Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Elected
Aug 1 Adam Clayton Powell Jr. elected 1st African-American congressman from New York
Anne Frank's Last Diary Entry
Aug 1 Anne Frank's last diary entry; 3 days later she is arrested
- Aug 1 General Montgomery takes command of 12th & 21st army
- Aug 1 Polish resistance fighters of the Home Army launch the Warsaw Uprising, the largest military effort undertaken by a resistance movement in occupied Europe
- Aug 1 US 90th division occupies St Hilaire-du-Harcourt
- Aug 1 US troops enter Tessy-sur-Vir
- Aug 2 Jewish survivors of Kovono Ghetto emerge from their bunker
- Aug 2 Turkey breaks diplomatic relationship with Nazi Germany
- Aug 3 Allied troops under Lieutenant-General Joseph Stilwell take Myitkyina, Burma
- Aug 3 General Montgomery visits general Dempsey's headquarter
- Aug 4 Anne Frank arrested in Amsterdam by German Security Police (Grüne Polizei) following a tip-off from an informer who was never identified
- Aug 4 British 8th Army reaches suburbs of Florence, Italy
Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim President
Aug 4 Finnish government passes a special act making Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim President of Finland
- Aug 5 German forces begin the mass killing of between 40,000 and 50,000 Polish civilians in the Wola district of Warsaw during the uprising
- Aug 5 US 79th/90th division occupy Laval (Mayenne), southwest of Paris
- Aug 5 US troops occupy Vannes, Brittany
- Aug 6 All 1,200 Jewish death marchers from Lipcani Moldavia have died
- Aug 6 Anti-German attack at Avranches fails
- Aug 6 Deportation of 70,000 Jews from Lodz Poland to Auschwitz begins
- Aug 6 US 20th Army corp under general Walker occupies Nantes
- Aug 7 Anton de Kom arrested by Surinam resistance fighter
- Aug 7 IBM dedicates the first program-controlled calculator, the Automatic Sequence Controlled Calculator (known best as the Harvard Mark I)
- Aug 7 Trial for surviving '20 July Plot' (attempted assassination of Adolf Hitler) participants begins in courtroom of Nazi Judge Roland Freisler, in Berlin, Germany
- Aug 7 WWII: German counterattack at Avranches, France fails
- Aug 7 WWII: US 3rd Army reaches suburbs of Brest, Brittany
- Aug 8 Canada/Polish troops occupy Cramesnil/Secqueville/Cintheaux/St-Aignan
- Aug 8 First test flight of the Junkers Ju 287. a proposed German Luftwaffe jet bomber; it was never fully put into production
- Aug 8 US 15th Army corps occupies Le Mans
- Aug 9 12 workers of Dutch illegal paper "Trouw" executed at Camp Vught
- Aug 9 Smokey Bear debuts as spokesman for fire prevention for US Forest Service (named after NYC fireman Smokey Joe Martin)
- Aug 9 US 79th/90th division enter Le Mans
- Aug 9 WWII: Port Chicago Mutiny - mass work stoppage by munition loaders at Port Chicago Naval facility concerned with conditions after recent explosion in Port Chicago, California; 50 men were tried for mutiny, found guilty and sentenced to 15 years of hard labor
- Aug 10 Battle for Guam ends with US troops recapturing Guam from the Japanese
- Aug 10 Braves Red Barrett throws only 58 pitches to shut out Cincinnati Reds 2-0
- Aug 10 Race riots in Athens, Alabama
- Aug 10 The combined US and French offensive begins at Alencon
Churchill in Italy
Aug 11 British premier Winston Churchill arrives in Italy
- Aug 11 French 5th Armour division recaptures Sées
Barbie Leaves for Auschwitz
Aug 11 Klaus Barbie, Gestapo head of Lyon France leaves for Auschwitz
- Aug 11 US air raid on Palembang
- Aug 12 Pipeline under ocean (Pluto) begins operating
- Aug 12 Waffen SS troops massacre 560 people in Sant'Anna di Stazzema.
