June 19, 1945
Today in World War II Pacific History
Day by day chronology

TUESDAY, 19 JUNE 1945

ALASKA (Eleventh Air Force): In a coordinated shipping search, a B-24 flies the theater's longest mission, a 2,700 mile round trip lasting 15.5 hours and flying as far as Uruppu; turning north the B-24 bombs a small convoy 25 miles southwest of Shimushu Bay, Shimushu, sinks a vessel, heavily damages another, and sets 2 more afire; another B-24 bombs and photographs Matsuwa; Four B-25s break off a shipping sweep due to the presence of Japanese fighters.

CHINA THEATER (Fourteenth Air Force): In China, Five B-25s and 4 P-47s knock out a bridge on the Pinghan railroad spanning from Hankow to Peking while 4 P-51s knock out another NE of Kihsien on the Tungpu railroad; 70+ other P-51s damage several bridges, hit rail, road and river traffic, supplies, troops, and general targets of opportunity throughout S and E China.

AAFPOA (Seventh Air Force): Twenty-two B-24s from Guam bomb Marcus Airfield.

HQ AAF (Twentieth Air Force): 4 missions, 1 mining and 3 incindiary missions against secondary cities, are flown during the night of 19/20 Jun. Mission 210: 136 B-29s hit the Toyohashi urban area destroying 1.7 square miles (4.4 square km). Mission 211: 221 B-29s attack the Fukuoka urban area destroying 1.37 square miles; 2 other B-29s attack alternate targets. Mission 212: 123 B-29s attack the Shizuoka urban area destroying 2.25 square miles (5.83 square km); 1 other hits an alternate target; 1 B-29 is lost. Mission 213: 28 B-29s mine Shimonoseki Strait and the waters at Niigata, Miyazu, and Maizuru. 47 Ie Shima based P-47s bomb the airfield on Tokuno Island while 16 others patrol uneventfully over Amami-O-Shima. 117 P-51D Mustangs from Iwo Jima on a mission against Kagamigahara Airfield and Meiji Airfield abort because of bad weather.

SOUTHWEST PACIFIC AREA [SWPA, Far East Air Force (FEAF)]: A-20s and fighter-bombers continue to pound Luzon, chiefly around Cagayan Valley, SE of Aparri, and around Cervantes while heavy strikes in the central Cagayan area are in support of guerilla offensive. In Borneo, B-24s bomb fortifications and AA guns at Balikpapan while B-25s hit N Borneo targets including Keningau Airfield and targets N and NW of Kudat. In Formosa, B-24s bomb docks, warehouses, and railroad yards at Kiirun and B-25s pound the Shoka railroad yards and P-51s attack AA positions between Rokko and Toyohara; two bridges in the Shoka area are destroyed or badly damaged. The detachment of the 550th Night Fighter Squadron, XIII Fighter Command, operating from Puerto Princesa with P-38s, P-61s and P-70s, returns to base at Tacloban (a detachment is operating from Sanga Sanga).

U. S. Army: Brigadier General Claudius M. Easley Assistant Division Commander (ADC) of the 96th Infantry Division (96th ID) "Deadeye Division" was Killed In Action (KIA) on the hilltop at Itoman on southern Okinawa.