Posted on 07/09/2015 5:20:38 AM PDT by Homer_J_Simpson
http://www.etherit.co.uk/month/6/09.htm
July 9th, 1945 (MONDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM:
Salvage vessel HMS Salviola launched
Minesweeper HMS Myrmidion commissioned.
FRANCE: Paris: De Gaulle proposes a national referendum to decide France’s system of government.
JAPAN: Japan is being bombed by aircraft from both Okinawa and the Mariana Islands.
- During the night of 9/10 July, 571 B-29 Superfortresses of the XXI Bomber Command in the Marianas fly 1 mining, 1 bombing and 5 incendiary missions against Japan; 3 B-29s are lost; the mining raid is the beginning of Phase V of Operation STARVATION, the blockade of Japan.
- Mission 256: 29 B-29s mine Shimonoseki Strait and the waters at Niigata and Nanao; 1 other mines other targets; 1 B-29 is lost. This is the beginning of Phase V of the mining campaign to establish a total blockade of the Japanese home islands.
- Mission 257: 123 B-29s attack the Senai urban area destroying 1.22 sq mi (3.16 sq km), 27% of the city area; 1 other B-29 hits an alternate target; 1 B-29 is lost.
- Mission 258: 115 B-29s attack the Sakai urban area destroying 1.02 sq mi (2.64 sq km), 44% of the city area; 3 other B-29s hit alternate targets.
- Mission 259: 108 B-29s hit the Wakayama urban area destroying 2.1 sq mi (5.44 sq km), 52.5% of the city area.
- Mission 260: 129 B-29s attack the Gifu urban area destroying 1.93 sq mi (5.0 sq km), 74% of the city area; 1 B-29 is lost.
- Mission 261: 61 B-29s attack the Utsube Oil Refinery at Yokkaichi with poor results; 1 hits an alternate target.
102 Iwo Jima Island-based P-51s hit airfields at Itami, Hamamatsu, Aichi, and Washinomiya, claiming 1-0-0 aircraft in the air and 15-5 on the ground; 3 P-51s are lost.
- 43 Fifth Air Force B-24s from Okinawa bomb Omura Airfield, Kyushu (1 other bombs the airfield on Kikaiga-shima, Amami Islands, Ryukyu Islands) and 50+ Okinawa-based B-25s hit Tokuno Airfield on Tokuno Shima, Amami Islands.
SOUTH CHINA SEA: During the night of 9/10 July, the submarine USS Cod (SS-224) went to the rescue of the Dutch submarine O-19 which had run aground on Ladd Reef n the South China Sea, about 300 miles (483 km) northwest of Brunei Bay. Cod takes the Dutch crew on board and destroys O-19 when it could not be got off the reef.
CHINA: Nanning: Chinese forces advancing rapidly east in southern Kwangsi have severed the last link between Japan’s China Army and its garrison in Indochina. Since recapturing Nanning, a Chinese column has taken Nam Quan on the Indochina border. Two columns driving north are closing on the key rail junction of Kweilin, Japan’s lifeline to south China. Its nearest major airbase at Tanchuk will be threatened if this rapid advance continues. With Nanning and Luichow recaptured, Chinese units now control the three US Fourteenth Army Air Force bases lost last year; these should be operational soon.
AUSTRALIA: Thirty thousand people line the streets of Perth for the funeral procession of John Curtin, Australia’s late prime minister.
CANADA: Corvettes HMCS West York and Forest Hill paid off Sorel Province of Quebec.
Corvette HMCS Kenogami paid off Sydney Nova Scotia.
Tokorozawa is another story...it's about 5 miles NE of Tachikawa AB, maybe 20 miles NW of central Tokyo. It was the first Japanese airstrip ever, built in 1911, and it's still there, as part of the Tokorozawa Aviation Museum.
They expect food shortages to get worse in 1946. They must be diverting huge stocks to the Pacific for the anticipated build-up to the Japan invasion.
A few weeks ago henkster said millions of them were facing imminent starvation, had the war gone on.
But henkster was absolutely right about probable widespread starvation in Japan this winter and widespread hunger now. The post mentions yet another B-29 mining mission in "the beginning of Phase V of Operation STARVATION, the blockade of Japan."
I miss the desperate days of 1942, the brutal slogging of 1943, and the epic allied victories of 1944.
I know that wasn't how it was for the boys 70 years ago. I still have in my head the story of the G.I. slated for the Japan invasion who actually found his own grave marker.
I seem to recall a story about how we are still using body bags made for the invasion of Japan. With warehouses still full of them. A quick search showed that just for one of the attacks (one of three) the general had ordered 461,000 bags for American troops. Casualties for the entire invasion ran into the millions just for us.
While we might still have body bags leftover, now it came back to me. It is the purple heart medals that we have so many of left-over from the ramp-up to the Japan Invasion.
By the way, did anyone notice the name of the general that ordered the first B-29 over Toyko? Brig. Gen. Emmett (Rosy) O’Donneil!
It bears repeating that the decision to drop the Bombs saved many lives, both American and Japanese.
I forget the numbers of Japs projected to be killed, but it was horrendous. But - look what happened on Okinawa. All of the people dieing, committing suicide, etc. rather than surrender.
Also, as henkster has pointed out, because of its rugged terrain Japan did not have a well developed rail network in 1945 and our bombers were attacking that. Japan was dependent on coastal shipping to move most food and other supplies. Our air and mining campaign is shutting that down. Food rations were tight and being reduced in July 1945. By the winter of 1945-1946 there would have been widespread starvation of civilians.
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