World War II calendar
What happened on August 28 during World War II? This date brings together 3 events from 1944, with period photographs and links to the full operations documented across WW2 Theatres.
General Schaefer surrendered the Marseille garrison. Both objectives of the operation were now in Allied hands 27 days ahead of the plan, and both were wrecked. American and French engineers began clearing the port immediately. The first ships were unloading within weeks, and by the winter Marseille and Toulon were carrying about a third of all Allied supplies coming into Europe.
Continue in Operation Dragoon →The German rearguard broke off and the Allies took the town. Enormous quantities of transport and equipment were captured or destroyed along the road, including horse-drawn columns caught in the open by artillery and aircraft. The Nineteenth Army lost much of its heavy equipment there. It did not lose itself. Between a half and two thirds of the force got past Montélimar and north up the valley, and the failure to close the road completely is the most criticised episode of the campaign.
Continue in Operation Dragoon →
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.
Continue in The Warsaw Rising →