3 Aug 1872
- Haakon VII was born.
» In-depth article
3 Aug 1891
- Zongren Li was born.
» In-depth article
3 Aug 1900
- Ernie Pyle was born.
» In-depth article
3 Aug 1914
- Erwin Rommel, as a member of the 124th Infantry Regiment of the Wüttemberg Army, departed Germany for the Western Front.
» In-depth article - Germany declared war on France.
3 Aug 1916
- Lieutenant William Leefe Robinson RFC, flying a BE.2c, destroyed the German airship Schütte-Lanz St.11. As a result of this victory, large scale airship raids on London, England, United Kingdom were effectively dissuaded, and Robinson would receive the Victoria Cross in the following month.
3 Aug 1918
- The first elements of the Japanese 12th Infantry Division went ashore at Vladivostok, Russia.
3 Aug 1921
- USS Arizona departed Callao, Peru.
» In-depth article
3 Aug 1932
- Zhang Jinghui was named the head of the Ministry of Defense of the puppet state of Manchukuo.
» In-depth article
3 Aug 1938
- The 6th Division of the Japanese 11th Army Group captured Taihu County, Anhui, China.
» In-depth article - The United Kingdom dispatched a mediator to Czechoslovakia in an attempt to persuade the Czechoslovakian leadership to cede Sudetenland.
» In-depth article
3 Aug 1939
- 30 Soviet-built I-16 fighters were delivered to the Chinese Air Force.
» In-depth article - Vyacheslav Molotov informed Joseph Stalin that Germany was requesting the Soviet Union to engage in talks over the future of Eastern Europe. While he did request permission to speak to the Germans on this topic, he expressed skeptism as Germany was concurrently pushing Poland to sign the Anti-Comintern Pact.
» In-depth article
3 Aug 1940
- Italian General Guglielmo Nasi led an invasion force of 25,000 troops into British Somaliland from Abyssinia.
» In-depth article - Winston Churchill warned the British people against believing rumors that invasion threat is over.
- Battle of Britain: Heavy fog restricted the German Luftwaffe to conducting only a small number of raids on Britain during the day. Overnight, German bombers attacked Bradford, Liverpool, Crewe, and the Firth of Forth.
» In-depth article - German submarine U-57 sank Swedish ship Atos at 0810 hours north of Ireland; 1 was killed and 27 were rescued. German submarine U-A stopped Yugoslavian ship Rad at 1900 hours 300 miles off of the coast of Senegal in western Africa and later found out she was carrying chemicals from the United States for South Africa; the crew of 29 was put to lifeboats, and U-A sank Rad with a torpedo.
» In-depth article - Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic became a member nation of the Soviet Union.
» In-depth article - Rear Admiral H. Kent Hewitt was assigned the Commander Special Service Squadron aboard gunboat Erie, relieving Rear Admiral John W. Wilcox, Jr.
- Destroyers USS Walke and USS Wainwright departed Buenos Aires, Argentina for Santos, Brazil.
- A second batch of five Beaufighter IF fighters were handed over to the RAF for evaluation.
» In-depth article - Two Japanese businessmen were arrested in London, England, United Kingdom. In response to a protest by the Japanese Ambassador, the authorities denied that their arrest was a reprisal for the arrest of British citizens in Japan six days prior.
- Japanese luxury ocean liner Hikawa Maru disembarked 82 Jewish refugees at Pier 89, Seattle, becoming the first Japanese ship to take on Jewish refugees to North America.
» In-depth article
» Tabular Record of Movement - Historical document written: Information About German Air Attacks
» In-depth article - Historical document written: STENLI, ChERNIJ, and KAPRANOV
» In-depth article
3 Aug 1941
- The battle at Roslavl in Russia ended with 38,000 encircled Soviet soldiers being taken prisoner.
