World War II Database

• Home
• » Events
• » WW2 Timeline
• » 8 Aug 1944

• German SS Lieutenant General Hans Kammler was named the Special Commissioner for the A-4 rocket program. ww2dbase [V-Weapons Campaign | CPC]
• Jacques Leroy was awarded the Iron Cross 2nd Class. ww2dbase [Jacques Leroy | CPC]
• Winston Churchill, Alan Brooke, Louis Mountbatten, Clement Attlee, Anthony Eden, Oliver Lyttelton, and Albert Wedemeyer met in London, England, United Kingdom to discuss the future direction of war efforts in southeastern Asia. ww2dbase [Winston Churchill | CPC]
• German SS Lieutenant General Hans Kammler was named the Special Commissioner for the A-4 rocket program. ww2dbase [Vergeltungswaffe 2 | CPC]

• USS Luce completed a period of anti-submarine patrol off Attu in the Aleutian Islands and departed for San Francisco, California, United States. ww2dbase [Luce | Attu | CPC]

• A British Mosquito night fighter of 604 squadron reported that they had brought down a German Do 217 aircraft, which was operating over the English Channel launching V-1 flying bombs; tragically it was found that their victim was an Allied Albemarle transport aircraft flown by the SOE to drop supplies to agents in France; the crew of Australians were lost. ww2dbase [English Channel | HM]

• HMS Howe arrived at Trincomalee, Ceylon. ww2dbase [Howe | Trincomalee | CPC]
• HMS Valiant was damaged at Trincomalee, Ceylon when the floating drydock in which she was docked suddenly collapsed. ww2dbase [Valiant | Trincomalee | CPC]

• Violette Szabo was placed on a train in France for Ravensbrück concentration camp in Germany. ww2dbase [Violette Szabo | CPC]
• The German offensive at Mortain, France, Operation Lüttich, was called off after it suffered severe losses to armoured columns from Allied air attacks. Inaccuracy of the American bombing, however, would kill many Canadians, Polish and British ground troops and would wound Major General R. F. L. Keller, commanding officer of Canadian 3rd Infantry Division. Meanwhile, Canadian forces launched Operation Totalize to the south of Caen while the US 15th Army Corp occupied Le Mans, France. ww2dbase [Normandy Campaign, Phase 2 | TH, AC]
• SS-Hauptsturmführer Michael Wittmann, the "ace of tank aces", was killed when his Tiger tank was knocked out leading an attack parallel to the main Caen-Falais Road in France. ww2dbase [AC]

• USS Preston arrived at Apra harbor, Guam. ww2dbase [Preston (Fletcher-class) | Apra | CPC]

• Landing ship No. 113 was launched. ww2dbase [No. 101/103-class | CPC]
• Landing ship No. 160 was launched. ww2dbase [No. 101/103-class | CPC]

• USS Sterlet sank a Japanese transport in the Pacific Ocean, hitting her with four of four torpedoes. ww2dbase [Sterlet | CPC]
• USS Guitarro sank a small vessel off Luzon, Philippine Islands in the South China Sea with her deck gun. ww2dbase [Guitarro | South China Sea | CPC]

• Under the direct order of Archibald Sinclair, Commander-in-Chief RAF Mediterranean and Middle East John Slessor dispatched No. 1586 (Polish Special Duties) Flight RAF to Warsaw, Poland. Supplies were successfully dropped in designated zones without any losses. ww2dbase [Warsaw Uprising | Warsaw | CPC]

• Operation Frantic shuttle missions continued as 78 B-17s with 55 P-51s as escort left bases in Ukraine and bombed airfields in Romania; 38 bombed Buzău and 35 bombed ZiliÅŸtea. No German fighters were encountered and the force flew on to Italy. ww2dbase [B-17 Flying Fortress | P-51 Mustang | Operation Frantic | ZiliÅŸtea | DS]

• Soviet convoy BD-5 departed Arkhangelsk, Russia, escorted by 3 trawlers. ww2dbase [Arctic Convoys | Arkhangelsk | CPC]

• He 111 aircraft flying from their base in Rozières in France flew 23 sorties during the night of 7-8 Aug 1944. One of the Heinkel bombers was shot down by Flight Officer John Smith (604 Squadron); the bomber crashed near Achmer, Lower Saxony, Germany attempting to reach base; Smith also brought down a Do 217 bomber during the patrol over the channel. A V-1 flying bomb launched by another He 111 bomber hit a hostel for agricultural workers near Benenden, Kent, England, United Kingdom, killing four and injuring 33. The balloons around Dartford brought down two flying bombs and another, shot down by a fighter over Bidborough, near Tonbridge Wells in Kent, was the first to be found to be carrying 24 1-kilogram incendiary bombs. Flight Lieutenant "Togs" Mellersh of FIU (fighter interception Unit) shot down four flying bombs on his single night patrol. ww2dbase [Vergeltungswaffe 1 | V-Weapons Campaign | England | HM]

8 Aug 1944 Interactive Map