Saturday, June 30, 1945. Mopping up.

"These five 96th Div. Texans are considered "aces" by their buddies in Co. I, 383rd Inf. Regt., an ace being anyone who has killed five or more Japs. From bottom to top: S/Sgt. Vernon Z. Wilkins, 101 Chicago St., Delhart; Pfc. Albert Welfel, El Campo; Pfc. Richard S. Groce, 318 Lafitte St., San Antonio; PFC Roy D Clepper, Florey; and Pfc. Russell Linnard, of Pharr, Texas. 30 June, 1945. Company I, 383rd Infantry Regiment, 96th Infantry Division."  I wonder what their lives were like after the war.

Today in World War II History—June 30, 1940 & 1945: 80 Years Ago—June 30, 1945: In the Philippines, Luzon is declared secure. Organized Japanese resistance ends on Mindanao in the Philippines.

Sarah Sundin's blog.

Indeed, some Japanese troops would hold out on the Philippines on an individual basis for decades. 

" Jap tankette knocked out in battle for Shuri. Tank is about 10 ft. by four and about five feet in height, and carries two men. Relative size is shown by Lt. M. A. Miller of 94 Parkway Rd., Bronxville, New York. 30 June, 1945. Photographer: Henderson, 3240th Signal Photo Det."  Tankettes were a British concept from between the wars, but had fallen out of favor almost everywhere before World War Two.  Japan, which existed in military isolation, kept them.

American forces on Okinawa completed a week of mop-up operations in which 8,975 Japanese were reported killed and 2,902 captured, showing how intense operations remained.

While not apparent to anyone yet, the U.S. Army and Marine Corps had effectively concluded the main part of their ground fighting in the war.  Ground combat, however, carried on for the British and Dominion armies, and the Chinese Army.

Former U.S. Army Air Force base Liuzhou, China, was recaptured by the Chinese.  They also took Chungchin on the Indochinese border.

The French the 5e REI, a Foreign Legion regiment which had been stationed in Indochina, was deactivated, having been decimated in their retreat into China.

Truman appointed James F. Byrnes to be Secretary of State.

Last edition:

Friday, June 29, 1945. Downfall.

Labels: 1940s, 1945, Harry S. Truman, Japan, Operation Coronet, Operation Downfall, Operation Olympic

Wednesday, June 20, 1945. Japanese surrenders.

Today in World War II History—June 20, 1940 & 1945: Australians take oil fields at Seria on Borneo.

Hard fighting continues on Okinawa, but 1,000 Japanese troops surrendered.

"A Jap prisoner of war and Pfc. John H, Davis, Rt. #1, Whitwell, Tenn, 7th Reconnaissance, 7th Infantry Division, attempt to reach shore on a surf board to coax Japs still entrenched in a cave to surrender and swim to LCI. The attempt was unsuccessful due to the inability of the prisoner of war to swim. 20 June, 1945."

Australians landed at Lutong in eastern Sarawak, Borneo.

The Australian 26th Infantry Brigade captured Hill 90 on Tarakan Island, ending organized Japanese resistance.

The Polish government in exile denies the right of the Soviets to try Polish ministers who had flown to Moscow and were arrested.

The United Nations agreed to let the General Assembly have the right to discuss "any matters within the scope of the charter".

Last edition:

Tuesday, June 19, 1945. Eisenhower's parade.

Labels: 1940s, 1945, British Commonwealth, Collaborators, Dwight Eisenhower, Francisco Franco, Imperial Japanese Army, Luzon, New York, Okinawa, Philippines, Spain, Thailand, United Nations, Weapons, World War Two

 

Why the Marine Corps should adopt the M10 Booker

Sunday, June 17, 1945. Taking Kuishi Ridge.

The last Japanese defensive line was broken on Kuishi Ridge, Okinawa.  The US 7th Division completed the capture of Hills 153 and 115.

"Tec Sgt. Hiroshi Mukaye, Los Angeles, Cal., Japanese Interpreter for the 32nd Infantry Regiment, and S/Sgt. Ralph M. Saito, Ewa, Hawaii, interpreter for the 24th Corps, question this Japanese sailor brought in by the 32nd Infantry Regiment. 17 June. 1945. 32nd Infantry Regiment, 7th Infantry Division. Photo Source: U.S. National Archives. Digitized by Signal Corps Archive."  This photograph is remarkable in that S.Sgt  Santo has his rank drawn onto his fatigue cap in the same approximate size that later black subdued rank insignia would have it.  He also has his rank printed on the lapels of his fatigue shirt, which would anticipate the practice of the 1960s, although not in that location.

The 37th Infantry Division captured Naguilian on Luzon.  

Last edition:

Saturday, June 16, 1945. Oppenheimer writes a letter. Bell Bottom Trousers hits the charts. Belgians debate the return of a king. Sugar for canning.

Labels: 1940s, 1945, Belgium, Food, Greek Civil War, Horse Racing, Japanese Empire, Kamikaze, Manhattan Project, Music, Okinawa, Operation Ten-Go, Pop Music, Rationing, Robert Oppenheimer, Weapons, World War Two

Wednesday, June 13, 1945. Taking the Oruku Peninsula.

