World War II calendar
What happened on August 16 during World War II? This date brings together 2 events from 1944, with period photographs and links to the full operations documented across WW2 Theatres.
The divisions of Army B began landing in the bay of Saint-Tropez and at Beauvallon, starting with the 1re Division française libre and the 3e Division d'infanterie algérienne. Around 250,000 French troops would come through these beaches. More than half of them were African and North African. The tirailleurs of the 3e DIA and the Moroccan and Senegalese units made up the bulk of the infantry that took Toulon and Marseille.
Continue in Operation Dragoon →
German forces opened a relief operation toward the Baltic coast in an attempt to restore land contact with Army Group North, which had been cut off when 1st Baltic Front reached the Gulf of Riga. Armour attacked through the narrow northern sector while Soviet fronts farther south held the approaches to East Prussia and the Vistula bridgeheads. The counterattack illustrated the changed balance of the campaign. Germany could now mass armour against selected Soviet penetrations because the front was shorter and reinforcements were arriving from nearby regions. The Soviets still…
Continue in Operation Bagration →