September 28th, 1944 (WEDNESDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM: STRATEGIC OPERATIONS: The US Eighth Air Force in England flies 2 missions.
- Mission 652: 1,049 bombers and 724 fighters, in 3 forces, attack oil and military vehicle factories in central Germany using PFF means; they claim 37-8-18 Luftwaffe aircraft; 34 bombers and 7 fighters are lost. (1) B-17s attack the Magdeburg/Rothensee oil refinery (23); 359 hit the secondary at Magdeburg and 35 hit targets of opportunity; they claim 10-7-5 aircraft; 23 B-17s are lost; escort is provided by 263 P-38s and P-51s; they claim 24-0-13 aircraft in the air and 1-0-0 on the ground; 5 P-51s are lost. (2) B-17s bomb the Merseburg/Leuna oil refinery (301); 10 others hit targets of opportunity; 10 B-17s are lost; escort is provided by 212 P-51s; they claim 2-1-0 aircraft in the air; 1 P-51 is lost. (3) B-24s hit the Kassel/Henschel motor transport plant (243); 1 hits a target of opportunity; 1 B-24 is lost; escort is provided by 171 P-47s; 1 P-47s is lost.
- Mission 653: 4 B-24s and 6 B-17s drop leaflets in France, the Netherlands and Germany during the night.
TACTICAL OPERATIONS: Fighters fly sweeps and armed reconnaissance in Arnhem, the Netherlands (from which British airborne troops have relinquished their hold because of strong German opposition) and support US First and Third Armies in eastern France and western Germany. Night patrols continue over Belgium, Luxembourg, and Germany.
BELGIUM: During the day, 75 RAF Bomber Command Halifaxes deliver petrol (gasoline) from the U.K. to Melsbroek Airfield in Brussels.
NETHERLANDS: In the British Second Army area, the Germans make a particularly strong counterattack against the Eindhoven-Arnhem salient in a futile effort to take highway bridge at Nijmegen.
USAAF Ninth Air Force fighters fly sweeps and armed reconnaissance in the Arnhem area (from which British airborne troops have relinquished their hold because of strong German opposition).
FRANCE: The Canadian 3rd Division pushes into Calais and takes the Citadel. The Canadian commander refuses a German request that Calais be declared an open city but agrees to 24 hour truce to allow evacuation of civilians.
A U.S. Third Army directive places Metz first on the priority list.
A TRUCKIN' mission is flown to France with fuel by 194 B-24 Liberators of the USAAF's Eighth Air Force.
USAAF Ninth Air Force bombers hit the defended area of Foret de Parroy; fighters escort bombers, attack railroads west of the Rhine River. During the day, RAF Bomber Command dispatches 494 aircraft, 230 Lancasters, 214 Halifaxes and 50 Mosquitos, to attack four German positions at Calais and six battery positions at Cap Gris Nez; approximately 50 aircraft are allocated to each position. Only 68 aircraft bombed at Calais before the Master Bomber cancelled the raid because of worsening cloud conditions and only 198 (of 301) aircraft bombed at Cap Gris Nez. No aircraft are lost. Calais surrendered to the Canadian Army soon after this raid and all the French Channel ports are thus in Allied hands, although most of the facilities required extensive clearance and repair. This, and the continuing presence of German troops along the River Scheldt between Antwerp, Belgium, and the sea, would cause the Allied ground forces serious supply difficulties for several more weeks.
GERMANY: USAAF Ninth Air Force fighters attack the Koblenz, Strasbourg, Karlsruhe, and Mannheim areas, and support US First and Third Armies in eastern France and western Germany.
During the night of 28/29 September, RAF Bomber Command sends Mosquitos to attack various targets: 44 bomb Brunswick, four bomb the marshalling yard at Heilbronn, two bomb Heilbronn and Aschaffenburg, and individual aircraft bomb Obernburg and Partenstein.
U-2350 laid down.
U-2340 launched.
POLAND: Auschwitz-Birkenau: 200 gypsies are gassed.
FINLAND: The first Finnish offensive action against the retreating Germans in northern Finland takes place today, as the troops of Jäger Battalion 5 clash with Germans near Pudasjärvi. This comes as a complete surprise to Germans, who have been under the impression that Finns are still honouring the agreement that Finns will only advance once the Germans have left a given locality. Many POWs are taken.
