On this day, August 14th, 1945, Japan announced its unconditional surrender in World War II and President Harry Truman announced that World War II was over.

After the completion of the campaigns in the Solomon Islands (late 1943) and New Guinea (1944), the Allied advance moved inexorably, in two lines that converged on Japan, through scattered island groups—the Philippines, the Mariana Islands, Okinawa, and Iwo Jima. Japan, with most of its navy sunk, staggered beneath these blows. At the Yalta Conference, the USSR secretly promised its aid against Japan, which still refused to surrender even after the Allied appeal made at the Potsdam Conference. On Aug. 6, 1945, the United States first used the atomic bomb and devastated Hiroshima; on Aug. 9, the second bomb was dropped on Nagasaki. The USSR had already invaded Manchuria. On Aug. 14, Japan announced its surrender, formally signed aboard the U.S. battleship Missouri in Tokyo Bay on Sept. 2.

Labels: Admiral Halsey, Admiral Nimitz, Douglas MacArthur, japan, surrender, world war 2

On 22nd June 1938 in New York City Joe Louis defeated Max Schmelling by first round knockout in "The Fight" of the century. The battle was more for the national pride of Germany and America than any boxing belt.




On 22nd June 1969 Judy Garland died in London following an overdose of sleeping pills.




A few war anniversaries fall today too... like Gernamy invading Russia during world war 2. But I will leave the good people at Associated Press to fill you in on those ones today ;-)

Labels: bing crosby, germany, joe lewis, judy garland, russia, world war 2

On 21st June 1945 Japanese troops surrendered the Pacific Island of Okinawa to the United States after one of the longest and bloodiest battles of World War II. An estimated 150,000 civilians died during the almost 3 month long battle, many via mass suicide or at the hands of their own army.

The first 2 videos below are all original footage taken during battle and depict the Japanese view of the battle. Warning: includes some graphic scenes of death and what "appears" to be a war crime, where an injured and unarmed solidier is shot.









This is a very detailed 105 minute UK documentary about the battle for Okinawa




Kamikaze attacks against the US fleet off Okinawa created so many American casualties the assault was almost halted before it began.

Labels: japan, kamikaze, okinawa, usa, world war 2

German troops marched into Paris in the early hours of the morning on June 14 1940 as French and allied forces retreated.

The enemy met no resistance as it entered the capital, which was declared an "open town" a day earlier by the city's French military governor, General Hering.

French troops withdrew to avoid a violent battle and total destruction of Paris. They are believed to have taken a new line of defence south of the city. The Germans advanced from the north-east and north-west and shortly afterwards tanks rumbled past the Arc de Triomphe down the Champs Elysees to the Place de la Concorde.

Labels: france, germany, paris, world war 2

6th June 1944: D-Day, marks start of Europe invasion

Thousands of Allied troops have begun landing on the beaches of Normandy in northern France at the start of a major offensive against the Germans.

Thousands of paratroops and glider-borne troops have also been dropped behind enemy lines and the Allies are already said to have penetrated several miles inland.

The landings were preceded by air attacks along the French coast.

Operation Overlord, the Allied landings at Normandy, is a series of 4 short movies created from original news footage of the time. It accurately details the events prior to June the 6th and the insuing days that culminated in the break out.

Operation Overlord - Part 1

Labels: allies, d-day, france, germany, uk, usa, world war 2

The Battle of Midway, fought Form the 4th to the 7th June 1942, over and near the tiny U.S. mid-Pacific base at Midway atoll, represents the strategic high water mark of Japan's Pacific Ocean war. Prior to this action, Japan possessed general naval superiority over the United States and could usually choose where and when to attack. After Midway, the two opposing fleets were essentially equals, and the United States soon took the offensive.

Japanese Combined Fleet commander Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto moved on Midway in an effort to draw out and destroy the U.S. Pacific Fleet's aircraft carrier striking forces, which had embarassed the Japanese Navy in the mid-April Doolittle Raid on Japan's home islands and at the Battle of Coral Sea in early May. He planned to quickly knock down Midway's defenses, follow up with an invasion of the atoll's two small islands and establish a Japanese air base there. He expected the U.S. carriers to come out and fight, but to arrive too late to save Midway and in insufficient strength to avoid defeat by his own well-tested carrier air power.

Yamamoto's intended surprise was thwarted by superior American communications intelligence, which deduced his scheme well before battle was joined. This allowed Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, the U.S. Pacific Fleet commander, to establish an ambush by having his carriers ready and waiting for the Japanese. On 4 June 1942, in the second of the Pacific War's great carrier battles, the trap was sprung. The perserverance, sacrifice and skill of U.S. Navy aviators, plus a great deal of good luck on the American side, cost Japan four irreplaceable fleet carriers, while only one of the three U.S. carriers present was lost. The base at Midway, though damaged by Japanese air attack, remained operational and later became a vital component in the American trans-Pacific offensive.

Labels: japan, midway, usa, world war 2