17 August 1939

August 17th, 1939 (THURSDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: Aircraft carrier HMS Formidable is launched.

GERMANY: Hitler orders Admiral Canaris, the head of German Intelligence, to obtain Polish uniforms for a 'special SS operation'.

U.S.S.R.: Moscow: Molotov is highly gratified by the German's obvious haste to achieve a political agreement, and to Drax's outrage, Marshal Voroshilov - by now sure that neither the French nor the British mean business - dismisses their delegates for four days.

U.S.A.: Sumner Welles, Under Secretary of State, passes information concerning the German overtures to Moscow to British Ambassador Sir Ronald Lindsay. Lindsay immediately telegraphs London, confident his message will be in the Foreign Office first thing in the morning, London time. It is, but is not deciphered for four days.

The prototype Douglas DB-7 twin-engined Attack bomber flies at Los Angeles Municipal Airport (El Segundo), California. (18)

17 August 1940

August 17th, 1940 (SATURDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: RAF Bomber Command: 4 Group (Whitley). Bombing - aircraft factory at Augsburg.
102 Sqn. Five aircraft. One returned early, three bombed primary and one FTR.

RAF Fighter Command: A day of reduced activity limited to single aircraft seeking coastal shipping.

Around 17:00 a photo-reconnaissance aircraft lingered at 35,000 feet over London, before another flying even higher surveyed the Thames and its Estuary.

During night attacks homes are destroyed in Aberavon, Wales. Bombs also fell south-west of Coventry and a dozen on Liverpool.

Pilot Officer R.A. Rhodes and Sgt. Gregory operating a Mersey Blue Line patrol from Ternhill in a Blenheim 1 fighter L6741 of 29 Sqn shot down a night raider which they located by the lights in its rear position. Killed in the encounter was KG 53's Gruppenkommandeur.

Churchill spends the afternoon watching the progress of the battle in the "ops room" of No. 11 Group at Uxbridge, near London. He could hardly contain his excitement as he followed the progress of the battles. The gallantry of the RAF against constant attack from the Luftwaffe made a deep impression on him. Later, driving home, he said: "Don't speak to me; I have never been so moved."

London: The Reuters News Agency reported:
For the first time in the war German aircraft have bombed the suburbs of London, but the actual city of London neither saw enemy aircraft, nor heard the roar of their engines nor of anti-aircraft fire. Londoners are going quietly about their work. In the evening the usual crowds are to be seen outside theatre and cinemas, and the parks are packed with strollers who will be very surprised to read in the morning papers what the Germans say about the great air battles over London. The first German report that London's port district had been "very badly damaged," provoked some mirth here; while the later German reports that their planes "danced" over London, that gigantic fires were raging on both sides of the Thames, and that a curtain of smoke lay across the whole of London, gave Londoners much amusement. When the air alert was sounded for the second time in 24 hours on Friday afternoon, at an hour when there was busy traffic on the streets, the majority of passers-by entered the air-raid shelters in complete composure.

Lt Edward Womersley (1917-55), Royal Engineers, dug 17 feet to an unexploded bomb and removed a new type of fuse for which he had no instructions. (Empire Gallantry Medal)

Corvette HMS Coreopsis commissioned. Submarine HMS Utmost commissioned.

GERMANY: The Luftwaffe removes Stukas from its attacking force, as they have proved too vulnerable.
Daily Keynote from the Reich Press Chief:
The Minister [of Propaganda, Goebbels] reckons that sooner or later the English will give up their present tactic of trivialising [the German air raids] and substitute a new tactic: playing the fiddle of humanitarian sentiment in order to "awaken the world's conscience," for which they will trot out murdered women, pregnant women, old people etc., for inspection. To meet this predictable eventuality, Herr Fritsche and Herr Bohmer [of the Ministry of Propaganda] should have material ready to hand, pictures of the children killed in Freiburg and so on ...

The German government announces a "total blockade" of the British Isles and states that all ships will be sunk without warning.

Corvette Kreizis commissioned.

GREECE: Greek reserve forces are called up in some districts. This demonstrates the recent increased tensions. The Greek cruiser Helle was sunk by an Italian submarine recently.

