1 March 1945

Pte James Stokes (b.1915), King's Shropshire Light Infantry, seized two buildings and 17 prisoners before he was fatally wounded. (Victoria Cross)

Maj. Frederick Alfred Tilston (b.1906), Canadian Army, led an attack, silencing a machine gun and refusing treatment for his severe wounds until sure the position was secure. (Victoria Cross)

FINLAND: Finland declares that state of war has existed with Germany and Japan since 15 September 1944. Finns had considered already in the previous fall declaring war on Germany, but back then USSR had not considered it necessary, even though Finns and Germans are fighting active war in northern Finland. But in February 1945 Finns are informed that nations who had declared war on the Axis Powers at the latest on 1 March 1945 will be invited to the founding conference of the United Nations in San Francisco. While it's not clear whether the former enemies will be invited, Finnish cabinet decides that a formal state of war gives Finland the option to demand war reparations from Germany in any future peace conference.

JAPAN: The US 5th Fleet carriers raid Okinawa.
The aircraft of Task Force 58 and Fifth Fleet surface ships bombard several islands in the Ryuku Islands especially Okinawa. At the end of the day, TF 58 retires to Ulithi Atoll in the Caroline Islands.

TSUBAME, IJN, Japanese Escort. Sunk by USN carrier aircraft form TF38 at Ishigaki, Sakishima Gunto.

MANAZURU, IJN, Japanese Escort. Sunk off Okinawa by US carrier aircraft from TF38

IWO JIMA: Private James Trimble III, a former baseball star in the US, dies while on a hazardous scouting mission. (Mike Yared)

U.S.A.: President Roosevelt, back from the Yalta Conference, proclaimed the meeting a success as he addressed a joint session of Congress.

Submarine USS Corsair laid down.

Destroyer USS Hugh Purvis commissioned.

The USAAF 477th Bombardment Group begins moving by train to Freeman Field, Indiana from Godman Airfield, Kentucky. Word gets back to the remaining African-American officers that Colonel Selway had created two separate officers' clubs at Freeman: Club Number One for use by "trainees," all of whom are black; and Club Number Two for use by "instructors," all of whom are white. Led by Second Lieutenant Coleman A. Young, the future mayor of Detroit and an experienced labour organiser, a group of black officers still at Godman decided on a plan of action to challenge the de facto segregation at Freeman as soon as they arrived there.

There had already been an attempt to integrate Club Number Two on March 10, when two groups of black officers entered it and were refused service; but the officers still at Godman decided to push the issue to the point of arrest if necessary. (William L. Howard)