Flight Deck of USS Yorktown After Being Hit by the Japanese

Image size: 3000 x 2107 pixel. 1.1 MB
Date: Thursday, 4 June 1942
Place: Pacific Ocean
Photographer: unknown

Looking forward on the flight deck of USS Yorktown (CV-5) shortly after she was hit by two Japanese aerial torpedoes, 4 June 1942. Men are preparing to abandon ship. Island's port side is at right, with the curved supporting structure for the Primary Flight Control booth at top. Knotted lines in the foreground were apparently used to evacuate the island's upper platforms. The planes which scored torpedo hits were shot down either in passing the Yorktown or in attempting to pass through the fire of her escorting vessels. Not one of the attacking squadron returned to its carrier. By 1447 firing ceased. The Yorktown, listing heavily to port, was losing speed and turning in a small circle to port. She stopped and white smoke poured from her stacks. The screening vessels began to circle. Inside the Yorktown all lights had gone out. The Diesel generators were cut in, but the circuit breakers would not hold and the ship remained in darkness. The list gradually increased to 26 Degrees. Without power nothing could be done to correct it. The Commanding Officer and the Damage Control Officer thought it probable that the ship would capsize in a few minutes, and at 1455 orders were given to abandon ship. Inside, men clambered over steeply sloping decks in total darkness to remove the wounded. After an inspection on which no living personnel were found, the Commanding Officer left the ship. Destroyers closed in to pick up survivors.


Source :
United States Naval Historical C
https://worldwar2database.com/gallery/wwii1301

A-20G Havoc Attacks Japanese Taiei Maru Ship

Image size: 1600 x 1344 pixel. 473 KB
Date: Sunday, 19 March 1944
Place: Wewak, Papua New Guinea
Photographer: unknown

Douglas A-20G-30-DO Havoc "Tobias the Terrible" serial number 43-9477 of the 89th Bomb Squadron, 3rd Bomb Group, 5th Air Force, pulls out after skip bombing Taiei Maru off Wewak. Pilot Lieutenant John Soloc's engine was shot out as he came around to attack; losing power, he elected to continue the attack. As he delivered his bomb amidships, his wingtip and propeller struck the ship's mast. The hydraulics were shot out and the bomb bay doors could not be closed. Unable to gain altitude or speed, the A-20 crashed a few miles away. Soloc survived; his gunner, John L. Bradley, went down with the plane. After seventeen hours in the water, he was spotted by Lieutenant John P. "Jock" Henebry of the 90th Bomb Squadron. A US Navy Consolidated PBY-5 Catalina flying boat picked him up. Soloc was given a week's leave and returned to combat; he flew 61 missions by the end of the war. Taiei Maru, a 3,221 ton freighter operated by the Kuribayashi Shosen Kisen Kaisha (Kuribayashi Competitive Steamship Lines) was part of Wewak convoy Number 21 with Yakumo Maru and auxiliary subchasers Cha-47 and Cha-49. Two Consolidated B-24 Liberators of the 63rd Bomb Squadron, 43rd Bomb Group, 5th Air Force sank Yakumo Maru at 0230 Hours by radar; after sunrise nine A-20Gs of the 89th, with over 70 other Allied aircraft, attacked the convoy. An intercepted message from Imperial Japanese Army General Headquarters on March 28 reported all four ships sunk and notified 8th Area Army on Wewak that their supply convoys were suspended indefinitely because of Allied aerial supremacy. Wewak fell to the Australians on May 10, 1945.


Source :
https://sofrep.com/news/battle-of-the-bismarck-sea-skip-bombing-headhunters-and-swimming-lessons/
https://worldwar2database.com/gallery/wwii1562
https://www.yokota.af.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/1913795/100-years-of-3rd-wing-service/

American Flamethrower in Okinawa

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Date: Friday, 22 June 1945
Place: Okinawa, Empire of Japan
Photographer: Unknown

Men of 4th Regiment, 6th Marine Division, 10th Army, using "corkscrew and blowtorch" techniques of flame-throwers, explosives, and riflemen at the perimeter, to eliminate remnants of the Imperial Japanese 32nd Army on June 22, 1945. The 1st and third battalions converged from the east and west on positions east of the village of Kiyamu. While American casualties remained high across Okinawa as 32nd Army disintegrated, Japanese casualties increased from a few hundred to over 4,000 per day. The number of Japanese surrendering increased as well, from four per day at the start of the campaign to 343 on June 19 and 977 on June 20. 500 civilians also surrendered, overcoming fear of massacre at the hands of the Americans. Lieutenant General Mitsui Ushijima, commander of the 32nd Army, and Major General Isama Cho committed suicide at 03:45 Hours on June 22, the same day Okinawa was declared secured by US 10th Army. Scattered resistance continued until June 30.


