July 12th, 1945 (THURSDAY)
FRANCE: Paris: Concentration camp survivors carry a huge cross through the city in memory of French victims of Nazism.
GERMANY: Berlin: Field Marshal Sir Bernard Montgomery, standing beneath the Brandenburg Gate in the heart of Berlin, today invested Marshal Georgi Zhukov with the Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath. Acting as the king's representative, Monty also invested Marshal Rokossovsky with the KCB and Generals Sokolovsky and Malinin with the KBE.
The King's Company of the Grenadier Guards formed the guard of honour, and tanks of the King's 8th Royal Irish Hussars were drawn up on either side. It was a proud occasion held in front of a banner proclaiming "Glory to the Soviet forces who planted the flag of victory over Berlin."
Under the supervision of the Royal Navy the surrendered units of the Kriegsmarine Minesweeping detachments (minensuchflottile) are disarmed and demilitarised and formed into the GM/SA or German minesweeping service. (Russell Folsom)
Generalfeldmarschall Wolfram von Richthofen dies in hospital of a brain tumour. (Peter Kilduff)
BORNEO: Australian troops invade near Andus and capture Maradi, in the north.COMMONWEALTH OF THE PHILIPPINES: Luzon: US
forces drop "napalm" on Japanese pockets of resistance.
JAPAN: Japanese Emperor Hirohito directs Prince Konoye to
head a mission to the USSR for peace negotiations.
47 Seventh Air Force B-24s from Okinawa, failing to bomb the primary target, Tsuiki, Japan because of clouds, attack the airfield on Kikaiga-shima, Amami Islands. Two Okinawa-based B-24s bomb Byu and Miyazaki Airfields, Kyushu during the night. 50+ B-25s bomb Kanoya airfield and the town of Aburatsu on Kyushu and Tokuno airfield on Tokuno Shima, Amami Islands. On Kyushu, Chiran Airfield is pounded by 70 B-25s and A-26 Invaders (this is the first strike against Japan by Seventh Air Force A-26s); 2 more A-26s hit the Ibusuki seaplane station.
4 Eleventh Air Force B-25s on a shipping sweep bomb and strafe a
freighter; 1 B-25 is lost. During the night of 12/13 July, Twentieth Air Force B-29s fly
1 bombing and 4 incendiary missions; 3 B-29s are lost.
- Mission 263: 115 B-29s attack the Utsunomiya urban area destroying 0.94 sq mi (2.4 sq km), 34.2% of the city; 5 others hit alternate targets; 1 B-29 is lost.
- Mission 264: 123 B-29s hit the Ichinomiya urban area destroying 0.01 sq mi (0.03 sq km), 0.8% of the city area; 2 others hit alternate targets.
- Mission 265: 92 B-29s attack the Tsuruga urban area destroying 0.77 sq mi (2 sq km), 68% of the city; 2 others hit alternate targets.
- Mission 266: 123 B-29s hit the Uwajima urban area destroying 0.14 sq mi (0.36 sq km), 14% of the city; 1 other hits an alternate target.
- Mission 267: 53 B-29s attack the Kawasaki Petroleum Center destroying about 25% of the target; 2 B-29s are lost, 1 of them between Guam and Tinian
BONIN ISLANDS: Iwo Jima: The first B-29 runway has now been paved to its full length of 9,800 feet.
CANADA: Corvettes HMCS Napanee, Pictou, Halifax, Beauharnois and Strathroy paid off Sorel, Province of Quebec.
HMCS ML 080 and ML 100 paid off.
U.S.A.: Boston Braves' right fielder Tommy Holmes goes hitless ending his consecutive-game hitting streak at 37 which sets a National League record. This record will stand until Pete Rose surpasses it in 1978.
Top popular songs in the U.S. are
(1) "Dream" by The Pied Pipers;
(2) "The More I See You" by Dick Haymes;
(3) "Bell Bottom Trousers" by Tony Pastor and his Orchestra with vocal
by Ruth McCullough and Pastor; and
(4) "Stars and Stripes on Iwo Jima" by Bob Wills and his Texas
Playboys.
Submarine USS Remora launched.
2002: U.S.A.: The death of William J. McLaughlin. Born on June 23, 1920, Bill enlisted in the National Guard on June 16, 1941. He was part of the 182nd Infantry and shipped out of New York to New Caledonia as part of Task Force 6814 in January, 1942. This unit became part of the Americal Division in May, 1942.
He served in an artillery unit on Guadalcanal. Transferring to the 21st Reconnaissance Troop, he later served on Bougainville and in the Philippines reaching the rank of Staff Sergeant. He was discharged from the Army on September 9, 1945 at Fort Devons.
He attended Harvard on the GI Bill and pursued business interests in the Boston area. He and his wife Patricia raised 7 daughters and 1 son.