June 3, 1945
Today in World War II Pacific History
Day by day chronology

SUNDAY, 3 JUNE 1945

ALASKA (Eleventh Air Force): One B-24 flying a radar ferret mission to Kataoka is followed by eight others, radar bombing and photographing scattered targets in the Kataoka Naval Base area; seven B-25s take off for an attack but four are turned back by weather and the others low level bomb a Masugawa River Cannery.

CHINA THEATER (Fourteenth Air Force): FIve B-25s and twenty-five P-51s blast the warehouse area and river traffic at Liuchow; 2 B-25s bomb the Sinyang- Lohochai railroad; a single B-24, escorted by 2 P-51s, damages a bridge N of Shihkiachwang; 4 P-51s damage a bridge E of Kiehsiu and strafe a train and lumber carts N of Linfen; bad weather curtails other scheduled fighter-bomber missions.

INDIA-BURMA THEATER (Tenth Air Force): HQ 3d Combat Cargo Group moves from Dinjan to Myitkyina while it's 9th and 10th Combat Cargo Squadron move from Warazup, Burma and Dinjan to Myitkyina with C-47s.

HQ AAF (Twentieth Air Force): P-47s on a heckler patrol strafe targets of opportunity on Amami-O-Shima.

SOUTHWEST PACIFIC AREA (Fifth Air Force): In Borneo, B-24s and fighters hit resistance areas on Negros. B-24s attack Kota Waringin and Muara Island while B-24s bomb Batavia, Java. P-51s hit coastal cargo vessels over the southeast China coast. Lost is A-20G "King High Flush" 43-21935 (3 KIA, 5 WIA) destroyed parked at Floridablanca Airfield.

U.S. Army: On Luzon in the U.S. Sixth Army's I Corps area, forward elements of 129th Inf, 37th Div, reach positions 9,500 yards north of Santa Fe.

On Okinawa, in the U.S. Tenth Army's III Amphib Corps area, 1st Mar Div thrusts S across the Kokuba, 7th Marines moving forward to seal off Oroku Peninsula and 5th Marines driving southward to vicinity of Gisushi. In XXIV Corps area, 96th and 7th Divs continue quickly southward. 305th Inf, 77th Div, plugs gap developing between the corps. Patrol of 184th Inf, 7th Div, reaches SE coast of Okinawa near Hyakuna, cutting off Chinen Peninsula; 32d Inf starts reconnoitering the peninsula.

U.S. Navy: TF 38 under Vice Admiral John S. McCain second day of strikes against airfields in southern Kyushu, Japan.

Naval task group (Rear Admiral Lawrence F. Reifsnider) lands Marines on Iheya Jima, Ryukyus.

Off Okinawa, kamikazes damage cargo ship Allegan (AK-225), 26°00'N, 128°00'E, and large infantry landing craft LCI(L) 90.

Submarine Blueback (SS-326) sinks unnamed Japanese merchant fishing boat, 05°39'S, 106°47'E.

Submarine Segundo (SS-398) sinks Japanese merchantman No.94 Anto Maru off Jinsen, Korea, 36°41'N, 125°23'E.

Mines laid by B-29s sink Japanese naval vessel No.15 Hakutetsu Maru in Inland Sea, army cargo ship Taiei Maru, 3.7 kilometers off Motoyama light, 38°56'N, 137°05'N, merchant cargo ships Osara Maru off Motoyama Bay, Konei Maru outside Karatsu harbor, 33°33'N, 129°58'E, and Momo Maru at 34°35'N, 134°15'E, and damage minelayer Tokiwa two kilometers off Bakuchizaki, and merchant cargo ship Erimo Maru off Hime Jima light, 33°47'N, 131°14'E. Japanese ship No.6 Tankai Maru is sunk by aircraft, Hitakata, Ibaraki prefecture.

Japanese merchant cargo ship Anri Maru is damaged by aircraft, 34°57'N, 129°13'E.

Japanese merchant cargo ship Anjo Maru is damaged by aircraft off Pusan, Korea.

Destroyer USS Porter (DD-800), operating with TF 92, is damaged in collision with U.S. Army cable ship Silverado, the latter being convoyed by escort vessel PCE-893, off Kuluk Bay, Adak, Alaska, in "extremely poor" visibility conditions.

USMC: The 8th Marines, 2d Marine Division, secured Iheya and Aguni Shima west of Okinawa. Immediate steps were taken to set up air warning and fighter direction installations to strengthen the defensive perimeter surrounding Okinawa.