September 26th, 1944 (TUESDAY)
FRANCE: In the U.S. Third Army's XX Corps area, Major General Walton Walker orders a limited attack on Fort Driant to begin on 27 September, regardless of weather. The U.S. XIX Tactical Air Command begins daily attacks on the Metz forts. The 3d Battalion, 359th Infantry, 90th Infantry Division, makes a limited attack to clear road between Gravelotte and St Hubert's Farm in preparation for a large-scale attack. In the XII Corps area, the 4th Armored Division slightly reduces its mail line of resistance on the right flank of the corps in order to improve defensive positions, and the enemy quickly moves into Juvelize and Coincourt without opposition. Both divisions makes a vain effort to close up to the Seille River line in a limited attack against well-dug-in enemy: elements of the 318th Infantry attempt unsuccessfully to take Mt St Jean while the 317th Infantry force makes a futile effort to push into Moivron. The 35th Infantry Division completes the relief of the 6th Armored Division in the Foret de Gremecey area, the6th Armored Division becoming corps reserve, although Combat Command B is still linking the 80th and 35th Infantry Divisions in the Leyr corridor. The enemy begins a series of attacks to regain Foret de Gremecey in the evening, driving in the 35th Infantry Division's outposts.
In the air, 165 USAAF Eighth Air Force B-24s fly a TRUCKIN' mission carrying fuel to France. The USAAF Ninth Air Force tactical fighters support the US First Army in the Bonn area and cuts rail lines west of the Rhine River and hits fortifications near Metz.
During the day, RAF Bomber Command sent 722 aircraft, 388 Lancasters, 289 Halifaxes and 45 Mosquitos, to carry out two separate raids in the Calais area. The first targets are four tactical targets at Cap Gris Nez which is hit by 516 aircraft; the second targets are three tactical targets near Callais; they are attacked by 183 aircraft. Accurate and concentrated bombing is observed at all targets.
NETHERLANDS: In the
British Second Army's I Airborne Corps area, daylight halts withdrawal of the
1st Airborne Division; about 300 remain on north bank of the Neder Rijn; some
of these later escape southward. Those who attempted to seize and secure the
"Bridge Too Far," members of the British 1st Airborne Division, withdrew from
their last positions, vicinity of Oosterbeek, west of Arnhem, to the south bank
of the Lower Rhine. The British had taken 10,095 men north of the river; 2,490
came back. In the next month the 506th Parachute Infantry would bring back a few
more of their airborne comrades. (Jay Stone)
Although MARKET-GARDEN has not accomplished the major objectives of gaining
a bridgehead beyond the Neder Rijn, outflanking the West Wall, securing
positions from which to attack the Ruhr, or bringing about the collapse of the
enemy in this area, it has gained valuable ground and improved the Allied
positions. Both U.S. Infantry Divisions are still badly needed. The 101st
Airborne Division front is stabilized as engineers remove mines and reopen the
St Oedenrode-Veghel road.
The British XXX Corps captures Turnhout, Belgium and Oss, Holland as part of its consolidation.
In the air during the day, 74 RAF Bomber Command Halifaxes fly petrol (gasoline) carrying flights from the U.K. to Melsbroek Airfield in Brussels.
In the air, 320 USAAF Eighth and Ninth Air Force P-38s (Ninth Air Force),
P-47s and P-51s support the First Allied Airborne Army in the Netherlands; they
claim 32-1-8 aircraft in the air; 1 P-38 is lost.
GERMANY: In the U.S. First
Army's VII Corps area, to ease pressure on the weak battalion of the 60th
Infantry, 9th Infantry Division, in the Huertgen Forest, the 60th Infantry
commander moves two Battalions, an attached battalion of 39th Infantry and his
reserve Battalion, southward from the contested ridge to cut
Lammersdorf-Huertgen highway at its junction with the road leading northwest to
Zweifall.
In the air, the USAAF Eighth Air Force flies Mission 648: 1,159 bombers and
432 fighters are dispatched to hit rail targets and armored vehicle factories in
western Germany; 9 bombers and 2 fighters are lost: (1) 383 B-17s, escorted by
134 P-51s, bomb the marshalling yard and steel industry at Osnabruck; other
targets hit are Rheine Airfield and Hesepe Airfields: 2 B-17s are lost; (2) 274
B-24s, escorted by 138 P-51s, bomb the marshalling yard at Hamm and 1 hits
Liesborn; 3 B-24s and a P-51 are lost; (3) 381 B-17s, escorted by 133 P-51s,
bomb the armored vehicle factories at Bremen and 13 bomb Bremerhaven; 4 B-17s
and a P-51 are lost.
During the night of 26/27 September, RAF Bomber Command attacks four targets. The first is Karlsruhe; 222 of the 226 Lancasters and 11 Mosquitos sent hit the target with the loss of two Lancasters. Bomber Command claimed a concentrated attack, with a large area of the city devastated. In the second raid, 50 Mosquitos are sent to Frankfurt; 46 bombed the city and three attack an oil storage facility. The third target is the Meerbeck synthetic oil refinery at Homberg which is bombed by six Mosquitos.
