October 8th, 1944 (SATURDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM: Two new ministries, of social insurance and civil aviation are formed.
Submarines HMS Sleuth and Taciturn commissioned.
FRANCE: Minesweeper HMCS Mulgrave, a Bangor-class minesweeper (1941-42 program) damaged by a ground mine in Seine Bay and was beached near Le Havre. She was towed from Le Havre on 03 Nov 44 to Portsmouth, where she was declared a Constructive Total Loss. She was paid off on 07 Jun 45. Mulgrave was broken up for scrap at Llanelly, Wales, in 1947. (Alex Gordon and Dave Shirlaw)
In U.S. Third Army’s XX Corps area, the 2d Battalion, 357th Infantry Regiment, 90th Infantry Division, fights from house to house within Maizières-lès-Metz for some time to come without clearing the rest of the town. Confused and bitter fighting continues at Fort Driant without much change in positions. In XII Corps area, after an hour of preparatory bombardment, corps begins a concerted drive toward the Seille River at 0615 hours. The 6th Armored Division, making the main effort, takes Moivron, where it is relieved by the 80th Infantry Division; in conjunction with the 80th Infantry Division, they envelop and take Jeandelincourt, clear Bois de Chenicourt, though the Germans retain the town of Chenicourt, and seize Arraye-et-Han. To the left, 80th Infantry Division’s 318th Infantry Regiment takes Manoncourt; the 319th Infantry seizes Lixières, Mt Toulon, and Sivry; and the 317th Infantry clears Mt St Jean. The 35th Infantry Division closes up the Seille River on its left flank, taking Ajoncourt and Fossieux; USAAF Ninth Air Force P-47 Thunderbolts assist with attacks on the heights between Moivron and Jeandelincourt.
In U.S. Seventh Army’s VI Corps area, the 7th Infantry Regiment of the 3d Infantry Division moves from Vagney northeast to Sapois.
In the French First Army’s II Corps area, the 3d Algerian Division gains the crest of Longegoutte heights after several days of bitter fighting.
GERMANY: Aachen: US troops of the 1st and 30th Infantry Divisions, US Ninth Army (Collins) start to move in on the city in a pincer operation. The Germans are battling to maintain a corridor into the city.
In U.S. First Army’s XIX Corps area, the 30th Infantry Division’s hopes of making a speedy junction with the VII Corps at Wuerselen arc soon dashed by German opposition on the east flank. The 119th Infantry Regiment, following the Wurm River valley southward, gets 1.5 miles (2,4 kilometers) beyond Herzogenrath; the 120th Infantry, whose relief at Kerkrade has been completed by the 29th Infantry Division, is committed between the 119th and 117th Infantry Regiments and takes two hamlets; the 117th Infantry, upon reaching the railroad west of Mariadorf, is counterattacked strongly by fresh German forces from Mariadorf, part of whom push to Alsdorf, where they are halted. Both sides suffer heavy losses and the 117th Infantry pulls back to the edge of Alsdorf. Combat Command A, 2d Armored Division, seizes Oidtweiler, northeast of Alsdorf. In the VII Corps area, the 1st Infantry Division begins an attack to encircle Aachen in conjunction with XIX Corps: while the 18th Infantry Regiment pushes northward through Verlautenheide, the 26th Infantry is getting into position to drive through the heart of the city from east; the 16th Infantry holds a defensive line near Eilendorf. Tanks and tank destroyers arrive by nightfall to help the assault regiments of the 9th Infantry Division to break out of the Huertgen Forest toward Schmidt. In the V Corps area, the 28th Infantry Division encounters outlying positions of the German’s West Wall defenses.
U-3524 laid down.
WESTERN EUROPE: A revision and elaboration (from 28 September-8 October) of the Ninth Air Force interdiction program against railroads connected with the Rhine River results in the issuance of a new interdiction program; it includes rail lines further to the E and requires attacks by all four Tactical Air Commands of the Ninth Air Force, plus aid from the British Second Tactical Air Force. Meanwhile, 300+ Ninth Air Force B-26s and A-20s, with fighter escort, hit strongpoints and bridges over wide areas of eastern France and western Germany; and fighters support ground forces of the US VII, XV, XIX, and XX Corps in eastern France and western Germany, and attack airfields, railroads, and numerous military targets in forward areas.
Allied attacks along the Western Front meet stiff German resistance. The sectors of the Canadian II Corps and the US XII and XIX Corps meet the most serious German action.
FINLAND: Fighting in both Kemi and Tornio comes to an end today as Germans withdraw, leaving behind two encircled battalions. Some Germans manage to reach their own lines in groups and individually, but the rest are taken POWs.
But this certainly was *not* the last part of Finland held by the Germans. They were slowly withdrawing to north and devastating the countryside as they went, and it won't be until late April 1945 when the last German soldier had left the Finnish soil.
