*Another one of the 9,200 freed from Stalag Luft I was Homer’s uncle.
http://www.etherit.co.uk/month/4/15.htm
May 15th, 1945 (TUESDAY)
AUSTRIA: Vienna: The republic of AUSTRIA is declared.
YUGOSLAVIA: The last pocket of German resistance at Slovenski Gradek, surrenders.
Belgrade: The war is over in Yugoslavia, and now the counting begins. Out of a population of 15 million, 1.4 million civilans (including 55,000 murdered Jews) and 305,000 soldiers have perished. Few countries have suffered so much in terms of deaths per head of population. The Germans fought the partisans viciously, battling on for seven days after Zagreb was liberated. Tito is determined to keep his country united. He has accepted royalists in a provisional government, but has made it clear that Yugoslavia will be a communist state.
BURMA: Aung San, the Burmese Nationalist leader, joins the Allied drive against the Japanese.
INDIAN OCEAN: During actions starting today British destroyers sink the Japanese cruiser HAGURO in the Malacca Strait.
JAPAN: Sugar Loaf and Conical Hills are the scenes of fierce fighting on Okinawa.
PACIFIC OCEAN: US submarines operating from the Central Pacific and Australia have contributed enormously to Japan’s desperate war situation by sinking 60% of the merchant ships destroyed. Last year the US submariners reached the pinnacle of their success by sinking 2,387,780 tons of shipping. Japanese losses were then running at a rate exceeding 300,000 tons monthly.
Japan’s war industries face now collapse as vital overseas supplies of oil and raw materials are sunk by submarine attack. The loss of imported food threatens to starve the population. The main burden of the submarine offensive has been borne by the US Pacific force. In addition, US submarines have operated from Australian ports.
In September 1944 they were joined by the 8th Submarine Flotilla of the Royal Navy, which moved to Fremantle from Ceylon to join the Seventh Fleet. These and Dutch submarines concentrated their efforts in the waters around Singapore, Java, Indochina and the Philippines to which Japanese naval forces withdrew after leaving the Marshall Islands in February 1944.
As well as having made a major contribution to the destruction of Japan’s merchant fleet, the US submarines have inflicted heavy losses on Japanese warships. Last year their battle successes included the sinking of the battleship KONGO off Formosa and of seven aircraft carriers, including the 59,000-ton supercarrier SHINANO, then the largest and most carrier afloat. The mammoth carrier had just been converted from a battleship and was on her way to Kure for final fitting-out when, on 29 November, she encountered the submarine USS ARCHERFISH on lifeguard duty off Honshu to rescue B-29 crews. The ARCHERFISH fired six torpedoes to sink the SHINANO, which took 1,435 sailors with her.
James Verdolini notes in his diary:
May 15, 1945
Admiral Mitchner comes aboard Randolph. We are now flagship, and Task Force 58. Wow, the Admiral had two ships shot from under him in three days, hope we’re not next! He has a long visored cap, and while under attack he waves that damn thing at the Japanese planes. I’m sure they don’t know who he is, because of his waving cap, but who knows?
On one of our mid watches in Radio 1, he came down from Flag Plot, and we jumped up at attention, but he put us at ease, and we shot the breeze for awhile. He had smelled our good radio shack coffee. There is a message tube, from radio to the bridge, just above us. We made our coffee in a porcelain pitcher. We boil water on a hot plate, we put the grounds in a clean sock, tie it, as a filter, throw in the grounds, boil some more.If we did not have a clean sock, then we use a tea strainer to pour our cups.
The only thing bad about it, was with the heat( we had no air conditioning), after an hour or so, the coffee would get some kind of a swirling mess in it. Didn’t affect the taste though, and we never got sick. But it sure did smell good when it was brewing. Speaking of the heat in radio rooms.
We would copy code for 8 hours, with a break at each hour so we could tune our receivers. We would have code in one ear, and Tokyo Rose in the other ear piece of our headphones.(Of course my Lucky Strikes were right beside my cup of coffee). Anyhow, we all would get the “Chinese Rot”, as we called it. Our armpits would sweat, and we would get blisters, which hurt, and itched. We had no deodorants, just talcum powder, and Mennen skin bracer. Anyhow, a couple buddies from gunnery, said they had a good way to get rid of the “Rot”. I’m all for that. We went down to the Head (Shower room). One of them held my arms up, while the other guy used shaving soap under my arms. Then he shaved the hair, and blisters from my armpits! Ow...that hurt. They made me wash the blood and shaving soap off, then I had to raise my arms again. The guy grabbed me tight, so I couldn’t move, and the other guy poured Mennon skin bracer right over the shaved blisters, and blood. I had tears running down my face. (But the “rot” never came back). Had to tape handkerchiefs under my armpits, for a few days. Never going to forget that.
We are continuing to bomb Kyushu. Many Bogies around.
COMMONWEALTH OF THE PHILIPPINES: US forces launch fresh attacks on Mindanao and Negros.
NEW GUINEA: Pte Edward Kenna (b.1919), Australian Military Forces, ignored a hail of bullets as he stood and fired at a Japanese bunker, which was captured shortly after. (Victoria Cross)
U.S.A.: William T. Paull (USMC) arrives back in the US docking at San Francisco, after being away for 35 months. (William T. Paull)
Light cruiser USS Providence commissioned.
Five years ago you were posting articles about German panzers crossing the Meuse. Has it really been that long?