28 August 1939

August 28th, 1939 (MONDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM:
Gold reaches 8 (pounds) sterling an ounce.

Chamberlain has an audience with the King.

Arthur Greenwood Deputy Leader of the Opposition visits No. 10 four times.

Britain offers to mediate between Poland and Germany but only on terms of complete parity for both sides and an international guarantee of the outcome.

NETHERLANDS: The army is mobilised.

GERMANY:
During the early hours Dahlerus meets with Göring and also Sir George Ogilvie-Forbes (Counsellor of the British Embassy) before breakfasting again with Göring .
Rationing is imposed.

Panzerschiffe Deutschland sails in readiness for raider activities in the North Atlantic, in the event of a declaration of war. (Alex Gordon)

POLAND:
Colonel Beck refuses to go to Berlin.
Poland mobilises.
Colonel Beck accepts the principle of direct negotiations; but towards midnight he tells Ambassador Kennard that Polish mobilisation is proceeding.

28 August 1940

August 28th, 1940 (WEDNESDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM:
RAF Bomber Command: 4 Group (Whitley). Bombing - industrial targets at Dortmund and Dusseldorf - airframe factory at Dessau.
10 Sqn. Two aircraft each to Dortmund and Dusseldorf. All bombed primaries.
102 Sqn. Seven aircraft to Dessau. All bombed primary.

Battle of Britain:
RAF Fighter Command reports airfields at Eastchurch and Rochford attacked, with Luftwaffe fighters flying in sweeps across southern Britain.

After further heavy losses the Defiant fighter will now be pulled out of the daylight battle.

At night much heavier raiding begins - around 160 bombers raid Merseyside, 180 operate elsewhere, yet in 600 sorties by night, Luftlotte 3 has lost only 7 aircraft.

During the early hours Gillingham is dive-bombed, probably in error, hundreds of incendiaries are released, damaging 20 houses and killing 16 people.

He-111s of II and III/KG 53 and Do17s of I/KG 3 escorted by Bf109s of I and III/JG 51 proceed north near Sandwich and are met by 501 and 615 Hurricane Squadrons along with 264 Squadrons Defiants. They were unable to prevent the Dorniers from reaching Eastchurch and Heinkels from raiding Rochford. Eastchurch was seriously damaged with two Battles destroyed and two damaged. Eight RAF fighters and six pilots were lost for five enemy aircraft brought down.

Rochford was again attacked at 12:40 leaving some buildings damaged but failing to catch 264 Squadron on the ground. Spitfires of 54 Squadron positioned at 30,000 feet dived upon the escort, Flt. Lt. Deere claiming a Bf109, Flt. Lt. George Gribble another at the end of an 11-aircraft line, and Sqn. Ldr Leathart a Dornier. In a quite astonishing chase of a Bf109 Gribble and Norwell ended the fight so low that Gribble's shooting killed a cow. After landing he discovered pieces of a tree lodged in his Spitfire, Deere was less fortunate and had to bail out. As the raiders were approaching Rochford, Hurricanes on No.1 Squadron downed a Do17 of 6/KG 3 on Rochford aerodrome, its crew becoming PoWs.

Afternoon fighting showed the success of a Bf109 and Bf110 seven element excursion over Kent, which resulted in a wasteful fighter-versus-fighter encounter with 16 aircraft lost on both sides. Dowding forbids further pointless fighter engagements.

Night operations by beam-riding He-111s of KGr 100 include an attempt to pathfind to Liverpool and Sealand RAF base near Chester. The bombers went so far astray that the British thought that the Midlands and London area were the main targets. The bombers also hit London, Birmingham, Bournemouth, Derby, Manchester and Sheffield. At Avonmouth (Bristol) the Shell Mex installations and the National Smelting Co. works were hit, Coventry shops and houses were damaged and in Altrincham (Cheshire) a 50,000 gallon oil tank at the Anglo-American oil depot caught fire.

Losses: Luftwaffe, 30; RAF, 20.

U-101 sank SS Elle in Convoy SC-1.
U-28 sank SS Kyno in Convoy HX-66.

VICHY FRANCE:
The government breaks off relations with European governments in exile.

ITALIAN SOMALILAND: The South African Air Force bombs Italian bases in Somaliland. 11 Squadron SAAF dive bomb a "substantial vehicle park" at Mogadishu with their Fairey Battles and claim the destruction of 800 trucks. However, when Mogadishu is later captured, the trucks are discovered to be worn out wrecks that had been dumped there in 1936 after the Italian conquest of Ethiopia.

FRENCH EQUATORIAL AFRICA: Free French Commandant De Lange leads his battalion in a march on the Government Palace in Brazzaville, Congo. Vichy General Husson yields power without resistance but in protest. General de Larminat arrives by boat from Leopoldville, Belgian Congo to take power in the name of Free France. Governor de Saint Mart in Bangui, Ubangi, receives a telegram reporting events in Brazzaville and declares the colony's adhesion to Free France. The local garrison threatens a coup d'etat but General de Larminat arrives by airplane and to defuses the situation with an offer to return Pro-Vichy officers to Dakar in French West Africa.

U.S.A.: The USN destroyers USS Biddle (DD-151) and USS Blakeley (DD-150) escort U.S. Army transport USAT American Legion on the final leg of her voyage from Petsamo, Finland, to New York City. The 40 mm Bofors gun she carries is subsequently shipped to the Naval Proving Ground at Dahlgren, Virginia.

