SUNDAY, 17 JUNE 1945
ALASKA (Eleventh Air Force): Four B-25s bomb shipping near Kataoka on Shimushu;
one ship (Kongo Maru) is observed exploding, another burns after a strafing
run; Four other B-25s fly a shipping sweep from Shimushu to Kurabu Cape on Paramushiru; a number of vessels are sighted but cannot be attacked because of land-based
AA.
ZONE OF INTERIOR (ZI): General of the Army Henry H "Hap" Arnold, Commanding
General U.S. Army Air Forces, requests of Lieutenant General Albert C. Wedemeyer,
Commanding General U.S. Forces in China, that Lieutenant General George E. Stratemeyer
replace Major General Clare L. Chennault as head of the 14th Air Force (14th AF) in China.
CHINA THEATER (Fourteenth Air Force): Two B-25s bomb road and rail supply
movements in the Paoching and Hengyang areas; Two B-25s and 4 P-47s severely damage
a bridge at Linmingkuan; 54 P-51s, P-47s, and P-61s hit road transport, railroad,
river traffic, gun positions, bridges, and targets of opportunity around Kukong, Hankow, Lingkuantien, Changsha, Yoyang, Loyunghsien, Luchai, Hwangshapu, Kiyang, Kweilin, Kaifeng, and Shihkiachwang; and four P-47s blast a communications center
at Puchou.
HQ AAF (XX Bomber Command): HQ XX Bomber Command begins a movement from Kharagpur to Okinawa.
HQ AAF (Twentieth Air Force): During the night of 17/18 June, one mining and four incendiary missions are flown (Mission 205 to Mission 209) including:
Mission 205: 25 B-29s mine Shimonoseki Strait and waters
around Kobe; 2 others mine alternate targets.
Mission 206: 117 B-29s attack the Kagoshima urban area and 1 hits an alternate
target; 2.15 square miles (5.56 square km) are destroyed; 1 B-29 is lost.
Mission 207: 116 B-29s hit the Omuta urban area and 3 hit alternate targets;
the was the heaviest attack of the 5 but only 0.217 square miles (0.56 square
km) were destroyed, only 4.1% of the city's area.
Mission 208: 130 B-29s hit the Hamamatsu urban area; 2.44 square miles (6.32
square km) are destroyed.
Mission 209: 89 B-29s attack the Yokkaichi urban area; 1.23 square miles (3.19
square km) are destroyed. 33 P-47s from Ie Shima bomb and strafe shipping,
the airfield, villages, a bridge and radar and radio facilities on Amami Gunto and Tokuno, Japan. During the night of 17/18 Jun, Two P-61s from Ie Shima fly an unsuccessful (due to weather) intruder strike over Amami Gunto and Kyushu; this begins a campaign of night and day intruder missions
over Kyushu and the Ryukyu by the night fighters (12 more are flown
during June).
SOUTHWEST PACIFIC AREA [SWPA, Far East Air Force (FEAF)]: B-25s,
A-20s, and fighter-bombers hit Cagayan Valley targets and numerous other objectives
throughout north Luzon; many of the strikes support US Sixth Army forces. In Borneo,
B-24s pound Balikpapan area oil targets and gun positions; B-25s and P-38s hit
Limbang town and sweep from Beaufort to Jesselton, hitting Beaufort buildings,
several communications targets at various points, and personnel areas on Labuan. On Formosa, B-24s bomb industrial and railroad targets at Kiirun and
P-38s pound a railroad bridge and trucks at Soton. The detachment of the 550th
Night Fighter Squadron, XIII Fighter Command, operating from Zamboanga with P-38s, P-61s and P-70s, returns to base at Tacloban detachment are at Sanga Sanga and Puerto Princessa).
