The British and ANZAC troops gave up ground at Chunuk Bair.
The German Navy cleared the Gulf of Riga of mines and entered it, but withdrew after the SMS Moltke was hit by a torpedo from a British submarine.
The British liner Arabic was sunk by the U-24. The U-27 was sunk by the HMS Baralong.
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The U-977 surrendered at Mar del Plata, Argentina. It had left Kiel on April 13th and had sunk a Soviet ship in the Arctic before the end of the war, and the start of its really long journey.
The crew actually intended to defect to Argentina, freighted by a late war Goebbels broadcast which stated the Morgenthau plan intended to turn Germany into a "goat pasture" and that German men were to be sterilized. The commander, Oblt.z.S. Schäffer, allowed those who did not want to go to be put ashore in Germany, and sixteen were. The hopes were to integrated into Argentina's German community. He personally stated:
I left Kristiansand S. on 2 May 1945, normally equipped, and under orders to proceed to the Channel, (i.e. English Channel).
A few days later I picked up fragments of signals, which I suspected of being the work of enemy deception. When, however, these signals were not cancelled, I had to assume that the radio stations had fallen into enemy hands and that we had lost the war. The fact that the uncoded signals signed “Allied Committee” were coming through, convinced me that the orders contained in these signals were illegitimate and not in agreement with the German High Command. When we began our patrol, an official slogan had been posted on all Naval establishments and ships which said: The enemy shall find in Germany nothing but rats and mice. We will never capitulate. Better death than slavery.
It must be remembered that radio reception on board the U-977 was only sporadic since, for tactical reasons, we only occasionally came to Schnorchel depth. However, enough signals had been received so that I no longer had any superiors, and that I was relieved of my oath. In any case, I did not feel obligated without direct orders from my government to accept enemy orders.
I no longer considered my ship as a man-of-war, but as a means of escape, and I tried to act for the best interests of all aboard. I respected the wishes of members of my crew insofar as they did not imperil the ship or cause damage to it.
One of my main reasons in deciding to proceed to the Argentine was based on German propaganda, which claimed that the American and British newspapers advocated that at the end of the war, all German men be enslaved and sterilized. Another consideration was the bad treatment and long delay in return home suffered by German prisoners-of-war held in France at the end of World War I. Then again, of course, the hope of better living conditions in the Argentine.
It was absolutely my intention to deliver the boat undamaged into Allied hands, while doing the best I could for my crew. I felt that the ship’s engines might be a valuable adjunct to the reconstruction of Europe. I carried out these intentions and delivered the boat in perfect condition.
In fact they were extradited to the US where they faced charges of having sunk a Brazilian ship after the war, which the US, based upon Argentine information, concluded they could not have done, and then to the UK, where they were accused of having landed German officials in Argentina prior to surrendering, which they also did not do.
Schäffer wrote a book about the boat and its escape after the war. The entire event gave rise to long lasting rumors and myths as to what the boat was doing.
Hirohito issued a letter to the officers and men of the Japanese military.
TO THE OFFICERS AND MEN OF THE IMPERIAL FORCES:
Three years and eight months have elapsed since we declared war on the United States and Britain. During this time our beloved men of the army and navy, sacrificing their lives, have fought valiantly on disease-stricken and barren lands and on tempestuous waters in the blazing sun, and of this we are deeply grateful.
Now that the Soviet Union has entered the war against us, to continue the war under the present internal and external conditions would be only to increase needlessly the ravages of war finally to the point of endangering the very foundation of the Empire's existence
With that in mind and although the fighting spirit of the Imperial Army and Navy is as high as ever, with a view to maintaining and protecting our noble national policy we are about to make peace with the United States, Britain, the Soviet Union and Chungking.
To a large number of loyal and brave officers and men of the Imperial forces who have died in battle and from sicknesses goes our deepest grief. At the same time we believe the loyalty and achievements of you officers and men of the Imperial forces will for all time be the quintessence of our nation.