U-3021 laid down.
U-2508 commissioned.
POLAND: Auschwitz-Birkenau: Dr. Josef Mengele presides over a "selection" of a thousand children, fixing a board to a post and sending all who fail to reach it straight to the gas chambers.
The Germans recapture the Mokotow district of Warsaw.
ESTONIA: Soviet forces occupy Estonia.
YUGOSLAVIA: Eighty four aircraft of RAF No. 205 (Heavy Bomber) Group bomb the railroad viaduct at Borovnica without loss.
ITALY: During a meeting
at General Sir Henry Wilson's headquarters at Caserta, an agreement between the
exiled Greek government and various guerrilla leaders is reached. The
arrangements call for the orderly reoccupation of Greece with British Lieutenant
General R.M. Scobie controlling all guerrilla forces operating within the
country. Security battalions, i.e., political police formed to eliminate ELAS
bands (the Communist Hellenic People’s Army), are outlawed.
This staves off a threat of a Greek civil war.
With German withdrawal from Greece seemingly imminent, the danger of a clash between the extreme left-wing ELAS party and the neo-fascist EDES appeared inevitable. ELAS is well-armed and disciplined, and the possibility that Greece might fall under the Soviet mantle after the war is causing Churchill grave concern. The conference was called by General Sir Henry Maitland Wilson, supreme Allied commander Mediterranean. The ELAS commander General Safaris and General Zervas of EDES have agreed to serve under the exiled premier, George Papandreou, on his return.
It is a fragile truce, however. Both antagonists have laid claim to large areas of Greece, and they have had three years in which to prepare for civil war.
Rimini: Like Caesar's legions before it, the British Eighth Army crossed the Rubicon river today - this time in the opposite direction. The Allies are fighting hard on the flanks of the bridgehead opened on the Gothic Line, threatening to break out on the northern plains in full force along the eastern flank of the Apennines. General Sir Henry Maitland Wilson, the Allied Mediterranean C-in-C, has sent congratulations to the Allied armies, "I hope that the crossing of the Rubicon will lead, as with a famous commander in the past, to a decisive victory and the destruction of Kesselring's army," he wrote.
In the British Eighth Army's 5 Corps area, the Indian 4th Division establishes a bridgehead across the Uso River in the vicinity of Cornacchiara but meets firm resistance from the heights beyond when trying to expand the bridgehead. The 46th Division crosses additional elements over the Uso and secures Canonica. The 56th Division advances along Highway 9 from San Arcangelo to positions about halfway to Savignano. In the Canadian I Corps area, the Canadian 5th Armored Division enlarges their bridgehead across the Uso. A brigade of the New Zealand 2d Division reaches the Uso in the coastal sector. The Greek 3d Mountain Brigade Group is attached to the New Zealand 2d Division and takes up positions on right flank.
Stresa: US advisers parachute down to set up an intelligence network for the Italian partisans.
In the U.S. Fifth Army's IV Corps area, Task Force 92 begins
their advance along the Serchio valley north of Pescia. Continuing along Highway
6620 on the right flank, elements of the South African 6th Armoured Division
reach the slopes of Mt. Gatta. The division halts the advance of the 24th Guards
Brigade up Highway 66 northwest of Pistoia but continues up Highway 64 with the
12th Motorized Brigade. In the II Corps area, the 34th Infantry Division meets
strong opposition in the Bruscoli-Gambellate Creek area. The 91st Infantry
Division, with the capture of Mt. Freddi, is ready to attack Mt. Oggioli. The
85th Infantry Division again attacks unsuccessfully toward Torre Poggioli,
employing the 1st Battalions of the 338th and 339th Regiments; the 2d Battalion
of the 338th tries in vain to take Sambuco; the 3d Battalion, 339th, seizes
Montarello. The 88th Infantry Division takes Mt. Pratolungo on the left, pushes
toward Castel del Rio in the center, and on the right takes Mt. del Puntale. The
1st Armored Division, less Combat Command B, is gradually being committed to
protect the exposed right flank of the corps. In the British 13 Corps area, the
1st Division continues a futile frontal assault on Mt. Gamberaldi and at night
begins moving elements toward Mt. Toncone in an effort to outflank the enemy.
The Indian 8th Division suspends their attack on Mt. di Castelnuovo. On the
right flank of the corps, the 6th Armored Division's 61st Brigade drives along
Route 67 to Bucconi without opposition.
During the night of 25/26 September, USAAF Twelfth Air Force A-20 Havocs bomb targets of opportunity in the Po Valley; throughout the day B-25s and B-26s pound rail and road bridges in the eastern and northwestern parts of the Po Valley while fighter-bombers and fighters of the XII Fighter Command attack road nets, rails, motor transport, and supply points at many locations in the valley.
