Posted on 07/10/2015 4:20:28 AM PDT by Homer_J_Simpson
John Toland, The Rising Sun: The Decline and Fall of the Japanese Empire, 1936-1945
http://www.etherit.co.uk/month/6/10.htm
July 10th, 1945 (TUESDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM: Frigate HMS BIGBURY BAY is commissioned.
Minesweeper HMS ROSAMUND is commissioned.
Minesweeping trawler HMS KURD mined and sunk off Cornwall.
Steam trawler Kned struck a mine laid on 18 August 1944 by U-218 and sank off Lizard Head.
JAPAN: In the Kurile Islands, 4 Eleventh Air Force B-24s fly a search down the west coasts of Paramushiru and Shimushu Islands and then radar-bomb Minami Zaki (Radar Hill) on Shimushu Island. 1 B-24 flies a radar-ferret mission over the northern Kurile Islands.
During the night of 10/11 July, a Seventh Air Force B-24 from Okinawa bombs Karesehara Airfield; 43 other Okinawa-based B-24s bomb Wan and Sateku Airfields on Kikaiga-shima, Amami Islands; 50+ B-25s bomb Wan Airfield and Saha-Saki on Nakano Shima, Ryuku Islands, and Kurume, Kyushu.
During the day, 102 XXI Bomber Command P-51 Mustangs based on Iwo Jima attack Hashin, Nishinomiya, Sano and Tokushima mostly hitting airfields; 3 P-51s are lost.
The USN’s Task Force 38, consisting of eight aircraft carriers and six light aircraft carriers under Vice Admiral John S. McCain, launches carrier-based aircraft to attack airfields around Tokyo.
Passing through frontal weather during the night and preceded by a submarine sweep on the look out for enemy picket boats and with air barriers formed by patrol aircraft to prevent snooping, Task Force 38 arrived undetected at a point 140 miles SE of Honshu at 0400 on 10th July.
As anticipated, the weather cleared sufficiently to allow strikes to be launched. The primary targets for the day’s strikes were airfields and aircraft mainly in the Tokyo area, but extending from Koriyama in the north to Hamamatsu in the southwest. No airborne opposition was met. Only 13 airborne aircraft were seen, all of which avoided contact. Around the Task Force, only 3 enemy aircraft were sighted, 2 of which were shot down by the CAP and the 3rd was chased away before making contact.
The air defence of the Task Force was organized to counteract any possible suicide attacks. The method was similar to those used off Okinawa except that sufficient destroyers were available to establish 3 destroyer picket stations - 2 “Tomcat” stations consisting of one division of destroyers each, placed on bearing clear of the probable approach path of enemy aircraft and a further destroyer division called “Watchdog” on the mean of the target bearing line - all 40 to 50 miles from the Task Force Guide.
All aircraft returned to the Task Force via the Tomcat positions (one DD in each division being fitted with YE or YG homing beacons) and were inspected visually before being allowed to proceed towards the approach sector to the Task Force. The Watchdog was primarily a fighter direction base, one of whose destroyers was one the long hull 2200 ton class DDs fitted with SP radar which allowed accurate height finding on aircraft at much longer ranges from the Task Force. Each Task Group maintained a CAP of 32 fighters, 24 of them at various heights over the Task Group and 8 fighters over either the Tomcats or the Watchdog.
Pilots returned with reports that few aircraft could be seen on the ground and that those that were seen were mainly well dispersed and camouflaged.
Photographs of airfields were available within 2 hours after the camera planes landed, showing that large numbers of aircraft were present, but most of them ingeniously dispersed in fields woods and villages, some of them as much as 3 miles from their parent field. A total of 1500 aircraft were counted on photographs of 61 airfields. Altogether, 69 airfields were attacked; 109 aircraft were destroyed on the ground and 231 damaged. Air facilities and industrial targets were also attacked. 1303 strike sorties were flown and 425 CAP. 450 tons of bombs and 1648 HVAR were expended on strikes. Combat losses in aircraft were 7 VF/VBF and 6 VT. Operational losses were 4 VF and 2 VT. There were no VB losses. Crew losses were 4 VF/VBF pilots, 3 VT pilots, and 6 VT crewmen. (Rich Leonard)
Fighter-bombers locate and destroy an estimated 100 unfuelled aircraft dispersed at sites no closer than 10 miles (16 km) from any airfield. (The Japanese have decided to hoard their aircraft preparing for the Allied invasion which they believe will occur in October 1945.)