We trust that you officers and men of the Imperial forces will comply with our intention and will maintain a solid unity and strict discipline in your movements and that you will bear the hardest of all difficulties, bear the unbearable and leave an everlasting foundation of the nation.
This is likely the message mentioned in yesterday's entry, but I'm noting it here, as this is the date I had for it.
Indonesia, where Japanese occupation had not been wholly unwelcome, declared independence the Netherlands. They'd have to fight for it.
The declaration was read by Sukarno, with a Japanese officer standing nearby. The Dutch had not reoccupied the islands.
Sukarno had been a pre war prisoner of the Dutch, and had been freed from incarceration by the Japanese. The Dutch, for that matter, were really hated colonial masters, and nobody was keen about their return, including the British.
The Battle of Tianmen was fought between warlord and Japanese troops turned Nationalist and the Communist in China. The Communists prevailed.
This was small battle, and 1/3d of the troops were Japanese.
Oppenheimer wrote Henry Stimson.
From: J R Oppenheimer
To: Henry Stimson, Secretary of War
Date: August 17, 1945
Dear Mr. Secretary:
The Interim Committee has asked us to report in some detail on the scope and program of future work in the field of atomic energy. One important phase of this work is the development of weapons; and since this is the problem which has dominated our war time activities, it is natural that in this field our ideas should be most definite and clear, and that we should be most confident of answering adequately the questions put to us by the committee. In examining these questions we have, however, come on certain quite general conclusions, whose implications for national policy would seem to be both more immediate and more profound than those of the detailed technical recommendations to be submitted. We, therefore, think it appropriate to present them to you at this time.
1. We are convinced that weapons quantitatively and qualitatively far more effective than now available will result from further work on these problems. This conviction is motivated not alone by analogy with past developments, but by specific projects to improve and multiply the existing weapons, and by the quite favorable technical prospects of the realization of the super bomb.
2. We have been unable to devise or propose effective military counter-measures for atomic weapons. Although we realize that future work may reveal possibilities at present obscure to us, it is our firm opinion that no military countermeasures will be found which will be adequately effective in preventing the delivery of atomic weapons.
The detailed technical report in preparation will document these conclusions, but hardly alter them.
3. We are not only unable to outline a program that would assure to this nation for the next decades hegemony in the field of atomic weapons; we are equally unable to insure that such hegemony, if achieved, could protect us from the most terrible destruction.
4. The development, in the years to come, of more effective atomic weapons, would appear to be a most natural element in any national policy of maintaining our military forces at great strength; nevertheless we have grave doubts that this further development can contribute essentially or permanently to the prevention of war. We believe that the safety of this nation – as opposed to its ability to inflict damage on an enemy power – cannot lie wholly or even primarily in its scientific or technical prowess. It can be based only on making future wars impossible. It is our unanimous and urgent recommendation to you that, despite the present incomplete exploitation of technical possibilities in this field, all steps be taken, all necessary international arrangements be made, to this one end.
5. We should be most happy to have you bring these views to the attention of other members of the Government, or of the American people, should you wish to do so.
Very sincerely,
J. R. Oppenheimer
The latest edition of Yank was out.
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A new book was also out.
Orwell's Animal Farm was published.
I'll confess, I have not read it.
The British government announced the intent to introduce socialized medicine. It also announced that 38,000 British soldiers and 112,000 British civilians were being held by the Japanese as prisoners.
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The 1915 Galveston Hurricane approached the coast of Texas.
The storm was on the cover of the local Casper paper, as well as news of ongoing border problems.
The Battle of the Gulf of Riga took place in which the German battleships SMS Nassau and Posen led over 30 torpedo boats to breach Russian naval defenses in the Baltic Sea gulf but lost a destroyer and a minesweeper during the attack. An attempt to land German troops during the attack failed.
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The HMT Royal Edward was sunk by the UB-14.
The Bisson sak the Austro Hungarian submarine U-3.
The British liner Campania was grounded by the 1915 Galveston Hurricane, at Galveston.
