THURSDAY, 26 JULY 1945
The Potsdam ultimatum is issued, calling for Japan to surrender unconditionally or face "utter destruction."
ALEUTIAN ISLANDS (Eleventh Air Force): Seven B-24s successfully hit the Kataoka
Naval Base on Shimushu with
incendiaries, leaving smoke columns 5,000' high;
there is no airborne opposition and AA fire is moderate and inaccurate. Another
B-24 flies a radar-ferret mission over the northern Kuriles.
Twentieth Air Force: During the night of 26/27 Jul, 350 B-29s fly 3 incendiary
missions against secondary cities; 1 B-29 is lost: Mission 293: 127 B-29s attack
the Matsuyama urban area destroying 1.22 sq mi (3.16 sq km), 73% of the total
city area. Mission 294: 97 B-29s hit the Tokuyama urban area destroying 0.47
sq miles, 37% of the city area; 1 other hits an alternate target.
Mission 295: 124 B-29s attack the Omuta urban area destroying 2.05 sq mi (5.31
sq km), 38% of the city area; 1 other hits an alternate target; 1 B-29 is lost.
Fourteenth Air Force: In China, 8 B-25s and 4 P-51s bomb the railroad yards
at Lohochai and hit a storage area and animal transport in the Pinking area.
100+ P-51s, P-38s, and P-61s pound enemy movement and withdrawal in French Indochina and S and E China, hitting supplies, troops, river, road, and rail traffic,
coastal shipping, railroad yards, bridges, town areas and other targets at numerous
locations. The 427th Night Fighter Squadron, Tenth AF, based at Dinjan with P-61s, sends a detachment to operate from Nanning.
USMC: Marine pilots from USS Vella
Gulf (CVE-111) strike Rota.
WESTERN PACIFIC: B-24s hit Tabanio Airfield, Trombol,
Sengkawang, and Oelin Airfield on Borneo. Fighter-bombers and B-25s over Luzon (where
the 13 AF now provides ground support) aid ground forces in the Mankayan
area and near Tuguegarao. B-24s plaster Japanese positions on ground support
strikes over Negros Island. B-25s bomb Itu Aba Island, China. Other B-25s on
a shipping search attack a convoy at Tsutsu Bay, Japan sinking 3 small cargo
vessels, a freighter, and a few small craft. B-24s on snooper strikes attack
several targets, including various targets in the Ryukyu Islands, airfields
at Tinghai, China and at Nakazu, Japan, and docks at Pusan. Unit moves
from Luzon: HQ 43d Bombardment Group and 64th Bombardment Squadron
(Heavy) from Clark
Field to Ie Shima with B-24s; ground echelon of 36th Photographic
Reconnaissance Squadron, 6th Reconnaissance Group, begins a movement from Clark
Field to Okinawa (air echelon at Clark
Field until September 1945).
U.S. Navy: Destroyer USS Lowry (DD-770) is damaged by on-board chemical explosion of tetrachlorethane in the Philippine Sea at 19°30'N, 128°00'E.
U.S. aircraft sink Japanese auxiliary minesweepers No.18 Hinode Maru and Rikuzen Maru off Haeju-Won, Korea, 37°58'N, 126°40'E, and 37°58'N, 125°40'E, respectively.
Aircraft sink Japanese merchant tanker Seria Maru near Aioi; merchant cargo ship Mishima Maru near Hizen, Oshima; and merchant fishing vessel No.40 Misago Maru off Uketo.
Japanese target ship (ex-battleship) Settsu is damaged by marine casualty, Eta Jima harbor.
Japanese merchant cargo ship Annette Fritzen Go is damaged by mine, off Pusan, Korea.
Cargo ship Spica (AK-16) and U.S. freighters Jonathan Harrington and Enos A. Mills depart Dutch Harbor, Alaska, for Point Barrow, transporting men and supplies for Navy Petroleum Reserve 4.
