July 1945

July 15, 1945 (Sunday)

• Blackout restrictions for the West End of London were lifted.^[12]
• American vessels bombarded
  Muroran, the second-biggest steel center in Japan.^[12]
• Byron Nelson won the PGA Championship.
• Born: Jürgen Möllemann, politician, in Augsburg, Germany (d. 2003)

July 16, 1945 (Monday)

• Trinity: As part of the Manhattan Project, the United States Army conducted the first detonation of a nuclear weapon in the Jornada del Muerto desert in New Mexico.
• Japanese submarine
  Lawrence C. Taylor and aircraft from the escort carrier Anzio
  .
• Born: Victor Sloan, photographer and artist, in Dungannon, Northern Ireland
• Died:
  Addison Randall
  , 39, American film actor

July 17, 1945 (Tuesday)

• The Potsdam Conference began in Potsdam, occupied Germany. Representatives of the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom and the United States met to discuss how to administer postwar Germany.
• Born: Alexander, Crown Prince of Yugoslavia, in London, England
• Died: Ernst Busch, 60, German field marshal

July 18, 1945 (Wednesday)

• Bedford Magazine Explosion: A fire broke out in Bedford, Nova Scotia, Canada
  that spread to a dock where ammunition was temporarily being stored, creating a chain reaction of fires and explosions that continued for more than 24 hours.
• The Belgian senate voted to forbid the return of Leopold III.^[12]

July 19, 1945 (Thursday)

• The United States Senate ratified the Bretton Woods system of monetary management, which would lead to the establishment of the International Monetary Fund and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development.^[6]
• The musical film Anchors Aweigh starring Frank Sinatra, Kathryn Grayson and Gene Kelly premiered in New York City.

July 20, 1945 (Friday)

• Belgian Prime Minister Achille Van Acker asked Leopold III to abdicate for his "grave and unpardonable mistakes."^[1]
• Born: Kim Carnes, singer-songwriter, in Los Angeles, California; Larry Craig, politician, in Council, Idaho; John Lodge, bass guitarist, singer and songwriter (The Moody Blues), in Erdington, Birmingham, England
• Died: Paul Valéry, 73, French poet and philosopher

July 21, 1945 (Saturday)

• The Battle of Balikpapan ended in Allied victory.
• A U.S. Navy captain in the Office of War Information broadcast in Japanese an unauthorized talk in which he stated that American patience was "rapidly running out" and told Japan to surrender unconditionally or face "virtual destruction".^[14]
• Born: John Lowe, professional darts player, in New Tupton, Derbyshire, England

July 22, 1945 (Sunday)

• American, British and Russian officials agreed to allow their respective military police forces to move freely throughout all occupation zones of Berlin to thwart the city's runaway black market trade.^[15]
• Art treasures worth an estimated $500 million U.S. that had been looted by the Germans during the war were returned to two galleries in Florence, Italy.^[16]

July 23, 1945 (Monday)

• The trial of Philippe Pétain opened in Paris.^[1]
• Died: George Lambton, 84, British thoroughbred racehorse trainer

July 24, 1945 (Tuesday)

• The
  bombing of Kure. Japanese aircraft carrier Amagi
  was among the ships to take heavy damage.
• Harry S. Truman told Joseph Stalin that a new and powerful weapon was ready to be deployed against Japan, but did not provide any specific information.^[17]
• Born: Azim Premji, business tycoon, investor and philanthropist, in Bombay, British India

July 25, 1945 (Wednesday)

• The Potsdam Conference adjourned temporarily so the British delegation could return to England to hear the election results.^[17]
• The U.S. government announced the end of all organized Japanese resistance on Mindanao.^[5]
• Japanese Patrol Boat No. 2 (former destroyer Nadakaze) was sunk by British submarine HMS Stubborn in the Java Sea.
• Philippe Pétain caused an uproar when he spoke for the first time during his trial, claiming that he was deaf and had not heard a thing that had been said in court up to that time. Many in the courtroom did not believe him, pointing out that he had frequently appeared to be listening attentively and fidgeted the most when serious charges were being made against him.^[18]

July 26, 1945 (Thursday)

• The Potsdam Declaration was issued, outlining the Allied terms of surrender for the Empire of Japan.
• The results of the 1945 United Kingdom general election were announced:^[19] Clement Attlee's Labour Party won an unexpected landslide over Winston Churchill's Conservatives and Attlee took office as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
• British minesweeper Vestal was heavily damaged by a kamikaze attack. She would later be scuttled becoming the last Royal Navy ship sunk in World War II.
• Born: Helen Mirren, actress, in Hammersmith, London, England

July 27, 1945 (Friday)

• On the island of Tinian in the Marianas chain, the Little Boy atomic bomb began being prepared for use.^[20]
• Japanese battleship Hyūga ran aground during the bombing of Kure and never returned to service.
• Chinese forces entered Guilin.^[17]
• Foreign Affairs Secretary
  .

July 28, 1945 (Saturday)

• 1945 Empire State Building B-25 crash: A B-25 Mitchell bomber crashed into the Empire State Building in New York City during a heavy fog, resulting in fourteen deaths.
• At a press conference, Japanese Prime Minister Kantarō Suzuki gave a response to the Potsdam Declaration that elicited confusion. The translation was unclear as to whether he refused to acknowledge the demand or wished to make no comment at that time.^[2]
• American B-29s carried out the bombing of Aomori.
• Japanese battleships Haruna and Ise and cruiser Ōyodo were sunk on the final day of the bombing of Kure.
• The American destroyer Callaghan was sunk by a Yokosuka K5Y kamikaze attack off Okinawa.
• The United States Senate ratified the Charter of the United Nations, signed a month earlier.
• Born: Jim Davis, cartoonist and creator of the Garfield comic strip, in Marion, Indiana
• Died: Margot Asquith, Countess of Oxford and Asquith, 81, British socialite, author and wit, widow of H. H. Asquith, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, in London

July 29, 1945 (Sunday)

• Henry Ford issued a statement that "the nation and the world are on the threshold of a prosperity and standard of living that never before were considered possible."^[21]
• The BBC Light Programme premiered.
• Born: Joe Beck, jazz guitarist, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (d. 2008)

July 30, 1945 (Monday)

• In the last notable Japanese success of the war, the American cruiser USS Indianapolis was torpedoed and sunk in the Philippine Sea by the submarine I-58.
• The
  Battle of the Visayas
  in the Philippines ended in Allied victory.
• Born: Roger Dobkowitz, television producer, in San Francisco, California; Patrick Modiano, novelist and Nobel laureate, in Boulogne-Billancourt. France

July 31, 1945 (Tuesday)

• On Tinian, the assembly of the Little Boy atomic bomb was completed.^[22]
• The Ústí massacre of ethnic Germans in the northern Bohemian city of Ústí nad Labem occurred.
• Pierre Laval was flown from Spain to Linz, Austria where he was handed over to French authorities.^[17]
• Died: Ludwig Müller, 63, German theologian and Nazi (suicide); Artemio Ricarte, 78, Filipino general

References