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Air Operations, CBICHINA
Air perations, East Indies
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Air Operations, Formosa20 V Bomber Command B-24s attack barracks at Toshien. [ | ]Air Operations, Japan
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Air Operations, PhilippinesV Fighter Command fighter-bombers attack Batan Island and various targets on Luzon. [ | ]PacificThe US submarine Tirante (SS-420) sinks Japanese guardboats Koshe Maru and Mashuye Maru in the Yellow Sea east of Tsingtao, China. [ | ]PhilippinesOn Mindanao the US 24th Division organizes an amphibious expeditionary force to liberate Sarangani Bay, in the south of the island, south of Davao. (5th?)MacArthur announces the liberation of the Philippines. [ | ] |
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Air Operations, CBICHINA
Air Operations, East IndiesFEAF B-24s attack Manggar and Riko. [ | ]Air Operations, FormosaV Bomber Command B-24s attack airfields at Taihoku, Takao, Toshien, Toyohara and supplies near Kamioka. [ | ]Air Operations, Japan
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Air Operations, PhilippinesV Fighter Command fighter-bombers mount nearly 100 sorties against targets on Luzon. [ | ]Australia, Home FrontJohn Curtin, Prime Minister since 1941, dies at the age of 60. Curtin had held the post since October 1941, and although his political power was tenuous at times he had fully mobilized Australia for war, often against internal government opposition. More than 30,000 people attend his funeral in Perth on July 9. Mr Ben Chifley takes over on July 13. []Britain, PoliticsThe British election is held. The results are not available until July 26 because of the time taken to bring home and count the soldiers' votes. The Labor Party wins: Labor, 394; Conservatives, 188; Liberals, 14; National Liberals, 13; Ulster Unionists, 9; Communists, 2; Others, 20. [ | ]Diplomatic RelationsBritain and the United States recognize a new Polish government of National Unity. Stanislaws Mikolajczyk, formerly leader of the London exile government, is one of the deputy Premiers. [ | ]Dutch East IndiesMore Australian forces land in Borneo, near Penadjim Point in the Bay of Balikpapan. The Australians quickly extend their control from a number of beachheads along the coast and toward the interior. [ | ] |
Pacific
PhilippinesGen MacArthur announces that the Philippines have been completely liberated. The Philippines campaign has been the largest operation for US forces in the Pacific, and the Japanese have lost well over 200,000 men. However, many other Japanese troops remain on the island -- around 50,000 will surrender at the end of the war. [ | ]United States, CommandIt is announced that Gen Carl A. Spaatz will lead the US Strategic Air Force against Japan. Spaatz had formerly commanded the US bombing effort against Germany, and now he will oversee the air campaign against Japan and the deployment of the atomic bombs. [] |
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Air Operations, CBICHINA
Air Operations, East IndiesFEAF B-24s attack several targets on Borneo. [ | ]Air Operations, Formosa
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Air Operations, Japan
Air Operations, PhilippinesV Fighter Command fighter-bombers attack several targets on Luzon. [ | ]Air Operations, RyukyusA VMF-351 F4U, off the USS Cape Gloucester downs a Ki-46 'Dinah' reconnaissance plane at sea at 0925 hours. [ | ] |
ChinaGen Claire Chennault, the legendary commander of the 'Flying Tigers', offers his resignation. [ | ]PacificMines sink the Japanese merchant cable ship Toyo Maru (3718t) northeast of Tobigasuhana, merchant cargo ship Shori Maru (2080t) off Ogushi, merchant cargo ship No.5 Tokai Maru (879t) off Mutsure light, and Shinei Maru (2218t) near Shimonoseki. [ | ]United States, PolicyOperation OVERCAST is authorized. It calls for the search and removal of valuable German scientists to the United States. [ | ]World AffairsNicaragua becomes the first nation to ratify the UN Charter. [ | ] |
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Air Operations, CBICHINA
Air Operations, East Indies42nd Medium Bomb Group B-25s and XIII Fighter Command P-38s attack road targets around Balikpapan. [ | ]Air Operations, FormosaV Bomber Command B-24s attack Shinchiku. [ | ]Air Operations, Japan
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Air Operations, KoreaDuring the night several 6th Very Heavy Bomb Group B-29s sow mines off Najin and Pusan—the war’s first such mission to this area. []Air Operations, Philippines
Canada, Home FrontIn the General Election the results: Liberals, 119 seats; Progressive Conservatives, 65; C.C.F., 28; Others, 33. Prime Minister Mackenzie King is defeated at Prince Albert, Saskatchewan. He is re-elected at by-election on August 6, 1945. [ | ] |
GermanyThere is the first meeting of the Inter-Allied Council for Berlin. The Soviets agree to turn over administration of the allocated areas to the British and Americans who have themselves made arrangements to allocate some of their sectors to the French. []Pacific
