September 9th, 1944 (SATURDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM:
The US Eighth Air Force in England flies 3 missions.
- Mission 613: 68 B-17s fly Operation GRASSY to drop 180 containers of supplies to French Resistance Fighters 25 miles (40 km) south of Besancon without loss. Escort is provided by 30 of 32 P-51s without loss.
- Mission 614: 1,140 bombers and 435 fighters, in 3 forces,
are dispatched to hit targets in western Germany; the primaries are attacked by
both visual and PFF means; 14 bombers and 1 fighter are lost.
(1) 387 B-17s bomb the marshalling yard at Mannheim while 2 others hit targets
of opportunity; 5 B-17s are lost; escort is provided by 140 P-51s.
(2) 265 B-24s attack the marshalling yard at Mainz; targets of opportunity are
the marshalling yard at Worms (24) and Koblenz (6); 3 B-24s are lost; escort is
provided by 125 P-51s.
(3) 251 B-17s bomb an armaments plant at Dusseldorf; targets of opportunity are
Bonn (12), Leverkusen (11) and others (16); 6 B-17s are lost; escort is provided
by 142 P-51s; 1 P-51 is lost.
- Mission 618: 7 B-17s drop leaflets on Belgium, France and Germany during the night.
- 40 B-24s and C-47 Skytrains fly CARPETBAGGER mission during the night.
The VIII Fighter Command fighter-bomber fly 2 missions.
(1) 44 P-47 Thunderbolts sweep the Lingen-Munster-Haltern area to spot flak
positions and troop concentrations and strafe an airfield; they claim 1-1-0
aircraft in the air and on the ground.
(2) 196 P-47s and P-51s bomb and strafe shipping between the German mainland and
Schouwen, Overflakee and Walcheren Islands, the Netherlands, installations on
the islands, and rail and road traffic northwest and northeast of
Frankfurt/Main; they claim 13-0-5 aircraft in the air and on the ground; 7 P-47s
and 1 P-51 are lost.
Frigate HMS Loch Scavaig launched.
BELGIUM: Canadian forces liberate Bruges. Troops of the Canadian 2 Corps moving along the coast enter Ostend and Nieuport.
LUXEMBOURG: Prince Felix and Crown Prince Jean enter Luxembourg with U.S. troops. (Jack McKillop
NETHERLANDS: The U.S. 113th Cavalry Group (Mechanized) enters the Dutch panhandle near Maastricht.
During the night of 9/10 September, four RAF Bomber Command Mosquitos bomb Havelte Airfield at Steenwijk.
FRANCE: Beaune, Le Creusot and Autun fall to French forces in the south of France.
As a result of the executions of all the men in the southwest Dordogne village of Saint Julien-de-Crempse a month ago, 17 German prisoners are removed from their cells at the Bergerac prison to Saint Julie-de-Crempse, where they are summarily executed and buried in a 30-foot-by-6-foot grave. (Pierre Sauvey, AP)
Brigadier General Charles de Gaulle forms a provisional French government that includes Communists. Geogres Bidault is now the Foreign Minister.
The Provisional Government of France issued a proclamation abolishing all laws promulgated by the Vichy government.
The US Ninth Air Force flies tactical missions in northern France. Fighters fly escort, furnish ground force cover for the US VIII Corps in the Brest area, the 2d, 5th, and 8th Infantry Divisions of the US Third Army's XX Corps area west of Metz, and fly armed reconnaissance in areas around Nancy, and Aachen, Cologne, Koblenz, Bonn, and Saarbrucken, Germany; fighters also hit bridges at Custines and Pompey; 700+ C-47s fly missions. B-26s fly a leaflet mission to coastal France and Belgium.
The US Twelfth Air Force flies tactical missions in southern France and Italy. Fighter-bombers and fighters attack railways and roads in the Po Valley and from Genoa to Turin; motor transport and rolling stock are bombed and strafed in northern Italy and eastern France, with particular success in the Belfort-Mulhouse-Freiburg, France areas.
During the day, RAF Bomber Command dispatches 272 aircraft, 230 Halifaxes, 22 Lancasters and 20 Mosquitos, to Le Havre but, because of poor visibility, the Master Bomber ordered the raid to be abandoned and only 16 aircraft bombed. No aircraft lost.
Lorraine: After a spectacular dash across central France, Patton's US Third Army has run out of petrol and is halted as the Moselle river, within striking distance of Germany. Only the capture of 37 carloads of German fuel has averted complete paralysis. While ammunition and food present no problems, fuel shortages are also holding up the US First Army within sight of Aachen, and Montgomery's 21st Army Group on the Albert Canal.
Some supplies are being airlifted by C47 transports, but the bulk must be carried by road on the chaotic "Red Ball Route" from the Allies' only working port, Cherbourg, more than 300 miles to the rear.
U-155 is the last U-boat to be evacuated from Lorient.
GERMANY: U-3503 commissioned.
ROMANIA: Bucharest: The Red Army
is pushing remorselessly into the Balkans as the German's control of the region
falls apart. General Tolbukhin's Third Ukrainian Front met no resistance when it
crossed into Bulgaria yesterday, and the Bulgarian government announced that it
had declared war on Germany, adding that the Russians should be welcomed
"as brothers."
The Russians are already here in Bucharest and the Romanian army is fighting alongside them in the Carpathians, where they are forcing their way through the high mountain passes into Hungary.
