8 August 1939

August 8th, 1939 (TUESDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: Winston Churchill makes a fifteen-minute radio broadcast to America, warning of the increasingly serious threat of war in Europe and the likelihood of American involvement. "This is the time to fight - to speak - to attack!"

A woman walking on Beachy Head is killed when an RAF bomber (my source is not specific as to make) crashes 300 yards inland ploughing through her and plunging over the 575 foot cliff into the English Channel.

GERMANY: The press begins an anti-Polish campaign.

Mobilisation is reported as nearly complete.

U-111 is ordered.

PALESTINE: Haifa: 373 Jewish refugees arrive from Paris.

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8 August 1940

Yesterday Tomorrow

August 8th, 1940 (THURSDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: Battle of Britain:
RAF Fighter Command: Weather, cloudy, bright intervals.

Heavy Luftwaffe attacks on Channel convoy CW9 (codenamed Peewit) comprising 29 ships plus naval escort (the first Westbound since 25 July) off Dover and the Isle of Wight. Heaviest air fighting so far, involving 150+ aircraft. Ju87s prove very vulnerable. German shore radar detects the convoy and E-boats attack it in the Dover Straits sinking two coasters (Holme Force and Fife Coast) and damaging others.

Off Portland the Sister CE9 Channel convoy was proceeding easterly when at 06:39 two of its balloons were shot down. At 08:30 Ju 87s escorted by JG 27 and LG 1 attacked from the direction of Cherbourg. British radar detected them and five 11 Group squadrons and one from 10 Group were sent up to tackle the raiders. Between 08:49 and 09:43 two assaults each of 100-plus raiders attacked the convoy (15 miles west of the Isle of Wight), which lost SS Conquerdale and SS Empire Crusader. By the end of the engagement RAF fighters could accurately claim five of the enemy and St. Catherine's Point gunners another two.

At about 12:48 the second assault on CW8 developed, just east of the Isle of Wight delivered by 60 Ju 87s of three Stuka Geschwaderen - Nos. 2, 3 and 77. After disposing of the balloon cover the Stukas dive-bombed and scattered the ships. but Hurricanes of Nos. 43, 145, 238 and 257 Squadrons and Spitfires of 609 Squadron - over 50 fighters - arrived. Sqn. Ldr J.A. Peel of No. 145 Squadron fires the first shots of this the first official day of the Battle of Britain. Three Stukas were shot down and four damaged along with an escorting Bf110 of V/LG 1 and three Bf109s, three more '110s and a '109 were damaged.
RAF lost three pilots and their Hurricanes.

Late afternoon saw another Stuka raid on the now re-organised convoy. Seven Squadrons of Hurricanes met them. At least two more Stukas and two '109s were shot down by 145 and 43 Sqn. shot down the Gruppenkommandeur of II/JG 27.

At night Liverpool, Leeds, Bristol and Birmingham (for the first time) are bombed. Midlothian and Truro suffer heavy raids.

Two misplaced parachute sea mines exploded near Stannington Sanatorium near Plessy Viaduct, four miles south of Morpeth (Co. Durham) bringing down the boiler house roof and blasting the hospital.

Losses: Luftwaffe 31; RAF 20.

Minesweeping trawler HMS Horatio launched.

INDIA: The so-called Linlithgow offer is made. It states that Dominion status for India was the objective of the British government but refer to neither date nor method of accomplishment.
Viceroy Linlithgow had gone so far as to recommend that Dominion status be granted a year after the end of the year. This has been blocked by the implacable enemy of Indian independence, Winston Churchill.

U.S.A.: The motion picture "Pride and Prejudice" opens at the Radio City Music Hall in New York City. Directed by Robert Z. Leonard, this drama, based on the Jane Austen novel, stars Greer Garson, Laurence Olivier, Edna May Oliver, Edmund Gwenn, Maureen O'Sullivan, Ann Rutherford and Marsha Hunt.

ATLANTIC OCEAN: U-37 sinks SS Upwey Grange.

8 August 1941

August 8th, 1941 (FRIDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: Boom defence vessel HMS Barbridge launched.

ASW trawler HMS Coverley commissioned.

BELGIUM: Brussels: The pro-Nazi Rexist (Belgian fascist) leader, Leon Degrelle, leads his volunteer "Walloon Legion" to fight with the Nazis on the Eastern Front.

