UNITED KINGDOM: London: The first German A4 (Vergeltungwaffe 2 or V-2) rocket lands on Staveley Road, a quiet suburban road in Chiswick, West London, at 6.43pm, killing three people, seriously injuring 17, destroying six homes and leaving a massive crater. This is one of Hitler's vaunted "vengeance weapons".
It was fired, minutes before by Mobile Artillery Section 485 from a mobile launcher from the Koekoeslaan (Cuckoo's Lane) a suburban road of The Hague, in the Netherlands, The explosion, and a second, just 16 seconds later (which lands in open countryside in Epping (north-east of London), but causes no casualties) are heard over much of London. Each sounded like a double thunder-clap followed by the rush of an express train.
It had been aimed at the Fire Station in Southwark Bridge Road but missed by eight miles.To avoid panic, and against the advice of scientists, no announcement of the new weapon was made. There are rumours that exploding gas mains were responsible. This morning, another rocket landed on the outskirts of Paris. By coincidence today Britons were told by Duncan Sandys, a junior minister, that the attack by V1 flying bombs was virtually over "except possibly for a few last shots". The launching sites near Calais have been captured, but a small number of V1s are still being air-launched by Heinkel bombers over the North Sea. In the 80 days since they began, 2,300 V1s got through to London, killing 5,475 people, injuring 16,000 and destroying 25,000 houses.
"The London Gazette" describes the deeds for which Wing Commander Geoffrey Leonard Cheshire, D.S.O., D.F.C., Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve has been awarded the VC. Article
US Eighth Air Force in England flies two missions.
- Mission 611: 1,070 bombers and 349 fighters,in 3 forces, are dispatched to hit
industrial targets in the Mainz and Ludwigshafen, Germany area; attacks were
visual at the primary targets; 10 bombers are lost.
(1) 348 B-17s attack the Opau oil refinery at Ludwigshafen; 5 B-17s are lost;
escort is provided by 88 P-51s.
(2) 247 B-24s hit the Karlsruhe marshalling yard and 1 hits a secondary target
at Ludwigshafen; 4 B-24s are lost; escort is provided by 82 P-51s.
(3) 386 B-17s are dispatched to hit an armored vehicle factory at Gustavsburg
(167) and oil depot at Kassel (166); 23 others hit targets of opportunity; 1
B-17 is lost; escort is provided by 144 P-51s.
- Mission 615: 7 B-17s drop leaflets in the Low Countries, France and Germany during the night.
Other missions include:
- The VIII Fighter Command flies 2 missions.
(1) 160 P-38 Lightnings strafe and bomb rail transportation east of the Rhine
River; they claim 7-0-1 aircraft on the ground.
(2) 194 P-47 Thunderbolts and P-51s strafe targets in the Heidelberg-Darmstadt-Wurzburg
and Frankfurt/Main-Koblenz areas; 1 P-47 and 1 P-51 are lost.
- A C-47 Skytrain flies a CARPETBAGGER mission in France.
- 110 B-24s fly TRUCKIN' mission to Bricy Airfield at Orleans, France.
BELGIUM: The US VII Corps captures Liege. The Canadian 1st Army captures Nieuport and Ostend.
In a stunning ten-day display of style and vigour, British Canadian and Polish forces have raced across northern France and into Belgium to liberate Brussels and capture the key port of Antwerp. Today they stand on the Albert Canal; behind them lies a trail of devastated enemy tanks, guns and trucks, and cages crowded with PoWs.
The task of leading the assault was given to Lt-Gen Brian Horrocks, who triumphed in Tunisia with his famous moonlight advance to take the Germans off guard. On this occasion his jumping-off point was a Seine bridgehead at Vernon; he stormed German defences and kept the enemy on the run with his moonlight manouvres. After a 40-mile drive to Amiens, he captured its German commander, General Eberbach, seized the town and secured the bridges over the Somme. Arras and Douai followed. The Guards Armoured Division entered Brussels on 3 September; Antwerp fell to the 11th Armoured Division the next day.