Source :
https://worldwar2database.com/gallery/wwii1125

"Battleship Row" after Pearl Harbor Attack

Image size: 2048 x 1645 pixel. 720 KB
Date: Sunday, 7 December 1941
Place: Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, United States of America
Photographer: Unknown

"Battleship Row" on December 7, 1941, after the Japanese attack. USS Arizona (BB-39) is in the center of this view, burning furiously. To the left of her are USS Tennessee (BB-43) and the sunken USS West Virginia (BB-48). Men on the stern of USS Tennessee are playing fire hoses on the water to force burning oil away from their ship. She was hit by two bombs, which damaged two of her four gun turrets, and was scorched by burning oil from the sunken USS Arizona. In late December, after temporary repairs, Tennessee steamed to the Puget Sound Navy Yard, Washington, for an overhaul. West Viriginia was hit by two bombs and at least seven torpedoes, which blew huge holes in her port side. Skillful damage control saved her from capsizing, but she quickly sank to the harbor bottom. More than a hundred of her crew were lost. Salvaged and given temporary repairs at the Pearl Harbor Navy Yard, in April 1943 West Virginia steamed to the West Coast for final repair and modernization at the Puget Sound Navy Yard. The battleship emerged from the shipyard in July 1944 completely changed in appearance, with a wider hull, and massively improved anti-aircraft gun battery. Both battleships served as gunnery platforms for invasions throughout the war. Arizona's wreck was never raised and remains as a memorial to this day.



Source :
https://worldwar2database.com/gallery/wwii1367

Radiogram "Air Raid, Pearl Harbor, This Is Not Drill"

Image size: 2048 x 1649 pixel. 529 KB
Date: Sunday, 7 December 1941
Place: Squantum Point, Massachusetts, United States of America
Photographer: Unknown

Radiogram sent to Squantum Naval Air Station at Squantum Point, Quincy Massachusetts. The telegram is usually credited to Rear Admiral Patrick N. L. Bellinger (October 8, 1885 – May 30, 1962) Commanding Officer of Patrol Wing Two. However, the message may have been sent in his name by Lieutenant Commander Logan "Beauty" C. Ramsey Sr. In 1945, Ramsey reported to the Joint Congressional Committee on the investigation of the Pearl Harbor: "I saw, together with the staff duty officer, a single plane making a dive on Ford Island. The single plane appeared at the time to both the staff duty officer and myself in the light of a young aviator 'flathatting' (flying low in a reckless manner) and we both tried to get his number to make a report of the violation of flight rules. He completed his dive, pulled up and away. We were commenting together on the fact that it was going to be difficult to find out who the pilot was, when the delayed action bomb which he had dropped, and which we had not seen drop, detonated, and I told the staff duty officer, "Never mind; it's a Jap." I dashed across the hall into the radio room, ordered a broadcast in plain English on all frequencies, "Air Raid, Pearl Harbor. This is no drill." The detonation of the bomb dropped by that first plane was my first positive knowledge of an enemy attack." Additional reports came in from the Navy Yard and Kaneohe; some reports were discounted until the Japanese planes overhead and the smoke from the burning ships were visible for miles. Some variations of the telegram use "NOT" instead of "NO" indicating they may have been received from another source, or their was a morse code error.

Source :
National Archives and Records Ad 06339 (Other Identifier)
https://worldwar2database.com/gallery/wwii1408

Japanese Buddhist Monks during Gas Mask Drill

Image size: 1600 x 1024 pixel. 427 KB
Date: Saturday, 30 May 1936
Place: Asakusa Temple, Tokyo, Japan
Photographer: Unknown

Buddhist priests of the Senso Temple in Asakusa prepare for the Second Sino-Japanese War as they wear gas masks during training against future aerial attacks in Tokyo, Japan, on 30 May 1936. The war was the result of a decades-long Japanese imperialist policy aiming to dominate China politically and militarily and to secure its vast raw material reserves and other economic resources, particularly food and labour. Before 1937, China and Japan fought in small, localized engagements, so-called "incidents". In 1931, the Japanese invasion of Manchuria by Japan's Kwantung Army followed the Mukden Incident. The last of these incidents was the Marco Polo Bridge Incident of 1937, marking the beginning of total war between the two countries. Initially the Japanese scored major victories in Shanghai after heavy fighting, and by the end of 1937 captured the Chinese capital of Nanking. After failing to stop the Japanese in Wuhan, the Chinese central government was relocated to Chongqing in the Chinese interior. By 1939 the war had reached stalemate after Chinese victories in Changsha and Guangxi. The Japanese were also unable to defeat the Chinese communist forces in Shaanxi, which performed harassment and sabotage operations against the Japanese using guerrilla warfare tactics. On December 7, 1941, the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, and the following day (December 8, 1941) the United States declared war on Japan.

Source :
https://teddymanyvanhpearlharbor.weebly.com/second-sino-japanese-war.html
https://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2011/06/world-war-ii-before-the-war/100089/

Chinese Generals Chiang Kai-Shek and Long Yun

Image size: 1600 x 1065 pixel. 340 KB
Date: Saturday, 27 June 1936
Place: China
Photographer: Unknown

Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek, right, Chairman of the National Military Council, Chairman of the Nationalist Government of China, and President of the Republic of China, with General Long Yun, left, Warlord and Governor of the province of Yunnan, Nanking, on June 27, 1936. Many Chinese commanders had enjoyed regional autonomy too long to risk their lives and power merely at Chiang Kai Shek’s command. Governor Han Fuju, for example, ignominiously abandoned Shandong province to the Japanese, although he, in contrast to most, paid for his disregard of Chiang’s orders with his life. He was executed in January 1938. Kuomintang's Army was not, however, a united, national army, but a coalition of armies which differed in degrees of loyalty to the central government as well as in training, equipment and military capabilities. Long Yun, governor of Yunnan, for example, resisted central government encroaches upon his provincial power; Governor Yan Xishan, commander of the Second War Zone in North China and vice chairman of the Military Council, ruled his native Shanxi as an autonomous satrapy. He prohibited units of the Central Army from entering his war zone. Since 1941, Yan had even maintained close and amiable relations with the Japanese invader.

