After a number of attacks, contact was lost at about 2300. Contact was regained at 0155 and further attacks by Saint John produced a secondary explosion and oil. Contact was lost but at 1400 the next afternoon an echo sounder trace located the U-boat on the bottom. Saint John delivered a final depth charge attack at 1407 that produced large amounts of wreckage that substantiated the destruction of U-247. U-247 was a type VIIC U-boat built by Germainiawerft, Kiel, launched 23 Sep 1943, commissioned 23 Oct 1943. On her second patrol at the time of her sinking. She had a record of one ship sunk on 5 Jul 44, the British fishing trawler 'Noreen Mary' which was sunk by gunfire about 20 miles west of Cape Wrath, Scotland, for a total of 207 tons.
All hands, 52-men, on the U-boat are lost. (Jack McKillop and Dave Shirlaw)
Corvette HMS Hurst Castle (K-416) is torpedoed by U-482 (Kapitanleutnant Hartmut Graf von Matuschka) at 0822 hours local north of Troy Island off Donegal at 55 27N 08 12W, whilst escorting convoy CU-36. There are no casualties, 105 survivors are rescued by HMS Ambuscade. The corvette was escorting convoy CU-36 (Alex Gordon and Jack McKillop)(108)
Sloop HMS Alacrity is launched. (Dave Shirlaw)
The US Eighth Air Force in England flies 3 missions:
- Mission 595: 679 B-17 Flying Fortresses and 294 B-24s are dispatched to hit Ludwigshafen, Haguenan, Gustavsburg, Mainz and Hallach, Germany and Foret de Haguenan, France; high clouds are encountered over France and the mission is recalled; 1 B-17 bombs Hallach; escort is provided by 508 P-38 Lightnings and P-51 Mustangs; 3 P-51s are lost.
- Mission 597: 12 Azon-equipped B-24s hit the Ravenstein rail bridge, the Netherlands without loss; escort is provided by 15 P-51s.
- Mission 599: 3 B-17s fly a Micro H mission to attack a fuel dump in the Bois del la Haussiere, Belgium; escort is provided by 2 P-51s.
- 31 B-24s fly CARPETBAGGER missions during the night.
The VIII Fighter Command flies fighter-bomber missions:
- 265 P-47 Thunderbolts attack railroads in north and northeastern France; they claim 5-0-2 aircraft on the ground; 3 P-47s are lost.
- 33 P-47s attack targets in the Brussels, Belgium area without loss.
HQ IX Troop Carrier Command comes under administrative control of HQ US Strategic Air Forces in Europe and under operational control of HQ First Allied Airborne Army, to increase efficiency, especially for planning, training, and preparation of airborne operations. Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force now can deal directly with all elements of an airborne force through a single unified command instead of through various army groups and air forces, i.e., 12th and 21st Army Groups, US Ninth Air Force, and RAF components. (Jack McKillop)
FRANCE: The LVF is incorporated, along with all other
Frenchmen in German units, into the larger French Waffen SS division.
Dieppe is liberated by the 2nd Canadian Division.
The serious German collapse has caused bitter debate among senior Allied Generals. Eisenhower favours a broad front strategy. Montgomery advocates a single thrust strategy. This debate will continue for several months. Also today Eisenhower assumes direct command of Allied forces in Europe and Montgomery is promoted to field marshal.
Supreme Headquarters, Allied Expeditionary Force (SHAEF) starts operations at Granville.
In northern France, US Ninth Air Force B-26 Marauders attack fortifications in the Brest area which artillery fire had been unable to reduce; escorting fighters fly sweeps and armed reconnaissance in northern and eastern France, and fly cover for 6 divisions in the Amiens, Saint-Quentin, Cambrai, Reims, and Verdun areas and the Brussels, Belgium area.
GERMANY: U-2329 commissioned. (Dave Shirlaw)
FINLAND: This evening Finland receives an ultimatum from the Soviet Union, stating that Finland has to accept the Soviet terms for starting the peace negotiations (as stated on the 29th of August) by the 2nd of September, or the hostilities will go on. Parliament, originally set to decide on the matter on the 5th of September, is hurriedly called to convene at 6 pm. tomorrow. (Mikko Härmeinen)
ITALY: Attacks by the 8th Army continue on the Gothic Line.
The Canadian I Corps advances around Tomba di Pesaro.
During the night of 31 August/1 September, US Twelfth Air Force A-20
Havocs hit gun positions and targets of opportunity in the western Po Valley;
weather grounds B-26s during the day but B-25s score excellent results against
road and railroad bridges north and northeast of Venice; fighter-bomber and
fighters bomb and strafe roads, troop concentrations, supply dumps, and German
HQ in the battle area north of Florence, and fly armed reconnaissance from
Ventimiglia along the coast to La Spezia.
