World War II in real time

[lordroel]

Day 2128 of World War II, July 9th 1945

Soviet occupied Germany

Photo: Columbushaus and other buildings at Potsdamer Platz in ruins, Berlin, Germany, 9 July 1945



France

Charles de Gaulle proposed a national referendum to decide the system of government in France.

Brazil

In the South Atlantic, the Brazilian cruiser Bahia sinks after experiencing an explosion of unknown origin (294 killed).

Pacific War

CHINA

Chinese forces capture the Tanchuk airbase. Chinese forces advancing rapidly eastward in southern Kwangsi province have severed the last link between the Japanese army in China and the garrison in Indochina. With Nanning and Luichow recaptured, Chinese units now again control the three US 14th Army Air Force bases lost last year.

(Fourteenth Air Force): 5 B-25s knock out 2 bridges in the Sinantien area; 14 P-51s and P-38s knock out bridges near Hengyang and Sinshih, damage a bridge near Chihsien, and attack shipping and railroad targets of opportunity around Hankow, Lukou, and Sinshih, China, and Dong Hoi, French Indochina. The detachment of the 1st Combat Cargo Squadron, Fourteenth AF, operating from Liangshan returns to base at Hsinching with C-47s.

RYUKYU ISLANDS

(Seventh Air Force): 43 B-24s from Okinawa bomb Omura Airfield, Kyushu, Japan (1 other bombs the airfield on Kikaiga-shima, Amami Islands, Ryukyu Islands) and 50+ Okinawa-based B-25s hit Tokuno Airfield on Tokuno Shima, Amami.

[Far East Air Force]: Nearly 50 P-51s are weathered out of a Kyushu, Japan sweep from Okinawa. On Formosa, B-24s bomb Okaseki, Toyohara, and Takao Airfields and A-26s attack Karenko. Unit moves: HQ 348th FG and 340th Fighter Squadron from Floridablanca to Ie Shima with P-51s; ground echelon of 25th Photographic Reconnaissance Squadron, 6th Reconnaissance Group, from San Jose, Mindoro Island to Okinawa (air echelon is at Clark Field, Luzon with F-5s); 310th Fighter Squadron, 58th FG, from Porac to Okinawa with P-47s; 418th Night Fighter Squadron, V Fighter Command [attached to 308th Bombardment Wing (Heavy)] from San Jose, Mindoro Island to Okinawa with P-61s.

JAPAN

Map: An edition of Newsmap, showing the Allied advances in the Pacific front, 9 July 1945



HQ AAF (Twentieth Air Force): During the night of 9/10 Jul, 1 mining, 1 bombing and 4 incendiary missions are flown against Japan; 3 B-29s are lost:
Mission 256: 29 B-29s mine Shimonoseki Strait and the waters at Niigata and Nanao; 1 other mines other targets; 1 B-29 is lost.
Mission 257: 123 B-29s attack the Senai urban area destroying 1.22 sq mi, 27% of the city area; 1 other B-29 hits an alternate target; 1 B-29 is lost.
Mission 258: 115 B-29s attack the Sakai urban area destroying 1.02 sq mi, 44% of the city area; 3 other B-29s hit alternate targets.
Mission 259: 108 B-29s hit the Wakayama urban area destroying 2.1 sq mi, 52.5% of the city area.
Mission 260: 129 B-29s attack Gifu urban area destroying 1.93 sq mi, 74% of the city area; 1 B-29 is lost.
Mission 261: 61 B-29s attack the Utsube Oil Refinery at Yokkaichi with poor results; 1 hits an alternate target.
102 Iwo Jima based P-51s hit airfields at Itami, Hamamatsu, Aichi, and Washinomiya, claiming 1-0-0 aircraft in the air and 15-5 on the ground; 3 P-51s are lost.

AUSTRALIA

An estimated crowd of 30,000 lined the streets in Perth, Australia for the funeral procession of the late prime minister John Curtin.

Photo: Starboard bow view of the Royal Australian Navy destroyer HMAS Bataan two weeks after commissioning at Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The ship is painted dark grey all over, probably G10. She is wearing her British Pacific Fleet local pennant number (D09) rather than her normal number (I91). American SC-4 air search radar is carried at the masthead with SG surface search equipment on a small platform lower on the mast. British type 285 fire control radar is mounted above the director. Her close range armament appears to consist of a quadruple 2 pounder AA mounting on the after superstructure and single 40 mm Bofors AA guns beside the bridge, between the funnels and on the after superstructure, 9 July 1945



PHILIPPINE CAMPAIGN (1945)

On Luzon, P-38s and P-51s fly ground support in the Iguig area of the Cagayan River Valley and hit Sabangan.

BORNEO CAMPAIGN (1945)

Dutch troops land north of Balikpapan, completing the encirclement of the bay.

On Borneo, B-24s and P-38s supporting Australian forces, hit Japanese forces in areas near Balikpapan, Manggar, and Sepinggang; (Australian and Dutch forces complete the encirclement of Balikpapan Bay); other B-24s hit the Samarinda shipyards; and B-25s in support of operations in the Brunei Bay area bomb a Japanese-occupied area E of Beaufort.

SOUTH CHINA SEA

USS Cod rescued the crew of the grounded Dutch submarine O-19. Upon completion, she scuttled the grounded boat by gunfire.



YouTube (Dutch submarine 019 struck Ladd Reef (1945)



PACIFIC

Motor minesweeper YMS-84 is sunk by mine off Balikpapan, Borneo, 01°19'S, 116°48'E.

Submarine Bluefish (SS-222) sinks Japanese auxiliarysubmarine chaser Cha 50 off east coast of Malaya, 02°13'N, 105°03'E.

Japanese gunboat Choun Maru is damaged by aircraft, 36°13'N, 140°42'E.

Japanese merchant tanker Tenwa Maru is damaged by marine casualty in Kobe harbor, Japan.

[lordroel]

Day 2129 of World War II, July 10th 1945

Allies/Soviet occupied Germany

United Kingdom, United States, and the Soviet Union agreed to include France in the administration of Berlin, Germany. ww2dbase

Poland

Soviet forces and Polish communists began the Augustów roundup targeting the "cursed soldiers", anti-communist partisans and sympathizers.

Argentina

The German submarine U-530, missing since the end of April, surfaces at Mar del Plata, south of Buenos Aires, sparking off speculation that it ferried high-ranking Nazi officials to sanctuary in South America.

France

The Louvre reopened in Paris.

United States

Photo: USS Indianapolis (CA-35) is shown off the Mare Island Navy Yard, in Northern California, after her final overhaul and repair of combat damage. The photo was taken before the ship delivered atomic bomb components to Tinian, 10 July 1945



Photo: The U.S. Navy attack transport USS Clay (APA-39) underway off San Francisco, California (USA), on 10 July 1945



Pacific War

CHINA

(Fourteenth Air Force): 14 B-25s bomb the town of Dong Anh and the railroad shops at Phu Lang Thuong, French Indochina, and truck convoys moving through the Siang Chiang Valley, China. In China, 22 P-51s and P-38s bomb warehouses at Wuchang, hit railroad targets of opportunity near Yoyang, strafe 3 railroad stations N of Chuanhsien, bomb buildings N of Kanchou, knock out a bridge approach S of Chuting, damage a bridge near Hengyang, and hit targets of opportunity at Weichow Island, Laohokow, China, and Tourane, French Indochina. The 71st Liaison Squadron, Fourteenth AF, begins a movement from Piardoba, India to Kunming, China with UC-64s, L-1s, L-4s and L-5s.

JAPAN

US Task Force 38 aircraft, 1022 in all, raid 70 air bases in the Tokyo area, destroying 173 Japanese planes. Only light anti-aircraft fire is encountered. This is the first time that elements of the US 3rd Fleet have attacked Tokyo. Included in the task force carrying out the raids are the aircraft carriers Lexington, Essex, Independence and San Jacinto, the battleships Indiana, Massachusetts, South Dakota and Iowa, the cruisers Chicago, San Juan, Springfield and Atlanta and 14 destroyers. Tokyo radio refers to the "dark shadow of invasion" in mention of the raid.

Photo: HMS Victorious and Implacable seen above Avenger and Chance-Vought Corsair aircraft of HMS Formidable as the ships turned into position. At this time the three aircraft carriers were operating off the shore of Japan, 10 July 1945



RYUKYU ISLANDS

(Seventh Air Force): During the night of 10/11 Jul, 1 B-24 from Okinawa bombs Karasehara Airfield, Japan; 43 other Okinawa-based B-24s bomb Wan and Sateku Airfields on Kikaiga-shima, Amami Islands; 50+ B-25s bomb Wan Airfield and Saha-Saki on Nakano Shima, Ryukyu Islands, and Kurume, Kyushu, Japan.

IWO JIMA

(Twentieth Air Force): 102 P-51s, based on Iwo Jima attack Hashin, Nishinomiya, Sano, and Tokushima, Japan mostly hitting airfields; 3 P-51s are lost.

WESTERN PACIFIC

[Far East Air Force]: On Formosa, B-24s bomb Tainan Airfield, destroying several planes, and bomb warehouses at Takao. Bad weather again prevents fighter sweep from Okinawa over Kyushu, Japan. HQ 58th FG moves from Porac to Okinawa.

PHILIPPINE CAMPAIGN (1945)

On Luzon, P-38s and P-51s support ground action in the N Cagayan Valley and hit enemy pockets E of Manila.

Photo: Aerial view of Jones Bridge, Manila,10 July 1945



Photo: View of Quezon Bridge, Manila, P.I, 10 July 1945



BORNEO CAMPAIGN (1945)

On Borneo, Australian forces advance east of Balikpapan but are halted by Japanese barriers of burning petrol.

B-24s hit the town of Muarakaman and airfield at Tabanio, Borneo while P-38s strafe numerous targets of opportunity in SE Borneo. B-24s bomb the warehouse area at Donggala on Celebes Island.

ALEUTIAN ISLANDS

(Eleventh Air Force): 4 B-24s fly a search down the W coasts of Paramushiru and Shimushu and then radar-bomb Minami Zaki on Shimushu. 1 B-24 flies a radar-ferret mission over the N Kurile Islands.

PACIFIC

Submarine chaser SC-521 founders and sinks, Solomon Islands, 11°03'S, 164°50'E.

Tank landing ship LST-1107 is damaged by grounding off Okinawa, 26°21'N, 126°47'E.

Submarine Hammerhead (SS-364) sinks Japanese cargo ship Sakura Maru and merchant tanker No.5 Nanmei Maru, 09°38'N, 101°31'E.

Submarine Lionfish (SS-298) attacks Japanese submarine I 162 144 kilometers south of Ashisurisaki, 32°31'N, 131°54'E. Although Lionfish claims two hits and to have sunk her quarry, I 162 escapes undamaged.

Submarine Moray (SS-300) sinks Japanese merchant whaler No.6 Fumi Maru east of Kinkazan, 38°11'N, 142°15'E.

Submarine Runner (SS-476) sinks Japanese minesweeper W.27 off Tadosaki, northern Honshu, 39°20'N, 142°07'E.

