December 8th, 1944 (FRIDAY)
FRANCE: In the U.S. Third Army's XX Corps area, after receiving the surrender of Fort Driant, the 2d Infantry Regiment, 5th Infantry Division, turns over the Metz sector, where Fort Jeanne dbArc is still holding out, to the 87th Infantry Division of the III Corps. In the XII Corps area, the 35th Infantry Division attacks across the Sarre River, the 134th Infantry Regiment crossing by a bridge south of Sarreguemines and the 320th Infantry Regiment by boats in the region to the east; the 134th clears Sarreinsming and pushes northeast under heavy fire from Sarreguemines; the 320th, whose 3d Battalion is unable to cross until the night of 8/9 December, establishes a bridgehead and with the aid of artillery and fighter-bombers halts a counterattack as it is forming. The 26th Infantry Division attacks the Maginot Line within its sector after artillery and air preparation: the 328th Infantry Regiment begins an assault on Fort Wittring and Grand Bois, fighting through the night of
8/9 December; the 104th Infantry Regiment, to the right, easily takes four mutually supporting forts in the Achen area.
In the U.S. Seventh Army's XV Corps area, the 44th Infantry Division pushes into Encherberg and the 100th Infantry Division into Lemberg, but the Germans are defending both towns. The VI Corps is conducting a deception program to lead the Germans to expect a Rhine River crossing in the Strasbourg area or an attack in the vicinity of Bischwiller. The 45th Infantry Division begins an attack on Niederbronn. In the 79th Infantry Division zone, the 94th Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron clears Gambsheim.
In the French First Army area, the French II Corps is still undergoing lively counterattacks. The U.S. 36th Infantry Division troops are driving on Kayserberg. I Corps gains a foothold in Thann.
GERMANY: US troops advance past Saarlautern to breach the Siegfried Line; Fort Driant near Metz, falls.
In the U.S. Ninth Army's XIX Corps area, the 29th Infantry Divisionbs 115th Infantry Regiment reduces Hasenfeld Gut and sportplatz strongpoints in the Juelich area with help of assault guns and smoke.
In the U.S. First Army area, the VII Corps is ordered to attack on 10 December to clear the region between the Inde and Roer Rivers and the approaches to Dueren, the corps' objective. In the V Corps area, a battalion of the 13th Infantry Regiment relieves the 2d Ranger Battalion on Castle Hill. In their 2-day stay there, the Rangers have lost more than 25-percent of their original strength.
In the U.S. Third Army's XX Corps area, the 357th Infantry Regiment is again subjected to major counterattacks in the 90th Infantry Division's Dillingen bridgehead, but forces the Germans back in hand-to-hand fighting; local German counterattacks keep the 358th Infantry Regiment largely on the defensive, although elements push across the railroad tracks to take Dillingen station; the reserve regiment, the 359th Infantry Regiment, crosses into the bridgehead, during the night of 8/9 December. The 95th Infantry Division is very slowly expanding its Saarlautern bridgehead, fighting from house to house and from pillbox to pillbox; the 2d Battalion, 378th Infantry Regiment, joins the parent regiment in Ensdorf after crossing the river in assault boats. The 6th Cavalry Group (Mechanized) takes over the sector on the southern flank of the corps from elements of the 5th Infantry Division.
Twenty nine USAAF Ninth Air Force A-26 Invaders hit the Sinzig rail bridge. Fighters escort the RAF, bomb gun positions, bridges, and city areas, fly armed reconnaissance, and support the U.S. V and VII Corps W of Schmidt and Duren, and XX Corps and XII Corps in the Dillingen and Sarreguemines, France areas.
During the day, RAF Bomber Command attacks three targets:
- 205 Lancasters are dispatched to attack the Urft Dam at Heimbach; 129 bomb the target with the loss of one aircraft. Bombing is affected by 9/10ths cloud and no results are seen.
- 163 Lancasters are dispatched to bomb the marshalling yards at Duisburg; 159 bomb the target.
- 30 Mosquitos are sent to attack the Meiderich benzine refinery near Duisburg; 28 bomb the target.
AUSTRIA: Again hitting communications targets in a predawn attack, 27 USAAF Fifteenth Air Force B-17 Flying Fortresses and B-24 Liberators bomb eight targets: seven aircraft hit the marshalling yard (M/Y) at Klagenfurt, six attack the Main M/Y at Graz; five each bomb the Moosbierbaum benzine refinery at Vienna and the M/Y at Villach; and one each targets of opportunity at Gleisdorf and Volkermarkt and the cities of Ybbs and St. Polten. Later in the day P-38 Lightnings fly photo and weather reconnaissance missions. P-51 Mustangs escort the photo reconnaissance flights over the Vienna area.
HUNGARY: Soviet forces, Berlin admits, "widen their breach" north of Budapest. Troops of the Third Ukrainian Front clearing the region between Lake Balaton and the Danube River are roughly 10 miles (16 kilometers) from Szekesfehervar. The Germans are warding off breakthrough attempts between Lake Balaton and the Drava River.
ITALY: In the U.S. Fifth Army's British XIII Corps area, the Germans abandon the rest of Mt. Penzola.
In the British Eighth Army's area, British troops cross the Lamone River.
Weather again greatly curtails operations. Four USAAF Twelfth Air Force P-47 Thunderbolts on weather reconnaissance of the western Po River Valley attack trains, claiming the destruction of four locomotives and damage of almost 100 train cars.