Source ;
https://www.flickr.com/photos/histolines/27372126450
https://www.marxist.com/the-chinese-communist-party-1937-49-the-unfolding-of-historical-necessity-chinas-great-revolution-part-two.htm
https://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2011/06/world-war-ii-before-the-war/100089/

The Surrender of the Dutch Forces to the Japanese at Kalidjati

Image size: 1600 x 1152 pixel. 313 KB
Date: Sunday, 8 March 1942
Place: Kalidjati Airfield, Subang, West Java, Netherlands East-Indies
Photographer: Unknown

The surrender of the Netherlands East-Indies to the Japanese at Kalidjati military airport, Subang, West Java, on 8 march 1942 The Governor General of the Netherlands East-Indies had ordered to avoid armed conflict in the city of Bandung, crowded as it was with refugees. With the invading Japanese forces already in Lembang and Buitenzorg, a few miles away,  the commanding officers had no choice but to surrender. The negotiations took place on March 8, 1942 at Kalidjati airfield. Thoughtful as always the Japanese had lined the road to Kalidjati with hundreds of corpses of those killed in the defence of this airfield! Lieutenant General Hein Ter Poorten surrendered unconditionally to General Hitoshi Imamura and after a few more days all fighting in Java ceased. But in other places the fight went on longer. Sumatra KNIL forces capitulated on March 29 and the Australians and Dutch on Timor continued a guerrilla war for several months.

Source :

https://thejavagoldblog.wordpress.com/2015/05/18/the-loss-of-java-and-the-surrender/

KNIL Marching in Australia

Image size: 1600 x 1190 pixel. 427 KB
Date: Monday, 14 June 1943
Place: Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Photographer: Unknown photographer from Herald Newspaper

Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), 14 June 1943. Watched by a small boy waving an Australian flag, troops of the K.N.I.L. (Netherlands East Indies Army) move along Swanston Street during the United Nations Flag Day march through the city. During the Dutch East Indies campaign of 1941–42, most of the KNIL and other Allied forces were quickly defeated. Most European soldiers, which in practice included all able bodied Indo-European males, were interned by the Japanese as POWs. 25% of the POWs did not survive their internment. A handful of soldiers, mostly indigenous personnel, mounted guerilla campaigns against the Japanese. These were usually unknown to, and unassisted by, the Allies until the end of the war. During early 1942, some KNIL personnel escaped to Australia. Some indigenous personnel were interned in Australia under suspicion of sympathies with the Japanese. The remainder began a long process of re-grouping. In late 1942, a failed attempt to land in East Timor, to reinforce Australian commandos waging a guerrilla campaign ended with the loss of 60 Dutch personnel. Four "Netherlands East Indies" squadrons (the RAAF-NEI squadrons) were formed from ML-KNIL personnel, under the auspices of the Royal Australian Air Force, with Australian ground staff. KNIL infantry forces (much like their counterparts in the UK), were augmented by recruitment among Dutch expatriates around the world and by colonial troops from as far away as the Dutch West Indies. During 1944–45, some small units saw action in the New Guinea campaign and Borneo campaign.

Source :
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Netherlands_East_Indies_Army

KNIL Soldiers with Captured Japanese Flag

Image size: 1600 x 1121 pixel. 583 KB

Date: Sunday, 1 March 1942
Place: Koningsplein Station, Batavia, Dutch East Indies
Photographer: Unknown

Mix Soldiers (European and locals) of the 10th Battalion / 1st Infantry Regiment / 1st Infantry Division of K.N.I.L. (Koninklijk Nederlandsch-Indisch Leger) after the retreat from Zuid-Sumatra at the Koningsplein Station in Batavia on 1 March 1942. Despite this retreat the soldiers pose triumphantly with a Japanese flag seized between Palembang and Oosthaven. The soldier on the right is wearing the K.N.I.L. helmet with emblem manufactured at Verblifa. The rest of the soldiers are wearing the K.N.I.L. helmet without emblem manufactured at Milsco. At that time, the battalion was commanded by Major de Vries; the regiment was commanded by Colonel Struivenberg; the division was commanded by Major-General W. Schilling, and the overal K.N.I.L. forces was commanded by Lieutenant-General Hein Ter Poorten.

Source :

"The Dutch Steel Helmet 1916-1946" by Kevin de Joode

https://www.kaskus.co.id/thread/54091a8dbecb17e1358b456d/order-of-battle-knil-saat-menjelang-invansi-jepang-ke-hindia-belanda/

Corporal Bull Allen Carrying Wounded Soldier at Mount Tambu

Image size: 1182 x 1600 pixel. 762 KB
Date: Friday, 30 July 1943
Place: Mount Tambu, Salamaua, New Guinea
Photographer: Gordon Short

