http://www.onwar.com/chrono/1944/aug44/17aug44.htm#
Canadians capture Falaise
Thursday, August 17, 1944 www.onwar.com
Canadian infantry and armor enter Falaise [photo at link]
On the Western Front... Elements of Canadian 1st Army complete the capture of Falaise. The town has been severely damaged in recent fighting. There is a few miles gap between the Canadian line and the American line to the south, held by US 1st Army with US 5th Corps forward. To the south and west, other American forces capture Dreux, Chateaudun and Orleans. In Brittany, the German defenders of the citadel at St. Malo surrender.
From Berlin... Hitler dismisses Field Marshal Kluge as commander of Army Group B. Field Marshal Model is appointed in his place.
On the Eastern Front... In Lithuania, forces German Army Group North launches counterattacks along the entire line. Effort is concentrated on Siauliai with the objective of preventing Soviet forces from cutting off German-held Riga in Latvia.
In Southern France... There is little German resistance to the Allied advance of US 7th Army. St. Raphael, St. Tropez, Frejus, Le Luq and St. Maxime are captured during the day.
In New Guinea... Near Aitape, American forces extend their line in a general advance against light Japanese resistance. On Numfoor, the last significant Japanese force is brought to battle by American forces and destroyed.
http://www.etherit.co.uk/month/thismonth/17.htm
August 17th, 1944 (THURSDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM:
The US Eighth Air Force in England flies 3 missions.
- Mission 558: 10 B-24s are dispatched to drop Azon missiles on the Les Foulous, France rail bridge but the mission is abandoned due to deteriorating weather.
- Mission 559: 1 B-17 drop a BATTY TV bomb on the port area at La Pallice, France.
- Mission 560: 7 B-17s drop leaflets in France during the night.
- 33 B-24s fly CARPETBAGGER missions during the night.
Fighter-bomber missions flown by the VIII Fighter Command:
- 397 P-38 Lightnings and P-47 Thunderbolts hit the Paris/Brussels area; they claim 3-0-3 aircraft.
- 318 P-51 Mustangs are dispatched to hit communications targets; 7 P-51s are lost.
FRANCE: Three thousand men detained by the SD are released. Those at Compiègne are still put on a train but will be released during transit by the Wehrmacht.
The Americans are in Chartres. The members of the Fascist PPF begin preparations to flee Paris on a convoy of Wehrmacht trucks, temporary passports are issued at the embassy for those wanting to go to Germany. In total between 10 and 20,000 Miliciens, PPF members and other ultras retreat eastwards to the Reich under constant exposure to Allied air forces.
The mayor of Paris, Pierre Charles Tattinger, meets with the German commander Dietrich von Choltitz to protest the explosives being deployed throughout the city. Adolf Hitler had decreed that Paris should be left a smoking ruin, but Dietrich von Choltitz thought better of his Fuehrer’s order.
Falaise, France is completely captured by the Canadian 2nd Division. There remain only a few miles between The Canadians to the north and the US V Corps to the south. Dreux, Chateaudun and Orleans are captured by US forces. The citadel at St. Malo, France surrenders.
La Lande: Staff Sergeant Stanley Bender, US Army, Company E, 7th Infantry, 3d Infantry Division, climbed on top of a knocked-out tank in the face of withering machine-gun fire to locate and destroy the source of fire which was holding up his company. He located the guns and led a squad of men to knock them out. MOH
In an agreement between Abetz and von Cholitz “Paris was to be neither defended not destroyed, not delivered to looting and arson.”
German Field Marshal Walther Model takes over command of German forces in the West from Field Marshall Gunther von Kluge who committed suicide because of his involvement in the July 20 plot against Hitler.
Chief of State Marshal Henri Pétain and his staff are interned at Belfort by order of the Führer. The Vichy French government under Premier Pierre Laval resigns.
In southern France, St. Raphael, St. Tropex, Frejus, Le Luq and St. Maxime fall to the Allies. There is little German resistance.
