22 August 1939

August 22nd, 1939 (TUESDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM:
Hints of a Russo-German pact are everywhere.

Chamberlain recalls Parliament for the 24th.

The Times announces the massing of German troops in the Polish border.

There are heavy losses of British Gold reserves.

The telegram from Ambassador Lindsay in Washington is finally deciphered.

Chamberlain gives a fighting speech, to be broadcast by the BBC, saying it is unthinkable that Great Britain should not carry out its obligations to Poland.

Destroyers HMS Quorn and Southdown laid down.

FRANCE: The passenger liner SS Normandie sails from LeHavre with a full passenger load as U.S. citizens rush home fearing war.

Minesweeper FS La Batailleuse launched.

GERMANY:
Obersalzburg: Hitler tells generals that the destruction of Poland "starts on Saturday morning" (26 August), the aim of this war is the wholesale destruction of Poland.

POLAND:
Ambassador Kennard and Leon Noel (French Ambassador) try to make Colonel Beck change his mind for one last time.

U.S.S.R.:
Sir William Seeds, (British Ambassador in Moscow) accuses Molotov of negotiating in bad faith.

22 August 1940

August 22nd, 1940 (THURSDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM:
London: MPs bitterly condemn the internment of aliens.

Battle of Britain:
RAF Fighter Command: Luftwaffe attacks convoys in Dover Straits.

Attacks on RAF Manston.

At night Aberdeen, Yorkshire, Hampshire, South Wales, Bristol and Filton (airfield and Bristol Company's works) are bombed.

Losses: Luftwaffe, 3; RAF 5.

Dover: German batteries shelled Dover tonight during a cross-Channel duel which had lasted all day. Their first target was a convoy of ships edging up the English side of the Channel under Royal Navy escort. Then the guns turned on Dover. In the air, RAF fighters broke up waves of Luftwaffe bombers. Other British aircraft hit back until nightfall. By then the convoy, with its 50,000 tons of food and war material, was snug at anchor.
The Germans have installed 14-inch batteries with a 20-mile range along the coast from Boulogne to Calais as part of the plan to invade England. Those guns were used for the first time today when shells sent water spouts 100 feet above the convoy. RN escorts laid smoke to conceal the convoy.
With dusk, the guns turned on civilian targets in Dover. During a 45-minute barrage a shell burst through the stained glass window of a church and exploded near the altar.
By midnight, refugees carrying bedding were seeking shelter as their homes were demolished. Across the Channel, the RAF lit up the gun pits with parachute flares, then bombed them.

Destroyer HMS Aldenham laid down.
Corvette HMS Gloxinia commissioned.

SS Thorold (1,689 GRT) Canadian merchant ship, was bombed and sunk by Luftwaffe Dornier Do-17 bombers, in the Irish Sea in position 51.46N, 005.38W. From her crew of 23, ten crewmembers were lost

GERMANY: British raiders bomb industrial targets at Frankfurt and Cologne.

German propaganda radio station NBBS prophesises the destruction of London by 'aerial torpedoes carrying many tons of high explosive and guided by radio.' [V1s ???]

GREECE: Athens: Britain promises to send air and sea forces to aid Greece if the enemy attacks.

MEDITERRANEAN SEA: Three Fleet Air Arm Swordfish deliver, arguably, the most interesting torpedo attack of the war. Having been informed of an Italian "depot ship" at An-el-Gazala, three Swordfish of HMS Eagle's 824 Squadron, FAA, temporarily based at Ma'aten Bagush, are transferred to Sidi Barrani, equipped with auxiliary fuel tanks and torpedoes. In the late-afternoon, the three crews [Capt. O. Patch, RM (p)/Mid. G. J. Woodley, RNVR(o), Lt. N. A. F. Cheeseman, RN(p)/Sub-Lt. F. Stovin-Bradford, RN(o), and Lt. J. W. G. Welham, RN(p)/PO(A) A. H. Marsh(TAG)] headed out on the 180 mile flight to the Gulf of Bomba, routing 30 miles out to sea so as to approach the target from seaward. Approaching the target, they sighted the Italian Submarine Iride [the mother ship for Italian human torpedoes arriving to attack Alexandria] approaching on the surface. Heading straight for her, Captain Patch released his torpedo, which smacked Iride amidships, sinking her.

