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• Operation Paravane: 21 British Lancaster bombers based in Yagodnik, Russia attacked German battleship Tirpitz, scoring two hits on the forecastle and putting her out of action. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]
• Japanese hospital ship Hikawa Maru departed Manila, Philippine Islands. ww2dbase [Main Article | Tabular Record of Movement | CPC]
• US First Army engaged the Siegfried Line/Westwall east of Aachen, Germany and captured Nancy, France. ww2dbase [TH]
• Allied troops captured Maastricht and Eysden, the Netherlands. ww2dbase [TH]
• Vice Admiral Eiji Goto was named the commanding officer of the Japanese Navy 12th Air Fleet. ww2dbase [CPC]
• Soviet 6th Guard Tank Brigade, 33rd Guard Tank Brigade, and 63rd Guard Tank Brigade were assigned T-44 prototype medium tanks for training purposes. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]

• Franklin Roosevelt and Winston Churchill signed a secret agreement, granting Joseph Stalin's demands for Sakhalin Island, Kurile Islands, and a portion of Korea in return for a Soviet declaration of war on Japan. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]

• USS Marcus Island launched aircraft to provide cover for the Peleliu, Palau Islands invasion. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]
• USS Preston supported the invasion of Palau Islands. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]
• The US Marines invaded Peleliu in the Palau islands believing that the island was only lightly defended. In fact, there were some 12,000 Japanese concealed on the island waiting to reveal their hand. In a week the Marines would suffer terrible casualties. The 1st Marines ended up at half their combat strength and, in the 5th and 7th Marines more than four out of every ten men sent ashore were either killed or wounded. For the record Peleliu measured just six miles long and two miles wide and was of questionable strategic value. ww2dbase [Main Article | AC]

• USS Wasp supported the Palau Islands invasion from the position 80 kilometers off Morotai, Maluku Islands. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]
• US Army troops landed on Morotai, Maluku Islands. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]

• The firm Heinkel was given the contract to produce the simple, lightweight, and easy to operate jet fighters that the German Air Ministry requested seven days prior. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]

• Indian 4th Division drove out German 98th Division and captured Gemmano, Italy. To the north, British 56th Division captured Corce. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]

• Nachi received 2 twin-mount and 20 single-mount Type 96 25-millimeter anti-aircraft guns at Kure Naval Arsenal, Japan. ww2dbase [Main Article | Facility | Tabular Record of Movement | CPC]
• Landing ship No. 111 was completed and was transferred to the Japanese Army. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]

• USS Hoe departed Fremantle, Australia for her sixth war patrol in the South China Sea. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]
• USS Miami operated off the Philippine Islands in indirect support of the Palau Islands campaign. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]

• Prisoners Edward Galinski and Mala Zimetbaum were executed at Auschwitz Concentration Camp in occupied Poland for their attempted escape from Auschwitz II–Birkenau in Jun 1944. ww2dbase [Main Article | Facility | CPC]

• The GUKR SMERSH completed a list of Japanese intelligence personnel and Russian émigré living in northeastern China for arrests when Soviet troops invaded the region. ww2dbase [CPC]

• Allied convoy JW-60 departed Liverpool, England, United Kingdom. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]

• Soviet 17th Air Army of the 3rd Ukrainian Front began a six-day campaign attacking railroad bridges near Niš, Skopje, Kruševo and other towns in southern Yugoslavia of transportation importance to isolate German troops in southern Yugoslavia and nothern Greece. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]

15 Sep 1944 Interactive Map