Air Operations, CBI

• FEAF B-25s attack Itu Aba Island.

• 10 341st Medium Bomb Group B-25s and 3 449th Fighter Squadron P-38s attack bridges at Quang Tri and Tho Linh, and river traffic at Wuchou, China.
• 30 51st Fighter Group P-38s and P-51s attack river and rail targets at Bac Ninh, Duc Tho, Hanoi, Vinh, and areas of southern China.

Air Operations, East Indies

• XIII Bomber Command B-24s attack the Kuching and Pontianak airfields on Borneo.
• 42nd Medium Bomb Group B-25s attack the Jesselton airfield on Borneo.

Air Operations, Japan

• During the morning, US Navy carrier aircraft from Task Force 38 and Royal Navy carrier aircraft from Task Group 37.2 continue to mount punishing strikes against targets in and around the Inland Sea.
• FEAF B-24s attack Kikai Shima and the town area at Tsuiki.
• US carrier-based F6Fs and F4Us down a D4Y 'Jill' dive bomber, a Ki-21 'Sally' medium bomber, a utility airplane, and 11 fighters over airfields on Honshu between 0610 and 0645 hours.
• A VF-16 F6F downs a C6N 'Myrt' reconnaissance plane at sea at 0830 hours. a VBF-6 F4U downs a C6N 'Myrt' reconnaissance plane over Task Force 38 at 1822 hours.
• A VF(N)-91 F6F downs a K5Y 'Willow' trainer at sea at 1823 hours.
• A VF(N)-91 F6F downs a B7A 'Grace' torpedo bomber at sea at 1850 hours.
• Carrier strikes planned for the afternoon are canceled in the face of bad weather. Nevertheless, in only a day and a half, the carrier aircraft have sunk or severely damaged most of the remaining ships of the Combined Fleet: 3 aircraft carriers, a battleship-carrier, a battleship, 3 heavy cruisers, 2 obsolete cruisers, 5 destroyers, and many lighter combat vessels.
• During the night 75 315th Very Heavy Bomb Wing B-29s attack oil-industry targets at Kawasaki.504th Very Heavy Bomb Group B-29s sow mines off several port cities.
• 1 B-29 is lost.

Air Operations, Korea

During the night 504th Very Heavy Bomb Group B-29s sow mines off Pusan and Seishin.

Air Operations, Philippines

XIII Bomber Command B-24s attack troops on Negros.

Burma

Japanese forces pull out of Taunggyi in the Shan states of Burma.

Diplomatic Relations

There is a recess in the conference for the next 4 days when the British delegation leave for their election results. Attlee is the new prime minister and Bevin the foreign secretary.

Radio Tokyo indicates Japan would accept peace terms but not unconditional surrender.

Pacific

• For the second day in a row, aircraft of the US 3rd Fleet attack Kure naval base and the airfields at Nagoya, Osaka and Miho. The battleships Hyuga, Ise and Haruna, the escort carrier Kaiyo and the heavy cruisers Aoba and Iwate are sunk. These air and naval attacks are taking place against a country on the verge of collapse, which no longer offers any resistance.
• The cruisers Pasadena (CA-24), Springfield (CL-66), Wilkes-Barre (CL-103) and Astoria (CL-90) bombard air bases in southern Honshu.
• Mines laid by USAAF B-29s sink Japanese merchant cargo ships Hoshi Maru (2853t) at the mouth of Maizuru Bay and Eian Maru (3825t) off Tottori, Honshu.
• The British submarine Stubborn sinks the Makassar-bound Japanese Patrol Boat No.2.

Philippines

On Mindanao all organized Japanese resistance ceases in the Sarangani Bay sector. Mopping up begins, but is not completed until August 11.

United States, Planning

Gen Carl Spaatz, the commander of Army Strategic Air Forces, receives an authorization from Secretary of War Henry Stimson and the Chief of Staff George C. Marshall for the 509th Composite Group to deliver its first 'special bomb' after August 3, 1945, as soon as weather allows for visual bombing, on one of four targets in Japan: Hiroshima, Kokura, Nagasaki, or Niigata.

Images from July 25, 1945

HMS Formidable Being Oiled At Sea

The Canadian Berlin Battalion

Navy PBY Lands near a Mine Field

Firing 25-pounders on Japanese Positions