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• Jorge Vargas was born. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]

• Haichou arrived at Tianjin, China. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]

• Horst Böhme was born in Colmnitz, Klingenberg, Germany. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]

• Hazel Lee was born in Portland, Oregon, United States. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]

• The United States' District of Alaska was renamed the Territory of Alaska. ww2dbase [CPC]

• HMS Valiant collided with HMS Warspite, causing some damage. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]

• Joseph Stilwell departed the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York, United States. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]

24 Aug 1916 Interactive Map

• Submarine R-1 was launched, sponsored by Mrs. George W. Dashiell. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]

• Oberon was commissioned into service. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]

• The construction of escort ship F9 was ordered. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]

• Philippine President Manuel Quezon granted Douglas MacArthur the title of field marshal in the Philippine Army. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]
• The new Soviet Ambassador, Marcel Rosenberg, arrived in Republican Spain. He was accompanied by a large number of Soviet "advisers". ww2dbase [Main Article | AC]

• The Cunard White Star liner RMS Queen Mary, arrived in New York, United States having made the Atlantic crossing in 4 days 27 minutes and taking the Blue Riband from the French liner Normandie. ww2dbase [Main Article | AC]

• Weather data for 24 Aug 1937

• Spanish General Sebastián Pozas’ Republican Army of the East commenced an offensive into Aragon from Catalonia with the object of capturing Saragossa. The Spanish Nationalist forces of General Miguel Ponte were pushed back in the north and south of the River Ebro over the course of the next month, but the Republicans were unable to dislodge them from the area around Saragossa, nor to capture Huesca (in the north) or Tereul (in the south). By the end of Sep 1937 the offensive had ceased to have any impetus and effectively grounded to a halt. ww2dbase [Main Article | AC]

• Mutsu provided naval gunfire support off Shanghai, China. ww2dbase [Main Article | Tabular Record of Movement | CPC]
• Three Chinese transports and eight captured Japanese transports were sunk at the mouth of the Yangtze River at Jiangyin, Jiangsu Province, China, adding more obstacles to prevent Japanese navigation. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]

24 Aug 1937 Interactive Map

• Weather data for 24 Aug 1938

• Japanese troops captured Ruichang, Jiangxi, China. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]
• Adolf Hitler asked his generals to evaluate the possibility of the conquest and occupation of Belgium and the Netherlands. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]

• Weather data for 24 Aug 1939

• The French Army called up its reserves. ww2dbase [CPC]

• German warship Deutschland departed Germany on a raiding mission against British shipping. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]
• In Berlin, Germany, journalist William Shirer noted in his diary "it looks like war" based on his observations throughout the day. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]

• The British and the French delegation in Soviet Union requested further meetings with Kliment Voroshilov, who was slow to respond. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]

• HMS Hermes was recommissioned into service. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]
• The United Kingdom enacted emergency powers and partially mobilized the British military in preparation of war with Germany. Among the forces mobilized was the troops of General Pile's Air Defence of Great Britain (ADGB). ww2dbase [AC]
• The Emergency Powers (Defence) Bill was passed by the British Parliament, which bill was renewed on an annual basis throughout the war. In theory all existing laws were set aside. In future Ministers and departments would issue new regulations as Orders in Council, which would have the force of law. The Government was empowered to enter and search premises; to prosecute and punish offenders, detaining indefinitely and without trial those whose detention "appears expedient"; and to suspend or alter any existing laws. ww2dbase [AC]

• Weather data for 24 Aug 1940

• Bismarck was commissioned into service. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]
• German armed merchant cruiser Atlantis sank British ship King City, carrying 7,300 tons of coal and coke for Singapore, 900 miles east of Madagascar, killing 6. Atlantis remained in the area, in very rough seas, to pick up the survivors. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]
• German submarine U-57 attacked Allied convoy OB-202 2 miles north of Ireland just after midnight; British ships Saint Dunstan and Cumberland were sunk, killing 14 and 4, respectively; British ship Havildar was damaged. German submarine U-48 sank British tanker La Brea, carrying 9,410 tons of fuel oil, 130 miles west of the Outer Hebrides, Scotland, United Kingdom at 1414 hours, killing 2; 31 survived and made it to the Outer Hebrides on lifeboats. 500 miles west of Ireland, German submarine U-37 sank British ship Brookwood at 0314 hours, killing 1; 35 crew and 1 gunner would remain adrift for 5 days before being picked up by British merchant ship Clan Macbean. At 2038 hours, U-37 struck again, sinking British sloop HMS Penzance escorting Allied convoy SC-1, killing 90; 7 survivors were rescued by British ship Blairmore. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]

