September 25th, 1945 (TUESDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM: Nos. 23 and 156 Squadrons, RAF, (Mosquito) are disbanded. No. 615 Sq. (Thunderbolt) is also disbanded.
RAF Watton is handed back to the RAF by the USAAF as it continues it's departure from Europe.
Fleet destroyer HMS Solebay is commissioned.
Hatfield: The de Havilland Dove, light transport makes its maiden flight.
GERMANY: The authorities in the British Zone issue their "Instruction on the Re-Organization of the German Police System", this gives details of all the considerations involved in British policy planning since 1939, additionally portraying all of the protagonists involved. The decentralization measures mandated by the Instruction, although not at all contrary to traditional German principles, rouse scepticism and sometimes outright rejection among German officials. (Peter Kilduff)(204)
NORWAY: The last Soviet troops leave Kirkenes.
FINLAND: The last Red Army soldier leaves Finnish territory around Ivalo.
JAPAN: The USS Sumter disembarks occupation troops at Kii Suido.
The USS Grimes puts the US 2d Marines ashore at Nagasaki.
HQ USAAF 5th Air Force moves to Irumagawa.
Tokyo: Emperor Hirohito gives his first ever interview to a media organisation when he speaks to Hugh Baillie, president of the United Press wire service and Frank Kluckhohn, Pacific bureau chief for the New York Times. The emperor names Hideki Tojo an the man responsible for the attack on Pearl Harbor.
The interview was recorded by officials of the household agency's Board of the Ceremonies.
Analysts said aides to Hirohito clearly wanted the interview to stave off international moves to pursue the question of the emperor's responsibility for Japan's actions during the war.
The document includes responses to questions that were submitted to the emperor beforehand.
One crucial question posed by Kluckhohn centred on the Dec. 7, 1941, attack on Pearl Harbor. The emperor was asked whether he had intended to withhold Japan's declaration of war on the United States until after the attack, which is what Tojo did.
The emperor replied that it had never been his intention for the declaration of war to be issued to American officials hours after Japanese aircraft bombed Pearl Harbor. He said that decision was made by Tojo.
A draft of the interview compiled by former Prime Minister Kijuro Shidehara avoided directly naming any individual for the decision to attack Pearl Harbor. Instead, it said only that "details of war strategy were left up to the highest commanders in the (Imperial Japanese) army and navy."
In the Page One story that runs in todays edition of The New York Times, Kluckhohn wrote that the emperor placed responsibility on Tojo for the attack on Pearl Harbor.
Because the contents of that report differed from the draft put together by Shidehara, researchers had long pondered the accuracy of The New York Times report.
Asahi Herald Tribune (Japan) (26-07-06)
KOREA: The US 6th Infantry Division arrives at Inchon to begin occupation duty.
CANADA: Frigate HMCS Chebogue paid off Milford Haven. Constructive total loss. Sold to Wager, Stein and Greene.
U.S.A.: The first parachute jump from a helicopter is made when an HOS-1G of the US Coast Guard loses control over Philadelphia in high winds.
A US Army Intelligence assessment of the Waffen-SS
SAIS/CIR/16 25 Sep 45 (a survey of a number of W-SS officers on various W-SS topics)
2. Deterioration of Personnel During the War
Oberkamp* gave the following estimate on percentage deterioration of morale: officers, 40%; NCOs, 70%; soldiers, 50%.
Doerffler-Schubandbstated that in the second half of the war, the effects of the badly neglected Reich educational system became especially evident among the officer candidates, and consequently in the officer corps. The teachers in the officer schools lacked proper experience at the front and were not acquainted sufficiently with new tactical developments. Furthermore, the expansion of the Waffen SS resulted in the fact that officers who were too young and inexperienced were promoted to field officer grade and had to take over responsible positions for which they were ill-suited. This grew continually worse with the progress of the war because of the heavy losses of officers on the front.
*Oberkamp, Carl Ritter von, Brigf (Brig Gen) Inspector of Inf *Doerffler-Schuband, Werner, Brigf, Chief of Amt XI of SS-Fuehrungshauptamt (SS Main Office)
(Frederick L. Clemens)