» In-depth article - Lieutenant Robert Everett RNVR of British No. 804 Squadron Fleet Air Arm became the first pilot launched from a CAM ship (HMS Maplin) to shoot down a German Focke-Wulf Condor aircraft which had sighted the Atlantic convoy SL81 en route from Sierre Leone, British West Africa.
- 21 British Maryland bombers attacked Axis positions at Tobruk, Libya while fighters swept nearby airfields.
- General Nicolae Ciuperca's Romanian 4th Army crossed the Dniester River in Ukraine.
» In-depth article
3 Aug 1942
- US Marine Corps Major General Clayton Vogel was made the commanding general of the Fleet Marine Force, San Diego Area in the US Navy 11th Naval District in southwestern United States.
- Photos dated 3 Aug 1942
3 Aug 1943
- Italian troops begin evacuation of Sicily, Italy.
» In-depth article - In southern Russia, the Voronezh and Steppe Fronts drove into German Armeegruppe Süd's flank, causing a retreat.
- George Patton visited a field hospital in Sicily, Italy and slapped Charles Kuhl for what he claimed as cowardice as Kuhl suffered no physical wounds.
» In-depth article - Troops of Soviet Voronezh Front and Steppe Front crossed the Vorskla River and penetrated German lines near Belgorod, Russia.
» In-depth article - Heinrich Prinz zu Sayn-Wittgenstein shot down three Soviet aircraft, increasing his victories to 50.
» In-depth article - Tanks of the US Marine Corps 9th Battalion joined the American offensive on New Georgia in the Solomon Islands.
» In-depth article - Shokaku sortied from Truk.
» In-depth article
» Tabular Record of Movement - USS Finback sank a Japanese cargo ship in the South China Sea, hitting her with 2 of 5 torpedoes fired.
» In-depth article
3 Aug 1944
- A two-month siege by US and Chinese forces at Myitkyina in Burma finally succeeded in capturing it.
» In-depth article - Hitler ordered a counterattack east of Avranches, France to regain the coast.
» In-depth article - The first Soviet attacks east of Warsaw, Poland were repulsed by the Germans.
» In-depth article - US 83rd Infantry Division became part of the US VIII Corps.
- USS Cod sank a Japanese merchant ship.
» In-depth article - Photos dated 3 Aug 1944
See all photos dated 3 Aug 1944
3 Aug 1945
- Destroyers USS Conner and USS Charrette intercepted and boarded Japanese hospital ship Tachibana Maru at 0658 hours in the Banda Sea in the Dutch East Indies. Upon finding mortar shells hidden in boxes marked medical supplies, Marines were ordered to board and take control of the Japanese ship.
- Six Japanese vessels hit naval mines laid by American aircraft in home waters; three of them were sunk.
- 100 American fighters based in Iwo Jima, Japan attacked targets Tokyo, Japan.
» In-depth article - John "Jack" Lawson was appointed the UK Secretary of State for War in the Atlee Cabinet.
- The J7W Shinden fighter took its first flight.
» In-depth article - USS Blenny reported sinking two small Japanese craft with the deck gun in the South China Sea off Malaya.
» In-depth article - USS Bugara sank 2 small enemy craft with her deck gun in the Gulf of Siam and South China Sea area during the day.
» In-depth article
3 Aug 1946
- Allied repatriation ship Hikawa Maru arrived at Yokohama, Japan for repairs and maintenance.
» In-depth article
» Tabular Record of Movement
3 Aug 1967
- The funeral of Alfried Krupp was held at his Villa Hügel home in Essen, West Germany.
» In-depth article
3 Aug 1968
- Konstantin Rokossovsky passed away.
» In-depth article
Timeline Section Founder: Thomas Houlihan
Contributors: Alan Chanter, C. Peter Chen, Thomas Houlihan, David Stubblebine
Special Thanks: Rory Curtis
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"Goddam it, you'll never get the Purple Heart hiding in a foxhole! Follow me!"Captain Henry P. Jim Crowe, Guadalcanal, 13 Jan 1943
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