28 August 1941

August 28th, 1941 (THURSDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM:

U-558 sank SS Otaio in Convoy OS-4.

Corvette HMS Cowslip launched. Minesweeper Beaumaris commissioned.

FRANCE: Paris: Three Resistance members are guillotined under the new anti-terrorist laws.

GERMANY: The decree promulgated by Nazi Gauleiter Adolf Wagner forbidding Catholic prayers and Crucifixes from all Bavarian schools in April 1941 was officially rescinded today per order of Adolf Hitler after mass demonstrations by Bavarian mothers who threatened to remove their children from the schools, and a determined stance from the pulpit by Archbishop of Munich-Freising, Cardinal Michael von Faulhaber. The protestors were not punished. (Russell Folsom)

U-209 and U-704 launched.
U-352, U-585 and U-754 commissioned.

BALTIC SEA: Gunboats break to east through Hanko area, from securing operations in Saaristomeri to support attack in east.

Soviet submarine S-5 of the Baltic Fleet is mined off Cape Juminda and sinks in the Gulf of Finland.

Soviet submarine Shch-301 of the Baltic Fleet is mined off Cape Juminda and sinks off mys Yuminda. (Mike Yared)(146 and 147)

Soviet destroyers Artyom, Kalinin, Volodarsky, Yakov Sverdlov and submarine SC-301 all sunk by mines.

U.S.S.R.: The USSR announces the destruction of the dam at Zaporozhye on the River Dniepr.

In the Ukraine, the SS marches more than 23,000 Hungarian Jews to bomb craters at Kamenets Podolsk, orders them to undress, and then machine-guns them. Those who didn't die from the gunfire are buried alive under the weight of corpses that piled atop them. Tens of thousands of Hungarian Jews had been expelled from Hungary and had migrated to the Ukraine. The German authorities tried sending them back, but Hungary would not take them. That is when SS General Franz Jaeckeln vowed to deal with the influx of refugees by the "complete liquidation of those Jews by September 1."

ESTONIA: Soviet troops at Tallinn begin evacuation by sea to Kronstadt and suffer severe losses to mines and air attacks.

LITHUANIA: Kedainiai : Over 2,000 Jews are driven into a ditch and shot dead.

ITALY: SICILY: A landing party from HMS TRIUMPH demolishes an important railway bridge near Carsonia.

IRAN: Ali Furughi forms a new government in Iran. He orders a cease fire and begins negotiations with the British and Soviets.

AUSTRALIA: Prime Minister Robert Menzies resigns as the leader of the United Australia Party (UAP) and as Prime Minister. He is replaced by Country Part leader A.W. Fadden. Menzies had formed a coalition government before the war but victories by the Labour Party in the September 1940 election had severely weakened the coalition forcing him to resign.

CANADA: Corvette HMCS Trillium arrived Halifax, Nova Scotia for refit.

U.S.A.: President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Secretary of State Cordell Hull meet with the Japanese Ambassador, Nomura Kichisaburo at Nomura's request. Nomura hands the President a communication from the Prince Premier of Japan requesting a meeting between the two. Roosevelt states that it would be difficult and time consuming for him to travel to a meeting in the Territory of Hawaii and suggests a possible alternative, Juneau, Territory of Alaska. The only point raised by Nomura is that the conversation be held as early as possible. Nomura then hands the President another note which states that Japan desires "to pursue courses of peace in harmony with the fundamental principles to which the people and Government of the United States are commuted." At the conclusion of the reading of the communication, the President said to the Ambassador that he could say to his Government that he considered this note a step forward and that he was very hopeful. He then added that he would be keenly interested in having three or four days with Prince Konoye, and again he mentioned Juneau.

In Washington, President Franklin Roosevelt signs an executive order establishing the Office of Price Administration (OPA). The new government agency is charged with controlling consumer prices in the face of war. OPA initially imposed rent controls and a rationing program which initially targeted auto tires. Once the U.S. entered the war, the agency began issuing coupon books for sugar, coffee, meat, fats, oils, and numerous other items. Though goods were in tight supply, Americans were urged to stick to the system of rationing. The agency's record of service during the war was fairly impressive: by VJ Day, consumer prices had increased by 31 percent, a number which was noticeably better than the 62 percent bloating of prices during World War I.

U.S.S. Taylor is laid down.

ATLANTIC OCEAN: U-570, Kptlt Hans-Joachim RAHOHMLOW CO, was damaged, South of Iceland, 62-15N 18-35W, by a RAF Coastal Command a/c 'Hudson S' from 269 Sqn, flown by Sqn Ldr J.H. THOMPSON RAF. U-570 signalled its surrender by hoisting a white navigation chart on the periscope. THOMPSON remained on station until relieved by a Catalina of 209 Sqn. HMCS NIAGARA assisted in the capture of U-570 by embarking U-570's crew of 44. The armed trawler HMS NORTHERN CHIEF arrived that evening and took possession of the U-boat. U-570 was towed to Thorlakshafn, Iceland, by the RN trawler HMS KINGSTON AGATE. U-570 was a VIIIC type U-boat built by Blohm and Voss, Hamburg, launched 20 Mar 41, commissioned 15 May 41, and on her first Operational patrol. She had no record of sinking any ship. She became the HMS/M GRAPH on 19 Sep 41. Taken out of service Feb 1944, Stricken from RN records 20 Mar 44, and broken up in 196.