Submarine Sea Robin (SS-407) sinks Japanese army cargo ship Sakishima Maru north of Quelpart Island 33°39'N, 126°40'E.

Japanese guardboat No.3 Kashima Maru and merchant cargo ship No.10 Hachiryu Maru are sunk by U.S. aircraft 40 miles north of the mouth of the Yangtze.

Mine laid by USAAF B-29 (20th Air Force) sinks Japanese cargo ship Nippu Maru outside Wakamatsu harbor, 33°06'N, 129°43'E; merchant cargo ship Chikuma Maru is sunk by mine, 18 kilometers off Mojizaki; merchant vessel Tsukuba Maru is damaged 4.5 miles west of Osaka harbor.

[lordroel]

Day 2130 of World War II, July 11th 1945

Soviet occupied Germany

The first meeting of the Inter-Allied Council for Berlin takes place. The Soviets agree to turn over administration of the allocated areas to the British and Americans who have themselves made arrangements to allocate some of their sectors to the French.

United States

Admiral H. Kent Hewitt concludes his "investigation of facts pertinent to the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor." The report, consisting of 1,342 pages, is forwarded to the Secretary of the Navy. Admiral Kimmel is still faulted for the attack.

Photo: The U.S. Navy troop transport USS West Point (AP-23) steams past the Statue of Liberty, bound for the New York City docks, while transporting troops home from Europe, 11 July 1945. Banners hanging from her superstructure identify the following U.S. Army units (from left to right): Fifth Corps; 347th Infantry Regiment; and 87th Infantry Division. Note West Point's pattern camouflage



United kingdom

The redeployment of 2118 4-engined bombers of the US 8th Air Force, to the USA (en route for the Pacific theater) begins. It is completed in 51 days.

Canada

The Liberal Party, led by William Mackenzie King, wins the general election. The Liberals win 119 seats in the Parliament, the Progressive Conservative Party wins 65, the CCF wins 28. Others win 33 seats. Mackenzie King, the Prime Minister, and leader of the Liberal Party, is defeated in the riding of Prince Albert, Saskatchewan. He is reelected in a by-election on August 6, 1945.

(Yugoslavia) Kosovo and Metohija

Fadil Hoxha became President of the Assembly of Kosovo and Metohija.

Soviet Union/Japan relations

Japanese ambassador to the Soviet Union Naotake Sato failed to convince Vyacheslav Molotov to engage their two nations in a formal peace treaty.

Pacific War

CHINA

(AAF, China Theater) Fourteenth Air Force: In China, 25 P-51s and P-40s attack bridges, troops, gun positions, rail traffic, rivercraft, coastal shipping, and various scattered targets at or near Nanchang, Kweiyi, Puchi, Tanchuk, and the Luichow Peninsula.

HQ AAF (Twentieth Air Force): Mission 262: During the night of 11/12 Jul, 25 B-29s mine Shimonoseki Strait and waters at Miyazu, Maizuru, Obama Island and, in the first B-29 operation to Korea, 2 mine Pusan and Najin.

JAPANESE OCCUPIED NETHERLANDS EAST INDIES

In the Indian Ocean, British carrier aircraft are launched on a raid to bomb Japanese airfields on the island of Sumatra in the Dutch East Indies.

RYUKYU ISLANDS

During the night of 11/12 Jul, 2 B-24s from Okinawa attack Byu and Miyazaki Airfields, Kyushu, Japan. P-51s sweep Kyushu, Japan. B-24s bomb Shinchiku Airfield.

PHILIPPINE CAMPAIGN (1945)

On Luzon, Americans forces drop thousands of napalm bombs on Japanese pockets on the Sierra Madre and in the Kiangan area.

B-25s and fighter-bombers pound troop concentrations and defenses in the Cagayan Valley on Luzon Island and B-24s pound troop concentrations on Negros Island.

(Second Air Force): The 4th Reconnaissance Squadron (Long Range, Photographic), 311th Photographic Wing (attached to 6th Reconnaissance Group), moves from Hollandia, New Guinea to Tacloban, Leyte with F-7s (the squadron is mapping areas of the SW and W Pacific).

BORNEO CAMPAIGN (1945)

B-25s and P-38s pound highway targets in the Balikpapan area.

ALEUTIAN ISLANDS

(Eleventh Air Force): 5 B-24s radar-bomb Kataoka on Shimushu and 4 B-25s fly a shipping sweep and bomb a Otomae Wan fishery, scoring hits among the buildings.

PACIFIC

Twenty-seven USAAF B-29s mine Shimonoseki Straits andthe waters off Najin and Pusan, Korea (marking the first mining operation in Korean waters by B-29s) and off Maizuru, Japan. Mines sink Japanese escort destroyer Sakura off Osaka, 35°50'N, 135°20'E, and merchant cargo ship No.3 Takechi Maru near Shodo Jima, and damage merchant vessel Tatsutyuyu Maru off Senzaki.

Submarine Barb (SS-220) sinks Japanese guardboat No.15 Seiho Maru and merchant diesel sampan No.15 Seiho Maru off Hokkaido, 44°03'N, 146°30'E.

Submarine Kingfish (SS-234) sinks Japanese fishing boat Inari Maru off Maedate, Japan, 38°03'N, 142°29'E.

Photo: The U.S. Navy fleet oiler USS Merrimack (AO-37) refueling an Essex-class aircraft carrier and a Fletcher-class destroyer, during operations off Japan, 11 July 1945. The carrier is a long hull Essex-class carrier equipped with the SK-2 radar. Therefore it should be either USS Ticonderoga (CV-14) or USS Randolph (CV-15)

[lordroel]

Day 2131 of World War II, July 12th 1945

Soviet occupied Germany

The British Army honored the Soviet military in a ceremony under the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin. Acting as a representative of King George VI, Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery awarded Georgy Zhukov with the Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath. Konstantin Rokossovsky was made a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath while Vasily Sokolovsky and Mikhail Malinin were made Knights Commanders of the Order of the British Empire.

Photo: The Deputy Supreme Commander in Chief of the Red Army, Marshal G Zhukov and the Commander of the 21st Army Group, Field Marshal Sir Bernard Montgomery on the saluting base during a march past of the 7th Armoured Division at the Brandenburg Gate. Before the march past Field Marshal Montgomery had invested Marshal Zhukov as a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath and bestowed other decorations on General K Rokossovsky and Marshal V Sokolovsky of the Red Army, 12 July 1945



Photo: Allied officers in Berlin, in front of the Brandenburg Gate. Group includes Georgy Zhukov, Konstantin Rokossovsky, Vasily Rokossovsky, Mikhail Malinin and Bernard Montgomery, 12 July 1945



Photo: The Deputy Supreme Commander in Chief of the Red Army, Marshal G Zhukov is invested as a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath by the Commander of the 21st Army Group, Field Marshal Sir Bernard Montgomery. The ceremony took place at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin and a Guard of Honour was formed by the 7th Armoured Division, 12 July 1945



Photo: Supreme Commander in Chief of the Red Army, Marshal G Zhukov, the Commander of the 21st Army Group, Field Marshal Sir Bernard Montgomery, Marshal K Rokossovsky and General Sokolovsky of the Red Army leave the Brandenburg Gate after the ceremony, 12 July 1945



Soviet Union/Japan relations

Japanese representatives in the Soviet Union requested a update on the Japanese inquiry on the extension of the 1941 non-aggression treaty, getting little in the way of a response.

France

In Paris, concentration camp survivors carry a large cross through the city in memory of French victims of Nazism.

United States

Photo: U.S. Marine Corps Vought F4U-2 Corsairs of Marine Night Fighting Squadron 532 (VMF(N)-532) aboard the escort carrier USS Windham Bay (CVE-92) on 12 July 1945



Photo: The U.S. Navy destroyer minesweeper USS McCook (DMS-36) undeway off the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard, Pennsylvania (USA), on 12 July 1945



Photo: The U.S. Navy landing craft repair ship USS Adonis (ARL-4) leaving the Norfolk Naval Shipyard, Virginia (USA), 12 July 1945. She is painted in an as yet unidentified camouflage pattern



Pacific War

CHINA

Fourteenth Air Force: In China, 3 B-25s blast supply convoys moving through the Siang Chiang Valley; 43 P-51s and P-38s attack bridges, rivercraft, barracks road traffic, and coastal shipping around Changsha, Hsinching, the Luichow Peninsula and Nanchang and in French Indochina, Hamrong, the Tonkin area, and Cao Bang. 2 bridges are knocked out and others damaged, airfields are strafed at Vinh, French Indochina and Kiungshan, China.

[Far East Air Force]: P-51s sweep Kyushu, Japan. B-24s bomb Canton, China. On Formosa, B-24s bomb Toshien while A-26s hit numerous targets at Tamazato and P-51s hit targets along the W coast. The 341st, 342d and 460th Fighter Squadrons, 348th FG, move from Floridablanca to Ie Shima with P-51s.

JAPAN

Japanese Emperor Hirohito directs Prince Konoye to head a mission to the USSR for peace negotiations.

(Twentieth Air Force): During the night of 12/13 Jul, 1 bombing and 4 incendiary missions are flown; 3 B-29s are lost.
Mission 263: 115 B-29s attack the Utsunomiya urban area destroying 0.94 sq mi, 34.2% of the city; 5 others hit alternate targets; 1 B-29 is lost.
Mission 264: 123 B-29s hit the Ichinomiya urban area destroying 0.01 sq mi, 0.8% of the city area; 2 others hit alternate targets. Mission 265: 92 B-29s attack the Tsuruga urban area destroying 0.77 sq mi (2 sq km), 68% of the city; 2 others hit alternate targets.
Mission 266: 123 B-29s hit the Uwajima urban area destroying 0.14 sq mi,14% of the city; 1 other hits an alternate target.
Mission 267: 53 B-29s attack the Kawasaki Petroleum Center destroying about 25% of the target; 2 B-29s are lost, 1 between Guam and Tinian.

AUSTRALIA

Ben Chifley was elected Prime Minister of Australia on first ballot by the Labor Party.[13] He took office the following day.

RYUKYU ISLANDS

(Seventh Air Force): HQ Seventh AF on Okinawa is declared open by a General Order on this date. 47 B-24s from Okinawa, failing to bomb the primary target, Tsuiki, Japan because of clouds, attack the airfield on Kikaiga-shima, Amami Islands. 2 Okinawa-based B-24s bomb Byu and Miyazaki Airfields, Kyushu during the night. 50+ B-25s bomb Kanoya Airfield and the town of Aburatsu on Kyushu and Tokuno airfield on Tokuno Shima, Amami Islands. Chiran Airfield is pounded by 70 B-25s and A-26s (this is the first strike against Japan by Seventh AF A-26s); 2 more A-26s hit the Ibusuki seaplane station.

PHILIPPINE CAMPAIGN (1945)

On Luzon, American forces drop napalm on Japanese pockets of resistance.

