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• Operation Struggle: British midget submarine XE3, crewed by Lieutenant Ian Fraser, Acting Leading Seaman James Magennis, Sub-Lieutenant William James Lanyon Smith, (of New Zealand), and Engine Room Artificer Third Class Charles Alfred Reed, attacked Japanese shipping at Singapore, sinking heavy cruiser Takao. Fraser and Magennis would later be awarded the Victoria Cross for this sinking, while Smith would receive the Distinguished Service Order and Reed the Conspicuous Gallantry Medal. ww2dbase [Takao | CPC]
• Pierre Laval surrendered in Austria. ww2dbase [Pierre Laval | CPC]
• USS Sennet attacked a Japanese patrol boat in the Sea of Japan; all 3 torpedoes missed. ww2dbase [Sennet | CPC]
• Captain Marcy M. DuPre, Jr. was named the commanding officer of USS Columbia, relieving Captain Maurice E. Curts. ww2dbase [Columbia | CPC]

• Claire Chennault departed China for the United States. ww2dbase [Claire Chennault | CPC]

• A test bomb in the shape of the atomic bomb Little Boy, designated L-6, was dropped in the sea near Iwo Jima, Japan from B-29 bomber Enola Gay piloted by Paul Tibbets. ww2dbase [Atomic Bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki | Paul Tibbets | Iwo Jima | CPC]
• 29 B-24 bombers of US 7th Air Force attacked Nagasaki, Japan in the morning, sinking ferry Kinko Maru, damaging the Kawanami Shipyard at Koyagishima, destroying 72 homes, and damaging 76 homes. 11 people were killed and 35 people were wounded. ww2dbase [Bombing of Tokyo and Other Cities | Nagasaki | CPC]

• American PB4Y aircraft based in Okinawa, Japan destroyed a bridge on an important railway in Korea. ww2dbase [CPC]

• USS Blenny reported sinking two small Japanese craft with the deck gun in the South China Sea off Malaya. ww2dbase [Blenny | South China Sea | CPC]
• USS Bugara sank 1 small enemy craft with her deck gun in the Gulf of Siam and South China Sea area before dawn, and 4 more during the day. ww2dbase [Bugara | South China Sea | CPC]

• British King George VI approved the appointment of Field-Marshal Sir Harold Alexander as Governor-General of Canada. He will succeed the Earl of Athlone who has held the office since 1940. ww2dbase [Harold Alexander | London, England | AC]

• USS Sunfish completed her scheduled overhaul at Mare Island Navy Yard, Vallejo, California, United States. ww2dbase [Mare Island Navy Yard | Sunfish (Gato-class) | Vallejo, California | CPC]

31 Jul 1945 Interactive Map