On 26 July 1945, U.S. President Harry S. Truman, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and Chairman of China Chiang Kai-shek issue an ultimatum officially titled `Proclamation Defining Terms for Japanese Surrender`.
The relevant parts of the declaration that emerges from the discussions in Potsdam, Germany, read as follows:
We-the President of the United States, the President of the National Government of the Republic of China, and the Prime Minister of Great Britain, representing the hundreds of millions of our countrymen, have conferred and agree that Japan shall be given an opportunity to end this war...
...The full application of our military power, backed by our resolve, will mean the inevitable and complete destruction of the Japanese armed forces and just as inevitably the utter devastation of the Japanese homeland.
The time has come for Japan to decide whether she will continue to be controlled by those self-willed militaristic advisers whose unintelligent calculations have brought the Empire of Japan to the threshold of annihilation, or whether she will follow the path of reason.
Following are our terms. We will not deviate from them. There are no alternatives. We shall brook no delay.
There must be eliminated for all time the authority and influence of those who have deceived and misled the people of Japan into embarking on world conquest...
The terms of the Cairo Declaration shall be carried out and Japanese sovereignty shall be limited to the islands of Honshu, Hokkaido, Kyushu, Shikoku and such minor islands as we determine...
We do not intend that the Japanese shall be enslaved as a race or destroyed as a nation, but stern justice shall be meted out to all war criminals...
We call upon the government of Japan to proclaim now the unconditional surrender of all Japanese armed forces, and to provide proper and adequate assurances of their good faith in such action. The alternative for Japan is prompt and utter destruction.˝
Picture: Potsdam Conference session including Clement Attlee, Ernest Bevin, Vyacheslav Molotov, Joseph Stalin, William D. Leahy, Joseph E. Davies, James F. Byrnes, and Harry S. Truman
Source: Bundesarchiv Bild 183-R675
On 25 July 1945, U.S. President Harry S. Truman authorizes the deployment of the nuclear bomb against Japan.
The possibility of avoiding what is likely to be a horrifically costly and protracted invasion of the Japanese Home Islands became a reality less than ten days ago when the Manhattan Project team and the U.S. Army successfully detonated the first nuclear bomb in the New Mexico desert during the Trinity Test, which we covered in our 16 July post.
President Truman had not made the final decision yet when he approached Soviet leader Joseph Stalin during a private meeting yesterday at the Potsdam Conference to inform him that the United States had a ˝new weapon of unusual destructive force˝.
Ethical and moral questions over the use of such a devastating weapon aside, the U.S. government and military have been making preparations for its deployment for months now. The Manhattan Project`s Target Committee selected Kyoto, Hiroshima, Yokohama, and the Kokura Arsenal as the five main targets based on the goal of achieving the most effective military destruction and psychological effects on the Japanese Empire, which you can read in detail about in our 10 May post.
With all this in place, today, President Truman authorizes the USAAF to drop a nuclear bomb on Hiroshima, Kokura, Niigata, or Nagasaki (in that order of preference) as soon after 3 August as the weather permits.
Shortly after President Truman`s authorization letter arrives, General Thomas T. Handy, Acting Chief of Staff of the U.S. Army, signs off on the order drafted by General Leslie Groves. The order (photo 2) arrives at General Carl Spaatz`s office with final instructions for the deployment of the atomic bomb by the XX Air Force`s 509th Composite Group, under the command of Colonel Paul Tibbets, based on Tinian Island.
All seems to be set for the horrific display of the destructive power nuclear weapons. But perhaps Japan will heed the warnings issued in the past weeks and accept unconditional surrender.
Picture: President Harry S. Truman at his desk aboard the U. S. S. Augusta, returning from the Potsdam Conference
Source: Truman Library, 63-1453-47
On 24 July 1945, Task Force 38, commanded by Admiral John S. McCain Sr., under Admiral William F. Halsey’s 3rd Fleet, begins a series carrier strikes that devastate the remains of the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) at Kure, Japan.
The losses suffered by the IJN since last year, combined with crippling fuel shortages, have brought what remains of the once mighty Japanese navy to the being essentially stuck in anchorage at Kure. Many of the larger ships, such as aircraft carriers Amagi and Katsuragi, have undergone extensive modifications to camouflage them from air observation, including the installation of false houses and trees on their flight decks. All the ships have been grouped together to serve essentially as floating anti-aircraft batteries.
The U.S. Navy had attempted to destroy these ships in the months prior with mixed results.
Halsey`s decision to launch a renewed attack is partly motivated by the need for a morale boost in the face of a war that threatens to drag on, partly by the need to prevent a serious naval threat to the Soviet forces slated to carry out amphibious operations upon their entry into the war in August, and partly by his belief that a large number of capital ships could give Japan a possible upper hand if the outcome of the war comes down to negotiations.
At 0440 hours this morning, TF-38`s aircraft commence their attack. Throughout the day, they drop 599 tons of bombs and fire 1,615 rockets, sinking the aircraft carrier Amagi and the cruiser Ōyodo. The battleships Hyūga, Ise, and Haruna, the heavy cruisers Tone and Aoba, along with several older training ships, suffer just enough damage that they settle on the bottom of the shallow anchorage.
TF-38 will launch a further 655 sorties tomorrow, targeting mainly merchant ships.
However, the carrier aircraft of TF-38 will return for a full-scale attack on Kure Naval Base in four days, on 28 July and heavily damage the aircraft carrier Katsuragi.
At this point, the battleship Nagato, moored in Yokosuka since November last year, remains the IJN`s only operational capital ship.
Picture: U.S. Navy carrier aircraft attack the Japanese battleship Haruna
Source: U.S. Navy 80-G-490226
On 23 July 1945, the trial of Marshal Philippe Pétain begins in Paris.
The transformation of the `Lion of Verdun` from national hero to collaborator and traitor as the head of state of Vichy France was one of the war`s biggest falls from grace.
Although Pétain has acted more of a figurehead from relatively early on, he still bears significant responsibility for the actions of the Vichy regime in adopting policies of collaboration with the Nazis, including the implementation of anti-Semitic laws and cooperation in the deportation of Jews to concentration camps.
His passive resistance toward the Germans toward the end of the war, even after the Germans forcibly relocated him and the Vichy government to Belfort, which we covered in our 20 August post last year, and again to Sigmaringen Castle (Schloss Sigmaringen) in Baden-Württemberg, Germany on 8 September, has done little to help dispel the determination of the Provisional Government of the French Republic to make an example of him and others branded as collaborators with the harshest punishments.
And it seems that Pétain himself has accepted this, voluntarily surrendering to French police at the Swiss-French border earlier this year, which we covered in our 26 April post.
His trial commences today at the Palais de Justice in Paris, with hordes of journalists and spectators following his arrival and the start of proceedings.
The 89-year-old Pétain is brought into the courtroom in a wheelchair, silent and appearing frail but resolute.
Senior Judge Paul Mongibeau presides over the court proceedings, and the jury is composed of members of the National Assembly.
