Replies

http://www.etherit.co.uk/month/thismonth/21.htm

July 21st, 1944 (FRIDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM: No. 616 Squadron, RAF, equipped with Spitfires and seven of the new Gloster Meteor Mk I jets, moves to its operational base at Manston, Kent.

The USAAF’s Eighth Air Force in England flies two missions:

- In Mission 486, 1,110 bombers and 795 fighters are dispatched in 4 forces to bomb targets in Germany, among them 4 aircraft plants and 2 ball bearing plants; 31 bombers and 8 fighters are lost.

1. Of 433 B-24s dispatched, 106 hit Munich, 93 hit Saarbrucken marshalling yards, 78 hit targets of opportunity, 54 hit Oberpfeffenhofen, 33 hit Neuabuing, 13 hit Bullay Bridge, and 9 hit Schorndorf; they claim 10-2-0 Luftwaffe aircraft; 22 B-24s are lost. Escort is provided by 262 P-47 Thunderbolts and P-51 Mustangs; they claim 2-0-1 aircraft in the air and 3-0-10 n the ground; 5 P-51s are lost.

2. Of 96 B-24s dispatched, 48 hit targets of opportunity, 17 hit Duren, 12 hit Walldrun marshalling yard and 9 hit Indenboden; 2 B-24s are lost. Escort is provided by 109 P-47s and P-51s; they claim 1-0-0 aircraft.

3. Of 241 B-17s dispatched, 90 hit Regensburg/Obertraubling, 44 hit Regensburg/Prufening, 40 hit Stuttgart and 18 hit targets of opportunity; 4 B-17s are lost. Escort is provided by 148 P-47s and P-51s; they claim 3-0-0 aircraft; 2 P-51s are lost.

4. Of 340 B-17s dispatched, 99 hit Schweinfurt, 70 hit Ebelsbach, 59 hit Ludwigshafen, 13 hit Bad Kreuznach, 13 hit Ebelsbach, 13 hit targets of opportunity, 12 hit Bad Munster, 12 hit Lachen, 12 hit Simmern marshalling yard, 8 hit Wurzburg, and 5 hit Neckargemund; 3 B-17s are lost. Escort is provided by 187 P-38s, P-47s and P-51s; a P-38 is lost.

- Mission 487: 8 B-17s drop leaflets in France during the night.

U-212 (Type VIIC) is sunk in the English Channel south of Brighton, at position 50.27N, 00.13W, by depth charges from the British frigates HMS Curzon and Ekins. 49 dead (all crew lost). (Alex Gordon)

FRANCE: Weather prevents all USAAF Ninth Air Force combat operations except for one fighter group which is dispatched on armed reconnaissance but is recalled before reaching the Continent; Less than 15 reconnaissance and evacuation sorties are flown.

Minesweeper HMS Chamois is mined in Seine Bay and is towed back to Portsmouth but not repaired. (Alex Gordon)(108)

GERMANY:

U-3009 laid down

U-1110 launched.

ITALY: The French Expeditionary Corps is taken out of the line in Italy. They begin to prepare for the Anvil/Dragoon operation.
The Fifteenth Air Force in Italy dispatches 362 B-17s and B-24s against targets in Czechoslovakia; B-17s and B-24s bomb the Brux synthetic oil refinery; B-24s also hit the marshalling yard at Mestre; 100+ other bombers are forced to abort due to bad weather; P-38s and P-51s provide escort.

Rome: It was regrettable, but inevitable. The decision had been taken at the highest level, with Roosevelt and Stalin outvoting Churchill. The Allied command in Italy has lost 100,000 of its best troops to the forthcoming invasion of the South of France.

The whole of the US VI Corps and the French Expeditionary Corps are assembling in Naples - leaving fewer than 153,000 men, mostly British, Commonwealth and Polish, to face Germany’s formidable Gothic Line. Churchill and his generals would have preferred to fight a Balkans campaign - cutting off German troops in Greece.

EASTERN FRONT: The Russian Third Baltic Front takes Ostrov.
German General Zeitzler resigns as Chief of Staff at OKH and is replaced by Guderian.

Moscow: The simmering row between the Soviet Union and the London-based Polish government in exile flared into fury today with the announcement that the Russias intended to set up a committee of national liberation in those areas of Poland freed by the Red Army. The London Poles consider this committee to be a puppet organization controlled by the Russians and have denounced its members as a “band of usurpers.”

GUAM: US Marines of General Geiger’s III Amphibious Corps land on Guam during Operation STEVEDORE. Admiral Connolly commands the naval forces which include TF 53 directly and 3 groups of TF 58 in support. Attacking both sides of the Orote Peninsula, the 3rd Marine Division lands on the north beach near the town of Agana, while the 1st Provisional Marine Brigade lands on the south beach near Agat. The defending Japanese are the 29th Division under General Takashima. General Obata CO of the 31st Army is on the island.

Opposition was surprisingly heavy after weeks of preparatory fire, and 22 amtracs were sunk. By nightfall, the Marines had pushed 1 mile (1.6 km) inland at both points. In the afternoon, the Army’s 77th Infantry Division landed but even before they hit the beach, they had to contend with a problem that the Marines did not face. Because the 77th was in corps reserve, the division had no amtracs allotted; when landing craft reached the reef line, troops had to debark and wade several hundred yards to the beach. Tanks and trucks had to be towed by bulldozers, and some were lost in the surf. Most of the 305th Infantry Regiment were ashore by 2130 hours, in time to help turn back the expected enemy counterattack which cost the Japanese 268 killed.

Intense naval gunfire and attacks by carrier-based aircraft precede the landings. Supporting the invasion of Guam, Seventh Air Force P-47s based on Saipan attack enemy forces on Tinian Island. 28 B-24s, staging through Eniwetok Atoll, pound Truk Atoll. US Marines and Army troops land on Guam Island. Far East Air Force (FEAF) B-24s again pound Yap Island, concentrating on the airfield; fighters, many dropping phosphorus bombs on the bomber formation, attack fiercely but ineffectively; the B-24s claim 7 fighters shot down.

CANADA: Tug HMCS Glenlivit commissioned.
Frigate HMCS Levis commissioned.
Frigate HMCS Stone Town commissioned.

U.S.A.: The heavy cruiser USS Baltimore (CA-68) and the destroyer USS Fanning (DD-385) depart San Diego, California for Adak Island in the Aleutian Islands with President Franklin D. Roosevelt aboard.

The delegates at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, Illinois, nominate Senator Harry S. Truman of Missouri to be their vice president candidate. Truman replaces Henry Wallace, the current vice president. In Room 708 of the Blackstone Hotel in Chicago, President Roosevelt told Truman at the convention that he wanted him on the ticket.

Destroyer escort USS Dufilho commissioned.

Destroyer USS John W Weeks commissioned.

Coast Guard-manned Army vessel FS-185 is commissioned at New Orleans; her first commanding officer being LT JG L.C. Rickert, USCGR. He was succeeded on 20 September 1945, by LTJG L. W. Cotro, USCGR. She was assigned to and operated in the Southwest Pacific area including Tacloban.

Coast Guard-manned Army vessel FS-156 was commissioned at New Orleans, Louisiana. Her first commanding officer was LT F. D. Obrian, USCGR. He was succeeded by LTJG G. N. Paul, USCGR, who in turn was succeeded by LTJG Ernest H. Thompson, Jr. She was assigned to and operated in the Southwest Pacific area including Biak.

ATLANTIC OCEAN: Brazilian corvette Camaquã shipwrecked while escorting Convoy JT-18 with the loss of 33 crewmembers.