A large sign reading “I am an American” placed in the window of a store, at 13th and Franklin streets in Oakland, California,on December 8, 1945, the day after Pearl Harbor. The store was closed following orders to persons of Japanese descent to evacuate from certain West Coast areas. The owner, a University of California graduate, was to be housed with hundreds of evacuees in War Relocation Authority centers for the duration of the war. The director of the War Relocation Authority announced in July 1945 that all but one of the internment camps for Japanese-Americans was to be closed between October 15 and December 15, 1945. Wikimedia Commons.
By Phil Kohn. Dedicated to the memory of his father, GM3 Walter Kohn, U.S. Navy Armed Guard, USNR, and all men and women who have answered the country’s call in time of need. Phil can be contacted at ww2remembered@yahoo.com.
Italy declares war on Japan on July 13, 1945. In the U.S., the director of the War Relocation Authority announces that all but one of the internment camps for Japanese-Americans will be closed between October 15 and December 15. In Berlin, the municipal council orders the confiscation of all property of Nazi Party members.
The U.S. on July 14 begins the first naval surface-fleet bombardment of Japan as the Navy’s Third Fleet shells Kamaishi, Japan, about 275 miles north of Tokyo. In Königsee, Germany, U.S. Gen. of the Army Dwight Eisenhower announces the closure of Supreme Headquarters, Allied Expeditionary Forces — its mission accomplished. The ban on Allied military personnel fraternizing with German civilians is lifted. In northern India, the Simla Conference — between Lord Archibald Wavell, Viceroy of India, and major political leaders of British India takes place. The meeting — the goal of which is to agree on and approve a plan for Indian self-government — ends in failure due to an impasse in the selection and seating of Muslim representatives.
On Borneo, Australian troops capture Mount Batochampar, a key Japanese defensive position, on July 15. The U.S. Third Fleet shells the steel-industry center on Hokkaido Island in the Japanese homeland. It is reported that 108,000 tons of Japanese shipping have been sunk in the last two days’ attacks. In England, the blackout of London ends, with streetlamps lit once more. West End theaters turn their marquee lights on again, after over 2,000 days of blackouts and dim-outs. In the U.S., the government ends blackout restrictions in eight western states.
At 5:30 a.m. local time, on July 16, the U.S. conducts the “Trinity” test in the Jornada del Muerto desert east of Socorro, New Mexico — the first detonation of a nuclear weapon. Approximately six kilograms (around 13 pounds) of plutonium unleashes an explosion that is the equivalent of about 22,000 tons of TNT. The blast flash is seen up to 200 miles away and the explosion is heard up to 50 miles away.
On July 17, the Potsdam Conference begins in occupied Germany, 17 miles from Berlin. The Allied leaders — Truman, Churchill and Stalin — meet to discuss the administration of Germany. They also agree to insist on the unconditional surrender of Japan.
An attempt at a breakout by the Japanese Thirty-Third Army in Burma begins on July 18. At the Potsdam Conference, President Truman informs Prime Minister Churchill that the atomic-bomb test in New Mexico has been successful in a cryptic note: “Babies satisfactorily born.” Simultaneously, American interest in Soviet participation in the war against Japan noticeably wanes. In Bedford (near Halifax), Nova Scotia, an ammunition barge explodes at the Royal Canadian Navy Magazine Bedford, setting off fires along the piers and jetty. Civilian and naval firemen narrowly avert a cataclysmic detonation of the main magazine, which contains about 6,000 tons of ammunition and vast numbers of depth charges and mines. Only one person is killed, while several are injured.
Allied carrier planes hit Japanese naval forces in Tokyo Bay on July 19, sinking 12 ships and damaging nine, including the battleship Nagato. On Borneo, Australian troops, facing no opposition, occupy the oil center of Samboja, northeast of Balikpapan.
About 80 American P-51 Mustang fighter planes, flying from Iwo Jima, attack targets on central Honshu, Japan, on July 20. More than 200 Allied bombers, flying from Okinawa, attack Japanese-held airfields in the vicinity of Shanghai, China.
In a private meeting at Potsdam, Germany, on July 21, President Truman and Winston Churchill (heading a “caretaker” government until results of U.K. elections are announced) concur on dropping the atomic bomb on Japan if it does not agree to surrender unconditionally. Allied representatives at the Potsdam Conference select Nuremberg, Germany, as the venue for trying the main Nazi leaders for war crimes. (The city had been used by the Nazi Party for its huge pre-war conventions, propaganda events known as the “Nuremberg rallies,” attended by hundreds of thousands of people.) The U.S. government tells Japan to surrender unconditionally or face “virtual destruction.”
In Burma, Japanese forces estimated to number about 5,000 — part of the Thirty-Third Army — suffer heavy casualties on July 22 in their attempted breakout. Under cover of darkness and a fierce storm, nine American destroyers penetrate Tokyo Bay and attack a Japanese convoy. The Japanese government announces that it is open to peace negotiations, but it will not tolerate threats.
The Allies on July 23 launch a massive 36-hour air and sea bombardment of Kure naval base, as well as other ports on the Japanese coast from Osaka to Nagoya. During the attack: a Japanese escort carrier and 12 other warships are sunk; 84 cargo vessels are sunk or damaged; and over 200 planes are destroyed or damaged. In Paris, Marshal Philippe Pétain, who headed the Axis-puppet Vichy government, goes on trial for treason.