28 August 1942

August 28th, 1942 (FRIDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: The US Eighth Air Force in England flies Mission 7: 11 B-17s bomb the Avions Potez aircraft factory at Meaulte, France at 1337-1344 hours.

A Junkers Ju86R bomber drops a bomb from a high altitude on Bristol, leaving 48 dead and 26 injured.

FRANCE: The Germans order the arrest of all French Roman Catholic priests who shelter Jews. During the day the Germans deport 1,000 people from Paris to Auschwitz, Poland; 148 of the deportees are children under the age of 15.

VICHY FRANCE: The authorities complete the rounding-up of 7,000 Jews for deportation to Auschwitz.

GERMANY: Massive RAF raid against Nuremberg kills 4,000 civilians and destroys over 10,000 dwellings.

RAF Bomber Command attacks two targets. One hundred twenty five of the 159 aircraft dispatched bomb Nurnburg. Crews are ordered to attack the city from as low as possible. The Pathfinders find their aiming point and, for the first time, marked it with target indicators adapted from 250 pound (113 kilogram) bomb casings. Photographs show that these were placed with great accuracy and the crews of the Main Force claimed to have carried out a good attack. A report from Nurnburg does not quite confirm this. Bombs are dropped as far away as the town of Erlangen, nearly 10 miles (16 kilometers) to the north, and four people are killed there. In Nurnburg itself, the number of bombs recorded would indicate that approximately 50 aircraft hit the town killing 126 civilians and 11 foreigners. Twenty five RAF bombers are lost.

The second target is Saarbrucken where 88 of the 113 aircraft dispatch attack; seven bombers are lost. This was an experimental raid by a force of oddments - Halifaxes which are being rested from major operations, Hampdens and new crews from other groups. There are no Pathfinders. The moon was four fifths full and it is judged that this relatively undefended target, just inside Germany, could be successfully attacked while the main raid on Nuremberg was taking place. The raid was not a success; bombing was scattered over a wide area. 15 houses were destroyed and 51 seriously damaged in SaarbrŸcken and one woman was killed. Four other targets are bombed by individual aircraft: four bomb Augsburg, two hit Munich and one each bomb Darmstadt and Mannheim.

KptLt. Helmut Rosenbaum is awarded the Knight's Cross.

U.S.S.R.: The Red Army initiates small unit actions around Leningrad.

Lake Ladoga: Italian Navy 12th Flotilla MAS 528 attacks two Soviet armed tugboats towing a very large (over 70 metres long and 1,300 tons) supply barge, and escorted by another tugboat, sinking the barge. (Arturo Lorioli)

Though their drive in the Caucasus is slowing, German forces are closing in on Novorossisk, a large Soviet Navy base on the Black Sea coast. ]

MEDITERRANEAN SEA: British codebreaking efforts to crack Italian cipher C38M pay off when Malta-based RAF aircraft sink the Italian tanker Dielpi, bound for Libya with 2,200 tons of aircraft fuel. The British know the exact times of sailing, routes and cargoes of every ship bringing Rommel munitions and fuel.

LIBYA: 2 US Army Middle East Air Force B-24 squadrons bomb docks, shipping and jetties in Tobruk harbor.

FRENCH INDOCHINA: 8 US China Air Task Force (CATF) B-25 Mitchells hit barracks and ammunition dumps at Hoang Su Phi and a fuel dump at Phu Lo; this is the largest force of B-25s used by CATF to date, and the first B-25 mission flown without escort.

CHINA: Chekiang: The three-month-long Japanese offensive in Chekiang and Kiangsi has ended with Japanese troops completing their two-phase withdrawal eastward as Chinese Nationalists regain control of Chuchow.

The decision to withdraw the nine divisions of Japan's XIII Corps was taken a month ago when the Japanese High Command was satisfied that the operation had achieved its main retaliatory objective - the destruction of the airfields where long-range US bombers landed after bombing Tokyo.

Chinese tactics throughout the retreat, as well as the offensive, have been to avoid direct confrontations. Instead, to conserve their strength, the Chinese have used guerrilla tactics.

NEW GUINEA: USAAF B-26s of the Allied Air Forces make ineffective air attacks on IJA forces at Milne Bay.

General Horii halts his march along the Kokoda Track so as to enable logistic support to be diverted to the Solomons. Horii's forces are anyway incapable of advancing further, due to starvation and fresh Australian forces, including, for the first time, artillery and effective air attack.

Maj-Gen Vasey (DCGS-Aust) writes to Lt-Gen Rowell at Port Moresby that a state of near panic prevails at MacArthur's GHQ in Brisbane. He also writes that that morning, MacArthur has finally taken the decision at a conference to fight the Japanese in New Guinea. (Michael Mitchell)

AUSTRALIA: George Hargrave, a stoker from HMAS Swan, was shot in the stomach by Ernest Helton, an American MP. The incident occurred in a Townsville fish and chip shop in Palmer Street, South Townsville. The argument developed over the possession of a salt shaker. George Hargrave eventually died in Townsville Hospital on 9 September 1942.

