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• » 19 Aug 1944

• German troops in the Falaise pocket in France were ordered to break out. ww2dbase [Normandy Campaign, Phase 2 | TH]
• Soviet forces began an offensive toward the Balkan Peninsula. ww2dbase [TH]
• USS Segundo began taking on ammunition and supplies for a war patrol. ww2dbase [Segundo | CPC]
• Hauptmann Werner Schmidt of the German Kampfgeschwader 55 wing was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross. ww2dbase [CPC]

• Field Marshal Günther von Kluge committed suicide by taking cyanide near Metz, France after being relieved of his command and recalled to Berlin, Germany. ww2dbase [Günther von Kluge | Metz, Lorraine | CPC, AC]
• In Paris, France Raoul Nordling, the Swedish Consul-General went to General Dietrich Choltitz, military Commander of Paris, with a proposal to barter 600 Germans captured by the Resistance for 4,213 French prisoners held by the Germans in the Paris area. This was something of a showpiece exchange designed to impress Berlin, for the French prisoners not only vastly outnumbered the German captives but, unlike them, were to be released immediately. Outside the city, American troops began to reach the Seine River. ww2dbase [Liberation of Paris | Paris | TH, AC]
• F6F-5 Hellcat fighters flying from USS Tulagi became the first US Navy Hellcats to score aerial victories in the European Theater when fighters from Squadron VOF-1 shot down three Heinkel He-111 medium bombers south of Lyon in southern France. ww2dbase [Invasion of Southern France | F6F Hellcat | He 111 Doppel-Blitz | Vienne, Isère | DS]

• Destroyer USS Shaw anchored in Apra Harbor, Guam, Mariana Islands and served as an anti-aircraft ship for the next three weeks. ww2dbase [Shaw | Mariana Islands Campaign and the Great Turkey Shoot | Apra | DS]

• Italian 10th MAS Flotilla established the "Mataluno Column" at Sesto Calende, Italy. ww2dbase [Sesto Calende, Lombardia | CPC]

• Landing ship No. 157 was completed. ww2dbase [No. 101/103-class | CPC]

• Z35 and Z36 began escorting heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen off the Latvian coast. ww2dbase [Z35 | Z36 | CPC]

• USS Bluefish sank a Japanese transport and a Japanese oiler in the South China Sea, hitting them with 9 of 12 torpedoes fired. ww2dbase [Bluefish | South China Sea | CPC]

• A V-1 flying bomb went astray and impacted in Norfolk, England, United Kingdom near RAF Thorpe Abbots, the base of the 100th Bomber Group (The bloody One Hundredth). The base diarist commented that, "The tannoy gave a red alert and two seconds later the buzz bomb blew". Three Polish squadrons (316, 315 and 306) were in action, shooting down 12 V-1 flying bombs between them, with Warrant officer Józef Feruga (316 Squadronn) taking down 3 of them over Dungeness, Kent. ww2dbase [Vergeltungswaffe 1 | V-Weapons Campaign | Diss, England | HM]

• USS Sunfish completed her refit at Midway Atoll. ww2dbase [Sunfish (Gato-class) | Midway Bases | Midway | CPC]

19 Aug 1944 Interactive Map