On Luzon, fighter-bombers hit pillboxes E of Iguig, attack concentrations in the Bontoc-Kiangan area, and support ground forces E of Manila (the town of Kiangan falls to the 6th Infantry Division, but resistance in the area continues). B-24s over Negros Island in support of ground forces bomb a concentration NE of Mount Mandalagan.

BORNEO CAMPAIGN (1945)

On Borneo, there is an Allied landing near Andus. Australian troops take Maradi in the north of the island.

B-24s destroy a barrack area at Tandjung, Borneo and others hit warehouses at Donggala, Celebes Island.

ALEUTIAN ISLANDS

(Eleventh Air Force): 4 B-25s on a shipping sweep bomb and strafe a freighter; 1 B-25 is lost killing the crew.

PACIFIC

Submarine chaser PC-582 is damaged by grounding, P.I., 11°05'N, 125°20'E.

Mines sink Japanese salvage ship Nasu Maru near Niigata, Japan, cargo vessel No.3 Fukushin Maru off Osaka harbor lighthouse, merchant cargo ship Kojun Maru 180 miles east of Niigata light, 37°57'N, 139°04'E, and tanker Mitsu Maru in Akashi Strait, 33°38'N, 135°03'E; and damage freighters Takarasan Maru outside Wakamatsu harbor, Japan, and Nasu Maru off Niigata.

Japanese merchant cargo ship Hakara Maru is damaged by aircraft off Hakata.

Japanese merchant cargo ship Kashi Maru is damaged by marine casualty off south end of Chizenmisaki.

[lordroel]

Day 2132 of World War II, July 13th 1945

YouTube (Japan's New Defense plan, 100 million dead)



Soviet occupied Germany

In Berlin, the municipal council officially confiscates all property held by members of the NSDAP, the Nazi Party. Meanwhile, on the eve of the dissolution of SHAEF, General Eisenhower issues a farewell message to all members of the Allied Expeditionary Force. "No praise is too high," says the message, "for the manner in which you surmounted every obstacle."

United States

The American government admitted responsibility for the April 1 sinking of the Japanese hospital ship Awa Maru, claiming it was an error.

Photo: The U.S. Navy repair ship USS Belle Isle (AG-73) underway near the New York Naval Shipyard (USA), 13 July 1945, her commissioning date



Pacific War

CHINA

(AAF, China Theater) Fourteenth Air Force: 14 B-25s and 12 P-51s attack bridges, railroad yards, AA guns, and targets of opportunity at Anyang and Puchi, China, and Do Cam, French Indochina. 33 P-51s and P-38s attack river shipping, buildings, road traffic, rail targets, and general targets of opportunity around Trung Khanh Phu, Tonkin, the Delta area, Cao Bang and Thanh Hoa, French Indochina and Wangypan, the Luichow Peninsula, Pinglo, Changsha, and Wuchou, China. The 449th Fighter Squadron, 51st Fighter Group, moves from Chengkung to Mengtsz, China with P-38s.

(Twentieth Air Force): Mission 268: During the night of 13/14 Jul, 30 B-29s mine Shimonoseki Strait and waters at Fukuoka, and ports at Seishin, Masan, and Reisui.

BURMA

Photo: Men of the 1st Battalion, Queen's Own Regiment, on patrol aboard an assault boat on the Pegu Canal near Waw, 13 July 1945



WESTERN PACIFIC

[Far East Air Force]: B-24s bomb storage areas at Canton, China. On Formosa, B-24s bomb boatyards and buildings at Suo while A-26s hit the Karenko railroad yards.

AUSTRALIA

Ben Chifley, the Treasurer, is selected to be Prime Minister in place of the deceased John Curtin, an the interim prime minister F.M. Forde.

PHILIPPINE CAMPAIGN (1945)

B-24s bomb concentrations NE of Mount Mandalagan on Negros Island. On Luzon, B-25s and fighter-bombers hit the Kiangan area, attack Japanese pockets E of Iguig and N of Tuguegarao, pound pillboxes, ammunition dumps, and vehicles in the Cervantes sector, and blast hostile areas near Siniloan, NE of Laguna de Bay.

In the Philippines, the USN's Task Force 95 under Rear Admiral Francis S. Low, composed of the large cruiser USS Alaska and USS Guam, four light cruisers and nine destroyers, sorties from Leyte Gulf to conduct an antishipping sweep in the East China Sea.

BORNEO CAMPAIGN (1945)

P-38s attack gun entrenchments in the Miri area of Borneo. P-38s on a sweep over SW Celebes Island hit vehicles and communications targets.

ALEUTIAN ISLANDS

TF 93 (Rear Admiral John H. Brown, Jr.), comprising light cruisers Richmond (CL-9) and Concord (CL-10) and five destroyers, commences an anti-shipping sweep; these ships will pass down the Kurile Island chain and into the Sea of Okhotsk. Although shadowed by Japanese planes, TF 93 will not be attacked.

PACIFIC

TF 95 (Rear Admiral Francis S. Low), comprising large cruisers Alaska (CB-1) and Guam (CB-2), four light cruisers and nine destroyers, sorties from Leyte Gulf to conduct anti-shipping sweeps in the East China Sea.

Thirty-one USAAF B-29s mine Shimonoseki Straits and the waters off Masan, Reisui, and Chongjin, Korea, and Fukuoka, Japan. Mines (laid this day and on previous occasions) sink merchant cargo ships No.7 Agata Maru and No.13 Yamabishi Maru, Wakamatsu harbor, and damage merchant cargo ship Hayahi Maru ten kilometers north of Mutsure light; cargo ship Korasan Maru in Shimonoseki Strait, 33°56'N, 130°56'E.

Japanese guardboats No.7 Myojin Maru and No.6 Sakae Maru are sunk by U.S. aircraft off Chichi Jima, 27°04'N, 142°11'E.

British submarine HMS Trenchant sinks unnamed Japanese schooner, western Celebes, 03°10'S, 118°50'S.

[lordroel]

Day 2133 of World War II, July 14th 1945

Allied occupied Germany

In Konigsee, General Eisenhower announces the closure of SHAEF (Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force) and eases some of the restrictions on private contact between American soldiers and German civilians. The carefully-defined limits to fraternization are part of a scheme prepared by Eisenhower, to be presented as part of an Allied plan for unified control of the country. Fraternization is forbidden in the British Army. Meanwhile, the French flag was formally unfurled today at the summit of the Victory Column in Berlin which commemorates the German victory in the Franco-Prussian War in 1871.

Photo: Personnel of the Canadian Berlin Battalion sitting on a dug-in German tank, Berlin, Germany, 14 July 1945



Italy

In Rome, the Italian government declares war on Japan.

United States

Photo: Launch of the U.S. Navy attack transport USS Bronx (APA-236) at the Oregon Shipbuilding Corporation, Portland, Oregon (USA), on 14 July 1945



France 

The French celebrated Bastille Day for the first time since 1940.

YouTube (Bastille Day -1945)



Atlantic Ocean

Photo: The U.S. Navy light cruiser USS Philadelphia (CL-41) and two British destroyers underway in the Atlantic Ocean on 14 July 1945. Philadelphia was on a voyage to Antwerp, Belgium from 7 to 15 July, acting as escort for the heavy cruiser USS Augusta (CA-31) which had embarked U.S. President Harry S. Truman and his party, including Secretary of State James F. Byrnes and Fleet Admiral William D. Leahy



Pacific War

CHINA

(AAF, China Theater) Fourteenth Air Force: 25 P-51s and P-38s bomb or strafe ammunition and supply dumps, river, road, and rail traffic, and coastal shipping around Laohokow, Tinpak, Koyiu and Yutze, China and Hung Yen, Bac Ninh, Hongay, Mon Cay and Vinh, French Indochina. On Formosa, A-26s hit the Taiharo refinery and warehouse area and P-51s over the W coast blast railroad targets. P-47s sweep the N China coast and attack coastal cargo vessels NW of Tinghai.

INDIA

The Simla Conference on the future of Indian government ended in failure.

JAPAN

Since bad weather prevents attacks on the primary targets (airfields in northern Honshu and Hokkaido), planes from TF 38 (Vice Admiral John S. McCain) hit shipping, rail facilities, and ground installations in those areas instead; attack is repeated on 15 July. TF 38's planes sink escort destroyer Tachibana and Coast Defense Vessel No.219 in Hakodate harbor, Hokkaido, 41°48'N, 140°41'E, Coast Defense Vessel No.65 and Coast Defense Vessel No.74, 15 miles south of Muroran, Hokkaido, 42°21'N, 140°59'E, submarine chaser Ch 48, 2.1 kilometers off Nakanegishi; auxiliary minesweepers No.2 Choyo Maru, five miles off Kikonai, 41°38'N, 140°35'E and 3 Keijin Maru, northeast of Shiriyasaki, 41°30'N, 141°30'E, Sonobe Maru off Hiroo, Hokkaido, 42°11'N, 143°36'E and 2 Tamazono Maru, Kushiro Pier, Hokkaido, 42°58'N, 144°25'E; guardboats Chitose Maru, four miles off Kayabe, Hokkaido and 18 Eikoku Maru off Cape Shiobuki, Hokkaido and 2 Meiji Maru off Hakodate, Ojima Maru off Shiriyasaki, 41°30'N, 141°40'E; gunboat Hokoku Maru off Oma-saki, Tsugaru-kaikyo, 41°33'N, 141°08'E, and transport No.1 Un'yo Maru off Muroran, Hokkaido, 42°21'N, 140°59'E; army cargo vessel No.6 Nissen Maru near Tsugaru Strait; merchant vessels Taisei Maru and Shimofusa Maru at west entrance of Tsugaru Strait, and Osaki Maru, Hakodate; merchant cargo ships Shichiyo Maru, 43°47'N, 141°12'E; Imizu Maru, Furubiba, Otaru Bay; Setagawa Maru, off Yongtok; Eiho Maru and No.5 Kaisei Maru, Hakodate; and Saito Maru off east coast of Korea, and train ferries No.2 Seikan Maru and 3 Seikan Maru and 4 Seikan Maru and 10 Seikan Maru, Tsugaru Maru, Shoho Maru and Hiran Maru, merchant cargo ships Senzan Maru and Awa Maru in Aomori-Hakodate area.22 In addition, TF 38 planes damage destroyer Yanagi in Tsugaru Strait; Coast Defense Vessel No.205 outside Otaru harbor, and Coast Defense Vessel No.215, Hakodate harbor; auxiliary submarine chaser Cha 72 and auxiliary minesweeper Minakami Maru off Usujiri; guardboat Miya Maru off the eastern mouth of Tsugaru Strait; auxiliary minesweeper No.1 Tamazono Maru, Kushiro Pier, Hokkaido, 42°58'N, 144°25'E; army vessels Kaizan Maru outside Hachinohe harbor, and Sachi Maru off Otaru; army cargo ship Taisho Maru (location unspecified); train ferries No.6 Seikan Maru and 8 Seikan Maru, Matsumae Maru in Aomori-Hakodate area; merchant cargo ships Eitoku Maru, Hanasaki Maru, and Kenkoku Maru in Hakodate harbor; merchant cargo ships Taka Maru and 23 Hokuryu Maru, Eireki Maru, and No.3 Koun Maru off Muroran; merchant vessel Hokushin Maru in Tsugaru Strait; merchant cargo ships Shoho Maru off Yobetsu; Hirano Maru (beached), Miuyama Bay; Kotsu Maru and No.13 Kyodo Maru, Otaru; Shunko Maru (location unspecified); Hachirei Maru, nine miles off Iwanai; Toyo Maru off Cape Temma; merchant tankers No.5 Kyoei Maru, beached off Matsumae, and No.6 Shoun Maru, beached off Akashi, and dredger Kushiro Maru, location unspecified.

