Friday, August 8, 2025

80 Years Ago, Wednesday, 1 August 1945

US NAVY

PACIFIC—TG 12.3 attacks Wake Island. Planes from light carrier Cabot (CVL‑28) bomb installations. Battleship Pennsylvania (BB‑38) bombards the atoll but is damaged by shore battery, 19°20'N, 166°30'E.

                TG 95.2 (Rear Admiral Francis S. Low), a fast striking group consisting of large cruisers Alaska (CB‑1) and Guam (CB‑2), four light cruisers and nine destroyers, departs Okinawa and proceeds into the East China Sea to conduct anti‑shipping sweeps off Shanghai, China.

                TG 95.3 (Vice Admiral Jesse B. Oldendorf), consisting of three battleships, a heavy cruiser, a light cruiser, three escort carriers, six destroyers and three destroyer escorts, accompanies TG 95.2 to furnish covering support.

                Heaviest USAAF B‑29 raid to date: 774 planes drop 6,632 tons of bombs on five different targets in Japan. Additionally, in what will be the largest operation of its kind, 42 USAAF B‑29s mine Shimonoseki Straits and the waters off Najin and Chongjin, Korea, and Hamada, Japan. Japanese escort vessel Ikura is damaged by mine in Oguchi Channel.

                USAAF B‑24s (Far East Air Force) bomb Nagasaki dockyard area, damaging motor torpedo boat Gyoraitei No.102; USAAF B‑25s and fighter‑bomber aircraft (Far East Air Force) bomb Japanese shipping in Nagasaki harbor, damaging merchant cargo ship Kinko Maru and tanker Tada Maru. Other USAAF (Fifth Air Force) planes sink merchant cargo ship Hayabusa Maru near Eboshi light, 33°41'N, 129°59'E.

                Japanese merchant tanker Chokai Maru is damaged by marine casualty, 34°38'N, 134°56'E.

                British submarines HMS Thorough and HMS Taciturn attack Japanese shipping in Bulelong Roads; while Taciturn engages shore batteries, Thorough sinks cargo vessels Hino Maru and Shoei Maru and shells warehouses.

                Submarine chaser PC‑784 collides with Army tug LT 666 in a dense fog off entrance to Amchitka, Alaska, harbor; both vessels suffer damage but there are no injuries to either crew.

 

US ARMY AIR FORCE

TENTH AF—Gen Hegenberger becomes CG Tenth AF. Tenth AF moves from Piardoba to Kunming. (HQ at Kunming was officially opened on 23 Jul). The scheduled role of the Tenth AF in China is almost identical with its completed Burma mission to act as the tactical AF giving direct support and providing air supply to Chinese ground forces operating S of 27th parallel N.

FOURTEENTH AF—Bad weather severely curtails operations. P‑61’s effectively sweep rivers in Wuchou, Canton, and Tsingyun areas, sinking several large junks and sampans.

FEAF—B‑24’s bomb shipyards at Pontianak. Other Heavy Bombers hit barracks and AA guns along Makassar Strait. P‑38’s strafe locomotives in Soerabaja area. Other P‑38’s support ground forces ENE and SE of Mankayan and, along with USMC aircraft, pound enemy positions and concentrations in Upian area. B‑24’s bomb Tourane marshalling yard while escorting P‑51’s strafe boxcars at Quang Nam. Other B‑24’s strike Takao military stores. About 50 B‑24’s bomb targets in Nagasaki dock and harbor area. B‑25’s and Fighter Bombers in Nagasaki area hit docks, railroad yards, and shipping. Other B‑24’s bomb Koniya airfield and hit Kakeroma I. 80‑plus P‑47’s hit railroad bridges and other railroad targets at Sendai. Also P‑47’s fly their first combat mission from Iwo Jima, joining VII FC P‑51’s in sweep over S Honshu. Rolling stock and airfields are attacked in Okazaki, Itami, and Nagoya areas.

TWENTIETH AF—627 B‑29’s, on night of 1/2 Aug, carry out fire‑bomb raids on Japanese cities of Hachioji, Toyama, Nagaoka, and Mito; 120 others bomb Kawasaki petroleum facilities; and 37 drop mines in Shimonoseki Strait, in Nakaumi Lagoon, at Hamada, Sakai, Yonago, Najin, and Seishin. The total of 784 B‑29’s (of 836 dispatched) bombing targets is the largest Twentieth AF single‑day effort of World War II.

VII FC—30‑plus Iwo Jima‑based P‑51’s hit airfields and other targets in Osaka‑Nagoya area. Bad weather prevents numerous other fighters from reaching targets.

 

US ARMY

 

US MARINE CORPS

 

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