• Before dawn, the London Blitz began as a misguided group of German bombers of KG1 unloaded their bombs London's Thames Haven oil terminal, which also damaged the church of St. Gile in East End; Göring demanded to know the crews that did this so to punish them. Clear weather allowed the German attacks to restart in size. German bombers arrived in waves against RAF Hornchurch, RAF North Weald, and RAF Manston in southern England; the Germans lost 22 fighters and 18 bombers, while the British lost 20 fighters. At 1600 hours, 50 German aircraft bombed Portsmouth in southern England, killing 100 civilians and wounding a further 300, while damaging HMS Acheron (killing 2, wounding 3) and HMS Bulldog (killing the commanding officer) in the harbor. Overnight, deliberate bombing of London, England, United Kingdom began, hitting north, east, and west of the city. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]
• James Lacey shot down a German Ju 88 aircraft and a Do 17 bomber over Britain. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]
• Hans-Joachim Marseille scored his first kill, a British Hurricane Mk I fighter, over Kent, England, United Kingdom. While he was congratulated by his commanding officer, he was also reprimanded because he achieved the kill after abandoning his wingman to pursue the target. Later that evening, in his diary, he noted great sadness when he thought about the enemy pilot's mother not being able to see his son again. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]

• Weather data for 24 Aug 1941

• Romanian forces suffered heavy losses during the Soviet counter attack near Odessa, Ukraine. ww2dbase [Main Article | TH]
• Vichy France passed anti-terrorist laws, punishable with death sentences, to deal with the resistance movement. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]
• Adolf Hitler ordered the end of the euthanasia program that had already killed 70,273 mentally-ill people. Some doctors would continue to kill the mentally-ill through the end of the European War. ww2dbase [CPC]
• Oberleutnant Hans Philipp became the 33rd member recipient of the Oak Leaves to the Knight's Cross. ww2dbase [CPC]

• Winston Churchill broadcast, on the BBC, his "Crime without a name" speech which told the listening public of the mass murders that are being committed by German police and SS units against the civilian populations in the overrun Soviet territories. ww2dbase [Main Article | AC]

• Weather data for 24 Aug 1942

• USS Guardfish sank Japanese passenger-cargo ship Seikai Maru off Sendai, Japan. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]
• Soviet Volkhov Front launched an offensive near Leningrad in northern Russia. ww2dbase [Main Article | TH, CPC]
• The US Army assumed command of the Amphibious Corps of the Atlantic Fleet, which was previously under the command of the US Marine Corps. The previous commanding officer, USMC Major General Holland Smith, was named the chief of the Amphibious Training Staff of the Fleet Marine Force and was relocated to Quantico, Virginia, United States. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]
• 809 Japanese Special Naval Landing Force troops departed Rabaul, New Britain at 0700 hours aboard transports Nankai Maru and Kinai Maru, sailing for Milne Bay, Australian Papua. At about the same time, 450 Japanese Army troops departed Buna, Australian Papua aboard 7 barges, sailing for Goodenough Bay to support the Milne Bay invasion. The latter convoy was attacked by 12 Australian Kittyhawk fighters while stopped at Goodenough Island and all barges were destroyed. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]
• German submarine U-162 sank Dutch ship Moena 100 miles east of Barbados at 1113 hours; 4 were killed, 83 survived. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]
• German submarine U-601 sank Soviet ship Kujbyshev in the Kara Sea 55 miles west of Dikson Island in northern Russia at 1409 hours; at 1442 hours, U-601 struck again, sinking tug Medvezhonok; all aboard both ships were killed. ww2dbase [CPC]
• Soviet torpedo boat Burya and minesweeper T-204 struck mines and sank in the Gulf of Finland while attempting to sweep a German minefield. ww2dbase [CPC]
• Lucien Lippert was awarded the Iron Cross 1st Class medal. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]

