The U.S. surface naval raid on the Japanese home islands continued with the bombardment of Muroran, a steel making location. Air Force and Navy air raids also continued.
Australian troops captured Mount Batochampar on Borneo.
Blackout restrictions on London's West End were lifted.
Belgium's King Leopold III again refused to abdicate.
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Eisenhower announced the closure of SHAEF.
Eisenhower also eased the fraternization rules between Allied troops and German civilians allowing Allied soldiers to chat and speak to German civilians.
By September nearly all of the rules would be removed.
Fraternization in this context does not mean what people commonly assume it does, but it is more in line with the etymology of the word's origins, from Latin through French: "to sympathize as brothers". Eisenhower, who was first of all an administrator, and highly intelligent, recognized that contact between the Western Allies, and with Americans in particular, would help have a corrosive impact on Prussianized and Nazified German culture. Bans on contacts had already been lifted as to contacts with children, which were impossible to prevent between oversupplied American troops and German children anyhow. The British, contrary to what is often reported in regard to the development in policy, followed suit.
There was really no danger that French troops were going to fraternize to any significant degree with Germans, nor those of any country the Germans had overrun. And of course in Russian controlled territory, where Eisenhower's orders didn't apply rapine Red Army troops simply terrorize and brutalized civilians, and not only Germans.
Be that as it may, the inevitable problem that existed with American troops in particular fraternizing in the wider sense was already there. It had been a problem after World War One during which the American Army had taken steps to stop friendly contacts between Germans and Americans with limited success. At that time, Americans already were noting in letters home that Germany looked more like the US than France did, in that it was more technologically advanced and cleaner. By the end of World War Two this was much more the case, with Americans being shocked by what they deemed the primitive conditions the French and Italians lived in, and impressed with the more advanced state of German municipalities. While its often little noted, a non insignificant number of GIs found themselves not really liking the French and outright horrified by the conditions Italians lived in.
With things being the way they are, even before the end of the war the U.S. Army had trouble keeping soldiers away from German women, which is not to say that all such contacts had only one thing in mind. Having said that, the conditions that followed the havoc of the Eastern Front and the war in general were having a massive impact on German culture even without Eisenhower seeking to step in and direct it. The German military had been huge with a very large number of German men in it. Many of them were killed during the war and many were simply missing by 1945.
A vast number of German men were held as prisoners of war as well. The Western Allies held over 3,150,000 by April 30, 1945. By the end of the war that number was over 7,614,790,with the 425,000 German POWs in 511 main and branch camps. The Soviet Union also held at least 2,733,739, fewer than a person might suspect, actually, reflecting the nature of the combat in the east.
The Western Allies did not, and could not have, repatriated German POWS immediately. The US held German prisoners until 1946 in the US, with it notably being the case that many went from disciplined Nazi soldiers to actually enjoying the last year of their captivity. Reeducation proved unnecessary as they rapidly evolved into democratic Germans in the last months of their captivity.
The point, however, is that with over 10,000,000 German men in captivity, and with millions of German men killed during the war, and with the German citizenry in the east put to flight, nature began to play a role in things very quickly. Hundreds of thousands of German women were left without support in a country that had largely resisted imposing female labor on its citizenry during the war. Man young women knew at an instinctive level that the normal path of finding a lifelong mate had been destroyed. And the collapse of the Nazi system proved to be a bit like tearing a scab off a wound as even the Nazifield population proved capable of abandoning Nazi propaganda pretty rapidly, even if only superficially in some instance.
Added to this, the war itself had damaged domestic life globally. This has been noted in the context of World War Two marriages in the US on this site already. While the German situation was different, it was found that after the war an appreciable number of Germans, both male and female, simply changed identities up to and including abandoning a spouse, missing or not. In some instances German women became outright disgusted with German men and blamed them for the war and the fate they'd suffered, something that was also the case with Japanese women.
By June of 1944, Life magazine was noting:
There’s one blonde Fräulein with braided hair who always walked past two MPs every day on her way to do shopping, swinging her hips from side to side even more noticeably than usual. As she passed she would look slyly at the MPs, tap one hip and utter the word, ‘Verboten.’ […]
In Germany fraternization is officially a matter of high policy. But for the GI it is not a case of policy or of politics or of going out with girls who used to go out with the guys who killed your buddies. You don’t talk politics when you fraternize. It’s more a matter of bicycles and skirts waving in the breeze and a lonesome, combat-weary solder looking warily around the corner to see if a policeman is in sight.”
Ultimately somewhere between 14,000 to 20,000 German women would marry American soldiers after the war, something that stands in remarkable contrast to the French, as only 6,500 French women married US soldiers. Between 10,000 and 100,000 Italian women married U.S. soldiers. 70,000 English women did the same.