Photo: A U.S. Navy Grumman F6F-5 Hellcat from Fighting Squadron 87 (VF-87) lands aboard the aircraft carrier USS Ticonderoga (CV-14) while the destroyer USS Ault (DD-698) follows astern as plane guard, 14 July 1945



Three battleships, two heavy cruisers, and nine destroyers of TU 34.8.1 (Rear Admiral John F. Shafroth) bombard the coastal city of Kamaishi, Honshu; this is the first naval gunfire bombardment of the Japanese homeland. The primary target is the Japan Ironworks plant.

Photo: Battleships and heavy cruisers steam in column off Kamaishi, at the time they bombarded the iron works there, as seen from USS South Dakota (BB-57). USS Indiana (BB-58) is the nearest ship, followed by USS Massachusetts (BB-59). Cruisers Chicago (CA-136) and Quincy (CA-71) bring up the rear, 14 July 1945



Photo: Bombardment of Kamaishi, Japan, 14 July 1945: The U.S. Navy battleship USS Indiana (BB-58) fires a salvo from her forward 16"/45 guns at the Kamaishi plant of the Japan Iron Company, 400 km north of Tokyo. A second before, USS South Dakota (BB-57), from which this photograph was taken, fired the initial salvo of the first naval gunfire bombardment of the Japanese Home Islands. The superstructure of USS Massachusetts (BB-59) is visible directly behind Indiana. The heavy cruiser in the left center distance is either USS Quincy (CA-71) or USS Chicago (CA-136). Due to the Measure 22 camouflage, the cruiser is probably Quincy, as Chicago is only known to have been painted in Measure 21



Photo: The forward turrets of the U.S. Navy battleship USS Massachusetts (BB-59) at the steel plant at Kamaishi, Honshū (Japan), 14 July 1945



Photo: The U.S. Navy heavy cruiser USS Quincy (CA-71) fires on the iron works at Kamaishi in northern Honshu, Japan, on 14 July 1945



Photo: The steel plant at Kamaishi, Honshū (Japan), being shelled by U.S. Navy battleships, 14 July 1945



Photo: View of the burning iron works at Kamaishi in northern Honshu, Japan, on 14 July 1945. The photo was taken by a U.S. Navy Vought OS2U Kingfisher reconnaissance plane from the heavy cruiser USS Quincy (CA-71)



Mines sink Japanese merchant cargo ships Senju Maru off Moji, Japan, and Kiukiang Maru at 35°06'N, 129°43'E.

RYUKYU ISLANDS

(Seventh Air Force): HQ Seventh AF moves from Saipan Island to Okinawa and is reassigned from AAF Pacific Ocean Area and overall operational control by the US Navy to FEAF. Seventh AF units in the Ryukyu Islands, operating under Tactical AF, Ryukyus (Tenth Army Tactical AF) since Apr 45 when the first element of the Seventh AF arrived, are now under operational control of HQ Seventh AF. The move from Saipan takes place between 18 Jun and 28 Jul.

Tank landing ships LST-684 and LST-826 are damaged by grounding off Okinawa, 26°12'N, 127°57'E.

IWO JIMA

(Twentieth Air Force): P-51s from Iwo Jima sent on a strike against Meiji and Kagamigahara in the Nagoya, Japan area abort because of weather.

WESTERN PACIFIC

[Far East Air Force]: On this date HQ Seventh AF officially joins the Fifth and Thirteenth AFs as part of FEAF. The air echelon of the 25th Photographic Reconnaissance Squadron, 6th Reconnaissance Group, moves from Clark Field, Luzon to Okinawa with F-5s (ground echelon arrived on Okinawa on 9 Jul).

PHILIPPINE CAMPAIGN (1945)

On Luzon, fighter-bombers support ground forces in the Mankayan and Kiangan areas and hit enemy positions in the Ipo-Infanta sector. B-24s support ground forces on Negros Island, bombing the area NE of Mount Mandalagan.

BORNEO CAMPAIGN (1945)

On Borneo, Australian troops advanced past the Manggar airfield east of Balikpapan and have penetrated the Japanese defenses in the Macassar Strait coastal belt which was recently intensely resisted.

On Celebes Island, B-24s bomb airstrips at Boeloedowang, Limboeng, Mapanget, and Tanamon and Japanese HQ at Sindjai.

[lordroel]

Day 2134 of World War II, July 15th 1945

Allied occupied Germany

Photo: President Truman receives a salute from the crew of the U. S. S. Augusta as he departs the ship at the docks at Antwerp, Belgium. The President is en route to the Potsdam Conference in Germany, 15 July 1945



Photo: President Harry S. Truman is greeted as he arrived in Antwerp, Belgium en route to the Potsdam Conference in Germany. L to R: Adm. William Leahy, Adm. H. H. Stark, Secretary of State James Byrnes, U. S. Ambassador to Belgium Charles Sawyer, President Truman, and Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower, 15 July 1945



Soviet occupied Germany

Photo: U.S. Air Force Douglas C-54 Skymaster transports lined up after their arrival at the Berlin-Gatow airport, Germany, 15 July 1945. These planes brought the U.S. president Harry S. Truman and other dignitaries to the Potsdam Conference



Photo: Prime Minister Winston Churchill, surrounded by cameramen and dignitaries, leaves the airplane which brought him to Gatow Airport in Berlin, Germany for the Potsdam Conference, 15 July 1945



Photo: Distance view of British Prime Minister Winston Churchill inspecting the honor guard at Gatow Airport in Berlin, Germany. The Guard was composed of men from the Royal Navy, Canadians, Royal Air Force, and a battalion of Grenadier Guards. Prime Minister Churchill has just arrived in Berlin to attend the Potsdam Conference, 15 July 1945



Photo: British Prime Minister Winston Churchill passes the parade of Bren carriers belonging to the Canadian contingent during the British Victory parade in Berlin, Germany. Prime Minister Churchill has just arrived to attend the Potsdam Conference, 15 July 1945



United kingdom

In London, the West End lights up again, ending over 2000 days of blackout and dim-out.

Belgium

In Brussels, King Leopold III repeats his refusal to abdicate.

United States

Photo: U.S. Navy Vought F4U-4 Corsairs of Bombing Fighting Squadron 3 (VBF-3) "Swordsmen" lined up with wings folded on the flight deck of the escort carrier USS Solomons (CVE-67). USS Solomons was engaged in qualifying U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Ccorps pilots in carrier landings off Port Everglades, Florida, 15 July 1945 (USA)



Pacific War

Map of the Pacific as of 15 July 1945



CHINA

(Twentieth Air Force): During the night of 15/16 Jul, 1 mining and 1 bombing mission are flown without loss. Mission 269: 26 B-29s mine waters at Naoetsu and Niigata, Japan and Najin, Pusan, and Wonsan, Korea; 1 other mines an alternate target. Mission 270: 59 B-29s bomb the Nippon Oil Company at Kudamatsu and the facility is almost completely destroyed; 3 others hit alternate targets. 104 Iwo Jima based P-51s attack airfields and other tactical targets at Meiji, Kagamigahara, Kowa, Akenogahara, Nagoya, and Suzuko, Japan claiming 13-4-20 aircraft in the air and on the ground; 3 P-51s are lost.

(AAF, China Theater) Fourteenth Air Force: 3 B-25s blast truck convoys moving through the Siang Chiang Valley of China. 39 P-51s and P-47s attack rivercraft, troops, coastal shipping, bridges, railroad yards, gun positions, trains, and other targets around the Luichow Peninsula, Anyang, Yutze, Sinsiang, Fentingtukou, Paoching, Tanchuk and Kweiyi, China, and Pac Muong and Haiphong, French Indochina. B-24s bomb an arms plant at Canton, China. On Formosa, P-51s sweep the W coast, blasting a warehouse and other buildings S of Takao and targets of opportunity on Hoko Island.

JAPAN

Three battleships, two light cruisers, and eight destroyers of TU 34.8.2 (Rear Admiral Oscar C. Badger) bombard steel and iron works at Muroran on southern coast of Hokkaido, primarily targeting the large Nihon Steel Company and Wanishi Iron and Steel Manufacturing Company.

In a repeat of the attacks the previous day, TF 38 planes sink Japanese minesweeper W.24 off Tsugaru, northern Honshu, 41°38'N, 141°00'E; Coast Defense Vessel No.219 off northern Honshu, 41°48'N, 140°41'E; auxiliary submarine chaser Bunzan Maru off Hachinoe, Honshu; guardboat Shinei Maru, Shirojiri, Hokkaido, merchant cargo ships Shoka Maru, Otaru; Tokai Maru at entrance to Sutsu Bay; No.5 Seikai Maru off Mutsure; Urakawa Maru and Toyu Maru off Nemuro, Japan; and Shinko Maru at 40°48'N, 140°05'E; merchant train ferry No.1 Seikan Maru near Miumaya; and merchant fishing boat No.15 Taisho Maru off Ofuyo; and damage merchant cargo ship Rijo Maru off Aomori. TF 38 planes damage escort destroyer Kasado, and Coast Defense Vessel No.47 and Coast Defense Vessel No.55, off Otaru; escort destroyers Io and Fukue and auxiliary submarine chasers Cha 81 and Yaryu Maru, Hachinoe harbor, Honshu; Coast Defense Vessel No.215, Fukushima anchorage; Coast Defense Vessel No.221 at entrance to Tsugaru Strait; and submarine chaser Ch 47, Yamada anchorage. Auxiliary minesweeper Fuji Maru is stranded after bomb damage off Hakodate, Hokkaido.

Photo: while sailing from Aomori to Hakodate, the Tsugaru Maru was attacked by aircraft carriers from the US aircraft carriers Essex (CV-9) and Randolph (CV-15) near 7km east of Kitsunetsuzaki, Hokkaido, July 15, 1945



American B-29 Superfortress bombers, based in the Marianna Islands, raided an oil refinery at Kudamatsu on Honshu Island while fighters and bombers from Okinawa attacked objectives on Kyushu and southern Honshu.

WESTERN PACIFIC

[Far East Air Force]: The 65th Troop Carrier Squadron, 403d Troop Carrier Group, moves from Morotai to Dulag with C-46s and C-47s.

PHILIPPINE CAMPAIGN (1945)

On Luzon, P-38s and P-51s support ground forces in the N Cayagan Valley, in the Kiangan sector, and in the Cervantes area and B-25s and P-51s bomb defensive positions in the Infanta sector.

BORNEO CAMPAIGN (1945)

On Borneo, Australian troops capture Mount Batochampar, which was a key Japanese defensive position.