The exploits of Corporal Leslie 'Bull' Allen, of the 2/5th Australian Infantry Battalion, produced one of the most remarkable photographs of the Wau-Salamaua campaign. On 30 July 1943, during an attack by American troops on Japanese positions up Mount Tambu, Allen carried to safety twelve wounded Americans. The man he was photographed carrying had been knocked unconscious by a mortar bomb. Like many men in the veteran 17th Australian Infantry Brigade, of which the 2/5th Battalion was part, 'Bull' had earlier served in the Middle East. He had come to notice there for determination and bravery as a stretcher-bearer, recovering wounded men during battles in Libya and Syria. Later, after being sent to New Guinea, during the defence of Wau in January 1943 he had rescued men under intense fire, and was awarded the Military Medal. Born at Ballarat, Victoria, in 1918, Les had a tough childhood – he and his sister were raised in an orphanage, and at about the age of 12 the boy had to start earning a living. By the outbreak of war in September 1939, he had been in the work force, mostly farm labouring, for almost a decade. Then in April 1940, aged 21, he enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force. He was reinforcement to the 2/5th Battalion, which was training in Palestine, and was made a stretcher-bearer in 'D' Company. Les acquired the nickname of 'Bull' in Palestine. A keen sportsman, with an imposing physical stature – 5 feet 11 inches (180cm) tall, solid and strong – he would charge down the opposition while playing Aussie Rules, hence 'Bull'. He also had a wicked sense of humour and a booming voice and laugh – one of his mates recalled, 'You could hear him a mile off!' 'Bull' was thus one of the battalion's most recognisable, and one of its most popular characters. 'Bull' was revered by the men he served alongside. He was said to be one of the very few who never showed fear. The citation for his Military Medal pointed to 'courage and untiring efforts'. Bill Carty, a cameraman who later witnessed 'Bull's rescue of the Americans recalled a 'gigantic man striding up Mount Tambu like he was on a Sunday jaunt', describing Allen as 'a huge man with obvious physical and emotional strength, perhaps borne of a difficult childhood'. But this was an incomplete picture of the man. While he did not display his fears, 'Bull' was inclined to bottle them up. Shortly after his first campaign, in Libya, in early 1941, 'Bull' had been admitted to hospital suffering from 'anxiety neurosis'. After treatment and rest, he returned to his battalion, and performed admirably in Syria and then at Wau, and throughout the Wau-Salamaua campaign that followed. Time and again, he gave his all to bring in wounded men. Mount Tambu was merely another episode. The strain began to show only when 'Bull' was out of the battle area. In late 1943, at the conclusion of the Wau-Salamaua campaign, the survivors of the 17th Infantry Brigade were withdrawn to Australia for recuperation, much needed leave, and the rebuilding of their units. Allen had always been in trouble in one way or another and he exhibited a certain disdain of authority. But now, while training in Queensland, his behaviour became erratic, and he ended up punching an officer. He was court martialled, and medically discharged in September 1944. So traumatised was this decorated veteran of three campaigns by the experience of war, he retreated to an uncle's farm, having lost his power of speech, and took many months to start returning to 'normal'. It was during this time that the Army posted Leslie 'Bull' Allen a second medal, the US Silver Star, awarded for his actions on that day up Mount Tambu.

Source :
https://www.ddoughty.com/ww2-les-bull-allen.html
http://windsky.com.au/the-making-of-in-memory-of-bull-allen/

Australian Soldiers at the Battle of Mount Tambu

Image size: 1600 x 1202 pixel. 284 KB
Date: Friday, 23 July 1943
Place: Mount Tambu, Salamaua, New Guinea
Photographer: Gordon Short

Australian soldiers of "D" Company, 2/5th Battalion, lay down fire onto Japanese forces while using an abandoned Japanese weapons pit just 50 yards from the Japanese line, near Mount Tambu in the Salamaua area, New Guinea, 23 July 1943. New Guinea was crucial for the Australian war effort and had they not repelled the Japanese forces there Australia would have a very large and looming threat of invasion. The Japanese could of used the island as a launching point for invasions all along the coast. The Japanese were a very elite and well trained fighting drove during World War II. Had they had more supplies and better gear they could of held at least some parts of their vast territory from Allied attack. Supply shortages stork end the country though and starved their military. The Battle of Mount Tambu itself was a series of actions fought in the Salamaua area of the Territory of New Guinea between Allied and Japanese forces, which took place between 16 July and 18 August 1943. The battle formed part of the wider Salamaua–Lae campaign and was fought in the final stages of the campaign, which had seen a combined Australian and US force advance from Wau towards Salamaua following the repulse of the Japanese attack on Wau in late January and early February 1943. After several frontal assaults on the position by Australian and US infantrymen were rebuffed by determined Japanese defenders, an indirect approach was sought and flanking moves were undertaken to cut off the Japanese supply route along the Komiatum Track. This succeeded in eventually forcing the Japanese off the position as they withdrew to avoid encirclement.