LIBYA: The Royal Navy Mediterranean Fleet lead by Admiral Cunningham bombards Italian positions at Bardia and Fort Capuzzo.
(Mark Horan adds): In an effort to provide air cover for the bombardment operation, HMS Eagle dispatched the three Sea Gladiators of her 813 Fight Flight to Sidi Barrani where they joined RAF Gladiator's of 112 Squadron in flying CAP throughout the day. In the afternoon, the expected attacks by Regia Aeronautica appeared. The patrols of Gladiators broke up several attacks, with 813 Fighter Flight's Cdr. C. L. Keighley-Peach, Lt. L. K. Keith, and Lt. A. N. Young claiming two of 8 claims overall.

Tragically, 11 days later Young would be killed as killed when his 824 Squadron Swordfish crashed at Dekheila. The Mediterranean fleet sustained no damage.

Meanwhile, with Commonwealth's recent gains in Libya, the Royal Navy begins laying plans to send several of HMS Eagle's Swordfish aircraft to the Bardia area to operate against Italian supply lanes in the Gulf of Bomba.

CANADA: Corvette HMCS Cobalt launched Port Arthur, Ontario.

17 August 1941

August 17th, 1941 (SUNDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: London: Britain and the USSR protest to Iran about the large number of German "tourists" in Iran.

Great Britain and the Soviet Union sign a trade accord.

U.S.S.R.: The German Army's Heeresgruppe Nord (von Leeb) in its drive toward Leningrad captures Narva while Heeresgruppe Süd (von Rundstedt) reaches the Dniepr River at Dnepropetrovsk. Novgorod on the shores of Lake Ilmen and the Black Sea naval port of Nikolayev also falls to the Germans.

Soviet submarine SC-216 commissioned.

Soviet submarine Shch-307 is mined near Suuraari Island. (Mike Yared)(146 and 147)

CHINA: The Nationalist government endorses the Anglo-US Atlantic Charter.

U.S.A.: President Franklin D Roosevelt and Secretary of State Cordell Hull talk with Japanese Ambassador Nomura Kichasaburo. The Americans state their conditions for resuming negotiations with the Japanese. A US note to Japan is formally presented. This note maintains the lines as agreed at Placentia Bay. Since it is toned down from what was originally agreed, the British and Dutch governments do not present their notes at this time.

17 August 1942

August 17th (MONDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: First use of the Moonshine radar countermeasures system which allowed a single aircraft to simulate a much larger force. Installed in obsolete Defiant aircraft, the system is used to protect a US 8^th A/F raid on French railway yards in Rouen with great success. (Cris Wetton)

Light cruiser HMS Blake laid down. Minesweeping trawlers HMS Promise and Prodigal commissioned.

The Canada Steamship Lines merchantman Kindersley (1,999 GRT) was damaged by bombs from Luftwaffe aircraft in the North Sea, off Blyth. There is no record of casualties in this incident.

FRANCE : Rouen is the target for the First all-American bombing raid over Europe.

The USAAF's VIII Bomber Command in England flies Mission 1. Twelve B-17E Flying Fortresses of the 97th Bombardment Group (Heavy) based at Grafton Underwood, Northamptonshire, takeoff at 1527 hours. The lead aircraft of the first flight of six is named "Butcher Shop" and is piloted by Colonel Frank A. Armstrong, the group commander; the co-pilot is Major Paul W. Tibbets, the pilot of the B-29 "Enola Gay" which dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima in August 1945. The lead aircraft of the second group is "Yankee Doodle" and this aircraft carries Major General Ira C. Eaker, Commanding General, VIII Bomber Command. The B-17s rendezvous with four squadrons of RAF Spitfire Mk. IXs and proceed to the target, the Sotteville marshalling yard at Rouen France. A second diversion force of six B-17s took off at 1512 hours from Polebrook, Northamptonshire, headed for France but then turned around and returned to base. All 12 aircraft bomb at 1739-1746 hours; the bombing was reasonably accurate with about half the bombs falling in the general target area. The escorts kept Luftwaffe fighters at bay but one Bf 109 got within range and was claimed as damaged by a ball turret gunner. The main force returns to base shortly after 1900 hours.

They fly at high altitude in daylight escorted by RAF, Dominion and Allied fighters. Despite being attacked by Messerschmitt Me109s they all returned safely and one gunner shot down a German fighter.

Brigadier-General Ira C. Eaker, the commander of the USAAF Bomber Command, led the attack which followed hard on the pledge by Major-General Carl Spaatz, the commander of the USAAF in Europe, to inflict "very powerful Anglo-American air blows on the enemy."