The prosecution opens by highlighting numerous instances of active collaboration by the Vichy regime, including the round-up and deportation of Jews, the suppression of the French Resistance, and the harsh treatment of political dissidents.
Pétain remains completely silent for now, almost as if he is disinterested or perhaps does not understand what is happening around him.
The question is whether France will condemn its once hero to death for treason.
Picture: Pétain listens as his lawyer, Jacques Isorni, addresses the court
Source: AFP
On 22 July 1945, U.S. Army trucks return artworks worth around $500 million that had been looted by the Germans Florence, Italy.
The massive task of returning the invalualbe artistic and cultural treasures looted by the Nazis from across Europe to their rightful owners, or at least their states of origin, has fallen in large part on the Allied Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives program (MFAA), known by many as the "Monuments Men".
The MFAA was established in 1943 by the Allies to protect cultural property in war zones and recover art stolen by the Nazis. The team of around 345 individuals from 14 nations, including museum curators, art historians, and military personnel, has worked tirelessly to track down, document, and return millions of artworks looted from occupied countries.
Lieutenant Frederick Hartt, an MFAA officer, has played a crucial role in the recovery operations in Italy. Hartt, along with other Monuments Men, has been meticulously documenting the condition and location of recovered artworks and overseeing their safe return in the face of immense logistical challenges, with artworks stored in precarious conditions and transportation routes heavily damaged by the war.
The MFAA`s work in Italy began to bear fruit when two days ago, on 20 July 1945, a train carrying 13 freight cars filled with recovered artworks left for Florence. Upon arrival at Campo di Marte station, the artworks were transferred to U.S. Fifth Army trucks adorned with Italian and American flags.
Today, the convoy enters Florence to great fanfare, greeted an enthusiastic crowd. Brigadier General Edgar Erskine Hume, the Senior Civil Affairs Officer of the Fifth Army, officially presents the artworks to the Mayor of Florence at a ceremony in Piazza della Signoria.
Picture: U.S. 5th Army trucks with part of the art treasures stolen by the Germans arrive at the Plaza Signoria, Florence.
Source: The National WWII Museum, Gift of Dylan Utley, 2012.019.139.
On 21 July 1945, Captain Ellis Zacharias, an intelligence officer at the Office of Public Information, Navy Department, delivers radio broadcast to Japan, urging them to accept unconditional surrender or face `virtual destruction`.
In October 1920, then-Lieutenant Commander Zacharias was posted to Tokyo as an intelligence officer. There, he gained insights into Japanese culture and politics before receiving training in cryptoanalysis at ONI in Washington in 1926 and an appointment as District Intelligence Officer in San Diego in 1940. Zacharias was one of the officers who warned in vain of an impending Japanese surprise attack against U.S. Navy assets in 1941.
During the war, he distinguished himself as captain of the cruiser USS Salt Lake City and the battleship USS New Mexico. In 1942, he was appointed deputy director of Naval Intelligence between his tours of duty.
In October 1944, Zacharias returned to San Diego as chief of staff for the 11th Naval District. In March of this year, he proposed a psychological warfare plan to Secretary of the Navy, James Forrestal, aiming to induce Japan`s surrender through radio broadcasts and leaflets. Forrestal approved, and assigned Zacharias a small team in Washington.
On 8 May, Zacharias delivered the first broadcast, explaining unconditional surrender in fluent Japanese. His 11 broadcasts so far, targeting Japan`s leaders, have been assessed as effective. However, his views on post-war arrangements, especially concerning Emperor Hirohito, diverge from official U.S. policy.
A few days ago, Zacharias sent an anonymous letter to the Japanese Prime Minister Kantarō Suzuki, suggesting Japan seek clarification on the emperor`s fate post-war.
Today, the Washington Times publishes the letter as Zacharias delivers his 12th broadcast. He explains that Japan faces virtual destruction or unconditional surrender according to the Atlantic Charter, which will give them ˝peace with honor˝ and to retain the emperor.
The Navy immediately suspends his broadcasts. However, what he says will be met with tacit approval from Forrestal and even President Truman.
Picture: Cpt. Zacharias delivering one of his broadcasts
Source: U.S. Navy
On 20 July 1945, Belgian Prime Minister Achille Van Acker formally requests King Leopold III`s abdication.
The Belgian government-in-exile initially suspected Leopold might form a government under Nazi direction because he remained, prompting accusations of treason from them and France. From then on, they had no contact with Leopold, despite three attempts: in June 1940, in late 1941, and late 1943 to early 1944, which were rebuffed or ignored. Leopold considered himself a POW, under house arrest at the Palace of Laeken until his deportation to a fort in Hirschstein, Saxony, on 7 June 1944.
When Brussels was liberated on 3 September 1944, the Government had received no word from Leopold until Prime Minister Pierlot got his `Political Testament`, written on 25 January 1944, which suggested the Allied entry into Belgium was an `occupation`, repudiated the Government`s treaties, and demanded the dismissal of ministers involved in the 1940 crisis.
By the time U.S. forces liberated Leopold on 7 May 1945 from his new `prison` in Strobl, Austria, the political landscape in Belgium had changed. Socialist Achille Van Acker had become Prime Minister in February, and the former Belgian Resistance held deep resentment towards Leopold.
On 9 May, a delegation, including Van Acker and the Prince Regent, met with Leopold in Austria, urging him to abdicate. Leopold refused, insisting on his rule over Belgium and attempting to arrange his return. His `Political Testament` forced Parliament to choose between him and the government-in-exile, causing a constitutional crisis.
Yesterday, Parliament passed a law requiring a joint session of both Houses to confirm the King`s inability to reign, delaying his return until the session concludes, based on their interpretation of Article 82 of the Belgian Constitution.
Today, the Parliamentary debate confirms Leopold`s inability to reign, and Van Acker requests his abdication.
However, a commission of inquiry has been referred to investigate Leopold`s potential treasonous actions. Leopold is expected to resist abdicating for the foreseeable future.
Picture: King Leopold III in the Palace at Laeken
Source: Belgian National Archives
On 19 July 1945, the U.S. Congress passes the Bretton Woods Agreements Act.
When we covered the start of the Bretton Woods Conference, officially the United Nations Monetary and Financial Conference, that brought together delegates from 44 Allied nations at the Mount Washington Hotel in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire on 1 July last year, the outcome of the war was still not entirely certain.
Working under the drafts made by Harry Dexter White, Special Assistant to the U.S. Secretary of the Treasury, and John Maynard Keynes, advisor to the British Treasury, and commitments made within the Atlantic Charter of 1941, the delegates created a blueprint for a post-war global economic system.