Hitler is desperately scrambling together new infantry divisions by drafting the elderly and disabled whic have been carrying out guard duties in rear areas. Sailors and airmen are being turned into foot soldiers. The Fuhrer has recalled to active service the man he sacked only two months ago for failing to repel the Allied landing in Normandy. Field Marshal von Rundstedt returned as C-in-C West with orders to halt the Allies until winter arrives, with fog, night and snow, to give the Third Reich a respite.
The Belgian government, exiled in London for the past four
years, returns to Brussels. (Jack McKillop)
FRANCE: The Canadians are besieging the Channel ports of Boulogne, Calais and Dunkirk, where the Germans are clinging on in order to deny the Allies port facilities close to the front lines.
Besancon is liberated by the US VI Corps in the south of France.
The newly organized U.S. Ninth Army attacks Brest, a French
naval base in Brittany. (Jack McKillop)
Weather prevents US Ninth Air Force bomber missions; fighters fly cover for
troops in the Brest area and for the US 2d, 5th, 8th, and 29th Infantry
Divisions, and the XX Corps area, escort troop movements and fly defensive
patrols; several hundred C-47s fly supply and evacuation missions.
The last Bomber Command raid to use the Short Stirling takes place today when aircraft of No. 149 Squadron based at Methwold bomb Le Havre. (22)
LUXEMBOURG: German troops
withdraw from Luxembourg to positions behind the Seigfried Line. (Jack
McKillop)
GERMANY:
Roland Friesler's 'People's Court' sentences Carl Friedrich
Gördeler
to death. (231)
U-2507 commissioned. (Dave Shirlaw)
The US Twelfth Air Force flies tactical missions in southern FRANCE and ITALY. In France, A-20s fly supply missions to an airfield near Lyon; fighters strafe the Belfort area, hitting 10 trains with good results, and blast a horse-drawn vehicle convoy near Strasbourg. In Italy, bad weather grounds B-25s and B-26s; P-47s on armed reconnaissance in the Po Valley area attack 2 pontoon bridges and several barges, cut a road, and hit several vehicles and other targets of opportunity.
The British 8th Army continues its attacks on Gemmano and Coriano ridges in ITALY. 2 days of rain have seriously interrupted operations. These attacks are heavily fought and the positions remain in German possession.
YUGOSLAVIA: 354 US Fifteenth Air Force B-17s and
B-24s escorted by P-38s hit railroad bridges at Brod and Belgrade and
marshalling yards at Sarajevo and Nish; 77 P-51s strafe airfields at Ecka,
Petrovgrad, Ilandza, and Alibunar; other P-51s escort RAF Beaufighters to
Trieste, Italy and Mediterranean Allied Tactical Air Force C-47s on evacuation
missions to Bucharest, Romania and back to Italy.
BULGARIA: Soviet troops cross the border into Bulgaria, ostensibly because of Bulgaria's refusal to declare war on Germany. (Jack McKillop)
GREECE: German forces begin to withdraw.
Soviet troops are now 26 miles inside the country. (Jack McKillop)
U.S.S.R.: Baltic Fleet, Ladoga Lake and Chudskoe Lake Flotillas: MS "N-175" - lost at storm, close to Vidlitsa in Ladoga Lake (later supposedly raised and went into service) . (Sergey Anisimov)(69)
BURMA: 23 US Tenth Air Force B-24s haul fuel to Kunming, China; large-scale troop carrier operations to many CBI terminals continue.
FRENCH INDOCHINA: 18 US Fourteenth Air Force B-24s attack 5 railroad bridges at Giap Nat, Dui Giang, Hue, Trach, Duc Tho, and Quang Tri, knocking out the Quang Tri bridge. 3 B-24s claim a destroyer sunk south of Hong Kong. In China, 100+ P-40s and P-51 Mustangs on armed reconnaissance hit a large variety of targets of opportunity including troops, river shipping, bridges, airstrips, supplies, trucks, and railroad targets over the vast southeast China areas at Lingling, Kiyang, Tunganhsien, Hengyang, Lingkuantien, and Leiyang.
