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• » 15 Aug 1944

• USS Trepang departed for Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii. ww2dbase [Trepang | CPC]
• Colonel General Gotthard Heinrici replaced Erhard Raus as the commander of the German 1.Panzerarmee. ww2dbase [CPC]
• Operation Dragoon, the invasion of southern France, began. On the same day, Saint-Tropez, Var, France was captured by the 15th Infantry Regiment of 3rd US Infantry Division. This also marked the first operational use of the F6F Hellcat fighter by the US Navy in the European Theater flying from carriers USS Tulagi and USS Kasaan Bay. ww2dbase [F6F Hellcat | Invasion of Southern France | TH, AC]
• Feldwebel Helmut Lennartz scored the Luftwaffe's first Messerschmitt Me 262 jet fighter kill on an American B-17 Flying Fortress bomber. Lennartz survived the war with eight Me 262 and five Bf 109 victories to his name. ww2dbase [Me 262 Schwalbe | AC]
• The Japanese Navy 11th Air Fleet was reorganized to contain the 958th Air Group and the 105th Air Base Unit. The 13th Air Fleet was reorganized tow contain one air flotilla, one air group, and two air base units. ww2dbase [CPC]
• Vice Admiral Gunichi Mikawa was named the commanding officer of the 3rd Southern Expeditionary Fleet while still holding command of the Southwest Area Fleet. ww2dbase [Gunichi Mikawa | CPC]
• After seeing that the supply missions for resistance fighters in Warsaw, Poland had been so costly, Commander-in-Chief RAF Mediterranean and Middle East John Slessor again placed restrictions on such missions, limiting drops to locations outside the city of Warsaw only. ww2dbase [Warsaw Uprising | CPC]

• USS Marblehead bombarded Axis positions near Saint-Raphaël, France. ww2dbase [Marblehead | Invasion of Southern France | Saint-Raphaël, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur | CPC]
• Matthew Urban was wounded in combat in France. ww2dbase [Matthew Urban | JR]
• Gloire arrived off southern France in support of Operation Dragoon. ww2dbase [Invasion of Southern France | Gloire | CPC]
• German He 117 Greif bombers from Schwäbisch Hall, Germany were attacked by a P-61 Black Window fighter of US 422nd Night Fighter Squadron in the skies north of Harfleur, France. A tail gunner from one of the bombers hit the American aircraft and set an engine ablaze. The pilot, Second Lieutenant Al Gordon reached his base but crashed on the runway; somehow Gordon and his co-pilot survived with minor injuries. He reported the in future he was going to be a little more cautious. ww2dbase [Harfleur, Haute-Normandie | HM]

• Barbers Point Naval Air Station: Part of Night Fighting Squadron 78 (VF(N)-78) departed. ww2dbase [Barbers Point Naval Air Station | Ewa, Oahu | DS]

• Destroyer Yukikaze completed her repairs at Kure, Japan. ww2dbase [Yukikaze | Kure Naval Arsenal | Kure, Hiroshima | CPC]
• Landing ship No. 109 was completed and was transferred to the Japanese Army. ww2dbase [No. 101/103-class | CPC]

• Rear Admiral Chitoshi Ishizuka was named the chief of staff of Chinkai Guard District in southern Korea. ww2dbase [Chinkai Guard District | Chinkai, Gyeongsangnam | CPC]

• Irako arrived at Mako, Pescadores Islands, Taiwan. ww2dbase [Mako Guard District | Irako | Mako, Hoko | CPC]

• Allied convoy JW-59 departed Liverpool, England, United Kingdom; it was consisted of 33 freighters. ww2dbase [Arctic Convoys | Liverpool, England | CPC]

• USS Wake Island arrived at Norfolk, Virginia, United States. ww2dbase [Wake Island | Norfolk, Virginia | CPC]

• During a stop at Midway Atoll, submarine USS Growler formed a wolfpack with submarines USS Sealion and Pampanito with Growler’s captain, Lt. Cmdr. Thomas B. Oakley, Jr., in command. ww2dbase [Growler | Midway | DS]

15 Aug 1944 Interactive Map