B-29 MINES SEAL OFF JAPAN, CLOSING ALL MAIN HARBORS; KOREAN COAST ALSO BARRED (8/4/45)

Microfilm-New York Times archives, Monterey Public Library | 8/4/45 | W.H. Lawrence, Frank L. Kluckhohn, George E. Jones, Sidney Shalett

[Homer_J_Simpson]

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[Homer_J_Simpson]

Free Republic University, Department of History presents World War II Plus 70 Years: Seminar and Discussion Forum
First session: September 1, 2009. Last date to add: September 2, 2015.
Reading assignment: New York Times articles and the occasional radio broadcast delivered daily to students on the 70th anniversary of original publication date. (Previously posted articles can be found by searching on keyword “realtime” Or view Homer’s posting history .)
To add this class to or drop it from your schedule notify Admissions and Records (Attn: Homer_J_Simpson) by freepmail. Those on the Realtime +/- 70 Years ping list are automatically enrolled. Also visit our general discussion thread.

[Homer_J_Simpson]

Selections from West Point Atlas for the Second World War
China, 1941: Operation Ichigo, 1945 and Final Operations in the War
The Western Pacific: Japanese Homeland Dispositions August 1945 and Allied Plans for the Invasion of Japan (Operation Downfall)

[Homer_J_Simpson]

The Nimitz Graybook

[Homer_J_Simpson]

Billboard Top 10 (or Top 13) for the Week of August 4, 1945

#1 - “On the Atchison Topeka & Santa Fe” - Johnny Mercer, with the Pied Pipers
#2 – “Sentimental Journey” – Les Brown, with Doris Day
#3 – “If I Loved You” – Perry Como
#4 - “Chopin’s Polonaise” - Carmen Cavallaro
#5 - “Gotta Be This Or That” - Benny Goodman
#6 – “There! I’ve Said It Again” – Vaughn Monroe
#7 - “Bell Bottom Trousers” - Tony Pastor, with Ruth McCullough
#8 - “Bell Bottom Trousers” - Guy Lombardo, with Jimmy Brown
#8 – “On the Atchison Topeka & Santa Fe” – Tommy Dorsey, with the Sentimentalists
#8 - “Sentimental Journey” - Hal McIntyre
#8 – “Sentimental Journey” – Merry Macs
#9 - “You Belong to My Heart” - Charlie Spivak, with Jimmy Saunders
#10 – “Good Good Good (That’s You-That’s You)” – Sammy Kaye, with Williams/Norman

[Homer_J_Simpson]

Blockade is Tight (Lawrence) – 2-3
Kenney Fliers List Huge 7-Month Toll (Kluckhohn, Jones) – 3
Submarine Blows form Foe Awaited (Shalett) – 4
Foe Sees Invasion in a Month or Two – 4
Two Chinese Forces Gain toward Lingling Air Base – 5
Wedemeyer Sees Big Chinese Drive – 5
Shipments to Rise Direct to Pacific – 5
New Strategy Is Mapped in the Pacific – Allied Forces Strike on Land and From Air (photos) – 6-7
War News Summarized – 8
War Trials Slated to Begin Sept. 1 – 8
Day’s Communiques – 8

[Homer_J_Simpson]

http://www.etherit.co.uk/month/7/04.htm

August 4th, 1945 (SATURDAY)

SINGAPORE: Japanese guards execute seven captured American airmen.

JAPAN: USAAF Far East Air Force B-25s based on Okinawa hit an industrial area near Takanabe, Kyushu bombing warehouses, factories, a railroad bridge, and marshalling yard.

US aircraft drop leaflets warning of air attacks on 12 more cities.

BONIN ISLANDS: Iwo Jima: At night Japanese aircraft attempt to bomb the USAAF airfields on the island.

COMMONWEALTH OF THE PHILIPPINES: Manila: General Douglas MacArthur is to lead the invasion force being assembled for the final conquest of Japan. He is to add 500,000 Allied troops in the Ryuku Islands, which include Okinawa, to the 250,000 already under his command in the Philippines. In a statement today he said that from these resources “a mighty invasion force is being forged.” The US plans to have 650,000 troops ready to invade Japan’s southern island, Kyushu, by 1 November. A further million, including Australian, British and Canadian troops, would land on Japan’s main island, Honshu, next March.

NETHERLANDS EAST INDIES: Java: US bombers raid Japanese positions on Surabaya.

CANADA: Armed yachts HMCS Elk and Vison paid off Halifax, Nova Scotia.

U.S.A.: Destroyer USS James E Kyes launched.
Destroyer USS Henderson launched Seattle, Washington.

German PoW, Kurt Rossmeisl, escapes from Camp Butner, North Carolina. He surrenders in 1959.

[henkster]

This week’s music makes me want to wear my bell bottomed trousers on a sentimental journey on the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe.

[henkster]

Is the article about anticipated submarine blows intended to “prepare” our readers for news of the loss of the Indianapolis?

[chajin]

Is the “7000 tons” article intended to distract? Did Gen. Spaatz not know about the atom bomb?

[GeronL]

Blocking off any possibility that Japanese forces in China and Korea could be sent to the home islands to aid in their defenses was a good move.

[GeronL]

There was already articles about the loss of the Indianapolis days ago.

[Homer_J_Simpson]

Somebody posted a list of the people in the know a while back. I think Spaatz was on the list because he commanded the group assigned to do the deed.

[Zuben Elgenubi]

Big light in sky in a few days.

[Homer_J_Simpson]

There was already articles about the loss of the Indianapolis days ago.

I don't think so. The survivors were not spotted until Aug 2 - two days ago - so the fate of the ship is still known only to a few. Doubtful that the press knows yet.

[henkster]

The loss of the Indianapolis was noted in Nimitz’ Graybook, not in the Times. The news will be concealed from the public until mid-August, when it will be eclipsed by the news of Japanese surrender.

[henkster]

Nimitz and LeMay also know. When LeMay was personally briefed a few months ago in anticipation of deployment of the 509th, he was also told he could never again fly a combat mission as he had in Europe.

Tibbets knows exactly what the payload is. Only a handful of specialists who will assemble the bomb components know. The bomber aircrews do not.

[Seizethecarp]

https://nchistorytoday.wordpress.com/2013/08/04/camp-butner-
and-axis-prisoners-of-war/

Camp Butner’s prisoners attempted a number of escapes, but only one can be considered successful. On August 4, 1945, Lt. Kurt Rossmeisl, a German linguist, donned plain clothes and dark glasses before calmly walking out the camp’s front entrance. Considered by some to be the “most dangerous” of the nation’s escaped prisoners at the time, Rossmeisl remained at large in the U.S. until he surrendered in Cincinnati in May 1959. That year, the Toledo Blade ran a six part series by Rossmeisl in which he describes his escape, his new life in Chicago and his eventual surrender.

[colorado tanker]

At the end of the last Blade story it says Rossmeisl was being deported to Germany but intended to try to return to the U.S. and become a citizen. I couldn’t find any follow up, but a couple of SSN ancestry sites indicated he passed in 1974 in “Europe.” Maybe 1959 Germany looked a lot better than his memories of Nazi Germany.

[GeronL]

Oh, I knew I saw it mentioned on the thread somewhere.

[GeronL]

I bet it did!