NETHERLANDS: The Nazi controlled "robber bank" of Lippmann, Rosenthal and Co., referred to as "Liro", issues its first decree, requiring Jews to register all assets and private property; additionally, they are to turn over to the Liro Bank all credits, securities, and large sums of Dutch and foreign currency. Jewish "customers" are allowed to keep a thousand guilders in cash, which they can use at their discretion. (Peter Kilduff and Jennifer L. Foray (209 p.147)

GERMANY: First rocket powered flight by the Me 163 V1 KE+SW.

U-627 laid down.

LITHUANIA: German troops and Lithuanian collaborators massacre Jews in the village of Zeimel.

A plaque in the Chamber of the Holocaust at Mt. Zion reads-

"For an everlasting remembrance

For the martyrs of the Zeimel Community (Lithuania) who were annihilated by the German Nazis and their Lithuanian collaborators (May their names be erased) on the 8th day of August 1941 Remembrance Day 15 Av 5701 May their souls be bound up in the bond of life

-The Emigrants of Zeimel in Israel and the Diaspora " (Drew Halevy)

(Drew Philip Halévy)

U.S.S.R.: German troops smash Russian defenders at Kazaki, taking 38,000 PoWs.

Moscow: The Russians seeking revenge for the bombing of Moscow, raided Berlin last night. Five Soviet Ilyushin-4 bombers took off from airfields on the Estonian islands of Dago and Oesel for the hazardous 1,500 mile round trip.
Two of the twin-engined aircraft were shot down before they got to Berlin, and two more failed to find the target. But the last one got through and dropped bombs on a suburb of Berlin. It was a small raid, but it was an indication of Russian determination to strike back at the Germans. It is the first of seven attacks during August.

CANADA: Western Isles trawlers ordered for RN in Canada: HMS Anticosti, HMS Baffin, HMS Cailiff, HMS Campenia, HMS Campobello, HMS Manitoulin, HMS Magdalen, HMS Porcher, HMS Prospect, HMS Texada, HMS Ironbound, HMS Luscomb, HMS Dochet, HMS Flint, HMS Gateshead and HMS Herschel.

Corvette HMCS Arrowhead launched.

Corvette HMCS Snowberry launched.

Minesweeper HMCS Esquimalt launched.

U.S.A.: Japanese Ambassador Nomura suggests a conference between President Roosevelt and Japanese Prime Minister Konoye to discuss deteriorating relations between the two countries.

Les Brown and His Orchestra, with vocal by Betty Bonney, record the song "Joltin' Joe DiMaggio" for Okeh Records. The song pays tribute to baseball great Joe DiMaggio who set a new record this year by getting hits in 56 consecutive games.

8 August 1942

August 8th, 1942 (SATURDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: Trawler HMS Anticosti commissioned.

Light cruiser HMS Argonaut commissioned.

Submarine HMS Splendid commissioned.

GERMANY: U-287 laid down.

U-469 and U-470 commissioned.

U.S.S.R.: Army Group A continues to advance south from the Kuban. Army Group B captures Surovniko.

ARCTIC OCEAN: Soviet submarine "M-173" of the Polar fleet and White Sea Flotillas is sunk - by surface ASW ships, at Varde area. Near Ekkery by UJ 1101, 1108 and 1112 they dropped 178 depth charges over it. (Torstein and Sergey Anisimov)(69)

NEW GUINEA: The joint Australian-Papuan Maroubra Force recaptures Kokoda but is unable to hold onto it.
USAAF P-400 Airacobras of the Allied Air Forces dive-bomb Kokoda and Yodda.

AUSTRALIA: Minesweeper HMAS Tamworth commissioned.

SOLOMON ISLANDS: Just after 9.00pm Tulagi and Gavutu fall to the US invaders following heavy fighting.

Admiral Turner continues unloading Marines on Guadalcanal. The unloading is interrupted with another Japanese air strike from Rabaul. The 1st Marines occupy the uncompleted Japanese airfield about 4:00 pm. This field will be renamed Henderson Field for Major Lofton Henderson, a Marine pilot lost at Midway.