Source :
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Mount_Tambu
https://www.instagram.com/p/BhEUA5eH7yS/

Japanese Troops Passing The Chinese City of Peiping

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Date: Friday, 13 August 1937
Place: Peiping, China

Photographer: Unknown photographer from Associated Press

First pictures of the Japanese occupation of Peiping (Beijing) in China, on August 13, 1937. Under the banner of the rising sun, Japanese troops are shown passing from the Chinese City of Peiping into the Tartar City through Chen-men, the main gate leading onward to the palaces in the Forbidden City. Just a stone's throw away is the American Embassy, where American residents of Peiping flocked when Sino-Japanese hostilities were at their worst. It was yet another sign that the confrontation between China and Japan, which had started three weeks earlier at Marco Polo Bridge near the city, had reached a new, dangerous stage. For the past decade, after the city of Nanjing further south had been made the capital of China, Beijing had no longer been the nation’s political center. But it remained a powerful symbol of past Chinese might, having been the seat of the emperors since the 13th century. It was no longer possible to argue that the Japanese empire was nibbling away at the fringes of China. This was Chinese heartland, and had been so for centuries. The actual combat taking place in Beijing proper in the last days of July 1937 was relatively limited, but a much larger and bloodier battle erupted a few miles south of the city, as described in this extract from the book "Shanghai 1937: Stalingrad on the Yangtze": Once the Japanese reinforcements were in place at the end of July, an imperial order was issued instructing the local commanders to “chastise the Chinese Army in the Beijing-Tianjin area.” The well-equipped Japanese units unleashed a series of coordinated attacks, with extraordinary bloody results in some places. Chinese soldiers manning a barracks south of Beijing were nearly wiped out, and when a thin column of survivors tried to flee north through the fields towards the city, they were chopped to pieces by Japanese heavy machine guns places in advance along the escape route.  The injured soldiers were left to die slow agonizing deaths under the scorching sun, as unfeeling peasants collected bayonets and other equipment useful for their work. Also on July 29, Chinese auxiliary police ostensibly working for the Japanese rebelled in Tongzhou, a town east of Beijing that was home to 385 Japanese and Koreans at the time. Of these, 223 were murdered, many of them women and children. When the Japanese retook the city, they exacted terrifying retribution, as described in Shanghai 1937: Japanese soldiers bent on revenge beheaded all the men they managed to capture, whether rebels or not, and raped the women. When they were done with Tongzhou, they swept the surrounding countryside searching for anyone who looked like a fleeing police officer, hard to determine at a distance, a gunned them down too. Finally they set the town on fire. It created a dense column of black smoke that could be seen by the horrified residents of Beijing in the following days. Now they knew what life and death under Japanese rule would be like.

Source :

http://www.chinaww2.com/2014/07/29/fall-of-beijing-1937/

https://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2011/06/world-war-ii-before-the-war/100089/

Lieutenant Edward Henry “Butch” O’Hare in His Cockpit

Image size: 1600 x 1600 pixel. 317 KB
Date: Friday, 10 April 1942
Place: Kaneohe, Hawaii, United States of America
Photographer: Unknown