In the resulting Articles of Agreement and Final Act of the conference, issued on 22 July 1944, the delegates agreed to the creation of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to oversee a system of fixed exchange rates and provide short-term financial assistance to countries facing balance-of-payments difficulties, and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) to provide long-term loans for the reconstruction of war-torn Europe and the development of impoverished nations. The delegates also pledged to make their currencies convertible for trade-related and other current account transactions.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Morgenthau closed the conference by saying that it marks the end of `economic nationalism`. And indeed, now that Nazi Germany has been defeated, Japan stands at the precipice, and the destruction of Europe is clearly far greater than anyone could even imagine; the global economic system needs unity and stability more than ever.
So, today, U.S. Congress honours the commitments made last year by ratifying the Bretton Woods Articles of Agreement and passing the Act that will allow the U.S. to become a member of the IMF and IBRD.
Both of these institutions will officially start working once all members deliver their instruments of ratification, hopefully allowing for efficient and stable economic processes and the beginning of post-war reconstruction.
Picture: Henry Morgenthau Jr. speaks at the Bretton Woods Conference
Source: Getty Images
On the evening of 18/19 July 1945, multiple large explosions go off at the Bedford Magazine in Bedford, Nova Scotia, Canada.
As we`ve seen throughout this war, the combination of combustible materials and busy ports can lead to truly tragic consequences, as was the case in the explosion in Bari on 2 December 1943, the Bombay Explosion of 14 April 1944, the West Loch explosion in Pearl Harbor on 21 May 1944, the disaster in Port Chicago on 17 July last year, and USS Mount Hood`s explosion on 10 November 1944, all of which we covered in our previous posts.
Yet none of these have topped the tragedy of the Halifax explosion that occurred on 6 December 1917 when the transport ship Mont-Blanc laden with high explosives went up with the force equivalent to 2.9 kilotons of TNT, killing nearly 2,000 people and injuring another 9,000.
Luckily, Halifax and the equally essential ports of Bedford and Dartmouth have escaped further disasters in this war despite once again becoming Canada`s primary conduit for delivering explosives and ammunition to its troops overseas.
This evening, however, the safety protocols and emergency protocols put in place after the 1917 Halifax Explosion come into play. A fire begins to burn on the Bedford Magazine`s jetty around 1830 hours when a barge explodes and ignites ammunition stored on the dock outside the magazine`s main structures. More explosions follow as piles of ammunition go off, unfortunately killing Patrolman Henry Raymond Craig, a naval seaman on watch who rushes to the dock upon seeing the fires.
Windows shatter, and several roofs collapse in Bedford, but naval personnel posted at the Bedford Magazine rush onto the dock to prevent the fires from spreading to the main ammunition storage depot.
Meanwhile, thousands of residents are evacuated according to the existing protocols.
Despite multiple ammunition explosions occurring throughout the night, there are no further casualties.
The flames will be put out the following morning, and the naval personnel will be employed in the cleanup.
Picture: Ammunition barge blows up at the Naval Magazine jetty on Bedford Basin
Source: Yarmouth County Historical Society
On 17 July 1945, Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and U.S. President Harry S. Truman meet at Potsdam, Germany.
A meeting in the aftermath of Germany`s defeat was initially Churchill`s idea. He suggested it to Truman in a letter on 11 May, highlighting that the conference should take place around mid-June as he believed Stalin would stall for time to gain a tighter grip over Eastern Europe.
By late May, the idea that the `Big Three` could meet in a similarly cooperative atmosphere, as was the case at Tehran in 1943 and Yalta in 1945, was overtaken by events as the Soviets became increasingly convinced that Truman could not be trusted. The same occurred within the U.S. and British governments, which saw Soviet conduct in Eastern Europe as increasingly aggressive expansionism.
Stalin was, however, keen on holding a conference but not before mid-July. He proposed Berlin as the location on 29 May, to which Churchill replied that he would be glad to meet in “what was left of Berlin”.
Truman, likewise, preferred the later date both to allow himself time to prepare for the conference through current reports and minutes of the previous `Big Three` meetings, as well as having to deal with the upcoming end of the fiscal year at home.
The Soviets decided to move the conference to Potsdam after assessing Berlin as unsafe and unsuitable. Around 20 or 21 June, they informed the U.S. Ambassador to the Soviet Union, Averell Harriman, of this change and the arrangements made for the conference. A special zone (3 in total) was assigned to each delegation in the Potsdam district of Babelsberg, with the fourth zone for mutual meetings at the Cecilienhof Palace.
A delay in Stalin`s trip has caused the start of the conference to be moved from yesterday to today. Nevertheless, Churchill and Truman managed to have their first meeting yesterday at 1100 hours.
Today, Stalin arrives, and the three most powerful men on earth begin the talks, which are supposed to lay down the foundations of lasting peace in Europe and the world.
Picture: Winston Churchill, President Truman and Stalin at the Potsdam conference, 23 July 1945.
Source: IWM BU 9197
Early morning on 16 July 1945, the U.S. Army, alongside the scientific teams working as part of the Manhattan Project, carry out the Trinity Test - detonating the first-ever functional nuclear weapon.
We have covered the complex and highly secretive development of nuclear weapons under the Manhattan Project in depth on our YouTube channel, so you can check that out by following the link in the bio.
Following several months of searching for a suitable site for the test, which J. Robert Oppenheimer codenamed `Trinity`, in the deserts of New Mexico, Southern California, and Texas, the Alamogordo Bombing Range in Socorro County, New Mexico, a flat, remote, and unpopulated area, was selected on 7 September 1944.
The only structure in the area, the McDonald Ranch House, located some 3.2 km (2 mi) southeast of the Bombing Range, was selected to be the start of a base camp and built up into a laboratory for testing and assembling the weapon components.
A test detonation of 81 tons of conventional Comp B explosives (equivalent to 108 tonnes of TNT) at 04:37 Mountain War Time (MWT) on 5 May this year to verify procedures and test scientific equipment. A week later, on 13 June, the plutonium core for the `Gadget` (a laboratory euphemism for a bomb), arrived at the test site that had been renamed on 9 June as White Sands Proving Ground.
The final assembly of the live weapon atop a 30 m (100 ft) tall steel tower began on 13 July, three days ago.
Rain prevents the planned detonation this morning at 04:00 MWT, but by 05:10 a forecast for clear weather allows for the 20-minute countdown to begin.
At 05:29:21 MWT (11:29:21 GMT), an explosion `as bright as the sun` lights up the area as the `Gadget` detonates with the energy equivalent of around 25 kilotons of TNT. A mushroom-shaped cloud rises 12.1 km (7.5 mi) into the atmosphere while the shockwave is felt over 160 km (100 mi) away.
And thus, the world enters the nuclear age.
Picture: Famous color photograph of the "Trinity" shot, the first nuclear test explosion, by Jack W. Aeby
Source: LIFE Photo Archive
On 15 July 1945, the Combined Chiefs of Staff (CCS) discuss the future of military intelligence sharing with the Soviet Union.
On 22 June this year, the British Chiefs of Staff submitted a memorandum to the CCS suggesting a combined agreement on information-sharing arrangements with the Soviets.
The U.S. JCS reply of 8 July, disagreed that this issue is one for combined agreement.
