http://www.onwar.com/chrono/1944/jul44/15jul44.htm#
Heavy fighting near St. Lo
Saturday, July 15, 1944 www.onwar.com
American column advancing in FranceOn the Western Front... Elements of the US 1st Army reach the outskirts of Lessay. From here to the Taute River, the advance is halted for regrouping. Heavy fighting takes place near St. Lo.
In Italy... Divisions of British 8th Army launch attacks against German positions at Arezzo. To the west, the US 5th Army advances toward Leghorn. The French Expeditionary Corps capture Castellina.
On the Eastern Front... The Soviet 2nd Baltic Front captures Opochka, 30 miles north of Idritsa. Other Soviet forces cross the Niemen River in several places west and southwest of Vilna.
In the United States... The Bretton Woods conference continues.
http://www.etherit.co.uk/month/thismonth/15.htm
July 15th, 1944 (SATURDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM: RAF Fighter Command Mosquitoes have now shot down 428 V-1s, with No. 96 Sq. claiming 181, No. 605 Sq., 75.(22)
The Eighth Air Force in England flies two missions to France.
- Mission 474: 169 P-38 Lightnings and P-47 Thunderbolts make fighter-bomber attacks on enemy transport southeast of Paris; 2 P-38s and 1 P-47s are lost.
- Mission 475: 6 B-17 Flying Fortresses drop leaflets in France during the night.
- 27 B-24s fly CARPETBAGGER missions to France during the night.
NORTH SEA:
U-319 sunk SW of the Lindesnes, Norway, in position 57.40N, 05.00E, by depth charges from an RAF 206 Sqn Liberator. 51 dead (all hands lost). The aircraft was also lost in this action
U-561 shot down an RAF 159 Liberator.
FRANCE: Paris: The miliciens storm the Santé prison. 28 of the prisoners who were in revolt are put before a tribunal and executed there and then against the prison wall.
US forces reach Lessay.
Bad weather cancels most operations by the USAAF’s Ninth Air Force but 4 B-26 Marauders (92 others abort) hit the L’Aigle rail bridge during the afternoon; three fighter-bombers fly an uneventful sweep; and fighters of the IX Tactical Air Command fly area cover and bomb infantry, artillery, a marshalling yard, railroad, and a bridge in the Saint-Lo, Argentan, and Falaise areas.
GERMANY: Rastenburg: Von Stauffenberg’s second attempt to assassinate Hitler is foiled when the Fuhrer leaves a conference unexpectedly early.
ITALY: The British 8th Army begins an attack on Arezzo, Italy with 2 divisions.
Otani, Kazuo, SSgt., 442nd Infantry, will be awarded the MOH for actions today, at Pieve di S. Luce. (Posthumous). (William L. Howard)
The Fifteenth Air Force in Italy dispatches 600+ B-17s and B-24s to bomb 4 oil refineries in the Ploesti area and the Teleajenul pumping station, both in Romania; P-51 Mustangs and P-38s fly 300+ escort sorties.
FINLAND: Soviet forces try to break the Finnish U-line in Northern Karelia. Heaviest fighting is around Nietjrvi, where Finnish 5th Div and 15th Brigade start counter-attack in afternoon. The battle rages for two days, until on 17 July Finns are able to recover all lost positions.
EASTERN FRONT: The Soviet Second Baltic Front captures Opochka which is 30 miles north of Idritsa. Other Russian forces advance west and southwest of Vilna.
U-679 damaged Soviet MTB TK-57.
INDIAN OCEAN: U-181 sank SS Tanda at 13.22N, 74.09E.
The unescorted Director was torpedoed and sunk by U-198 in the Mozambique Channel southeast of Inhambane, Portuguese East Africa. One crewmember was lost. The master, 49 crewmembers and six gunners were rescued. The master and 14 crewmembers by the Portuguese sloop Goncalves Zarco and landed at Lourenco Marques. The chief officer, 34 crewmembers and six gunners landed at Kosi Bay, Portuguese East Africa.
GUAM: Supporting the preinvasion strikes against Guam, Seventh Air Force P-47s based on Saipan bomb and strafe Tinian Island and B-24s, staging through Eniwetok Atoll, hit Truk Atoll while Fifth Air Force B-24s blast Yap Island, scoring numerous hits in the town area and on a radio station and barracks area. Navy PB4Y Liberators of Bombing Squadron One Hundred Nine (VB-109) based at Isley Field on Saipan, again attack airfields on Iwo Jima, Chichi Jima and Haha Jima.
CANADA: Minesweeper HMCS Rossland commissioned.
U.S.A.: Roosevelt, in his train Ferdinand Magellan is enroute from the Democratic Convention in Chicago to San Diego where he is to board a cruiser for a trip to Hawaii and a trip to MacArthur. Today he stops in the Chicago rail yards where Robert E. “Bob” Hannegan, the party chairman boards the train. He confers with Roosevelt for 30 minutes and leaves a note, post-dated July 19th, written in Roosevelt’s hand stating that he will be happy to have either Truman or Douglas as running mates. (William J. Stone)(183)
Minesweeper USS Ptarmigan launched.
Minesweeper USS Diploma commissioned.