Lieutenant Edward Henry “Butch” O’Hare seated in the cockpit of his Grumman F4F "Wildcat" fighter, 3 April 1942. The plane is marked with five Japanese flags, representing the five enemy bombers he was credited with shooting down. On 20 February 1942, "Butch" O'Hare became the US Navy's first flying ace when he single-handedly attacked a formation of 9 Japanese heavy bombers approaching his aircraft carrier in Rabaul, and brought down 5. At that time, O'Hare and his wingman were the only U.S. Navy fighters available in the air when a second wave of Japanese bombers were attacking his aircraft carrier Lexington. O'Hare was on board the aircraft carrier USS Lexington, which had been assigned the task of penetrating enemy-held waters north of New Ireland. While still 450 miles from the harbor at Rabaul, at 10:15, the Lexington picked up an unknown aircraft on radar 35 miles from the ship. A six-plane combat patrol was launched, two fighters being directed to investigate the contact. These two planes, under command of Lieutenant Commander John Thach shot down a four-engined Kawanishi H6K4 Type 97 ("Mavis") flying boat about 43 miles out at 11:12. Later two other planes of the combat patrol were sent to another radar contact 35 miles ahead, shooting down a second Mavis at 12:02. A third contact was made 80 miles out, but reversed course and disappeared. At 15:42 a jagged vee signal drew the attention of the Lexington's radar operator. The contact then was lost, but reappeared at 16:25 forty-seven miles west and closing fast. Butch O'Hare, flying F4F Wildcat BuNo 4031 "White F-15", was one of several pilots launched to intercept the incoming 9 Japanese Mitsubishi G4M "Betty" bombers from 2nd Chutai of 4th Kōkūtai; at this time five had already been shot down. At 16:49, the Lexington's radar picked up a second formation of Bettys from 1st Chutai of 4th Kōkūtai only 12 miles out, on the disengaged side of the task force, completely unopposed. The carrier had only two Wildcats left to confront the intruders: Butch and his wingman "Duff" Dufilho. As the Lexington’s only protection, they raced eastward and arrived 1,500 feet above eight attacking Bettys nine miles out at 17:00. Dufilho’s guns were jammed and wouldn’t fire, leaving only O'Hare to protect the carrier. The enemy formation was a V of Vs flying very close together and using their rear-facing guns for mutual protection. O'Hare's Wildcat, armed with four 50-caliber guns, with 450 rounds per gun, had enough ammunition for about 34 seconds of firing. O'Hare's initial maneuver was a high-side diving attack employing accurate deflection shooting. He accurately placed bursts of gunfire into a Betty's right engine and wing fuel tanks; when the stricken craft of Nitō Hikō Heisō Tokiharu Baba (3rd Shotai) on the right side of the formation abruptly lurched to starboard, he ducked to the other side of the V formation and aimed at the enemy bomber of Ittō Hikō Heisō Bin Mori (3rd Shotai) on the extreme left. When he made his third and fourth firing passes, the Japanese planes were close enough to the American ships for them to fire their anti-aircraft guns. The five survivors managed to drop their ordnance, but all ten 250kg bombs missed. O'Hare's hits were so concentrated, the nacelle of a Betty jumped out of its mountings, after O'Hare blew up the leading Shōsa Takuzo Ito's Betty's port engine. O'Hare believed he had shot down five bombers, and damaged a sixth. Lieutenant Commander Thach arrived at the scene with other pilots of the flight, later reporting that at one point he saw three of the enemy bombers falling in flames at the same time. In fact, O'Hare destroyed only three Bettys: Nitō Hikō Heisō Tokiharu Baba's from 3rd Shotai, Ittō Hikō Heisō Susumu Uchiyama's (flying at left wing of the leading V, 1st Shotai) and the leader of the formation, Shōsa Takuzo Ito's. This last (flying on the head of leading V) Betty's left engine was hit at the time it dropped its ordnance. Its pilot Hikō Heisōchō Chuzo Watanabe tried to hit Lexington with his damaged plane. He missed and flew into the water near Lexington at 1712. Another two Bettys were damaged by O'Hare's attacks. Ittō Hikō Heisō Kodji Maeda (2nd Shotai, left wing of V) safely landed at Vunakanau airdrome and Ittō Hikō Heisō Bin Mori was later shot down by LT Noel Gayler ("White F-1", VF-3) when trying to escape 40 miles from Lexington. With his ammunition expended, O'Hare returned to his carrier, and was fired on accidentally but with no effect by a .50-caliber machine gun from the Lexington. O'Hare's fighter had, in fact, been hit by only one bullet during his flight, the single bullet hole in F-15's port wing disabling the airspeed indicator. According to Thach, Butch then approached the gun platform to calmly say to the embarrassed anti-aircraft gunner who had fired at him, "Son, if you don't stop shooting at me when I've got my wheels down, I'm going to have to report you to the gunnery officer." It is calculated that O'Hare had used only sixty rounds of ammunition for each bomber he destroyed; an impressive feat of marksmanship. In the opinion of Admiral Brown and of Captain Frederick C. Sherman, commanding the Lexington, Lieutenant O'Hare's actions may have saved the carrier from serious damage or even loss. By 19:00 all Lexington planes had been recovered except for two F4F-3 Wildcats shot down while attacking enemy bombers; both were lost while making steady, no-deflection runs from astern of their targets. The pilot of one fighter was rescued, the other went down with his aircraft. The Lexington returned after the New Guinea raid to Pearl Harbor for repairs and to have her obsolete 8-inch guns removed, transferring some of her F4F-3 fighter planes to the USS Yorktown (CV-5) including BuNox 4031 "White F-15" that O'Hare had flown during his famous mission. The pilot assigned to fly this aircraft to Yorktown was admonished by O'Hare just before take off to take good care of his plane. Moments later, the fighter unsuccessfully took off, rolling down the deck and into the water; the pilot was recovered, but "White F-15" was lost.

Sources :
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_O%27Hare
http://forum.worldoftanks.com/index.php?/topic/429652-a-century-of-war-in-photos-rare-interesting-photo-compendium/page__st__20
https://navypilotoverseas.wordpress.com/2011/01/14/lt-edward-butch-ohare-of-vf-3-april-1942/

American Armada at Ulithi Atoll

Image size: 1600 x 1215 pixel. 460 KB
Date: Monday, 1 January 1945
Place: Ulithi Atoll, Caroline Islands, Western Pacific Ocean
Photographer: Unknown

Vast array of American warships just offshore of naval base on Mogmog Island in the Ulithi Atoll, part of the Caroline Islands, 1 January 1945. Ulithi Atoll itself are home to the 3rd Fleet in late 1944. The land in the foreground is one of several depot islands surrounding the anchorage. After World War II many battleships were intentionally sunk rather than taken elsewhere to disassemble. These iron bohemoths lie at the bottom of the Atoll and as they rust their iron content leaks into the seawater changing the very chemistry of the nutrient-poor tropical waters. The occupation of Ulithi by US Naval Fleets during the war changed the Islanders’ way of life dramatically. Entire islands were razed to the ground to make room for Allied Troops. Imported food, culture and language changed the traditional ways of these remote islands. After the war a surplus of boats, fuel, and new technologies like spear-guns radically altered the effectiveness of the Islanders’ fishing techniques.

Source:

http://ulithimarineconservation.ucsc.edu/?page_id=435

http://www.warbirdinformationexchange.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=52966

Raising the American Flag on Iwo Jima

Image size: 1600 x 1223 pixel. 392 KB
Date: Friday, 23 February 1945
Place: Mount Suribachi, Iwo Jima, Bonin Islands, Japan
Photographer: Joe Rosenthal