Today, the British Chiefs of Staff reiterate the need for a combined agreement on information-sharing:
˝The British Chiefs of Staff cannot agree that this is an inappropriate matter for combined agreement.
Hitherto throughout the war against Germany, it has been customary,
although not obligatory, for the United States and British Chiefs of Staff to
consult together as to the measure and means of our dealings with the Russians. The British Chiefs of Staff consider that on the whole this policy has been wise and profitable...
If the British and American staffs now take an independent and quite
possibly divergent line as regards passing information to the Russians, it seems possible that the Russians will be tempted to play one of us off against the other.˝
They also propose discussing the matter at the upcoming Allied conference in Potsdam, Germany (the Terminal Conference).
Additionally, in a separate memorandum (C.C.S. 891), the British Chiefs of Staff add:
˝As we see it, the world, all too unfortunately, is likely to remain in a
troubled state for many years to come...
For these reasons we consider that some machinery for the continuation
of joint and combined United States/British collaboration is desirable. For example, it may be to the great advantage both of the United States and ourselves that some machinery should exist for the mutual exchange of information. Some measure of uniformity in the design of weapons and in training may also be mutually beneficial.˝
The reply by the JCS on 19 July will be even less encouraging regarding the future of cooperation, with the future of the CCS itself questioned by uncertainties in the global political situation from the U.S. side.
Picture: Combined Chiefs of Staff meet during Potsdam Conference
Source: Harry S. Truman Library
On 14 July 1945, the Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force (SHAEF) is officially disbanded.
The establishment of SHAEF in December 1943 in Camp Griffiss, Bushy Park, Teddington, London, was a pivotal moment in moving the Allies closer to a decisive push against the forces of Nazi Germany.
The unification of command over American, Free French, British and Canadian forces, while not always without its difficulties, allowed the Allies to have a cohesive strategy and effective use of resources for the liberation of Nazi-occupied Europe by assembling the best commanders, planners, and strategists together under General Dwight D. Eisenhower.
Coordinating the vast logistical needs of eight field armies, the 1st Allied Airborne Army, British 21st Army Group, and U.S. 12th and 6th Army Groups, was a Herculean task, especially in times of crisis, such as when the Germans launched their Ardennes offensive.
With Germany`s unconditional surrender on 8 May, SHAEF began to close up shop. To facilitate the process of dissolving the organization and ensuring proper record-keeping, a small joint U.S.-British organization, the Combined Administrative Liquidating Agency (CALA) was created.
Today, CALA completes its work.
The Combined Chiefs of Staff have decided that all the original records of SHAEF will be given to the U.S., while microfilm copies of the records will be given to the British.
The monumental task of rebuilding and recovery will now be the responsibility of the Allied Control Council (ACC) established by the Berlin Declaration, which we covered in our 5 June post.
Picture: The Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force, General Dwight D Eisenhower, accompanied by his senior air commanders, watching activities in the Operations Room at HQ Air Defence of Great Britain (formerly RAF Fighter Command) at Bentley Priory, Middlesex, 27 January 1944.
Source: IWM CH 18550
On 13 July 1945, the U.S. Government publicly acknowledges responsibility for sinking the Japanese relief ship Awa Maru on 1 April.
Early this year, based on an agreement for safe passage of relief ships made through neutral Switzerland, the U.S. delivered 2,000 tons of Red Cross packages destined for Japanese POW camps to a Soviet port in Siberia. The Awa Maru was to transport the supplies that were unable to be carried by the Hoshi Maru to Southeast Asia, with the Japanese using the remaining cargo space to despatch sorely needed war supplies.
In agreement with the U.S., she was to leave Japan on 17 February, stop at multiple ports, and return via the Formosa Strait.
Upon receiving Awa Maru`s course, sailing dates, and information on her being marked with white crosses and navigational lights in February, the U. S. Navy sent a plain-language message repeated nine times over three days. The USS Queenfish (SS-393) received a scrambled version, which was not given to Lt. Cdr Charles E. Loughlin, as plain language messages are not usually of critical importance.
The message to allow Awa Maru safe passage on her return route was repeated in encrypted form on 28 March, minus information on her course.
On the night of 1 April, Queenfish picked up a radar contact of a ship making high speed, presumed to be a destroyer. In heavy fog, Loughlin ordered four torpedoes to be fired at a range of 1,200 yards (1,1 km).
Queenfish picked up the only survivor of the 2,004 aboard, Kantora Shimoda.
Loughlin informed his superiors of the incident via radio. Admiral Ernest J. King ordered Queenfish back to port immediately, and Loughlin court-martialed on 14 April. The Japanese government was informed of the sinking on 17 April.
Loughlin was declared guilty of only one charge - negligence in obeying orders. When she sank, Awa Maru was carrying raw materials for Japanese war production and 1,700 merchant seamen as the Red Cross supplies had already been offloaded.
Today, the U.S. Government publicly acknowledges the incident and offers Japan a similar ship as reparations.
Picture: USS Queenfish (SS-393) arriving off Mare Island Naval Shipyard, California
Source: U.S. Navy
On 12 July 1945, Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery decorates Soviet Marshals with military honours at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin.
The British 7th Armoured Division Guard of Honour stands at the Brandenburg Gate today as Montgomery, the commander of the 21st Army Group, personally invested Marshal Georgy Zhukov, Deputy Supreme Commander in Chief of the Red Army, as a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath, one of the highest British honours.
Alongside Zhukov, Marshal Konstantin Rokossovsky is made an Honorary Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire, and Marshal Vasily Sokolovsky receives the same honour.
This is certainly an appreciation of the Red Army`s great military achievements and the sacrifices made by the Soviet Union and its people.
But the question arises if this symbolic show of camaraderie and mutual respect among the Allies as they transition from wartime cooperation to peacetime diplomacy and rebuilding efforts will truly last as the problems and occasional tensions between the Soviet Union and the Western Allies have been growing ever more apparent over the last couple of months.
The Soviet policies and actions in the Eastern European territories within their sphere of influence, and especially Poland, have only reinforced British and American suspicions against socialist states. Meanwhile, the very meeting of Allies in Berlin and along the demarcation lines between their respective occupation zones in Germany have been wrought with increasing animosity, with Soviet troops exercising strict control over the areas under their control to the point of reported harassment of U.S. and British troops and military delegations trying to move through Germany.
And with another Allied conference coming in a few days, we may yet see more disagreements and broken promises now that the goal of defeating Nazism has been replaced with the power plays typical of great power politics.
Picture: The Deputy Supreme Commander in Chief of the Red Army, Marshal G Zhukov, Field Marshal Montgomery, Marshal K Rokossovsky and General Sokolovsky of the Red Army leave the Brandenburg Gate after the ceremony. 12 July 1945
Source: IWM TR 2913
On 11 July 1945, the Allied Kommandatura in Berlin holds its first official meeting.