In all, the Finns suffered in the Tornio operation 189 KIA, 1,025 WIA and 25 MIA. Major General Aaro Pajari received, for a second time, the "Mannerheim Cross" on 16 October 1944, for the success of the 3rd division in Tornio. (Pajari had received that highest Finnish military decoration for the first time in 1941). (Sami Korhonen and Mikko Härmeinen)
Kemi at the head of the Gulf of Bothnia is retaken by Finnish troops. This is the last part of Finland held by the Germans.
U-242 laid a field of 12 mines NW of Torkalla, but without result.
ITALY: Pte Richard Henry Burton (b.1923), Duke of Wellington's Regt., attacked one machine-gun nest and went on to silence two others, then repelled two counter-attacks. (Victoria Cross)
Bad weather forces heavy and medium bombers to cancel missions; XII Fighter Command fighters are airborne to support ground forces over the battle area and abort all missions.
In the U.S. Fifth Army’s IV Corps area, Task Force 92 reaches the slopes of Mt. Cauala but is forced back by German fire. In the II Corps area, the 34th Infantry Division continues their attack on the Monterumici hill mass, the 135th Infantry Regiment working slowly forward from the and the 133d from west. The 362d Infantry Regiment, 91st Infantry Division, gets elements to the crest of Mt. Castellari, during the night of 8/9 October; the 361st Infantry Regiment makes substantial progress to the east, clearing the villages east of Mt. Castellari, cutting Highway 65 at La Fortuna, and pushing to the edge of the Livergnano escarpment, a feature strongly favored by nature for defense. The 338th Infantry Regiment, 85th Infantry Division, forces the Germans back to Mt. delle Formiche; the 337th Infantry is still unable to progress appreciably from Hill 566. The 349th Infantry Regiment, 88th Infantry Division, upon reaching crest of Hill 587, finds it undefended and elements seize II Faichetto Hill. In the British XIII Corps area, the 3d Brigade of the 1st Division gains the summit of Mt. Ceco, but the Germans retains the heights nearby. On the right flank of the corps, the 6th Armoured Division thrusts along Highway 67 to the edge of Portico but cannot force an entrance; elements probe toward Tredozio.
In the British Eighth Army’s V Corps area, since the 20th Brigade of the Indian 10th Division is still held up on Mt. Farneto, the 10th Brigade is committed to outflank the Germans, some elements pressing toward Montecodruzzo on the left and others taking St. Paola on the right. The Indian 25th Brigade takes St. Lorenzo and drives toward Roncofreddo. The 46th Division is working toward Longiano.
GREECE: Samos in the Aegean falls to British troops as British commandos swarm Corinth, the Peloponnesian gateway to mainland Greece. Units of the British 9th Commando land at Nauplion. British forces from Araxos have reconnoitered along the north coast of the Peloponnesus to Corinth, which is free of Germans.
BURMA: 20+ Tenth Air Force P-47s hit targets of opportunity in the Mawhun and Manyut areas, knock out a bridge at Seywa, and bomb railroad tracks in northern Burma; 5 B-25s damage a bridge and score hits on the other bridge approaches at Namhkai and knock out 2 bridges at Wuntho and Kawlin.
CHINA: 12 Fourteenth Air Force P-40s and P-51 Mustangs hit locomotives, trucks, and river traffic at Yuncheng and northeast of Pengtse.
SOUTH CHINA SEA: A U.S. submarine sinks a IJA transport.
JAPAN: Photo missions to Paramushiru, Matsuwa, Onnekotan and Shasukotan Islands in the Kurile Islands by the Eleventh Air Force turn back due to weather.
MARCUS ISLAND: 3 Saipan Island-based Seventh Air Force B-24s hit Pagan and Marcus Islands. 24 P-47s hit buildings, beach defenses, and gun positions on Pagan Island.
WAKE ISLAND: During the day and night of 8/9 October B-24s from the Marshall Islands bomb Wake Island.
BISMARCK ARCHIPELAGO: The Australian 36th Battalion, 6th Brigade, 5th Division, lands at Cape Hoskins on the north coast of New Britain Islands. The battalion is assigned to the U.S. 185th Infantry Regiment.
EAST INDIES: Far East Air Forces P-47s bomb Amahai and Boela on Ceram Island. In the Moluccas Islands, P-38s hit Dodinga Bay barge hideouts, supplies and targets of opportunity along Wasile and Kaoe Bays on Halmahera Island.
NEW GUINEA: In Dutch New Guinea, B-25s, A-20s, and fighter-bombers hit Sorong, Doom Island, runways and targets of opportunity at Efman and Samate, and gun positions, bivouacs, and supplies at Simora Point.
U.S.A.: Baseball!New York: Wendell Wilkie, the Republican politician who acted as Roosevelt's special envoy, dies aged 52.
* The 30-minute radio program "The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet" debuts on CBS radio at 1800 hours Eastern on this Sunday sponsored by International Silver. The show focused on the comic situations of a young family that was based on the real-life family of show founders and stars Ozzie and Harriet Nelson. Initially, two actors portrayed the Nelson children, David and Ricky, but in April 1949, the two sons began appearing on the show. The show remains on the radio until June 1954 and is also on ABC-TV from 1952 to 1966.