Churchill Meets Tito
Aug 12 Winston Churchill and Tito meet in Naples
Meeting of Allied Generals
Aug 13 Allied generals Bernard Montgomery, Miles Dempsey and Omar Bradley discuss a future breakthrough in the European theatre during World War II
- Aug 13 British 8th Army occupies Florence
Jackie Gleason Les Tremayne Show
Aug 13 Jackie Gleason Les Tremayne show premieres on NBC radio
- Aug 14 British Prime Minister Winston Churchill arrives at Corsica
- Aug 14 Canada and Polish begin Operation Tractable: attempting to encircle strategic French town of Falaise
- Aug 14 Operation Tractable: new Canadian offensive
- Aug 14 Soviet offensive at Weichsel
- Aug 15 Allied air raid on train in North Netherlands, 32 killed
Günther von Kluge Vanishes
Aug 15 German field marshal Günther von Kluge vanishes for one day; he kills himself on the 19th in aftermath of attempt to assassinate Adolf Hitler
- Aug 15 Operation Anvil: Allies land on French Mediterranean sea coast
- Aug 15 Operation Dragoon: Allied troops land in Provence
- Aug 15 US 12 Army corps enters Le Mans through Orleans
- Aug 15 US 7th Armour division reaches Chartres
- Aug 16 2nd Canadian Division occupies Falaise, Normandy, during Operation Intractable
- Aug 16 Dutch begin diplomatic contact with Vatican in London
- Aug 16 US 15th Army corp reaches Eure, surrounds Dreux, France
- Aug 17 4th Canadian Armoured division occupiers Trun, Normandy
- Aug 17 German field marshal Walter Model replaces Günther von Kluge in Normandy
- Aug 17 Soviet troops arrive at Austria-Prussia border
- Aug 17 US 12 Army Corps occupies Orleans
- Aug 17 US 320th regiment infantry occupies Châteaudun
- Aug 17 Yanks Johnny Lindell ties record with 4 consecutive doubles in a game
Liberation of Chartres
Aug 18 Chartres freed by US 3rd Army forces during WWII led by General George S. Patton
- Aug 18 Paris rail workers strike against Nazi occupiers
- Aug 18 US 15th Army Corps reaches Mantes-Gassicourt near Paris
- Aug 19 Allied air raid on Maastricht, 80+ killed
- Aug 19 Last Japanese troops driven out of India
- Aug 19 Nazis give parts of Paris to Resistance
- Aug 19 Paris police strike against nazi occupiers
- Aug 19 Polish 1st Division occupies Hill 262 (Mont Ormel), Normandy
- Aug 19 US 15th Army Corps occupies Mantes-Gassicourt at Paris
- Aug 19 US 90th/Polish 1st Division occupy Chambois, Normandy
Bradley Visits Montgomery
Aug 19 US general Omar Bradley visits British general Bernard Montgomery
De Gaulle Returns to France
Aug 20 French General Charles de Gaulle returns to France
PGA Men's Championship
Aug 20 PGA Championship Men's Golf, Manito G & CC: Bob Hamilton wins his only major title, 1 up in the 36-hole final over heavily favoured Byron Nelson
- Aug 20 Soviet offensive at Jassy & Kisjinev
- Aug 21 Battle of Falaise, Normandy, led by Polish Armoured Division and First Canadian Army - largest encirclement on the Western Front leading to surrender and capture of German 7th Army
- Aug 21 Germans storm up Hill 262 (Mont Ormel) Normandy
- Aug 21 Grieg, Wright and Forrest's musical "Song of Norway" premieres in NYC
- Aug 21 Raid on Jewish children's house in Secrétan/St-Mandé
- Aug 21 US 12nd Army Corps occupies Sens
Destruction of Paris
Aug 22 Adolf Hitler orders Paris to be destroyed [or 23rd]
- Aug 22 Last transport of French Jews to nazi-Germany
- Aug 23 94.5°F (34.7°C) in De Bilt Netherlands & 101.5°F (38.6°C) in Warnsvelt
- Aug 23 Allied troops capture Marseille, France
- Aug 23 British general Bernard Montgomery consults with US Generals Omar Bradley and Dwight D. Eisenhower
- Aug 23 General George Leclerc's troops advance towards Paris
- Aug 23 Romanian Royal coup: King Michael orders forces to cease fire against Allies and dismisses pro-Axis prime minister, Marshal Ion Antonescu
- Aug 23 Sammellager Drancy freed
- Aug 23 US 20th Army corp enter Fontainebleau/Melun de Seine
- Aug 23 US B-24 crashes into school in Freckelton England, 76 killed
- Aug 24 French General LeClerc's troops open assault on Paris
- Aug 25 France 2nd Tank division under General Leclerc reaches Notre Dame in Paris
Paris Surrenders
Aug 25 German commander Dietrich von Choltitz surrenders Paris to the Free French forces of Philippe Leclerc, disobeying Adolf Hitler's orders to destroy the city. President of the Provisional Government of the French Republic Charles de Gaulle gives a famous speech at the Hôtel de Ville.
- Aug 25 US Army XII Corps reaches Troyes, France
- Aug 26 Bulgaria announces withdrawal & German troops are to be disarmed
- Aug 26 French General Leclerc's 2nd Armored Division and Charles de Gaulle parade down the Champs Elysees in Paris after the liberation of the city from Nazi occupation
- Aug 26 US 12nd Army Corps crosses river Seine East of Paris
- Aug 27 200 RAF Halifax bombers attack oil installations in Hamburg
- Aug 28 Last German troops in Marseille surrendered & Toulon cleared
- Aug 28 US air raid on Ambon Island, Dutch East Indies
- Aug 29 15,000 American troops liberating Paris march down Champs Elysees
- Aug 29 Anti-German rebellion in Slovakia
- Aug 30 11th NFL Chicago All-Star Game: Chicago Bears 24, All-Stars 21 (48,769)
- Aug 30 Philip Yordan's stage drama "Anna Lucasta", starring Hilda Sims, Canada Lee, and Alice Childress, and featuring the Broadway debut of Ruby Dee, opens at the Mansfield Theatre, NYC; runs for 957 performances
- Aug 30 Soviet troops enter Bucharest, Romania
- Aug 31 Allied offensive at "Gothen-linie" Italy
- Aug 31 French provisional government moves from Algiers to Paris
- Aug 31 French troops liberate Bordeaux
- Aug 31 Soviet & Romanian troops march into Bucharest
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