August 24, 1944: The US 5th Armored Division still progresses very slowly in the Eure region, particularly in the area of Elbeuf and Louviers. The Germans order the rearguard to stop the Allied advance as the they retreat, allowing them to reach the far bank of the Seine where they can regroup. Due to the disorganization of the troops and their attacks, the German rearguard causes a lot problems for the Americans, and the Allied air force ends its day with low scores.
In the evening, the 2nd Armored Division of General Leclerc (as part of the US 5th Corps) enters Paris from the South. The French Resistance in Paris, who have been fighting the German soldiers for several days, welcome the French Sherman tanks as heroes as they reach the Hotel de Ville at 09:20 pm. Paris had been ruled by Nazi Germany since the signing of the Second Compiègne Armistice on June 22, 1940, when the German Army occupied northern and western France.
To the east of the Orne river, the motorized units of the Piron’s Belgian Brigade reach the towns of Honfleur and Pont-L'Evêque, while the remaining German defenders of Deauville and Trouville surrender.
In southern France, elements of the US 7th Army advancing northeast along the coast capture Cannes. In the advance northward, Grenoble is occupied while forces moving west take Arles on the Rhone River, south of Avignon.
Over France, RAF 2nd Tactical Air Force conducting operations across and beyond the front of advancing ground forces. US 9th Air Force fighters attack transportation lines and German columns on the march. RAF Bomber Command sends 53 aircraft to attack Brest during the day.
Over Germany, US 8th Air Force attacks various targets with 1,074 bombers (26 lost), escorted by 626 fighters.
Six members of a Liberator bomber crew shot down near Hanover, Germany are 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, survives to tell the tale. In Aug 1945, seven of the mob, including the sisters, are sentenced to hang by a US military commission.
On the eastern front, the line of German Army Group South Ukraine (Freissner) is shattered by the defection of the Romanian forces and the encirclement of 6th Army. Soviet forces continue to advance rapidly. Kishinev is captured by Soviet troops.
In Italy, British 8th Army ready to launch offensive against the Gothic Line. British 13th Corps of US 5th Army establishes bridgehead across the Arno River east of Florence without opposition. US 12th Air Force aircraft attack targets throughout northern Italy. US 15th Air Force attacks targets in Ferrara.
Pictured: US vehicles and crowds of civilians, photo taken from a window overlooking the Place Mirabeau in Montargis. The city was liberated August 24, 1944 by the 35th of Maj US ID. Gen. Paul W. Baade US attached to XII Corps of the Third Army of Gen. US. George S. Patton.; German POWs being escorted past French patriots, August 24, 1944 ; Concrete U-boat pens at Brest, France showing damage sustained after bombing attacks by the British Royal Air Force, August 24, 1944; Prudential building in Warsaw, Poland exploding as it was hit by a 24" / 4,780 lbs shell from a German Karl-Gerät self-propelled howitzer, August 24, 1944
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