19 Aug in WW2 History | World War II Database

19 Aug 1878

Manuel Quezon was born.
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19 Aug 1914

Franklin Roosevelt's son Franklin D., Jr. was born.
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The first war sortie of the British Royal Flying Corps took place with a reconnaissance patrol in support of the ground troops.

19 Aug 1933

Bolzano was commissioned into service.
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Photos dated 19 Aug 1933

19 Aug 1934

Hitler officially became the Führer und Reichskanzler of Germany.
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19 Aug 1937

A rifle company of two officers and 102 enlisted men arrived in Shanghai, China from Cavite, Philippine Islands to reinforce the US 4th Marine Regiment.

19 Aug 1938

Chinese 27th Army Group and the Chinese 59th Army fell back from the defensive line at Huang River, Hubei. China.
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19 Aug 1939

Sir Malcolm Campbell set a new World Water Speed Record on Coniston waters in England, United Kingdom with a recorded speed of 141 miles per hour.
The German Navy ordered 21 submarines and two capital ships to prepare for sailing at any given time. The captains of Admiral Graf Spee and Deutschland received orders to go to Brazilian and North Atlantic waters, respectively.
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At 1910 hours, Berlin, Germany received the official response from the Soviet Union, via the German embassy in Moscow, Russia, for Joachim von Ribbentrop's visit; the proposed date of the conference was set for 26 Aug, but Ribbentrop would soon attempt to move up the date of the meeting. Shortly before Berlin received the message, Joseph Stalin announced to the Politburo his intention to befriend Germany.
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19 Aug 1940

Cloud and rain limited German reconnaissance capability in the morning. In the afternoon, German Luftwaffe changed its tactics, sending single aircraft, mainly Ju 88 bombers, to attack targets along the southern coast of England and Wales in the United Kingdom. The Germans lost 1 Bf 109 fighter and 4 Ju 88 bombers during the day, while the British lost 1 Spitfighter fighter in the fighting and 1 Blenheim fighter over southern Norway during a reconnaissance mission. Meanwhile, the government in London declared the entire United Kingdom a defense area. To reinforce the RAF, a Royal Canadian Air Force squadron arrived in Britain.
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Twelve A6M2 Model 11 Zero fighters escorted fifty four G3M2 Type 96 bombers on a mission against the Chinese city of Chongqing; this was the first combat mission of the Zero fighter.
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Italian troops captured Berbera, British Somaliland. The 17 day conflict has cost the British 250 casualties but the Italians more than 2,000.
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German submarine U-48 sank Belgian passenger ship Ville de Gand off Ireland just after midnight; 15 were killed and 38 survived. Also off Ireland, at 0154 hours, U-101 sank British ship Ampleforth; 9 were killed and 29 were rescued by British destroyer HMS Warwick. U-A sank British ship Hungarian Kelet off Ireland at 1000 hours, killing 6, all of whom were survivors of the ship Clan Macphee that was sunk by U-30 on 16 Aug 1940; 33 crew and 35 other Clan Macphee survivors were rescued by Norwegian merchant ship Varegg.
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The North American B-25 Mitchell medium bomber took its first flight.
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19 Aug 1941

Joachim von Ribbentrop requested Japan to join in the attack on the Soviet Union by attacking Vladivostok in eastern Russia; Japan responded by saying that such a venture would require much time for deliberation and planning.
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German X Corps narrowly averted being encircled near Lake Illmen in northern Russia, saved by a counterattack by LVI Corps.
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The first permanent military garrison was established at Wake Atoll, which consisted of 449 men of the US Marine Corps 1st Defense Battalion under the command of US Navy Commander Winfield Scott Cunningham.
Replacement prosthetic leg for captured Douglas Bader was dropped by a British bomber over Saint-Omer, Pas-de-Calais, France with permission by German Luftwaffe leaders. After the delivery, the British bomber took the opportunity to surprise-attack a power station in occupied France (though the attack would fail to materialize due to weather).
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Photos dated 19 Aug 1941

19 Aug 1942

Soviet troops in the Caucasus region of southern Russia launched the Novorossiysk Defensive Operation.
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Operation Jubilee, the Allied attack on Dieppe in France, ended in dismal failure.
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The German 6.Armee began to attack Stalingrad, Russia.
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Men of the Company L, US 5th Marine Regiment attacked a Japanese construction battalion west of the Matanikau River at Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands; on the same day, Company I of the same regiment conducted an amphibious raid further west at Kokumbona. At Henderson Field, the forward echelon of Marine Aircraft Group 23 (19 F4F fighters and 12 SBD-3 dive bombers) arrived.
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James Johnson flew a mission over Dieppe, France, covering the amphibious operation.
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At Dieppe, France, Corporal Franklin Koons, 1st Ranger Battalion, becomes the first US infantryman to kill a German soldier in combat during WW2; at nearby Berneval, Lieutenant Edwin.D. Loustalot, 1st Ranger Battalion became the first Ranger and US infantry officer to be killed in action in Europe during WW2 as he fell while leading a charge against an enemy gun post.
Despite being wounded three times, Captain Pat Porteous, liaison officer with British No. 4 Commando, led a text book bayonet charge through a hail of machine-gun fire to eliminate (with deadly hand-to-hand combat) the Varengeville-sur-Mer battery in France which threatened the safety of the ships laying off the coast 0f Dieppe. For this gallant action, Captain Porteous would be awarded the Victoria Cross.
Photos dated 19 Aug 1942

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19 Aug 1943

As discussed in the Quebec Conference between US President Franklin Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, British scientists, including Klaus Fuchs, were to join the Manhattan Project.
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German defenses along the Mius River were breached near Stalino (now Donetsk), Ukraine.
German Luftwaffe Chief of Staff Oberstgeneral Hans Jeschonnek committed suicide.
From Britain, Claude Auchinleck cabled Winston Churchill in Canada, attempting to convince the British Prime Minister to decrease the number of brigades to be assigned to Orde Wingate to only three; Wingate had requested eight.
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Robert Johnson scored his second kill over Woensdrecht, the Netherlands, shooting down a German Bf 109G fighter.
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USS Finback attacked several Japanese surface ships with gunfire east of Borneo, sinking one small patrol vessel.
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USS S-35 suffered mechanical issues in the port engine crankshaft and couplings and set sail for Dutch Harbor, US Territory of Alaska to receive repairs.
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Photos dated 19 Aug 1943

19 Aug 1944

Günther von Kluge passed away.
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French Resistance fighters rose in Paris, forcing the German occupation to sign a truce. Outside the city, American troops began to reach the Seine River.
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German troops in the Falaise pocket in France were ordered to break out.
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Soviet forces began an offensive toward the Balkan Peninsula.
USS Segundo began taking on ammunition and supplies for a war patrol.
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Photos dated 19 Aug 1944

19 Aug 1945

Japanese troops were told by their government that surrendering under the terms of a ceasefire would not be considered a loss of honour under the Bushido code which demanded fighting to the death. As a result thousands began laying down their arms. Meanwhile, more than 100 Allied warships waited off the coast of Japan for the order to enter her ports.
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In Burma the Communists split away from the AFO (Anti-Fascist Organisation) leaving Aung San's AFPFL (Anti-Fascist Peoples Freedom League) to lead the campaign for independence.
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USS Caiman arrived at Subic Bay, Zambales, Philippine Islands, ending her fourth war patrol.
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Photos dated 19 Aug 1945

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