75 Years Ago—August 16, 1944: US Eighth Air Force suffers first attack by Luftwaffe jet fighters (Messerschmitt Me 163s), has first loss to a jet, and also destroys a German jet for first time.
Organized Japanese resistance ends on the Burma-India border.
75 Years Ago—August 15, 1944: Operation Dragoon: US Seventh Army, including Free French commandos and British paratroopers, lands 60,000 troops in southern France between Cannes and Toulon with excellent results—called France’s other D-day.
In Dragoon cover, Allies first use “baby aircraft carriers,” LSTs (landing ship, tank) with flight decks added for liaison aircraft.
[Read more and see photos from my research trip to southern France: “France’s Other D-Day”]
75 Years Ago—August 14, 1944: Canadian, Polish, and US troops form the Falaise pocket in France, partially surrounding Germans.
The US War Production Board allows the production of some civilian goods to resume in preparation for the November elections.
75 Years Ago—August 13, 1944: British and Indian troops cross into northern Florence via historic Ponte Vecchio, securing city with help of Italians.
Jackie Gleason-Les Tremayne show premieres on NBC radio.
75 Years Ago—August 12, 1944: Lt. Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. (brother of the future president) is killed in a top-secret Aphrodite mission from England, in which planes loaded with bombs are guided by remote control to the target after the pilots bail out.
First PLUTO (Pipeline under the Ocean) becomes operational, taking fuel from Isle of Wight, England to Cherbourg, France.
New songs in Top Ten: “I’ll Walk Alone,” “Is You Is or Is You Ain’t My Baby?”
75 Years Ago—August 11, 1944: In France, US Third Army crosses the Loire River.
At Nantes, France, Germans scuttle ships as Allies approach.
Fifty black sailors who survived the Port Chicago Explosion still refuse to load munitions and are charged with mutiny. [see Port Chicago: The Work Stoppage]
75 Years Ago—August 10, 1944: US secures Guam, although one Japanese soldier won’t surrender until 1972.
Britain holds the 50th anniversary of the “Proms” concerts in Bedford rather than London due to German V-1 flying bombs, conducted without Sir Henry Wood for the first time ever due to Wood’s failing health (he passes away August 19).
In Paris, rail workers go on strike, stranding German soldiers trying to evacuate.
Red Barrett of the Boston Braves throws a shutout with only 58 pitches, a record for the fewest pitches in a 9-inning game.
75 Years Ago—August 9, 1944: At Mare Island Navy Yard in Vallejo, CA, 258 black sailors who survived the Port Chicago Explosion refuse to load munitions and are imprisoned [see Port Chicago: The Work Stoppage].
US Fifteenth Air Force Aircrew Rescue Unit (Italy) flies first mission, evacuating 268 airmen & refugees from Yugoslavia in C-47 cargo planes.
Smokey Bear is introduced by the US Forest Service as a spokesman for fire prevention.
75 Years Ago—August 8, 1944: Eight German officers are hanged in Berlin for their role in the July 20 Hitler assassination plot; by February 3, 1945, 4980 will be executed.
Japanese take Hengyang in their drive south across China, taking the US Fourteenth Air Force air base at Hengyang.
75 Years Ago—August 7, 1944: In Normandy, Canadian forces launch drive toward Falaise, and Germans open counteroffensive in US First Army area, retaking Mortain but falling short of goal of reaching Avranches.
Cherbourg Harbor opens for Allied traffic in France.
At Harvard University, IBM reveals the Harvard Mark I, the first program-controlled computer (has 50 ft panel, adds in 1/3 second).
“Another masterful installment in Sundin’s roster of WWII novels.”—Booklist starred review for Embers in the London Sky