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• The Allies began exchanging the prisoners of war they had freed in Germany. ww2dbase [TH]
• Operation Kikusui No. 7 was launched off Okinawa, Japan, participated by about 65 Japanese Navy and 100 Japanese Army special attack and escorting aircraft. On the island, seven Type 97 bombers attempted to crash-land at an American-controlled airfield to deliver suicide commandos during Operation Gi; several aircraft were shot down, but those who successfully reached the airfield delivered 69 commandos who destroyed 9 aircraft and damaged 29 others and set the fuel dump aflame; all commandos were killed or committed suicide. ww2dbase [Okinawa Campaign | CPC]
• USS Pompon arrived at Guam, Mariana Islands, ending her eighth war patrol. ww2dbase [Pompon | CPC]
• USS Ray sank 2 small Japanese vessels west of Japan with her deck gun. ww2dbase [Ray | CPC]

• At Salzburg, Austria, Field Marshal Robert Ritter von Greim, head of the Luftwaffe, committed suicide in American captivity. Having learnt that he was to be a part of a Soviet-American prisoner exchange and, fearing torture and execution at the hands of the Russians, he took cyanide. His final words were: "I am the head of the Luftwaffe, but have no Luftwaffe." ww2dbase [Robert von Greim | AC, CPC]

• USS Ticonderoga departed Ulithi, Caroline Islands with other ships of Task Group 58.4. ww2dbase [Ticonderoga | DS]
• USS Yorktown (Essex-class) sortied from Ulithi, Caroline Islands with TG 58.4 to rejoin the forces off Okinawa, Ryukyu Islands. ww2dbase [Yorktown (Essex-class) | DS]

• Aircraft of US Navy Task Force 58 attacked airfields in southern Kyushu, Japan while 520 US Army B-29 bombers attacked urban and industrial areas south of the Imperial Palace in Tokyo. Many buildings on the grounds of the Imperial Palace complex were destroyed. ww2dbase [Bombing of Tokyo and Other Cities | CPC]
• Submarine I-369 arrived at Yokosuka, Japan. ww2dbase [I-369 | CPC]

• Joseph Stilwell arrived in Manila, Philippine Islands. ww2dbase [Joseph Stilwell | CPC]

• USS Miami arrived at San Francisco, California, United States. ww2dbase [Miami | CPC]

24 May 1945 Interactive Map