PACIFIC

Twenty-seven USAAF B-29s mine the waters off Najin, Wonsan, Hungnam and Pusan, Korea, and off Naoetsu and Niigata, Japan. Japanese cargo ship Sorachi Maru is damaged by mine in Rashin harbor. Merchant cargo ship No.5 Nichiyu Maru is damaged by mine off Tomita.

Light minelayer Thomas E. Fraser (DM-24) is damaged in collision with miscellaneous auxiliary Elk (IX-115) off Okinawa, 26°13'N, 127°50'E.

Submarine Bluefish (SS-222) sinks Japanese submarine I 351, 100 miles east-northeast of Natuna Besar, Borneo, 05°44'N, 110°06'E.

Submarine Skate (SS-305) sinks Japanese transport Miho Maru east of South Sakhalin, Kurils, 48°29'N, 147°36'E.

[lordroel]

Day 2135 of World War II, July 16th 1945

Soviet occupied Germany

The American and British delegations to the Potsdam Conference arrive in Berlin, led by President Truman and Prime Minister Churchill, respectively.

Photo: President Harry Truman and Winston Churchill shake hands on the steps of Truman's residence during the Potsdam conference, 16 July 1945



Photo: Prime Minister Winston Churchill sits in a jeep outside the Reichstag during a tour of the ruined city of Berlin, Germany on 16 July 1945



Photo: Churchill visits the ruins of the Reichstag in Berlin during the Potsdam Conference, on 16 July 1945



Photo: Prime Minister Winston Churchill leaves the ruins of Adolf Hitler's Chancellery in Berlin, Germany, on 16 July 1945



United States (the Trinity test)

The world's first atomic bomb is exploded at Alamagordo in New Mexico (the Trinity test) at 1730 hours.

The steel tower, on which the Plutonium fueled device was mounted, is vaporized by the heat of the explosion (which is greater than the temperature of the inside the of sun).

The detonation is visible and audible up to 180 miles away. It is estimated that the blast generated by the explosion is equal to that yielded by between 15,000-20,000 tons of TNT.

Photo: 0.016 second after explosion, July 16, 1945. The viewed hemisphere's highest point in this image is about 200 meters high, 16 July 1945



Photo: The mushroom cloud starts to form at 3.0 seconds, July 16, 1945



Photo: Mushroom cloud after 10 seconds, July 16, 1945



Photo: The fireball 15 seconds after detonation



Time-lapse detonation of Gadget, Trinity nuclear weapons test, July 16 1945



United States

The cruiser USS Indianapolis sailed from San Francisco, California, United States with a top secret cargo - components of the atomic bomb to be dropped on Hiroshima unless the Japanese surrendered. The Indianapolis would take 10 days to sail to the island of Tinian, Mariana Islands where US B-29 bombers were waiting.

Pacific War

CHINA

Japanese units begin pulling out of Amoy, in the south.

Fourteenth Air Force: In China, 5 B-25s pound enemy truck convoys moving supplies through the Siang-Chiang Valley and S of Kweilin; 60+ P-51s, P-38s, and P-47s continue to hit river, road, and rail traffic, bridges, troops, supplies, and other targets at many points in French Indochina and S and E China.

INDIA-BURMA

Major General Thomas J Hanley, Jr assumes command of AAF, India-Burma Theater.

FORMOSA

On Formosa, P-51s on a sweep attack communications targets, hitting a railroad station and a locomotive shed at Byoritsu and scoring a direct hit on bridge SW of Koryu.

WESTERN PACIFIC

[Far East Air Force]: The 64th Troop Carrier Squadron, 403d Troop Carrier Group, moves from Biak to Dulag with C-47s.

JAPAN

A force of 500 B-29 Superfortress bombers strike targets on Honshu and Kyushu. In total, over 1500 American planes attack raid various objectives on the Japanese home islands during the day.

(FEAF): On Kyushu Island, Japan, B-24s, A-26s, B-25s, P-51s and P-47s from Okinawa and Ie Shima pound targets; P-51s hit several E coast targets, concentrating in the Kagoshima Bay area; 27 A-26s, 1 B-24, and 39 P-47s hit the airfield and bridge at Miyazaki; 33 B-24s bomb bridges at Nobeoka; 36 B-25s, a B-24 and an A-26 pound Sadohara bridge; 6 B-24s bomb harbor and town of Aburatsu; and 5 P-47s hit Yanagawa.

Photo: A cockpit view of two 39th Bomb Group B-29s out of North Field (Andersen) on a mission to Hiratsuka, Japan, July 16, 1945



TF 37, the British fast carrier task force (Vice Admiral Henry B. Rawlings, RN), comprising one battleship, four aircraft carriers, eight light cruisers and 18 destroyers, joins Third Fleet. The British force will operate as part of the U.S. Third Fleet until hostilities end.

Aircraft (VC 13) from escort carrier Anzio (CVE-57) teams with destroyer escort Lawrence C. Taylor (DE-415) to sink Japanese submarine I 13, 540 miles east of Yokohama, Japan, 34°28'N, 150°55'E.

BORNEO CAMPAIGN (1945)

B-24s bomb warehouses at Watampone on Celebes Island. On Luzon, P-51s and B-25s support ground forces in the Kiangan-Baguio sector and an area E of Manila.

ALEUTIAN ISLANDS

(Eleventh Air Force): 2 B-24s fly a negative shipping search mission to Shimushiru Island. 4 B-25s on an enemy shipping sweep deck-level bomb and strafe an enemy freighter; 3 of the bombers then bomb and strafe Torishima Retto, the secondary target.

PACIFIC

Submarine Baya (SS-318) sinks Ambon-bound Japanese torpedo boat Kari in Java Sea, 05°48'S, 115°53'E.

Submarine Blenny (SS-324) sinks Japanese gunboat Nankai west of Surabaya, Java, N.E.I., 05°26'S, 110°33'E.

Mines sink Japanese auxiliary submarine chaser Byoritsu Maru at entrance to Chongjin Bay; merchant cargo ship Nanjin Maru off Wakamatsu, merchant cargo ships Nissho Maru off Mutsure, and Taikosan Maru off Motoyama-misaki; and merchant cargo vessel Rijo Maru off Ube; and irreparably damage submarine depot ship Nachi Maru north of Kyushu, off Mutsure Jima, 33°59'N, 130°52'E.

Japanese merchant tanker No.6 Toyu Maru is damaged by aircraft, Kudamatsu.

[lordroel]

Day 2136 of World War II, July 17th 1945

Soviet occupied Germany

The Potsdam Conference (code named Terminal), informally named after the small town near Berlin in which it takes place, begins as the last of the leaders arrives. Marshal Stalin arrived in Berlin and the conference of the Big Three (Britain, the Soviet Union and the United States) began in the afternoon. President Truman is invited to preside over the meeting.

Photo: Joseph Stalin, Winston Churchill and President Truman with their staffs around the conference table at the Potsdam Conference, 17 July 1945



United Kingdom

German Field Marshal Ernst Busch, formerly commander of Army Group Centre in Russia and later Army Group Northwest during the final months of the European war, passed away whilst in a military hospital in Nottingham, England, United Kingdom where he was being held as a prisoner of war.

Pacific War

CHINA

Fourteenth Air Force: In China, a single B-25 attacks 3 truck convoys in the Siang Chiang Valley and bombs the area along the river at Hengyang; 70+ P-51s and P-47s continue to disrupt enemy movement in French Indochina and S and E China, attacking bridges, railroad yards, rail, road, and river traffic, airfields, gun positions, and many other targets at various locations, especially around Suichwan, Linfen, and Sinsiang, China.

In China, nearly 150 B-24s, B-25s, and A-26s pound Chiang Wan Airfield, P-47s attack shipping and warehouses in the Taishan Island area while others hit Tinghai Airfield and B-25s hit Itu Aba Island.

JAPAN

Aircraft from TF 38 (Vice Admiral John S. McCain) and British TF 37 (Vice Admiral Henry B. Rawlings, RN) attack airfields in the Tokyo area.

Five battleships, two light cruisers, and ten destroyers of TU 34.8.2 (Rear Admiral Oscar C. Badger) bombard heavily industrialized Mito-Hitachi area of Honshu. British battleship HMS King George V and two British destroyers are attached to the force, making this the first joint U.S.-British bombardment of the Japanese homeland. Carrier Bon Homme Richard (CV-31) provides night combat air patrol to cover the operation.

Photo: The first Seafire fighters fly over Yokoshiba-Hikari, Chiba Prefecture, Japan on 17 July 1945. The first plane to actually crass the coast (top) was piloted by Lieut (A) Norman Goodfellow, RNVR, of Southport, Lancs. These planes soon returned to their carrier as the strike was cancelled due to heavy fog



(FEAF): P-51s over Kyushu and the N Ryukyu Islands attack shipping, severely damaging a 10,000-ton cargo vessel in the harbor on Amami- O-Shima Island and P-47s dive-bomb railroad tunnels NW and SW of Kagoshima, Kyushu.

(Twentieth Air Force): Mission 275: During the night of 17/18 Jul, 27 B-29s mine Shimonoseki Strait and waters in the Nanao-Fushiki area, at Henashi Cape, Iwase and at Seishin; 1 other B-29 mines an alternate target.

WESTERN PACIFIC

[Far East Air Force]: The 13th Troop Carrier Squadron, 403d Troop Carrier Group, moves from Espiritu Santo to Dulag with C-47s.

BORNEO CAMPAIGN (1945)

B-24s bomb Limboeng, Celebes Island barracks and strafe a schooner off SW Celebes. B-25s attack Jesselton Airfield.

ALEUTIAN ISLANDS

(Eleventh Air Force): The 77th Bombardment Squadron (Medium), 28th BG (Composite), flies it's last mission of the war when 4 B-25s make an unsuccessful shipping sweep between Kurabu Zaki and Tomari Zaki; 2 of the B-25s land in the USSR and 11 of the 12 airmen become the last American aircrew interned in the USSR during the war (one airman is KIA). An unsuccessful shipping sweep is flown by 2 B-24s over Shimushiru Island.

[lordroel]

Day 2137 of World War II, July 18th 1945

Soviet occupied Germany

The Potsdam Conference continues. Churchill, Truman and Stalin confer on politics and strategy, in a town near Berlin. The leaders met for their second plenary session in the Cecilienhof, an 18th century palace. President Truman informed Prime Minister Churchill that the atomic bomb test had been successful in a cryptic note, "Babies satisfactorily born." American interest in Soviet participation in the war against Japan has been noticeably lessened.

Photo: President Harry S. Truman visits Soviet Prime Minister Josef Stalin at Mr. Stalin's residence during the Potsdam Conference in Germany. L to R: Prime MInister Stalin, unidentified man in background, President Truman, Soviet Ambassador to the United States, Andrei Gromyko (in background), Secretary of State James Byrnes, and Soviet foreign minister Vyacheslav Molotov, 18 July 1945



Allied occupied Germany

Photo: The German passenger liner Europa moves out of drydock at Bremerhaven, Germany, 18 July 1945, while being reactivated. She was commissioned as USS Europa (AP-177) 25 August 1945-2 May 1946. Note submarine hull sections on shore at left



Belgium

The Belgian senate voted to forbid the return of Leopold III.