If all of this seems a bit odd, it's probably a lot more human than people might suppose. Germany had been heavily propagandized during the Nazi era, but the era was a lot shorter than people like to recall, which is frightening in that Germany descended into madness so quickly. Be that as it may, DNA tends to rule at the end of the day and the Japanese and German examples tend to show that, with the German one perhaps being the most consequential. Nazi Germany had very distinct concepts of what women were to do, which were more than a little perverse. Germany itself was, of course, a Christian nation which the anti Christian Nazi party was seeking to transform into something else, and which it was surprisingly successful in doing in its short period of rule.
The Nazis were heavily invested in an exaggerated martial concept of manliness which failed. By late 1944 the Allies were on Germany's doorstep. Fairly soon German soldiers in the East would outright be fighting to the last man to try to protect German civilians from the Red Army, which is much of the reason that the fighting in 1945 was so much worse in the East than at any time prior to that. German troops did in fact go down fighting in many instances to attempt to give German civilians, including women, the chance to get away, but to a large degree they failed. German men, in other words, were unable to protect German women from rape and death in the East.
In the West, the German military failure had less severe physical consequences, but German manhood failed there too. Cities were destroyed and lives wrecked. The irony, however, was that in the West, the Allies themselves became the protector, and indeed the liberator, of German women. By making them temporarily Verboten, they gave them independence in a way that they had not had since 1932, if ever.
Italy declared war on Japan.
The French flag was formally unfurled at the summit of the Victory Column in Berlin.
The monument celebrated the German victory over France in the Franco Prussian War.
Japanese destroyer Tachibana was sunk in Hakodate Bay by aircraft of the U.S. Navy. The battleships South Dakota, Indiana and Massachusetts, plus two heavy cruisers and 4 destroyers, bombarded the Kamaishi steel works in the first naval gunfire directed against the Japanese home islands.
The Simla Conference ended without a positive result.
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After a flurry of cables from Japan, Japan's Ambassador to the Soviet Union Naotake Sato met with Molotov in a peace feeler through the still neutral Soviet Union.
The Berlin municipal council confiscated all property held by members of the Nazi Party.
The U.S. took responsibility for the sinking of the Japanese hospital ship Awa Maru on April 1, but cited it as an error, which it was.
Gen. Eisenhower issued a farewell message to the AEF.
World War Two American internment camps were shutting down.
Today in World War II History—July 13, 1940 & 1945: 80 Years Ago—July 13, 1945: US War Relocation Authority announces all but one internment camp for Japanese-Americans (Tule Lake) are to close by December 15.
Ben Chifley was chosen as Australian Prime Minister
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Australians landed near Andus on Borneo and took Maradi.
The US dropped napalm on targets on Luzon.
British Field Marshal Montgomery awarded Soviet Marshal Zhukov with the Grand Cross of the Order of Bath, Marshal Rokossovsky with the KCB and Generals Sokolovsky and Malinin with the KBE.
The British King's Company of the Grenadier Guards formed the guard of honor and tanks of the King's 8th Royal Irish Hussars were drawn up on either side.
Concentration camp survivors carried a large cross through Paris in memory of the French victims of the Nazis.
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The first meeting of the Inter-Allied Council for Berlin took place in which the USSR agreed to hand over civilian and military control of West Berlin to the UK and US.
The Japanese destroyer Sakura hit a mine and sank in Osaka Harbor.
The 8th Air Force began to redeploy from Europe to Okinawa, where they were to receive B-29s after initially having a training role. The redeployment of its aircraft to the continental US also began on this day.
The US used napalm on resistant Japanese targets on Luzon.
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Fadil Hoxha became President of the Assembly of Kosovo and Metohija.
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Soviets and Polish Communists began the Augustów roundup targeting anti communists.
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The U-530 surfaced at Mar del Plata, Argentina.
The U.S. Navy launches carrier born raids on Tokyo.
Sentimental Journey remained No. 1 on the music charts.
Look, which was one of the major weeklys of the time (we got it when I was young), sort of reflected that in its weekly issue.
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I wonder how hold the camera's subjects were. Early 20s at the most, I'd guess.
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Dutch troops landed north of Balikpapan, completing the encirclement of the bay.
Chinese troops captured the Tanchuk airbase.
The Brazilian cruiser Bahia accidentally sank itself by hitting itself during antiaircraft firing exercises. 294 men were killed.
Charles de Gaulle proposed a national referendum to decide the system of government in France.
A crowd of 30,000 gathered in Perth for the funeral procession of John Curtin to Karrakatta Cemetery.