- The US Ninth Air Force dispatches 400+ A-20 Havocs and B-26s to bomb road bridges at Montfort-sur-Risle, Pont-Audemer, Nassandres, Beaumont-le-Roger, Le Bourg, Brionne, and Beaumontel, and a rail bridge at La Ferriere-sur-Risle; fighters fly ground force cover over Saint-Malo and Dreux and armed reconnaissance in northwest France; IX Tactical Air Command fighters attack and severely damage Gestapo HQ near Chateauroux.
- The US Twelfth Air Force, despite bad weather, sends medium bombers to attack railroad bridges leading to the beachhead area of the south coast and hit coastal guns southwest of Toulon; A-20s hit motor transport during the night and drop ammunition to invasion forces; fighter-bombers and fighters on armed reconnaissance and patrol score excellent results against motor transport and rail cars and destroy several airplanes on airfields in the south.
GERMANY: A Soviet patrol crosses the old East Prussian border near Stallupoenen (now Nestrov). (Henry Sirotin)
FINLAND: President Mannerheim meets Generalfeldmarschall Wilhelm Keitel who has come for a sudden visit to Finland. The formal reason for Keitel’s visit is to bring Mannerheim the Oak Leaves to his Knight’s Cross and a Knight’s Cross for General of Infantry Erik Heinrichs, the Chief of Finnish General Staff.
Mannerheim informs Keitel that the promise given by the ex-President Risto Ryti, that Finland won’t make peace unless in agreement with Germany, is in force no more. It was made by President Ryti personally and was not ratified by the Parliament. Finnish people doesn’t approve of the promise and thus Ryti had to resign. Finland shall stay in the war only as long as is in her interest to do so. Keitel assures that Germany won’t submit but keep fighting for ten more years if necessary.
Mannerheim comments that unfortunately we Finns can’t do that. Keitel is visibly agitated when he leaves.
LITHUANIA: Soviet Army Group North attacks toward Siauliai to prevent Riga from being cutoff.
U.S.S.R.: Baltic Fleet, Ladoga Lake and Chudskoe Lake Flotillas: SKA “I-27” and SKA “I-28” - by aviation, in Teploe Lake (part of Chudskoe Lake) . (Sergey Anisimov)(69)
ITALY: The Germans pull out of Florence, releasing Italy’s most beautiful city from a vise in which it long has been clutched. Neither army shelled Florence and it is believed that the historic city is intact except for five bridges blown up by the Germans.
The US Fifteenth Air Force in sends 53 B-17s, with fighter cover, to bomb Nish Airfield in Yugoslavia and 250 B-24s, escorted by P-51s, to bomb 3 oil refineries and targets of opportunity in the Ploesti, Romania area.
BULGARIA: One B-24 Liberator of the USAAF’s Fifteenth Air Force in Italy visually bombs a target of opportunity.
ROMANIA: Two hundred forty five B-24 Liberator of the USAAF’s Fifteenth Air Force in Italy bomb three oil refineries at Ploesti with the loss of 19 aircraft: Using H2X radar, the Romano Americano Refinery if bombed by 70 aircraft while 54 bomb visually; 124 aircraft bomb the Romano Americano Refinery, 70 using H2X radar; and 34 bomb the Standard Oil Refinery visually. Other targets hit by individual aircraft are a highway at Bailesti, a marshalling yard at Dragonesti, and another unnamed highway.
YUGOSLAVIA: B-17 Flying Fortresses of the USAAF’s Fifteenth Air Force in Italy bomb two targets: 51 aircraft bomb the airfield at Nis with the loss of one aircraft while one bombs the railroad at Pirot.
INDIA: Viceroy Viscount Wavell rejects Gandhi’s request to discuss war support in return for Indian independence.
NEW GUINEA: The last significant Japanese force on Numfoor is destroyed by US paratroopers.
VOLCANO ISLANDS: US Seventh Air Force B-24s from Saipan Island bomb Iwo Jima Island.
PALAU ISLANDS: US Thirteenth Air Force radar-equipped B-24s attack Japanese airfields and defenses during the night.
CANADA: Minesweeper HMCS Kapuskasing commissioned.
U.S.A.: Baseball, New York Yankees’ center fielder Johnny Lindell ties a major league baseball record by hitting four consecutive doubles in a game against the Cleveland Indians. The Yankees win the game 10-3.
Destroyer USS Dyess laid down.