THURSDAY, 17 MAY 1945
CHINA THEATER (Fourteenth Air Force): 16 B-25s and about 100 fighters continue
to disrupt communications and supply lines and hinder enemy withdrawal from
numerous locations of S and E China, pounding town areas, troop concentrations,
storage areas, river, road, and rail traffic and general targets of opportunity.
INDIA-BURMA THEATER (Tenth Air Force): The 319th Troop Carrier Squadron (Commando),
1st Air Commando Group, ceases operating from various forward bases in Burma
and returns to base at Asansol, India with C-47s.
RAF: Lost is Liberator KH-250 pilot F/O Rowland Totham (MIA / POW) shot down over Port Blair in the Andaman Islands.
AAFPOA (VII Fighter Command): Fighters from Iwo Jima fly 41 effective
strike sorties against Atsugi; pilots claim 10 parked aircraft destroyed.
During the night of 17/18 May, 2 P-47s of the 318th Fighter Group, presently
arriving on Ie Shima (between 13 and 19 May), fly heckling mission over Kyushu, the first such VII Fighter Command mission against Japan.
HQ AAF (Twentieth Air Force): Mission 176: Between 3:00am and 6:00am local time,
457 of 522 B-29s attack Nagoya urban area in the last great attack on the
city from low level. Specific targets include the south part of Nagoya with Mitsubishi Aircraft Works, Aichi
Aircraft Company's Atsuta palnt and the Atsuta branch of the Nagoya Arsenal,
the Nippon Vehicle Company and other targets. Meanwhile, eleven other B-29s hit targets of opportunity; 3 B-29s are lost.
SOUTHWEST PACIFIC AREA [SWPA, Far East Air Force (FEAF)]: During sweeps over
Formosa, B-25s and P-51s cause widespread damage hitting railroad yards, bridges,
and alcohol plants and B-24s bomb airfields at Nanseiho Airfield and Matsuyama
Airfield. Fighters
fly 130+ sorties against the Ipo Dam area. B-24s bomb Sepinggang and Manggar and Sidate airfield. The 20th Combat Mapping
Squadron, 6th Reconnaissance Group moves from Dulag to Clark
Field with F-7s. Lost are B-24J "Bums Away" 42-110123 pilot 2nd Lt. John M. Harwood (MIA) and B-25J 44-30164 (POW / KIA) and P-51D 44-72054 pilot 2nd Lt. Jay R. Waller (survived).
U.S. Army: In U.S. Sixth Army's XI Corps area, 149th Inf of 38th Div continues relieving 145th and patrols without incident; 152d Inf pauses to consolidate and patrol in Woodpecker Ridge area. In final assault by 3 regts after intensive preparatory bombardment, 43d Div takes Ipo Dam intact. Japanese still hold Osboy Ridge, however.
On Mindanao, In U.S. Eighth Army's X Corps area, 1st Bn, 19th Inf, 24th Div, starts NE to contact guerrilla forces; 2d Bn of 21st Inf, driving toward Tugbok, meets strong opposition, which arty and aircraft help to neutralize.
On Okinawa, In U.S. Tenth Army area, Lt. General Simon Bolivar Buckner Jr. takes control of all forces ashore and is responsible for defense and development of captured positions. In III Amphib Corps area, while badly mauled 22d Regt, 6th Mar Div, conducts holding action, 29th Marines continues attack for Sugar Loaf after heavy naval gunfire, air, and arty bombardment. Striking from the E after 1st and 3d Bns have opened approach from W end of Crescent Hill, 2d Bn drives to crest of Sugar Loaf but falls back when ammunition is exhausted. 5th Marines, 1st Mar Div, continues to fire into Wana Draw; 2d Bn attacks Hill 55, in its mouth, and gains positions on W slope. 3d Bn, 7th Marines, relieves exhausted 1st Bn and continues efforts to take Wana Ridge without success. In XXIV Corps area, Co E of 307th Inf, 77th Div, in surprise, predawn attack, advances to Ishimmi Ridge, W of town of Ishimmi; there it is dangerously exposed to enemy fire from all sides and cannot be reinforced. 3d Bn secures positions around Chocolate Drop and drives off counterattacking enemy; drives to crest of Flattop but is driven off. 305th Inf continues slow advance on right flank of div. 96th Div commits 3d Bn, 381st Inf, on E flank, where it relieves Cos E and F, 383d, in preparation for drive S down 800-yard ridge extending from Conical peak to Sugar Hill.
U.S. Navy: Carrier aircraft under Rear Admiral Clifton A.F. Sprague strike Taroa Island.
Destroyer Douglas H. Fox (DD-779) is damaged by kamikaze off Okinawa, 25°59'N, 126°54'E.
Off Wadanomisaki, Japan, USAAF mines sink Japanese transport Tairyu Maru, 34°27'N, 135°11'E, and army cargo ship Koan Maru, 34°38'N, 135°11'E; mines also sink merchant cargo ship Mikazuki Maru in Yangtze below below Woosung, China, 32°05'N, 119°56'E, and damage Coast Defense Vessel No.200 inside Miyazu harbor.
Japanese auxiliary minesweeper Wa.101 is damaged by aircraft from carriers Saratoga (CV-3) and HMS I llustrious, at Surabaya, Java.
Japanese auxiliary submarine chasers No.2 Hakusan Maru, Wakatake Maru and Yobai Maru are damaged by aircraft off Ishigaki.
USMC: The amphibious phase of the Okinawa operation ends with Vice Admiral Harry W. Hill, USN, relieves Vice Admiral Richmond K. Turner, USN, in control of naval activities and air defense as Commander Task Force 51 (TF 51). Admiral Hill was directed to report to Lt. General Simon Bolivar Buckner Jr. who took command of all forces on Okinawa and assumed responsibility for the defense and development of captured objectives.