A total solar eclipse was visible across parts of the northern hemisphere, including parts of North America.
Life magazine featured a model in a bikini, something that various magazines had been doing a lot of in 1945.
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Private Clarence V. Bertucci murdered nine German POWs at the POW camp at Salina, Utah. He fired a Browning M1917 into their lodgings, only stopping when he ran out of ammunition.
Nineteen were wounded.
Bertucci, who had a previous court martial from his time in the UK, did not deny the killing and was court martialed and found insane. The New Orleans native died in New Orleans in 1969 at age 48.
Australian troops landed at Penajam, Borneo.
From Sarah Sundin's blog:
Today in World War II History—July 8, 1940 & 1945: 80 Years Ago—July 8, 1945: Only international sub-to-sub rescue in history: USS Cod rescues crew of stranded Dutch submarine O-19 in the South China Sea.
The USS Saipan was launched.
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The Japanese carried out the Kalagong massacre, killing villagers in the area after they failed to provide any information about guerrillas in the area.
The Japanese also murdered Peter To Rot, a Catholic from New Guinea, in a bizarre incidence demonstrating the severe Japanese anti Western view and, frankly, the Japanese debasement of the period, which not only reflected itself in murder, but in a chattel slavery view of women and sex. He was executed for defending a woman whom another planned to kidnap and force into a plural marriage, with the Japanese supporting plural marriages in New Guinea (they were not legal in Japan). He was arrested and then later murdered on this day. He will be canonized this October.
Japanese rocket propelled fighter the Mitsubishi J8M made its first flight under it's own power. The test flight was not really a success as the engine stalled. The pilot, Lieutenant Commander Toyohiko Inuzuka, was able to glide the power into a landing, but the plane hit a building. He died the following day.
The plane was intended as a licensed copy of the ME 163. Only seven were built.
Heloísa Pinheiro (Helô Pinheiro), who inspired The Girl from Ipanema, was born.
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Norway declared war on Japan, backdating the act to December 7, 1941.
Occupying Allied forces held a parade in Berlin.
King Michael I of Romania was awarded the Soviet Order of Victory.
The king had been instrumental in deposing the right wing military dictatorship late in the war, and causing Romania to be one of the many European powers to switch sides during the war. a list that included Italy and Finland as well.
President Truman established the Medal of Freedom by executive order, which stated:
Executive Order 9586
by President of the United States
The Medal of Freedom
Executive Order 9587
Signed by President Harry S. Truman Friday, July 6, 1945
By virtue of the authority vested in me as President of the United States and as Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, it is hereby ordered as follows:
There is hereby established a medal to be known as the Medal of Freedom with accompanying ribbons and appurtenances for award to any person, not hereinafter specifically excluded, who, on or after December 7, 1941, has performed a meritorious act or service which has aided the United States in the prosecution of a war against an enemy or enemies and for which an award of another United States medal or decoration is considered inappropriate.
The Medal of Freedom may also be awarded to any person, not hereinafter specifically excluded, who, on or after December 7, 1941, has similarly aided any nation engaged with the United States in the prosecution of a war against a common enemy or enemies.
The Medal of Freedom shall not be awarded to a citizen of the United States for any act or service performed within the continental limits of the United States or to a member of the armed forces of the United States.
The Medal of Freedom and appurtenances thereto shall be of appropriate design, approved by the Secretary of State, the Secretary of War, and the Secretary of the Navy, and may be awarded by the Secretary of State, the Secretary of War, or the Secretary of the Navy, or by such officers as the said Secretaries may respectively designate. Awards shall be made under such regulations as the said Secretaries shall severally prescribe and such regulations shall, insofar as practicable, be of uniform application.
No more than one Medal of Freedom shall be awarded to any one person, but for a subsequent act or service justifying such an award a suitable device may be awarded to be worn with the medal.
The Medal of Freedom may be awarded posthumously.
Harry S. Truman
The award existed until 1963, by which time over 20,000 had been awarded, and was superseded by the Presidential Medal of Freedom which exists at the current time which has a broader application.
Operation Overcast was authorized providing that the US could import captured German scientists.
Nicaragua ratified the United Nations Charter, the first nation to do so.
General Claire Chennault resigned his command of the US 14th Army Air Force in protest to plans to disband it.
Japanese forces attacked the British positions in the Sittang river bend unsuccessfully.
B-29 raids continued over Japan.
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The United Kingdom held a general election.
The Polish Provisional Government of National Unity was recognized by Britain and the United States..
Australian Prime Minister John Curtin died and Frank Forde took his place.
Gen. Spaatz was announced as the air commander for Operation Downfall.