Major-General Spaatz was at the airfield to greet the crews on their return. "They behaved like veterans," he said, "this is the real start of our bombing effort and we are going to keep it up." The Flying Fortress crews were jubilant about their raid. One pilot said: "We have broken the ice at last. This is what we had been waiting for. The big moment came when, at great altitude, we saw the targets, an important marshalling yard and railway terminus with roundhouses to accommodate 250 locomotives. To see all the bombs making dead hits was like all the Fourths of July I have ever known."

This attack not only marked the entry of the USAAF heavy bombers into the war over Europe; it gave the American aviators the opportunity to test their theories of daytime precision bombing under war conditions. They believe that their Fortresses, bristling with half-inch machine guns, can beat off fighters by the defensive fire of their high altitude formations. The RAF having suffered heavy daytime bombing losses, is sceptical.

GERMANY: U-720 laid down.

U.S.S.R.: The Germans cross the Kuban river and capture Russian positions and vital power stations, in Pyatigorsk and Yessentuki in the Caucasus.
Black Sea Fleet and Azov Flotilla: Shipping loss: MS "TSch-405 "Vzrivatel"" - by field artillery, close to Eupatoria (later raised) (Sergey Anisimov)(69)

Soviet submarine Shch-307 is also lost, mined near Suuraari Island. (Mike Yared)(146 and 147)

U-209 sank SS Kompleks, SS Komsomolec and escorts P-4 and SH-3.

MEDITERRANEAN SEA: British submarine HMS/M Turbulent (N 98) fires two torpedoes that strike the Italian motor transport MV Nino Bixio. One of the torpedoes explodes in a hold full of Allied POWs and 336 of them, including 120 New Zealanders, are killed. The ship does not sink and is taken under tow by an escorting Italian destroyer and towed to Navarino, Greece. The survivors are shipped to a POW camp near Bari, Italy.

The Canadian Pacific Railways passenger liner Princess Marguerite (5,875 GRT), Captain Leicester, Master, was torpedoed and sunk in the Mediterranean Sea in position 32.03N, 032.47E, by U-83, Kptlt Hans-Werner KRAUS, Knight's Cross, CO. Princess Marguerite was requisitioned by the British Government at the end of 1941 from CPR Ships for use as a troopship. After a refit in Esquimalt, she was dispatched to the Mediterranean. Princess Marguerite was enroute to Cyprus, escorted by the armed merchant cruiser HMS Antwerp and three destroyers, with elements of the British 8th Army embarked, when she was torpedoed. A fuel oil fire rapidly spread out of control and detonated a magazine. The ship sank in less than an hour. The loss of life would have been much greater had it not been for the determined efforts of the destroyer HMS Hero (later HMCS Chaudiere), who rescued a great number of the survivors. In all, 55 souls were lost in this incident.

GILBERT ISLANDS: Makin Island: Companies "A" and "B," 2d Marine Raider Battalion (Lieutenant Colonel Evans F. Carlson, USMC), land on Butaritari Island. The purpose of this raid is to destroy Japanese installations, take prisoners, gain intelligence on the area and divert Japanese attention and reinforcements from the Solomon Islands; Intelligence estimates that there are 45 Japanese on the island. The Marines had been transported in the submarines USS Nautilus (SS-168) and USS Argonaut (SS-166), each of which could carry a company. The submarines surfaced in heavy rain and high seas and Carlson changed the plans; originally, the two companies were to land on widely separated beaches but the new plan has them landing together. One platoon did not get the word and ended up landing alone in what became the enemy rear.

The two companies crossed the island and then turned southwest towards the known Japanese positions and a fire fight soon ensued. The Japanese launched two banzai attacks which were easily dispatched; unknown to the Americans, these attacks nearly wiped out the Japanese garrison.

At 1130 hours, two enemy aircraft appeared and they dropped bombs, none of which hit the Marines. Two hours later, 12 aircraft appeared, several of them seaplanes. Two large seaplanes landed in the lagoon and were fired upon by the Marines; one burst into flames and the other crashed on takeoff. The remaining aircraft bombed and strafed the island for an hour.

The natives on the island reported that Japanese reinforcements had landed from the seaplanes and two small ships in the lagoon. Colonel Carlson believed there was a sizeable Japanese force on the island and it was decided to evacuate the troops in their rubber boats. However, a heavy surf soaked the outboard engines making them inoperative, boats capsized and equipment was lost. Several boatloads of troops made it to the submarines but Carlson and 120 men ended up on the shore where they remained into the next day.