Shortly after 6:00 pm Admiral Turner advises Ghormley and Fletcher that TF 61 is withdrawing. Admiral Turner then calls a meeting with Admiral Crutchley, commanding the screening ships and General Vandegrift, aboard the USS McCawley, AP-10 off Lunga Point.

- From this date through 23 August, USAAF B-17 Flying Fortresses fly search missions covering the lower Solomons in order to detect any attempt to make a surprise attack on the forces consolidating the Guadalcanal Island beachhead.

- At 1156 hours, 23 G4M "Betty" bombers armed with torpedoes escorted by 15 A6M "Zeke" fighters arrive from Rabaul. USN F4F Wildcats and an SBD Dauntless and AA fire from the warships shoot down 17 "Bettys" and a "Zeke" but the Japanese severely damage the destroyer USS Jarvis (DD-393) with a torpedo and the transport USS George F Elliott (AP-13), which is hit by a torpedo and a "Zeke."

- The uncompleted 3,600-foot (1.1 km) long Japanese airfield is captured by the US Marines and is renamed Henderson Field.

- The Marines capture Tulagi, Gavutu and Tanambogo.

- Two of three RAAF Hudsons based at Milne Bay, New Guinea spot a Japanese task force consisting of 4 heavy cruisers, 3 light cruisers and a destroyer heading for the Solomon Islands. The RAAF crews report in a timely fashion but there is a delay in retransmitting it plus the USN brass underestimate the composition of the Japanese force.

- At 1807 hours, Vice Admiral Frank Jack Fletcher, commander of the USN's air and surface forces, recommends to Admiral Ghormley, Commander South Pacific Force, at Noumea, New Caledonia, that the air support force be withdrawn from Guadalcanal. Fletcher, concerned by the large numbers of enemy planes that had attacked today, reported that he had only 78 fighters left (he had started with 99) and that fuel for the carriers was running low. Ghormley approved the recommendation, and the aircraft carriers USS Enterprise (CV-6), USS Saratoga (CV-2) and USS Wasp (CV-7) retire from Guadalcanal.

TERRITORY OF ALASKA: ALEUTIAN ISLANDS: The USAAF's 11th Air Force dispatches 1 LB-30 and 3 B-24 Liberators, and 8 P-38 Lightnings on photo and bombing missions over Kiska Island cannot attack due to fog but 6USNPBY-5A Catalinas of Patrol Squadron Forty One (VP-41)and VP-51, both based at NAF Dutch Harbor, also operating over and off Kiska Island, hit freighters and a transport, claiming 1 transport sinking, and score many hits on North Head and Main Camp.

U.S.A.: Roosevelt and Churchill agree that command of "Operation Torch" will be vested in General Eisenhower.

Six of the eight German spies that landed on Long Island, New York, and Florida in June are executed in the electric chair at the District of Columbia Jail in Washington, D.C. The other two spies, who turned themselves in to the FBI, were sentenced to 30-years and life imprisonment respectively. Both are released in 1948 by order President Harry S. Truman and returned to Germany.

German submarine U-98 sows mines off the waters of Jacksonville, Florida.

Destroyer USS Burns launched.

Destroyer USS Izard launched.

ATLANTIC OCEAN: Five ships of convoy SC-94 are sunk: one of the escort, the corvette Dianthus, sinks U-379.
The German submarine U-379 is sunk in the North Atlantic southeast of Cape Farewell, Greenland, in position 57.11N, 30.57W, by ramming and depth charges from the RN corvette HMS Dianthus. 5 of the 45 man U-boat crew survive.

U-176 sinks the SS Kelso.

U-176 sank SS Mount Kassion.

U-176 sank SS Trehata.

U-379 sank SS Anneberg.

U-379 sank SS Kaimoku.

8 August 1943

August 8th, 1943 (SUNDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: The USAAF's VIII Air Support Command in England flies Mission 15: 36 B-26B Marauders are dispatched to Nord Airfield at Poix, France but the formation is turned back by weather.

GERMANY: An announcement of extensive evacuations of women, children, and elderly from Berlin. (Glenn Steinberg)

ITALY: SICILY: US forces are landed east of Sant Agata. Sant Agata and Cesaro Island fall because of this flanking movement. British forces capture Bronte and Acireale.

Verona: Italy assures the Germans that there will be no separate peace negotiations with the Allies.