Having had no opportunity to attack themselves, the other two continued on the mission assigned. As they approached, they discovered the depot ship [Monte Gargano (1,976 GRT)] with a submarine and a destroyer tied up along side. Both torpedoes ran true into the pack, the resulting explosions "sinking whole bloody lot". Initially treated with distain when they reported sinking four ships with three torpedoes, the crews were quite exuberant when recon photos the next morning verified that all three in harbour had, in fact, sank, though apparently the destroyer and the submarine were only beached. (Mark Horan) More

Human Torpedo

AUSTRALIA: Sloop HMAS Warrego is commissioned.

CANADA: Corvette HMCS Alberni launched.

U.S.A.: James V. Forrestal, former Administrative Assistant to the President and Wall Street broker, becomes first Undersecretary of the Navy. His office will become the most important coordinating agency for procurement and materiel in the Navy Department.

MEXICO: The government orders all German consulates to be closed by 1 September.

22 August 1941

August 22nd, 1941 (FRIDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: Corvette HMS Snowflake launched.

Minesweeper HMS Worthing launched.

FRANCE: A German naval officer cadet was shot dead in the Paris metro yesterday. Today the Germans announced that all Frenchmen imprisoned in occupied France for any cause will be considered hostages. "In the event of another such act, a number of hostages, corresponding to the gravity of the crime, will be shot." One hundred have been selected on Hitler's orders, and 50 will be shot should there be more outrages and their corpses displayed in the Place de la Concorde.

The shooting took place at Barbes-Rochechouart, the Communist Party's working-class citadel in Paris, and reflect the growing resistance to the occupation authorities by the Communists and their various stalking horses in the trades unions. So far this resistance has been most marked on the railways, where the railwaymen's union is co-ordinating sabotage. The metro shooting is their first act of assassination.

U.S.S.R.: A great battle is raging at the approaches to Leningrad as Field Marshal von Leeb throws in all his forces to capture the city, before the autumn rains set in and bog down his tanks.

Both sides recognize the importance of the battle. Marshal Voroshilov has said: "The enemy will never set foot in our beautiful city, Leningrad never has and never will be in the hands of the enemy."

In reply Göbbels has said the city "will be ground to rubble."

AUSTRALIA: Destroyer HMAS Derwent launched.

WAKE ISLAND The US Marine Detachment, 1st defence Battalion, arrives from Oahu, Hawaii. (Gordon Rottman)

CANADA: Minesweeper HMCS Lockeport launched. Minesweeper HMCS Clayoquot commissioned.

Corvette HMCS Amherst arrived Halifax from builder Saint John, New Brunswick.

U.S.A.: The slumbering giant of America is gathering its strength with an impressive growth in its military manpower.

Just over a year ago the regular US Army numbered 265,000 plus 243,000 National Guard reservists. By April this year there were 487,000 regulars, 286,000 National Guard, 38,000 reserve officers called to the colours and 374,000 selective service trainees: a total of 1,185,000 men. It is almost 12 months since President Roosevelt signed a bill imposing call-up liability on 16.5 million men aged between 21 and 35. Congress passed the measure reluctantly after a three-month debate. Important strings were attached to it. Conscripts are to serve within the western hemisphere and US possessions, including the Philippines. They will serve for a year (possibly to be extended to 30 months) and be paid the same as regulars. Roosevelt wants 2 million men.