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Constitutionalist Gen. Pablo Gonzáles Garza entered Mexico City
Sheriff's Deputy Constable Pablo Falcon and Deputy Sheriff Encarnacion Cuellar were shot and killed when they were ambushed by six men at a dance hall three miles from Brownsville, Texas. They are asserted to be the first victims of the Plan of San Diego, with it being ironic in that they were both Hispanic. Other causes for the ambush have been theorized.
The Germans scuttled the cruiser SMS Königsberg in the Rufiji River, German East Africa following the vessel being heavily damaged in action against the Royal Navy.
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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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The Royal Navy sank the Haguro ending the Battle of Malacca Strait. Admiral Kaju Saguira, age 49, was one of the casualties.
Fourteen U-boats surrendered to convoys in the Arctic.
The British liberated Alderney.
Heavy fighting occurred on Okinawa with the Japanese succeeding in knocking out some U.S. tanks.
Physicist Leo Szilard wrote a letter to J. Robert Oppenheimer trying to convince him that atomic bombs shouldn't be used against Japan.
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Louis J. Hauge Jr. performed the actions that resulted in his being awarded a posthumous Medal of Honor.
For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty as Leader of a Machine-Gun Squad serving with Company C, First Battalion, First Marines, First Marine Division, in action against enemy Japanese forces on Okinawa Shima in the Ryūkyū Chain on 14 May 1945. Alert and aggressive during a determined assault against a strongly fortified Japanese Hill position, Corporal Hauge boldly took the initiative when his company's left flank was pinned down under a heavy machine-gun and mortar barrage with resultant severe casualties and, quickly locating the two machine guns which were delivering the uninterrupted stream of enfilade fire, ordered his squad to maintain a covering barrage as he rushed across an exposed area toward the furiously blazing enemy weapons. Although painfully wounded as he charged the first machine-gun, he launched a vigorous single-handed grenade attack, destroyed the entire hostile gun position and moved relentlessly forward toward the other emplacement despite his wounds and the increasingly heavy Japanese fire. Undaunted by the savage opposition, he again hurled his deadly grenades with unerring aim and succeeded in demolishing the second enemy gun before he fell under the slashing fury of Japanese sniper fire. By his ready grasp of the critical situation and his heroic one-man assault tactics, Corporal Hauge had eliminated two strategically placed enemy weapons, thereby releasing the besieged troops from an overwhelming volume of hostile fire and enabling his company to advance. His indomitable fighting spirit and decisive valor in the face of almost certain death reflect the highest credit upon Corporal Hauge and the United States Naval Service. He gallantly gave his life in the service of his country.
Marines reached the top of Sugar Loaf Hill on Okinawa and captured the airfield at Yonabaru.
The Battle of Poljana commenced outside of Poljana, Slovenia between the Yugoslav Army and a column of 30,000 retreating Axis soldiers, consisting of members of the Wehrmacht, the Croatian Armed Forces, the Montenegrin People's Army, the Serbian Volunteer Corps, the Slovene Home Guard, and the 15th Waffen SS Cossack Cavalry Corps.
Army Group Kurland surrendered to the Red Army.
The provisional government of Austria nullified the 1938 Anschluss, abolished the Nazi Party and repealed all Nazi-era laws.
U-boat commander Wolfgang Lüth, age 31, German U-boat ace was shot and killed by a German sentry of the still functioning Mürwik Naval Academy when he failed to return a call sign. He was given a state funeral.
The US Army announced the discovery of millions of dollars worth of stolen ar by the Nazis and 100 tons of gold bars and currency hidden in a salt mine located on the Losa Plateau in Austria.
The concentration camp at Ebensee was liberated.
Marines reached the top of Sugar Loaf Hill on Okinawa and captured the airfield at Yonabaru.
Herbert J. Grant, president of the LDS church, died at age 88. He was the lasts surviving member of the LDS Council of Fifty and the last one to have been a polygamist, although he enforced the LDS change in the position. At the time of his death, only one of his three wives was living.
