June 29, 1945
Today in World War II Pacific History
Day by day chronology

FRIDAY, 29 JUNE 1945

CHINA THEATER (Fourteenth Air Force): In China, 15 B-25s and 4 P-47s knock out a bridge at Chungmow and damage another; 18 P-51s attack troop concentrations, gun emplacements, villages, bridges, and targets of opportunity around Hsihsiakou, Yutze, Anyang, Puchou, and Szeshuiand and knock out a bridge at Szeshui.

INDIA-BURMA THEATER (Tenth Air Force): The 427th Night Fighter Squadron, Tenth AF, based at Dinjan with P-61s, sends a detachment to operate from Chengkung.

HQ AAF (Twentieth Air Force): 2 missions are flown during the night of 29/30 Jun. Mission 238: 32 B-29s drop 209 tons of bombs on the Nippon Oil Company refinery at Kudamatsu, Japan without loss. Mission 239: 25 B-29s mine the western Shimonoseki Strait and waters around Maizuru and Sakata without loss. 34 P-47s from Ie Shima hit airfields at Kanoya Airfield and Kushira Airfield with rockets and machine gun fire, and attack shipping while returning, claiming 7 small vessels sunk.

SOUTHWEST PACIFIC AREA [SWPA, Far East Air Force (FEAF)]: In Borneo, continuing the offensive against Balikpapan, B-24s, B-25s, and fighter- bombers bomb defensive positions and oil installations; other B-24s bomb Ft Brook Airfield and Oelin Airfield. On Luzon, fighter-bombers support ground forces in the Kiangan area and in the Cervantes sector. Other B-24s bomb the oil refinery at Shinchiku.

U.S. Navy: Mines laid by B-29s in these and previous plants sink merchant cargo ship Kyokuto Maru off Mutsure, and damage naval vessel Soshu Maru two kilometers off Tsuruga light, 35°41'N, 136°05'E, merchant cargo ships Akizuki Maru in Tsuruga harbor and 1 Nichiyu Maru at 34°04'N, 130°52'E, and Hiyoriyama Maru outside Sakai Harbor.

PB4Y-2s (VPB 118), flying from Okinawa, continue aerial mining of waters of Korean archipelago, sowing mines in fields off Gyuji-To, Jobai-To, and Toso-To.

The JCS decided to intensify the air blockade of Japan from bases on Okinawa and Iwo Jima, Marianas and Philippines. The following courses of action in the Pacific were agreed upon: the defeat of Japanese units in the Philippines, the allocation of all forces necessary to guarantee the security of western Pacific sea lanes prior to the invasion of Kyushu, Japan, and the acquisition of a sea route to Russian Pacific ports.

USMC: Pfc John B. Quinn, Jr. volunteeed for a mission to rescue a wounded comrade who was trapped in a cave in southern Okinawa and was killed and his body left in a cave. Kume Island is declared secure by special task group (TG 31.24).