September 7, 1944
Today in World War II Pacific History
Day by day chronology

THURSDAY, 7 SEPTEMBER 1944

ALASKA (Eleventh Air Force): Six B-25s on a shipping sweep attack a small fishing fleet between Paramushiru and Onnekotan.

BURMA-INDIA (Tenth Air Force): Twenty-two B-24s fly fuel to Kunming and many other troop carrier and cargo sorties are flown to numerous CBI terminals.

CHINA (Fourteenth Air Force): In China, 24 B-25s attack town areas, river shipping and trucks in and around Kiyang, Lingling, and Yoyang; Eleven B-25s bomb Tien Ho Airfield and White Cloud Airfield and two bomb the Siangtan ferry; five B-24s hit four freighters southwest of Hong Kong; nearly 100 P-40s and P-51s on armed reconnaissance over vast areas of SE China attack numerous targets of opportunity including troops, railroad targets, river shipping, warehouses, and bridges. In French Indochina, Four P-38s hit targets of opportunity in the Hanoi-lower Red River area.

AAFPOA (Seventh Air Force): P-47s from Saipan make strafing and rocket attacks on Pagan and Aguijan. B-24s on snooper and armed reconnaissance missions hit Iwo Jima and Marcus.

HQ AAF (Twentieth Air Force): Ground echelons of the 873d Bombardment Squadron (Very Heavy), 874th Bombardment Squadron (Very Heavy) and 875th Bombardment Squadron (Very Heavy), 498th Bombardment Group (Very Heavy) arrive at Isley Field from the US (first mission is October 28, 1944).

SOUTHWEST PACIFIC AREA [SWPA, Far East Air Force (FEAF)]: B-24s pound Menado area on Celebes and B-25s hit Wasile Bay villages on Halmahera; other B-24s strike Galela Airfield in force while P-38s dive-bomb Djailolo Airfield on Halmahera. A-20s bomb Boela Airfield and B-25s sink a lugger in Bara Bay. In New Guinea, A-20s hit Mongosah Airfield while fighter-bombers hit Manokwari Airfield and Manokwari and strafe and bomb Wewak Airfield and surrounding areas; and the 25th Liaison Squadron, 91st Photographic Wing (Reconnaissance), moves from Nadzab to Biak with L-5s.

ML-KNIL: Crashed is C-47 DT-941 (KIA).

USMC: The Commandant of the Marine Corps directed that the chart included in his letter of 31 August be modified by the deletion of Fleet Marine Force, Air, Pacific and indicated that the command status of aviation units would be set forth later.

6th Marine Division (6th MARDIV) is activated on Guadalcanal.

U.S. Navy: The Third Fleet began a probing operation in the Western Carolines and the Philippines with first day of strikes against Yap and the Palau Islands. Planes from TGs 38.1, 38.2, and 38.3 conduct full scale air strikes on Japanese installations throughout the principal Palaus; they will repeat the evolutions (albeit with diminishing force in view of the paucity of targets) the next day. CRUDIV 14 (Rear Admiral F.E.M. Whiting) (three light cruisers, screened by four destroyers, drawn from TGs 38.2 and 38.3) bombards Japanese installations on Peleliu, Angaur, and Ngesebus, supplementing the carrier air strikes begun the previous day by TF 58. Heavy cruiser New Orleans (CA-32) and light cruiser Biloxi (CL-80) and four destroyers (from TG 38.4) bombard Yap; they will repeat the bombardment the following day. Planes from TG 38.4, meanwhile, on this day and the next will carry out operations against Yap and Ulithi.

U.S. Army forces supported by naval vessels land on Soepiori Island in the Schouten Islands off New Guinea.

Destroyer Flusser (DD-368) is damaged by shore battery on Wotje while on a routine patrol south of the island.

USS Paddle (SS-263) sinks Japanese transport Shinyo Maru transporting 750 Prisoners Of War (POW) off Lanboyan Point on the Zamboanga Peninsula on Mindanao at roughly Lat 08°10'N Long 122°40'E. USS Paddle (SS-263) also damages Tanker No. 2 Eiyo Maru and is beached at Sindagon Point, 08°10'N, 122°40'E

RAAF Beaufighters sink Japanese motor sailboat Keishin Maru off southern coast of Ceram.