUROPEAN THEATER OF OPERATIONS
* Ninth Air Force: In France, bad weather grounds the bombers but fighters provide air cover for the US 8th and 29th Infantry Divisions.
USAAF OPERATIONS IN THE MEDITERRANEAN THEATER OF OPERATIONS
* Twelfth Air Force: Weather cancels all flying in France and Italy except for weather reconnaissance by a few P-47s.
FINLAND: The Finnish peace delegation leaves for Moscow. Prime Minister Antti Hackzell acts as the chairman of the delegation, the other members are Minister of Defence Gen. Rudolf Walden, Chief of General Staff Gen. Erik Heinrichs and Lt. Gen. Oscar Enckell (brother of Foreign Minister Carl Enckell). They cross the Fenno-Soviet frontline in Juustila, and arrive at Moscow in evening.
The Finnish government enquires whether the Swedish government can receive some 100 000 Finnish refugees from northern Finland. The Swedes reply in affirmative. When the Finns later in autumn initiate hostilities against the Germans in northern Finland, this Swedish help in taking care of the civilian population proves invaluable.
BULGARIA: The government declares war on Germany.
ITALY: The U.S. II Corps completes preparations for an attack, but the German withdrawal during the night of 7/8 September to the Gothic Line itself from delaying positions on the hills around Florence makes the first phase of the assault unnecessary.
Squadron Leader Neville Duke (RAF) achieves his final air to air success when he shoots down two Messerschmitt Bf 109s near Rimini. (Scott Peterson)
USAAF OPERATIONS IN THE CHINA-BURMA-INDIA THEATER OF OPERATIONS
* Tenth Air Force: 22 B-24s fly fuel to Kunming, China and many other troop carrier and cargo sorties are flown to numerous CBI terminals.
* Fourteenth Air Force: In China, 24 B-25s attack town areas, river shipping and trucks in and around Kiyang, Lingling, and Yoyang; 11 B-25s bomb Tien Ho and White Cloud Airfields at Canton and 2 bomb the Siangtan ferry; 5 B-24s hit 4 freighters southwest of Hong Kong; and nearly 100 P-40s and P-51 Mustangs on armed reconnaissance over vast areas of southeastern China attack numerous targets of opportunity including troops, railroad targets, river shipping, warehouses, and bridges. In French Indochina, 4 P-38s hit targets of opportunity in the Hanoi-lower Red River area.
BURMA: On the Salween front, a mop up of the Sung Shan position is completed. The battle for this Burma Road strongpoint has cost the Chinese 7,673 dead and virtually destroyed all of the estimated 2,000 Japanese on and around the position.
JAPAN: Japanese premier Lieutenant General KOISO Kuniaki warns his countrymen that an American invasion of the home islands is a distinct possibility.
USAAF OPERATIONS IN THE PACIFIC OCEAN AREA (Seventh Air Force): In the Mariana Islands, Saipan-based P-47s make strafing and rocket attacks on Pagan and Aguijan Islands. B-24s on snooper and armed reconnaissance missions hit Iwo Jima and Marcus Islands.
USAAF OPERATIONS IN THE SOUTHWEST PACIFIC AREA (Far East Air Forces): B-24s bomb the Menado area on Celebes Island and B-25s hit Wasile Bay villages on Halmahera Island; other B-24s strike Galela in force while P-38s dive-bomb Djailolo and airfield on Halmahera Island. A-20s bomb Boela Airfield, Ceram Island and B-25s sink a lugger in Bara Bay. In New Guinea, A-20s hit Mongosah Airfield while fighter-bombers hit Manokwari Airstrip and villages in the Schouten Islands and strafe and bomb Wewak Airfield and surrounding areas.
NEW GUINEA: In the Schouten Islands U.S. Army forces supported by naval vessels land on Soepiori Island.
CAROLINE ISLANDS: Carrier-based aircraft from Task Groups 38.1, 38.2, and 38.3 conduct full scale air strikes on Japanese installations throughout the principal Palau Islands; they will repeat the evolutions (albeit with diminishing force in view of the paucity of targets) the next day. Cruiser Division 14 (Rear Admiral F.E.M. Whiting) (three light cruisers, screened by four destroyers, drawn from Task Groups 38.2 and 38.3) bombards Japanese installations on Peleliu, Angaur, and Ngesebus, supplementing the carrier air strikes begun the previous day by TF 58.
During the night of 7/8 September, USAAF Seventh Air Force “snooper” B-24 Liberators attacked airfields and Japanese defenses in the Palau Islands.
Heavy cruiser USS New Orleans (CA-32) and light cruiser USS Biloxi (CL-80) and four destroyers (from TG 38.4) bombard Yap Atoll; they will repeat the bombardment the following day. Planes from TG 38.4, meanwhile, on this day and the next will carry out operations against Yap and Ulithi Atolls.
AUSTRALIA: Prime Minister John Curtin tells the Advisory War Council that “we would have two divisions for the Philippines operations, and this would ensure the Australian flag going forward with that of the United States.”
PACIFIC OCEAN: USN submarine USS
Paddle (SS-263) sinks Japanese transport Shinyo Maru, which unbeknown to her
attacker carries 750 American prisoners of war on board, off the coast of
Mindanao, Philippine Islands. Only 83 of the POWs made it to an island
where they are rescued by Filipino guerillas. One man died on the beach. The
guerillas contacted U.S. authorities in Australia and the submarine USS Narwhal
(SS-167) picks up the survivors on 29 October.
RAAF Beaufighters sink a Japanese motor sailboat off
the southern coast of Ceram, Netherlands East Indies.
USAAF OPERATIONS IN ALASKA (Eleventh Air Force): In the Kurile Islands, 6 B-25s on a shipping sweep attack a small fishing fleet between Paramushiru and Onnekotan Islands.
U.S.A.: Destroyer USS Gyatt laid down.
Aircraft carrier USS Valley Forge laid down.
Destroyer escort USS Rolf commissioned.