Monday, May 28, 1945. Memorial Day.

The USS Drexler was sunk in a kamikaze attack.  100 Japanese aircraft were shot down on the same day, bringing to an end the Japanese air offensive.

William Joyce, "Lord Haw Haw", was arrested by the British in Flensburg.

Queen Wilhelmina returned to the Netherlands.

The Royal Navy stopped the convoy system in the Atlantic, Arctic and Indian Oceans.

Admiral Halsey, commanding US 3rd Fleet, took command of American naval forces operating against targets in Japan.

French forces and Syrians engaged in combat against each other.

John Fogerty of Creedence Clearwater Revival was born.

It was Memorial Day.

Last edition:

Sunday, May 27, 1945. Reversals of fortune in China.

Labels: 1940s, 1945, boats and ships, Burma, China, China Burma India Theater, Chinese National Army, Holidays, Kamikaze, Memorial Day, Okinawa, Operation Ten-Go, World War Two

Sunday, May 27, 1945. Reversals of fortune in China.

The 6th Army captured Santa Fe and attacked around Wawa Dam on Luzon.

Chinese troops completed the occupation of Nanning, the capital of Kwangsi Province, cutting off the main Japanese supply route from French Indochina, Thailand, Malaya and Burma.

The Chinese 6th Army was air transported from Burma to China, the first time an entire army was moved by air.

Heavy fighting occurred on Okinawa.  Off of Okinawa the USS Drexler was sunk by Japanese aircraft.

Rudolf Querner, age 51, German SS officer and police leader committed suicide as the odd process of Germany somewhat denazifying itself continued to occur in this fashion.

Last edition:

Saturday, May 26, 1945. The Homecoming.

Labels: 1940s, 1945, Burma, Daily Living, Music, Norman Rockwell, Okinawa, Tokyo Japan, U.S. Air Force, World War Two

Friday, May 25, 1945. The Clock.

"A Battery, 465 FA Bn) located near Ballette Pass, Luzon, P.I.) in the 25th Div, one of action. Pfc R. Duffy; Pfc T. McDonald; Pfc A. Mullins; Pfc T. Kaskie; Pvt A. Rossetti; Capt H. W. Berberian; T/4 F. Grogorowich; Cpl D. Marcus; Cpl K. Cameron; Pfc J. Sullivan; Pfc E. Colby all of Boston, Mass, load the prepare to fire an 8 in gun. The Japs are located on a ridge about, 500 yds forward this position. 25 May, 1945.  465th Field Artillery Battalion."   This gun appears to be a 155mm "Long Tom", a long range artillery piece.  If this caption is correct, it's a freakish situation in that the gun is so close to the front lines.

The Battle of Odžak between Yugoslav (communist) partisans and the fascist Croatian Armed Forces ended in a Yugoslav partisan victory.  Fighting ended in Europe.

The American armed forces Chiefs of Staff set November 1, 1945 as the start date for the invasion of Japan.

USS Bates (APD-47) burning off Ie Shima, Ryukyu Islands, after being hit by three kamikazee.  May 25, 1945.

MGM released the wartime romance, The Clock.

The plot centers around a whirlwind romance of a soldier on leave and a woman he meets, taking place in 48 hours.  They meet and marry in that time frame.

Suffice it to say, a marriage contracted that rapidly would be risky.

The Post World War Two increase in divorces. . . maybe.*

On this general topic, I rewated The Best Years of Our Lives Friday night.  What struck me in rewatching it was the casual acceptance of divorce in the film.  Perhaps that's stretching it, but two of the central characters are involved, in a way, in a sort of semi illicit love affair, and are portrayed sympathetically.

The other thing that struck me, which has before, is that Cpt. Derry is shown to have nothing beyond a (presumed) high school education. That would be correct for his wartime role, but it would not have occurred very often any time post war, after which college educations became the norm for officers.

Last edition:

Thursday, May 24, 1945. Japanese paratroopers on Okinawa.

Labels: 1940s, 1945, Army, Atlanta Georgia, Australian Army, Bernard Law Montgomery, Charles de Gaulle, German Luftwaffe, Imperial Japanese Army, New Guinea, Okinawa, Tokyo Japan, U.S. Air Force, World War Two

Friday, May 11, 1945. The USS Bunker Hill.

The USS Bunker Hill was badly damaged by kamikaze attacks, something that had been an unrelenting feature of the Japanese defense of Okinawa as part of Operation Ten-Go.

The Battle of West Henan–North Hubei ended in tactical stalemate but a Japanese operational victory.

Soldiers of the US Army who had commenced combat with Operation Torch and who had gone on to serve in Europe were exempted from further combat deployment.  Fighting was still raging all over the Pacific, with troops meeting stiff resistance in New Guinea, the Philippines, and Okinawa as examples.

Soldiers at a familiarization course for newly arrived soldiers on Okinawa, May 11, 1945.

The Australians took Wewak, New Guinea.

The Red Army continued to encounter German units that had not yet surrendered.  In Yugoslavia German Group Ostmark refused to surrender and kept fighting Yugoslav forces.

German forces began to surrender in the Aegean.

Last edition:

Thursday, May 10, 1945. Guderian surrenders.

Labels: 1940s, 1945, Channel Islands, Czechoslovakia, France, Luzon, Okinawa, Prague Czechoslovakia, Prisoners of War, Red Army, World War Two

Saturday, April 7, 1945. Desperate efforts.

The Japanese Imperial Navy launched an ill advised doomed kamikaze attack with ten warships, including the Yamato off of Okinawa.  The Yamato was sun k with a loss of 2,055 of its 2,332 crewmembers, and five other Japanese ships went down as well.

The Luftwaffe also engaged in a suicide mission, sending out 120 student pilots about against a 1,000 plane US raid.  They were to ram their aircraft into the Americans ones, and hopefully parachute out.

Most of the pilots missed their targets and most were shot down.

Operation Amherst commenced which saw the Free French and SAS launch an effort to capture Dutch canals, bridges and airfields intact.

Kantarō Suzuki replaced Kuniaki Koiso as Prime Minister of Japan.

Last edition:

Friday, April 6, 1945. Operation Ten-Go.

Labels: 1940s, 1945, Australian Army, Bougainville, Imperial Japanese Navy, Italy, Kamikaze, Okinawa, Operation Grapeshot, Operation Ten-Go, U.S. Navy, World War Two

Friday, April 6, 1945. Operation Ten-Go.

Operation Grapeshot, the Allied Spring offensive in Italy, began.

Australians on Bougainville, where fighting was still ongoing, prevailed in the Battle of Slater's Knoll.

"Men of U.S. Tenth Army make their way through a mine field, detonating mines with their own cannon. Okinawa. 6 April, 1945. 6 April, 1945."

Massive kamikaze attacks take place off of Okinawa in Operation Ten-Go, a full scale suicide attack involving surface and aircraft assets.  The Yamamoto leaves for Okinawa with only enough fuel to get there, where the plan is to beach the ship and fight in that fashion.

American destroyers Bush, Colhoun, Leutze, Morris, Mullany, Newcomb, Rodman and Witter hit by kamikazes off Okinawa. The Bush and Colhoun were sunk and the Leutze and Necomb were subsequently declared constructive total losses.

The Japanese destroyer Amatsukaze was beached at Amoy after an attack by American B-25s.

Last edition:

Thursday, April 5, 1945. Rebellion of the Georgian Legion.

Labels: 1940s, 1945, boats and ships, Chester Nimitz, Diplomacy, Douglas MacArthur, Freeman Field Mutiny, German Wehrmacht, Japan, Operation Downfall, Pacific, Racism, U.S. Air Force, USSR, World War Two