U.S. Marines of the 28th Regiment of the Fifth Division raise the American flag atop Mount Suribachi, Iwo Jima, on Feb. 23, 1945. Joe Rosenthal, who won a Pulitzer Prize for his immortal image of six World War II servicemen raising an American flag over battle-scarred Iwo Jima. On orders from Colonel Chandler Johnson—passed on by Captain Dave Severance—Sergeant Michael Strank, Corporal Harlon H. Block, Private First Class Franklin R. Sousley, and Private First Class Ira H. Hayes (all four from the Second Platoon, Easy Company) spent the morning after the first flag raising laying a telephone wire to the top of Mt. Suribachi. Severance also dispatched Private First Class Rene A. Gagnon, a runner, to the command post for fresh SCR-300 walkie-talkie batteries. Meanwhile, Lieutenant Albert Theodore Tuttle had found a larger (96-by-56 inch) flag in nearby Tank Landing Ship USS LST-779. He made his way back to the command post and gave it to Johnson. Johnson, in turn, gave it to Rene Gagnon, with orders to take it up to Lt. Schrier on Mt. Suribachi and raise it. The official Marine Corps history of the event is that Lt. Tuttle received the flag from Navy Ensign Alan Wood of USS LST-779, who in turn had received the flag from a supply depot in Pearl Harbor. However, the Coast Guard Historian's Office recognizes the claims made by former U.S. Coast Guardsman Quartermaster Robert Resnick, who served aboard the USS Duval County (USS LST-758) at Iwo Jima. "Before he died in November 2004, Resnick said Gagnon came aboard LST-758 the morning of February 23 looking for a flag. Resnick said he grabbed one from a bunting box and asked permission from commanding officer Lt. Felix Molenda to donate it. Resnick kept quiet about his participation until 2001." The flag itself was sewn by Mabel Sauvageau, a worker at the "flag loft" of the Mare Island Naval Shipyard. Although former Easy Company commander, Capt. Severance, had confirmed that the second larger flag was in fact provided by Alan Wood, former Second Battalion adjutant, Lt. G. Greeley Wells, who was officially in charge of the battalion's flags including the two American flags flown on Mount Suribachi, stated in the New York Times in 1991: that Lt. Col. Johnson ordered him (Wells) to get the second flag, that he (Wells) sent Marine runner Rene Gagnon to the ships on shore for the flag, and that Gagnon returned with a flag and gave it to him (Wells), and that Gagnon took this flag up Mt. Suribachi with a message for Schrier to raise it and send the other flag down. Wells stated that he received the first flag back from Gagnon and secured it at the Marine headquarters command post. Wells also stated, he had handed the first flag to Lt. Schrier to take up Mouint Suribachi. The Marines reached the top of the mountain around noon, where Gagnon joined them. Despite the large numbers of Japanese troops in the immediate vicinity, the 40-man patrol made it to the top of the mountain without being fired on once, as the Japanese were under bombardment at the time. Rosenthal, along with Marine photographers Bob Campbell and Bill Genaust (who was killed in action after the flag-raising), were climbing Suribachi at this time. On the way up, the trio met Lowery, who photographed the first flag-raising. They considered turning around, but Lowery told them that the summit was an excellent vantage point from which to take photographs. Rosenthal's trio reached the summit as the Marines were attaching the flag to an old Japanese water pipe. Rosenthal put his Speed Graphic camera on the ground (set to 1/400th of a second shutter speed, with the f-stop between 8 and 16) so he could pile rocks to stand on for a better vantage point. In doing so, he nearly missed the shot. Along with Navy Pharmacist's Mate Second Class John H. Bradley, the five Marines began raising the U.S. flag. Realizing he was about to miss it, Rosenthal quickly swung his camera up and snapped the photograph without using the viewfinder. Ten years after the flag-raising, Rosenthal wrote: "Out of the corner of my eye, I had seen the men start the flag up. I swung my camera and shot the scene. That is how the picture was taken, and when you take a picture like that, you don't come away saying you got a great shot. You don't know." Bill Genaust, who was standing almost shoulder-to-shoulder with Rosenthal about thirty yards away, was shooting motion-picture film during the second flag-raising. His film captures the second event at an almost-identical angle to Rosenthal's famous shot. Of the six men pictured – Michael Strank, Rene Gagnon, Ira Hayes, Franklin Sousley, John Bradley, and Harlon Block – only three (Bradley, Gagnon, and Hayes) survived the battle. Strank was killed on March 1, six days after the flag-raising, when a shell, likely fired from an offshore American destroyer, tore his heart out; Block was also killed on March 1, by a mortar, a few hours after Strank was killed; Sousley was shot and killed by a sniper on March 21, a few days before the island was declared secure.


Source:

http://dataomaha.com/media/news/2014/iwo-jima/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raising_the_Flag_on_Iwo_Jima

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American Prisoners of War Celebrate the Fourth of July at Camp Casisang

Image size: 1600 x 1067 pixel. 576 KB
Date: Saturday, 4 July 1942
Place: Camp Casisang, Malaybalay, Philippines
Photographer: Unknown

American prisoners of war celebrate the 4th of July in the Japanese prison camp of Casisange in Malaybalay, on Mindanao, P.I. It was against Japanese regulations and discover would have meant death, but the men celebrated the occasion anyway. The Visayan-Mindanao Force under US Army Brigadier General William F. Sharp was composed of the 61st, 81st, and 101st Infantry Divisions of the Philippine Army. Major General Jonathan M. Wainwright, in nominal command of all the Allied Forces in the Philippines, ordered Sharp to surrender on May 9. Sharp complied and most of his men entered captivity at Camp Casisang, Malaybalay, on May 10. Camp Casisang had been a training ground for the Philippine Constabulary. The barracks were of crude construction, some with corrugated steel roofs but most were made of either thatched wood or nipa palm fronds. Water was a scarce commodity and the prisoners were limited to one canteen of water per day for all purposes. One pump was the sole source of water for about 1,000 Americans and 11,000 Filipinos. On August 15, 1942, All Generals, Full Colonels and their orderlies left Camp Casisang. There had been a large number of full Colonels plus five Generals at the camp. One of them was Philippine General Manuel Roxas, who after the war became the President of the Philippines in 1946. The Japanese gathered 268 men and marched them to Bugo where they boarded the Tamahoko Maru on October 3, 1942 for a 3-day voyage to Manila. At Manila they were marched to Bilibid Prison to wait for transportation to Japan. Many did not survive the war. On October 15, 1942 Camp Casisang was closed. All remaining prisoners were moved on the Japanese frieghter Maru 760 to Davao. 