Italy

Captured German mines explode accidentally, destroying an American Red Cross club and killing 36 people.

Canada

In Halifax, Nova Scotia, 15 people are killed by an explosion at the Royal Canadian Navy arsenal. Firemen narrowly averted the cataclysmic detonation of the main magazine, containing about 6000 tons of ammunition, vast numbers of depth charges and mines.

Photo: On 18 July 1945, an ammunition barge blew up at the Naval Magazine jetty on Bedford Basin. Fire spread quickly to piles of ammunition. A chain reaction of fire, explosion and concussion rocked Halifax that day and into the next. Much of North End Halifax was smoothly evacuated the first day, while the remainder of the city went on high alert. However, the Bedford Magazine Explosion did not approach the force of the 1917 Halifax Harbour Explosion – although windows shattered, plaster cracked and minor injuries and one death were reported



Photo: Crowd viewing broken glass on Barrington St., Halifax, after the Bedford Magazine Explosion, 18 July, 1945



Brazil

The Brazilian Expeditionary Force, which fought with the Allied forces in Italy, parades through Rio de Janeiro, on it return.

United States

Photo: USCGC Owasco (WPG-39) off San Pedro, California (USA), on 18 July 1945



Pacific War

CHINA

(AAF, China Theater) Fourteenth Air Force: 4 B-25s blast the railroad yards at Dong Anh, French Indochina. 36 P-51s and P-38s hit river traffic, rail targets, coastal shipping, enemy positions, trucks, and other targets around Viet Tri, French Indochina and other areas of French Indochina and near Yoyang, Suichwan, Lingling, Chikhom, Kukong, and Dosing, China.

FEAF: In China, about 150 B-24s, B-25s, and A-26s, covered by 54 P-47s, hit the Shanghai area, airfields at Chiang Wan, Wusung, and Lunghua, Shanghai docks, shipping on the Whangpoo River, and airstrips on Chusan Island.

JAPAN

Aircraft from TF 38 strike Yokosuka Naval Base and airfields in the Tokyo area, Japan. Primary target at the former place is Japanese battleship Nagato, which is damaged. TF 38 planes also sink training ship (ex-armored cruiser) Kasuga, escort destroyer Yaezakura (60% completed) and submarine I 372, submarine chaser Harushima, auxiliary patrol vessels Pa No.37, Pa No.110 and Pa No.122 at Yokosuka.23 TF 37 and TF 38 planes sink Japanese motor torpedo boat Gyoraitei No.28 at Yokosuka, and damage battleship Nagato, motor torpedo boat Gyoraitei No.256, landing ship T.110, target ship Yakaze, and auxiliary submarine chaser Cha 225.
TG 35.4 (Rear Admiral Carl F. Holden), composed of four light cruisers and the destroyers of DesRon 62, detached from TG 38.1, conduct anti-shipping sweep off the entrance to Sagami Nada and bombard Japanese radar installations at Cape Nojima, Honshu. En route to the objective, destroyers Hank (DD-702) and Wallace L. Lind (DD-703), detached to take a radar contact under fire, mistakenly shell (but do not damage) submarine Gabilan (SS-252).

Photo: Strike photo taken by USS Hancock aircraft showing an attack on the Yokosuka Navy Yard, Tokyo Bay, Japan, 18 Jul 1945. Note bomb splashes



Photo: Reconnaissance photograph of Yokosuka Naval Base near Tokyo, Japan, on 18 July 1945



Photo: Strike photo taken by USS Hancock aircraft showing an attack on the Yokosuka Navy Yard, Tokyo Bay, Japan, 18 Jul 1945. Note bomb splashes



USN Task Group 35.4 composed of four light cruisers and escorting destroyers, bombard Japanese radar sites on Honshu.

FEAF: P-47s attack various targets of opportunity on Kyushu Island, Japan and P-51s attack communications lines, bridges, shipping, towns, and other targets throughout Kyushu and the Ryukyu Islands.

FORMOSA

FEAF: P-38s hit communications and transportation targets throughout the N part of Formosa while B-24s pound the airfield at Matsuyama.

JAPANESE OCCUPIED WAKE ISLAND

Carrier-based aircraft based of carrier Wasp (CV-18) attack Japanese installations on Wake Island.

Photo: A U.S. Navy Vought F4U-1D Corsair from Fighting Bombing Squadron 86 (VBF-86) aboard the aircraft carrier USS Wasp (CV-18) in 1945. Note the new air group identification letter "X", introduced in July 1945



Photo: U.S. Navy carrier aircraft of Carrier Air Group 86 (CVG-86) attack Wake Island on 18 July 1945. CVG-86 was assigned to the aircraft carrier USS Wasp (CV-18)



GUAM

[US Army Strategic Air Forces in the Pacific (USASTAF)] Headquarters US Army Strategic Air Forces in the Pacific (USASTAF) is established at Guam in the Mariana Islands under General Carl Spaatz. This new command places the USAAF on an equal footing with the U.S. Army and U.S. Navy in the Pacific.

RYUKYU ISLANDS

Photo: View of 4 90mm AAA gun emplacement with crew in pit. "D" Battery, 98th AAA Gun Bn., 137th AAA Gp. Okinawa, July 18, 1945



PHILIPPINE CAMPAIGN (1945)

P-38s hit Japanese concentration along the Kibawe trail on Mindanao.

BORNEO CAMPAIGN (1945)

On Borneo, patrols from the Australian 7th Division find that the Japanese have evacuated the Sambodja oil fields.

B-24s bomb Boetoeng and Watampone on Celebes Island; on Borneo, B-25s hit Jesselton and P-38s attack Langkon.

ALEUTIAN ISLANDS

(Eleventh Air Force): 2 routine search and weather sorties are flown.

PACIFIC

Submarine Barb (SS-220) sinks Japanese Coast Defense Vessel No.112 south of Sakhalin, Japan, 46°04'N, 142°16'E.

Submarine Cero (SS-225) is damaged by aerial bomb off Kurils, 45°14'N, 148°41'E, and is forced to terminate her patrol.

Submarine Hawkbill (SS-366) is damaged by depth charges off Malaya, 04°41'N, 103°30'E, and is forced to terminate her patrol.

British submarine HMS Trenchant, attacks Japanese convoy, sinking army shuttle vessel Hayabusa Maru and damaging cargo vessels No.3 Taikyo Maru and 3 Nichiei Maru and No.2 Saiwai Maru northwest of Lombok Island 08°22'S, 116°02'E,

USN land-based planes sink Japanese merchant cargo vessels Chishima Maru off Kawajiri, 34°36'N, 125°00'E, Shintai Maru at 34°25'N, 130°40'E, and Tagami Maru off Tsushima, 34°47'N, 137°02'E.

Japanese escort carrier Kaiyo is damaged by mine, 135 miles northwest of Satamisaki.

Japanese merchant cargo ship Tenyo Maru is sunk (cause unknown), north of Honshu.

Japanese fast transport T.9 is damaged by aircraft four miles east of Hatsushima.

Japanese merchant tanker No.8 Horai Maru is damaged by marine casualty, Atsuta, north of Ishikari.

[lordroel]

Day 2138 of World War II, July 19th 1945

Soviet occupied Germany

The Potsdam Conference continues. Churchill, Truman and Stalin confer on politics and strategy, in a town near Berlin.

Photo: View of the conference table at Cecilienhof Palace, scene of the Potsdam Conference in Potsdam, Germany. President Harry S. Truman is in left foregound. Adm. William Leahy is seated to the right of the President. British Prime Minister Winston Churchill is seated at upper left of table. Clement Attlee is seated two to the right of Mr. Churchill. Soviet leader Josef Stalin is at upper right of table. Soviet foreign minister Vyacheslav Molotov is to the immediate left of Mr. Stalin in the photo. Averell Harriman is standing at extreme left, 19 July 1945



United States

The United States Senate ratified the Bretton Woods system of monetary management, which would lead to the establishment of the International Monetary Fund and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development.

Pacific War

CHINA

The American Far East Air Force bombs four Japanese air bases in the Shanghai area.

(AAF, China Theater) Fourteenth Air Force: In China, 20 B-25s, 16 P-51s, and 4 P-47s blast railroad yards at Shihkiachwang; 7 other B-25s and 2 P-51s hit bridges S of Yoyang and bomb truck convoys in the Siang Chiang Valley, particularly around the Siangtan area. 37 fighter-bombers disrupt enemy movement over wide areas of French Indochina and S and E China, attacking numerous targets of opportunity.

B-25s hit Itu Aba Island, China.

BURMA

Japanese units begin an all out effort to breakout of their encircled positions.

JAPAN

TF 38 planes damage Japanese carriers Amagi and Katsuragi, and battleship Haruna at Kure, Japan.

TG 35.4 (Rear Admiral Carl F. Holden) concludes its bombardment of Japanese radar installations at Cape Nojima, Honshu.

90+ P-51s pound numerous targets on sweeps over the Nagoya area and hit airfields, factories, power facilities, and gun positions at locations including Kagamigahara, Nishinomiya, and Osaka.

[US Army Strategic Air Forces in the Pacific (USASTAF)] Twentieth Air Force: During the night of 19/20 Jul, 1 mining, 4 incendiary and 1 bombing missions are flown by B-29s against Japan and Korea; 3 B-29s are lost:

Mission 276: 27 B-29s lay mines in the Oyama, Niigata, Miyazu, Maizuru, Tsuruga, Nezugaseki, Obama Island, and Kobe-Osaka areas of Japan and at Wonsan, Korea; 1 B-29s mines an alternate target.
Mission 277: 127 B-29s attack the Fukui urban area destroying 1.6 sq mi, 84.8% of the city; 1 other B-29s hits an alternate target.
Mission 278: 126 B-29s hit the Hitachi urban area destroying 0.88 sq mi, 64.5% of the city; 1 other B-29 hits an alternate target; 2 B-29s are lost.
Mission 279: 91 B-29s attack the Choshi urban area destroying 0.379 sq mi, 33.8 % of the city.
Mission 280: 126 B-29s hit the Okazaki urban area destroying 0.65 sq mi, 68% of the city; 1 B-29 hits an alternate target.
Mission 281: 83 B-29s bomb the Nippon oil plant at Amagasaki; 1 other B-29 hits an alternate target.
Iwo Jima based P-51s strike airfields, factories, railroads, power lines and other tactical targets at Kagamigahara, Nagoya, Meiji, Izumi, Nishinomiya, and Tambaichi during the day.

Photo: I-367 at Otsujima on 19 July 1945 with kaitens on her deck



PHILIPPINE CAMPAIGN (1945)

P-38s support ground forces, hitting positions along the Kibawe trail on Mindanao.

BORNEO CAMPAIGN (1945)

On Borneo, Australian forces have occupied without opposition the oil center of Samboja, northeast of Balikpapan.

