UNITED KINGDOM: London: The West End lights up again, ending over 2,000 nights of blackout and dim-out.

BELGIUM: Brussels: King Leopold repeats his refusal to abdicate.

FRANCE: SHAEF is disbanded. (Jean Beach)

SINGAPORE: Submarine HIJMS I-502 (ex-U-862) commissioned. (DS)

JAPAN: During the night of 15/16 July, XXI Bomber Command B-29s fly one mining and one bombing mission without loss.

- Mission 269: 26 B-29s mine waters at Naoetsu and Niigata, Japan and Najin, Pusan, and Wonsan, Korea; one other mines an alternate target.

- Mission 270: 59 B-29s bomb the Nippon Oil Company at Kudamatsu and the facility is almost completely destroyed; three others hit alternate targets.

- 104 Iwo Jima-based P-51s attack airfields and other tactical targets at Meiji, Kagamigahara, Kowa, Akenogahara, Nagoya, and Suzuko, Japan claiming 13-4-20 aircraft in the air and on the ground; three P-51s are lost.

58 Far East Air Forces B-24s hit airfields at Tomitaka and Usa. 25 B-24s pound Kikaiga-shima, Amami Islands, Miranoura on Yaku-shima, Osumi Islands, and an airfield on Tamega Island.

The home islands of Japan are attacked by the US Navy.

- Hundreds of carrier-based aircraft of Task Force 38 (TF 38) attack air bases, shipping and rail targets on Hokkaido and northern Honshu Islands, Japan; 23 Japanese ships are sunk. After the attacks, TF 38 withdraws to refuel.

- Task Unit 34.8.2 (Rear Admiral Badger) with battleships IOWA, MISSOURI, WISCONSIN, light cruisers DAYTON and ATLANTA, and eight destroyers bombard the steel and iron works at Muroran, Hokkaido, firing 860 rounds. (Keith Allen)

U-181, in Japanese hands since May 6, 1945 is renamed as I 501. U-195, in Japanese hands since May 6, 1945 was renamed as I 506. U-219, in Japanese hands since May 6, 1945 is renamed as I 505. (DS)

Corvette HMCS Midland and HMC ML 083 paid off Sydney, Nova Scotia.