Air Operations, CBI

• 10 14th Air Force P-51s attack rivercraft, motor vehicles, buildings and targets of opportunity.
• Assorted FEAF bombers and fighter-bombers attack various coastal targets.

Air Operations, East Indies

XIII Bomber Command B-24s attack the Lolobata airfield on Halmahera while searching for shipping in the Molucca Islands.

Air Operations, Formosa

• Assorted V Bomber Command bombers and V Fighter Command fighter-bombers based in the Philippines attack various targets.
• FEAF B-24s attack Shinchiku.

Air Operations, Japan

• At about noon, 221 20th Air Force B-29s attack Yawata with incendiary bombs.
• In the late afternoon, 60 314th Very Heavy Bomb Wing B-29s attack an arsenal and aircraft factory in Tokyo.
• More than 100 VII Fighter Command fighter-bombers based on Iwo Jima attack airfields, other military targets, and rail facilities in and around Osaka.
• Throughout the day, FEAF B-24s, B-25s, A-26s, P-47s and P-51s mount numerous attacks against targets throughout Kyushu.
• 7 B-29s lost during the day’s missions are the last of their type to be downed in the war.
• The VII Fighter Command’s 413th Fighter Group, in P-47s, and 507th Fighter Group, in P-51s, both undertake their first and only bomber-escort mission of the war, to Yawata. On this mission 413th and 507th group planes down 10 Japanese fighters.
• A 318th Fighter Group P-47 downs a Ki-84 'Frank' fighter near Setsume Saki at 0940 hours.
• 348th Fighter Group P-51s down a J2M 'Jack' fighter over Mumamoto at 1015 hours and an A6M Zero at sea at 1035 hours.
• 58th Fighter Group P-47s down 2 A6M Zeros near Usa at about 1100 hours.
• 318th Fighter Group P-47s down a J2M 'Jack' fighter and a Ki-84 'Frank' fighter over Shimbara Bay at 1100 hours.
• 348th Fighter Group P-51s down a Ki-84 'Frank' fighter and 3 A6M Zeros near the Tsuiki airfield at 1120 hours.
• A VBF-86 F4U downs a Ki-45 'Nick' fighter off Honshu at 1220 hours.
• A VBF-88 F4U downs a Ki-46 'Dinah' reconnaissance plane off Honshu at 1530 hours.
• During the night 91 58th Very Heavy Bomb Wing B-29s attack Fukuyama with incendiary bombs.

Air Operations, Korea

Assorted FEAF bombers and fighter-bombers attack various targets on land as well as shipping between Korea and Kyushu.

Air Operations, Philippines

XIII Bomber Command B-24s and XIII Fighter Command P-38s attack various targets on Luzon.

Air Operations, Ryukyus

Assorted FEAF bombers and fighter-bombers attack various targets in the northern Ryukyus.

Air Operations, Pacific

200 US bombers raid Tokyo, Kukuyama and Yahata.

Diplomatic Relations

The Soviet Union declares war on Japan, citing as the reason Japan's failure to respond to the Potsdam Declaration.

Manchuria

The Soviet forces begin a powerful offensive against the Japanese. The Soviets have assembled about 1,500,000 men in three fronts, 1st Far East Front, 2nd Far East Front and the Transbaikal Front supported by 3,900 aircraft, 5,500 tanks and 26,000 field guns. The 1,000,000 men of Otozo Yamada's Kwantung Army have no answer to the mechanized Soviet forces and are almost equally powerless in the air. The Japanese defense lines are almost immediately smashed.

World Affairs

Pres Truman signs the UN Charter, making the United States the first country to ratify its original signature.

Yugoslavia, Home Front

King Peter gives wide-ranging powers to Tito.

Images from August 8, 1945

A young Chinese woman sits on a stretcher at a liberated 'comfort station' as she is interviewed by a British Flying Officer of the Royal Air Force following the Allied victory in the Battle of Burma. 'Comfort women' were women and girls from Japanese-occupied regions who were forced into sexual slavery by the Imperial Japanese Army. International estimates of the number of women forced into sexual slavery by the Japanese range from between 100,000 and 300,000 in approximately 2,000 stations.

Interviewing a 'Comfort Woman'

The Mark III implosion bomb and its trailer are lowered into the pit in preparation for loading aboard Bockscar, 8 August 1945. (U.S. Air Force)

Preparing To Load the Second Atomic Bomb

Hiroshima Prefecture, Chugoku region, Japan. 8 August 1945. Japanese military doctors tend to survivors of the atomic bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima two days previously

Japanese Military Doctors Tending to Survivors

Truman Signs UN Charter, 8 August 1945

Truman Signs UN Charter