BISMARCK ARCHIPELAGO: A single USAAF B-17 of the Allied Air Forces bombs Kavieng, New Ireland Island.

NEW GUINEA: 24 IJN bombers attack Seven-Mile Aerodrome at Port Moresby and destroy 3 B-26 Marauders and a transport.

TERRITORY OF ALASKA: In the Aleutian Islands, a US 11th Air Force B-24 Liberator flies photo reconnaissance over Buldir, Kiska and Amchitka Islands despite heavy rain.

U.S.A.: Destroyer USS Anthony laid down. Minesweeper USS Motive launched.

Movie star Clark Gable goes to OCS. (Stuart Kohn)

ATLANTIC OCEAN: U-108 torpedoes and sinks the armed U.S. merchant tanker SS Louisiana about 200 miles (322 km) off Paramaribo, Dutch Guiana, in position 07°24'N, 52°33'W; although the crew of the U-boat sees three men escape from the burning ship, they are never found. There are no survivors from the 41 merchant sailors and the 8-man Armed Guard.

U-507 sank SS Arará and SS Itagiba.

U-566 sank SS Triton in Convoy SL-118.

U-658 sank SS Fort la Reine, SS Samir and damaged SS Laguna in Convoy PG-6.

The Canadian-built, British-registered cargo ship Fort la Reine (7,130 GRT), Captain Percy W. Pennock, Master, was sunk by U-658, Kptlt Hans Senkel, Knight’s Cross, CO, in the Windward Passage, NE of Jamaica, in position 18.30N, 075.20W. Fort la Reine was as part of the 23-ship Vancouver, British Columbia, to Liverpool (via Cristobal, Guantanamo Bay, and Halifax) convoy PG-6 when she was lost. The was loaded with 9,800 tons of grain, lumber and other general cargo. The Master, 37 crewmembers and three DEMS gunners were rescued by the Flower-class corvette HMS Pimpernel. Twelve other survivors were rescued by a USN patrol boat. One DEMS gunner and two crewmembers were lost in this incident. Fort la Reine was a North Sands-class freighter built by Burrard Drydock Company Ltd. (South Yard), at Vancouver, British Columbia She was completed in Jul 42. Fort la Reine was one of 90 North Sands-class freighters built in Canada for American order under the Hyde Park Declaration and subsequently provided to Great Britain under the Lend-Lease Agreement. J. Constantine & Sons Ltd., of Middlesborough, England, managed the ship for the British government. Twenty-two of these ships were sunk and another seven were damaged.

Submarine USS Bass while at sea, a fire broke out in the after battery room and quickly spread to the after torpedo room and starboard main motor, resulting in the death of 25 enlisted men by asphyxiation. The following day USS Antaeus arrived to assist the submarine and escorted her into the Gulf of Dulce, Costa Rica. Both vessels then proceeded to Balboa.

17 August 1943

August 17th, 1943 (TUESDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM:

During the night of 17/18 August, the RAF begins Operation CROSSBOW, massive attacks on German V-weapon sites. The aircraft drop 2,000 tons of bombs on Peenemunde, Germany.

596 aircraft - 324 Lancasters, 218 Halifaxes, 54 Stirlings were dispatched to bomb Peenemünde.

This was a special raid which Bomber Command was ordered to carry out against the German research establishment on the Baltic coast where V2 rockets were being built and tested. The raid was carried out in moonlight to increase the chances of success. There were several novel features:- there was a Master Bomber controlling a full-scale Bomber Command raid for the first time; There were three aiming points - the scientists' and workers' living quarters, the rocket factory and the experimental station; The Pathfinders employed a special plan with crews designated as 'shifters,' who attempted to move the marking from one part of the target to another as the raid progressed; Crews of No 5 Group; bombing in the last wave of the attack, had practised the 'time-and-distance' bombing method as an alternative method for their part in the raid.

The Pathfinders found Peenemünde without difficulty in the moonlight and the Master Bomber controlled the raid successfully throughout. A Mosquito diversion to Berlin drew off most of the German night-fighters for the first two of the raid's three phases. The estimate has appeared in many sources that this raid set back the V-2 experimental programme by at least two months and reduced the scale of the eventual rocket attack.

