World War II calendar
What happened on July 24 during World War II? This date brings together 4 events from 1943 and 1944, with period photographs and links to the full operations documented across WW2 Theatres.
A force of 791 aircraft attacked Hamburg while Window saturated the German radar displays. Twelve bombers were lost, far below recent loss rates over heavily defended German targets. German controllers could see large numbers of false echoes and could not employ the existing radar-box system effectively.
Continue in The Combined Bomber Offensive →
RAF Bomber Command opened Operation Gomorrah against Hamburg on the night of 24–25 July. The city was a major port, shipbuilding centre and industrial target, and it also contained dense working-class districts within the area-bombing system. For the first time on this scale, RAF aircraft dropped strips of metallised foil known as Window to flood German radar displays with false echoes. The measure disrupted radar-directed fighter and gun control and reduced the effectiveness of a defensive system that had imposed heavy losses on earlier night raids. The opening attack caused…
Continue in The Bombing of Cities →
Cloud over the target led to a recall, but the message reached the formations late and part of the force bombed anyway. Some released short, into the American positions north of the road. Twenty-five American soldiers were killed and about 130 wounded. The infantry had also pulled back from the road to give a safety margin, and the Germans, seeing them go, moved forward into the ground they had vacated.
Continue in Operation Cobra →
Bomber losses over the Balkans had made aircrew recovery an operational problem. General Ira Eaker directed the Fifteenth Air Force to establish an Air Crew Rescue Unit responsible for locating and evacuating Allied airmen across the region. Colonel George Kraigher formed two parties. One would work with Tito's Partisans; the other would operate with Draža Mihailović's Chetniks. Structuring the organization as rescue rather than political liaison helped overcome British objections to renewed American contact with Mihailović.
Continue in Operation Halyard →