The Australian 9th Infantry Division captured Brunei.

Okinawa, June 13, 1945.

Japanese resistance on Okinawa's Oruku peninsula came to an end.  Marines took 169 Japanese POWs and found 200 dead, a surprising figure given Japanese unwillingness to surrender.

Admiral Minoru Ōta, age 54, killed himself on Okinawa.

U.S. Army ordnance experts claimed that German plans to attack the United States with rockets, Projekt Amerika, might have been realized by November 1945.

The German design, a development of the V-2 but significantly different, actually would have required a pilot, as existing guidance systems were regarded as inadequate.

Last edition:

Tuesday, June 12, 1945. The suicide of the Japanese Marines.

Labels: 1940s, 1945, Army, Blog Mirror, Dwight Eisenhower, Imperial Japanese Marines, Italy, New York, Okinawa, Philippines, Railroads, United States Marine Corps, World War Two

Tuesday, June 12, 1945. The suicide of the Japanese Marines.

Today in World War II History—June 12, 1940 & 1945: 80 Years Ago—June 12, 1945: US Marines make push for final pocket of Japanese forces on Okinawa; hundreds of Japanese Marines commit suicide.

Sarah Sundin's blog.

On Okinawa, US troops took the Yaeju Dake escarpment.

Allied forces occupied Trieste.

Dwight D. Eisenhower received the Freedom of the City of London and the Order of Merit.  In receiving them, he stated:

Humility must always be the portion of any man who receives acclaim earned in blood of his followers and sacrifices of his friends.

The Visayan Islands, including Samar, Negros, Panay, Leyte, Cebu, and Bohol, between Luzon and Mindanao, were secured by American forces. 

Penn Station, June 12, 1945.

Niecey Brown, a 74-year-old Black woman, died from injuries after an off-duty white police officer forcibly entered her house and beat her with a bottle in Selma, Alabama.

Last edition:

Monday, June 11, 1945. King gets another term. . . but it's a minority government.

Labels: 1940s, 1945, Army, Canada, China, Conscientious Objectors, Court, Imperial Japanese Army, Marine co, Okinawa, William Lyon Mackenzie King, World War Two

Saturday, June 9, 1945. Parade.

Yugoslavia agreed to evacuate Trieste so that claims to who should administer it could be resolved.

Ultimately the city would go to Italy.

Japanese Prime Minister Kantarō Suzuki told the Diet that Japan would "fight to the last."

"One rifleman reloads, and another fires in the 96th Infantry Division's advance to capture Big Apple Hill, scene of intense fighting on Okinawa 9 June, 1945.  96th Infantry Division."  The firing soldier is carrying a M1911 handgun and appears to be carrying a Japanese one in a shoulder holster as well.  The other solder is carrying a combat knife on his belt.

Marines surrounded Japanese forces on Okinawa's Oroku peninsula.

The 37th Infantry Division captured Bagabag on Luzon. The  24th Infantry Division took Mandog on Mindanao

A victory parade was held in Los Angeles for George S. Patton and James Doolittle.

Last edition:

Friday, June 8, 1945. Battle of Porton Plantation

Labels: 1940s, 1945, Army, Australian Navy, Battle of Porton Plantation, Bougainville, French Resistance Movements, Imperial Japanese Army, Korea, New Zealand Army, Philippines, Theresienstadt, World War Two

Monday, June 4, 1945. Marines land on the Oroku Peninsula on Okinawa.

Today in World War II History—June 4, 1940 & 1945: 80 Years Ago—June 4, 1945: US Marines land behind Japanese lines on Oroku Peninsula on Okinawa.

US Office of Civilian Defense is inactivated.

From Sarah Sundin's excellent blog.

The Progressive Conservative Party took control in Ontario's election and would retain power for the next 40 years.

Churchill made a gaff in an election broadcast by claiming that the  Labour Party, if elected, would cause the creation of "some form of Gestapo".

Paul Ferdonet, the "Radio Traitor" of Stuttgart, was arrested by French troops in Bavaria.

Last edition:

Sunday, June 3, 1945. French escorted out of Damascus.

Labels: 1940s, 1945, Blog Mirror, British Army, French Army, French League of Nation Mandates, Okinawa, Syria, Syria (Damascus), United States Marine Corps, World War Two

Sunday, June 3, 1945. French escorted out of Damascus.

Today in World War II History—June 3, 1940 & 1945: 80 Years Ago—June 3, 1945: French troops leave Damascus, escorted by the British. US Marines land on Iheya Shima in the Ryukyu Islands northwest of Okinawa.

Last edition

Saturday, June 2, 1945. Pope Pius XII gave an address to the College of Cardinals

Labels: 1940s, 1945, Artillery, F. E. Warren AFB, Ft. D.A. Russell, Luzon, Music, Philippines, Swing Music, The written word, United Nations, USSR, World War Two, Wyoming

Tuesday, June 2, 1925. A headache becomes history, Marines in Shanghai, and Amundsen lost

A headache becomes history

Marines in Shanghai and Amundsen lost.