YUGOSLAVIA: The Soviet Army begins an offensive from western Bulgaria and Romania toward Belgrade.
ITALY: In the U.S. IV Corps area, Task Force 92 gains control of east-west Highway 12 and takes Lucchio. The II Corps finds that the Germans have abandoned former strongpoints in the Radicosa Pass. In the British Eighth Army's V Corps area, the Canadian I Corps reaches positions generally along the Fiumicino River. A company of the Canadian 5th Armoured Division crosses but is wiped out by the Germans. Operations, except for patrolling, are almost at a standstill after this because of heavy rains and flooding.
Weather grounds US Twelfth Air Force A-20 Havocs and medium bombers; fighter-bombers, operating on a reduced scale bomb Bologna and hit roads and rail lines at four locations.
STRATEGIC OPERATIONS: Bad weather cancels US Fifteenth Air Force bombing operations, limiting missions to weather reconnaissance.
CHINA-BURMA-INDIA
BURMA: 4 US Tenth Air Force P-47 Thunderbolts bomb and strafe Mawhun and Nansiaung and 21 B-24s fly fuel to Liuchow, Yungning, and Kunming, China.
CHINA: 26 US Fourteenth Air Force B-24s pound the town of Samshui; 31 B-25 Mitchells attack the towns of Taochuan and Shangchiebshou, Tien Ho and White Cloud Airfields at Canton, and river and road traffic around Lingling, Siangtan, and Chuchou; 100+ P-40s, P-51s, and P-38s on armed reconnaissance attack numerous targets of opportunity including bridges, town areas, troops, and road, rail, and river traffic throughout inland southeastern China and, on a smaller scale, in southwestern China and in French Indochina.
CAROLINE ISLANDS: On Peleliu Island in the Palau Islands full scale attacks end. Bitter fighting continues though as the Army's 321st Infantry Regiment finishes clearing pockets of defending Japanese at the northern part of the Umurbrogol Pocket to a previously designated line. 1st Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment continues clearing the northern part of the western arm. The 3d Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, lands on three small islands off the coast, Ngcsebus, Kongauru, and an unnamed one, and begins clearing them. The landing on Ngesebus is covered by 20 Marine F4U Corsairs. On Angaur Island, the Army's 322d Infantry Regiment continues clearing a Japanese pocket inside the bowl, suffering its highest casualties for a single day on the island, about 80.
PACIFIC
CENTRAL PACIFIC: The Third Battalion, Fifth US Marines and Company G, Second Battalion, Fifth US Marines occupy Ngesebus and Kongarutu Islands in the Palau Islands.
US Seventh Air Force B-24s from Saipan Island bomb naval installations at Chichi Jima Island in the Bonin Islands. P-47s bomb defenses on Pagan Island.
SOUTHWEST PACIFIC: On Celebes Islands, US Far East Air Force B-25s on a shipping sweep attack small vessels off Kairatoe sinking a small cargo vessel; and A-20s bomb Langoan Airfield. P-38s hit barge and the town area at Pajahi in the Moluccas Islands. In New Guinea, P-47s pound Manokwari Airfield.
U.S.A.: DuMont TV Network's station
WABD (for Allen B. DuMont), channel 4 in New York City, telecasts the first
full-length comedy written for television, "The Boys from Boise."
Top pop songs on the charts today are "I'll Walk Alone"
by Dinah Shore; "Is You Is Or Is You Ain't (Ma' Baby)" by Bing Crosby
and the Andrews Sisters; "I'll Be Seeing You" by Bing Crosby; and
"Smoke on the Water" by Red Foley.
CANADA: Corvette
HMCS Bowmanville commissioned.
Frigate HMCS St Stephen arrived Halifax
from builder Esquimalt, British Columbia.
ATLANTIC OCEAN: U-219 shot down USN Avenger aircraft, Squadron VC-6. This was the last aircraft lost to U-boats from escort carriers in the Atlantic.
U-307 landed weather report team ashore in Spitsbergen. They formed the weather station 'Haudegen' which did not formally surrender to the allies until 4 Sept 1945.
U-668 had to leave wolfpack "Zorn", which was waiting for convoy JW 60 in the Arctic Sea, because the II WO was suffering from appendicitis.