August in WW2

WW2 was a global conflict that raged from September 1939 to August 1945; almost six long years. The change of seasons brought with it changes in the pace of the war. Spring generally meant new offensives.

1 August 1940. Hitler sets the date for the invasion of Britain as 15 September

2 August 1944. Mariana Islands, Pacific. US forces launch a further assault on Guam

3 August 1944. Soviet forces cross the Vistula river in Poland

4 August 1944. First jet to jet combat. A Gloster Meteor engaged a V1 flying bomb

5 August 1943. US bombers drop over 150 tons of bombs on the deserted Japanese base at Kiska in the Aleutian Islands

6 August 1945. US B-29 Bomber, ‘Enola Gay’ drops first atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima

7 August 1941. US Marines land on Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands

8 August 1943. Mussolini is imprisoned on Maddalena Island, off Sardinia

9 August 1945. Second atomic bomb dropped on Japanese city of Nagasaki

10 August 1940. U-Boat sinks the British armed merchant cruiser Transylvania off Ireland

11 August 1940. Italian troops attack British troops in Somaliland

12 August 1943. 656 RAF bombers devastate Milan, Italy

13 August 1942. German troops arrive at the edges of Stalingrad, Russia

14 August 1943. Lt General Patton apologises to the soldier who he struck

15 August 1944: Canadian troops launch Operation Tractable, a renewed assault towards the town of Falaise, Normandy

16 August 1945: Japanese Emperor Hirohito orders all troops to lay down their arms

17 August 1944: Canadian troops capture the Normandy town of Falaise

18 August 1944: US Submarine Rasher sinks the Japanese carrier Taiyo in the Philippines Sea

19 August 1941: British destroyer Greyhound sinks Italian submarine Neghelli

20 August 1942: First US planes land at Henderson Field, Guadalcanal

21 August 1941: The first Arctic Convoy sets sail from Iceland to northern Russia

22 August 1945: Japanese Kwantung Army surrenders to the Russians in Manchuria

23 August 1944: After capturing Carentan, US troops close to cutting off the Cotentin Peninsula, Normandy

24 August 1940: London bombed for the first time when ten German planes jettison their bombs on the city by mistake.

25 August 1944: German commander of Paris, General Dietrich von Choltitz surrenders Paris

26 August 1940: Britain bombs Berlin for the first time in retaliation for the bombing of London

27 August 1940: HMS Dunvegan Castle is sunk by a U-boat off of Northern Ireland

28 August 1940: Liverpool is bombed for the first time by German aircraft.

29 August 1940: South African Airforce bombs Italian bases in Somaliland

30 August 1944: The first WW2 memorial is unveiled at Lublin, Poland. This portrayed the unknown Soviet soldier.

31 August 1939: SS officers fake a Polish attack on Gleiwitz radio station as a pretext for war