ATLANTIC OCEAN: At 2331 U-564 fired a salvo of four torpedoes at Convoy OG-71 west of Aveiro, Portugal and observed four different detonations and three columns of fire, later lifeboats were seen. Suhren thought that he had sunk two ships and damaged two others. However, only two ships were hit and sunk, the British merchant ship Empire Oak (484 tons) and Irish merchant ship Clonlara (1,203 tons) in position 40.43N, 11.39W. The master and 12 crewmembers from the Clonlara were picked up by corvette HMS Campion and landed at Gibraltar on 24 August. Six crew embers were lost. The master, three crewmembers and four gunners from the Empire Oak were picked up by corvette HMS Campanula, later transferred to destroyer HMS Velox and landed at Gibraltar on 25 August. 13 crewmembers were lost. On 19 August, the Empire Oak had picked up six survivors from Aguila and eleven survivors from Alva. The survivors from Aguila died when this ship was sunk, while the other survivors were also rescued by the corvette.

22 August 1942

August 22nd, 1942 (SATURDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: Corvette HMS Mandrake launched.

GERMANY: U-419 launched.
U-227 and U-449 commissioned.

POLAND: Lwow: 75,000 Jews have been deported to Belzec since 10 August.

U.S.S.R.: Black Sea Fleet and Azov Flotilla: Shipping loss: MS "TSch-405 "Vzrivatel"" - by field artillery, close to Eupatoria (later raised) (Sergey Anisimov)(69)

Stalingrad: German paratroopers landing behind Soviet lines are massacred.

The advance of the German 17.Armee (Ruoff) toward the Black Sea port of Suchum west of the Caucasus bogs down. A platoon of 1.Gebirgs-Division hoists the German war flag on the top of Mt. Elbrus, the highest peak in the Caucasus.

U-456 found the motor boat Chaika anchored off the Matyuschev Isle west of the Matochkin Strait and at 2300 took her in tow unnoticed by the Soviets. After searching the boat she was sunk by scuttling charges. Nothing valuable was found except of four infantry guns.

NEW GUINEA: The 18th Australian Brigade lands at Milne Bay. Allied troops in the Milne Bay area now numbered more than 8,800 and the fighting at Milne Bay resulted in the first defeat of a Japanese amphibious landing in WWII.

Major-General Clowes takes command of Milne Force which stands at 1,365 men. (Michael Mitchell)
In the air, USAAF B-17s of the Allied Air Forces B-17s bomb the airfield at Lae.

SOLOMON ISLANDS: The first USAAF aircraft, 5 P-400 Airacobras of the 67th Fighter Squadron, 58th Fighter Group, based on New Caledonia Island, New Hebrides, arrive at Henderson Field, Guadalcanal Island, joining USMC aircraft which arrived earlier; these P-400s, which operate under control of Marine Aircraft Wing One (MAW-1), prove no match for Japanese Zekes or bombers at high altitudes.
The USN destroyers USS Blue (DD-387) and USS Henley (DD-391), trying to intercept Japanese reinforcements heading for Guadalcanal, run into the Japanese destroyer HIJMS Kawakaze, whose night-fighting experience outperforms the Americans' radar. The Blue is torpedoed at 0359 hours local and throughout the 22nd and 23rd, unsuccessful attempts are made to tow her to Tulagi. She was scuttled at 2221 on 23 August 1942. Kawakaze escapes unscathed.

BISMARCK ARCHIPELAGO: USAAF B-17s of the Allied Air Forces B-17s bomb the airfields at Rabaul on New Britain Island.

TERRITORY OF ALASKA: Aleutians: A photo reconnaissance mission over Kiska Island by the US 11th Air Force is aborted due to overcast.

U.S.A.: "Cow-Cow Boogie" by Freddie Slack and his Orchestra featuring Ella Mae Morse on vocal, was released on today. It was on the charts for 2 weeks and reached Number 9.

Light fleet carrier USS Independence launched.

Corvette USS Intensity is launched.