Bomber Command's losses were 40 aircraft - 23 Lancasters, 15 Halifaxes and 2 Stirlings. This represents 6.7 per cent of the force dispatched but was judged an acceptable cost for the successful attack on this important target on a moonlit night. Most of the casualties were suffered by the aircraft of the last wave when the German night fighters arrived in force. This was the first night on which the Germans used their new schräge Musik weapons; these were twin upward-firing cannons fitted in the cockpit of Me 110s. Two schräge Musik aircraft found the bomber stream flying home from Peenemünde and are believed to have shot down six of the bombers lost on the raid.

The US 8th Airforce mounts today's strike at Schweinfurt and Regensburg. The targets are the ball-bearing plants. 51 bombers are lost, which is deemed an unacceptable loss rate.

Tonight the RAF will target Peenemunde. This is the center of German rocket research and manufacturing.

The US Eighth Air Force's VIII Air Support Command and VIII Bomber Command both fly missions.

- The VIII Air Support Command flies Missions 23 and 24 attacking 2 airfields in France.
(1) 29 B-26Bs attack Bryas Sud Airfield at 1051 hours, and
(2) 35 B-26Bs bomb Nord Airfield at Poix at 1552 hours.

- On the first anniversary of US heavy bomber operations from the UK, the VIII Bomber Command flies Mission 84, a two-pronged attack, marking the deepest penetration of German territory to date, 800 miles from the Channel coast. The critical targets are the Messerschmitt complex at Regensburg, and the anti-friction-bearing factories at Schweinfurt; 60 B-17's are lost in the fierce air battle that extends to the targets and continues after the bombing. The Luftwaffe harried the bombers all the way to the target and back, but the American crews fought their way through to inflict heavy damage on the factories. Both are high on the "Pointblank" list, which instructs RAF and USAAF to concentrate raids on German fighter production centres.
(1) 188 B-17s bomb Schweinfurt between 1459-1511 hours; they claim 148-18-63 Luftwaffe aircraft; 36 B-17's are lost; there are 80 high explosive hits on the 2 main bearing plants.
(2) 127 B-17's attack Regensburg between 1148-1207 hours; they claim 140-19-36 Luftwaffe aircraft; 24 B-17's are lost; every important building in the complex is damaged; the surviving aircraft continue on to bases in North Africa.

The air was full of blazing planes, cannon fire and rockets as the B-17s fought their way through, their formidable half-inch machine guns covering each other, closing up the formation as stricken aircraft staggered and fell out of position. The bombers suffered heavy casualties.

Minesweeping trawler HMS Grain is launched.

Corvette HMS Kenilworth Castle launched.

Frigate HMS Bahamas is launched.

Salvage vessel HMS Lifeline launched.

The Maritime Anti-Aircraft Regiments of the Royal Artillery are reorganized into the Maritime Royal Artillery.

UK:

No. 1 Regiment Lochwinnoch

No. 2 Detachment Glasgow

No. 10 Detachment Tynemouth

No. 4 Regiment Southport

No. 13 Detachment Liverpool

No. 20 Detachment Cardiff

No. 5 Regiment Shoeburyness

No. 18 Detachment Wanstead

No. 19 Detachment Southampton

India:

No. 2 Regiment

RHQ Bombay

Detachments: Bombay, Karachi, Calcutta, Madras

Sub-detachments: Abadan, Cochin, Vizagapatam

Burma - No. 14 Independent Battery

Ceylon - No. 6 Independent Troop

Oceania - No. 12 Battery

South Africa - No 11 Battery

Middle East - No. 9 Battery

New York - No. 8 Battery

(Mike Yared)

GERMANY: U-1063 laid down.

U-350 and U-369 launched.

U.S.S.R.: Black Sea Fleet and Azov Flotilla: MS "T-11" (ex-"Petrash") - by shnellboat, at Gelenjik area (Sergey Anisimov)(69)

ITALY: General Patton's forces, the US 3rd Infantry Division of the Seventh Army, enter Messina at 10am. British forces of the Eighth Army coming from Ali follow 50 minutes later. The fall of Sicily paves the way for the stepped-up air offensive against Italy.

The Germans have left in an orderly evacuation. The booty of captured weapons, fuel and ammunition was huge; but nothing could compensate for the sight of the civilian population emerging from cellars and other hiding places to see their beloved Messina almost flattened by not only Allied bombs and artillery but also, now, shells from the Italian mainland.

There were no flowers or wine or kisses to greet these conquerors. The people of Messina are disorientated, dulled and wholly uninterested in the khaki-clad men who roam their city and sit in the few remaining bars and cafes, equally tired and haggard and talking of friends they have buried over the past 39 days of brutal fighting.