CHINA: Chungking: Operating for the first time in daylight, 90 Chengtu-based B-29 Superfortresses of the US XX Bomber Command bomb the Showa Steel Works at Anshan, in Japanese-controlled Manchukuo. 3 others bomb other targets in Anshan, 5 hit Sinsiang railroad yards, and 3 others hit various targets of opportunity; Major General Curtis Emerson LeMay, Commanding General XX Bomber Command, accompanies the mission. Tokyo Radio claims three B-29s are shot down, but in fact the USAAF suffered no losses. During the night of 8/9 September Japanese bombers attack HQ, storage areas, and parked aircraft at Hsinching (near Chengtu) damaging a B-29, a C-46 Commando, and wounding 2 soldiers.
PACIFIC OCEAN: US Seventh Air Force B-24s based on Saipan bomb
Iwo Jima and Pagan Islands and hit shipping at Chichi Jima Island, Bonin
Islands damaging 3 cargo ships. B-25s from the Gilbert Islands hit Ponape Island
and B-24s from Kwajalein Atoll bomb Wotje Atoll.
PALAUA ISLANDS:
Carrier-based aircraft of the USN's Task Groups 38.1 and 38.4 plus surface units
of TGs 38.1, 38.2 and 38.3, bombard Japanese installations in the
Islands.
USN submarines sink five Japanese ships: USS Bashaw (SS-241) sinks a transport west of Mindanao, Philippine Islands and USS Spadefish (SS-411) sinks a transport, an army cargo ship and two merchant cargo ships east of Formosa. (Jack McKillop)
USAAF OPERATIONS IN THE SOUTHWEST PACIFIC AREA (Far East Air Forces): B-24s bomb Langoan Airfield on Celebes Island. On Halmahera Island, B-25s hit Galela and Tobelo while B-24s bomb Lolobata and P-47s attack Kaoe Airfield and AA positions, Djailolo Airfield and barges at Point Lelo; P-38s hit Boela, Ceram Island while B-25s hit small shipping at Ceram. In New Guinea, B-24s bomb airfields at Langgoer, Faan, Letfoean, and Toeal; fighter-bombers and A-20s hit airstrips and targets of opportunity at Efman, Samate, Babo, Urarom, Manokwari, Moemi, and Ranski; and P-39Airacobras strafe the Wewak coastal area. (Jack McKillop)
CANADA: Frigate HMCS Royalmount arrived Halifax from builder Montreal, Province of Quebec. (Dave Shirlaw)
U.S.A.: Ed Wynn resumes his radio career after 7 years off the air. Wynn's new show, "Happy Island," debuts on the NBC Blue Network on Fridays at 1900 hours Eastern. Wynn plays King Bubbles, ruler of the mythical Happy Island, where good humor and joy are the order of the day. The show remains on the air until February 1945. The show is sponsored by Borden's Milk and during the commercials, Hope Emerson plays Elsie the cow. (Jack McKillop)
Submarine USS Kraken commissioned.
Destroyer minelayer USS Shannon commissioned.
Destroyer USS Wallace L Lind commissioned.
Coast Guard-manned Army vessel FS-266 was commissioned at New York. Her only commanding officer was LTJG J. D. Legon, USCGR. On October 2, 1944 she departed New York after a trip to Daviaville, RI, for the Southwest Pacific, where she operated during the war. On 25 November 1945, Coast Guard crew was relieved by a civilian officer and crew. (Dave Shirlaw)
ATLANTIC OCEAN:
U-482 sank MS Pinto and SS
Empire Heritage in Convoy HXF-305. (Dave Shirlaw)