PhilippinesOver the next two days on Luzon thousands of napalm bombs are dropped on the Japanese in the pockets on the Sierra Madre and in the Kiangan area. The Americans are tightening the screw on the last Japanese forces. [ | ]United States, Preparations2,118 4-engined bombers of the 8th Air Force are redeployed from Britain to the US en route for the Pacific. The operaton is completed in 51 days. [] |
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Air Operations, CBICHINA
Air Operations, East IndiesXIII Bomber Command B-24s attack barracks at Tandjung and warehouses at Donggala. [ | ]Air Operations, Formosa
Air Operations, Japan
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Air Operations, Philippines
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Air Operations, Ryukyus47 11th Heavy Bomb Group B-24s attack an airfield in the Amami Islands after being diverted because of bad weather over their primary target. A VMF(N)-543 F6F downs a G3M 'Nell' bomber off Okinawa at 0420 hours. [ | ]Diplomatic RelationsHirohito appoints former Prime Minister Prince Fuminaro Konoye as a secret peace emissary in Moscow. The Russians refuse to receive him. [ | ]Dutch East IndiesThere is an Allied landing near Andus. Australian troops take Maradi in the north of the island. [ | ]Pacific
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Air Operations, CBICHINA
Air Operations, East IndiesXIII Bomber Command B-24s attack several targets on Borneo and Celebes. [ | ]Air Operations, Formosa3rd Light Bomb Group A-26s attack a refinery and warehouses at Taiharo. [ | ]Air Operations, Japan
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Air Operations, Philippines
EuropeGen Eisenhower announces the closure of SHAEF (Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force) and eases some of the restrictions on private contact between American soldiers and German civilians. [] |
Occupied GermanyThe ban on troop fraternization with Germans is lifted in the US and British zones of Germany and Austria. [ | ]Pacific
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Air Operations, CBICHINA
Air Operations, East IndiesXIII Bomber Command B-24s attack warehouses on Celebes. [ | ]Air Operations, FormosaV Fighter Command P-51s attack a bridge and rail targets while sweeping the island. [ | ]Air Operations, Japan
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Air Operations, PhilippinesV Bomber Command B-25s and V Fighter Command P-51s support US 8th Army ground forces on Luzon. [ | ]Air Operations, PacificA force of 500 B-29s bomb targets on Honshu and Kyushu. Altogether, more than 1,500 American planes pound Japan. [ | ]Atomic ResearchThe world's first atomic weapons test takes place at Alamagordo in New Mexico. The bomb used is based on the element plutonium and gives a yield of between 15 and 20 kilotons. It is mounted on top of a steel tower which is vaporized by the head of the explosion which is greater that the temperature inside the sun. The explosion is visible and audible up to 180 miles away. Truman is advised of the successful test at Potsdam in a terse coded message, 'Babies satisfactorily born.' |
The type of bomb dropped on Hiroshima will not be identical to this but based on the isotope Uranium 235. The Nagasaki bomb will be a second Plutonium weapon. []ChinaJapanese units begin pulling out of Amoy, in southern China. [ | ]Occupied GermanyChurchill tours Berlin. During an inspection of Hitler's bunker, he declares: 'I have tracked the Nazi beast to his lair!' [ | ]Pacific
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Air Operations, CBICHINA
Air Operations, East Indies
Air Operations, Japan
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Air Operations, RyukyusV Fighter Command P-51s attack targets in Amami O Shima and the northern Ryukyus. [ | ]Britain, Home FrontField Marshal Ernst Busch, former commander of German Army Group Center in Russia, dies in a military hospital in Notts at age 60. The King, Queen and Princess Elizabeth visit Ulster. [ | ]Diplomatic RelationsTruman, Stalin and Churchill meet at Potsdam near Berlin. The meeting will last until August 2. There are further clarifying dicussions of plans for dealing with defeated Germany and all the former occupied countries of Europe. Stalin confirms his undertaking to join the war with Japan but also tells the other Allies of peace moves that the Japanese have made via the as yet neutral USSR. There are no definite proposals contained in these approaches and it is therefore decided to do nothing direct to follow them up. On July 26 a broadcast is made to Japan with what has become known as the Potsdam Declaration. This repeats the demand for unconditional surrender, but states that the Allies do not want to reduce Japan to poverty in the postwar world. It says nothing of allowing or preventing the Emperor to remain at the head of the Japanese government. [ | ] |