The cost in casualties of the Sicilian campaign has been high, though less than anticipated. The British and Canadians have lost 2,721 killed, 2,183 missing and 7,939 wounded - a total of 12,843. The Americans lost a total of 9,968 - 2,811 killed, 686 missing and 6,741 wounded. The British estimate that 164,000 Axis troops were either killed or taken prisoner with 100,000 evacuated to the mainland.
The Allied capture of Sicily is marred by successful evacuation of 50,000 German and 62,000 Italian soldiers and 50 panzers and various supplies.

PORTUGAL agrees to allow the British to establish bases in the Azores.

NEW GUINEA: The 5th AF sends 50+ B-17s and B-24s make a predawn attack on Wewak and satellite airfields at Boram, Dogaw, and But. They also hit Tadji and Madang. In midmorning, 30+ B-25s escorted by 80+ P-38s make a bombing and strafing strike on Boram, Wewak and Dagaw. This begins the air campaign to neutralize Japanese airfields in preparation for the offensive against Lae.

BORNEO: US Fifth Air Force B-24s bomb oil facilities at Balikpapan and damage a Japanese cargo ship.

SOLOMON ISLANDS: New ground troops are landed on Vella Lavella Island despite air attacks by the Japanese. At dusk, several Japanese aircraft attack shipping and sink an LST and destroy an early-warning radar site. On New Georgia Island, Japanese artillery on Baanga Island continues to shell Munda Airfield.

TERRITORY OF ALASKA: ALEUTIAN ISLANDS: 73d Squadron USAAF departs Alaska for Paine Field, Everett, Washington.

A US Eleventh Air Force B-24 flies over Kiska Island watching friendly forces land on the shore of eastern Kiska Lake. American troops land on Little Kiska Island.

CANADA, Quebec City: William MacKenzie King, prime minister of Canada, hosts the sixth Anglo-American War Conference between US President Franklin D Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill at the Chateau frontenac. The two leaders and the Combined Chiefs of Staff discuss worldwide strategy, and plan for landings in France in 1944.

Corvette HMCS Lunenburg completed foc'sle extension refit Liverpool, Nova Scotia. Frigate HMCS Cheboque launched Esquimalt, British Columbia.

U.S.A.: Aircraft carrier USS Midway (CVE-63) is launched by Mrs. Howard Nixon Culter. Destroyer escort USS Osmus laid down.

Submarine USS Tang launched, sponsored by Mrs. Antonio S. Pitre. (John Nicholas)

Aircraft carrier USS Wasp launched. Destroyer USS Cogswell commissioned. Frigate USS Pocatello laid down. Frigates USS Pasco and Corpus Christi launched.

Destroyer Escort USS Chambers is launched.

Escort carrier USS Hoggatt Bay is laid down.

ATLANTIC OCEAN: U-197 sank SS Empire Stanley.

17 August 1944

August 17th, 1944 (THURSDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM:

The US Eighth Air Force in England flies 3 missions.

- Mission 558: 10 B-24s are dispatched to drop Azon missiles on the Les Foulous, France rail bridge but the mission is abandoned due to deteriorating weather.

- Mission 559: 1 B-17 drop a BATTY TV bomb on the port area at La Pallice, France.

- Mission 560: 7 B-17s drop leaflets in France during the night.

- 33 B-24s fly CARPETBAGGER missions during the night.

Fighter-bomber missions flown by the VIII Fighter Command:

- 397 P-38 Lightnings and P-47 Thunderbolts hit the Paris/Brussels area; they claim 3-0-3 aircraft.

- 318 P-51 Mustangs are dispatched to hit communications targets; 7 P-51s are lost.

FRANCE: Three thousand men detained by the SD are released. Those at Compiègne are still put on a train but will be released during transit by the Wehrmacht.

The Americans are in Chartres. The members of the Fascist PPF begin preparations to flee Paris on a convoy of Wehrmacht trucks, temporary passports are issued at the embassy for those wanting to go to Germany. In total between 10 and 20,000 Miliciens, PPF members and other ultras retreat eastwards to the Reich under constant exposure to Allied air forces.

The mayor of Paris, Pierre Charles Tattinger, meets with the German commander Dietrich von Choltitz to protest the explosives being deployed throughout the city. Adolf Hitler had decreed that Paris should be left a smoking ruin, but Dietrich von Choltitz thought better of his Fuehrer's order.