Frigate USS Asheville (ex-HMS Adur) launched.
Destroyer escort USS Brennan launched.
Corvette USS Haste launched.
Destroyer USS Ingraham sank after a violent collision with the Navy oil tanker USS Chemung in pea-soup fog off the coast of Nova Scotia. The Ingraham was part of Task Force 37 escorting Convoy AT-20 to the United Kingdom. An internal explosion caused the ship to blaze from stem to stern. It was all over in a flash, the burning wreck vanishing beneath the waves taking the lives of 218 of her crew. There were only 11 survivors, one officer and 10 ratings all rescued by the Chemung's boat crews.

CARIBBEAN SEA: The German submarine U-654 is sunk north of Colon, in position 12.00N, 79.56W, by depth charges from a US 6th Air Force B-18 Bolo based at France Field, Canal Zone. All hands on the U-boat, 44-men, are lost.

BRAZIL declares war on Germany and Italy. This follows a week of anti-Nazi rioting following the recent sinking of six Brazilian ships by Axis submarines. The declaration was made after a meeting between President Getulio Vargas and his cabinet this afternoon, and the country's armed forces were ordered to prepare for "sacrifices until death." Though no explanation was given as to why Japan was not included in the declaration, it is unofficially pointed out that Japan has not committed any acts of aggression towards Brazil.

ATLANTIC OCEAN: U-507 sank neutral Swedish SS Hammaren in Convoy OS-36.

22 August 1943

August 22nd, 1943 (SUNDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: The US VIII Air Support Command in England flies Missions 30A and 30B against 2 Luftwaffe airfields in France.
(1) 35 B-26B Marauders attack Beaumont-le-Roger Airfield at 2110 hours; 1 B-26 is lost.
(2) 36 B-26's are dispatched to Nord Airfield at Poix; they all return early when they are unable to contact the escort fighters, RAF Spitfires.

ÉIRE: Short S.25 Sunderland Mk. III, s/n DD848 assigned to No. 201 Squadron based at Castle Archdale, County Fermanagh, Ireland, crashes on the lower slopes of Mount Brandon on the Dingle Peninsula in County Kerry at 0530 hours. This aircraft had taken off at 0330 hours in a flight of four Sunderlands to fly ASW patrols in the South Atlantic. The aircraft was flying off course, below the minimum safety altitude and in low clouds when it crashed. Three of the 11 crewmen aboard survive.

GERMANY: U-768 launched.

BALTIC SEA: A prototype V1 rocket lands on the Danish island of Bornholm, where an Allied agent photographs it before it is recovered.

U-24 sank Soviet landing craft DB-36 and DB-37.

U.S.S.R.: The Germans begin a general retreat from Kharkov. Manstein has persuaded Hitler to relax his "stand firm" policy.

ITALY: Northwest African Strategic Air Force (NASAF) B-26s, with an escort of Northwest African Tactical Air Force (NATAF) A-36 Apaches, bomb the marshalling yard at Salerno, Italy; they claim 26 enemy fighters destroyed.

MEDITERRANEAN SEA: The German submarine U-458 is sunk southeast of Pantelleria, Italy, in position 36.25N, 12.39E, by depth charges from the RN destroyer HMS Easton and the Greek destroyer HHMS Pindos. 39 of the 47 U-boat crewmen survive.

NORTH AFRICA: All fighter and medium bomber groups of the US Ninth Air Force are transferred to the US Twelfth Air Force.

SOLOMON ISLANDS: US Thirteenth Air Force B-25 Mitchells and USMC SBD Dauntlesses, escorted by fighter aircraft, bomb barge centres on the west coast of Vella Lavella Island.

ELLICE ISLANDS: These islands are occupied beginning today through the 28th by US forces. Work begins immediately on constructing airfields.

NEW GUINEA: As a result of the air offensive against Wewak and satellite airfields, Japanese airpower on New Guinea is sufficiently neutralized for 4 Allied destroyers to proceed along the coast from Milne Bay to Finschhafen; after bombarding Finschhafen during the night of 22/23 August, the warships return to Milne Bay.

U.S.A.: Andrei A. Gromyko replaces Maxim Litvinov as Soviet ambassador to the U.S.