• Tenryu departed Rabaul, New Britain. ww2dbase [Main Article | Tabular Record of Movement | CPC]

• Shokaku suffered light damage from bomb fragments during the Battle of the Eastern Solomons. ww2dbase [Main Article | Tabular Record of Movement | CPC]
• Mutsu escorted carriers during the Battle of the Eastern Solomons. ww2dbase [Main Article | Tabular Record of Movement | CPC]
• A Japanese force centered around carriers Shokaku and Zuikaku sailed down into the Solomon Islands with light carrier Ryujo near the spearhead as bait to draw out US carriers known to be in the general area. In the ensuing Battle of the Eastern Solomons, Ryujo was promptly discovered and fatally damaged by several 1,000-pound bombs, but this in turn allowed aircraft from Shokaku and Zuikaku to locate USS Saratoga and USS Enterprise. Enterprise would suffer heavy damage by three bomb hits (70 were killed, 70 were injured). Japanese warships attempted to engage the US fleet after dark, but the force failed to locate the American fleet, and discontinued the search at 2330 hours. ww2dbase [Main Article | TH, CPC]
• US Marine Corps Major John L. Smith's VMF-223 Squadron based on Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands accompanied by five USAAF P-39 fighters intercepted twenty-seven Japanese aircraft, shooting down ten bombers and fighters. Captain Marion E. Carl, who was to become the first USMC ace of the war, scored three of the kills. His Commanding Officer Major Smith would become the third Wildcat pilot to be awarded the Medal of Honour. Three Wildcat fighters were lost in the engagement. On the same day, 11 US Navy dive bombers arrived at Henderson Field as reinforcements. ww2dbase [Main Article | Facility | AC]

• Repair ship Akashi began repairing destroyer Hagikaze at Truk, Caroline Islands. ww2dbase [Main Article | Tabular Record of Movement | CPC]

• 226 British bombers (104 Wellington, 61 Lancaster, 53 Stirling, and 8 Halifax) attacked Frankfurt, Germany; most bombs missed their targets and fell on the villages of Schwalbach and Eschborn; 16 bombers were lost on this mission. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]

• Hans-Joachim Marseille met South African prisoner of war Corporal Mathew Letulu, whom the Germans called Mathias. Letulu would soon grow close to Marseille as his servant and friend. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]

• Portland screened carrier USS Enterprise during the Battle of the Eastern Solomons ww2dbase [Main Article | Event | DS]

• Karl-Otto Koch stepped down as the commandant of Majdanek Concentration Camp in Poland. ww2dbase [Main Article | Event | Facility | CPC]

• Marshal Georgy Zhukov was sent to Stalingrad, Russia to take over the defense. ww2dbase [Main Article | TH]
• USS Tuscaloosa, USS Rodman, USS Emmons, and HMS Onslaught departed Murmansk, Russia. HMS Marne, HMS Martin, HMS Middleton, and HMS Blankney departed Arkhangelsk, Russia. Both groups of Allied warships were sailing for Iceland; some of them carried Soviet diplomats and survivors of various sunken or damaged merchant ships. At 2002 hours, German minelayer Ulm, which had departed Narvik, Norway at 0400 hours earlier on the same day, was attacked by HMS Onslaught, HMS Marne, and HMS Martin; Marne was hit twice in the engagement (4 were killed), but the British ships were able to sink Ulm at 2235 hours; 132 were killed, 54 survived (30 to 40 of whom were captured by the British). ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]

• The keel of destroyer Luce was laid down at Bethlehem Mariners Harbor, Staten Island, New York, United States. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]
• The keel of submarine Cero was laid down by the Electric Boat Company in Groton, Connecticut, United States. ww2dbase [Main Article | Facility | CPC]

