Wednesday, April 1, 2020

Actualités Of Okinawa Invasion;
War Crime Committed

APRIL

SUN 1 APR 1945
Pacific
Marines and Army troops land on Okinawa, Ryukyus, under cover of heavy naval gunfire and aircraft, in Operation ICEBERG. The operation is under the overall command of Admiral Raymond A. Spruance, Commander Fifth Fleet. Vice Admiral Richmond K. Turner commands the Joint Expeditionary Force; the troops are commanded by Lieutenant General Simon B. Buckner, USA. Off Okinawa, kamikazes damage battleship West Virginia (BB-48), 26°20'N, 127°40'E; attack transports Hinsdale (APA-120) and Alpine (APA-92), 26°20'N, 127°41'E, and tank landing ship LST-884; battleship Tennessee (BB-43) is damaged by shell fragments (possibly friendly fire); Japanese dive bombers damage destroyer Prichett (DD-561), 26°38'N, 127°25'E, and minesweeper Skirmish (AM-303), 26°33'N, 127°33'E; horizontal bomber damages attack transport Elmore (APA-42), 26°20'N, 127°41'E; destroyer escort Vammen (DE-644) is damaged by explosion of undetermined origin (possibly depth charge dropped by Japanese assault demolition boat), 26°18'N, 127°29'E. Infantry landing craft (mortar) LCI(M)-807 is damaged by own mortar explosion; medium landing ship LSM-192 by operational casualty. British ships are not immune from the breath of the "divine wind" as a kamikaze damages British fleet carrier HMS Indefatigable; destroyer HMS Ulster is damaged by bomb.
In the third of six mine drops carried out in support of ICEBERG, six USAAF B-29s mine the waters off Kure, Japan. Mines sink merchant cargo ship Karikawa Maru off Tsushima, and damage escort vessel Inagi southeast of Hesaki, and auxiliary submarine chaser Cha 226 in Kii Channel, Japan, 30°04'N, 130°54'E.

Army troops (158th RCT) are landed near Legaspi, southern Luzon, under cover of naval gunfire and USAAF aircraft. After the troops encounter only token opposition at the beaches, considerable opposition develops inland.

Submarine Queenfish (SS-393) inadvertently sinks Japanese relief ship Awa Maru in Formosa Straits, 25°25'N, 120°07'E. Awa Maru, a cartel ship, is carrying Red Cross supplies earmarked for distribution to Allied POWs in Singapore. Guaranteed safe conduct by the U.S. government, Awa Maru is properly marked and lighted, but Queenfish's commanding officer, Lieutenant Commander Charles E. Loughlin, does not discern the markings in the foggy weather in which his boat encounters the enemy vessel. Loughlin is relieved of his command for the mistake, and is court-martialed.

B-24s (Far East Air Force) bomb Japanese shipping at Keelung, irreparably damaging Taiga Maru.

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