The US Fifteenth Air Force in Italy dispatches 480+ B-17s and B-24s to attack
targets in Italy, Hungary and Yugoslavia; B-24s attack Boara Pisani, Italy; in
Yugoslavia, B-17s and B-24s attack railroad bridges at Tesica/Moravac, Mitrovica,
and Kraljevo, marshalling yards at Novi Sad and the airfield at Nish; in Hungary
B-24s attack railroad bridges at Szolnok, and Mezotur, marshalling yards at
Szajol, Debreczen, and Berettyoujfalu; 51 P-51s successfully strafe Debreczen
Airfield, Hungary; 16 B-17s evacuate interned US airmen from Romania; fighters
support bombing and evacuation missions.
ROMANIA: German submarine U-23 enters Constanta harbor and fires three torpedoes at 0230 hours local; one torpedo hits the stern of the Romanian steamer SS Oituz causing the ship to sink. The ship was later refloated and declared a total loss. U-23 left her attack position at 0400 hours and laid a mine barrage in Constanta roads near Tuzla lighthouse. No vessels were reported lost on the barrage. (Jack McKillop)
YUGOSLAVIA: Partisans join with the RAF and USAAF to launch Operation Ratweek, a seven-day attack on German communications.
BULGARIA: Prime Minister Bagrianov is replaced by Constantine Muraviev.
INDIAN OCEAN: German submarine U-859 sinks a British merchant freighter in position 14.10N, 61.04E. (Jack McKillop)
HONG KONG: 12 US Fourteenth Air Force B-25s bomb Kai Tek Airfield and a supply depot south of Canton.
PACIFIC OCEAN: Japanese ship losses include a merchant a cargo ship sunk by aircraft in Celebes Sea in position 01.06N, 122.21E; and a merchant cargo ship sunk by a mine off Woosung, China. (Jack McKillop)
KURILE ISLANDS: A US Eleventh Air Force B-24 bombs Kashiwabara on Paramushiru Island during the night of 31 August/1 September; a B-25 bombs a shack on the southwestern coast of Paramushiru Island and sinks a nearby ship; and 5 other B-25s on this mission turn back due to overcast.
CAROLINE ISLANDS: A lone US Seventh Air Force B-24 on armed reconnaissance bombs Yap Island and Marshall Island-based B-24s bomb Truk Island.
BONIN AND VOLCANO ISLANDS: USN
Task Group 38.4 surface units, heavy cruiser USS New Orleans (CA-32), light
cruiser USS Biloxi (CL-80) and 4 destroyers, bombard Chichi Jima in the Bonin
Islands and Iwo Jima in the Volcano Islands. The Japanese do not return fire.
(Jack McKillop)
USN submarine USS Pilotfish (SS-386) sinks a Japanese
auxiliary vessel north-northwest of Chichi Jima, in position 30.32N, 140.55E.
(Jack McKillop)
COMMONWEALTH OF THE PHILIPPINES: The submarine USS Narwhal (SS-167) lands 10 tons of supplies, 5 Filipino officers and 18 enlisted men on the east coast of Luzon. The sub takes out 4 US enlisted men.
U.S.A.: Selective Service announces that no men over 26 years old will be drafted during the rest of 1944. (Jack McKillop)
USS Steinaker is laid down.
Destroyer USS John R. Pierce is launched. (Dave Shirlaw)
Submarine USS Devilfish is commissioned.
The top pop songs today
are
(1) "Amor" by Bing Crosby;
(2) "I'll Be Seeing You" by Bing Crosby;
(3) "Time Waits for No One" by Helen Forest; and
(4) "Is You is or is You Ain't (Ma' Baby)" by Louis Jordan And His
Tympany Five. (Jack McKillop)
During WW II, the Military Intelligence Service (MIS) produced numerous documents, most commonly known are the Intelligence Bulletins. The Military Intelligence Special Series continues with "Enemy Tactics in Chemical Warfare." (William L. Howard)
Coast Guard-manned Army vessel FS-265 was commissioned at New York on 1 September 1944, with LT H. E. Dennis, USCGR, her first commanding officer. He was succeeded on 22 October 1944, by LTJG Richard E. Youngren, USCGR, who in turn was succeeded on 12 November 12, 1945, by LT Walter R. Young, USCGR. On 18 September 1944, she departed New York for Davisville, Rhode Island, from where she returned to New York on 11 October 1944. She later departed on 22 October 1944, for the Southwest Pacific where she operated during the war. On 5 April 1945, while on course, a floating horned mine was sighted dead ahead in position 05° 43' S, 147° 09' E drifting across a heavily travelled shipping lane through which an aircraft carrier had been seen to pass not more than half an hour before. The FS-265 manoeuvred into a position from which it was possible to explode the mine with machine gun fire. The damage to the FS-265 from the exploding mine was slight, consisting of a few jammed doors and locks, short circuits in the radio transmitter and a leak in the hydraulic rudder angle indicator. All of this damage was subsequently repaired. (Dave Shirlaw)
ATLANTIC OCEAN: U-859 sinks SS Troilus.
Off Greenland, the US Coast Guard
gunboat, USCGC Northland (WPG-49), locates the German weather ship Kehdingen off
Great Kodeyey Island and gives chase. The crew of the weather ship scuttles it
to avoid capture.
Also in the area is the German U-boat U-703 which attempts to attack USCGC
Northland but is blocked by ice.