Submarine USS Flounder launched.
Destroyer escort USS Micka launched.
Destroyer escort USS Reybold launched.

Frigate USS Machias is launched.

22 August 1944

August 22nd, 1944 (TUESDAY)

ENGLISH CHANNEL: RN minesweeper HMS Loyalty (J-217, ex-HMS Rattler) is torpedoed and sunk by U-480 (Oberleutnant zur See Hans-Joachim Forster) about 45 nautical miles (83 kilometres) south-southwest of Brighton, Sussex, England, in position 50.09N, 0.41W. This is about 11 nautical miles (20 kilometres) southeast of the position that U-480 torpedoed and sank the Canadian corvette HMCS Alberni (K 103) yesterday. Loyalty sinks within seven minutes with the loss of 20 of her crewmen. (Alex Gordon and Jack McKillop)

FRANCE: German officer Heinz Stahlschmidt blows up a bunker full of detonators, effectively preventing the destruction of Bordeaux by the retreating German army. Heinz Stahlschmidt had three ships sunk under him and he survived all three. He stayed behind and settled in Bordeaux after the war. He marrying a local girl and worked in the port fire brigade. Apparently, he has never received any recognition for what he did. (Jack McKillop and Tom Hickox)

Chapuis Group of the 3d Algerian Division and elements of the 1st US Armored Division invest Marseilles under II Corps. These are all French units under the Seventh US Army. (Gordon Rottman)

In the air over northern France, US IX Bomber Command operations are cancelled because of weather however, fighters fly sweeps, provide air cover for 2 infantry and 1 armoured division, strafe numerous military and transportation targets, and fly armed reconnaissance from Evreux to Troyes.

In the air over south-eastern France, weather restricts operations by the US Twelfth Air Force; A-20 Havocs hit motor transport in the Nice area during the night of 21/22 August and hit industrial buildings during the day; fighters hit motor transport west of the Rhone River and in scattered parts of south-eastern France.

The US 36th Infantry Division captures Grenoble without any opposition.

Light cruiser HMS Mauritius and destroyers HMS Ursa and Iroquois engaged in Operation KINETIC patrol off Gironde, France. These patrols were designed to close the resupply routes to isolate German garrisons along the Atlantic sea coast. In the span of 2 hrs they encountered and engaged 2 small German coastal convoys. At 0200 they engaged 4 enemy vessels at a range of 2 miles. An armed trawler and 2 small merchantmen were sunk and a minesweeper was forced to run aground while under heavy fire. At 0351 they engaged another 4 enemy ships. This time 2 armed trawlers and 2 small merchant ships were sunk. In all, in 2 nights (14 Aug and 22 Aug) the 3 ships had sunk the minesweeper M385 (540 tons), the armed trawlers V702 (440 tons), V717 (1,000 tons), V702 and V720 (both 280 tons) and V730 (535 tons), the seaplane tender Richtoffen (1,375 tons) and damaged the Elbing-class destroyer T-24. Several small merchant ships were also sunk or damaged.

GERMANY: U-2331 launched.
U-3003 commissioned.

Three targets are bombed by the USAAF's Fifteenth Air Force in Italy:

- The Deschowitz synthetic oil facilities at Odertal is the target for 150 B-17 Flying Fortresses: 97 bomb visually and 53 use H2X radar to bomb. Five aircraft are lost.

- The I.G. Farben synthetic oil facilities at Blechhammer is the target for 114 B-24 Liberators: 66 bomb visually and 48 use H2X radar to bomb. Fourteen aircraft are lost.

- One aircraft bombs a marshalling yard as a target of opportunity.

AUSTRIA: Vienna is the target for 269 B-24 Liberators of the USAAF's Fifteenth Air Force in Italy: 150 bomb the Lobau oil refinery, 96 bomb the Korneuburg oil refinery and 23 bomb the Vienna oil refinery with the loss of 18 aircraft. All bombing is visually

NORWAY: Operation GOODWOOD: A British fleet consisting of two escort carriers and three fleet carriers, including HMS INDEFATIGABLE flying Grumman F6F Hellcats, HMS Duke of York and supporting escorts of the Home Fleet under Admiral Moore attacks the German battleship TIRPITZ, but misses because of smoke screen cover. There are heavy British losses.

