July 3rd, 1945 (TUESDAY)
GERMANY: US occupation troops arrive in Berlin. (Pat Holscher)
BORNEO: Sepinggan airfield falls to the 7th Australian Division. Thirteenth Air Force B-24s plus carrier-based Navy and Marine aircraft continue to support the Australian forces around Balikpapan, Borneo. Headquarters of the Royal Australian Air Force's (RAAF's) First Tactical Air Force lands and they assume operational control of all air support missions.JAPAN: The USAAF's XXI Bomber Command of the Twentieth Air Force in the Mariana Islands, dispatches 509 B-29s to participate in 1 mining and 4 incendiary missions during the night of 3/4 July; 3 B-29s are lost:
Mission 246: 26 B-29s mine Shimonoseki Strait and waters at Funakawa and Maizuru during the predawn hours of the 4th; 2 other B-29s mine alternate targets. This is the last mine laying mission of Phase IV of Operation STARVATION, the mining campaign carried out by B-29s.
Mission 247: 116 B-29s attack the Takamatsu urban area destroying 1.4 sq mi (4.6 sq km), 78% of the city; 3 other hit alternate targets; 2 B-29s are lost.
Mission 248: 125 B-29s hit the Kochi urban area destroying 0.92 sq mi (3.0 sq km), 48% of the city; 1 B-29 is lost.
Mission 249: 106 B-29s attack Himeji urban area destroying 1.216 sq mi (3.99 sq km), 63.3% of the city.
Mission 250: 129 B-29s hit the Tokushima urban area destroying 1.7 sq mi (5.6 sq km), 74% of the city; 2 B-29s attack alternate targets.
CANADA: Corvette
HMCS Dunvegan paid off Sydney Nova
Scotia.
Corvette HMCS Quesnel paid off Sorel,
Province of Quebec.
Frigate HMCS Antigonish commenced
tropicalization refit Pictou Nova Scotia.