PacificAircraft taking off from ships of the US 3rd Fleet and TF37 of the British Pacific Fleet, commanded by Vice-Adm John S. McCain and Vice-Adm Henry B. Rawlings, begin a series of bombardments of military installations and airfields in the Tokyo-Yokohama area. This is the first joint US-British naval operation in the Pacific. Battleships alone fire 2,000 tons of shell on their targets. The battleship Nagato is put out of action in these operations. Another American squadron of battleships, cruisers and destroyers, shells the industrial area of Mito-Hitachi, on Honshu Island. [ | ] |
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Air Operations, CBICHINA
Air Operations, East Indies
Air Operations, PhilippinesV Fighter Command fighter-bombers attack targets on Luzon. [ | ] |
Air Operations, Japan
Air Operations, RyukyusVMF-351 carrier-based F4Us down a Ki-46 'Dinah' reconnaissance plane and a D4Y 'Judy' dive bomber at sea at 0625 and 1105 hours, respectively. [ | ] |
France, Home FrontThe trial of Pétain opens at the Palais de Justice, Paris. [ | ]Pacific
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Air Operations, CBICHINA
Air Operations, East Indies
Air Operations, Japan
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Air Operations, MarianasMarine Carrier Air Group 3 (USS Vella Gulf) opens 3 days of strikes against bypassed Japanese bases on Pagan and Rota islands. []Air Operations, PhilippinesV Fighter Command fighter-bombers support US 8th Army ground forces on Luzon. [ | ]Air Operations, PacificAn air armada of 1,600 planes attack Japanese airfields, the naval base at Kure and ships in the Inland Sea. The battleships Hyuga, Ise, and Haruna are sunk. [ | ]Diplomatic RelationsAt the Potsdam Conference Truman and Churchill mention to Stalin that they have a new and powerful weapon for use against Japan but do not explain what it is. It is possible that Stalin already knows of the bomb through his espionage organization in the United States. [ | ] |
Pacific
United States, PolicyTruman takes the decision to use the bomb on Japan if they do not very soon come to terms. Whatever the later doubts about the morality of using the weapon, at the time there is very little doubt. It is simply a question of quickly persuading the Japanese to surrender in order to save the many lives on both sides that would be lost if the Allies invaded the Home Islands. No real thought if given to the possible forms of a demonstration use of the bomb to frighten the Japanese without having to destroy a city. [ | ] |
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Air Operations, CBICHINA
Air Operations, East Indies
Air Operations, Japan
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Air Operations, KoreaDuring the night 504th Very Heavy Bomb Group B-29s sow mines off Pusan and Seishin. [ | ]Air Operations, PhilippinesXIII Bomber Command B-24s attack troops on Negros. [ | ]BurmaJapanese forces pull out of Taunggyi in the Shan states of Burma. [ | ] |
Diplomatic RelationsThere is a recess in the conference for the next four 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
PhilippinesOn Mindanao all organized Japanese resistance ceases in the Sarangani Bay sector. Mopping up begins, but is not completed until August 11. [ | ] |
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Air Operations, CBICHINA
Air Operations, East IndiesXIII Bomber Command B-24s attack the following airfields on Borneo: Oelin, Sengkawang, Tabanio, and Trombol. [ | ]Air Operations, Japan
Air Operations, KoreaFEAF B-25s attack the port area at Pusan. [ | ] |
Air Operations, Philippines
Britain, PoliticsThe election results begin to be announced. The Labor party garners 393 seats to 213 for the Conservatives with 31 going to minor parties while the popular vote was 47.8 percent Labor to 39.8 Conservative. It is a massive victory for the Labor Party and a terrible defeat for Churchill's Conservatives. Attlee becomes prime minister. The reason for the Conservative defeat, despite Churchill's war record is that they have failed to convince the electorate that they would be active and original enough to prevent any return to the conditions of the 1930s when the Conservative governments did too little, it is felt, to mitigate the economic effects of the world depression and failed to stand up to Hitler. In the war years, too, it has mostly been the Labor politicians who have been responsible for the government departments charged with running the rationing system and organizing industry and it is felt that they have done this in a way that has benefitted the people in ways apart from helping the war Attlee becomes the Prime Minister and Minister of Defense; Foreign Secretary, Ernest Bevin; Chancellor of the Exchequer, Hugh Dalton; President of the Board of Trade, Sir Stafford Cripps; Lord President, Herbert Morrison; Lord Chancellor, W. Jowitt. [ | ] |
