Air Operations, CBI

• 28 14th Air Force P-51s attack various targets.

Air Operations, East Indies

• Supplementing Royal Australian Air Force efforts, FEAF B-24s attack defenses at Balikpapan.
• B-25s attack troops at Bintula.
• XIII Fighter Command P-38s and US Navy and Marine Corps carrier-based aircraft support Australian Army ground forces at Balikpapan. Australian Army ground forces capture the town area and vital oil facilities at Balikpapan.

Air Operations, Formosa

V Bomber Command B-24s attack the airfield at Toyohara.

Air Operations, Japan

• In what might be the final aerial engagement over the Japanese home islands by US Marine Corps land-based fighters, VMF-311 and VMF-224 F4Us down 8 Japanese fighters between 1015 and 1045 hours.
• During the night, 39 315th Very Heavy Bomb Wing B-29s attack an oil refinery at Maruzen.

Air Operations, Philippines

V Fighter Command fighter-bombers attack Japanese Army troops on Luzon.

Dutch East Indies

The Australians capture the oil installations on Balikpapan and extend their beachhead.

Japan, Home Front

Only 200,000 people remain in Tokyo. All others have been evacuated to safer areas. Japan says 5 million civilians have been killed or wounded in the American air raids.

Pacific

• Rockets are fired at Kaihyo Island, northern Japan, by the US submarine Barb (SS-220), the first underwater craft to do so.
• The Japanese submarine chaser No. 188 is sunk by a mine in the Sea of Japan.

Ryukyu Islands

Operations on Okinawa are officially concluded.

Images from July 2, 1945

Sepinggang, Borneo. 2 July 1945. General view of the western end of the airstrip showing RAAF Auster aircraft and amphibious DUKWS of 2/21 Transport Platoon (DUKWS). In background an Auster aircraft is being unloaded from the top of a DUKW.

Western End of Sepinggang Airstrip

Australian infantrymen of the 18th Brigade, 7th Division fire a Vickers machine gun at Japanese positions after the Allied amphibious landings at Balikpapan (Operation Oboe Two) during the Second Battle of Balikpapan. Near Balikpapan, Borneo, Netherlands East Indies (now, Balikpapan, Borneo, East Kalimantan, Indonesia). 2 July 1945

Vickers Machine Gun Position

505th Bombardment Group B-29s North Field Tinian July 1945

505th Bombardment Group

2 July 1945. On this date in 1945, USS Barb (SS 220) bombarded Japanese installations on Kaihyo Island, off the east coast of Karafuto, Kuril Islands with rockets. This was the first successful use of rockets against shore positions by a US Submarine. USS Barb earned four Presidential Unit Citations for her 8th, 9th, 10th, and 11th War patrols, a Navy Unit Commendation for her 12th patrol, and eight battle stars for her World War II service.

USS Barb Bombs Japanese Installations on Kaihyo

22/32nd Battalion stores being transported by jeep on Borneo, July 1945

Supplies Being Transported by Jeep

Balikpapan, Borneo, July 1945. Sappers of the 2/4th Field Company preparing to blow up pipelines obstructing the movement of tanks supporting the advance of 2/10th Infantry Battalion in the oil refinery area

Preparing To Blow Up Pipelines