June 14th, 1945 (THURSDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM: A Royal Warrant is issued to set up courts to try German and Japanese war criminals. (Mike Yared)
Submarine HMS Saga commissioned.
BURMA is liberated by the British.
CHINA: Chinese forces capture Ishan from the Japanese.
JAPAN: Mines previously laid by USAAF B-29 Superfortresses sink a Japanese army cargo ship off Japan.
The USN's Patrol Bombing Squadron One Hundred Eighteen (VPB-118), based at Yontan Airfield, Okinawa, with PB4Y-2 Privateers, begins mining waters in the Korean Archipelago. The squadron repeats this operation for the next three days.
Japanese foreign Minister Togo talks with Soviet Ambassador Jacob A. Malik made an amazing-and desperate offer: a Soviet- Japan alliance in the Pacific. 'Japan will increase her naval strength in the future' Hirota told Malik 'and that together with the Russian Army would make a force unequalled in the world.'" (Rob George)
PACIFIC OCEAN: Truk Atoll is attacked by the British Task Group 111.2 composed of the fleet aircraft carrier HMS Implacable, the escort aircraft carrier HMS Ruler, four light cruisers and five destroyers. They aim to neutralize Japanese air bases there.Cruiser HMCS Uganda, a member of Task Force 57, participated in bombardment of Truk. Uganda joined Task Force 57 and in Mar/Apr 45 was employed screening RN carriers during air strikes on the Ryukyu Islands and Formosa. In June she took part in the naval bombardment of Truk and Dublon Islands. In July Uganda was in TF 37 and screened RN carriers during the final British air strikes on the Japanese mainland.
CANADA: Capt Frank Llewellyn Houghton RCN and Capt Eustace Alexander Brock RCNVR awarded CBE.
A/LCdr William Edward Harrison RCNR and Lt Ian Bryce Chenoweth RCNVR awarded DSC.
PO/Tel Bernard Alfred Best RCN, CPO James Kay Crotty RCN, C/Sto Samuel Haigh RCN, CPO George Charles Vanderhagen RCN, ERA Douglas Elmer Balcom RCNR awarded DSM
Carpenter John CHRISTIANSON CN Steamships awarded BEM (Civil)
AB(AAII) Morris Kowbel RCN, CPO Robert Webber RCN, CPO Augustus Eastman Lighthall RCNR, CPO Leslie Oliver Porter RCNR, Lt Malcolm Seafield Grant RCNVR, PO David Lloyd Grimes RCNVR awarded Mention in Dispatches
Cruiser HMCS Uganda, a member of Task Force 57, participated in bombardment of Truk
Corvette HMCS Agassiz paid off Sydney, Nova Scotia.
Corvette HMCS Arvida paid off Sorel, Province of Quebec.
Fairmile HMCS ML 056 paid off.
U.S.A.: The U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff direct Generals of the Army Henry H "Hap" Arnold and Douglas MacArthur and Fleet Admiral Chester W Nimitz to prepare for immediate occupation of Japan in the event the enemy suddenly collapses or surrenders.
The 70-minute documentary "War Comes to America," the seventh and last part of the "Why We Fight" series of wartime documentaries, is released in the U.S. Directed by Frank Capra and Anatole Litvak, this part focuses on the United States and explains the factors leading up to the U.S.'s entry into World War II.
Destroyer USS Ernest G Small launched.