August 12, 1945
Today in World War II Pacific History
Day by day chronology

SUNDAY, 12 AUGUST 1945
China: Operations against Fort Bayard (Zhanjiang) in China are suspended since end of hostilities is imminent.

Korea: Soviet troops enter North Korea.

ALEUTIAN ISLANDS (Eleventh Air Force): Four B-24s make a combined visual and radar bomb run over Kataoka. Three B-24s bomb Suribachi Airfield, hitting runways and buildings. A B-24 flies a radar-ferret mission.

WESTERN PACIFIC [Far East Air Force (FEAF)]: B-24s from Okinawa bomb Matsuyama Airfield. In Japan, B-25s and A-26s hit Chiran Airfield and Kanoya Airfield while other A-26s and A-20s and P-47s hit the towns of Kushikino, Akune, and Miyazaki; more B-25s and fighter-bombers hit shipping and communications targets on Kyushu, the north Ryukyu Islands and between Japan and Korea; the aircraft claim several small merchant ships sunk and damaged, and numerous bridges, railroads, factories, and other targets of opportunity hit. P-38s from 80th Fighter Squadron bomb and strafe Kadogawa and Mimitsu on eastern Kyushu. Lost is P-38L Lightning 44-27142 pilot Major Robert G. Hochuli (MIA). B-24s from the Philippines pound Kagi Airfield and the Takao marshalling yard. On Luzon, P-38s support ground forces in or near Kabayan, Kiangan, and Uldugan. Unit moves: Air echelon of the 8th Photographic Reconnaissance Squadron, 6th Reconnaissance Group, from Clark Field to Ie Shima with F-5s joining the ground echelon that arrived in Jul; 319th Bombardment Squadron (Heavy), 90th Bombardment Group (Heavy), from San Jose to Ie Shima with B-24s; 387th Bombardment Squadron (Heavy), 312th Bombardment Group (Heavy), from Floridablanca to Okinawa with A-20s; and 529th Bombardment Squadron (Heavy), 380th Bombardment Group (Heavy), from San Jose to Okinawa with B-24s.

U.S. Navy: Task Force 92 (TF 92) comprised of two light cruisers and twelve destroyers under Rear Admiral John H. Brown, Jr. sweeps the Sea of Okhotsk results in the destruction of ten trawlers then the force conducts a shore bombardment of Japanese installations on Matsuwa and Cape Kurabu and Suribachi Bay on Paramushiro.

Japanese submarine I-58 conducts unsuccessful kaiten attack on dock landing ship USS Oak Hill (LSD-7) while she is en route from Okinawa to Leyte Gulf accompanied by destroyer escort Thomas F . Nickel (DE-587).

Battleship Pennsylvania (BB-38) is damaged by aerial torpedo, Buckner Bay, Okinawa, 26°14'N, 127°50'E.

Aircraft sink Japanese auxiliary patrol vessel Pa 166 five miles southeast of Urasaki, Japan, and merchant cargo ship Hozugawa Maru off the east coast of Korea, 35°00'N, 126°00'E, and damage Kitanami Maru off Mishima light.

Mines sink Japanese merchant cargo ship No.1 Shinyo Maru north of Kyushu, and damage merchant cargo ship Yurakawa Maru eight kilometers off Wakamatsu light, and army cargo ship No.16 Tamon Maru in Koguchi Channel, Nanao, 37°07'N, 137°02'E.