Mussolini is imprisoned on Maddalena Island, off northeast coast of Sardinia.

A week-long Allied bombing campaign against northern Italy commences. (Glenn Steinberg)

SPAIN: Generalissimo Francisco Franco makes a cunning reply to August 2 telegram of Don Juan de Borbon y Battenberg, Infante of Spain, Count of Barcelona (Glenn Steinberg)

SOLOMON ISLANDS: Rendova: A patrol torpedo (PT) boat commander today told how two Solomon Islanders and a coconut shell saved the lives of his crew after they had been stranded for a week and given up for dead.
Lt John F Kennedy, the commander of PT-109, described the ordeal after his PT boat had been sliced in half by the Japanese destroyer Amagiri in waters off the Japanese-occupied island of Kolombangara on 1 August. Eleven of the 13 crew survived the impact, although one was injured.
After five hours clinging to the wreckage they managed to reach an island from which Kennedy, the son of a former US ambassador to Britain, swam out to sea and spent a fruitless night in the water hoping to flag down another PT boat.
Two days later PT-109's crew swam to what the natives know as Plum Pudding Island, 200 yards wide and covered in palm trees, in search of food. But Kennedy and another crew member had to swim to a third island before eventually meeting two natives with a canoe. They gave them a coconut shell inscribed with the message "Nauru Island, Native knows posit. He can pilot, 11 alive, need small boat ", and begged them to take it to the US base on Rendova. Within a day help was at hand.

On Kolombangara Island in the Solomon Islands, 23 B-25 Mitchells, with P-38s, and P-39Airacobras of the USAAF's Thirteenth Air Force, and US Marine Corps F4U Corsairs as cover, bomb Vila and Buki harbour.

U.S.A.: Minesweeper USS Serene laid down. Submarine USS Bluegill launched. Destroyer escort USS Marts launched. Destroyer escort USS Pennewill launched. Minesweeper USS Scuffle launched.

ATLANTIC OCEAN: U-262 shot down two aircraft from USN VC-1 Sqn.
U-664 shot down an aircraft from USS Card.

8 August 1944

August 8th, 1944 (TUESDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: The USAAF's Eighth Air Force in England continues to fly shuttle missions as 78 B-17s with 55 P-51 Mustang escorts, leave bases in the USSR to hit airfields in Romania; 38 hit Bizau and 35 hit Zlistea; no Luftwaffe fighters are encountered during the mission and the force flies to Italy.

- Mission 530: 414 B-24s and 265 fighters are dispatched to attack airfields and V-weapon sites in France; 115 hit V-weapons sites in the Pas de Calais; 91 hit Clastres Airfield, 53 hit Romilly air depot, 50 hit La Perthe Airfield, 12 hit Athies Airfield at Laon, 14 hit railroad bridges, 13 hit targets of opportunity and 11 hit Bretigny Airfield; 1 B-24 is lost. Escort is provided by 265 P-47 Thunderbolts and P-51s; 2 P-51s are lost.

- Mission 531: 681 B-17s and 100 P-51s are dispatched to bomb enemy troop concentrations and strongpoints south of Caen; 25 Canadian soldiers are killed and 131 wounded by short bombing; 231 hit Cauvincourt, 99 hit Bretteville-sur-Laise strongpoint, 99 hit St Sylvain strong point, 67 hit targets of opportunity and 1 hits Gouvix strongpoint; ; 7 B-17s are lost. Escort is provided by 91 P-51s; 3 are lost.

- 41 P-51s escort RAF Coastal Command Beaufighters on a convoy strike in Norway; 3 P-51s are lost.

- 175 P-38s, P-47s and P-51s fly a fighter-bomber mission against the railroad north and west of Dijon, France; 2 P-47s and 2 P-51s are lost.

