Air Operations, CBI

• 5 341st Medium Bomb Group B-25s attack a rail bridge at Anyang.
• More than 30 14th Air Force fighter-bombers attack targets across southern and eastern China.

Air Operations, East Indies

XIII Bomber Command B-24s and 42d Medium Bomb Group B-25s, and XIII Fighter Command P-38s attack various targets on Borneo.

Air Operations, Japan

• 120 VII Fighter Command fighter-bombers based at Iwo Jima abort in the face of bad weather while on the way to attack targets in Japan.
• A 318th Fighter Group P-47 downs a J2M 'Jack' fighter near Kyushu at 1545 hours.
• VF-47 F6Fs down 2 A6M Zeros near the Kushira airfield at 1600 hours.
• During the night, 25 9th Very Heavy Bomb Group B-29s sow mines in the Shimonoseki Strait and off Fushiki, Nanao, and Niigata.

Air Operations, Philippines

• V Bomber Command B-24s, B-25s, A-20s, and V Fighter Command P-51s attack numerous targets on Luzon.
• XIII Fighter Command fighter-bombers support US 8th Army ground forces on Negros.

Air Operations, Ryukyus

• US Navy, Marine Corps, and Royal Navy aircraft support US 10th Army ground forces on Okinawa and attack airfields in the Sakishima Islands.
• VMF-311 and VMF-312 F4Us down 5 D3A 'Val' dive bombers and 4 fighters off Okinawa between 1920 and 1935 hours.
• VF-17 F6Fs down 2 E16A 'Paul' reconnaissance float planes near Tokuno Shima between 1930 and 1945 hours.

Air Operations, Pacific

520 US bombers drop 3,646 tons of bombs on central Tokyo and industrial districts in the south of the city.

Austria

Field Marshal Robert Ritter von Greim, the last CinC of the Luftwaffe commits suicide in a hospital at Salzburg at age 50.

New Guinea

Australians encircle Wewak, the last Japanese coastal stronghold.

Okinawa

Japanese suicide pilots resume their activity against American shipping and is particularly intense over the next two days. US ships damaged in the attacks this day include the escort carrier Suwannee (CVE-27), destroyer Guest (DD-472), destroyer escorts O'Neill (DE-188) and William C. Cole (DE-641), the high-speed minesweeper Butler (DMS-29), the minesweeper Spectacle (AM-305) and the high-speed transports Barry (APD-29) and Sims (APD-50). Damaged by friendly fire during the action is the destroyer Heywood L. Edwards (DD-663). During the night Japanese paratroopers are dropped on Yontan airfield. The raiders manage to destroy and damage a great number of American aircraft before being rounded up and wiped out.

Matching the air attacks and Commando activity, the Japanese mount several vigorous counter-attacks on land in the direction of Yonabaru during the night, and make a small penetration into the lines of the US 32nd Inf.

9 Japanese bomber/transports approach the island but 8 are shot down. The survivor crash lands a 12-man suicide squad on Yontan airfield. They destroy 7 planes, gasoline and ammo dumps before they can be overwhelmed.

Pacific

The US Submarine Lagarto (SS-371) is reported as presumed lost in the Pacific Ocean area.

Images from May 24, 1945

Australian troops filling sand bags for protection of patients at an advanced dressing station in the Wewak area. Shown: Pvt A. Cobcroft of Wilberforce

Wewak, New Guinea. 24 May 1945

U-Boats at Lisahally, 24 May 1945. these are the First 8 surrendered to USN & the Royal Navy.

U-Boats at Lisahally

F4U Corsair 119 and wrecked US planes after Japanese air attack on Yontan Airfield Okinawa 24 May 1945.

Damage from Japanese Attack

Avengers from carriers of the British Pacific Fleet flying over Sakashima Gunto on the way to bomb military installations during the continuing attacks.

British Avengers