HUNGARY: During the night of 22/23 August, 50 RAF Liberators of No. 205 Group bomb a marshalling yard at Miskolc with the loss of three aircraft.

ROMANIA: Soviet forces break through to Jassy on the Dnestr River, in northeastern Romania, convincing Romania's King Michael to sign an armistice with the Allies and concede control of his country to the USSR.

U.S.S.R..: Soviet Premier Josef Stalin writes letters to U.S. President Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill denouncing the leaders of the Warsaw rising as "a group of criminals."

ITALY: Allied troops capture Florence.

During the night of 22/23 August, an RAF Liberator of No. 205 (Heavy Bomber) Group drops leaflets on Milan.

ARCTIC OCEAN: The German submarine U-344 is sunk in the Barents Sea northwest of Bear Island, in position 74.54N, 15.26E, by depth charges from a RN Swordfish Mk III in the escort aircraft carrier HMS Vindex. All hands on the U-boat, 50-men, are lost.

At about 01.00 hours, whilst refuelling some of convoy JW.59 escorts, escort carrier HMCS Nabob is torpedoed by U-354 (Kapitanleutnant Hans-Jurgen Sthamer) with a FAT torpedo spread and tries to sink her at 01.22 hours with a Gnat which strikes HMS Bickerton. Although the torpedo struck aft causing considerable damage, Nabob is able to make the 1000-mile return trip to Rosyth, but is not repaired and subsequently broken up. (Nabob had just participated in a Home Fleet attack on Tirpitz, and was returning from that operation. Location: Arctic 120 miles WNW of the North Cape at 71 42N 19 11E.

Frigate HMS Bickerton is torpedoed in the same attack (see previous entry, above). There are 38 casualties. Although the ship was salvageable the force commander did not wish to be burdened by 2 crippled ships and since Nabob was the more valuable unit, Bickerton was scuttled by destroyer HMS Vigilant which fire a torpedo at Bickerton.

Canadian destroyer HMCS Algonquin takes off 203 Nabob crewmembers.

Nabob was one of two escort carriers manned by Canada; attempts to purchase some from the USN were rebuffed as Canada would not accept lend lease equipment for political reasons. Nabob survived the war (but was a total loss to the war effort) and became the German merchant Nabob after the war. U-354 was a VIIC type U-boat, built by Flensburger Schiffsbau-GES, Flensburg, Launched 6 Jan 42, commissioned 22 Apr 42 in service 28 months, she conducted 12 Patrols, with a record of 3 ships sunk for a total of 19,899 tons, and 2 ships damaged for a further 6,134 tons. U-354 was herself sunk 24 Aug 44 during Ops against convoy JW59 by HMS Keppel, Mermaid, Peacock and Loch Dunvegan in the Barents Sea NE of North Cape in position 72-49N, 30-41E, of U-354's crew of 51 there were no survivors. Hans-Jurgen Sthamaer was born in 1919, at Lübeck. He joined then navy in 1937. His first wartime service was in the heavy cruiser Admiral Hipper. In Mar 40 he went to the Aircraft Weapons School and then served with the II/KG 30 Group on anti-shipping duties until Feb 42, when he transferred to the U-boat Force. After conversion training he served as the First Watch Officer in U-593, U-604, and then U-91 until Dec 43. He was selected for command and underwent his U-boat commander's course from Dec 43 to Feb 44. He took command of U-354 on 20 Feb 44.