Military commanders have been responsible for organizing a return to relative normalcy in each of the German capital`s occupation zones. They have also had to set up what is effectively a city government. However, Soviet troops` stripping the city of vital industrial infrastructure, especially in the western sectors, has made this more difficult.
On the U.S. side, General Eisenhower`s military government chief, Lieutenant General A.E. Grassett, selected Colonel Frank L. Howley to lead a military government detachment to Berlin.
On 1 July, the U.S. commandant, Major General Floyd L. Parks, tasked Howley, as his divisional G5 and later deputy, to prepare a general plan for the basis of an Allied Kommandatura, a structure envisioned by the London Protocol of 1944, based on a Soviet proposal.
Howley arrived on the same day, albeit with a significantly smaller contingent of troops after Soviet interference at the demarcation line, and began preparing a plan for the Kommandatura to be presented at the 7 July meeting between the Soviet representatives, Marshals Zhukov and Sokolovsky, General Lucius D. Clay, Eisenhower`s deputy, and Robert Murphy, Eisenhower`s political adviser, on the U.S. side, and Gen. Sir Ronald Weeks and Sir William Strang representing the British. The meeting concluded with the establishment of a basic structure of the Kommandatura.
After some squabbles over where the Kommandatura offices should be, the U.S. proposal for a building Kaiserswerther Str. 16-18 in Berlin’s district of Dahlem was accepted, and the first meeting was scheduled.
Today`s meeting establishes that the Kommandatura will decide issues requiring governance, formulate a response, and issue formal orders to the Lord Mayor and the Berlin Magistrat. The Soviet commandant, however, ensures that all preexisting Soviet regulations and ordinances put in place throughout the city before the Western allies arrived remain in effect.
Picture: Excellent aerial view showing devastation and bombed out buildings in Berlin, July 1945
Source: William Vandivert for LIFE
On 10 July 1945, Red Army, NKVD and SMERSH troops, with the assistance of Polish UB (Security Office) and LWP (Polish People`s Army) units, begin mass arrests and executions of Polish Underground members, anti-communists, and anyone suspected of collaboration with these fighters in the Suwałki and Augustów districts of Poland.
Amidst increasing repression against all remnants of the Polish Home Army (Armia Krajowa), its leaders, and all those showing any anti-communist or anti-Soviet sentiments, a series of reports highly exaggerating the number of Citizens’ Home Army (AKO) fighters and their capabilities began reaching Soviet military commanders this spring. This prompted them to start planning a large-scale operation in mid-May. A mass roundup of AKO and other anti-communist fighters was then ordered by Stalin himself, both as a means to secure the regions and ensure his safe passage through the Suwałki district on the way to Potsdam for the upcoming Allied conference there.
On 27 June, Red Army, NKVD, and SMERSH forces that had been concentrating on the Curzon Line since early May entered the Giby, Sejny, and Sztabin regions and began conducting small roundups. They arrested about 100 people. Meanwhile, more troops arrived, with the total number under Maj. Gen. Nicolai Garnich, who is in charge of the operation, reached around 45,000 plus the Polish communist forces.
Today, Maj. Gen. Garnich gives the operation the go-ahead and these forces move into their positions to surround and then comb through the entire territory of the two districts.
For the next two weeks, the Soviet forces will surround and search every village and town house-by-house, institute a strict curfew, and block all possible escape routes. By 28 July, they will arrest 7,049. They will be held in barns and make-shift prisons, undergoing brutal torture and interrogation before being transported to internment camps in the Soviet Union. Soviet authorities will execute at least 592, but perhaps as many as 1130 of those arrested.
Picture: Red Army soldiers in Poland in February 1945
Source: RIA Novosti
On 9 July 1945, General Charles de Gaulle proposes a referendum to decide France`s future political system.
The Provisional Government of the French Republic (GPRF) was formed in June last year under de Gaulle`s leadership and comprises representatives from various resistance movements and political factions, including Communists, Socialists, and Christian Democrats. The GPRF has been working to restore order, and lay the groundwork for a new political system. However, de Gaulle`s issuing of the Ordnance to nullify all Vichy decisions, which we covered on 9 August last year, marked a legal return to just before midnight on 17 June 1940 when Pétain took power and thus the instabilities to an extent inherent in the Third Republic.
The past few months have seen a significant intensification in GPRF activity aimed at stabilizing the political system of France while also arresting, prosecuting, and executing thousands of known or suspected collaborators, Milice members, and Vichy officials. Between this and the absence of 2.5 million POWs, deportees, STO workers, and the ban on voting by career soldiers, the electorate of the first elections since France`s liberation, held in two rounds separated by VE Day, on 29 April and 13 May, was composed of 62% women - a right they were granted only last April.
The results of these elections have revealed a fragmented political landscape, with strong performances by the Communist Party, the Socialist Party, and the newly formed Popular Republican Movement (MRP).
Today, de Gaulle proposes a referendum to decide on a new political system. He envisions a strong executive branch to prevent the kind of parliamentary instability that had plagued the Third Republic and the dominance of communists in the Constituent Assembly by limiting the Assembly`s powers. De Gaulle also proposes the population vote on whether to adopt a new constitution to form a Fourth Republic.
It remains to be seen when GPRF authorities will be able to implement such a national-level vote and significant changes to France`s political system.
Picture: Women in Paris vote for the first time, in municipal elections on 29 April 1945
Source: AFP
Shortly after midnight on 8 July 1945, U.S. Army Private Clarence V. Bertucci murders several German prisoners at a POW camp in Salina, Utah.
The 250 German POWs in Camp Salina, a former Civilian Conservation Corps facility built as part of the poverty alleviation programs under President Roosevelt`s New Deal, have been housed in 43 tents since 1944 as the closest large POW camp in Fort Douglas in Salt Lake City became overcrowded. They have been employed to help with the harvest of sugar beets and other produce and have not caused any disturbances in the lives of the local population.
The guards at Camp Salina, as is the case in other camps, are soldiers who have been found unfit for service. Bertucci, a New Orleans native born on 14 September 1921, is one such soldier. Although he enlisted in the Army in 1940 and was deployed on tour in England with an artillery unit, he has not progressed past the rank of Private due to consistent problems with discipline that got him court-martialed twice already.
Yesterday evening, on 7 July, Bertucci was returning from a bar after having several beers when he stopped at a café and proclaimed that something `big` was going to happen that night.
At midnight, Bertucci takes his post in the guard tower nearest to the officer`s quarters.
Several minutes later, after ensuring the other guards are asleep, he prepares the mounted .30-caliber M1917 Browning machine gun and opens fire on the tents where the German POWs are asleep.
Within 15 seconds, he expends a full 250-round belt of ammunition, hitting 30 tents, killing six POWs outright, and wounding another 22.
The other guards climb up the tower and restrain Bertucci just as he begins to load another belt while shouting: ˝Get more ammo! I`m not done yet!˝
The victims, along with three more who will succumb to their injuries in hospital, will be buried with full military honours at Fort Douglas Cemetery on 12 July. The wounded will be sent back to Germany.