Personal Memory: Today we will be doing tactical work to support the troops on the ground in an area eleven miles south of Caen, France. I was assigned to "Tail-end Charlie" for this raid which was also "Purple Heart Corner" today since there was nobody behind or below me. I had the same crew as on yesterday's raid, but with two different gunners on make-up missions. This 41st "B" Combat Wing, Lead Group with twelve B-17s did an assembly at 5000 feet over the Harrington Buncher Beacon and departed the English coast at Portland Bill at 14,000 feet which would be our bombing altitude. The combat wing ahead of us didn't turn at the briefed IP and we had to follow them around to avoid flying a collision course. There were no clouds over the target, but haze was so bad that we could not see the bright red and yellow markers that the ground troops had put out to show us the target. We made a bomb run but the lead bombardier didn't drop because of this problem. The high group

was the only one of our three groups to bomb the target but they missed by over a half mile. Luckily their bombs still fell in German territory, destroying a large group of apple trees where a large number of vehicle tracks were visible. Our secondary target had a cloud bank over it at 12,000 feet so we finally bombed a rail road siding and made a five minute bomb run and did a fairly good hit on it.

According to the mission summary, the flak was "Moderate and inaccurate at the primary." But that was from Captain Bob Sheets at the lead, while I was a quarter mile back and at least 500 feet lower. My diary reads: "Caen, France. German front line defences. Flak was rough as we were at 14,000 feet. Didn't drop on primary and finally dropped on railway yard, but good. CAVU. I'd rather go to Berlin. Finis. DFC." Mine was the only B-17 in the entire wing that was damaged. At one time the flak was bursting all around our plane but a few hundred feet away most of the time. I could see the angry, red centre of many of these explosions and even hear a few of them. I often wondered if I was being overly sensitive because it was my last mission and that they were determined to get me on their last chance. I thought at the time that one of those bursts might actually have my name on it. "Miss Lace" the airplane I was flying had a few extra holes on this trip. Score: Milk runs, 14.

Others,18. During my 32 missions I flew twelve different B-17s in combat. I flew "Buzz Blonde" 12 times, "Betty Jane" 5 times, "Sweet Rosie O-Grady" 2 times, "Tiny Angel" 2 times, "Miss Lace" 2 times, "Queenie" 2 times, "Jigger Rouche, Kraut Killer 1 time, "Full House" 1 time and 5 other un-named planes. The first and third of my "students" that I took on their first missions were killed in action just weeks later. I took H. C. Clark on his first mission on July 17. He and the other three officers and two enlisted gunners were killed on August 14, 1944 in the Jigger Rouche, Kraut Killer when they were shot down by fighters over

Wiesbaden. "Tiny Angel" that I flew on my 24 and 30th missions was shot down at the same mission with the deaths of the pilot, engineer and one waist gunner. On January 10, 1945, "Buzz Blonde collided with "Iza Vailable 2" over Bonn, Germany, destroying the tail gun position and killing gunner, M. M. Mooney. The nose of "Buzz Blonde" was badly damaged and the bombardier and navigator bailed out thinking that they were out of control. They had little choice as their oxygen system was destroyed in the collision. Both aircraft survived and the pilot and co-pilot of "Iza Vailable" each received a DFC for landing their plane with much of the tail missing. The "Betty Jane that I flew five times including the glide bomb attack on Cologne was shot down on September 13, 1944 with the pilot being the only one killed when his parachute failed to open. "Full House," the only "new" B-17 that I flew was in a collision with another 427th squadron B-17 which killed seventeen men with only one survivor. On November 21st 1944 my third "Student" was killed by German farmers, with his entire crew except the radio operator when they were shot down and bailed out over Mersberg. "Miss Lace" that I flew on my last mission was on a shuttle mission to Russia when it was hit by flak near the Russian lines. It was abandoned in Poland where it had

made an emergency landing.. "Queenie" later made a crash landing in England, but was salvaged. During my 32 missions the 303rd Bomb Group lost 20 bombers to enemy action, and 80 crewmen lost their lives. Not a single 303rd bomber went to Sweden during the entire war. One landed in Switzerland with disabling damage including over 60 flak holes. (Dick Johnson)(281)

- Mission 532: 5 B-17s drop leaflets in France during the night.

Whilst escorting convoy EBC.66, corvette HMCS Regina is attacked and sunk by U-667 (Oberleutnant zur See Karl-Heinz Lange). Location: English Channel off Trevose Head, Cornwall at 50 42N 05 03W. (Alex Gordon)(108)

Frigate HMS Whitesand Bay laid down.

Minesweeper HMS Orcadia launched.

U-667 sinks SS Ezra Weston.

