Warsaw, August 1st, 1944
The Polish resistance rose up. Within hours the Polish Home army fighters would manage to liberate several areas of the city. But elsewhere the Germans would be able to hold out. It would be a difficult fight ahead for both sides.
East Macedonia August 2nd, 1944
Drama was liberated by the Greek army. The next day it was the turn of Kavala to be liberated by landing parties of the 13th Marine Infantry Regiment as the Greek advance continued inexorably eastwards.
Kresna Gorge, August 3rd, 1944
A generation before the Greek and Bulgarian armies had fought the last battle of the 2nd Balkan war with bloody single mindedness inflicting thousands of casualties on each other with neither side giving up ground and both claiming victory afterwards. In the fight for Height 1378, the Greek 1st Euzone Regiment and the Bulgarian royal guard regiment had fought to the death with everything from guns and bayonets to rocks, with the Greeks taking it three times and the Bulgarians retaking it as many times. By the time the Greeks took and held it for a final fourth time the Euzones had only half a dozen officers still standing. Now war had returned to Kresna, some of the older officers of both sides had fought in the previous battle. None could accuse the Bulgarian soldiers of being any less stubborn than they fathers. But if the Greeks and Bulgarians were evenly matched in material back in 1913 this was not the case now in 1944. Now thanks to American and British Lend Lease the Greeks had clear if not overwhelming superiority in everything from tanks, to artillery to dominating the skies. The Bulgarian Armoured Brigade would die in place trying to stop the 1st Armoured Cavalry Division. The Greek advance towards Sofia continued with Simitli taken on August 6th.
Finland, August 3rd, 1944
Soviet forces made their first, quite limited, gains against the Finnish forces in the Salpa line after nine days of heavy fighting. But the Soviets kept pressing on as more units from East Karelia joined the fighting. Soviet casualties since the start of their offensive against Finland nearly six weeks earlier were nearing 120,000 men and 550 tanks. But the Soviets were not giving any sign of giving up and their offensive would start gradually gaining ground, the Finnish army has already suffered grievous casualties of its own.
Warsaw, August 4th, 1944
Over 60 Mitchell bombers of the Polish No. 305 Squadron and HAF 32 and 33 Squadrons escorted begun unleashing crates of ammunition, medicines and arms over the city as the Mustangs of HAF's 12, 25 and 30 Squadrons kept the Luftwaffe fighters that tried to intercept the bombers at bay. Not every crate would be recovered by the Polish Home Army on the ground as many would drop on German controlled areas and the operation had been both difficult, the Greek and Polish aircraft were flying near extreme range and had diverted over 100 aircraft from supporting the fighting in the Balkans. But the Greeks couldn't leave the Poles on their own devices when tens of thousands of Polish soldiers had been shedding their blood for Greece since 1940...
Veles, August 7th, 1944
The town was liberated by the Yugoslav 2nd Cavalry Division under Draga Mihailovic. A few hours later the 2nd New Zealand Division would push the German and Bulgarian defenders out of Stip as the 3rd Yugoslav Army group of
Milorad Petrovic and Slim's 10th Army continued to advance towards Skopje and Kocani.
Stockholm, August 8th, 1944
Agents of Romania's National Democratic Block, a group of the opposition parties including the Communists met the Soviet ambassador Alexandra Kollontai. The leaders of the group wanted to get Romania out of the war while there was still time. Which meant negotiating with the Soviets, already in January and again in March when prince Barbu Stirbei had clandestinely flown to Athens to seek western aid, the Romanians had been told that the Soviets were the ones to lead armistice negotiations. The Soviets would had preferred negotiating with Antonescu who controlled the army. But Antonescu was shackled by his alliance with Codreanu and his own anticommunism. So the democratic block should do particularly since the Western advance in the Balkans seemed to go a bit too fast for the Soviets own plans. Kollontai was instructed to begin negotiations while the Soviets redoubled their preparations for an offensive in Romania even shifting forces away from the ongoing offensives in Lvov and Belarus...
Uskudar, August 9th, 1944
The Bosporus was closed but quiet, technically the Soviet Union was at peace with Bulgaria besides the Soviets lacked the means to launch an amphibious assault across the strait. The Bulgarian envoy that had clandestinely crossed to the Soviet zone couldn't hide his dismay though. The Soviets had greed to meet him of course and had offered their services for Bulgaria to sign an armistice with their allies. But at the same time they were crystal clear. If Bulgaria wanted peace it should seek an immediate unconditional armistice. Prime minister Bagryanov would not quite like the news...
Sofia, August 10th, 1944
The Bagryanov government had held for less than two weeks, before resigning after failing to get a negotiated end to the war with the Allies. Now
Konstantin Muraviev, a nephew of Stamboliyski and leading light of the Bulgarian Agrarian Nationall Union, would become prime minister. He would have to deal with multiple challenges from the regency council still being pro-German, to the communists starting to stir to the actual fighting where the Bulgarian army had been forced out of Xanthi just the previous day.