BORNEO: Australian progress east of Balikpapan is halted by Japanese barriers of flaming petrol.
ARGENTINA: The German U-boat U-530, missing since the end of April, surfaces at Mar del Plata, sparking off speculation that it ferried high-ranking Nazis to sanctuary in South America.
U.S.A.: Destroyer USS FURSE is commissioned.
CANADA: Frigate HMCS Carlplace refit commenced Saint John, New Brunswick, later transferred to Shelburne, Nova Scotia.
Corvettes HMCS Hawkesbury and Parry Sound paid off Sydney, Nova Scotia.
Corvette HMCS Lachute paid off Sorel, Province of Quebec.
Minesweeper HMCS Spruce Lake launched New Westminster, British Columbia.
Reefer madness among jazz musicians in Harlem. Who’d have thunk?
The one “new” place being bombed today is Sendai. When I was there in 2006, I visited the mausoleum of Date (pronounced DAH-tay) Masamune, who lived in the early 1600s and was one of the early proponents of the present-day form of tea ceremony connected to Sen Rikyu’s work in the late 1500s. There was a plaque there, that referred to how the mausoleum had been “lost in the air raids of 1945 and the devastation following them.” I thought it odd at the time that the planes had gotten that far north, I figured that Sendai would have been in a spot where it was too far to fly from either Guam or Adak—but I never took the time to look into it later. Reading today’s edition, now I know.
I’m sure I speak for many when I say thank you for giving us the benefit of your experience in and knowledge of Japan as you give us the back story of the NY Times articles. Lots of stuff I didn’t even know I didn’t know.
I’m one of the many Homer speaks for, even though it’s creepy to be spoken for by a cartoon character.
The carrier attack on Japan was commanded by John S. McCain. I had to do a search - that is Sen. John McCain’s Grandfather. I knew the senator’s dad was an admiral - but didn’t realize it went all that way back.
The stress of so much combat wore the Senior McCain down. He died shortly after returning to the U.S. after the Japanese surrender.
The Japanese have announced that the “official” daily food ration has been cut 10%. It is already below the minimum recommended daily calorie intake. I put “official” in quotes because in practice, even that amount is not actually being provided to the Japanese population.
The Japanese population is already starving, and its summer. The internal transportation links have all but broken down and the population is being scattered into the countryside. Where did the Japanese leadership expect to be in 90 days? There will be less food, not more, and cold weather will be coming. This cannot bode well for a starving urban population displaced to inadequate housing in the countryside, without proper sanitation or medical facilities.
The continuation of the war under these circumstances is criminal.
“The continuation of the war under these circumstances is criminal.”
Agreed if you mean the Japs are the criminals.
Awhile ago in one of these newspapers there was something about a building or trench or something in Germany filled with dead Germans (soldiers?). One of the survivors said that they had complained to the SS that they should stop fighting - it was so clear that the Germans would lose. The SS killed them.
Just reminded me of a movie about a lone tank in WWII - with Brad Pitt (FURY). It was a good movie. But one of the U.S. guys is saying “Why don’t they just quit!!?? They know they are done for.”
“If it was your country - would YOU quit?”
Of course, the peons could end it all quickly by attacking American soldiers with those bamboo sticks they are being issued.
I think you’re referring to the Berlin subway incident. In a recent post it was revealed that near the end of the Battle of Berlin the tunnels were packed by civilians, mostly women and children, taking refuge. Some SS wanted to use a tunnel for moving troops but the people begged them to stop the fighting instead. They packed explosives by where the tunnel was close to the Spree River and blew it, flooding the tunnel.
“...flooding the tunnel.”
Yes - thank you. Pretty sad when I can’t remember stuff like that from just a few days ago. Although I did get the gist of it I guess. Those Nazi’s and Japs were bad news.
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