24 Aug 1942 Interactive Map

• Weather data for 24 Aug 1943

• USS Tunny detected a 6-ship Japanese convoy near the Toagel Mlungui Pass in the Palau Islands early in the morning and stalked the convoy for the remainder of the day. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]
• Wilhelm Frick was named Protector of Bohemia and Moravia. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]
• Heinrich Himmler was appointed as Minister of the Interior of Germany. ww2dbase [Main Article | TH]
• In Denmark, bomb incidents and strikes marked growing resistance. ww2dbase [CPC]
• The 1st (French) Motorised Infantry Division was created from the 1st Free French Division and was sent to Italy as a part of the French Expeditionary Force in Apr 1944. ww2dbase [AC]
• The Georgian Legion of the German Army was ordered to move from the Eastern Front to the Netherlands. ww2dbase [CPC]

• US Marine Corps Colonel William Brice moved the headquarters of his Fighter Command to the Munda Point airfield on New Georgia in the Solomon Islands. On this date, the responsibility of Commander, Aircraft, New Georgia was also merged under his command. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]

• 1,260 Polish Jewish children from the liquidated Bialystok ghetto in Poland arrived at Theresienstadt Concentration Camp in occupied Czechoslovakia. ww2dbase [Main Article | Facility | CPC]

• Ilse Koch was arrested by the SS for corruption. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]

• USS Harder departed Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii for her second war patrol. ww2dbase [Main Article | Facility | CPC]

• USS Whale damaged an oiler and a freighter in a Japanese convoy 37 kilometers west of Kusagaki Islands, Japan in the East China Sea, hitting them with 2 of 4 torpedoes fired. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]

• The keel of submarine Spot was laid down at Mare Island Naval Shipyard, Vallejo, California, United States. ww2dbase [Main Article | Facility | CPC]

24 Aug 1943 Interactive Map

• Weather data for 24 Aug 1944

• Operation Goodwood III: British carrier aircraft (33 Barracuda dive bombers, 10 Hellcat fighters, 5 Corsair fighters, 29 other fighters) from HMS Indefatigable, Furious, and Formidable attacked German battleship Tirpitz, scoring 2 hits. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]
• USS Pollack attacked a Japanese freighter with three torpedoes in the Pacific Ocean; all torpedoes missed. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]
• Aircraft of No. 466 Squadron RAAF conducted minelaying operations off of Helgoland, Germany. ww2dbase [CPC]
• Germans evacuated Bordeaux, France and took up fortified positions on the Gironde River outside the city. ww2dbase [TH]
• Six members of a Liberator bomber crew shot down near Hanover, Germany were beaten to death by a mob of German civilians led by sisters Margarethe Witzler and Kathe Reinhardt. One of the victims, left for dead in the pile of battered bodies, survived to tell the tale. In Aug 1945, seven of the mob, including the sisters, were sentenced to hang by a US military commission. ww2dbase [AC]
• Allied forces liberated Cannes in southern France. ww2dbase [Main Article | AC]
• Distrustful of the Army, Adolf Hitler ordered construction of a new Westwall under Nazi Party supervision. ww2dbase [CPC]
• Soviet troops captured Kishinev, Moldova. ww2dbase [CPC]
• Louis Mountbatten arrived in Colombo, Ceylon. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]

• USS Marcus Island arrived at Tulagi, Solomon Islands. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]
• USS Columbia arrived in the Solomon Islands. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]

• In Burma, Major-General Frederick J. Loftus-Tottenham took command of the 81st (West African) Division in the Kaladan valley and found it seriously short of non-commissioned officers since no British reinforcements had arrived; he therefore resorted to promoting Africans, who proved to be entirely satisfactory. ww2dbase [AC]

• Zang Xilan, flying a P-40N fighter, led 13 other P-40N fighters from Enshi Airfield in Hubei Province, China to strafe river traffic on the Yangtze River. He shot down two Japanese aircraft and destroyed several small boats. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]

• Italian 10th MAS Flotilla's "Mataluno Column" was relocated from Sesto Calende, Italy to Villefranche-sur-Mer, France. Operations began on the same day. ww2dbase [CPC]

