King Michael I of Romania, left, with Queen Mother Helen of Romania with their ophthalmologist Nicolae Blatt; picture taken in front of Foisor Palace, in Sinaia, Romania. Michael on August 23 1944 staged a coup d’etat. He dismissed Marshal Ion Antonescu, the pro-Axis head of state. Wikimedia Commons.
By Phil Kohn. Dedicated to the memory of his father, GM3 Walter Kohn, U.S. Navy Armed Guard, USNR, and all men and women who have answered the country’s call in time of need. Phil can be contacted at ww2remembered@yahoo.com.
The Red Army reaches the Polish-East Prussian border on August 18, 1944. Summoned from France to Berlin to meet with Hitler, German Field Marshal Günther von Kluge — believing he has been implicated in the “July 20 Plot” to assassinate der Führer (he wasn’t involved, although he was aware of the plan) — commits suicide after writing to Hitler, affirming his loyalty and warning that the war in the West is lost and that Germany needs to stop fighting. Von Kluge is replaced in Normandy by Field Marshal Walter Model. In the Pacific, the Imperial Japanese Navy has a bad day. The troopship Teia Maru, carrying reinforcements to the Philippines, is sunk in typhoon conditions by a wolfpack of U.S. submarines (USS Redfin, USS Rasher, USS Bluefin and USS Spadefish) — 2,665 passengers and crew die. The escort carrier Taiyo is sunk by a torpedo from Navy sub USS Rasher that causes an aviation-gasoline tank to explode; the vessel sinks in 28 minutes, killing 790. Off the Philippines, the light cruiser Natori is sunk by the submarine USS Hardhead; 330 crewmen go down with the ship.
Elements of the U.S. Third Army on August 19 reach the River Seine near Mantes-Gassicourt, 30 miles west of Paris. Inspired and emboldened by the Allies’ approach to the Seine, the French Resistance in Paris begins an open rebellion against German occupation forces — 600 Germans are taken prisoner. Police in Paris side with the Resistance and seize the Prefecture of Police, raising the French tricolor flag.
On August 20, the Soviets launch an offensive into Romania with 900,000 men (96 divisions), 1,400 tanks and 1,700 aircraft. Advances up to 12 miles are reported as the plan to surround 23 German divisions (360,000 men) takes shape; five German divisions are defeated the first day. Japanese resistance on Biak Island, New Guinea, ends. The Japanese incur 4,700 killed and 220 captured. American casualties are listed at 2,550. Vichy French head of state Marshal Philippe Pétain is arrested by German troops in the town of Vichy for refusing to leave with them for an area safe from the Allied advance. By order of der Führer, Pétain and his staff are interned “for their safety” at Belfort, a city in northeastern France between Lyon and Strasbourg.
The German Sixth Army — fighting Soviet Marshal Rodion Malinovsky’s 2nd Ukrainian Front on the Black Sea coast — on August 21 gets separated from the Romanian Third Army. Col. Gen. Johannes Friessner orders all German units to withdraw as the Romanians not only are failing to fight but, even worse, begin changing sides. Farther north, the Germans, with naval support, open a coastal corridor 10 to 12 miles wide for Army Group North, but Hitler refuses to order evacuation of the Baltic States. In France, Allied forces advance northeastward in pursuit of the retreating German Army. In Washington, D.C., the Dumbarton Oaks Conference begins, attended by the foreign ministers of the Allied countries, to set up the framework for the United Nations and to discuss postwar international security.
As of August 22, the Japanese are in total retreat from their ill-fated invasion of India. Off Akuseki-jima, an island in the Ryuku chain that stretches from Japan to Taiwan, the darkened, unmarked, Japanese cargo-passenger freighter Tsushima Maru is sunk by torpedoes launched by the submarine USS Bowfin, killing 1,784 civilians, including 747 schoolchildren being evacuated from Okinawa. (The crew of Bowfin would only find out 20 years later that the Japanese vessel was transporting children.) In Japan, the government introduces a measure to draft females between the ages of 12 and 40 for war-related work.
King Michael I of Romania on August 23 stages a coup d’etat. He dismisses Marshal Ion Antonescu, the pro-Axis head of state, breaks with Germany, surrenders to the Soviets and joins the Allies. Henceforward, Romanian troops will fight against Axis forces. Many of the Romanian troops that were part of the German Sixth Army have already deserted or crossed over to Soviet lines. Allied troops capture the port city of Marseilles, France. The last Japanese resistance on Noemfoor Island, Papua-New Guinea, is overcome by American troops. Members of the French Resistance control most of Paris after heavy fighting.
