Air Operations, CBI

• Despite bad weather, 1 308th Heavy Bomb Group B-24 and 2 14th Air Force P-51s attack a bridge near Shihkiachwang.
• 5 341st Medium Bomb Group B-25s and 25 P-51s attack river traffic and warehouses at Liuchow.
• 2 B-25s attack rail targets.
• 4 P-51s attack a bridge near Kiehsiu.
• V Fighter Command P-51s attack shipping off the southeast coast.
• After it is realized that fighter-bombers are at least as accurate against bridges and other targets that have been under attack by heavy bombers throughout the China campaigns—and at a lower consumption of fuel—the 308th Heavy Bomb Group is ordered to stand down from combat operations following a mission this day by 1 425th Heavy Bomb Squadron B-24.

Air Operations, East Indies

• 7 868th Heavy Bomb Squadron SB-24s based on Palawan mount a 19-hour, 3,000-mile round-trip attack against Batavia, Kota Waringen, and Muara Island.
• XIII Bomber Command and 380th and 90th Heavy Bomb group B-24s attack various targets on Borneo.

Air Operations, Formosa

• After encountering bad weather over their primary targets—a power plant and the toxic-gas factory at Hozan—three V Bomber Command B-24 groups attack the town area at Takao.
• 24 B-25s attack a sugar refinery at Getsubi.

Air Operations, Japan

• US Navy carrier aircraft from Task Group 38.4 attack airfields on Kyushu.
• 3 of 7 28th Composite Bomb Group B-25s dispatched attack a cannery in the Kurile Islands.
• VBF-85 F4Us down 3 Ki-61 'Tony' fighters near Kagoshima at 0820 hours.
• VF-9 F6Fs down a Ki-84 'Frank' fighter and an A6M Zero near the Kanoya airfield on Kyushu at 0845 hours.
• A VBF-85 F4U downs an A6M Zero near Kagoshima at 0850 hours.

Air Operations, Philippines

V Bomber Command B-24s and V Fighter Command fighter-bombers attack areas of resistance on Negros.

Air Operations, Ryukyus

US Navy and Marine Corps aircraft support US 10th Army ground forces on Okinawa and attack airfields in the Sakishima Islands.

Occupied Europe

Captured maps of German minefields are distributed by SHAEF to all Allied governments in Europe.

Okinawa

Japanese forces are trapped in Oroku and Chinen Pens.

The US cargo ship Allegan (AK-225) is damaged by a suicide plane off Okinawa.

Philippines

On Luzon the US 37th Div overcomes weak Japanese resistance to advance about 6 miles north of Santa Fe.

Ryukyu Islands

US Marines are landed on Iheya Shima.

Syria

French forces, escorted by British troops, leave Damascus.

Images from June 3, 1945

A German civilian looks at a large poster portrait of Stalin on the Unter-den-Linden in Berlin, 3 June 1945.

A Large Poster of Stalin

Last patrol. The war may have been over, but until all the U-boats at sea had been accounted for Allied shipping had to be protected, and convoy escorts continued in the weeks following the end of hostilities. Finally, in the later afternoon of 3 June 1945, Wing Commander J. Barrett and crew of No 210 Squadron set off from Castle Archdale in Sunderland V 'Z-Zebra' on Coastal Command's last convoy patrol. An official photographer recorded the event. Here the 14-man crew board their aircraft.

Last patrol

Ruins of the Reichstag in Berlin, 3 June 1945

Ruins of the Reichstag