CHINA: The Japanese
capture Tanchuk and the airfield located there.
USAAF Tenth Air Force P-47 flights hit fuel storage at Chefang and repair
shops at Wanting; 9 B-25s attack troop concentrations and stores in Hinlong; and
19 B-24s haul fuel to Liuchow, Yangtong, and Yungning. Twelve Fourteenth Air
Force B-25s bomb Lungfukwan and Mangshih while several P-40s hit targets of
opportunity in same areas; about 50 P-40s and P-51s continue armed
reconnaissance over the vast inland areas of southern China, attacking troops,
buildings, and other targets of opportunity.
In the air, 83 USAAF Twentieth Air Force B-29s, staging from Chengtu, bomb
Anshan most of them striking the Showa Steel Works with poor results; 15 others
bomb Dairen, Sinsiang, and various targets of opportunity; during the night of
26/27 September, Japanese aircraft bomb the Chengtu area, damaging 5 B-29s; this
attack along with the one on 8 September set the pattern for Japanese raids
which usually follow B-29 missions and continue until 19 December but are of
light nature and annoying rather than seriously damaging.
BURMA: Two USAAF Tenth Air Force P-47 Thunderbolt flights hit targets in the Bhamo-Myothit area, including Sinkin, Momauk, and Nanhlaing; 3 other flights hit targets in the Pinwe-Mawlu area, including the town of Nyaungbintha; 20+ P-47s in 2 flights hit Tingka.
THAILAND: Six USAAF Fourteenth
Air Force B-25s and 4 P-38s attack and slightly damage the Dara bridge and
destroy road machinery nearby.
JAPAN: A USAAF Eleventh Air Force B-24 flies weather reconnaissance; later 4 B-24s radar-bomb Suribachi Airfield on Paramushiru Island in the Kurile Islands.
U-532 reached the Japanese Navy base at Kobe, where the boat was to be stationed for the next ten weeks.
PALAU ISLANDS: On Peleliu, the
321st Infantry and the 5th Marines each cut across the west arm of Peleliu,
capturing Hill 120 forming two pockets of Japanese. The 2d Battalion, 321st,
completes clearing the 321st Infantry trail, cutting off the enemy to south in
the Umurbrogol Mountains. The 3d Battalion, 5th Marines, pushes across the
peninsula to the north, isolating enemy on Amiangal Mountain, at the north tip.
Other elements of 5th Marines drive north along the west coast almost to the tip
of the island.
On Angaur, the 322d Infantry gains a foothold in the northern part of the
Lake Salome bowl and clears positions along the southeastern rim.
USAAF Seventh Air Force B-25 Mitchells from the Gilbert Islands bomb Nauru Island. Nauru Island is a 21 square kilometer (8 square mile) island in the South Pacific Ocean, located about halfway between the Gilbert and Solomon Islands. The island is rich in phosphate deposits and is occupied by the Japanese on 25 August 1942.
CAROLINE ISLANDS: USAAF Seventh Air Force B-25s from the Gilbert Islands bomb Nauru Island.
PACIFIC OCEAN: In the North Pacific,
two USAAF Seventh Air Force B-24s from Saipan on armed reconnaissance bomb
Marcus Island.
USN vessels sink three Japanese ships: (1) destroyer escort USS McCoy
Reynolds (DE-440) sinks submarine HIJMS I-175 northeast of the Palau Islands;
(2) submarine USS Pargo (SS-264) sinks a minelayer off Borneo; and (3) submarine
USS Thresher (SS-200) sinks a merchant cargo ship Koetsu Maru in the Yellow
Sea.
VOLCANO ISLANDS: During the night of 26/27 September, another USAAF Seventh Air Force B-24 snooper bombs Iwo Jima.
NETHERLANDS EAST INDIES: USAAF Far East Air Forces B-25s bomb Maumere Bay, Flores Island, Lesser Sunda Islands. B-25s and B-24s bomb Liang Airfield on Ambon Island and Kendari Airfield on Celebes Island.
NEW GUINEA: USAAF Far East Air Forces P-40s attack Kokas.
WAKE ISLAND: During the night of 26/27 September, USAAF Seventh Air Force B-24s from the Marshall Islands hit Wake Island.
Japanese submarine HIJMS I-175 is sunk north of the Palau Islands at position 9.14N 136.40E byUSNdestroyer escort USS McCoy Reynolds (DE-440).
CANADA: Frigate HMCS Sea Cliff commissioned.
U.S.A.: Minesweeper USS Scooter launched.
ATLANTIC OCEAN: The German submarine U-871 is sunk northwest of the Azores, in position 43.18N, 36.28W, by depth charges from an RAF Fortress of No 220 Squadron based at Lagens in the Azores. All hands, 69 men, on the U-boat are lost.