Bertucci will be assessed as ˝mentally unbalanced˝ and hospitalized in Mason General Hospital in Brentwood, New York.
Picture: Fellow German prisoners serving as pallbearers for the murdered POWs
Source: AP Photo
On 7/8 July 1945, Imperial Japanese Army soldiers and Kempeitai (Military Police) brutally torture and murder almost the entire population of the village of Kalagon in Burma.
As British paratroopers and local guerilla forces had been wreaking havoc behind Japanese lines for the past couple of months, the Chief of Staff of the 33rd Army, Major General Seiei Yamamoto, ordered troops to carry out an expedition of the Moulmein and Dali forest areas. The initial sweep by the 3rd Battalion, 215th Regiment, under the command of Major Seigi Ichikawa in June yielded no success in routing out the guerillas. Based on dubious information about the villagers in Kalagon assisting the paratroopers and guerillas, the 215th Regiment commander ordered Ichikawa to carry out a reprisal in the area.
On 3 July, Captain Noburo Higashi of the Moulmein Kempeitai detachment received orders to accompany the 3rd Bat. to Kagalon. After meeting up with W.O. Ryozo Fujiwara, Sgt. Maj. Akira Kobayashi, Sergeants Teshiyuki Nagata and Kinni Nomoto, and Corporal Seiichi Morimoto at Chaunganakwa, they joined the 3rd. Bat. troops and marched to Kalagon.
Around 1600 hours today, the Japanese soldiers and Kempeitai enter the village and immediately round up the whole population, confining the men in the mosque and the women and children in an adjacent building. The Kempeitai officers brutally interrogate, beat, and torture dozens of villagers, while the soldiers rape and beat the women and children.
Maj. Ichikawa will order the village destroyed tomorrow morning, claiming to have obtained confessions from some of the villagers.
The Japanese troops will tie up the villagers and lead them in groups of 4-10 to the wells in the village. Throughout the day, they will bayonet to death between 600 and 1,000 civilians. They will throw the bodies and even some of those who are still alive into the village`s wells.
Only ten women who agree to act as spies will be spared, but will likely be used as `comfort women` for the IJA. Two bayonetting victims will survive and report the massacre to the Allied forces in Burma.
Picture: Japanese Army Officers in Burma, 1942
Source: National Archives of Japan
On 6 July 1945, the Combined Intelligence Committee of the Allied Combined Chiefs of Staff begins preparing a report on Japanese capabilities and intentions.
Destruction of Japanese communication and transportation systems, especially the merchant marine, leaving only 1,3 million gross registered tons of shipping available, together with U.S. submarine activity and sea mining through Operation Starvation, which we covered in our 27 March post, has all but denied the Japanese transfer of goods and raw materials between areas in the Empire`s Inner Zone (the Home Islands, North China, Manchuria, and Korea).
While the report describes industrial production as severely affected by Allied activities, with production down from a peak of 6 million tons to 3,5 million and increasing reductions in food production, the Japanese ability to defend their territory is still quite strong.
Food supplies are not projected to become a serious issue during this year, and sufficient supplies of fuel are available for potentially devastating kamikaze attacks.
Although the report mentions that about 1 million Japanese troops are cut off, the Imperial Japanese Army still has an estimated strength of 4,6 million men in 110 infantry and 4 armoured divisions. As many as 2 million more regular or `Volunteer Fighting Corps` troops may become available.
The report estimates that the Japanese have some 5,000 available aircraft. In reality, the Japanese currently have more than 10,000 aircraft of all types available for defense and kamikaze operations, with more on the way by October.
Concluding with an assessment of the political situation, the report paints a grim picture for both the Allies and Japan in terms of a continuation of the war. It describes the Japanese political and military establishment as firmly entrenched against unconditional surrender, which they see as a `national extinction`. Thus, Japan will continue to seek partial or negotiated peace deals until Army leadership is swayed to accept defeat, most probably affected by the planned entry of the Soviet Union into the war.
Picture: Female Japanese students learning gun handling
Source: National Archives of Japan
On 5 July 1945, General of the Army Douglas MacArthur announces that the entire territory of the Philippines has been liberated.
MacArthur issues a communique to mark the occasion:
˝The entire Philippine Islands are now liberated and the Philippine Campaign can be regarded as virtually closed. Some minor isolated action of a guerrilla nature in the practically uninhabited mountain ranges may occasionally persist, but this great land mass of 115,600 square miles with a population of 17,000,000 is now freed of the invader.
The enemy during the operations employed twenty-three divisions, all of which were practically annihilated. Our forces comprised seventeen divisions... The Japanese ground forces comprised the following divisions or equivalents: 1st, 8th, 10th, 16th, 19th, 23rd, 26th, 30th, 100th, 102d, 103d, 105th, 2d Armored, 2d Airborne Brigade (reinforced to divisional strength), the 54th, 55th, 58th, 61st and 68th Independent Mixed Brigades (reinforced to divisional strength), three divisional units known as the Kobayashi, Suzuki and Shimbu commands, organized from twenty-eight independent battalions, three naval divisions comprising a Provisional Naval Command of corps strength, under Admirals Iwabuchi and Shiroya, and a large number of base and service elements. The total strength approximated 450,000 men.
Naval and air forces shared equally with the ground troops in accomplishing the success of the campaign... Working in complete unison the three services inflicted the greatest disaster ever sustained by Japanese arms.˝
While a great military achievement, the campaign has been immensely costly in terms of casualties on all sides. U.S. forces have suffered almost 220,000 casualties, with 20,712 of those killed in action. Filipino guerrillas have suffered thousands of casualties, and at least 1 million Filipino civilians have been killed.
Japanese casualties have been staggering, with some 430,000 dead and missing.
Picture: Colonel Ruperto K. Kangleon reporting to General MacArthur during ceremonies proclaiming the liberation of Leyte. Tacloban, 23 October 1944.
Source: U.S. Navy
On the evening of 4/5 July 1945, hundreds of Canadian troops riot through the streets of Aldershot, England.
The shipping shortage, mainly caused by the immense task of bringing hundreds of thousands of Allied troops home from Europe, has caused severe discontent among those whose return has been delayed.
Many of the 30,000 Canadian soldiers stationed in the barracks near Aldershot in Hampshire have felt for several weeks that the shipping shortage is an excuse to keep them in theatre for longer. Meanwhile, reports of poor food quality, overcrowded barracks, and what seems to be rising animosity between the soldiers and local residents have caused tensions to rise steadily.
Today, a rumour spreads that Aldershot police has arrested three Canadian soldiers. In the early evening, some 500 Canadian soldiers from the barracks begin a rampage through the streets of the town, smashing all the windows on High Street. Local police officers soon confront them with assurances that there had been no arrests of Canadian troops, which calms the soldiers down, and they soon return to their barracks.