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The US Fifth Army launched a major offensive in the Po Valley, joining an ongoing British offensive.
The US 3rd Army captured Bayreuth.
Admiral Karl Dönitz grouped six U-boats into Wolfpack Seewolf and ordered them to the Atlantic to tie down Allied forces in the region, which seems rather naive under the circumstances.
Anticipating future weapons development, the Allies thought that the U-boats would position themselves to launch V-1 or V-2 rockets on the Eastern US coast, and launched Operation Teardrop to sink them.
Himmler ordered that all of the prisoners at DAchau were to be murdered.
A memorial for Franklin Roosevelt was held in the East Room of the White House.
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The Germans fired their last V-2 rockets killing 200 civilians in England and Belgium.
The US captured Cebu City.
Argentina declared war on the Axis, after having been sympathetic to it for much of the war.
The Royal Navy sank the U-722.
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The Battle of Iwo Jima officially ended in a U.S. victory following a final Japanese suicide attack. Japanese commander Tadamichi Kuribayashi is believed to have died on or around this date, probably killed in action. Some Japanese holdouts would fight on beyond this date.
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The Battle for Cebu City began in the Philippines.
The USS Halligan was irreparably damaged by a mine off of Okinawa.
The U-399 was sunk off of Land's End by the HMS Duckworth.
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Hitler issued the Nero Decree, which stated:
I. Hitler’s Order of March 19, 1945
RE: Destruction Measures within Reich Territory
Our nation’s struggle for existence forces us to utilize all means, even within Reich territory, to weaken the fighting power of our enemy and to prevent further advances. Any opportunity to inflict lasting damage on the striking power of the enemy must be taken advantage of. It is a mistake to believe that undestroyed or only temporarily paralyzed traffic, communications, industrial, and supply installations will be useful to us again after the recapture of lost territories. During his retreat, the enemy will leave behind only scorched earth and will abandon all concern for the population.
I therefore command
1. All military traffic, communications, industrial and supply installations as well as objects within Reich territory that might be used by the enemy in the continuation of his fight, either now or later, are to be destroyed.
2. It is the responsibility of the military command posts to execute this order to destroy all military objects, including traffic and communications installations.
The Gauleiters and Commissioners for Reich Defense are responsible for destroying the industrial and supply installations, as well as of other objects of valuable; the troops must give the Gauleiters and Commissioners for Reich Defense the assistance they need to carry out this task.
3. This command is to be transmitted to all troop commanders as promptly as possible; orders to the contrary are null and void.
Adolf Hitler
Albert Speer and various officers of the Wehrmacht conspired against its implementation.
Ostensibly a war measure, at this point in the war Hitler was lashing out against the German people themselves, whom he was punishing for, in his mind, having failed him by losing the war, something he now clearly knew had occurred.
Also at this point, internal German attitudes were rapidly changing. While still fighting in the field, German troops were now surrendering in large numbers to the Western Allies, rather than die in the final weeks of the war. German commanders, including some in the SS, were seeking to make back deals with the Western Allies, unsuccessfully, and without Hitler's knowledge. Some were preparing for their own post war futures. Members of the German government and military were starting to conspire to save what they could.
Again, there's a lesson here. Hitler was a populist politician who had risen to power backed by lies. His policies inevitably lead Germany to shame and ruin. Rather than resign when things turned bad, he hung on, supported by fanatic supporters, and in the end sought to destroy the very country he claimed to represent.
All U-boats in the Baltic were transferred to the west.
The British Indian Army took Mandalay.
The USS Franklin was hit by kamikazes and badly damaged.
724 men were killed and 265 wounded. Captain Gehres regarded those who had jumped into the sea during the event as having acted improperly, leading to post incident tension and ultimately his relief. She'd return to service and was ultimately stricken in 1964.
The Soviet Union notified Turkey that their non aggression pact would not be renewed after it expired in November. It demanded territorial concessions from Turkey, which Turkey rejected.
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