Air Operations, CBI

• 5 341st Medium Bomb Group B-25s and 4 14th Air Force P-47s attack rail targets, bridges, and anti-aircraft batteries at several locations.
• More than 30 fighter-bombers attack troops, 4 bridges, rail and river traffic, and other targets across southern and eastern China.

Air Operations, East Indies

• 42nd Medium Bomb Group B-25s and XIII Fighter Command P-38s attack Japanese Army troops on Tarakan Island and buildings at Belait.
• P-38s attack the Jesselton, Keningau, and Kudat airfields, and the one on Labuan.

Air Operations, Formosa

• 114 V Bomber Command B-24s attack Taihoku.
• B-24s, B-25s, and V Fighter Command fighter-bombers attack targets across Formosa.

Air Operations, Japan

8 318th Fighter Group P-47s strafe a seaplane ramp at Amami O Shima.

Air Operations, Philippines

• V Bomber Command B-25s and A-20s, and V Fighter Command fighter-bombers attack targets on Luzon.
• XIII Fighter Command fighter-bombers attack targets on Cebu.

Air Operations, Ryukyus

• US Navy and Marine Corps aircraft support US 10th Army ground forces on Okinawa and attack airfields in the Sakishima Islands.
• A VC-13 TBM sinks a Japanese submarine at dawn.
• A 318th Fighter Group P-47 downs a D4Y 'Judy' dive bomber 1510 hours.
• A VMF-512 F4U based aboard the USS Gilbert Islands downs a Ki-46 'Dinah' reconnaissance plane north of Okinawa at 1530 hours.

China, Politics

Chiang Kai-shek gives up his title as premier but remains president of China.

Okinawa

The 6th Marine Div runs into a strong Japanese rearguard near Hill 46.

Philippines

On Luzon the Americans form a task force of about 800 men to advance rapidly to Aparri, on the north coast, and operate with the Filipino guerrillas there.

Syria

More fighting breaks out in Syria. London informs de Gaulle that orders have been issued for British troops to intervene.

Images from May 31, 1945

For millions of people the war is not yet over. Some of the first Russian displaced persons and former prisoners of war to leave transit camps near Hamburg for the Russian zone of occupation from where they will be repatriated to the Soviet Union. Trains ran direct from Hamburg to Crivitz, 31 May 1945

Russian Displaced Persons

Majors G.A. Burton, Governor General’s Horse Guards, and R.F. Sneyd, Canadian Chaplain Service, reading General H.D.G. Crerar’s farewell message to Canadian troops, Nijmegen, Netherlands, 31 May 1945.

Crerar's Farewell Message to Canadian Troops

General view of a temporary Aid Station, showing the slightly wounded department. Picture taken from FM 8-5 'Medical Department of a Theater of Operations', 31 May 1945

View of a Temporary Aid Station