Corvette HMCS Regina (K234), Lt. Jack Wiles Radford RCNR, Commanding Officer, was sunk by U-667, KptLt. Karl-Heinz Lange, Commanding Officer, off Trevose Head, Cornwall. Regina sank with the loss of 30 crewmembers (one officer, 29 ratings). Regina was a revised Flower-class corvette (1940-41 Program), built by Marine Industries Ltd. at Sorel, Province of Quebec. She arrived in Halifax on 06 Jan and was commissioned there on 22 Jan. After service in the western Atlantic she was assigned to Operation Torch, the North African landings. During her service in the Mediterranean she sank the Italian submarine Avorio on 08 Feb 43. She returned to duty in the North Atlantic, which was interrupted in Mar 44, when she fouled her screw during refuelling operations, while escorting convoy SC-154 as part of Escort Group C-1. She had to be towed into Horta, Azores, by the rescue ship Dundee, escorted by HMCS Valleyfield. She was assigned to Operation Neptune, the Normandy landings, and was engaged in escorting channel convoys at the time of her sinking. The ship sank in only 30 seconds, a trait for which Flower-class corvettes were notorious. At the time of Regina’s sinking, the cause of her loss was a mystery. In was not until after the war ended that record reconstruction determined an acoustic-homing torpedo fired by U-667 had hit Regina. U-667 was a medium-range Type VIIC submarine built by Howaldtswerke AG, at Hamburg. She was commissioned on 20 Oct 42. U-667 conducted five patrols and compiled a record of four ships sunk for a total of 10,000 tons. U-667 also recorded a success against an aircraft on 25 Sep 43, when she shot down a British ‘Wellington’ patrol aircraft from RAF 179 Squadron in the Straits of Gibraltar, one of many aerial attacks against this boat. U-667 was finally sunk by a mine on 25 Aug 44 in the Bay of Biscay near La Rochelle, in position 46.00N, 001.30W. All 45 crewmembers were lost. U-667 was returning from its first patrol under the command of KptLt. Lange when she was lost. Karl-Heinz Lange was born in 1918, at Stralsund. He joined the navy in 1937. His first operational service was from Dec 39 to Dec 40 as a Watch Officer with the 12th Minesweeping Flotilla. He also served with 7th R-boat Patrol Flotilla, WACHSHIFF 1 (Watch or Guard ship), the survey ship Meteor and the 2nd Minesweeping Flotilla, until Jan 43. He was appointed as the commander of the 26th Minesweeping Flotilla in Mar 43. In Aug 43 he transferred to the U-boat force and underwent both conversion and command preparatory training until Apr 44. After three months with the 7th U-Flotilla, he was appointed to command U-667 on 10 Jul 44, at the age of 26. The exact date of his promotion to KptLt. in 1944 is not recorded. Karl-Heinz Lange was among those lost when U-667 was sunk in the Bay of Biscay on 25 Aug 44.

FRANCE: Paris: The remaining captured British agents are taken from Compiégne to Buchenwald, 31 men in all and at least four women. The women are shot in Ravensbrück. A few of the men escape from Buchenwald or manage to save their lives in a last-minute uprising, but the majority are hanged.

The German attacks around Mortain continue as they attempt to recapture Avranches. The US 3rd Army continues its advance in Brittany. The US 79th Division enters Le Mans. The newly activated XX Corps advances toward Nantes and Angers.
1st Canadian Army launches Operation Totalize down the Falaise Road. (David R. O'Keefe)

The USAAF's Ninth Air Force dispatches 406 B-26s and A-20 Havocs to bomb a rail embankment and bridges at 8 locations in northern and western France, attack radar installations between Argentan and Alencon, and give tactical support to ground forces near Saint-Malo; fighters escort IX Bomber Command aircraft, give defensive air cover, and fly armed reconnaissance east of Paris and in the battle area.

GERMANY: Berlin: Eight German officers, including Field Marshal Erwin von Witzleben, were hanged at the Ploetzenzee prison today for their part in the plot of July 20 to assassinate Hitler. They died by slow strangulation hanging by thin hemp ropes looped on hooks ('meathooks') attached to a cross-beam, after having been dragged before the sadistic Roland Freisler, the president of the People's Court. Dressed in old clothes without braces or belts for their trousers, they were given a humiliating show trial.