Diplomatic RelationsThe Allies meeting at Potsdam issue a proclamation demanding that Japan should surrender unconditionally on pain of 'complete destruction'. This also refers to the successful atom bomb experiment at Alamogordo, about which Stalin's intelligence service has kept him informed. [ | ]Indian OceanThe first kamikaze attack on the British East Indies Fleet is made off Malaya. The escort carrier Ameer is damaged and the minesweeper Vestal is sunk. [ | ]MarianasThe US heavy cruiser Indianapolis (CA-35) delivers a lethal consignment enough uranium-235 to make the first atomic bomb to Tinian air base. A USAAF bomber unit, the 509th Composite Group, has been specially created and trained for the deployment of the atomic bomb against Japan. []PacificThe US destroyer Lowry (DD-770) is damaged by an explosion in the Philippine Sea. [ | ] |
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Air Operations, CBICHINA
Air Operations, East IndiesXIII Bomber Command B-24s attack the Pontianak airfield on Borneo. [ | ]Air Operations, Japan
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Air Operations, PacificB-29s drop 660,000 leaflets by night over 11 Japanese cities, warning inhabitants to flee before selected targets are destroyed. By August 5, 35 cities have been subjected to this novel, and highly effective, form of psychological warfare. 16 of the cities are actually bombed. [ | ]Britain, PoliticsAttlee immediately flies to Potsdam to join Stalin and Truman in the Big Three conference. []ChinaThe first Chinese forces enter Kweilin. Fighting for possession of the town continues until the end of the month. Other Chinese forces capture Tanchuk airfield. [ | ] |
Pacific
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Air Operations, CBICHINA
Air Operations, Japan
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Air Operations, Philippines
Air Operations, Pacific2,000 Allied planes bomb Kure, Kobe and targets on the Inland Sea. The US destroyer Callaghan is sunk by a suicide plane off Okinawa, the last ship to be destroyed by kamikazes although the next day a suicide plane damages the destroyer Cassin Young. [ | ]BurmaThe Japanese 28th Army attempts to escape across the Sittang River suffering catastrophic losses. Over 13,000 are killed or drowned. [ | ]Diplomatic RelationsAttlee and Bevin arrive at Potsdam for further consultations. [ | ] |
Japan, PolicyThe Japanese Premier Kantaro Suzuki holds a press conference in which he says that the Japanese government will take no notice of the Potsdam Declaration. At least that is the interpretation that is put on his speech by the Allies, but it is possible that the word he use was intended to mean 'make no comment on for the moment' and that more might have been done to encourage a diplomatic response. It is upsetting to the Japanese that the declaration has not been delivered through the proper diplomatic channels via a neutral power and this contributes to their decision to take no immediate action on it. [ | ]Pacific
United States, Home FrontA B-25 bomber lost in the fog collides with the Empire State Building in New York City. 19 people are killed. The Senate ratifies the UN Charter by a vote of 89 to 2. [ | ] |
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Air Operations, CBICHINA
Air Operations, East IndiesXIII Bomber Command B-24s attack the Kota Waringin airfield on Borneo. [ | ]Air Operations, Japan
Air Operations, PhilippinesXIII Bomber Command B-25s and XIII Fighter Command P-38s attack various targets on Luzon. [ | ] |
Air Operations, Ryukyus
Japan, Home FrontFood shortages have become so acute in Japan the government calls on the civilian population to collect 2.5 million bushels of acorns to be converted into eating material. The average Japanese has to survive on a daily intake of 1,680 calories, or 78 percent of what is considered the minimum necessary to survive. [ | ]Japan, PolicyJapan rejects the Potsdam ultimatum. Nonetheless Gen Marshall gives instructions to Gen MacArthur and Adm Nimitz to co-ordinate plans in readiness for an early surrender by the enemy. []New GuineaThe Japanese 18th Army makes a last stand at the village of Numbogua. Gen Hataso Adachi orders his troops 'to die in honorable defeat'. [ | ] |
Pacific
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Air Operations, CBICHINA
Air Operations, Japan
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Air Operations, Philippines
Canada, Home FrontField Marshal Harold Alexander is appointed Governor General. [ | ] |
Pacific
War CrimesPierre Laval is flown from Spain, where he had been given asylum, to Linz, Austria, aboard Franco's personal plane. He surrenders to US authorities who turn him over to the French army. Laval felt he should return to France to justify his role in the Vichy government and to avoid being made the scapegoat for that dismal period when France was under Nazi rule. Laval will be subsequently executed by a firing squad after failing in an attempt to commit suicide with cyanide pills he had secreted in his overcoat ever since he thought the Nazis might try to kill him. [] |
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[ June 1945 - August 1945] |