WWII On This Day: July 28

Japanese Special Naval Landing Force troops in gas masks prepare to advance through rubble in Shanghai, August 1937. — Unknown photographer / Ministry of the Navy · public domain (Japan) as stated on the Wikimedia Commons file page

July 28, 1941 The Second Sino-Japanese War

Japan occupies southern Indochina and the United States freezes its assets

On 28 July 1941 about 140,000 Japanese troops entered southern French Indochina to prepare for operations against the Dutch East Indies. The United States, in the same month, froze Japanese assets, which created an effective embargo on oil exports to Japan. The occupation was a step toward the Dutch East Indies, and the American response made the war in China a question in the talks between Washington and Tokyo. China and Britain opposed the interim agreement, a modus vivendi, that the United States considered later in the year.

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A German tank commander in southern Soviet territory in June 1942, shortly before the opening of Case Blue. — Bundesarchiv Bild 101I-218-0528-30 · CC BY-SA 3.0 DE · Source

July 28, 1942 Case Blue and the Drive to the Caucasus

Order No. 227

Stalin signed Order No. 227 on 28 July as the retreat in the south threatened to pass from deliberate withdrawal into uncontrolled loss of territory and cohesion. The order condemned unauthorised retreat and introduced penal formations and blocking detachments. Its political language—'Not one step back'—can obscure the immediate operational context. Stavka had itself authorised large withdrawals earlier in July. The problem now was deciding where retreat had to stop because continued movement would expose the Volga and Caucasus. The order did not create the later Soviet defence by decree, and…

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Troops of the British 51st Highland Division unload stores and vehicles from landing craft on the Sicily coast on 10 July 1943. — Lt C. H. Parnall / Royal Navy / Imperial War Museums A 17916 · UK Government public domain

July 28, 1943 · 12:00 Operation Husky: The Invasion of Sicily

Canadian troops take Agira after fighting along the ridges

Canadian attacks west of Agira began on 24 July and advanced from one ridge to the next through artillery and machine-gun fire. The Seaforth Highlanders gained a key height on 27 July, and the Loyal Edmonton Regiment attacked the remaining ridge on 28 July. Later that day Canadian troops found that the German defenders had withdrawn from Agira. The route toward Regalbuto and the western approaches to the Etna line was now open for the next Canadian and British formations.

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Vehicles rolling out of an LST onto the Normandy shore. US Army Signal Corps · NARA · Public domain Source

July 28, 1944 Operation Overlord

Coutances falls and the front becomes fluid

Coutances was taken and the German left flank in Normandy disintegrated. American armoured columns began moving in road march rather than fighting field by field. The German command no longer had a continuous line west of the Vire, and no reserves with which to build one.

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U.S. Fifteenth Air Force B-24 bombers flying over a smoking oil refinery at Ploiești, Romania, on 31 May 1944. — Richard R. Ganczak / USAAF · Library of Congress cph.3b43591 · Public domain (US)

July 28, 1944 · 10:00 The Oil Campaign

The July raids concentrate heavy force on Leuna

Large Eighth Air Force raids against the Leuna works in late July demonstrated the growing weight of the oil offensive. German flak, smoke generators and interception aircraft were concentrated around the target, turning the industrial complex into an exceptionally dangerous assignment for bomber crews. The works covered a wide area and its installations did not all suffer equally. Some sections were wrecked, while others could be restarted once steam, electricity or compressed gas were restored. Repair crews worked amid unexploded bombs and damaged chemical equipment. Success required more than destroying…

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American armour moving through the ruins of Saint-Lô during the breakout, July 1944. — American armour in the ruins of Saint-Lô, July 1944 · US Army Signal Corps · NARA · Public domain · Source

July 28, 1944 · 16:00 Operation Cobra

Coutances

Coutances fell, and with it the hinge of the German left. What had been a front became a series of pockets, many of them cut off and trying to move south on roads under continuous air attack. The Roncey pocket, a few miles south-east, was caught in the open and destroyed over the following two days. Several hundred vehicles were left on one stretch of road.

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German prisoners of war captured during the Soviet summer offensive march through Moscow on 17 July 1944. — Bundesarchiv Bild 101I-696-0426-14A · CC BY-SA 3.0 DE · Source

July 28, 1944 · 18:00 Operation Bagration

Białystok and Brest fall as Soviet forces reach the Vistula

By 28 July Białystok and Brest had fallen, ending the last major German holds on the old eastern routes through this sector. South of Warsaw, Soviet units had reached the Vistula near Puławy and established a small bridgehead across the river. The southern wing of Bagration had therefore moved from the Berezina and Minsk to the principal river barrier of central Poland in less than a month. The apparent continuity of the advance concealed growing differences between sectors. Some armies were still pursuing retreating German troops, others were fighting for…

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