Potsdam, Germany • July 26, 1945 After the conclusion of the ruinous Battle of Berlin (April 16 to May 2, 1945) and the unconditional surrender of Nazi Germany (May 7 and 8, 1945), U.S. President Harry S. Truman, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin gathered at a “Big Three” victors’ conference in Potsdam. Their…
Wanping, Near Beijing, China • July 7, 1937 The major turning point that ultimately led to Japan’s disastrous war with the United States and its European allies in December 1941 occurred late on this date, July 7, 1937, and into the next. Japanese and Chinese soldiers clashed at a bridge over the Yongding River near Wanping,…
Washington, D.C. • July 4, 1942 On this date in 1942 Gen. Claire Lee Chennault was appointed commander of China Air Task Force (CATF), replacing his original (officially disbanded) command, the American Volunteer Group (AVG) of “Flying Tigers” fame. The AVG volunteer group of U.S. Army, Navy, and Marine flyers had been created by Nationalist…
Tokyo, Japan • July 2, 1941 On this date in 1941, in an Imperial Conference of high-level Japanese officials (Gozen Kaigi), Shōwa Emperor Hirohito sanctioned the military seizure of bases in the south of Vichy French Indochina (present-day Vietnam). It was in keeping with Japan’s so-far unsuccessful attempts to force the surrender of their Chinese…
Nanjing (Nanking), China • March 30, 1940 By 1940 Japan had close to a decade’s worth of experience in administering conquered Chinese territory, having installed a puppet government in 1932 in Manchuria, which the Japanese called Manchukuo. On this date, March 30, 1940, in Nanjing (Nanking), China, the Japanese installed Wang Jingwei (Ching-wei) as head of…
Shanghai, China • December 12, 1937 In 1937 the Chinese city of Shanghai, a city of 3 million people, dominated the country economically. Located on one of the many tributaries of the Yangtze River, Shanghai was a “treaty port” (i.e., open to foreign traders) on the East China Sea. Then as now the Yangtze River…
58th Bombardment Wing HQ, Kharagpur, India • January 15, 1945 The final strategic bombing raid by American B‑29 Superfortress heavy-bombers based in China occurred on this date in 1945. Targets of Operation Matterhorn, as the bombing of Japanese assets by India- and China-based B‑29s was called, were on the Japanese-occupied island of Formosa (today’s Taiwan). Behind Operation…
Washington, D.C. • November 20, 1941 On this date in 1941 in Washington, Japanese ambassador Kichisaburō Nomura presented his government’s final proposal for peace in the Asia Pacific region. Through much of 1941, Ambassador Nomura had negotiated with U.S. Secretary of State Cordell Hull to resolve festering bilateral issues. Chief among the issues were the…
Shanghai, China • August 13, 1937 The Battle of Shanghai began on this date in 1937. It was the first major battle of World War II (the European conflict erupted two years later), and it eventually involved nearly one million combatants. When hostilities broke out Minister of War (1937–1938) Field Marshal Hajime Sugiyama advised Emperor Hirohito…
Tokyo, Japan · December 5, 1937 On this date in 1937 Prince Yasuhiko Asaka, a lieutenant general in the Imperial Japanese Army and uncle by marriage to Japanese Emperor Hirohito (posthumously referred to as Emperor Shōwa), flew from Tokyo to his new assignment—temporary command of the Japanese Shanghai Expeditionary Force, a unit of Gen. Iwane…