Falaise, France is completely captured by the Canadian 2nd Division. There remain only a few miles between The Canadians to the north and the US V Corps to the south. Dreux, Chateaudun and Orleans are captured by US forces. The citadel at St. Malo, France surrenders.

La Lande: Staff Sergeant Stanley Bender, US Army, Company E, 7th Infantry, 3d Infantry Division, climbed on top of a knocked-out tank in the face of withering machine-gun fire to locate and destroy the source of fire which was holding up his company. He located the guns and led a squad of men to knock them out. MOH

In an agreement between Abetz and von Cholitz "Paris was to be neither defended not destroyed, not delivered to looting and arson."

German Field Marshal Walther Model takes over command of German forces in the West from Field Marshall Gunther von Kluge who committed suicide because of his involvement in the July 20 plot against Hitler.
Chief of State Marshal Henri Pétain and his staff are interned at Belfort by order of the Führer. The Vichy French government under Premier Pierre Laval resigns.

In southern France, St. Raphael, St. Tropex, Frejus, Le Luq and St. Maxime fall to the Allies. There is little German resistance.

- The US Ninth Air Force dispatches 400+ A-20 Havocs and B-26s to bomb road bridges at Montfort-sur-Risle, Pont-Audemer, Nassandres, Beaumont-le-Roger, Le Bourg, Brionne, and Beaumontel, and a rail bridge at La Ferriere-sur-Risle; fighters fly ground force cover over Saint-Malo and Dreux and armed reconnaissance in northwest France; IX Tactical Air Command fighters attack and severely damage Gestapo HQ near Chateauroux.

- The US Twelfth Air Force, despite bad weather, sends medium bombers to attack railroad bridges leading to the beachhead area of the south coast and hit coastal guns southwest of Toulon; A-20s hit motor transport during the night and drop ammunition to invasion forces; fighter-bombers and fighters on armed reconnaissance and patrol score excellent results against motor transport and rail cars and destroy several airplanes on airfields in the south.

GERMANY: A Soviet patrol crosses the old East Prussian border near Stallupoenen (now Nestrov). (Henry Sirotin)

FINLAND: President Mannerheim meets Generalfeldmarschall Wilhelm Keitel who has come for a sudden visit to Finland. The formal reason for Keitel's visit is to bring Mannerheim the Oak Leaves to his Knight's Cross and a Knight's Cross for General of Infantry Erik Heinrichs, the Chief of Finnish General Staff.

Mannerheim informs Keitel that the promise given by the ex-President Risto Ryti, that Finland won't make peace unless in agreement with Germany, is in force no more. It was made by President Ryti personally and was not ratified by the Parliament. Finnish people doesn't approve of the promise and thus Ryti had to resign. Finland shall stay in the war only as long as is in her interest to do so. Keitel assures that Germany won't submit but keep fighting for ten more years if necessary.
Mannerheim comments that unfortunately we Finns can't do that. Keitel is visibly agitated when he leaves.

LITHUANIA: Soviet Army Group North attacks toward Siauliai to prevent Riga from being cutoff.

U.S.S.R.: Baltic Fleet, Ladoga Lake and Chudskoe Lake Flotillas: SKA "I-27" and SKA "I-28" - by aviation, in Teploe Lake (part of Chudskoe Lake) . (Sergey Anisimov)(69)

ITALY: The Germans pull out of Florence, releasing Italy's most beautiful city from a vise in which it long has been clutched. Neither army shelled Florence and it is believed that the historic city is intact except for five bridges blown up by the Germans.

The US Fifteenth Air Force in sends 53 B-17s, with fighter cover, to bomb Nish Airfield in Yugoslavia and 250 B-24s, escorted by P-51s, to bomb 3 oil refineries and targets of opportunity in the Ploesti, Romania area.

BULGARIA: One B-24 Liberator of the USAAF's Fifteenth Air Force in Italy visually bombs a target of opportunity.

ROMANIA: Two hundred forty five B-24 Liberator of the USAAF's Fifteenth Air Force in Italy bomb three oil refineries at Ploesti with the loss of 19 aircraft: Using H2X radar, the Romano Americano Refinery if bombed by 70 aircraft while 54 bomb visually; 124 aircraft bomb the Romano Americano Refinery, 70 using H2X radar; and 34 bomb the Standard Oil Refinery visually. Other targets hit by individual aircraft are a highway at Bailesti, a marshalling yard at Dragonesti, and another unnamed highway.