However, the same soldiers will return tomorrow evening, throw rocks, smash windows, and break into pubs on Union Street in Aldershot. The Canadian Military Police will intervene, but the riot will be stopped only after two hours have passed and considerable damage has been done.
A Canadian soldier will comment: ˝Yesterday it looked as though a V-1 had hit the town; it must have been a V-2 last night.”
The response from the Canadian Defense Headquarters will be to immediately begin shipping 2,500 soldiers back home, with all those suspected of participating in the riots among that group.
In the next several months, around 100 Canadian soldiers will be court-martialed for the riots, with five receiving sentences ranging from two years with hard labour to seven years of penal servitude.
The town of Aldershot will be quick to forgive by granting "the Freedom of the Borough of Aldershot" to the Canadian Army Overseas on 26 September 1945.
Picture: Canadian paratroopers waiting to entrain for home, Aldershot Station 1945
Source: Airborne Assault Archive
On 3 July 1945, Moscow radio announces that the body of Joseph Goebbels was discovered in the courtyard of the Reich Chancellery in Berlin.
Joseph Goebbels and his wife Magda committed suicide in the Reich Chancellery Garden shortly after 2030 hours on 1 May, a day after Adolf and Eva Hitler. Before killing themselves, Joseph and Magda ordered SS dentist Helmut Kunz to kill their six young children with cyanide.
The bodies of Joseph and Magda were burnt in the garden of the Reich Chancellery. Unlike the bodies of Adolf and Eva, there was not enough petrol available to ensure complete cremation. As such, the Soviets were able to identify the two corpses relatively easily after their arrival on 2 May. The bodies of the six children were discovered in the bunker itself.
The Soviets were aided in identifying the bodies by survivors of the bunker. These included Käthe Hausermann, the dental assistant who identified the fragments of jawbone and dental prosthesis which are the sole surviving scarps of Hitler and Eva Braun. She will later recall being taken by the Soviets to Finow, northwest of Berlin, to examine the bodies:
“I clearly recognised the corpse of Dr Goebbels, and the other six corpses were those of his children. Dr Goebbels` corpse was hardly burned. The head was easily recognisable, as was the crippled leg. The children lay in the crates with their mouths open. They were dressed in pyjamas which were open at the front... I unequivocally told the Russians my convictions as to the identity of the corpses. I also asked about the body of Frau Goebbels. I was then told that she had been so badly burned that she was no longer recognisable.”
Over the following year, the bodies will be buried, exhumed, examined, and reburied several times. Their final burial will be at a SMERSH facility in Magdeburg in February 1946.
Photo: Film director Alexander Usoltsev at the corpse of Joseph Goebbels
Source: Film "Berlin". 1945
On 2 July 1945, the religious leader Sheikh Bashir leads a rebellion against the authorities in British Somaliland.
Sheikh Bashir is the nephew of Muhammad ibn `Abdallāh Hassan – known to the British as the ‘Mad Mullah’ – who led the Dervish Movement in a Holy War against the colonial authorities between 1900 and 1930. The British defeated the Dervishes, but since then, there have been further tax revolts, mutinies, and riots.
In the 1930s, Bashir opened a religious school in Beer, southeast of Burao. As well as teaching the Koran and preaching the Hadiths, he believes the end of the world is approaching and that he and his followers must wage a religious war to destroy colonialism.
In May 1945, a new round of unrest began in Somaliland, which began when the government responded to a swarm of locusts by spreading poisoned bait across the grazing lands. Afterwards, Somali pastoralists claimed, with some justification, that the poison had killed their livestock. Religious leaders in urban areas also preached against the ‘evil’ of the poison campaign. As the British Colonial Office will record: ‘The sparks of trouble spread, and violent demonstrations were staged throughout the Protectorate’.
This evening, Bashir collects a group of about 25 followers and drives them into Burao. His plan is simple. First, attack the prison and free imprisoned demonstrators. Second, kill the district commissioner. He hopes that this will ignite a general uprising.
Tomorrow night, Bashir will launch his attack. His followers will succeed in their prison attack but fail to assassinate the district commissioner. The Sheik’s group will flee the scene and find refuge in Bur Dhab, southeast of Burao, where they will take up defensive positions in a mountain fort. From there, the Sheikh will incite a revolt in Erigavo which the police suppress with armoured car support. Meanwhile, British troops will launch an assault on Bashir’s mountain hideout, killing him in battle on 7 July.
Photo: Sheikh Bashir praying Sunnah prayer
Source: RCM Somali collection via Wikimedia Commons
On 1 July 1945, Allied occupation authorities establish the Inner German border, separating the British, French and American occupation zones in the West from that of the Soviet Union in the East.
The demarcation line is primarily based on a British proposal of January 1944 and is defined by the borders of the former German states (Länder), which the Nazi government had abolished in favour of the Gau system. The line runs along the western boundaries of Mecklenburg in the north, the Prussian Province of Saxony in the centre, and Thuringia in the south.
The British proposal assumed that the Red Army would drive far deeper into central Germany than they actually managed. In fact, it was the Western Allies who advanced further than expected in the final weeks of the war; occupying large parts of Germany designated for Soviet occupation (marked purple on the map in Slide 2). Over the next week or two, these troops will withdraw westwards to be replaced by the Red Army. Western troops still present in Czechoslovakia will follow suit.
At present, the boundary between the Western and Soviet zones is open and over the coming months, there will be huge flows of refugees crossing the line. This includes Germans escaping westward from the Soviet zone and Germans and Volksdeutsche displaced from Poland, Czechoslovakia, and Hungary.
Berlin itself sits deep within the Soviet Zone and the German capital is divided into four sectors, one for each of the occupying powers.
Today, the first American troops arrive in the city for occupation duty, but find themselves obstructed by their Soviet counterparts.
Crucially, the West has managed only to gain a provisional agreement from the Soviets concerning access rights to the city. The Western powers wanted unrestricted access, but during a meeting on 29 June, Marshal Georgy Zhukov was willing to grant access only by means of one road, one railway, and two air corridors. The question has since been set aside for discussion at a later meeting of the Allied Control Council.
Picture: Meeting of the Allied Control Commission in Berlin, 6 June 1945
Source: U.S. Army Signals Corps
On 30 June 1945, U.S. occupation authorities arrest Ilse Koch, wife of Buchenwald concentration camp Commandant Karl-Otto Koch.
Margarete Ilse Köhler, born in Dresden on 22 September 1906, joined the Nazi Party in 1932 and, in 1934, met Karl-Otto Koch. The two soon entered into a relationship.
Karl was appointed Commandant of Sachenhausen concentration camp in 1936, and then in July 1937 of the then-newly established Buchenwald concentration camp in July of that year. Ilse and Karl married that year.
Ilse was soon nicknamed `The Witch of Buchenwald`, among other things, by the inmates for her propensity to force them to work as her personal slaves and then either beat them or order the SS guards to do so.
