July 6, 1945
Today in World War II Pacific History
Day by day chronology
FRIDAY, 6 JULY 1945
HQ AAF (Twentieth Air Force): Taking off during the late evening hours of 6
Jul, 517 B-29s make four incendiary and 1 HE attacks between 0700 and 0800 hours
local on 7 Jul; 1 B-29 is lost: Mission 251: 124 B-29s attack the Chiba urban
area destroying 0.86 sq miles (2.23 sq km), 43.4% of the city; 1 other B-29
hits an alternate target. Mission 252: 123 B-29s hit the Akashi urban area destroying
0.81 sq miles (1.7 sq km), 57.0% of the city; 1 other B-29 hits an alternate
target. Mission 253: 133 B-29s attack the Shimizu urban area destroying 0.71
sq miles (1.49 sq km), 50% of the city; 1 B-29 is lost. Mission 254: 131 B-29s
hit the Kofu urban area destroying 1.3 sq miles (2.7 sq km), 65% of the city;
1 other B-29 hits an alternate target. Mission 255: 59 B-29s drop 500-pound
(227 kg) bombs on the Maruzen Oil Refinery at Wakayama; 1 other hits an alternate
target. 110 P-51Ds from Iwo Jima attack airfields in the Tokyo area (Kumagaya, Yamagata, and Chiba); they claim 1-0-0 aircraft in the air and 6-25 on the ground;
1 P-51 is lost.
CHINA THEATER (AAF, China Theater) Lieutenant General George E Stratemeyer officially
assumes command as Commanding General AAF China Theater; he will arrive in China
several days later.
Fourteenth Air Force: 98 P-51s and P-38s over French Indochina and S and E China
continue to disrupt the Japanese retreat and hit transport and supply targets;
rail, road, and river traffic, coastal shipping, bridges, troops, Japanese-held
areas, and general targets of opportunity are blasted at many locations chiefly
around Kweilin, Kukong, and Yangso, China, and Haiphong and Hanoi.
On this date Major General Claire L Chennault, Commanding General Fourteenth
AF, requests permission to retire, which is soon granted.
WESTERN PACIFIC [Far East Air Force (FEAF)]: On Luzon, fighter-bombers continue
to support ground forces N of Kiangan and bomb the town of Mankayan. In Formosa,
B-24s bomb Heito Airfield, Ryutan Airfield and Taien Airfields and A-26s pound the Taito railroad
yards. B-24s over Borneo bomb Bandjermasin warehouses, Tandjoengredeb buildings, Samarinda shipyards, and Balikpapan and Manggar areas. P-51s
from Okinawa hit transportation targets in the Kagoshima Bay area.
RNZAF: Crashed on take off is C-47B NZ3529 (survived).
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