BURMA: In the Northern Combat Area Command area, the Japanese take Tonkwa from the outnumbered Chinese.
In the British Fourteenth Army area, IV Corps headquarters moves from Imphal, India, to Tamu and is placed under Lieutenant General Frank Messervy, who succeeds Lieutenant General Sir Geoffrey Scoones. The corps is to move secretly southward down the Gangaw Valley to the southern flank of the army, where it will seize a bridgehead over the Irrawaddy River in the Pakokku area and thrust toward Meiktila and Thazi.
Over 30 USAAF Tenth Air Force P-47 Thunderbolts support ground forces in the Bhamo area, 28 hit supply areas at Kyingyi, Loi-lun, and Hke-hkun; 12 bomb troop concentrations at Namti and four hit village on the Nawnghkem River. Sixteen fighter-bombers attack a Shwebo motor pool and radio station while six others hit the Namun ferry landing; seven aircraft knock out a bypass bridge at Namhkai and eight fighter-bombers hit railroad targets of opportunity between Sedaw and Nawnghkio.
CHINA: Four USAAF Fourteenth Air Force B-25 Mitchells hit the Nan Tan area, killing many horses and 14 P-51 Mustangs hit the airfield and other targets at Nanking, claiming 24 airplanes, a freighter, and two locomotives destroyed. Fifteen P-40s attack railroad targets and buildings from the Nan Tan area to Liuchow; 25 P-51 Mustangs hit Hochih and troops, warehouses, trucks and ammunition dump in the area; and 20+ other fighter-bombers on armed reconnaissance hit various targets of opportunity around the Lipo, Shihhweiyao, Tuhshan, Santon, Paoching, Hengyang, Taiyuan, and Linfen areas.
EAST INDIES: In the Netherlands East Indies, over 60 USAAF Far East Air Forces (FEAF) B-25 Mitchells and fighter-bombers, along with Australian aircraft, hit airfield and various other targets on Halmahera Island. FEAF aircraft fly armed reconnaissance and light raids over northern Borneo, northern Celebes, Flores Island in the Lesser Sunda Islands, and the Wewak, New Guinea area.
COMMONWEALTH OF THE PHILIPPINES: The US 77th Division is now within 1 mile of Ormoc, Leyte.
In the U.S. Sixth Army's X Corps area on Leyte, the 1st Squadron of the 112th Cavalry Regiment (Special) begins an action to locate and sever the Japanese supply line to the ridge southeast of Limon. In the XXIV Corps area, the 307th Infantry Regiment, 77th Infantry Division (reinforced by the 2d Battalion, 3o6th Infantry Regiment and supported by artillery, Company A of the 776th Amphibious Tank Battalion and Company A of the 88th Chemical Weapons Battalion) drives north astride Highway 2 from Ipil toward Camp Downes, less than 1 mile (1,6 kilometers) from Ormoc. A platoon of Company A, 776th Amphibious Tank Battalion, moving by sea, reconnoiters the Camp Downes area, meeting Japanese fire. The 305th Infantry Regiment protects the southern flank of the division, holding the perimeter from Ipil area south to the Baod River. The Americans consolidate their positions in Buri airfield area. .
Over 60 USAAF Far East Air Forces B-24 Liberators bomb Mandurriao, Lahug and La Carlota Airfields on Cebu and Negros Island while fighter-bombers hit the San Isidro area.
BONIN ISLANDS, IWO JIMA: Following Harmon's plans drawn up on the 5th the attacks take place today. They have been postponed one day due to inclement weather.
The USAAF Twentieth Air Force's XXI Bomber Command flies Mission 11: 82 B-29 Superfortresses from the Mariana Islands join USAAF Seventh Air Force P-38 Lightnings, 89 B-24 Liberators and Navy cruisers in a strike against airfields on Iwo Jima Island from which Japanese strikes against U.S. airfields in the Mariana Islands are being launched; 61 B-29s bomb the airfields and four bomb other targets without loss. The USN bombardment force is Task Group 94.9 (Rear Admiral Allan E. Smith) consisting of the heavy cruisers USS Chester (CA-27), Pensacola (CA-24) and Salt Lake City (CA-25) and eight destroyers. Japanese aircraft strike the Mariana Island airfields on 2, 7, and 27 November, 7 and 25 December (the largest attack-25 aircraft), and from 25 December 1944 to 2 January 1945 in very minor degrees; altogether about 80 Japanese aircraft attack, and nearly 40 are downed. Because of these strikes, 11 B-29s are destroyed and 43 damaged on the ground. At 0945 hours 28 P-38s swept over the island, followed at 1100 hours by the B-29s and at noon by the Liberators. Hoovers cruisers began 70-minutes of shelling at 1347 hours. The bomb load carried by the planes forcefully illustrated the difference in performance between the B-24 and B-29 bombers at 745 miles (1,199 km) tactical radius: the 62 B-29s dropped 620 tons, 102 B-24s only 194 tons. All told, enough metal was thrown to produce a good concentration on Iwo's eight square miles, but because the bombers had been forced to loose by radar, results, so far as they could be judged from photography-handicapped, like the bombing, by adverse weather-were much less decisive than had been expected.
US Admiral Smith commands 3 cruisers and the escorting destroyers to bombard Iwo Jima.