• Princess Mafalda of the House of Savoy, wife if Prince Philipp of the House of Hesse, was seriously injured by Allied bombing at Buchenwald Concentration Camp near Weimar, Germany, where she was imprisoned. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]

• USS Whale departed Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii for her ninth war patrol. ww2dbase [Main Article | Facility | CPC]

• Submarines USS Harder and USS Hake attacked two Japanese destroyers off Dasol Bay, Luzon, Philippine Islands, but was in turn subjected to a heavy depth charge attack. USS Harder was sunk with all hands lost. ww2dbase [Main Article | AC, CPC]

• The Romanian Royal Guards blocked the German attempt to occupy Bucharest as Romania declared war on Germany. German Luftwaffe responded by bombing the Royal Palace. ww2dbase [Main Article | AC]

• An heavy anti-aircraft gun position in Annerley road, Penge, London, England, United Kingdom took a direct hit from a V-1 flying bomb, killing all 7 of the gun crew. The anti-aircraft guns along the coast had another good day taking account of over 65 flying bombs, many before they reached the mainland. The spectacle of seeing the bombs get hit and explode had become somewhat of a daily routine along the coast, many of the impact sites were visited by curious boys on their cycles before any home guard unit got to them. Parts of the bombs were being collected as trophies, a spark plug being the big prize. ww2dbase [Main Article | Event | HM]

24 Aug 1944 Interactive Map

• Weather data for 24 Aug 1945

• USS Segundo was ordered to sail for Tokyo Bay, Japan. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]
• Shizuichi Tanaka committed suicide by firing a pistol into his heart. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]
• Japan agreed that the first Allied troops on the homeland would be paratroopers. ww2dbase [Main Article | AC]

• Under Soviet pressure, Chiang Kaishek announced that he would recognize the Outer Mongolia region as an independent country if the Mongolian people voted to secede from China. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]
• Choibalsan spoke at a victory celebration in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia Area, China after Chiang Kaishek of the Republic of China announced that China would allow a referendum for Outer Mongolia to secede if that was the people's wish. Not satisfied with Outer Mongolia, Choibalsan declared that all Mongol lands, ie. both Outer and Inner Mongolia, would one day be unified. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]

• The Anglo-Dutch Civil Affairs Agreement, generally agreed in 1944, was formally signed into effect. It called for the island of Sumatra to be turned over to the Netherlands Indies Civil Administration. ww2dbase [CPC]

• USS Whale arrived at Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii. ww2dbase [Main Article | Facility | CPC]

• The Kukutsu Prisoners of War Camp in northern Taiwan was closed. ww2dbase [CPC]

• The city of Cleveland, Ohio, United States honored Bob Feller with a parade; hours later, he played in his first professional post-WW2 baseball game. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]
• During a press conference in Washingon DC, United States, Charles de Gaulle declared that "France means to recover its sovereignty over Indochina" despite Emperor Bao Dai's warning of Vietnamese anti-French fervor. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]

24 Aug 1945 Interactive Map

• USS Bugara arrived at Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii. ww2dbase [Main Article | Facility | CPC]

24 Aug 1948 Interactive Map

• USS Segundo completed her overhaul at Mare Island Naval Shipyard, California, United States. ww2dbase [Main Article | Facility | CPC]

• Commander Harold Crenshaw Miller was named the commanding officer of USS Ticonderoga. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]

• Captain Robert Faulkner Farrington was named the commanding officer of USS Ticonderoga. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]

• Belfast was decommissioned from service. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]

• Tadeusz Komorowski passed away. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]

• USS Wasp departed Naval Air Station Quonset Point, Rhode Island, United States. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]

• USS Caiman arrived at Gölcük, Turkey and was commissioned into Turkish service as the submarine Dumlupinar. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]
• Jinichi Kusaka passed away. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]

• Hanna Reitsch passed away from a heart attack. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]

• John Chatterton dove the wreck of U-869 and penetrated into the electric motor room; he was briefly trapped by a fallen steel beam but was lucky enough to push off the steel beam and escape death. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]

24 Aug 2006 Interactive Map