Royal Navy Algerine class minesweeper HMS Loyalty (ex-HMS Rattler) is torpedoed and sunk by U-480 (Oberleutnant zur See Hans-Joachim Forster) within 10 miles of where she had sunk HMCS Alberni. Loyalty sinks within 7 minutes. Location: South of the Nab Tower at 50 09N 00 41W. (Alex Gordon)(108)

JAPAN: Tokyo: Japanese schoolchildren are interrupting their studies to go into factories to support Japan's war effort, Tokyo radio reported today. Girls aged as young as 12 are working in munitions factories. The broadcast spoke of students "discharging their duties with high fervour in munitions factories amid the din of machinery." It quoted one boy as saying that he had decided "to work with all his might" after he heard the "tragic news" about the loss of Saipan.

CANADA: Frigate HMCS Antigonish arrived Halifax from builder Esquimalt, British Columbia.

Corvette HMCS Sherbrooke completed foc'sle extension refit Liverpool, Nova Scotia.
Tug HMCS Glenside launched Owen Sound, Ontario.
Frigate HMCS St Pierre commissioned.

U.S.A.: Minesweeper USS Liberty launched.
Destroyer escort USS Williams launched.
Minesweeper USS Project commissioned.
Submarine USS Sennet commissioned.
Destroyer minelayer USS Thomas E Fraser commissioned.

Coast Guard-manned Army vessel FS-372 was commissioned at Sturgeon Bay WI with LT W. H. Bowden, USCGR, as commanding officer. She was assigned to and operated in the Southwest Pacific and Western Pacific areas during the war including Leyte, Lingayen, etc.

ATLANTIC OCEAN: U-965 is attacked by two Martlet aircraft (Wildcats), 3 men were killed and 8 wounded. [Bootsmaat Kurt Pesch, Matrosengefreiter Heinz Schade, Maschinengefreiter Thiel] (Alex Gordon)

22 August 1945

August 22nd, 1945 (WEDNESDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: London: Attlee says that the atomic bomb means a "naked choice between world co-operation or world destruction."

CHINA: The Japanese Kwantung Army surrenders in Manchuria. Soviet forces capture Port Arthur and Darien.

MANCHUKUO: The last emperor of China, 39-year old Pu Yi, has been captured and interned by Russian forces in Manchukuo, where he had been head of the Japanese puppet state with the title Emperor Kang Teh. Pu Yi was emperor of China from the age of three to six when the Manchu dynasty abdicated. He was briefly reinstated in 1917. In 1924 he was finally evicted from the imperial palace in Peking, escaping to the Japanese legation and then to the Japanese concession in Tientsin. In 1932 Japan made him head of the new puppet state of Manchukuo, as Manchuria was renamed.

HONG KONG: Japanese AA gunners near Hong Kong fire on USN patrol aircraft over the Chinese coast.

JAPAN: The People's Volunteer Corps, the Japanese equivalent of the Home Guard is disbanded.

Tokyo: The death toll from the two atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki has now reached 70,000 and is still rising. At least another 120,000 have been wounded and 290,000 made homeless by the bombs - a total of 480,000 people affected - Tokyo radio said today. An unknown number of bodies have still to be recovered from beneath the rubble.

The first Japanese scientist to inspect the devastated Hiroshima said that he expected many more deaths. "Many of those who received burns cannot survive because of the uncanny effect the bomb produces on the human body," Suzeto Torii, a technician with Japan's air defence HQ, reported. "Even those who received minor burns looked quite healthy at first, only to weaken after a few days. Many have since died," he said.

Eye-witnesses told him that when the bomb exploded from a parachute 1,800 feet above Hiroshima there was a giant flash followed by smoke that turned into an atomic cloud. People on the ground saw "ripples of circular heat rays" that lasted for about two seconds. "Explosive pressure after the blast was felt for a considerable length of time The relationship between the flash and the explosive pressure seems similar to that between lightning and thunder. Five to ten minutes after the bomb exploded, a black shower rained. It left black stains on white clothing."

MARSHALL ISLANDS: The Japanese commander of Mille Atoll surrenders to the Americans; this is the first Japanese garrison to capitulate. USS Levy receives the surrender.

CANADA: HMC ML 073 paid off.

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