The official records state that George Hargrave died as the result of an accident. Ernest Helton was court martialled on 10 October 1942. The shooting was deemed as self defence. (Denis Peck)

SOLOMON ISLANDS: On Guadalcanal, the 1st Battalion, 5th Marines returns from an attack begun yesterday, west across the Matanikau River. This is the second of many small unit actions, over the next 2 1/2 months, that will attempt to deny this area to the Japanese. The unit returns after having its Commanding Officer, Colonel Maxwell relieved. The Japanese units were allowed to slip away during the night, after he had requested evacuation of his unit by boat the previous afternoon. (John Nicholas)
In the air, two SBD Dauntlesses spot troop-laden IJN destroyers, carrying elements of the Kawaguchi Detachment, in New Georgia Sound at 1700 hours local; this is only 70 miles (112.7 km) from Guadalcanal. The two SBDs attack the ships but do not score any hits. By 1730 hours, eleven SBD Dauntlesses of Navy Scouting Squadron Five (VS-5) and Marine Scout Bombing Squadron Two Hundred Thirty Two (VMSB-232) are airborne and attack the ships at sundown. A VS-5 pilot scores a direct hit on the destroyer HIJMS Asagiri off Santa Isabel Island; three other destroyers are damaged. The destroyers retire without landing the troops.
Light minelayer USS Gamble (DM-15, ex DD-123) sinks Japanese submarine HIJMS I-123 near Guadalcanal, in position 09.21S, 160.43E.

IJN Rear Admiral Takaji Joshima, at Rabaul, forms a unit of float planes from various sources, known as "R Area Air Force". These float planes will operate from bases in the Shortland Islands and Rekata Bay, and now begin regular nightly patrols over Guadalcanal. They will become known to the Marines as "Washing Machine Charlie" and "Louie The Louse".

TERRITORY OF ALASKA: ALEUTIAN ISLANDS: Thirty eight Alaskan Scouts debark from the submarines, USS Triton (SS-201) and USS Tuna (SS-203),and land on Adak Island to reconnoiter. They find no Japanese on the island.
In the air, 3 USAAF 11th Air Force B-17 Flying Fortresses bombing Kiska Island, 1 fails to return; all available B-24 Liberators and 2 flights of P-38 Lightnings fly naval cover at Nazan Bay, Atka Island; and an attack mission to Attu Island is cancelled due to weather.

CANADA: Patrol vessel HMCS Billow (ex F/V Kurashio) acquired. Later lost in RCAF service in Queen Charlotte Islands.

U.S.A.: A Japanese seaplane launched from the submarine I-25 drops incendiaries on a forest in Oregon.

One hundred twenty women, commissioned directly as USN Ensigns or Lieutenant (jg)s, report to Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts, for training.
In Richmond, California, the Liberty ship SS John Fitch is launched 24-days after her keel is laid at the Kaiser Shipyard.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt calls for a "meatless day" once per week to help the war effort.

Destroyer USS Taylor commissioned.

CARIBBEAN SEA: The German submarine U-94 is sunk in the , in position 17.40N, 74.30W by depth charges from a USN PBY-5A Catalina of Patrol Squadron Ninety Two (VP-92), based at NAS Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and ramming by the RCN corvette HMCS Oakville. 26 of the 45-man crew of the U-boat survived.

BRAZIL: Under heavy pressure from the US, Brazil declares war on Germany.

ATLANTIC OCEAN: Corvette HMCS Trail and USS Bernadou rescued 16 fully loaded lifeboats of survivors from 'SS CHATHAM'.

U-165 damaged SS Arlyn and USS Laramie in Convoy SG-6.
U-566 sank SS City of Cardiff and SS Zuiderkerk in Convoy SL-119.

28 August 1943

August 28th, 1943 (SATURDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: Frigate HMS Cranstoun launched.
Sloop HMS Lark launched.

Frigates HMS Dacres and Tees commissioned.

Destroyer HMS Venus commissioned.

Over the NORTH SEA, Douglas DC-3-268, msn 2133, registered SE-BAF by Sweden's AB Aerotransport, is shot down by a Luftwaffe fighter while enroute from the UK to Sweden. All 7 people aboard the DC-3 are killed.

GERMANY: Yet another month of devastating bombing by the Allies is drawing to a close. On 1 August the USAAF wreaked havoc in the Ploesti oilfields in Romania; on 17 August the RAF hit the secret rocket-testing centre at Peenemunde; and last night more than 3,000 people died in a raid on Nuremburg.

The German propaganda machine has given up minimising the damage, and instead newspapers publish instructions and advice to the beleaguered German people. Headlines such as "Protect your property and your life" or "Equipment for air-raid protection and self help" have become commonplace. Citizens in high-risk areas are advised to send valuables to relatives for safe-keeping and to equip their shelters with as much water as possible to extinguish fires. But with some 300,000 people a month now being bombed out of their homes, good advice is simply not enough.

U-1166 and U-1167 launched.

DENMARK: The Danish government refuses German demands to declare a state of emergency and execute saboteurs. The Germans oust the government and King Christian X threatens to abdicate causing angry Danes to attack German units in Copenhagen and other towns. (John Nicholas and Jack McKillop)

ARCTIC OCEAN: The German submarine U-639 is sunk at 1030hrs in the Kara Sea north of Mys Zhelaniya, in approximate position 76.40N, 69.40E, by torpedoes from the Soviet submarine S 101. All hands on the U-boat, 47-men, are lost.

U.S.S.R.: Polar Fleet and White Sea Flotilla: RS "Shkval" - mined close to Vaigach Is.(Sergey Anisimov)(69)

BULGARIA: Sofia: The death of King Boris, often spoken of as "Hitler's pathetic dupe", has been followed by anti-German demonstrations in Sofia and calls for a general strike throughout Bulgaria. Despite an official statement that the king died of heart failure and double pneumonia, many Bulgarians believe that he was murdered on Hitler's orders.

Boris threw in his lot with the Germans after seeing Hitler at Berchtesgaden in November 1940. But most of his subjects remained hostile to the Germans and, in spite of his king's efforts, the king was unable to raise "volunteers" for service in Russia.

Reports surfacing in Switzerland say that Hitler demanded full mobilization of Bulgaria, the building of extra defence lines along the Turkish frontier and a free hand for the Gestapo in the country. Boris, it is said, decided to abdicate rather than give in. He was then shot by one of his bodyguards. Under Bulgarian law, the king has the right to appoint three regents before his death. The fact that Boris did not do so suggests that either he was unconscious for some time before his death, or he died suddenly.

ITALY: Italian Torpedo Boat Lince is sunk in Taranto by British submarine HMS Ultor. (Jack McKillop
Northwest African Strategic Air Force B-17s bomb the marshalling yard at Terni; B-26s hit the Aversa marshalling yard and Sparanise; and B-25s hit the Cancello Arnone marshalling yard. P-40s fly intruder missions over Sardinia, bombing and strafing industry and town area. Northwest African Tactical Air Force light and medium bombers attack railroad facilities at Lamezia and Catanzaro, Italy; fighter-bombers hit road and rail junctions, and marshalling yards at Castrovillari, Cosenza, and Catanzaro.

SARDINIA: USAAF P-40s fly intruder missions bombing and strafing industry and town area.

NEW GUINEA: In Northeast New Guinea, USAAF Fifth Air Force A-20 Havocs and B-17 Flying Fortresses bomb Japanese installations at Lae and barges in the Lae-Salamaua area while 26 B-25 Mitchells attack shipping in Hansa Bay located on the north coast between Madang and Wewak sinking two vessels.

SOLOMON ISLANDS: US Thirteenth Air Force B-25s and P-40s, and USMC F4U Corsairs bomb and strafe barges, buildings, and personnel in the Sigolehe Island-Barora Ite Island area.

ELLICE ISLANDS: Elements of 2 USN Seabee battalions and the 7th Marine defence Battalion land on Nanomea Island, only 400-miles (644 km) from the Japanese-held Gilbert Islands. Work immediately begins on an airfield.

CANADA: HMC ML 106 commissioned.

U.S.A.: U-107 had laid mines off Charleston, then this morning sighted freighter ALBERT GALLATIN, under escort of blimp K-34. The sub fired three torpedoes which hit but did not detonate (which seems surprising this late in the war, when I think the problems with German torpedoes had been solved). K-34 held her under while GALLATIN escaped. An Army Air Force B-25 sighted the sub and attacked, dropping four depth charges which missed. Eastern Sea Frontier headquarters sent out eleven ships to search for the U-boat, and K-34 stayed aloft to home them in. The search continued for several days but U-107 escaped. (Keith Allen)(68)

Destroyer escort USS Finch launched.
Destroyers USS Norman Scott and Robinson launched.

Submarine USS Dorado commissioned.

ATLANTIC OCEAN: U-302 sank SS Dikson.

U-107 sank SS Albert Gallatin.

28 August 1944

August 28th, 1944 (MONDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: Weather prevents US Eight Air Force heavy bomber operations from England; 835 fighters, in 3 forces, are dispatched on fighter-bomber and strafing attacks on rail targets in the Netherlands, Belgium, France and GERMANY: 20 fighters are lost.
(1) 174 P-38s, P-47 Thunderbolts and P-51 Mustangs attack transportation targets on the German/French border; they claim 12-1-0 aircraft in the air and 3-0-4 on the ground; 1 P-38 is lost.
(2) 143 P-38s and P-47s hit transportation targets in France, Belgium and the Netherlands; they claim 4-0-0 aircraft in the air and 3-0-2 on the ground; 3 P-47s are lost.
(3) An unknown number of 380 P-51s strafe transportation targets on the French/German border; they claim 3-0-0 aircraft in the air and 5-0-2 on the ground; 16 P-51s are lost.

Mission 588: 6 B-17s drop leaflets in France and the Netherlands during the night.

London: The V1 flying-bomb threat against England is being overcome. Of 94 V1s launched today, only four got through to London. The defence-in-depth tactics are now paying off. The missiles have first to face RAF fighter patrols overt the Channel - and then a belt of anti-aircraft guns on the south coast. Behind this are further hungry fighters. Finally, as they begin their descent, they have to contend with a balloon barrage on the southern outskirts of the capital. Meanwhile, in France, the Allied armies continue to overrun launching sites.

A USAAF Douglas (Model DC-4A) C-54A-1-DC, msn 10276, USAAF serial number 42-72171, crashes into a residential area at 0100 hours local in poor visibility while attempting to land at RAF Prestwick, Ayrshire, Scotland, after a trans-Atlantic flight. All 20 aboard the aircraft and five people on the ground are killed.

Aircraft carrier HMS Implacable commissioned.

FRANCE: U.S. Lieutenant General Leonard T. Gerow, Commanding General V Corps, in a letter to French General Pierre Joseph Koening, Military Governor of Paris, turns over the city to the French.

In northern France, the U.S. First Army crosses the Marne River at Meaux while the U.S. Third Army (Patton) rumbles 50 miles (80,5 kilometres) and closes in on Chalons-sur-Marne and Vitro-le-Francois. Patton's tanks and trucks are only 140 miles (225,3 kilometres) from the French-German border but are running out of diesel fuel and gasoline. (John Nicholas and Jack McKillop)

Three men from U-262 were killed and 1 more wounded during an air raid on La Pallice. The boat left for its next patrol on 23 August for its traverse to Germany, reaching Flensburg on 5 November.

In southern France, French troops led by General Jean de Lattre de Tassigny eliminate German resistance in Marseilles and Toulon, France's biggest Mediterranean ports, and the German forces surrender. Marseilles's liberation is a godsend for the Allies, who badly need an undamaged French seaport. During the next three months, one-third of Allied supplies and equipment will be offloaded in Marseilles and forwarded to Eisenhower's armies. The German 11th Panzer Division is cut off, south of Montelimar in the Rhone Valley. In attacking to the north they take severe losses from artillery and air strikes. (John Nicholas and Jack McKillop)

Marseilles: Last week General Schaeffer, the German commander in Marseilles, spurned a French proposal to surrender. Today he capitulated, as his counterpart in Toulon did yesterday; Free French forces under General de Lattre de Tassigny have captured the two great ports of southern France, and with their fall the entire French Mediterranean coast has now been liberated.

Marseilles surrendered after bloody, and often confused, fighting in which the regular French forces and the largely communist local Resistance fighters appeared at times to be waging a private war. Some 4,000 French casualties are feared, but German losses are heavier and about 37,000 prisoners have been taken. The port itself is a mass of twisted metal with 11 sunken ships blocking the main inlet.

The fight for Toulon, ringed by 30 forts, was no less fierce, often taking place in underground galleries built by the French but developed by the Germans. Today Admiral Ruhfuss, the German commander surrendered and agreed to hand over maps of his minefields.

The 11th Panzer Div. is cut off, south of Montelimar in the Rhone Valley. In attacking to the north they take severe losses from artillery and air strikes.

In northern FRANCE, the US Ninth Air Force dispatches B-26s and A-20 Havocs, escorted by fighters, to bomb fuel dumps at Doullens, Barisis-aux-Bois, an ammunition dump at Querrieu, an ammunition and fuel dump at Compiegne/Foret de Laigue, and an alcohol distillery and fuel storage depot at Hamm; fighters escort about 400 C-47 Skytrains on supply and evacuation runs, attack airfields at Bourges and Peronne, support ground forces, and fly armed reconnaissance from Amiens to east of Dijon.

In southeastern FRANCE and ITALY, US Twelfth Air Force B-25s bomb railroad bridges in the Lyon, France area. In Italy, B-26s destroy several airplanes at Villafranca di Verona Airfield and a bridge at Parma; A-20s hit motor transport and other targets of opportunity during the night of 27/28 August, fly armed reconnaissance over the Po Valley and blast a command post southeast of Genoa; fighter-bombers hit vehicles in the Rhone Valley of France, bomb and strafe roads and bridges in the battle area north of the Arno River and hit shipping in Imperia and Savona harbors.

GERMANY: U-3506 launched
U-2522, U-3014 and U-3516 laid down.

AUSTRIA: One hundred fifty five B-17 Flying Fortresses of the USAAF Fifteenth Air Force in Italy bomb the Moosbierbaum benzine refinery at Vienna without loss.

SWEDEN: British Overseas Airlines Corp. Lockheed 18-56 Lodestar (ex USAAF C-60A-5-LO, s/n 42-56018), msn 18-2491, registered G-AGIH, crashes at Kinnekulle; 4 of the 8 aboard the aircraft survive.

POLAND: Warsaw: The Poles, fighting with their customary gallantry, continue to hold out in battered, starving Warsaw against the Wehrmacht while Stalin refuses to help and the Red Army waits on the far side of the Vistula. The Luftwaffe has been brought in to bomb the Poles, and heavy artillery is shelling the city to pieces. So fierce is the bombardment that the Home Army has been forced to abandon its positions in the Old Town and has gone literally underground - into the sewers, from whence its members emerge to attack the Germans. They are hungry, but what they really want are guns.

A new government in HUNGARY takes office. Headed by General Lakatos, they announce their readiness to negotiate with the Russians.

B-24 Liberators of the USAAF Fifteenth Air Force in Italy attack three targets: 105 bomb the marshalling yard at Miskolc, 103 bomb the Szony Oil Refinery at Komarom, and 84 bomb the Szajol Railroad Bridge at Szolnok. Two aircraft are lost.

During the night of 28/29 August, six RAF Liberators of No. 205 (Heavy Bomber) Group mine the Danube River.

ROMANIA: The Third Ukraine Front takes Braila on the Danube. Units of the Second Ukraine Front drive into Transylvania through the Oituz Pass in the Carpathian Mountains.

During the night of 28/29 August, three RAF Liberators of No. 205 (Heavy Bomber) Group mine the Danube River.

YUGOSLAVIA: A B-24 LIberator of the USAAF Fifteenth Air Force in Italy bombs the marshalling yard at Subotica.

During the night of 28/29 August, nine RAF Liberators of No. 205 (Heavy Bomber) Group mine the Danube River.

EASTERN FRONT: The 3rd Ukraine Front takes Braila on the Danube. Units of the 2nd Ukraine Front move through the Carpathian Mountains toward Transylvania.
U.S.S.R.: Polar Fleet and White Sea Flotilla: HS "Nord" - by U-boat, close to Beluha Is. (Sergey Anisimov)(69)

ITALY: The British Eighth Army continues to gain ground toward the Gothic Line with the Polish 2 Corps reaching the Arzilla River. During the night of 28/29 August, elements of the 8th Indian Division capture Tigliano, north of Pontassieve.

USAAF Twelfth Air Force B-26 Marauders destroy several airplanes at Villafranca di Verona Airfield and a bridge at Parma; fighter-bombers bomb and strafe roads and bridges in the battle area north of the Arno River and hit shipping in Imperia and Savona harbors.

B-24 Liberators of the USAAF Fifteenth Air Force attack four targets: 59 bomb the railroad bridge at Ora, 40 bomb the railroad viaduct at Aviso, ten bomb the railroad bridge at Peschiera Del Grade and nine bomb the highway bridge at Zambana. Two aircraft are lost.

During the night of 28/29 August, 50 RAF Liberators of No. 205 (Heavy Bomber) Group bomb troop concentrations at Pesano.

The US Fifteenth Air Force in Italy sends 560+ bombers, escorted by P-38s and P-51s, to strike targets in Austria, Hungary and Italy; B-17s hit Moosbierbaum oil refinery and adjacent chemical works in Austria; B-24s hit an oil refinery at Szony and marshalling yards at Miskolc, Hungary; and railroad bridges and viaducts at Szolnok, Hungary; and Zambana, Avisio, and Ora Italy.

FRENCH MOROCCO: British Overseas Airways Corp C-47A-1-DK, msn 11932, registered G-AGIR, crashes at Telmest in the Atlas Mountains south-southwest of Casablanca.

US Seventh Air Force B-24s based on Saipan pound Iwo Jima Island by day and night while Marshall Islands-based B-24s hit Truk Atoll.

MARSHALL ISLANDS: The USN's Task Force 38, with eight fleet carriers and eight light aircraft carriers, sorties from Eniwetok Atoll to attack Japanese bases in the western Pacific in support of the upcoming invasion of the Palau Islands. The aircraft carriers, and their assigned groups, of TF 38 are

- Task Group 38.1 (TG-38.1)

USS Belleau Wood (CVL-24) with Light Carrier Air Group Twenty One (CVLG-21)

USS Cowpens (CVL-25) with CVLG-22

USS Hornet (CV-12) with Carrier Air Group Two (CVG-2)

USS Monterey (CVL-26) with CVLG-28

USS Wasp (CV-18) with CVG-14

- TG 38.2

USS Bunker Hill (CV-17) with CVG-8

USS Cabot (CVL-28) with CVLG-31

USS Independence (CVL-22) with Night Light Carrier Air Group Forty Two [CVLG(N)-42]

USS Intrepid (CV-11) with CVG-18

- TG 38.3

USS Essex (CV-9) with CVG-15

USS Langley (CVL-27) with CVLG-32

USS Lexington (CV-16) with CVG-19)

USS Princeton (CVL-23) with CVLG-27

- TG 38.4

USS Enterprise (CV-6) with CVG-20

USS Franklin (CV-13) with CVG-13

USS San Jacinto (CVL-30) with CVLG-51

Palau Islands: US Far East Air Force B-24s hit the airfield on Koror Island, and the seaplane base on Arakabesan Island.

CANADA: Frigate HMCS St Pierre commissioned. A/S towing vessel HMCS Brentwood assigned to HMCS Cornwallis.

U.S.A.: Brigadier General Haywood S Hansell, Jr assumes command of the XXI Bomber Command, Twentieth Air Force, at Peterson Field, Colorado Springs, Colorado; Brigadier General Lauris Norstad succeeds Hansell as Chief of Staff of the Twentieth Air Force.

Submarine USS Blueback commissioned.
Destroyer escort USS Johnnie Hutchins commissioned.
Minesweeper USS Inflict commissioned.
Destroyer USS Hank commissioned.

ATLANTIC OCEAN: U-859 sank SS John Barry.

The USN's Task Force 38, with 8 fleet carriers and 8 light aircraft carriers, sorties from Eniwetok Atoll to attack Japanese bases in the western Pacific in support of the upcoming invasion of the Palau Islands.

The aircraft carriers, and their assigned groups, of TF 38 are:

- Task Group 38.1 (TG-38.1)

USS Belleau Wood (CVL-24) with Light Carrier Air Group Twenty One

(CVLG-21)

USS Cowpens (CVL-25) with CVLG-22

USS Hornet (CV-12) with Carrier Air Group Two (CVG-2)

USS Monterey (CVL-26) with CVLG-28

USS Wasp (CV-18) with CVG-14

- TG 38.2

USS Bunker Hill (CV-17) with CVG-8

USS Cabot (CVL-28) with CVLG-31

USS Independence (CVL-22) with Night Light Carrier Air Group Forty Two

[CVLG(N)-42]

USS Intrepid (CV-11) with CVG-18

- TG 38.3

USS Essex (CV-9) with CVG-15

USS Langley (CVL-27) with CVLG-32

USS Lexington (CV-16) with CVG-19)

USS Princeton (CVL-23) with CVLG-27

- TG 38.4

USS Enterprise (CV-6) with CVG-20

USS Franklin (CV-13) with CVG-13

USS Jacinto (CVL-30) with CVLG-51

28 August 1945

August 28th, 1945 (TUESDAY)

GERMANY: Nuremburg: The Nazis Party's "jovial brute", Hermann Göring , heads the first list of 24 German war criminals. Hess, once Hitler's deputy, who has been a prisoner in Britain sice May 1941, is next in line, followed by Martin Bormann, Hitler's last deputy, who vanished from the Berlin bunker and has not been seen since. The many civilians indicted include Baron Konstantin on Neurath, Hitler's first foreign minister; Gustav Krupp von Bohlen, the industrialist; Franz von Papen, Hitler's vice-chancellor in 1933-34, and Hjalmar Schacht, the financial wizard who fell out with Hitler after serving as a minister.

BURMA: Japanese forces in Rangoon sign a formal surrender.

FRENCH INDOCHINA: In Vietnam, the Viet Minh form a provisional government of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam with Ho Chi Minh as president, Vo Nguyen Giap, as interior minister and Pham Van Dong, as finance minister.
In Laos, Prime Minister Prince Phetsarath wires provincial governors notifying them of the Japanese surrender. The Prince further declares that the proclamation of independence is unaffected and that the governors should resist any attempts at foreign intervention in their administration. The French Resident Superieur is released from prison but Phetsarath refuses to recognize his authority.

CHINA: Communist leader Mao Tse-Tung arrives in Chunking to confer with Nationalist leader Chiang Kai-Shek in a futile effort to avert civil war.

JAPAN: The occupation of Japan officially begins as an advance party arrives in the Home Islands. When the news of the Japanese proposal for surrender came on 15 August, the USAAF's 68th Army Airways Communications System (AACS) Group, 7th AACS Wing, received orders to fly into Atsugi Airfield near Tokyo and set up the communications equipment necessary to guide in the first contingent of occupation troops. AACS's mission was to provide navigational aids, point-to-point communications with Okinawa, air-to-ground communications for planes in flight, weather data, and air traffic control. Colonel Gordon Blake quickly assembled a special unit of 5 hand-picked men. Colonel Blake and his AACS men, part of a 150 man task force, flew from Okinawa to Atsugi with 24 C-47 aircraft laden with equipment. In order to carry as much equipment as possible, the load was lightened by carrying only enough fuel to reach Atsugi. Although the Japanese had surrendered unconditionally, Blake and his communicators still did not know whether some might still be hostile. The sight of hundreds of Japanese Navy guards lined up along the airfield was not encouraging to the occupants of the first aircraft to land, but they were met by a group of courteous, English-speaking Japanese military personnel. The first C-47 to land was piloted by Col. Edward Imparato. Col. Charles Trench is the first man off the aircraft.

The navy guards were in their honor. The AACS-men lost no time in getting operations into full swing, and by 29 August, the Atsugi control tower was completed. The first planes to arrive on 30 August were 5 additional C-47s carrying components to set up the first airborne radio station in USAAF history. Within a few hours, the first C-54 Skymaster aircraft of the official occupation forces landed at Atsugi and by mid-afternoon Blake's AACS crews had directed 340+ takeoffs and landings at the rate of 1 every 2 minutes. On 30 August, Atsugi was the busiest airport in the world.

USN underwater demolition teams (UDT) land to check prospective Tokyo Bay landing beaches and ensure that fortification are neutralized.

Minesweepers begin clearing mines from Tokyo Bay.

Destroyers of the Royal Australian Navy joined Royal Navy and United States Navy ships in Tokyo Bay to receive the main Japanese surrender on 2 September.

In the air, the 386th Bombardment Squadron (Very Heavy), based on Okinawa, flies its last combat mission, a photo reconnaissance mission, with the Consolidated B-32 Dominator.

CANADA: Bangor-class minesweepers HMCS Brockville, Noranda (transfered to RCMP as MacLeod, Irvine) and Melville paid off.
Corvettes HMCS Sudbury and Shediac paid off Esquimalt, British Columbia.
Tropicalization refit for HMCS Sea Cliff cancelled Liverpool, Nova Scotia.

U.S.A.: Major league baseball commissioner Branch Rickey and future baseball great Jackie Robinson meet and discuss the difficulties Robinson, a black athlete, will face in major league baseball. Robinson had signed a contract with the Brooklyn Dodgers calling for a salary of US$600 a month (US$5,714 in year 2000 dollars) plus a US$3,500 signing bonus (US$33,333 in year 2000 dollars) to play for Montreal of the Triple A International League.

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