Air Operations, CBI

• 17 341st Medium Bomb Group B-25s and 8 14th Air Force P-51s attack barracks and stores at Loyang, a bridge near Hengyang, and several regional rail lines.
• More than 150 fighter-bomber attack transportation targets and supply lines across southern and eastern China.

• V Bomber Command B-24s attack rail and road bridges at 6 locations, a rail yard at An Trach, and various other rail targets.

Air Operations, East Indies

• FEAF B-24s attack the Limboeng airfield on Celebes and shipyards at Makassar.
• B-24s, 42nd Medium Bomb Group B-25s, and XIII Fighter Command P-38s attack the Brooketon and Jesselton airfields on Borneo, the Labuan airfield, and troops on Tarakan Island.

Air Operations, Formosa

82 V Bomber Command B-24s attack the town area, rail yard, government buildings, and factories at Shinchiku.

Air Operations, Japan

• During the night 16 VT(N)-90 TBMs mount the first carrier-based night heckler mission of the war against bases on Kyushu.
• VF(N)-90 F6Fs down 2 Ki-61 'Tony' fighters, 4 E13A 'Jake' reconnaissance planes, and an F1M 'Pete' reconnaissance plane over and near Kagoshima Bay between 0410 and 0533 hours, and a Ki-46 'Dinah' reconnaissance plane near the Kanoya East airfield on Kyushu at 0545 hours.

Air Operations, Philippines

• V Bomber Command A-20s and V Fighter Command fighter-bombers attack targets on Luzon.
• XIII Fighter Command fighter-bombers attack targets on Negros.
• 1st Marine Aircraft Wing PBJs, SBDs, and F4Us support the US X Corps on Mindanao. Resistance by the main Japanes Army force on Mindanao breaks in the face of incessant air and artillery attacks over the course of six days.

Air Operations, Ryukyus

• US Navy and Marine Corps, and Royal Navy aircraft support US 10th Army ground forces on Okinawa and attack airfields in the Sakishima Islands. 2 VMF-323 F4Us down a Ki-46 'Dinah' off Okinawa at 1930 hours.
• In the evening, the battleship USS New Mexico is moderately damaged by a kamikaze that kills 53 and injures 119.
• During the night, Task Group 58.1 and Task Group 58.3 steam northward in order to mount strikes against Japanese air bases on Kyushu and Shikoku.

Arctic

The last Arctic convoys, JW.67 (eastbound) and RA.67 (westbound), sail. On May 16 the convoy escort accepts the surrender of 14 U-boats and escorts them to Lock Eriboll.

Czechoslovakia

Gen Andrei Vlasov, commander of the anti-communist ROA and KONR, is reluctantly handed over to Russian troops by the Americans. He is executed in August 1946.

Germany

The US 7th Army captures the Japanese ambassador Gen Hiroshi Oshima and his 130-member staff.

Okinawa

The bloody battle against the Shuri line continues. At the cost of heavy losses, the 1st Marine Div takes the greater part of Dakeshi Ridge, while the 77th Div advances slowly toward Shuri. The positions most fiercely contested are Sugar Loaf Hill, southeast of Amike, and the 'Conical Hill' in the 96th Div's sector.

Off Okinawa a suicide aircraft explodes on the battleship New Mexico (BB-40) causing considerable damage. Also damaged in the day's action is the heavy cruiser Wichita (CA-45) by accidental US naval gunfire.

Pacific

• The US submarine (SS-270) sinks the Japanese merchant cargo Rekizan Maru (1311t) in the Yellow Sea off the Shantung Peninsula.
• Mines sink the Japanese army cargo ship Brazil Maru (5859t) off Kobe, Japan; merchant cargo ship Manbo Maru (1253t) off Osaka; cargo ship No.1 Nissho Maru (1362t) off Futaoi Light, Shimonoseki; and No.1 Nisshin Maru in Shimonosek Channel.

Philippines

On Luzon in the US XI Corps sector, columns from the 43rd Div converge on Ipo, taking several hills manned by the Japanese.

On Mindanao, units of the 108th Regimental Combat Group take Del Monte airfield, while others advance southwest of Tankulan. After their long hammering by aircraft and artillery, the Japanese strongpoint in the Colgan woods are attacked and eliminated by the 124th Infantry. US aircraft and artillery attack the places on Samar Island where the Japanese guns are thought to be sited.

Ryukyu Islands

US Army forces are landed on Tori Shima, another island in the Ryukyu chain. The island, approximately 55 miles west of Okinawa, is captured without resistance.

Southeast Asia

Preparations are being made for the invasion of Malaya, Operation ZIPPER. Force W (amphibious), the XV Corps and the newly formed XXXIV Corps, with the 224th Air Group are being reorganized and trained in India. Other assault forces for the operation are being assembled in Burma, in the Rangoon area.

Images from May 12, 1945

M7 Howitzers on Okinawa

New Mexico Hit by Kamikaze

Soviet Troops Last Offensive