Last edition: 

Monday, June 1, 1925. Lou Gehrig's Streak Begins

Labels: 1920s, 1925, baseball, Blog Mirror, Catholic, Education, Lou Gehrig, Oregon, religion

Wednesday, May 30, 1945. Czech reprisals.

The forced expulsion of ethnic Germans from Brno began.

The French Army took control of the parliament building in Damascus while French aircraft bombed other parts of the city.

On Okinawa US forces reached Shuri and the southeast edge of Naha.

Last edition:

Tuesday, May 29, 1945. Hitting Yokohama.

Labels: 1940s, 1945, Artillery, French Army, French League of Nation Mandates, Japan, Okinawa, Second Sandakan Death March, Syria, U.S. Air Force, World War Two

US Marine achieves feat not done since 1959 during USMC Marksmanship Championship Competition

US Marine achieves feat not done since 1959 during USMC Marksmanship Championship Competition: MARINE CORPS BASE QUANTICO, Va. – U.S. Marines from across the Corps competed in the annual U.S. Marine Corps Marksmanship Championship Competition on MCB Quantico, April 10-18.

Sunday, May 20, 1945. Contracting in China.

Chocolate Drop Hill on Okinawa was taken by U.S. troops.  The final fighting was in interconnected tunnels.

The 1st Marine Division captured Wana Ridge on Okinawa.  Marines also conducted mopping up operations on Horseshoe and Half Moon using flamethrowers, resulting in a desperate Japanese counterattack that ends with 200 Japanese troops killed.

The US took Malaybalay on Mindanao.

The Japanese Army evacuated Hochih, China as the Imperial Japanese General Staff decided to deploy forces closer to the Japanese Home Islands.

The Japanese had secured enormous territorial gains in China with a just completed offensive, and yet there was a massive amount of China left, the same problem the Japanese had been faced with since 1932 when they first began to fight in the country.  In many ways, for the Japanese, World War Two was principally about China, and now it was faced with the reality that being tied down there was contributing enormously to its losing in the war.

The Soviets appointed Soviet authorities appointed Dr. Arthur Werner as the Oberbergermeister of the Berlin.  The appointment would be shortly confirmed by the Western Allies.

He was not a Communist and had not been a Nazi. An engineer, he had lost his teaching position in 1942.

Last edition:

Saturday, May 19, 1945. Landing in Syria and Lebanon.

Labels: 1940s, 1945, Australian Army, French Army, Indonesia, It was because of World War Two, Lebanon, Nazi Party, Okinawa, Pacific, Syria, World War Two

Beasts of Burden

Thursday, May 15, 1975. The Raid on Koh Tang.

A Marine Corps raid on Koh Tang island took back the Mayaguez, which they found deserted, while a Navy air raid destroyed the now Khmer Rouge run Cambodian navy.  

Eighteen Marines were killed in combat and an additional 23 in a helicopter crash in the raid.  Khmer forces were much larger than anticipated and resistance heavy.  The helicopter passengers were not fully accounted for when the withdrawal occurred and it was later determined that three of the Marines (Joseph N. Hargrove, Gary L. Hall, and Danny G. Marshall) a shall) and two Navy medics (Bernard Guase and Ronald Manning) may have been alive when they were left behind on the island.

Sailing under a white flag, a Cambodian vessel brought thirty Americans to the destroyer USS Wilson.

It is really this date, and not the one that was declared several days earlier, that should be regarded as the end of the Vietnam War Era, as this was really the last combat in the US's involvement in the Indochinese War, of which the Vietnam War was part.  It interesting came to an end somewhat in the way in which it had started in earnest, with Marines being deployed over a ship, as they would be because of the Gulf of Tonkin incident.

Last edition:

Wednesday, May 14, 1975. Hmong evacuation.

Labels: 1940s, 1947, 1950s, 1956, 1970s, 1973, 1975, 2020s, 2025, Hmong People, House Committee on Un-American Affairs, Immigration, Laos, Laotian Civil War, Movies, Personalities, The written word

Tuesday, April 29, 1975. The start of Operation Frequent Wind.

The order was given to carry out Operation Frequent Wind, the evacuation of Americans and some South Vietnamese from the country.

Marine Corps Security Guards Corporal Charles McMahon and Lance Corporal Darwin L. Judge became the last American servicemen to be killed in Vietnam.  They were killed by North Vietnamese artillery fire.

Their bodies were left behind and the North Vietnamese buried them in a Saigon cemetery.  The bodies were returned to the US on February 22, 1976.

Last edition:

Monday, April 28, 1975. Ordering the ARVN to hold on.

Labels: 1970s, 1975, Army of the Republic of Vietnam, Dương Văn Minh, North Vietnamese Air Force, Saigon Vietnam, South Vietnam, South Vietnamese Air Force, The Fall of Saigon, Vietnam War