Skip to content
WW2 Theatres Theatres of the Second World War
Home

World War II calendar

WWII On This Day: February 24

What happened on February 24 during World War II? This date brings together 2 events from 1944 and 1945, with period photographs and links to the full operations documented across WW2 Theatres.

1944
A 446th Bomb Group B-24 over the Gothaer Waggonfabrik at Gotha on 24 February 1944 during Big Week's second major Eighth Air Force effort.
A 446th Bomb Group B-24 over the Gothaer Waggonfabrik at Gotha on 24 February 1944 during Big Week's second major Eighth Air Force effort. U.S. Army Air Forces photo 342-FH-3A21390-50679AC / National Archives · Public domain in the United States Source
Big Week and Air Superiority

Gotha and Schweinfurt: the second great Eighth Air Force effort

With weather improved on 24 February, the Eighth sent more than eight hundred heavy bombers toward Gotha, Schweinfurt, Rostock and other industrial targets. Twenty fighter groups supported the force at different stages of the route. At Gotha, B-24s attacked the Gothaer Waggonfabrik; at Schweinfurt the ball-bearing industry was struck again. The important change from the previous autumn was that the bomber stream did not have to cross the same deep German airspace without escort. German fighters could still inflict losses, but every attempt to mass against the bombers now risked…

Continue in Big Week and Air Superiority →
1945
Marines of Company L, 3rd Battalion, 21st Marines, advancing under fire toward Airfield No. 2 on Iwo Jima, 24 February 1945.
Marines of Company L, 3rd Battalion, 21st Marines, advancing under fire toward Airfield No. 2 on Iwo Jima, 24 February 1945. Corporal Page / U.S. Marine Corps, via Signal Corps Archive · public domain Source
Iwo Jima

The 3d Marine Division joins the attack on Airfield No. 2

On 24 February a heavy preparation by battleship, artillery and aircraft preceded a tank and infantry attack on Airfield No. 2. Armour was blocked by mines on the western taxiway and used the narrower eastern route, and the Marines took the hill north of the runway intersection. The 3d Marine Division began landing that day and was committed on 25 February, less the 3d Marines. Marine casualties reached 7,758 by the end of 24 February. The 3d Division's task was to drive through the Motoyama plateau to the coast, secure…

Continue in Iwo Jima →