In Borneo, P-38s hit a suicide boat hideout at Sandakan while B-25s bomb Jesselton Airfield.

PACIFIC

Aircraft carrier Antietam (CV-36) is damaged by premature explosion of 5-inch shell during gunnery exercises, Hawaiian Operating Area.

Japanese planes attack U.S. fleet units off Okinawa; one kamikaze crashes and damages destroyer Thatcher (DD-514), 26°15'N, 127°50'E; another nearly crashes destroyer Charles J. Badger (DD-657).

Submarine Bumper (SS-333), attacking Japanese convoy in Gulf of Siam, sinks fleet tanker No.3 Kyoei Maru.

Mines sink Japanese merchant dredger Daikoku Maruinside Niigata harbor.

[lordroel]

Day 2139 of World War II, July 20th 1945

YouTube (The Atomic Age Begins)



Soviet occupied Germany

The Potsdam Conference continues. Churchill, Truman and Stalin confer on politics and strategy, in a town near Berlin. Truman says that the Allies are making no territorial claims, wanting only peace, prosperity and "man's greatest age." Meanwhile, a flag which will fly over Tokyo when Japan is defeated was hoisted in Berlin today in the presence of President Truman.

Belgium

Belgian Prime Minister Achille Van Acker asked Leopold III to abdicate for his "grave and unpardonable mistakes."

United States

Congress votes to increase the lending ceiling of the Export-Import Bank from $700 million to $3.5 billion. The United States Senate passes the Bretton Woods Bill by a vote of 61 to 16.

Photo: The U.S. Navy destroyer USS Hyman (DD-732) underway in San Francisco Bay, California (USA), 20 July 1945



Pacific War

CHINA

For the second consecutive day, more than 200 Allied bombers, flying from Okinawa, attack Japanese airfields in the area of Shanghai.

(AAF, China Theater) Fourteenth Air Force: 10 B-25s and 6 P-51s hit truck convoys around Hengyang and Wuchang, and storage on an island near Changsha, China, locomotive shops at Phu Thuong, and power plant and railroad targets in the Vinh, French Indochina area. 50+ P-51s, P-38s, and P-61s disrupt enemy movement and general withdrawal in Indochina and S and E China, attacking river, road, and rail traffic, coastal shipping, supplies, and other targets. The 115th Liaison Squadron, Fourteenth AF, moves from Nagaghuli to Chengkung, China with L-1s, L-4s and L-5s.

FEAF: B-25s hit Itu Aba Island, China and W of Palawan Island, Philippine Islands for the second consecutive day.

Photo: Grumman F6F Hellcat fighters on fire aboard the U.S. Navy escort carrier USS Admiralty Islands (CVE-99), 20 July 1945. An aircraft attempting to land lost a fuel tank and set the deck and three F6F on fire. Admiralty Islands was handling replacement aircraft for the fleet carriers



Photo: Burned Grumman F6F-5 Hellcat fighters on the morning after a night fire aboard the U.S. Navy escort carrier USS Admiralty Islands (CVE-99), 20 July 1945. An aircraft attempting to land lost a fuel tank and set the deck and three F6F on fire. Admiralty Islands was handling replacement aircraft for the fleet carriers. Note that the first and the last F6F wear the air group identification symbols of USS Randolph (CV-15), the center one that of USS Belleau Wood (CVL-24)



JAPAN

[US Army Strategic Air Forces in the Pacific (USASTAF)] 94 P-51s based on Iwo Jima are dispatched against targets, mainly airfields, at Kamezaki, Meiji, Okazaki, Nagoya, Kagamigahara, Hamamatsu, and Komaki; they claim 1-11 Japanese aircraft on the ground; 3 P-51s are lost.

PHILIPPINE CAMPAIGN (1945)

American forces land on Balut Island, at the entrance to Sarangani Bay of Mindanao. The small Japanese garrison is eliminated.

On Luzon, A-20s and fighter-bombers support the ground action in the Kiangan area and in the lower Cagayan Valley while B-25s and fighter-bombers hit Japanese positions in the Marikina and Infanta areas. B-24s bomb an area S of Fabrica on Negros Island.

[Far East Air Force]: Unit moves: The detachment of the 419th Night Fighter Squadron, XIII Fighter Command, operating from Zamboanga, Mindanao with P-61s, returns to base at Puerto Princesa, Palawan Island; 498th Bombardment Squadron (Medium), 345th BG (Medium), from Clark Field, Luzon to Ie Shima with B-25s.

BORNEO CAMPAIGN (1945)

P-38s attack the town of Langkon, Borneo. On Celebes Island, B-24s pound Togian Island and P-38s hit targets of opportunity on the SW.

Photo: Members of a patrol from 2/3rd Commando Squadron, 2/7th Calvary (Commando) Regiment, leaving the Headquarters area of a troops on patrol to cover the track leading west towards Vasey Highway and passing true old HQ area, Balkipapan, Borneo, 20 July 1945



ALEUTIAN ISLANDS

(Eleventh Air Force): 8 B-24s fly the heaviest and most successful mission of the month, bombing hangars and revetments at Matsuwa Airfield on Matsuwa Island. The detachment of the 11th Fighter Squadron, 343d Fighter Group, operating from Amchitka with P-38s and P-40s since March 44, returns to base on Adak.

PACIFIC

Submarine Bumper (SS-333) attacks Japanese convoy in Gulf of Siam, sinking guardboat No.3 Kyoraku Maru, 08°08'N, 103°40'E.

Submarine Threadfin (SS-410) sinks Japanese minesweeper W.39 northwest of Mokpo, Korea, 35°01'N, 125°42'E.

Japanese merchant cargo ship Tatsutagawa Maru is sunk by mine, Shimonoseki Strait.

Japanese merchant ship Shintai Maru is lost to unknown cause in Gulf of Siam.

[lordroel]

Day 2140 of World War II, July 21st 1945

Soviet occupied Germany

The Potsdam Conference continues. Churchill, Truman and Stalin confer on politics and strategy, in a town near Berlin. Although very little information about the progress of the Big Three Conference is being made public, it is reported that much has been done. The leaders have spent an average of almost 3 hours together since their first meeting on Tuesday and there are also frequent and lengthy meetings between the foreign affairs ministers (Eden, Byrnes and Molotov), committees and subcommittees of experts. In a private meeting Truman and Churchill agree to drop the atomic bomb on Japan if it fails to surrender unconditionally. Meanwhile, Allied representatives select Nuremberg as the location of the trial of the main Nazi war leaders.

Photo: The Combined Chiefs of Staff meet on the 4th day of the Potsdam Conference in Germany. Clockwise, L to R: Maj. Gen. Lauris Norstad, Gen. Henry H. Arnold, Gen. George C. Marshall, Brig. Gen. Andrew J. McFarland, Adm. William D. Leahy, Adm. Ernest J. King, Vice-Adm. C. M. Cooke, Jr., Gen. Brehon B. Somervell, Rear Adm. H. A. Flanigan, Captain C. J. Moore, Lt. Gen. Sir Gordon McCready, Adm. Sir Andrew Cunningham, Field Marshall Sir Alan Brooke, Marshall Sir Charles Portal, Gen. Sir Hastings Ismay, Gen. L. C. Hollisd, Brig. A. T. Cornwall-Jones, Col. Thomas Haddon, and Lt. Gen. John E. Hull, 21 July 1945



The 1945 British victory parade in Berlin is held by the British Army in Berlin, the capital of the then-defeated Germany. It took place on Charlottenburger Chaussee, which is west of Brandenburg Gate. The parade took place a month after the Moscow Victory Parade of 1945. It was attended by Winston Churchill in his position as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery, Commander-in-Chief of the 21st Army Group. Clement Attlee, who was Leader of the Labour Party at the time also attended.

Photo: Salute fired by guns of the 3rd Royal Horse Artillery (RHA) on the arrival of Prime Minister Winston Churchill, 21 July 1945



Photo: Prime Minister Winston Churchill, accompanied by Field Marshal Sir Bernard Montgomery and Field Marshal Sir Alan Brooke, inspects tanks of the 8th King's Royal Irish Hussars (part of the 7th Armoured Division - the famous Desert Rats), from a half-track vehicle which moved slowly along the long line of troops and armour, during the British Victory parade in Berlin, 21 July 1945



Photo: Gen. George C. Marshall passes through the British Victory parade in Berlin, Germany during the Potsdam Conference. L to R: Gen. Henry H. Arnold, Marshal of the RAF Sir Charles Portal, Field Marshal Sir Harold Alexander, Adm. Ernest J. King (behind Gen. Marshall), 21 July 1945



Photo: A group of notables in the reviewing stand on the "Charlottenberger Chausce" during the British victory parade in Berlin, Germany, L to R: Field Marshall Sir Bernard Montgomery, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, Field Marshal Sir Harold Alexander, British foreign secretary Anthony Eden, Gen. Lyne, Commanding General, British 7th Armored Division. This event took place during the Potsdam Conference, 21 July 1945



Photo: British troops march down the Charlottenburg Chaussee, Berlin, 21 July 1945



Photo: British Armor passes reviewing stand in Berlin during the Potsdam Conference, 21 July 1945



Photo: British Armor passes reviewing stand in Berlin during the Potsdam Conference. From Potsdam album, 21 July 1945



United States

A U.S. Navy captain in the Office of War Information broadcast in Japanese an unauthorized talk in which he stated that American patience was "rapidly running out" and told Japan to surrender unconditionally or face "virtual destruction".

Photo: A U.S. Navy Goodyear XF2G-1 Corsair (BuNo 14692) at the Naval Air Test Center Patuxent River, Maryland (USA), on 21 July 1945



Photo: The U.S. Navy destroyer escort USS England (DE-635) off the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard, Pennsylvania (USA), on 21 July 1945. She was there for repairs after being hit by a Kamikaze off Okinawa on 9 May 1945



Pacific War

CHINA

(Fourteenth Air Force): In China, 11 B-25s and 2 P-51s attack truck convoys in the Siang Chiang Valley, bomb a HQ near Wuchang, and hit a bridge, trains, warehouses, and AA positions in the Sienning area. 40+ P-51s, P-38s, and P-61s again attack numerous targets and disrupt enemy movement in French Indochina and S and E China, hitting communications targets, supplies, transport, and other targets of opportunity.

Authorities in Chungking say that Chinese forces are closing in on Kweilin, the largest Japanese airbase and capital of the south China province of Kwangsi.

BURMA

Heavy fighting took place along the Sittang river as the Japanese continued their counterthrusts.

PHILIPPINE CAMPAIGN (1945)

P-38s hit the Kiangan area on Luzon. Bad weather restricts activity in the Netherlands East Indies, Philippine Islands and other target areas mainly to light raids and snooper missions.

BORNEO CAMPAIGN (1945)

On Borneo, Dutch and native troops are reported to be advancing northeast from Balikpapan. Allied motor torpedo boats operating on the northwest coast have shelled the Jesselton area and caused heavy explosions and fires ashore.