YUGOSLAVIA: B-17 Flying Fortresses of the USAAF's Fifteenth Air Force in Italy bomb two targets: 51 aircraft bomb the airfield at Nis with the loss of one aircraft while one bombs the railroad at Pirot.

INDIA: Viceroy Viscount Wavell rejects Gandhi's request to discuss war support in return for Indian independence.

NEW GUINEA: The last significant Japanese force on Numfoor is destroyed by US paratroopers.

VOLCANO ISLANDS: US Seventh Air Force B-24s from Saipan Island bomb Iwo Jima Island.

PALAU ISLANDS: US Thirteenth Air Force radar-equipped B-24s attack Japanese airfields and defenses during the night.

CANADA: Minesweeper HMCS Kapuskasing commissioned.

U.S.A.: Baseball, New York Yankees' center fielder Johnny Lindell ties a major league baseball record by hitting four consecutive doubles in a game against the Cleveland Indians. The Yankees win the game 10-3.

Destroyer USS Dyess laid down.

17 August 1942

August 17th, 1945 (FRIDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: Westminster: The long and the short and the tall may worry less about their "demob" dates - the day when British servicemen discard uniform and come home - as a result of a scheme to accelerate the release process. The official target increased today from 115,000 to 171,000 a month, to return a million men and 100,000 women by 31 December instead of 825,000. An additional million people will be released from munitions work within eight weeks, many of them to begin a belated retirement. Some service people will be disappointed when they study the small print of the Labour government's plan. An individual's release depends on his service trade and number. Men in trades where skills are scarce, such as Fleet Air Arm radar mechanics, will find themselves in uniform for months, perhaps years longer than simple truck drivers. The minister of fuel and power, Emmanuel Shinwell, has announced a drive to increase coal production by 18 million tons annually to avert fuel shortages.

The government announces a programme of social reform, with a national health service at its centre.

FRANCE: Paris: The death sentence on Marshal Petain is commuted to life, on account of his advanced age.

FRENCH INDOCHINA: Ho Chi Minh, the leader of the Indochina Communist Party's National Liberation Committee, reads a proclamation calling on the Vietnamese people to begin the revolution. Viet Minh troops seize power from Japanese puppet government authorities in the Hanoi suburbs.

MANCHURIA: This morning the Russian's liberate the Japanese prisoner-of-war camp at Diren. Included amongst the American prisoners is Arnold Bocksel, now weighing 97 pounds from New York. (Newsday.com Rachel Leifer, August 14, 2005)

JAPAN: Hirohito dispatches three princes to carry word of the surrender to various units of the armed forces. Prince Takeda is sent to the Kwantung and Korean armies. Prince Kan-in is sent the the Southern Army and the 10th Area Fleet HQ. Prince Asaka is sent to the China Expeditionary Army and the China Area Fleet. These missions, of members of the Royal Family, are successful at convincing the various commanders that the decision is in fact that of the Emperor and not that of "traitors around the Throne."

Soldiers of the Army Air Signal Training Division advance on Tokyo by train after receiving the Emperor's broadcast. They are convinced that he has been advised by traitors and it is not his decision. They occupy the Imperial Museum of Art. It will take two days for them to be removed, in the end by actual armed assault.

KURILE ISLANDS: In the Kurile Islands, the Soviet 101st Infantry Division lands on Shimushu Island. The Japanese 91st Division counterattacks resulting in heated combat.

NETHERLANDS EAST INDIES: The Indonesian Nationalist Achmad Sukarno proclaims the independent Republic of Indonesia, upon hearing confirmation of the Japanese surrender.

CANADA: Corvette HMCS Brantford paid off Sorel, Province of Quebec.

Gate vessel HMCS Festubert paid off Halifax, Nova Scotia. HMC ML 124 is paid off.

U.S.A.: 100,000 workers are laid off from war jobs as contracts end.

The motion picture "The Strange Affair of Uncle Harry" is released today. Based on a play by Thomas Job, this film-noir drama is directed by Robert Siodmak and stars George Sanders, Geraldine Fitzgerald, Ella Raines and Harry von Zell. The plot involves a bachelor (Sanders), head designer in a small-town cloth factory, who lives with his two selfish sisters. He becomes involved with a new colleague (Raines) and the sisters try and break the romance up.

Submarine USS Mero commissioned.

ARGENTINA: U-977 surrendered after a lengthy patrol from Norway including a 66-day submerged run.

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