July 6, 1945
Today in World War II Pacific History
Day by day chronology

FRIDAY, 6 JULY 1945

HQ AAF (Twentieth Air Force): Taking off during the late evening hours of 6 Jul, 517 B-29s make four incendiary and 1 HE attacks between 0700 and 0800 hours local on 7 Jul; 1 B-29 is lost: Mission 251: 124 B-29s attack the Chiba urban area destroying 0.86 sq miles (2.23 sq km), 43.4% of the city; 1 other B-29 hits an alternate target. Mission 252: 123 B-29s hit the Akashi urban area destroying 0.81 sq miles (1.7 sq km), 57.0% of the city; 1 other B-29 hits an alternate target. Mission 253: 133 B-29s attack the Shimizu urban area destroying 0.71 sq miles (1.49 sq km), 50% of the city; 1 B-29 is lost. Mission 254: 131 B-29s hit the Kofu urban area destroying 1.3 sq miles (2.7 sq km), 65% of the city; 1 other B-29 hits an alternate target. Mission 255: 59 B-29s drop 500-pound (227 kg) bombs on the Maruzen Oil Refinery at Wakayama; 1 other hits an alternate target. 110 P-51Ds from Iwo Jima attack airfields in the Tokyo area (Kumagaya, Yamagata, and Chiba); they claim 1-0-0 aircraft in the air and 6-25 on the ground; 1 P-51 is lost.

CHINA THEATER (AAF, China Theater) Lieutenant General George E Stratemeyer officially assumes command as Commanding General AAF China Theater; he will arrive in China several days later.

Fourteenth Air Force: 98 P-51s and P-38s over French Indochina and S and E China continue to disrupt the Japanese retreat and hit transport and supply targets; rail, road, and river traffic, coastal shipping, bridges, troops, Japanese-held areas, and general targets of opportunity are blasted at many locations chiefly around Kweilin, Kukong, and Yangso, China, and Haiphong and Hanoi. On this date Major General Claire L Chennault, Commanding General Fourteenth AF, requests permission to retire, which is soon granted.

WESTERN PACIFIC [Far East Air Force (FEAF)]: On Luzon, fighter-bombers continue to support ground forces N of Kiangan and bomb the town of Mankayan. In Formosa, B-24s bomb Heito Airfield, Ryutan Airfield and Taien Airfields and A-26s pound the Taito railroad yards. B-24s over Borneo bomb Bandjermasin warehouses, Tandjoengredeb buildings, Samarinda shipyards, and Balikpapan and Manggar areas. P-51s from Okinawa hit transportation targets in the Kagoshima Bay area.

U.S. Navy: Mines sink Japanese merchant cable ship Toyo Maru, 73 miles northeast of Tobigasuhana, merchant cargo ship Shori Maru off Ogushi, and merchant cargo ships No.5 Tokai Maru off Mutsure Light, 33°59'N, 130°52'E, and Shinei Maru near Shimonoseki, 33°54'N, 131°01'E; and damage auxiliary submarine chaser Cha 153 off Niigata harbor; army cargo ships Ujina Maru, 120 meters north of Niigata light, and Nissho Maru, at mouth of Senzaki Bay, and merchant cargo ship Sakaki Maru, 3.1 kilometers south of Motoyama light.

Japanese merchant cargo ship Mitsuminesan Maru is damaged by marine casualty near Chinhae, Korea.

RNZAF: Lost is C-47B NZ3529 (survived) crashed on take off.