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WWII - 70 Years Ago


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Thursday, August 30, 1945

 

Japanese Home Front

The occupation of Japan in force is begun by US forces. The 11th Airborne Division is flown to Atsugi Airfield, and the 4th Marines, of the 6th Marine Division, lands at Yokosuka Naval Base.

 

Hong Kong

British naval forces reoccupy the British colony of Hong Kong.

 

India – Burma Theater (Burma)

The 10th Air Force moves the 1st Combat Cargo Group from Burma to China.

 

Southwest Pacific Area

The 5th Air Force relocates the 159th Liaison Squadron (Commando), of the 3rd Air Commando Group, which is attached to the 5th Air Liaison Group (Provisional), with UC-64s and L-5s, from Luzon to Okinawa.

 

Four motor torpedo boats transport 50 Japanese troops from Miti Island to Morotai, to contact scattered units there, to effect a complete surrender.

 

The Liberty ship SS Peter White is damaged by a mine, about 33 miles northwest of Paracale, Luzon. Only four men of the ship's total complement, of 52 merchant sailors, one passenger, and 17 Armed Guards, are injured, and the ship reaches Leyte.

 

Central Pacific Area

The first AACS planes to arrive at Atsugi Airfield are five additional C-47s carrying components to set-up the first airborne radio station in Air Force history. Within a few hours, the first C-54 aircraft of the official occupation forces land at Atsugi and by mid-afternoon Colonel Gordon Blake’s AACS crews direct over 340 takeoffs and landings at the rate of one every two minutes. On August 30, Atsugi was the busiest airport in the world.

 

Landings by the occupation forces begin in the Tokyo Bay area, under cover of guns of the Third Fleet, plus Naval and US Army aircraft.

 

Rear Admiral Robert Carney and Rear Admiral Oscar Badger accept the surrender of the Yokosuka Naval Base, where the headquarters of Commander Third Fleet is established.

 

A conference is held on board the destroyer USS Stack (DD-406), at Truk Atoll, to discuss the surrender of that Japanese base. Brigadier General Leo Hermle, USMC, is the leader of US representatives.

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Friday, August 31, 1945

 

European Theater

The VIII Fighter Command sends a detachment of the 369th and 423rd Bomb Squadrons (Heavy), of the 306th Bomb Group (Heavy), with B-17s, from England to operate from France, to photo-map Europe and Africa.

 

Mediterranean Theater

Colonel Elmer Rogers, Jr., assumes command of the 15th Air Force, until it's inactivation on September 15.

 

Mediterranean Theater, Italian Campaign

The 12th Air Force is inactivated in Italy.

 

Southwest Pacific Area

The Liberty ship SS Joseph Carrigan is damaged by a mine in Brunei Bay, Borneo.

 

Central Pacific Area

Rear Admiral Francis Whiting accepts the surrender of Marcus Island, on board the destroyer USS Bagley (DD-386).

 

Company L, of the 4th Marine’s 3rd Battalion, land at Tateyama Naval Base, Honshu, on the northeastern shore of Sagami Bay, and accept its surrender. They will reconnoiter the beach approaches and cover the landing of the US Army's 112th Cavalry.

 

The Japanese submarine I-401 surrenders to the submarine USS Segundo (SS-398) at the entrance to Tokyo Bay.

 

Japanese merchant vessels sunk/damaged during August, 1945, without the exact dates include:

· The refrigerated cargo ship Banshu Maru, by an unknown cause, or location.

· The cargo ship Eito Maru, by aircraft, off Murozu.

· The cargo ship No.1 Taikai Maru, by aircraft, without a specified location.

· The cargo ship Shincho Maru is damaged by mine, off Ube.

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Saturday, September 1, 1945

 

Southwest Pacific Area

The 13th Air Force moves the 371st and 372nd Bomb Squadrons (Heavy), of the 307th Bomb Group (Heavy), with B-24s, from Morotai Island to Luzon.

 

Central Pacific Area

Two civilian internment camps are located in the Tokyo area. Internees are evacuated on the hospital ship USS Benevolence (AH-13).

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Sunday, September 2, 1945

 

Central Pacific Area

US Navy Task Force 33, commanded by Rear Admiral John Hall, lands army forces at Yokohama.