The small death chamber was cordoned by a black curtain between the entrance and the hanging beam. The condemned were brought in singly, handcuffed, and stripped of their shirts. The executioner and his two assistants were fortified by a bottle of schnapps on a table.

The noose was put around their necks and the other end hung on the hook. The condemned, held aloft by the two assistants, are then dropped and strangulated for at least 10 minutes before losing consciousness. After 20 minutes they are pronounced dead. During this process the condemned's trousers fall off as they are not allowed belts.

The proceedings and the hangings were filmed on Hitler's orders, and the developed film has been dispatched to the Fuhrer for viewing in his private cinema.

Goebbels was behind the filming of the executions. He had a film crew set up klieg lights and stationary newsreel cameras focused on the death-chamber. He began with the filming of the trials of Friesler's "People's Court" and ended with the execution sequences. A total of ca. 205 cinematic minutes, which included ca. 25 minutes of the actual execution sequences were filmed. He named the feature "‘Verräter vor dem Volksgericht.’('Traitors face the Peoples Court') and sent the raw footage of the executions to Hitler at the "Wolfschanze" in East Prussia. Noted Hitler historian Prof. Peter Hoffmann has acknowledged that Hitler probably viewed the execution sequences provided by Goebbels, but that he also quickly put a lock on such footage to the general public, fearing a backlash. Which might explain why after sixty some odd years, only the "Volksgericht" trial of the conspirators is extant on film, but not the executions. Albert Speer testified that sometime in August of 1944, he saw photos of the hanged conspirators on the map-table of Hitler's headquarters. I doubt that "troop units" were ever shown the fabled "execution sequences" but might perhaps have been shown the "Volksgericht" portions where the Generals were humiliated before Freisler's court. To this day the missing 20-25 minutes of the Plötzensee execution footage of Witzleben, Hoeppner, et al. remains a mystery. (Russ Folsom)

In what might be the actual *first* confirmed aerial combat victory in a jet fighter, Lt.Joachim Weber, (of Ekdo262),downed a Mosquito of 540Sqn.over Ohlstadt, southwest of Munich. (Russ Folsom)

U-2517 launched.

U-1107 commissioned.

POLAND: Most of Warsaw is now controlled by forces of the Polish resistance. SS General Bach-Zelewski is appointed to lead the defending German forces.

For the past three days, in Wola, units of the Dirlewanger and Kaminski brigades, alongside SS-Polizei and Cossack mercenaries, have unleashed a wave of terror and indiscriminate slaughter, murdering an estimated 40,000 to 100,000 civilians, including women, children, elderly, and the sick in hospital in a gruesome bloodbath. They openly killed all prisoners, and basically raped and looted their way through the district, leaving it in a smoking heap of unsalvageable ruins.

Word was that Dirlewanger, ever the loose-cannon, would not take orders from Reinefarth, and even threatened the overall operational CO, SS-Gen Erich v.dem Bach's executive officer with death over a minor matter.

Kaminski, purported to be on a drunken bender throughout the whole of the operation, was no easier to direct, and after an incident where German DRK (German Red Cross) nurses were raped by his Russian troops, he was summoned to a meeting outside of Warsaw and quickly "liquidated" on RFSS Himmler's orders.[*2] [*2] Kaminski's demise was explained to his followers as an assassination by Polish Home Army troops. Himmler's actual reason for taking him out had little to do with his troops excesses in Warsaw, but rather a power shift between the contingents of RONA and Vlassov's ROA, which Himmler was considering cultivating as a new source of manpower for his W-SS legions] (Russ Folsom)

Bulgaria and Romania break off diplomatic relations with Germany. (Mike Yared)

CHINA: Japanese forces occupy the strategic railway junction at Hengyang, after bitter fighting lasting nearly eight weeks.

GUAM: US troops capture Mount Santa Rosa.

CANADA: Ordered for RCN: Passenger Craft HC 324, HC 325, HC 326, HC 327, HC 328. Frigate HMCS Hallowell commissioned

U.S.A.: Destroyer escort USS Alvin C. Cockrell launched.

Minesweeper USS Reproof launched. Destroyer escort USS Tills commissioned.

