June 1945

June

• 02

  • Strikes on Kyushu airfieldsOn 2–3 June 1945 fighters from the Ticonderoga (Air Group 87) and Halsey's other carriers struck kamikaze airfields on Kyushu. They did not stop the attacks.
• 05

  • Key eventThe Berlin DeclarationOn 5 June 1945 Eisenhower, Zhukov, Montgomery and de Lattre signed in Berlin a declaration by which the four powers assumed supreme authority in Germany.
  • Typhoon ConnieOn the night of 4–5 June 1945 Typhoon Connie struck Halsey’s Third Fleet off Okinawa. The Pittsburgh lost her bow and six sailors were killed.
• 10

  • The landing in Brunei BayOn 10 June 1945 the Australian 9th Division landed on Labuan and the coast of Brunei, and on 13 June it took the town of Brunei.
• 11

  • The liberation of SchiermonnikoogOn 11 June 1945 the last German soldiers left Schiermonnikoog, the last scrap of the Netherlands under occupation, over a month after the surrender.
• 13

  • The death of Admiral ŌtaOn 13 June 1945 Rear Admiral Minoru Ōta and his staff killed themselves in the Oroku tunnels. On 6 June he had sent a famous telegram on the Okinawans’ fate.
• 15

  • The Osaka raid of 15 JuneOn 15 June 1945 over 440 B-29s bombed Osaka and Amagasaki through cloud, closing the first phase of the campaign against Japan’s six largest cities.
• 16

  • The Japanese retreat in ChinaIn June 1945 the Japanese, on Tokyo’s orders, abandoned the corridor won in Operation Ichi-Go. The Chinese retook Nanning and Liuzhou, and Guilin in July.
• 18

  • The Trial of the SixteenOn 18–21 June 1945 a Soviet military court in Moscow tried the leaders of the Polish Underground State, seized by deceit, including Okulicki and Jankowski.
• 19

  • Demobilisation in BritainIn June 1945 Britain began releasing servicemen by age and length of service (Bevin’s plan, launched on 18 June). The war with Japan was still going on.
• 22

  • Key eventThe end of the Battle of OkinawaOn 21–22 June 1945 organised resistance by the Japanese 32nd Army on Okinawa ceased and General Ushijima killed himself. Tens of thousands of civilians died.
• 26

  • Key eventThe signing of the UN CharterOn 26 June 1945 in San Francisco, representatives of 50 states signed the Charter of the United Nations, the UN's founding act. Poland signed in October.
• 27

  • Oil from TarakanOn 27 June 1945 the first rebuilt oil wells on Tarakan were ceremonially restarted. The airfield, the landing's main objective, opened a day later.
• 28

  • The Provisional Government of National UnityOn 28 June 1945 the Provisional Government of National Unity was formed in Warsaw under Osóbka-Morawski, with Gomułka and Mikołajczyk as deputies.