Chronology of World War II

June 1945

Saturday, June 30th


Air Operations, CBI

CHINA
  • 2 341st Medium Bomb Group B-25s and 5 14th Air Force fighter-bombers attack several targets.
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Air Operations, East Indies

  • FEAF B-24s and US Navy and Marine Corps carrier-based aircraft attack Balikpapan.
  • B-25s attack various targets in northeastern Borneo.
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Air Operations, Marianas

The XXI Bomber Command’s Guam-based 502nd Very Heavy Bomb Group, in B-29s, makes its combat debut with an attack against the bypassed Japanese base at Rota Island.

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Air Operations, Philippines

  • V Fighter Command fighter-bombers attack various targets and support US 6th Army and Filipino guerrilla forces on Luzon.
  • As the Luzon Campaign is formally concluded at midnight, the US 8th Army is made responsible for operations throughout the Philippine Islands and the US 6th Army headquarters withdraws from operations to begin planning for its part in the invasion of Japan.
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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 VMF(N)-533 F6F downs an E13A 'Jake' reconnaissance plane near Okinawa at 0105 hours.
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CBI

CHINA

The headquarters of Army Air Forces, China Theater is established. Lt-Gen George E. Stratemeyer is appointed as commander. The new command will consist of the subordinate elements: the 10th and 14th Air Forces, China Air Service Command, and the 8th Reconnaissance Group.

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China

Chungchin on the Indochinese border falls to the Chinese, and the Chinese forces continue their advance into Indochina itself.

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Okinawa

Mopping up of the island is finished. 8,975 Japanese are killed and 2,902 captured.

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Pacific

  • 9 US submarines which have penetrated the heavily mined Tsushima Straits sink 31 ships in the Sea of Japan during June.
  • The US destroyer Smith (DD-378) is damaged by coastal gunfire in the Balikpapan area of Borneo. The US minesweeper YMS-314 is damaged by a mine in the same area.
  • The Japanese destroyer Nara sinks after hitting a mine in the Sea of Japan.
  • In an attack on a Makassar-to-Surabaya convoy, the US submarines Baya (SS-318) and Capitaine (SS-336) sink the cargo vessel Bandai Maru.
  • The Japanese army cargo ship Hokushin Maru (5819t) is lost to an unknown cause in the South China Sea.
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Philippines

The Luzon campaign is officially declared ended. Mopping up of the remaining Japanese forces, still about 23,000 men in the Sierra Madre and the Kiangan-Bontoc area, will be carried out by the US 8th Army, while the 6th Army is reorganized for its next task, Operation OLYMPIC, the invasion of Japan. Mopping up is also still going on on Mindanao, and continues until the end of the war.

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Images from June 30, 1945

German Soldiers from Cherbourg


German Soldiers from Cherbourg

Royal Navy in Great Oslo Parade


Royal Navy in Great Oslo Parade

Bombarding Balikpapan, Borneo


ombarding Balikpapan, Borneo

Bombarding Balikpapan, Borneo


ombarding Balikpapan, Borneo

[June 29th - July 1st]