WESTERN PACIFIC

[Far East Air Force]: Unit moves to/on Okinawa: HQ 319th BG and 437th, 438th, 439th and 440th Bombardment Squadrons from Kadena to Machinato with A-26s; ground echelon of 8th Photographic Reconnaissance Squadron, 6th Reconnaissance Group, from Dulag (air echelon at Clark Field with F-5s); 373d Bombardment Squadron (Heavy), 494th BG (Heavy), from Luliang, China to Yontan with B-24s; 405th Bombardment Squadron (Medium), 38th BG (Medium), from Lingayen Airfield with B-25s.

PACIFIC

Submarine Sea Robin (SS-407) sinks Japanese cargo vessels Chio Maru and Yoshi Maru 30 kilometers east of Shinishi Island 33°45'N, 126°25'E.

Mines sink Japanese merchant cargo ship Nichiyo Maru in Tomita harbor, and damage army cargo ship Kazuura Maru off Pusan, Korea.

Japanese merchant cargo ship Meiyu Maru is damaged by aircraft, 5.4 kilometers off Makinoshima light.

[lordroel]

Day 2141 of World War II, July 22nd 1945

Soviet occupied Germany

The Potsdam Conference continues. Churchill, Truman and Stalin confer on politics and strategy, in a town near Berlin.

American, British and Russian officials agreed to allow their respective military police forces to move freely throughout all occupation zones of Berlin to thwart the city's runaway black market trade.

Italy

Art treasures worth an estimated $500 million U.S. that had been looted by the Germans during the war were returned to two galleries in Florence, Italy.

United States

Photo: The U.S. Navy light cruiser USS Portsmouth (CL-102) off the Norfolk Naval Shipyard, Virginia (USA), on 22 July 1945



Pacific War

CHINA

The American Far East Air Force attack Japanese air bases and shipping in the Shanghai area with 300 planes (including the new Douglas A-26 Invader light bomber). The Japanese news agency later reports that the Shanghai area was bombed by about 100 bombers and fighters and claims the Japanese shot down 4 planes and damaged 7 others.

(AAF, China Theater) Fourteenth Air Force: In China, 16 B-25s and 8 fighter-bombers blast truck convoys moving supplies through the Siang Chiang Valley, bomb railroad yards at Siaokan, and knock out 2 bridges S of Sincheng and Lohochai. 50+ P-51s, P-47s, and P-38s continue the campaign to disrupt enemy movement and withdrawal in French Indochina and S and E China, pounding numerous rail, road, and river targets, supply dumps, and coastal shipping.

FEAF: In China, 22 B-24s from Okinawa hit Chiang Wan and 1 hits Tinghai Airfield, 37 B-25s bomb an oil plant at Shanghai and a destroyer in the Whangpoo River, P-47s from Ie Shima join the B-25 attack on the Shanghai area, hitting a destroyer, gunboat, and freighter in the Whangpoo River, and factories and railroad shops, 34 P-51s from Okinawa also hit Whangpoo shipping and 37 A-26s hit the airfield at Tachang. B-24s on a night shipping search and weather mission bomb airfields at Tinghai and on Chusan Island, China, Pusan, Korea; and Yonago, Japan.

BURMA

Japanese forces trapped in the Pegu Hills, estimated to number 5000, suffer heavy losses in attempts to breakout eastwards to the Sittang river.

JAPAN

TF 93 (Rear Admiral John H. Brown, Jr.) consisting of light cruisers Richmond (CL-9) and Concord (CL-10) and five destroyers, conducts unopposed bombardment of installations at Suribachi, Paramushiro, Kurils.

DesRon 61, on anti-shipping sweep in vicinity of Sagami Bay, picks up on its radar screens a four-ship Japanese convoy about five miles west of Nojima Zaki and engages it (see 23 July).

The Japanese government announces that it is open to peace negotiations but not to threats.

(Twentieth Air Force): A bombing and a mining mission are flown during the night of 23/24 Jul; 1 B-29 is lost.
Mission 282: 23 B-29s, staging through Iwo Jima, mine Shimonoseki Strait and the Korea coast at Najin which in the longest B-29 combat mission of the war-and in the Pusan-Masan, Korea area; 1 B-29 is lost.

Mission 283: 72 B-29s bomb the coal liquefaction company at the Imperial Fuel Industry Company at Ube. 100+ Iwo Jima based P-51s hit airfields, rail installations, and other tactical targets at Itami, Hanshin, Sano, Tokushima, Takamatsu, and Minato, Japan.

PHILIPPINE CAMPAIGN (1945)

On Luzon, B-25s, P-51s, and P-38s, hampered by bad weather, fly 30+ ground support sorties in the Gubano, Cervantes, and Mankayan areas.

WESTERN PACIFIC

[Far East Air Force]: Unit moves: HQ 322d Troop Carrier Wing from Hollandia to Manila; air echelon of 26th Photographic Reconnaissance Squadron, 6th Reconnaissance Group, from Lingayen Airfield to Clark Field, Luzon with F-5s (ground echelon at Lingayen Airfield); 311th Troop Carrier Squadron, Seventh AF, begins a movement from Bellows Field to Okinawa with C-47s; 403d Bombardment Squadron (Heavy), 43d BG (Heavy), from Clark Field, Luzon to Ie Shima with B-24s.

PACIFIC

Twenty-six USAAF B-29s mine Shimonoseki Straits and the waters off Najin, Pusan and Masan, Korea.

Japanese auxiliary minesweeper No.7 Toshi Maru is wrecked off Sata-Misaki, Japan, 31°00'N, 130°40'E.

Mines sink Japanese merchant cargo ship Katori Maru off Niigata; unnamed merchant motor sailer, 1.5 kilometers off Cape Motoyama; and damage auxiliary submarinechaser Cha 20 off Kobe, Japan; and merchant cargo ships Kojo Maru, off Niigata; Choyo Maru, off Najin; and Daikoku Maru, Hagi harbor; and merchant tanker Yuyo Maru, 1.6 kilometers off Mushima light.

Japanese merchant ship Hokko Go is sunk by aircraft, 35°10'N, 129°30'E.

Japanese merchant cargo ship No.3 Manei Maru is sunk by USAAF mine laid by B-29 (20th Air Force) ten kilometers west of Funagawa, Honshu, 39°53'N, 139°52'E.

Japanese merchant fishing boat No.58 Nanshin Maru is damaged by aircraft, 35°20'N, 130°00'E.

[lordroel]

Day 2142 of World War II, July 23rd 1945

Soviet occupied Germany

The Potsdam Conference continues. Churchill, Truman and Stalin confer on politics and strategy, in a town near Berlin.

Photo: Prime Minister Churchill, President Truman and Marshal Stalin shake hands after the conference, July 23, 1945



Soviet Union

In Moscow, Russia, the Politburo approved the sentence of death by hanging of turncoat General Andrei Vlasov who had raised two divisions of Russian volunteers to fight for the Germans.

France

Marshal Philippe Petain, the former head of state of Vichy France, is put on trial at the Palais de Justice in Paris. The trail is suspended twice, during the day, because of disorder. Paul Reynaud, the former president of the council of ministers, accused Petain of plotting to betray France in 1940. Petain, who is 89, was a hero of France during the Great War, but collaborated with Nazi Germany during the Second World War. He challenged the competence of the court to try him.

United States

Major General William Donovan, director of the OSS, offered to turn over to the Russians an entire German intelligence unit commanded by the deputy foreign chief of the Gestapo, Dr. William Höttl. Generals George Marshall and Dwight Eisenhower fumed when they heard about this unilateral gesture having despaired at cooperation with Moscow.

United Kingdom

Photo: Interior of the airmen's mess at RAF Uxbridge, Middlesex, 23 July 1945, nterior of the airmen's mess at Uxbridge, Middlesex



Pacific War

CHINA

(Fourteenth Air Force): 8 B-25s and 4 P-51s bomb the railroad yards at Sinyang and hit a warehouse at Ichang, China. 100+ P-51s, P-38s, and P-40s attack numerous targets, including rail, road, and river traffic, airfields, coastal shipping, bridges, storage facilities, and railroad yards, at many locations over S and E China, especially in the Paoching area and, to a smaller degree, over French Indochina. The 115th Liaison Squadron, Fourteenth AF, moves from Chengkung to Hsingchiang, China with L-1s, L-4s and L-5s.

BURMA

Japanese forces continue to attempt to breakout eastwards from the Pegu Hills, despite heavy losses. Only a small proportion have succeeded in crossing the Mandalay-Rangoon road. British commanders report counting more than 500 dead, excluding those killed by artillery and air attacks.

JAPAN

DesRon 61 concludes its engagement with a Japanese convoy off Sagami Bay, sinking No.3 Hakutetsu Maru off Mora, Chiba prefecture, 34°54'N, 139°50'E.

RYUKYU ISLANDS

Photo: Ten LSTs moored at the Yonabaru Pier, Okinawa, 23 July 1945. From right to left: USS LST-819, USS LST-879, USS LST-681, USS LST-926, USS LST-944, ? USS LST-715, USS LST-918, USS LST-871, 23 July 1945



BORNEO CAMPAIGN (1945)

Australian forces made another unopposed landing in Balikpapan Bay, in east Borneo, and a 6-mile beachhead is established.

ALEUTIAN ISLANDS

(Eleventh Air Force): 2 B-24s radar-bomb Kurabu Cape Airfield on Paramushiru Island.

WESTERN PACIFIC

[Far East Air Force]: B-25s pound Jesselton while B-24s over other areas of the Netherlands East Indies bomb Amboina and the Tolonoeoe Islands. Fighter aircraft support ground forces in the Kiangan, Luzon area. B-25s bomb Itu Aba Island, China. B-24s hit Miho and Saeki, Japan. Single B-24s on armed reconnaissance hit several targets including Tinghai Airfield, China, Kure Harbor, and Tanega Island, Ryukyu Islands.

PACIFIC

Submarine Barb (SS-220) lands an eight-man commando party which blows up a Japanese train on east coast of Karafuto.

Submarine Hardhead (SS-365) sinks Japanese auxiliary submarine chaser Cha 117 off Java, N.E.I., 08°10'S, 115°29'E.

Submarine Sea Poacher (SS-406) sinks Japanese guardboat No.2 Kiri Maru between Onoosaki and Shoyasaki, Japan, 37°16'N, 141°04'E.

Mines sink Japanese guardboat No.2 Taisho Maru off Chinhae, Korea; merchant tug Kaiko Maru and cargo ship Shoko Maru off Niigata; merchant cargo ships No.1 Taiha Maru and No.2 Taishin Maru off Moji; No.6 Nissho Maru, Kammon Strait; Yamadori Maru outside Wakamatsu harbor, and merchant cargo ship No.2 Tsurukawa Maru off Wakamatsu, and merchant vessel Kocho Maru off Mutsure; and damage merchant cargo ship Gizan Maru near Moji.

USAAF B-24s (5th Air Force) on antishipping sweep off south coast of Korea sink Japanese merchant tanker No.15 Horai Maru off Hokko, 36°02'N, 129°23'E.

Japanese merchant cargo ship No.5 Adaka Maru is damaged by aircraft, 34°36'N, 130°55'E.