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• Weather data for 12 Aug 1945

• USS Tirante departed Guam, Mariana Islands for her third war patrol. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]
• Soviet forces in the Manchuria region of northeastern China had advanced 200 miles in four days. Meanwhile, Soviet Pacific Fleet attacked northern Korea, seizing the Japanese naval base at Rashin and the port of Yuki. ww2dbase [Main Article | AC]
• The Smyth Report, written by American physicist Henry DeWolf Smyth, with the history of the development of the atomic weapons, was released to the public. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]
• The Ohka Model 22 variant design's second test flight was launched but canceled mid-flight due to an immature ignition of the jet engine. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]

• In Burma, Aung San halted the process of integrating the troops of the Burmese National Army/Patriotic Burmese Forces into the regular Burmese Army, citing uncooperativeness and hostility shown against him by Reginald Dorman-Smith and William Slim. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]

• He Yingqin arrived in Kunming, Yunnan Province, China. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]
• A Japanese Unit 516 chemical weapons research unit crew, supervised by Masaji Takahashi, disposed of several truck loads of mustard gas, lewisite, and other chemical weapons material into the Nen River in Qiqihar, Nenjiang Province, China. ww2dbase [CPC]

• Emperor Showa ordered his government to surrender. ww2dbase [Main Article | Event | CPC]

• USS New Mexico arrived at Saipan, Mariana Islands. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]
• USS Carbonero sank a junk with her deck gun in the Gulf of Siam-South China Sea area. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]

• In Moscow, Russia, US Ambassador to the Soviet Union W. Averell Harriman insisted that the results of the negotiations between China and the Soviet Union must be consistent with the Yalta Agreement. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]

• Kamikaze departed Singapore with troops aboard for the Anambas Islands, Dutch East Indies. ww2dbase [Main Article | Tabular Record of Movement | CPC]

• US B-24 bombers from Okinawa, Japan attacked Matsuyama Airfield in Taihoku (now Taipei), Taiwan. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]
• US Far East Air Force B-24 bombers from the Philippine Islands attacked Kagi Airfield in Kagi (now Chiayi), Taiwan. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]

• The US Joint Chiefs of Staff submitted General Order No. 1 to President Harry Truman for approval. It instructed Japanese forces to surrender to designated Allied commanders, to reveal all current military deployments, and to preserve military equipment for later disarmament. A minor detail in this order that would become more significant later was the instructions for Japanese forces in Korea surrender to US or Soviet commanders depending on whether the Japanese unit was based north or south of the 38th Parallel. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]

12 Aug 1945 Interactive Map