On August 24, Romania officially declares war on Germany. The Luftwaffe bombs Bucharest, the Romanian capital. The French 2nd Armored Division, part of the U.S. Third Army, reaches the outskirts of Paris. Elsewhere in France, American troops capture Cannes, occupy Grenoble and take Arles, south of Avignon. In the occupied Dutch East Indies, British carrier-based planes raid Padang, in southwest Sumatra. Joseph Goebbels, Reich Minister for Propaganda, orders all theatres, music halls, drama schools and cabarets in Greater Germany to close. Artists, writers, musicians and students are to be conscripted into national service. A work week of 60 hours is mandated, and all holidays are canceled.
Paris is liberated on August 25, 1944. Gen. Charles de Gaulle and Free French troops parade down the Avenue des Champs Élysées, ignoring occasional German sniper fire, fighting in Montmartre Cemetery and bombings around the city. The German military governor of Paris, Gen. Dietrich von Choltitz, has disobeyed Hitler’s direct orders to burn the city and destroy landmarks, supplies and communications equipment. Choltitz instead surrenders everything unharmed. He justifies his action by stating that: the destruction orders have no military value; he loves and admires the French capital; and he believes that Hitler has gone insane. In the south of France, Allied troops move up from the Riviera and liberate Avignon. Finland’s government, led by Carl Mannerheim, enters secret negotiations with the Soviets on the possibility of a cease-fire. In Budapest, the German-installed Hungarian government, led by prime minister Döme Sztójay, decides that it will continue the war as an ally of Germany.
Hitler orders a withdrawal from Greece on August 26. In the Balkans, Soviet forces reach the Danube east of Galati, Romania. The thrust is southwestward toward Bucharest. Bulgaria, until now allied with Germany, withdraws from the war and declares its neutrality. The government announces that German troops within its borders are to be disarmed.
The British Eighth Army renews its offensive northward on Italy’s eastern coast on August 27. Slowed by rain and mud, the British launch an attack toward the Gothic Line at Pesaro, just north of the Foglia river. In the skies over Germany, U.S. B-17s and B-24s attack: airdromes at Anklam, Grossenbrode, Neubrandenburg and Parow; Luftwaffe experimental facilities at Peenemünde and Rechlin; aircraft-components factories at Lübeck, Rostock, Schwerin and Wismar; an oil-industry target at Politz; and several other targets of opportunity.
In France, elements of the U.S. First Army cross the Marne River on August 28. In the south of France, the Germans surrender at Toulon. Elements of the Soviet 2nd Ukrainian Front move over the Carpathian Mountains toward Transylvania, in Romania. In Budapest, popular pressure forces the resignation of prime minister Sztójay and a new Hungarian government takes over, led by Col.-Gen. Géza Lakatos. Lakatos declares martial law, halts the deportation of Jews and announces a willingness to negotiate with the Soviets. Of a total of 97 German V-1 rockets launched toward London, only four hit targets in the city — 88 are shot down, two hit barrage balloons and three fall short.
Encouraged by Edvard Beneš, head of the Czechoslovak government-in-exile in London, a Slovak National Uprising begins in Czechoslovakia against the pro-German government of Jozef Tiso on August 29. The Red Army captures the Romanian oilfields at Ploieşti — the last source of crude oil for Germany — and enters Hungarian-occupied Transylvania. In occupied Poland, the Second Warsaw Uprising continues. The British government declares that the Armia Krajowa (Polish Home Army) is a responsible belligerent force and should be treated as such. In Washington, the U.S. government gives official recognition to the Polish Home Army. The Soviet government and the puppet Polish government recognized by the U.S.S.R. (not the Polish government-in-exile based in London) jointly announce that they have discovered evidence that the Germans have murdered over 1,500,000 people at the former Majdanek prison camp, located on the outskirts of Lublin, Poland. British planes bomb Königsberg, East Prussia, leaving 134,000 civilians homeless. The Bulgarian Cabinet votes to abolish all anti-Jewish legislation effective September 5, 1944.
Canadian armored forces with the British Eighth Army attack west of Pesaro, Italy, on August 30. Without supporting artillery, they are beaten back by the Germans, who destroy or badly damage 32 of the 50 tanks engaged in the attack. German troops withdraw from Bulgaria. The French Provisional Government is established by Gen. Charles de Gaulle in Paris.
American forces turn over the government of Paris to Gen. de Gaulle’s administration on August 31. French troops liberate Bordeaux, France. In Romania, the Soviet 3rd Ukrainian Front occupies Bucharest, the capital, and begins to round up members of the fascist Antonescu government. In Italy, the U.S. Fifth Army crosses the River Arno. In the Pacific, aircraft from U.S. Fast Carrier Task Force 38, under Vice Adm. John S. McCain, Sr., commence a three-day attack: on Iwo Jima, in the Volcano Islands; on the Bonin Islands, 50 miles to the north; and on the Visayas Archipelago, in the Philippines.
