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WWII On This Day: August 28

What happened on August 28 during World War II? This date brings together 3 events from 1943 and 1944, with period photographs and links to the full operations documented across WW2 Theatres.

1943
Children affected by the Bengal famine on a Calcutta street in a photograph published by The Statesman on 22 August 1943.
The Statesman, Calcutta, 22 August 1943 · public domain in India
The Bengal Famine

American officials report daily starvation deaths in Calcutta

A United States State Department memorandum dated 28 August recorded serious concern over the Indian food situation, describing Bengal as particularly acute and noting reports of people dying daily from starvation in Calcutta streets. The memorandum quoted the U.S. Mission in New Delhi describing rural areas as foodless and a steady movement of famished villagers into the city. It also reported that Bengal’s chief minister had avoided a formal famine declaration because the provincial government could not meet the obligations of the Famine Code. The document shows that the scale…

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1944
A crowd in Marseille burns a German flag removed from the police prefecture on 28 August 1944, the day the German garrison surrendered.
A crowd in Marseille burns a German flag removed from the police prefecture on 28 August 1944, the day the German garrison surrendered. U.S. Army Signal Corps · Public domain Source
Operation Dragoon

The Port Garrisons Surrender

By 28 August the remaining organized German positions at Toulon and Marseille had surrendered. Toulon's last fortified elements, including Saint-Mandrier, capitulated after the main city fighting had ended; at Marseille General Hans Schaefer surrendered the garrison after five days of fighting inside and around the city. The ports were captured weeks ahead of the original planning schedule. German demolitions, mines, wrecks and damaged transport infrastructure then required extensive clearance and repair before large-scale unloading could begin.

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The Prudential building is struck by a 60 cm Karl-Gerät shell on 28 August 1944, photographed from the roof of 28 Kopernika Street.
The Prudential building is struck by a 60 cm Karl-Gerät shell on 28 August 1944, photographed from the roof of 28 Kopernika Street. Sylwester Braun “Kris” · Public domain (Poland) Source
The Warsaw Rising

The 60 cm mortar strikes the centre

On 28 August the 60 cm Karl-Gerät 040 Ziu fired into Śródmieście. One of its two-tonne-class shells struck the Prudential building on Napoleon Square, producing the explosion photographed in sequence by Home Army photographer Sylwester Braun from a nearby rooftop. The mortar had been brought to Warsaw as a siege weapon for heavy masonry targets. Its enormous projectiles caused major structural damage, while slow handling and limited accuracy made it a weapon for demolition and area intimidation rather than precise close support.

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