Troops of the US 92nd Infantry (‘Buffalo’) Division, Italy 1945 [Public domain, wiki]
The invasion of the Japanese homeland had been set for 1 November.
American warships had already been bombarding the Japanese mainland as a preparation, and the Japanese were making preparations of their own by training thousands of men for kamikaze air and sea attacks against Allied shipping.
Ivan Lyon enjoying a beer with friends, Brisbane 1944 [Public domain, wiki]
Since the fall of Singapore, Lyon had served with special forces (British, Australian and Free French) that were fighting behind the Japanese lines.
In September 1943, he led a successful raid against Japanese shipping in Singapore harbor.
He died while engaged in a similar raid in October 1944.
All of the members of Z Force were eventually killed or captured. Those captured were executed by beheading on 7 July 1945.
Once over twenty strong, Z Force had begun
Future Canadian prime minister, Lester B. Pearson, addresses one of the committees at the United National Conference in San Francisco, 1945 [Public domain]
The United Nations Conference on International Organization, which had opened on 26 April 1945, ended two months later, this week in the war, with the signing of the United Nations Charter.
Delegates to the conference came from nations that had fought on the Allied side.
A central feature of the Charter was the agreement that the Security Council of the United Nations would assume responsibility for order in the world and that the United States, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, France, and China (the ‘Big Five’) would have permanent seats on the Council.
Marshal Zhukov, riding his stallion ‘Idol’ during the Moscow Victory Parade, 24 June 1945 [Public domain]
This week in the war, on 24 June 1945, Marshal Georgy Zhukov rode his white stallion, Idol, in a gigantic march-past in Moscow’s Red Square. (Zhukov had begun his army career as a private in the Czarist cavalry.)
Soviet soldiers carried hundreds of captured German banners and laid them before the Lenin Mausoleum.
Supreme Allied Commander South East Asia Command, Admiral the Lord Louis Mountbatten, takes the salute during the Rangoon Victory Day Parade, 15 June 1945 [Public domain]
Rangoon—where Aung San Suu Kyi, the current head of state for Myanmar (Burma), has her home—had been occupied by the Japanese since 8 March 1942.
Fighting continued in Burma well into July, with the Japanese suffering heavy losses in their attempts to withdraw their armies.
Emperor Hirohito presides over an Imperial General Headquarters meeting, 1943 [Public domain]
Japanese kamikaze pilots were still effective and, in his book Second World War (Stoddart, 1989), Martin Gilbert reports that, on average, an American infantryman on Okinawa could expect to become a casualty after three weeks of fighting.
Present day Shuri Castle, Okinawa [Public domain]
In one form or another, the castle had existed for 450 years. It had been burnt down many times and repeatedly rebuilt.
The American, Commodore Perry, had visited the castle in the 1800s.
Shuri Castle, Okinawa, 1934 [Public domain]
Military working dog Astra, June 2009 [Public domain]
The photograph on the left shows Specialist Pamela Gibson and her military working dog, Sergeant Astra.
The US K-9 Corps was created on 13 March 1942 although the use of dogs in warfare goes back to ancient times.
British troops arrest Grand Admiral Doenitz in Flensburg, 23 May 1945; behind Doenitz in a civilian raincoat is Albert Speer and to his right is German Armed Forces Chief of Staff, Alfred Jodl [Public domain]
Doenitz and cabinet members of his government—known as the Flensburg government—were taken into custody in the German port of Flensburg.
Doenitz was known the world over as the Commander in Chief of the German U-boat fleet during the Battle of the Atlantic.
Aung San, 1940s [Public domain]
Originally a communist, he changed to being a social democrat and later became Premier of the British Crown Colony of Burma.
He dedicated his life to fighting for Burma’s independence but was assassinated several months before his country achieved self-rule.
His daughter, Aung San Suu Kyi, would follow in her father’s footsteps, suffering persecution (including 15 years of house arrest) as an advocate of democracy.
US President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton with Aung San Suu Kyi and her staff at her home in Rangoon, 19 November 2012 [Public domain]
