Air Operations, CBI
CHINA- 6 341st Medium Bomb Group B-25s and 58 14th Air Force fighter-bombers attack various targets.
- Gen Henry H. Arnold, USAAF commanding general, requests in a letter to Gen Albert C. Wedemeyer that Lt-Gen George E. Stratemeyer immediately replace Lt-Gen Claire L. Chennault as commander of the American air forces in China.
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]Air Operations, East Indies
- FEAF B-24s attack oil refineries and artillery positions at Balikpapan.
- Supplementing Royal Australian Air Force efforts, 42nd Medium Bomb Group B-25s and XIII Fighter Command P-38s attack Labuan Island and Limbang, Borneo, and sweep the area between Beaufort and Jesselton.
| ]Air Operations, Formosa
- V Bomber Command B-24s attack industrial plants and rail targets at Kiirun.
- V Fighter Command P-38s attack a rail bridge and motor vehicles at Soton.
| ]Air Operations, Japan
- 8 28th Composite Bomb Group B-25s mount anti-shipping sweeps over the Kurile Islands.
- During the night, the XXI Bomber Command opens a fire-bombing offensive against 'secondary' Japanese cities: 116 58th Very Heavy Bomb Wing B-29s attack Omuta; 130 73rd Very Heavy Bomb Wing B-29s attack Hamamatsu; 89 313th Very Heavy Bomb Wing B-29s attack Yokkaichi; 117 314th Very Heavy Bomb Wing B-29s attack Kagoshima; and 4 B-29s attack targets of opportunity.
- 25 505th Very Heavy Bomb Group B-29s sow mines in Shimonoseki Strait.
- 1 B-29 is lost.
- 6th Night Fighter Squadron P-61 night hecklers dispatched from Ie Shima against targets on Kyushu and Amami Gunto abort in the face of bad weather.
| ]Air Operations, Philippines
V Bomber Command B-25s and A-20s, and V Fighter Command fighter-bombers attack various targets and support US 6th Army ground forces on Luzon.
[ | ]Air Operations, Ryukyus
US Navy and Marine Corps aircraft support US 10th Army ground forces on Okinawa and attack airfields in the Sakishima Islands.
[ | ]Air Operations, Pacific
B-29s of the 21st Bomber Command(?), 20th Air Force, carry out the first in a series of complex night incendiary raids on 58 of the smaller industrial cities in Japan. 3 or 4 cities are raided simultaneously, at 2- to 3-day intervals. The targets are virtually undefended and only 1 bomber is shot down and 66 damaged. These raids continue until the night of August 14.
[ | ]CBI
CHINAGen Henry H. Arnold, Commanding General US Army Air Forces, requests that Lt-Gen Albert C. Wedemeyer, Commander of US Forces in China, replace Maj-Gen Claire L. Chennault as commander of 14th Air Force with Lt-Gen George E. Stratemeyer. Chennault has become increasingly unpopular and is seen as being too close to Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek.
[ | ]China
Gen Henry H. Arnold gives order for Gen Claire Chennault to be replaced by Gen George E. Stratemeyer as Commander of the US air forces operating in China.
All Japanese troops in south China begin withdrawing northward in 5 long columns between the Yellow and Yangtze Rivers.
[ | ]Okinawa
The arrival of reinforcements in the Kunishi Ridge area enables the Americans to begin to overcome the tenacious Japanese resistance. In the XXIV Corps sector, the last Japanese defense line is crumbling. The 7th Division completes the capture of Hills 153 and 115. The commander of the Japanese naval base on Okinawa, Adm Minoru Ota, is found dead, having committed hara-kiri.
[ | ]Pacific
- The US submarine Spadefish (SS-411) attacks a Japanese convoy off Matsuta Misaki, Hokkaido and sinks the Japanese auxiliary minelayer Eijo Maru (2274t).
- The Japanese merchant cargo ship Jintsugawa Maru is sunk by marine casualty off Najin, Korea.
| ]Philippines
On Luzon in the US I Corps sector, units of the 37th Division take Naguilian after forcing the passage of the Cagayan River near the town.
The US gasoline tanker Chestatee (AOG-49) is damaged in a collision in the Luzon area of the Philippine Islands.
[ | ]Images from June 17, 1945
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