As yet the Hungarian army remains loyal to the Wehrmacht and is fiercely resisting the Russians, but Budapest is full of rumours that the Hungarian leader, Admiral Horthy, wants to change sides.
The situation is entirely different in Yugoslavia where Tito has liberated large areas in the south. The Russians crossed the border from Romanian three days ago and are expected to link up with the partisans in the next few days.
Agreement has already been reached between the two forces about the future conduct of operations. For the moment Tito's task is to cut the communications of the Germans retreating from Bulgaria and of General Alexander Lohr's Army Group E as it abandons its untenable situation in Greece.
The RAF and the USAAF have played a major role in the task with Operation Ratweek, cutting all the main German escape routes from Bulgaria and Greece to Vienna and Budapest. Lohr and Field Marshal von Weichs of Army Group F in Yugoslavia will no doubt try to fight their way out to the north, but many men on the Greek islands stand no chance of escape. The question that is increasingly on the minds of the Allied leaders is: what form of government will be established in the Balkan countries in the wake of the Red Army's spectacular success.
ITALY: The USAAF Twelfth Air Force flies tactical missions in southern Italy. B-26 Marauders achieve excellent results against rail bridges in the eastern Po Valley while B-25 Mitchells bomb troop concentrations and supply points south of Bologna; fighter-bombers and fighters attack railways and roads in the Po Valley and from Genoa to Turin and motor transport and rolling stock are bombed and strafed in northern Italy.
BURMA:17 US Tenth Air Force B-24s run fuel to Kunming, China; numerous other transport sorties are flown to several points in the CBI.
CHINA: 5 US Fourteenth Air Force B-24s over the South China Sea claim 4 freighters sunk or heavily damaged.
KURILE ISLANDS: 6 US Eleventh Air Force B-25s hunt shipping off Paramushiru Island; 4 return to Attu Island, Aleutian Islands with bombs, finding no targets; 1 lands on 1 engine in Petropavlovsk, USSR; and 1 hits the mast of a vessel and ditches in the water. A PBY-5A Catalina of Patrol Squadron Sixty One (VP-61) based on Attu attempts to land and pick up the B-25 crew but it is driven off by AA fire and the 6 Americans become POWs. 3 B-24s make an uneventful raid during the night of 9/10 September on Kashiwabara, Paramushiru Island; later 2 photo planes escorting 2 bombers over the Kurile Islands on a mapping project are attacked by fighters which inflict no damage.
PACIFIC OCEAN: USN submarines sink five Japanese ships: (1) USS Bang (SS-385) sinks a transport and a merchant cargo ship south of Japan; (2) USS Queenfish (SS-393) sinks a transport and a merchant passenger/cargo ship northwest of Babuyan, Luzon, Philippine Islands; and (3) USS Seal (SS-183) sinks an army cargo ship in the Sea of Okhotsk, north of Etorofu, Kurile Islands. In addition two auxiliary submarine chasers and a merchant cargo ship are sunk by mines.
Five USAAF Fourteenth Air Force B-24 Liberators over the South China Sea claim four freighters sunk or heavily damaged.
BONIN ISLANDS: A US Seventh Air Force B-24 on a snooper mission from Saipan Island bombs Iwo Jima Island during the night of 9/10 September.
COMMONWEALTH OF THE PHILIPPINES: 100+ US Far East Air Force fighter-bombers and A-20s pound airfields in the Moluccas Islands, i.e., Liang on Ambon Island, Haroekoe on Haroekoe Island, Boela on Ceram Island, and Namlea on Buru Island.
Carrier-based aircraft from the USN's Task Groups 38.1, 38.2 and 38.3 attack Japanese airfields, shipping and installations on Mindanao, in support of the upcoming invasion of the Palau Islands. Aircraft sink three transports and a cargo ship while light cruisers USS Birmingham (CL-62) and USS Santa Fe (CL-60) and four destroyers detached from Task Group 38.3 (Rear Admiral Laurance T. DuBose), covered by planes from the light aircraft carrier USS Langley (CVL-27), demolish a coastal convoy consisting of predominantly small ships and craft proceeding down the west coast of Mindanao
EAST INDIES: In the Netherlands East Indies, USAAF Fifth Air Force B-24 Liberators bomb Mapanget Airfield outside Menado on Celebes Island while Fifth and Thirteenth Air Force B-24s bomb the Kaoe Bay Seaplane Base on Halmahera Island. More than 100 A-20 Havocs and fighter-bombers attack Boela and Haroekoe and Boela Aerodromes on Ceram and Laha Aerodrome on Ambon.
U.S.A.: The "Great Atlantic Hurricane" ravages the East Coast. The storm kills 22 persons and causes US$63 million ($US656 million in year 2003 dollars) damage in the Chesapeake Bay area, then besieges New England killing 390 persons and causing another US$100 million (US$1.041 billion in year 2003 dollars) damage.
"The Patty Cake Man" by Ella Mae Morse is released.
Destroyer USS Bordelon laid down.
Light cruiser USS Springfield commissioned.
Minesweeper USS Staunch commissioned.
ATLANTIC OCEAN: While tracking fast convoy ONF-252 (U.K. to North America) U-484 is sunk about 156 nautical miles west-northwest of Londonderry, Northern Ireland, in position 55.45N, 11.41W, by depth charges from the RN corvette HMS Porchester Castle (K 362) and the frigate HMS Helmsdale (K 253). All 52 crewmen on the U-boat are lost.
U-865 departs Trondheim, Norway today on its first patrol and is never heard from again. All 59 hands on the U-boat are lost.