July 17th, 1945 (TUESDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM: Nottingham: Field Marshal Ernst Busch, the commander of Hitler's Army Group Centre in 1943-44, dies in a military hospital.
GERMANY: Churchill, Stalin and Truman meet at Potsdam. Under discussion will be plans for dealing with Germany; the war against Japan.The Allies set up the Control Council to govern Germany. (Cris Wetton)
MEDITERRANEAN SEA: Rescue tug HMS Athlete mined and sunk off Leghorn, Italy.
TERRITORY OF ALASKA: In the Aleutians, the 77th Bombardment Squadron (Medium), 28th Bombardment Group (Composite), Eleventh Air Force, flies it's last mission of the war when 4 B-25s make an unsuccessful shipping sweep between Kurabu Zaki and Tomari Zaki; 2 of the B-25s land in Kamchatka, USSR and 11 of the 12 airmen become the last American aircrew interned in the USSR during the war (one airman drowns). An unsuccessful shipping sweep is flown by 2 B-24s over Shimushiru Island.
JAPAN:
- Carrier-based aircraft of Task Force 38 and Task Group 37.2 (HMS Formidable, HMS Implacable, HMS Indefatigable and HMS Victorious) attack targets in the Tokyo area but the afternoon missions are cancelled due to weather.
- Task Unit 34.8.2 (Rear Admiral Badger) with battleships IOWA, MISSOURI, WISCONSIN, augmented by NORTH CAROLINA and ALABAMA, and 10 destroyers and the attached battleship HMS King George V and 2 Royal Navy destroyers, bombard the Mito-Hitachi industrial area on Honshu about 80 miles northeast of Tokyo. The ships fired 1238 16-inch shells and 292 6-inch rounds. HMS King George V and the two British destroyers attack a separate target eight miles north of Hitachi according to Morison, they attack the same target as the US according to Tennant. KGV fired 267 14-inch shells today. The aircraft carrier USS Bon Homme Richard (CV-31) provides night fighter protection for the task unit.
- 27 Twentieth Air Force B-29 Superfortresses mine Shimonoseki Strait and waters in the
Nanao-Fushiki area, at Henashi Cape, Iwase and at Seishin during the night of 17/18 July;
1 other B-29 mines an alternate target.
CHINA: Nearly 150 Far East Air Forces B-24s, B-25s, and A-26 Invaders attack Chiang Wan Airfield at Shanghai which has the largest concentration of Japanese aircraft in the country.
CANADA: Corvettes
HMCS Trail and Dundas paid off Sorel,
Province of Quebec.
Corvette HMCS Athol and HMC ML 109 paid
off Sydney, Nova Scotia.