SATURDAY, 16 JUNE 1945
USA: United States Naval Air Test Center, Patuxent River, Maryland is established.
ALASKA (Eleventh Air Force): Four B-24s bomb and strafe
shipping off Suribachi Bay and a radar site on Minami Cape, Shimushu Island; one of the B-24s crashes into the water; four B-25s on a shipping strike score near misses on a freighter in Asahi Bay and bomb targets along
theTorishima
Retto; mechanical failures force two B-25s to fly to Petropavlovsk in Russia.
CHINA THEATER (Fourteenth Air Force): Two B-25s hit supply movements
on the Paoching-Hengyang road; 41 P-51s attack bridges, shipping, road transport,
power facilities, and railroad traffic, knocking out bridges near Siangtan,
Changsha, and Suchow; rail, road and river traffic is attacked near Yoyang, Hengyang, Kuanyang, Shou-yang, Peking, and Linfen. A power plant at Uong Bi, French Indochina is heavily damaged.
HQ AAF (Twentieth Air Force): P-61s arrive on Ie Shima and take over
night heckler missions against Kyushu from the P-47s; other P-61s
fly night intruder missions over Amami Gunto bombing various
targets of opportunity; 38 P-47s from Ie Shima dive-bomb boats, AA positions,
runways, and buildings on Kikai.
SOUTHWEST PACIFIC AREA [SWPA, Far East Air Force (FEAF)]: On Luzon, B-25s,
A-20s, and fighter-bombers hit personnel and supply targets in the Cagayan Valley and east of Manila, and support ground forces in the Cervantes sector. In Borneo,
B-24s bomb Balikpapan gun emplacements, Tawau, and Samarinda, while B-25s hit
the Brunei Bay area and fighter-bombers attack Miri Airfield, Jesselton Airfield, and Keningau
Airfield and N Borneo targets of opportunity. On Formosa, 90+ B-24s pound Kiirun
Harbor and Takao. Damaged and written off is B-24J "Bob's Hope" 44-40395. Three B-32s bomb Taito. HQ 308th Bombardment Wing moves from Luzon to Okinawa. Lost is C-47A 43-30746 pilot 2nd Lt. Richard J. Lawson (MIA).
U.S. Arny: On Luzon in U.S. Sixth Army's I Corps area, 37th Div columns converge on Cauayan: 2d Bn of 148th Inf, passing through 1st Bn of 145th on Highway 5, drives on to Cauayan; 2d Bn, 145th Inf, advancing through 3d Bn, 145th Inf, moves to Cauayan via Cabatuan; from Cauayan, 2d Bn of 148th Inf continues N toward Naguilian.
On Okinawa, in U.S. Tenth Army's III Amphib Corps area, 6th Mar Div prepares to attack on S Okinawa. 7th Marines, 1st Mar Div, advances slightly on Kunishi Ridge and gains visual contact with 5th Marines to E. In XXIV Corps area, 382d Inf of 96th Div completes relief of 383d in line and continues assault on Yuza-Dake hill mass. Yuza-Dake
peak falls at last to 381st Inf. 7th Div's 17th and 32d Regts are clearing last commanding ground-- Hills 153 and 115.
USN: Off Okinawa, destroyer Twiggs (DD-591) is sunk by aerial torpedo, 26°08'N, 137°35'E, and escort carrier Steamer Bay (CVE-87) is damaged by aircraft operational casualty, 24°00'N, 128°00'E.
Submarine Piranha (SS-389) sinks Japanese merchant cargo ship Eiso Maru, 41°57'N, 140°56'E.
Japanese auxiliary submarine chaser Wakatake Maru is sunk by aircraft, Keelung harbor.
Japanese army cargo ship Taikyu Maru is sunk by mine west of the mouth of Kammon channel.
Japanese merchant cargo ship Takeshima Maru is sunk by aircraft, 34°35'N, 125°58'E.
Japanese merchant cargo ship Kinsho Maru is sunk, agentand location unspecified.
Japanese merchant cargo ship No.35 Banshu Maru is sunk by mine, 33°57'N, 130°43'E.
Japanese destroyer Natsuzuki is damaged 3.1 kilometers off Mutsure Island.
Lost is PB4Y-1 "Rugged Beloved" 38913 (MIA) on a patrol mission over the Makasar Strait.
Royal Navy: HMS Taciturn sinks Japanese auxiliary submarine chaser Cha 105 and unnamed air warning picket hulk (ex-Dutch submarine K-XVIII) off Surabaya.