At the Potsdam Conference, President Truman on July 24 informs Joseph Stalin that a new and powerful weapon is now available for use against Japan but does not elaborate on its nature. (In fact, Stalin is already aware of the atomic-bomb project through the Soviet espionage network in the United States.) British naval and air units launch three days of attacks on Japanese positions and transportation targets on the west coast of Malaya.
From Potsdam, Germany, on July 25, a proclamation — the Potsdam Declaration — is issued to the Japanese people jointly by the U.K., the U.S and China that warns of the devastation of Japan from the “final blows” and calls for the nation’s unconditional surrender. Separately, President Truman orders the atomic bomb to be dropped on Japan as soon as possible after the 3rd of August.
On July 26, the American heavy cruiser USS Indianapolis, having sailed from the U.S. mainland unaccompanied under secret orders, delivers to the U.S. Army Air Forces base on Tinian the consignment of uranium-235 needed to assemble the first operational atomic bomb. In the United Kingdom, results of the July 5 general election are announced: the opposition Labour Party has received 47.7% of the votes to the incumbent Conservative Party’s 36.2%, winning a majority of seats in the House of Commons. Clement Attlee, leader of the Labour Party, thus becomes Prime Minister, unseating the Conservative Party’s Winston Churchill. Churchill will write: “All our enemies having surrendered unconditionally, or being about to do so, I was immediately dismissed by the British electorate from all further conduct of their affairs.”
U.S. B-29 bombers on July 27, drop some 600,000 leaflets over 11 Japanese cities warning the inhabitants that their cities are on the target list for bombing raids. The British military joint chiefs of staff have their last conference with Winston Churchill. Meanwhile, Clement Attlee begins his tenure at No. 10 Downing Street, the official residence of the Prime Minister. Attlee has been the deputy prime minister and is the only person, other than Churchill, to have served in the U.K. war cabinet throughout the conflict. On Tinian, in the Mariana Islands, technicians begin readying the atomic bomb; it has been given the name “Little Boy.”
The remnants of the Imperial Japanese Navy’s battle fleet are destroyed in three days of attacks over the Japanese Inland Sea beginning on July 28, as the Americans deploy 2,000 carrier-based planes and bombers in the action. Among the Japanese losses is the battleship Haruna. In Tokyo, Premier Kantarō Suzuki holds a press conference in which he announces that Japan “will take no notice” of the Potsdam Declaration. British Prime Minister Clement Attlee arrives at the Potsdam Conference to take the place of Winston Churchill. The U.S. ratifies the United Nations Charter. In New York City, a U.S. Army Air Forces B-25 bomber, flying in thick fog, crashes into the Empire State Building between the 79th and 80th floors, killing 14 people — 11 in the building and on the ground and the two crewmen and the one passenger aboard the plane — and injuring 25. Damages are estimated at $1 million.
Based on Japan’s seeming rejection of the Potsdam ultimatum, the U.S. Joint Chiefs on July 29 order plans for the invasion of Japan to be finalized. In the United Kingdom, the British Eighth Army is disbanded.
On July 30, in the Philippine Sea, the heavy cruiser USS Indianapolis is torpedoed by Japanese submarine I-58 four days after having delivered atomic-bomb materials to the USAAF airbase at Tinian. The vessel capsizes and sinks within 12 minutes. Of the 1,196 crewmen aboard, about 300 die in the initial attack. Because Indianapolis is sailing alone on a “secret mission,” she is not reported as “overdue” (in part because of negligence) when she fails to reach her next destination (Leyte, the Philippines). The remainder of her crew end up in the water with few lifeboats or rafts. Most die of injuries, dehydration or exposure, with some attacked by sharks, until survivors are spotted — by chance — 3-1/2 days later by pilots on a routine combat patrol. Subsequent rescue efforts manage to save only 316 crew members. In Austria, British, U.S. and French occupation troops enter Vienna, where they will share patrol duties with Soviet soldiers.
U.S. planes engage in heavy bombing attacks on the cities of Kobe and Nagoya, Japan, on July 31. Pierre Laval, former Premier of Vichy France, surrenders to American authorities upon landing in Linz, Austria, from Spain, where he had been granted political asylum. In part, his surrender is motivated by a desire to defend his role in the Vichy government. Laval is turned over to French authorities. On Tinian, assembly of the “Little Boy” atomic bomb is completed.
Toyama, on Japan’s Honshu island, is devastated by U.S. B-29 bombers on August 1. The city of 150,000 residents is a center for the manufacturing of aluminum, ball bearings and steel. At Bougainville, in the Solomon Islands, Allied forces seal off Japanese troops at Buin, on the southern tip of the island. Pierre Laval, former head of government of Vichy France, is returned to Paris, charged with treason, and placed in prison under armed guard to protect him from the public.
On August 2, 800 U.S. B-29s drop 6,000 tons of incendiary bombs on various Japanese cities, killing 80,000 people. In Germany, the Potsdam Conference concludes. Allied reparations are to be paid for by German assets, and major war criminals are to be brought to trial soon. German cartels, as well as war industries, are to be broken up. The Big Three (the U.K., the U.S. and the U.S.S.R.) propose that, going forward, the German economy should “give primary emphasis to agriculture” and “domestic industries.” In addition, Stalin confirms that the Soviet Union will join the war against Japan while also mentioning Japanese efforts to have the U.S.S.R. mediate peace talks with the Americans and the British.