Coast Guard-manned Army vessel FS-392 was commissioned at Los Angeles with LT J. A. Small, USCG, as her first commanding officer. He was succeeded by LT Philip G. Adams, USCGR. He was succeeded by LT E. R. Holden, USCGR, on 15 October 1945. She was assigned to and operated in the Southwest Pacific and Western Pacific areas. She was decommissioned 19 October 1945.

8 August 1945

August 8th, 1945 (WEDNESDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: Aircraft carrier HMS Ocean commissioned.

GERMANY: Nuremburg: The trial of Nazi war criminals by a four-power military tribunal will open in Nuremburg, the traditional setting for the Nazi Party rallies and the city where the infamous decrees for the persecution of the Jews were promulgated. The top Nazis, now under arrest, are accused of planning to make war in violation of international treaties, violating accepted laws and customs of war, murder, extermination, enslavement and deportation. Acting under orders will not be accepted as a defence.

Britain is represented by Lord Jowitt, the lord chancellor in the new Labour government; the United States, the Soviet Union and France are represented by supreme court judges.

JAPAN: The U.S.S.R. declares war on Japan. It cites the failure of Japan to accept the terms of the Potsdam Declaration.

The USAAF's Twentieth Air Force dispatches 381 B-29 Superfortresses on 3 missions, 2 during the day of 8 August and 1 during the night of 8/9 August; 7 B-29s are lost.

- Mission 319: Shortly before 1200 hours, 221 B-29s drop incendiaries on Yawata destroying 1.22 sq mi (3.16 sq km), 21% of the city; 6 others hit alternate targets; 1 B-29s is shot down by Japanese fighters and 3 are lost to mechanical reasons.

- Mission 320: Late in the afternoon, 60 B-29s bomb an aircraft plant and arsenal complex at Tokyo; 2 others hit alternate targets; 2 B-29s are lost to flak and 1 to mechanical reasons (these are the last B-29s lost in action by the Twentieth Air Force).

- Mission 321: During the night of 8/9 August, 91 B-29s hit Fukiyama with incendiaries destroying 0.88 sq mi (2.28 sq km), 73.3% of the city; 1 hits an alternate target.

In Japan:

- 100+ USAAF Twentieth Air Force fighters from Iwo Jima hit airfields, factory buildings, barracks, and rail installations in the Osaka, Japan area.

- USAAF Far East Air Force (FEAF) Okinawa-based B-24s, B-25s, A-26 Invaders, P-51s, and P-47s carry out numerous strikes against targets on Kyushu; targets include the Usa and Tsuiki Airfields, communications and transport targets all over Kyushu, shipping between Kyushu and Korea, and targets of opportunity in the Ryukyu Islands, on the China coast, and on Formosa. P-47s escorting Twentieth Air Force B-29s claim 10 Japanese planes downed.

The crew of the USN destroyer USS Cassin (DD-372) boards the Japanese hospital ship Kiku Maru northwest of Marcus Island but finds no violations and lets the ship proceed.

509BG perform another Pumpkin Raid.

Ops.

Miss.

Date

Aircraft

Cdr.

Crew

Bombing

Target

Lat

Long

Result

38	15	08/08/45	44-27296	Price	B-7	Primary	Visual	Conv. Textile Mill, Yokkaichi
38	14	08/08/45	44-27299	Devore	A-3			Aborted
38	14	08/08/45	44-27300	Westover	A-4	Secondary	Visual	Tsuruga Chemical Plant
38	15	08/08/45	44-27302	Eatherly	C-11	Primary	Visual	Heavy Industry, Yokkaichi Harbour
38	14	08/08/45	44-27303	Wilson	B-6	Secondary	Visual	Assembly Plant, Uwajima
38	14	08/08/45	44-27304	Lewis	B-9	Opport.	Visual	Light Industry, Tokushima

CANADA: Destroyer HMCS Assiniboine paid off.

U.S.A.: President Truman signs the UN Charter.

The motion picture "Over 21" is released in the U.S. today. Based on the Ruth Gordon play, this comedy is directed by Charles Vidor and stars Irene Dunne, Alexander Knox and Charles Coburn. The zany plot has middle-aged Knox trying to complete Officers Candidate School in World War II with help from his wife (Dunne).

Submarine USS Cobbler commissioned.

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