 

The Japanese surrender the Palau Islands, in a ceremony on board the destroyer escort USS Amick (DE-168).

 

The Japanese surrender Truk Atoll, in ceremony on board the heavy cruiser USS Portland (CA-33).

 

The Japanese surrender Pagan Island, in the northern Marianas, on board the destroyer USS Rhind (DD-404).

 

The Japanese surrender Rota, in the Marianas, in ceremony on board the destroyer escort USS Heyliger (DE-510).

 

The Japanese surrender documents are signed on board the battleship USS Missouri (BB-63), at anchor in Tokyo Bay, surrounded by 280 other Allied warships. The surrender ceremony aboard the USS Missouri is carefully planned, however, as time nears, it is realized that the antique British mahogany table, brought aboard the Missouri for the surrender, is too small for the two large documents that have to be signed. In desperation, an ordinary table from the crew’s mess is drafted as a replacement. It is covered by a green coffee-stained tablecloth from a wardroom.

 

The ceremony lasts twenty three minutes and is broadcast throughout the world. At 9:04 a.m., the surrender documents are first signed by the Japanese foreign minister Mamoru Shigemitsu, “By Command and on behalf of the Emperor of Japan and the Japanese Government.” At 9:06 a.m., General Yoshijirō Umezu, Chief of the Army General Staff, signs the document, “By Command and on behalf of the Japanese Imperial General Headquarters.”

 

At 9:08 a.m., US General of the Army, Douglas MacArthur, the Commander in the Southwest Pacific and Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers, accepts the surrender on behalf of the Allied Powers and signs in his capacity as Supreme Commander.

 

After MacArthur's signature, representatives from other Allied nations sign on behalf of each of the Allied Powers:

· Fleet Admiral Chester Nimitz, for the United States, at 9:12 a.m.

· General Hsu Yung-chang, for China, at 9:13 a.m.

· Admiral Sir Bruce Fraser, for the United Kingdom, at 9:14 a.m.

· Lieutenant General Kuzma Derevyanko, for the Soviet Union, 9:16 a.m.

· General Sir Thomas Blamey, for Australia, at 9:17 a.m.

· Colonel Lawrence Moore Cosgrave, for Canada, at 9:18 a.m.

· Général de Corps d'Armée Philippe Leclerc de Hauteclocque, for France, at 9:20 a.m.

· Lieutenant Admiral C. E. L. Helfrich, for the Netherlands, at 9:21 a.m.

· Air Vice-Marshal Leonard M. Isitt, for New Zealand, at 9:22 a.m.

 

After the two surrender documents are signed, the table is returned to the mess and is being set for lunch until the ship’s captain and others realized its historic significance and removed it for posterity.

 

Throughout the entire 23 minute ceremony, a thick cover of low dark clouds shade Tokyo Bay. As the Japanese delegation begins to disembark, heading down the gangway to their waiting launch, the clouds suddenly open and the sun shines through. It is reported, that at that moment, MacArthur tells Nimitz, “Send them now.” Nimitz repeats the order to another officer, and a few minutes later, over 2,000 Allied planes begin flying over Tokyo. No one knows exactly how long the fly-over takes, but by some accounts, many aircraft circle back and make multiple passes.

 

Now, for the first time since the German remilitarization of the Rhineland, on March 7, 1936, and the Japanese invasion of China, on July 7, 1937, the world is at peace.

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Sunday, September 2, 1945

 

Between December 7, 1941, and September 2, 1945, the Unites States sent 16,353,639 soldiers (men and women, of all services) to war. Of those, 407,316 were killed or listed as missing. Another 671,846 were wounded.

 

Between 1939 and September 2, 1945, the British Empire and Commonwealth sent 17,843,000 soldiers (men and women, of all services) to war and lost 580,407, with another 475,000 wounded.

 

Combined, Germany and Japan sent 26.6 million troops to war. They lost nearly 7,655,000, with almost 6,130,000 wounded.

 

Worldwide, total deaths (military and civilian) are estimated at around 70 million, with another 15 million dead from war related disease and famine. Overall, deaths as a result of the Second World War are estimated to have been over three percent of the world population.

 

Above all else, this was the price of freedom.

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