What Happened in August?

Hollywood actress Hedy Lamarr and composer George Antheil were awarded a patent for a “frequency hopping, spread-spectrum communication system” designed to make radio-guided torpedoes harder to detect or jam. Lamarr and Antheil donated their patent to the US Navy and never realized any money from their invention. Expand +

The official start date of the Manhattan Engineer District, (MED) Better known as the Manhattan Project. It was top-secret, U.S. led research and development project during World War II with the goal of developing the first atomic bomb. It involved scientists, engineers, and the military, and resulted in the creation of nuclear weapons that were used against Japan, ending the war but also ushered in the atomic age. The project was disbanded on August 15 1947 More

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The Dieppe Raid, an Allied amphibious assault on the German-occupied port of Dieppe, France, ends in a heavy defeat and high casualties for the Allies.

The Battle of Stalingrad begins as German forces launch an offensive with 600 Luftwaffe planes bombing Stalingrad and killing 40,000 people. The battle was a turning point in World War II as the Soviet Union successfully defended and ultimately defeated the German army. The battle continue until February 2, 1943. More

"Operation Tidal Wave" - U.S. forces attack the German oil refineries at Ploiești, Romania which provide a third of Germany's fuel supplies. The mission, involving 177 B-24 Liberator bombers, was a low-level attack, intended to evade radar detection. The raid caused significant damage, but the refineries were later repaired. 53 aircraft and 500 aircrew lost, during the nicknamed "Black Sunday" raid.

A race riot takes place in Harlem, New York City, lasting two days, after a white police officer, James Collins, shot and wounded Robert Bandy, an African American soldier; and rumors circulated that the soldier had been killed. More

The 80-foot patrol torpedo boat PT-109 commanded by Lieutenant (junior grade) John F. Kennedy was rammed and sunk by a Japanese destroyer on Aug. 2, 1943, during the Solomon Islands campaign during World War II. Expand +

During World War II in Europe, the Allies completed the conquest of the island of Sicily. After 38 days allowing U.S. General George S. Patton and his 7th Army to arrive in Messina several hours before British Field Marshal Bernard L. Montgomery and his 8th Army. There were more than 24,000 American, British, and Canadian casualties on Sicily. More

The Warsaw Uprising starts. The Polish Home Army, a non-Communist underground resistance movement, led by Polish General Tadeusz Bor-Komorowski, takes action to liberate the city from the German occupation and reclaim Polish independence, encouraged by the appearance of the Soviet Red Army along the east bank of the Vistula River and the perceived weakness of the German military.  Expand +

The Battle of Romania takes place (The second Jassy–Kishinev offensive) lasting until August 29. The Soviet army assisted by American Air support encircles and destroys the German Sixth Army. On 23 August, King Michael of Romania led a coup d'état against pro Germany Prime Minister Ion Antonescu; the new government surrendered to the Allies and declared war on Germany. 

The Dumbarton Oaks Conference, formally, the Washington Conversations on International Peace and Security Organization, is held at the Dumbarton Oaks estate in Washington, D.C. It was an international conference at which proposals for the establishment of a "general international organization", which was to become the United Nations, were formulated and negotiated; following up on the commitment made at the Moscow Conferences of 1943 to create an international organization to succeed the League of Nations.  Expand +

Romania King Michael announces that Romania had unilaterally ceased all military actions against the Allies, accepted the Allied armistice offer and joined the war against the Axis powers. As no formal armistice offer had been extended yet, the Red Army occupied most of Romania as enemy territory prior to the signing of the Moscow Armistice of September 12, 1944.

Paris is liberated and the four-year Nazi occupation of the city comes to an end as the Free French 2nd Armored division under General Jacques-Philippe Leclerc enters the city and takes the German garrison capturing the German general Choltitz prisoner.  Expand +

The Potsdam Conference, held in Potsdam, Germany between the "Big Three: Britain, The Soviet Union and the United States comes to an end without resolution on key issues. The conference was held to negotiate the terms for the end of World War II. Even though the Allies remained committed to fighting a joint war in the Pacific, mutual distrust stemming from differing views of what a postwar world should look, like led to disagreements on several key issues between the Soviet Union and the West, set the stage for the Cold War. More

The United States drops an atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. The bomb dropped by the American B-29 bomber Enola Gay, detonated about 1,800 ft. above ground, killing over 105,000 persons and destroying the city. It is estimated that another 100,000 persons died later as a result of radiation effects. More

Soviet Russia declared war on Japan and sent troops into Japanese-held Manchuria.

The United States drops an atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Nagasaki. An American B-29 bomber headed for the primary target which was the city of Kokura but because of the weather and poor visibility chose a secondary target, Nagasaki. The bomb detonated killing an estimated 70,000 persons and destroying about half the city.

Believing that continuation of the war would only result in further loss of Japanese lives, delegates of Emperor Hirohito accepted Allied surrender terms originally issued at Potsdam on July 26, 1945, with the exception that the Japanese Emperor's sovereignty would be maintained. The formal surrender ceremony occurred later, on September 2, 1945, on board the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay.

South Korea and North Korea celebrate this day as their National Liberation Day as the Korean peninsula was freed from Japanese rule.

Proclamation of Independence of Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia from the Empire of Japan and the Netherlands. It is recognized as a national holiday in Indonesia.