Source:

NARA (National Archives)  #: 111-SC-333290
WAR & CONFLICT BOOK #: 1301

http://www.defenseimagery.mil/imageRetrieve.action?guid=7d7f71b7d98e8bc85447a111385d630a9e72363d&t=2

http://www.worldwar2database.com/gallery3/index.php/wwii1150

Frostbite Experiments of Unit 1855

Image size: 1600 x 1133 pixel. 300 KB
Date: Friday, 31 January 1941
Place: Hailar, Inner Mongolia, China
Photographer: Unknown

Three Japanese Kempeitai of Unit 1855 guard eight Chinese prisoners during their forced exposure to frostbite. Unit 1855 was a secret Imperial Japanese Army facility that focused on the development of biological weapons during World War II. It was operated by the Kempeitai, the Japanese military police, with the the headquarters in Beijing. Unit 1855 also operated an experimental branch unit based at Chinan, Hopei. The North China Army established Unit 1855 on February 9 1938. The 2,000 soldiers were housed near Bejing's Temple of Heaven. Headed by Imperial Japanese Army Colonel Yeni Nishimura, he reported directly to Major General Dr. Shiro Ishii of the infamous Unit 731. Unit 1855 killed 1,000 people between 1938 and 1945. Eight male Chinese, aging from 15 to 49, were victims of the experiments carried out from January 31 - February 11, 1941 in Inner Mongolia. The men were exposed outdoors to temperatures of about 27 degrees Celsius below zero with some being deliberately wounded or forced to wear wet shoes and clothing. Unit 1855 recorded the victim's reactions. One teenager became "furious" four minutes after the experiment began, wailed 30 minutes later and could no longer feel his feet after one and half hours. Unit 1855's records claimed the experiments were done to learn how to deal with frostbite afflicting Japanese soldiers during the war. The photo was part of unclassified records titled "Results of Japanese Imperial Army Winter Hygienic Research" discovered in Tokyo in 1995. 

Source:

http://www.worldwar2database.com/gallery3/index.php/wwii1148

International Military Tribunal for the Far East

Image size: 1600 x 1265 pixel. 421 KB
Date: Friday, 3 May 1946
Place: Tokyo, Tokyo Prefecture, Japan
Photographer: Unknown

Judges of the International Military Tribunal for the Far East. Sir William Webb, Australia, President of the Tribunal; Edward Stuart McDougall, Canada; Major-General Mei Ju-ao, Republic of China; Henri Bernard, Provisional Government of the French Republic; Radhabinod Pal, India; Professor Bert Röling, Netherlands; Harvey Northcroft, New Zealand; Colonel Delfin Jaranilla, Philippines; Lord Patrick, United Kingdom; John P. Higgins, United States (until July 1946); US Army Major General Myron C. Cramer (after July 1946); Red Army Major General I.M. Zarayanov, Soviet Union. The prosecutors were Chief Prosecutor Joseph Keenan. United States; Justice Alan Mansfield, Australia; Brigadier Henry Nolan, Canada; Hsiang Che-Chun, Republic of China; Robert L. Oneto, Provisional Government of the French Republic; P. Govinda Menon, India; W.G. Frederick Borgerhoff-Mulder, Netherlands; Brigadier Ronald Quilliam, New Zealand; Pedro Lopez, Philippines; Arthur Comyns-Carr, United Kingdom; Minister S.A. Golunsky, Soviet Union. 

Source:

Truman Library

http://www.worldwar2database.com/gallery3/index.php/wwii1147

Boeing B-29 Superfortress "Enola Gay" landing after the atomic bombing mission on Hiroshima, Japan

Image size: 1600 x 1099 pixel. 486 KB
Date: 2:58 PM, Monday, 6 August 1945
Place: North Field, Tinian Island, Marianas
Photographer: Unknown

After dropping the "Little Boy" atomic bomb on Hiroshima, "Enola Gay" B-29-45-MO serial number 44-86292 encountered a single Japanese fighter that did not engage. The mushroom cloud could still be seen an hour later when Enola Gay was 360 miles (579 kilometers) from Hiroshima. The Enola Gay landed at North Field, Tinian, at 1458 Hours. The Great Artiste (B-29-40-MO 44-27353, victor number "Dimples" 89) the scientific plane, and Necessary Evil (B-29-45-MO 44-86291, victor number "Dimples" 91), the photographic plane, landed a few minutes later. The Enola Gay was airborne for twelve hours and thirteen minutes. 

Source:

U.S. Air Force photo

http://www.af.mil/photos/index.asp?galleryID=161&page=3

http://www.worldwar2database.com/gallery3/index.php/wwii1144