During a 1941 investigation, SS-Obergruppenführer Josias von Waldeck-Pyrmont, SS and Police Leader for Weimar, discovered the names of Walter Krämer, a head hospital orderly at Buchenwald, and Karl Peix, both of whom had treated Koch for syphilis, listed as being executed as `political prisoners`. This led him to collect evidence that the Kochs had been embezzling significant amounts of money and eliminating prisoners who were witnesses.
Waldeck had Karl arrested on 18 December 1941, but Karl`s connections with Heinrich Himmler meant that he was soon released and transferred to command Majdanek concentration camp. Ilse remained at Buchenwald.
Waldeck ordered Georg Konrad Morgen of the SS Court Main Office to investigate further, which resulted in both Karl and Ilse being arrested on 24 August 1943 and then indicted on 17 August 1944.
While Ilse was released from the Gestapo prison in Weimar after a second trial in December 1944, Karl Koch`s indictment for embezzlement of at least 200,000 RM and murder of three inmates was confirmed.
An SS firing squad executed Karl Koch on 5 April this year at Buchenwald.
Ilse has, since her release, been living with her two children in Ludwigsburg. However, recently, a former Buchenwald inmate recognized her and reported her to the U.S. occupation authorities.
Today, a former Buchenwald inmate recognizes and reports her, U.S. troops arrest Ilse.
Picture: Ilse Koch after her arrest
Source: U.S. Army Signal Corps
On 29 June 1945, U.S. President Truman approves Operation Downfall, the invasion of the Japanese Home Islands.
Fleet Admiral Chester Nimitz, General of the Army Douglas MacArthur and the Joint Chiefs of Staff—Fleet Admirals Ernest King and William D. Leahy, and Generals of the Army George Marshall and Hap Arnold, have been working out how to handle such a massive undertaking. However, no concrete plans were developed until the Combined Chiefs of Staff met at the Argonaut Conference held in Malta earlier this year.
The U.S. commanders have devised a two-phase invasion: first of Kyūshū, to begin on `X-Day` (1 November), codenamed Operation Olympic, and then the invasion of Honshu at the Kantō Plain south of Tokyo, codenamed Coronet, on `Y-Day`, tentatively set for 1 March 1946.
As the plan stands now, Operation Olympic is to be a primarily American affair, with the British Pacific Fleet providing a fourth of the air power and Tiger Force, a joint Commonwealth long-range heavy bomber unit, to be transferred from Europe before X-Day, aiding in strategic bombing.
The armada that is to be assembled will far exceed anything planned before in history. It includes the entirety of the U.S. Navy 5th and 3rd Fleets and the BPF: 42 aircraft carriers, 24 battleships, and 400 destroyers and destroyer escorts to support the landing of 14 U.S. divisions and two regimental combat teams.
Coronet is to be just as complex, with 15 U.S. divisions, plus three from the Commonwealth Corps made up of British, Australian, New Zealand, and Canadian troops.
And as formidable as these forces seem, the projected casualties are staggering. Former President Herbert Hoover submitted a memorandum to Secretary of War Henry Stimson on 15 May that the invasion will cost 500,000 to 1 million American dead.
On 18 June, Truman met the JCS, Stimson, and Secretary of the Navy, James Forrestal, to once more discuss the possibility of a blockade instead of such a horrifically costly invasion. However, the conclusions reached were that the invasion will be "bloody but essential for victory."
Thus, Truman approves the plan today.
Picture: JCS lunch meeting
Source: George C. Marshal Foundation
On 28 June 1945, Private Leslie Thomas Starcevich, 2/43 Australian Infantry Battalion, 24th Brigade, 9th Division, singlehandedly eliminates two Japanese machine gun positions near Beaufort, North Borneo.
For his actions today, Pvt. Starcevich will be awarded the Victoria Cross on 6 November 1945. His citation will read:
˝For most conspicuous gallantry and extreme devotion to duty at Beaufort, North Borneo, 28th June, 1945.
During the approach along a thickly wooded spur, the enemy was encountered at a position where movement off the single track leading into the enemy defences was difficult and hazardous.
When the leading section came under fire from two enemy machine gun posts and suffered casualties, Private Starcevich, who was Bren gunner, moved forward and assaulted each post in turn. He rushed each post, firing his Bren gun from the hip, killed five enemy and put the remaining occupants of the posts to flight.
The advance progressed until the section came under fire from two more machine gun posts which halted the section temporarily. Private Starcevich again advanced fearlessly firing his Bren Gun from the hip and ignoring the hostile fire captured both posts singlehanded, disposing of seven enemy in this assault.
These daring efforts enabled the Company to increase the momentum of its attack and so relieve pressure on another Company which was attacking from another direction.
The outstanding gallantry of Private Starcevich in carrying out these attacks singlehanded with complete disregard of his own personal safety resulted in the decisive success of the action.˝
Picture: Troops from the Australian 2/43rd Infantry Battalion advance with a Matilda tank on Labuan, 12 June 1945. The soldier on the far right is carrying an Owen submachine gun.
Source: AWM 109095
On 27 June 1945, Soviet military planners and political leaders discuss the possibility of an amphibious invasion of Hokkaido, one of the Japanese Home Islands.
Full-scale preparations for the Soviet entry into the war against Japan had already begun by 27 April this year, with Marshal Aleksandr Vasilevsky chosen during the summer of last year as the overall commander of Soviet forces in the Far East. Admiral Ivan S. Yumashev, Commander in Chief of the Pacific Fleet, is coequal to the three Army Group commanders under Vasilevsy. Planning for the land invasion of Manchuria is all but complete, but amphibious landings are still being discussed.
Based on a suggestion in January by commander-in-chief of the Soviet Navy, Admiral Nikolai Gerasimovich Kuznetsov, a transfer-and-training program at Cold Bay, Alaska, was agreed upon at Yalta. Agreements at Yalta promised the Soviet Union the Kuril Islands and Sakhalin Island for their assistance against Japan, so the forces equipped and trained will be used to land on these islands.
The transfer of naval assets settled upon is 180 ships, including 30 Tacoma-class patrol frigates, 60 minesweepers, 30 landing craft, and a number of auxiliary ships. On 23 March, Soviet personnel began arriving at Cold Bay to be trained by Naval Detachment No. 3294 under the command of Captain William S. Maxwell as part of the top-secret Project Hula.
During today`s Politburo meeting, the topic of expanding the amphibious invasions to the Japanese Home Islands, specifically Hokkaido, comes up. Marshal K. A. Meretskov suggests this, with Vasilevsky`s forces to land at the small port of Rumoi and occupy the northern half of the island. Lieutenant General Nikita Khrushchev supports this plan.
However, Marshal Georgiy Zhukov strongly opposes it, while Foreign Minister Molotov reminds the Politburo that this would be a direct violation of the Yalta Agreement.
Stalin, on the other hand, is intrigued by the idea and allows planning and preparation to continue.
We may see Soviet troops fighting the Japanese on their home turf in August.
Picture: Marshal Vasilevsky with his staff, 1945
Source: Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation
