Died:Manuel L. Quezon, 65, President of the Commonwealth of the Philippines from 1935 until his death
The Germans launched 316 V-1 flying bombs at London, the highest single-day total yet. Over 100 reached the capital, hitting Tower Bridge and doing great damage to the armament factories on the outskirts.[2]
German forces retreated from Florence after blowing up the city's medieval bridges overnight to effectively cut the city in two. Only the Ponte Vecchio was spared.[6]
The Cowra breakout occurred when over 1,100 Japanese prisoners of war attempted to escape from a POW camp near Cowra in New South Wales, Australia. Four Australian soldiers and 231 Japanese were killed, but hundreds managed to escape although they would all be recaptured within ten days.
The four-day Wola massacre began when German troops and collaborationist forces started systematically killing between 40,000 and 50,000 people in the Wola district of Warsaw during the Uprising.
More than 300 Jewish refugees perished when the Turkish motor schooner Mefküre was sunk in the Black Sea by shellfire from the Soviet submarine Shch-215.
The Japanese converted troopship Kotobuki Maru (formerly the Italian ocean liner Conte Verde) was sunk in Shanghai by an American B-24 of the 373rd Bomb Squadron.
Douglas MacArthur received a letter from President Roosevelt noting that he supported the plan that MacArthur recommended to make the Philippines the next priority in the Pacific.[9]
SS and police units began liquidating the Łódź Ghetto. From this day through August 28 more than 60,000 Jews and an undetermined number of Roma were deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau.[10]
The first poster depicting Smokey Bear, a mascot created to educate the American public about the dangers of forest fires, was released.
German submarine U-608 was scuttled after being attacked and damaged in the Bay of Biscay by a B24 of No. 53 Squadron RAF and by the British sloop Wren.
The Osovets Offensive officially ended with the completion of Soviet objectives.
Canadian and Polish troops began Operation Tractable, the final offensive of the Battle of Normandy.
The Fort Lawton Riot began at Fort Lawton in Seattle. An Italian prisoner of war was killed during a violent conflict between American soldiers and Italian POWs.
German submarine U-618 was sunk in the Bay of Biscay by British ships and aircraft.
Allied forces began Operation Dragoon, the invasion of southern France.
German submarine U-741 was depth charged and sunk off Le Havre by the American destroyer Somers.
German forces launched Operation Doppelkopf, a counter-offensive on the Eastern Front.
The Roosevelt Administration froze Argentina's gold assets in the U.S. as a consequence of the Argentinian government's failure to fully cooperate in the war against the Axis powers.[17]
In the Pacific, the Battle of Biak ended in Allied victory.
Two Soviet infantry battalions under Georgy Gubkin and Pavel Yurgin reached part of the River Scheshule. Some of them were sent to raise the Red Flag on the other bank, with Sergeant Alexander Belov doing the actual raising; the Soviets had now crossed into East Prussia and thus Germany proper.[21]
The German 7th Army retreated across the Orne, leaving 18,000 men behind to be captured.[22]
The Allies closed the Falaise Gap, trapping German forces to the north and west.[23]
The Red Cross entered Drancy internment camp one day after its abandonment by German forces. 500 survivors were liberated.[7]
The French battleship Strasbourg and cruiser La Galissonnière were sunk at Toulon in an American air raid.
German submarines U-107 and U-621 were both sunk in the Bay of Biscay by Allied ships and aircraft. U-129 was scuttled at Lorient that same day.
A "wolfpack" of American submarines attacked Japanese convoy Hi-71 in the South China Sea. The Japanese aircraft carrier Taiyō was torpedoed and sunk by the submarines Rasher and Redfish.
The Japanese cruiser Natori was torpedoed and sunk in the Philippine Sea east of Samar by the American submarine Hardhead.
The battle for Hill 262 began during the final stages of the Normandy Campaign.
The American "wolfpack" submarine attack on Japanese convoy Hi-71 in the South China Sea continued for a second day. Troopship Teia Maru (formerly the French ocean liner Aramis) was torpedoed and sunk by Rasher and Redfish, the landing craft depot ship Tamatsu Maru was sunk by Spadefish with the loss of some 4,890 lives, and fleet oiler Hayasui was torpedoed and sunk by Bluefish.
German submarines U-123 and U-466 were scuttled at Lorient and Toulon, respectively.
A referendum was held in Australia asking whether the public approved of an alteration to the Constitution granting the federal government additional power to legislate on a wide variety of matters for a period of five years. 54% voted against the proposal.
Private Nikolay Alekseevich Ignatiev (Russian: "Игнатьев Николай Алексеевич") was awarded the medal "For Courage" (За отвагу/Za Otvagu) for his actions on the last day of Operation Bagration
German submarine U-188 was scuttled in Bordeaux to prevent capture by the Allies, one of five U-boats lost that day. U-9 was sunk at Constanța in a Soviet air raid, U-413 was lost to a naval mine in the Cornish corridor, U-984 was sunk by Canadian warships in the Bay of Biscay and U-1229 was sunk in the Atlantic Ocean by Allied aircraft.
The Royal Navy began Operation Goodwood, a series of carrier raids against the German battleship Tirpitz anchored in northern Norway.
Nazi occupation forces in Greece began the Holocaust of Kedros. Over the next several days nine villages in the Amari Valley in Crete would be razed and looted and 164 Greek civilians killed.
Maillé massacre: 124 residents of the French commune of Maillé, Indre-et-Loire were massacred by the Germans in reprisals for activities by the French Resistance.
The Red Ball Express truck convoy system began operation to supply Allied forces in France.
French and American troops liberated Avignon without opposition.[31]
The British Eighth Army in Italy began Operation Olive, an assault on the eastern end of the Gothic Line.[32]
German submarines U-18 and U-24 were scuttled at Constanța while U-178 was scuttled at Bordeaux.
U-667 struck a mine and sank in the Bay of Biscay.
German destroyer Z24 was bombed and sunk by Allied aircraft off Le Verdon-sur-Mer.
Japanese destroyer Yūnagi was torpedoed and sunk northeast of Cape Bojeador, Luzon by American submarine Picuda.
German submarine U-1000 struck a naval mine off Pillau and was rendered unserviceable.
Charles de Gaulle headed a liberation parade in Paris, laying a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and ceremonially relighting the eternal flame at the Arc de Triomphe, then marching along the Champs-Élysées to attend a service at Notre Dame to give thanks for the liberation of the city. Sniper fire rang out during the parade, which de Gaulle ignored.[33]
Japanese destroyer Samidare, having run aground on Velasco Reef off Palau on August 19, was torpedoed and broken in two by the American submarine Batfish.
Soviet forces entered the important oil centre of Ploiești, Romania. The city had been heavily bombed by the British and Americans in the Oil Campaign and only five refineries producing just 20 percent of normal production were active.[38]
The first of the mysterious Mad Gasser of Mattoon incidents occurred in Mattoon, Illinois. They would end two weeks later as mysteriously as they began.
Weisband, Edward (1973). Turkish Foreign Policy, 1943–1945: Small State Diplomacy and Great Power Politics. Princeton University Press. p.272. ISBN978-1-4008-7261-9.
Buratti, Claudia; Cipollini, Giovanni (2006). Vite bruciate: La strage di Sant'Anna di Stazzema 1944–2005. Rome.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
Ent, Uzal W. "Ploesti." War in the Balkans: An Encyclopedic History from the Fall of the Ottoman Empire to the Breakup of Yugoslavia. Ed. Richard C. Hall. ABC-CLIO, 2014. p. 231. ISBN978-1-61069-031-7.